And it came to pass when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.
Saul comes home from fighting the Philistines. Before he can settle, a report reaches him about David at En-gedi — and the king turns from the nation's enemy to hunt one man.
Saul had a national enemy to fight and a personal rival to chase. Only one of them held his attention.
"And David went up and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi." Saul pursues him there, after following the Philistines. He is more occupied with his jealousy of the king whom God had chosen than with the enemies of his people. But this expedition does him no credit.
Another writer notes that Saul's war effort was half-hearted from the start:
Saul's campaign against the Philistines, like all his work, was only partial. In fact, we are not told any details here, or whether there was a real clash of arms. As soon as he can turn away from the Philistines, he takes up again the more congenial task he had set himself — seeking David's life.
Saul's march folds two very different targets into one trip:
Saul, back from his campaign against the Philistines, gathers three thousand chosen men to seize David. So in the same pursuit he includes Israel's enemies and her savior. An outward zeal for safeguarding the people of God can very well team up with a real hatred for Christ.
The force Saul raises is out of all proportion. The nation he is not defending pays for it.
With 600 men with him, David could not easily stay hidden, and Saul gets the report that he is in the wilderness of En-gedi. Saul was not exactly a brave man himself. He needed 3000 chosen men of Israel — five times as many as were with David — to go with him and seek David and his men. So the people of Israel pay for the army, and their king uses it not for Israel's benefit but for his own wicked project! He would let nothing stand in the way of killing David.
The wilderness of En-gedi lay in Judah, David's own tribal land:
Saul is away meeting the Philistines. That gives David the opportunity to move from the threatened hiding place of Ziph to a new refuge among the strongholds of En-gedi. When we remember that all of this took place in the wilderness of Judah, David's own tribe, it deepens the pathos of his position. In a certain sense he had come to his own, and his own had not received him.
The place was harsh, but its name points to water.
His refuge now is En-gedi, "the fountain of the goat." The high hills are a refuge for wild goats. This rugged mountain country no doubt sheltered many of these climbers... But here, among the frowning crags with their many caves, the fountain is still there. He is not cut off from the refreshment this suggests. How wonderful that the child of God never needs to leave that up-springing well which is his! It is there in all his conflicts and in all his efforts to escape the attacks of the flesh.
One writer links these days to the songs David wrote in them:
David at this time no doubt wrote some of his sweetest psalms. We can think of Psalm 63 as the expression of his soul: "O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." No water for nature, but, as we have just seen, a refreshing spring for faith.
This verse opens a chapter that ends with Saul humiliated — not by force, but by David's restraint.
David must endure this pressure. But in the end he will learn something: the greater the violence aimed at him, the simpler and more effective are the means God uses to deliver him. David defeated Saul at Keilah by abandoning the town. The Philistine invasion foiled him at the Rock of Division. Most disgracefully of all, David's moderation and loyalty defeat him at En-gedi, for he owes David his life. Little did he know, in the malice of his heart, how by entering the cave he was thrusting himself into the grasp of his intended victim.
- Report — One report about David turns a national army into the tool of a private grudge.
- Priority — Saul is more taken up with jealousy of the king God had chosen than with the enemies of his people.
- Proportion — Three thousand picked men chase six hundred. Israel pays for the army; the king spends it on his own wicked project.
- Provision — En-gedi means "the fountain of the goat." Harsh crags, yet a spring: the child of God never leaves that well behind.
- Reversal — The greater the violence against David, the simpler God's rescue. Saul walks into the very cave where his victim waits.
And Saul took three thousand men, chosen out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
A Philistine raid has just pulled Saul away from David, and now word reaches him that his son-in-law is hiding at En-gedi, near the Dead Sea. So he raises a national army to hunt one man, marching to a place named after the goats that climb its cliffs.
Saul sends three thousand picked soldiers after six hundred, and Israel pays for it.
David had 600 men with him, so he could not hide easily. Saul gets the report that he is in the wilderness of En-gedi. Saul was not exactly a brave man himself. He needed 3000 chosen men of Israel — five times as many men as were with David — to go with him and seek David and his men. So the king uses the army, which the people of Israel pay for, not for the benefit of Israel, but for his own wicked scheme! He would allow nothing to stand in the way of his killing David.
God had just rescued David out of Saul's closing trap. You might expect that to sober the king.
But the unhappy king was in no way ashamed of himself, and he paid no attention to the lesson of the Lord. As soon as he could, he went back to hunting his dutiful son-in-law and faithful subject, David. This one object characterizes his life from now on. The clearer it was that God had stepped in to deliver, the more he wanted to seize and kill the man his evil mind turns into an enemy. So when he hears that David is in the wilderness of En-gedi, he takes three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and goes looking for him there.
The place-name is not just scenery. One writer unpacks what it means and what it pictures.
En-gedi means "the spring of the young goat," and the force of that second word is really "leaper." En-gedi reminds us of how the wilderness and the hill of difficulty become, in the wisdom of God, schools of training and producers of strength. The tread and leap of the wild goat are the very symbols of strength gained by practice and by getting over difficulties with ease. The name is explained and underlined for us where it says that Saul "went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats' Rocks" — the wild goats being climbers. They were in the same circumstances with the same results. Trial and hardship were forming character, as we know. The demands they faced from day to day were producing mighty men, masters of themselves and of their circumstances.
Another writer sets the rocks and the water side by side.
