NOTES for Sa1 26:1-25
The Lord does not allow Saul to kill David but, on the contrary, delivers Saul into David’s hands. Yet Saul has not learned the previous lessons, and the situation repeats itself. Once again David has every opportunity to avenge the hardships Saul has caused him, and once again he refuses revenge. Why? His motives are perfectly clear: God made Saul His anointed one, the foremost person among God’s people and therefore the foremost person in the whole world. No one has the right to raise a hand against God’s anointed, not even the next anointed one! God alone can decide his fate. Reading such episodes gives us the sense that perhaps God had good reason to allow Samuel to appoint a king over Israel: after all, a king can be obedient to God’s will.