Useful Bible Studies > 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 24

David appeals to Saul as his judge

1 Samuel 24:8-15

In the cave, David’s men reminded him about a message that he had received from God. God would hand over David’s enemy, King Saul to him. Then David could deal with Saul as he wished (24:4).

David’s men thought that God’s message gave David the right to kill Saul. David absolutely refused to do that. It was very wrong to kill the king whom God had appointed. David insisted that he and his men must respect Saul.

David understood that message from God in a completely different way. The message told David to deal with Saul as he wished. Of course David did not wish to kill the king whom he had always loyally served! David wished to give Saul the honour that was due to him as Israel’s king and therefore, as God’s servant. David wished to appeal to Saul as his king, to make his (Saul’s) own judgement about Saul’s decision to kill him. David wanted to remind Saul about his relationship with God, who in the end would be Saul’s judge.

So David humbly bent his body to the ground to give the greatest possible honour to Saul. As any citizen of Israel had the right to do, he appealed to Saul as his king and judge. He urged Saul not to listen to anyone who may have accused him unfairly. Saul himself could see the evidence that David was loyal to him. David had not killed Saul when he had the opportunity to do that. In fact, he had protected Saul from his (David’s) men.

David’s appeal was firstly to Saul, but David also appealed to God. God was the judge of both Saul and David; and he knew the truth about these matters. Whatever Saul decided, God’s judgement would be right. So David declared that he would do nothing to oppose Saul. God himself would punish Saul for his evil deeds - but David would not do any such thing.

Next part: Saul makes a judgement between himself and David (1 Samuel 24:16-19)

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