There were wild rocks and the fountains of water, and here David had found his refuge and strongholds. God also trained him in the hardships and difficulties that the rocks suggest. The fountain suggests the refreshing that was also his blessed portion.
David strikes no blow here. He does not need to.
What a thing it is to have God on our side! Without our striking a single blow for ourselves, He can distract the attention of those who are harassing His people. More than that, He can so lead the enemy that the enemy ends up at the mercy of the people he wanted to persecute. For the next time that Saul and David were near each other, Saul discovered how close he had come to David and his men in the cave. With three thousand men Saul had come to seek David. Six hundred, at the most, David had.
One writer sets this army against Saul's earlier solo pursuit, then counts up his defeats.
Saul is no longer content to chase David on his own. He keeps at his plan with an organised force and a deadly purpose. David must endure this pressure. But in the end he will know this: the greater the violence used against him, the simpler and more effective are the means God uses to deliver him. David defeated Saul at Keilah by abandoning the town. The invasion of the Philistines foiled Saul at the Rock of Division. And at En-gedi he is defeated most shamefully of all — by the moderation and loyalty of David, to whom he owes his life. In the malice of his heart he had no idea that, by entering the cave, he was pushing himself into the grasp of his intended victim. Nor did he know how low this scene would humble him, morally, by the contrast between the two men.
- Hunt. Saul turns the nation's army into a private weapon. Israel pays for three thousand picked men, and Saul spends them on one loyal subject.
- Hardening. Every rescue God gives David only hardens Saul. From here, hunting David is the one aim of his life.
- Hardship. The rocks of the wild goats are a school, not just a hiding place. Difficulty makes climbers, and a fountain waits among the cliffs.
- Help. Five to one, and David never lifts a hand. God distracts the hunter, then hands him over to the man he hunts.
- Humbling. Saul enters the cave a king with an army. He leaves it humbled, beaten by nothing but David's restraint.
And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet; and David and his men were abiding in the recesses of the cave.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And David's men said to him, Behold the day of which Jehovah said to thee, Behold, I will give thine enemy into thy hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good to thee. And David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.
Saul walks alone into the cave where David and his men are hiding, and in a moment the hunter is at the mercy of the hunted. David's men see a promise coming true; David does not, and cuts only a corner of Saul's robe.
Nothing about the situation was accidental. God arranged the circumstances, and the men were not wrong that Saul was helpless.
Saul enters a cave near the sheepfolds to relieve himself and rest. At the back of the cave with his little troop is the man whom Saul wrongly considers his enemy. God's providence at this moment is delivering Saul, defenceless, into David's hands. David's companions do not understand. They conclude that God Himself is giving their master the chance to avenge himself. But David's spiritual understanding is not fooled. As the rejected king, his character is grace and not judgment — it is the same with Christ. Here God's providence gives grace a fine opportunity to show itself.
The men quote God's own promise. Yet no such promise to David is on record.
They pointed out that God had indicated David would be king. But they read the facts in a way that was not quite right. We have no record that God told David He would deliver Saul into his hands, to do with him as he pleased. Yet there is no doubt that God had done this.
Commentators can only guess where the men found these words. They may have come from David himself.
We do not know exactly when these words were spoken. Most likely they come from one of the psalms. David may often have repeated or sung these inspired and inspiring lines to his lonely followers in some dark hour. Now they may have turned his own words back on him and said, "See, the hour has come when your enemy has fallen into your hands."
An open door is not the same as a command.
God has not yet carried out the sentence pronounced on Saul. Until He does, Saul still bears the name "the Lord's anointed." Whatever the evil may be, we have no right to destroy what God allows to stand... The circumstances God arranges are not meant to govern or direct our conduct. They are there to test our faith.
David had every human excuse available to him, and refused all of them.
If provocation could have justified killing Saul, David had received provocation enough. Saul had entered the cave alone. If the circumstances God arranged had been a safe guide, then surely David's time to be avenged had come. That is how his men viewed the matter, and they urged him to take advantage of his opportunity.
David did act. He cut the corner of the robe — the "skirt" in older translations. The cut was proof, not injury, and even that much troubled him.
Still, David cuts off the corner of Saul's robe. This was a token meant to give his enemy proof of the grace that was sparing him. David's heart — not his conscience — reproaches him even for this act. Seen from the outside, he had failed in the respect due to the Lord's anointed. Yet deep down he was full of grace toward his persecutor.
The scrap of cloth in his hand pointed to something larger he would one day receive.
David cut off only a little piece of the king's robe. But it may suggest to us the removal of the whole garment. The king had failed to wear it properly, and that garment would fall to David. He would not now take it by force. One day he would wear it in royal dignity and righteousness. But David will wait until the robe is given to him.
The same scene returns later. Followers reach for the sword, and their leader refuses the act.
Judas and the officers of the law closed in on our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane. He showed His almighty power: they went backward and fell to the ground. Peter, like David's men, might draw the sword and cut off — not a corner of the robe, but the ear. His holy Master would not own the act. He touches the ear and heals it.
- Opportunity. God did put Saul defenceless into David's hands. The facts were not in dispute — only what they meant.
- Interpretation. David's men quoted a promise God never gave. They treated an opportunity from God as an order from God.
- Test. God gives circumstances to test faith, not to direct it. An open door is not permission to take what He has not yet given.
- Restraint. The cut robe was proof of grace, not harm. Even that small liberty with the Lord's anointed troubled David's heart.
- Reward. He would wear that royal garment one day. But it had to be given, never seized — and Christ showed the same restraint in the garden.