Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.” – 1 Samuel 26:21

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 19, 2019): 1 Samuel 26

Sometimes, we are wrong. It happens to all of us. The perfection of performance is not possible on this physical plane. We all act in error, we jump ahead of the information, we allow emotion to shape us, and all of this means that we can be wrong in our actions. And, despite what others might try to tell us, nothing is disqualifying about making a mistake. What excludes us is how we respond to the error.

Saul is outwardly repentant. He admits his sin and asks that David would return to him. At first glance, all that Saul says seems to be entirely appropriate. Saul’s problem is that he does not seem to believe what it is that he says. There are likely several other emotions that are floating through his mind and influencing his future action.

Tactically, Saul had responded to the news that David was in the area with overwhelming force. Saul brought his elite troops into the area and outnumbered his foe by five to one, in the hopes of delivering an overwhelming defeat to David. The problem with an overwhelming force is that it is almost impossible to hide. David knew exactly where Saul’s elite soldiers were, and David responded with underwhelming force; just two soldiers, including David. David and Abishai accomplished what the three thousand elite troops failed to do; they got close to the King and, if they had wanted to, could have killed him. It was a tactical win for David.

David surpassed the king in mercy. Saul wants to kill David. David proved, for the second time, that he was not a threat to the king. David had no desire to kill the king. His actions showed that David refused to kill Saul. It was not just the words of David that proved that he was not a threat; it was David’s actions as well. And the significance of David’s refusal to kill the King is that it struck down Saul’s assertion that David was a threat to Saul and Israel. There was no reason for the King’s to be obsessed with killing David.

David was also loyal. Saul calls him “David, my son,” but David acted more like the adopted son of Saul than Saul acted like the adopted father of David. If Saul expected loyalty, David gave it to him. But like some other powerful men, Saul may have expected loyalty, but he had no idea how to give it.

All of this meant that Saul was embarrassed. He spoke the words that he was expected to speak, but they were more like saying “I’m sorry” because he got caught. Underneath, Saul’s anger increased, and Saul wanted to kill David more than Saul ever had before. He said that he had acted the fool, but the real act was in the words that the king was speaking to his poet general. Soon Saul would once again commit himself to the task of attempting to kill David.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 27