The Story of Saul and David

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The Story of Saul and David

1 Samue124:1-22; Psalm 57

Saul hunted David as if he were ananimal. He knew that David washiding in a place where there weremany caves. Saul and his soldiersstarted searching these hillsides.At some point, when Saul wasalone, he looked around for a placewhere he could relieve himself. Hesaw a nearby cave and went inside.There was no way he could haveknown, but David was hiding insidethat same cave!

"Look David," his men whisperedto him. "God has blessed you again.Now is your chance to kill Saul!"David shook his head. He toldthem, "No one kills God's choice ofking!"

Then he crawled down the cave,toward Saul. Very quietly, he cut acorner off Saul's robe. Then he creptback to his hiding place. The momenthe was back with his men, David feltvery sorry for what he had done. Hehad not wanted to harm Saul. "Ishould never even have cut off thiscorner of his robe."

So Saul got up and left the cave.Once he was outside, though, Davidcame running after him. He fell on theground. "My lord the king!" he calledout. Saul swirled around in surprise.David held up the cloth. "Look, I cutoff this corner of your robe. God gaveyou into my hands while you were inthe cave. But I didn't hurt you! I even

kept my own men from hurting you.Now will you believe I'm not yourenemy? Why do you chase me likethis? I've done nothing wrong!"Saul saw that David could havekilled him if he had wanted to. "Aman does not let his enemy escape aseasily as you have. I believe you,David."

Saul left David and his men inpeace . . . for a little while, at least.Soon, though, Saul went back on hispromise.

The fierce Philistines were going toattack Israel. Among the leaders wasKing Achish of Gath. This king hadbeen protecting David while he ranaway from Saul. Achish asked Davidand his men to march with him. Hewanted David to fight against his ownpeople, the Israelites.

When the Philistine generals heardthis, they said, "No, we don't wantDavid with us during this battle. Whatif he decides to change sides?"

So Achish sent David and his menback to their families. David wenthome to Ziklag. That is where he hadbeen living for over a year. In Ziklag,he made a terrible discovery.

The town was in flames! WhileDavid and his men had been gone, theAmalekites had raided the area! Alltheir families had been taken prisoner!

David rallied his men. Six hundredfollowed him. Two hundred, whowere too tired, remained behind.

All that day they tracked theAmalekites. Just as it grew dark,David and his men attacked. Theyfought long and hard through the nightand into the next day. Women andchildren ran in all directions. Finally,David and his men won the battle.Only four hundred Amalekitesescaped alive. And that only happenedbecause they had camels.

David returned home to Ziklag. Therehe heard news of the great battlebetween Saul's Israelites and thePhilistines. This was the battle thePhilistine generals had not allowedDavid to join in.

"It was a terrible battle," themessenger told David. "The Philistinespressed hard after Saul and his sons.They killed his three sons, includingJonathan...."

David cried out, "Oh, no! Not mybrother Jonathan!"

The messenger went on. "The kingwas surrounded. He had no choice.Saul fell on his own sword, killinghimself."

At this, David and his men moaned and wept. They did not eat the whole day. The king anointed by God wasdead! It was a dark day for Israel!

Now that Saul's sons were dead, the tribes of Israel came to David. "We'reall part of the same family. Even whileSaul was king, you were our leader.We've heard how the Lord has chosenyou. We want you to be our king!"

When David became king he chose Jerusalem as his city. At that timeJerusalem was just a small village.Even so, it was well protected andwould be very hard to capture.

The Jebusites, who lived inJerusalem, laughed at David. "Ha!You couldn't even fight the blind andcrippled of Jerusalem, let alone us!"But David had the blessing of God.When he and his men capturedJerusalem, they made it the royal city

of Israel and Judah.

When the Philistines heard thatDavid was king, they called all theirtroops together so they could attackhim. But David asked the Lord whathe should do. God told him, "Do notattack right away, but circle aroundbehind them. When you hear thesound of marching in the tops of thetrees, move quickly. That will meanthe Lord has gone in front of you tostrike down the enemy army."It happened just that way. Daviddefeated the Philistines everywhere hewent.

David was thirty years old when hebecame king of Judah. He was one ofthe greatest kings the Jewish peopleever had. He reigned over both Israeland Judah for lofty years in A.

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