A Spear and a Jug of Water
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Saul’s promise to leave David in peace did not last long.
The Ziphites again reported his presence to Saul.
David, informed by spies of the location of Saul’s camp, asked for a man to accompany him and move closer. Abishai, David’s nephew by his sister Zeruiah, volunteered.
With great stealth, hiding in shadows, David and his nephew snuck into Saul’s camp. During their reconnaissance, they found Saul sleeping beside Abner, the commander of his forces. Saul had placed a jug of water near his pillow and had stuck his spear in the ground close beside it. Abishai saw an immediate opportunity.
“Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time” (1 Samuel 26:8).
“Abishai had not learned the difficult lesson of exercising magnanimity toward an enemy. Saul had started an intertribal feud between Benjamin and Judah, and Abishai evidently concluded that such an action called for retaliation. Saul had thrown his spear at David, but had missed. Now, according to Abishai’s judgment, it was David’s turn, and as his bodyguard, Abishai was offering to act on behalf of his uncle.” Refusing to take the life of God’s anointed (vv. 9–11), David left Saul in God’s hands, allowing Him to choose what course to follow.
Telling Abishai to take the cruse of water and the spear, David and his nephew threaded their way back through the sleeping army.
“The miracle that enabled these men to move back and forth through the lines of 3,000 men, to the very center of the group, without detection, was evidence as to which side of the controversy Providence was on. The intervention was a condemnation of Saul’s changeable nature in pledging himself to one thing, and a short time later violating his word and doing exactly the opposite.” “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:6).
