Study Desk

But Sha'ul sent messengers to David's house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. Mikhal David's wife told him, "If you don't save your life tonight, tomorrow you'll be dead."

Y'honatan said to David, "Anything you want me to do for you, I'll do."

If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David begged me to let him hurry to Beit-Lechem, his city; because it's the annual sacrifice there for his whole family.'

Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you bound your servant to yourself by a covenant before Adonai . But if I have done something wrong, kill me yourself! Why turn me over to your father?"

Y'honatan said to David, " Adonai , the God of Isra'el [is witness]: after I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, then, if things look good for David, I will send and let you know.

Y'honatan had David swear it again, because of the love he had for him — he loved him as he loved himself.

Then I will send my boy to recover them. If I tell the boy, ‘They're here on this side of you, take them,' then come — it means that everything is peaceful for you; as Adonai lives, there's nothing wrong.

As for the matter we discussed earlier, Adonai is between you and me forever."

As soon as the boy had gone, David got up from a place south of the stone, fell face down on the ground and prostrated himself three times; and they kissed one another and wept each with the other until it became too much for David.

David went from there to Mitzpeh of Mo'av and said to the king of Mo'av, "Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me."

He consulted Adonai for him, gave him food and gave him the sword of Golyat the P'lishti."

Sha'ul said to him, "Why did you conspire against me, you and Yishai's son? By giving him bread and a sword and consulting God for him, you helped him rebel against me and become my enemy, which he now is!"

I didn't start consulting God for him just today. Heaven forbid! The king shouldn't accuse me or my father's family of anything! Your servant knows nothing at all about any of this!"

Sha'ul said, "May Adonai bless you for showing me compassion!

Sha'ul and his men went searching for him. David was told, so he came down to the rock and stayed in the Ma‘on Desert. When Sha'ul heard that, he pursued David in the Ma‘on Desert.

David was told, "The P'lishtim are fighting Ke‘ilah and plundering the threshing-floors." David consulted Adonai , asking, "Should I go and attack these P'lishtim?" Adonai answered David, "Go, and attack the P'lishtim, and save Ke‘ilah." David's men said to him, "Look, we're already afraid here in Y'hudah. How much more, then, if we go to Ke‘ilah to fight the armies of the P'lishtim!" David consulted Adonai again; and Adonai answered him, "Set out, and go down to Ke‘ilah, because I will hand the P'lishtim over to you." David and his men went to Ke‘ilah and fought the P'lishtim. They defeated them in a great slaughter and led away their livestock. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Ke‘ilah. When Avyatar the son of Achimelekh fled to David in Ke‘ilah, he had brought a ritual vest with him. Now Sha'ul, on being informed that David had gone to Ke‘ilah, had said, "God has put him into my hands. He's trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars." So Sha'ul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke‘ilah and besiege David and his men. David knew that Sha'ul was plotting something against him, so he told Avyatar the cohen, "Bring the ritual vest here." Then David said, " Adonai God of Isra'el, your servant has certainly heard that Sha'ul intends to come to Ke‘ilah and destroy the city just to get me. Will the men of Ke‘ilah turn me over to him? Will Sha'ul come down, as your servant has heard? Adonai God of Isra'el, please tell your servant!" Adonai said, "He will come down." Then David asked, "Will the men of Ke‘ilah hand me and my men over to Sha'ul?" Adonai said, "They will hand you over." So David and his men, now around six hundred, got up, left Ke‘ilah and went wherever they could. It was told Sha'ul that David had escaped from Ke‘ilah, so he called off the expedition. David stayed in the desert strongholds, remaining in the hills of the Zif Desert. Sha'ul kept trying to find him, but God did not hand him over to him. David saw that Sha'ul had mounted another expedition to seek his life. David was then at Horesh in the Zif Desert. Y'honatan Sha'ul's son set out and went to David at Horesh to encourage him in God. He said to him, "Don't be afraid, because my father's forces will not find you; you will be king over Isra'el, and I will be second to you. Sha'ul my father knows this, too." Then the two of them made a covenant in the presence of Adonai , after which David stayed at Horesh and Y'honatan returned home. The people of Zif came to Sha'ul in Giv‘ah and said, "David is hiding himself with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on Hakhilah Hill, south of Yeshimon. So now, king, since you've wanted so much to come down, come down! Our part will be to turn him over to you." Sha'ul said, "May Adonai bless you for showing me compassion! Please go and make still more certain exactly where he is and who has seen him there, because I've been told that he's very tricky. So look closely, find out where all his hiding-places are, and come back when you're sure. Then I will go with you, and if he is there in that territory, I'll search till I find him among all the thousands of Y'hudah." They set out and went to Zif before Sha'ul. But David and his men had gone on to the Ma‘on Desert, in the ‘Aravah south of Yeshimon. Sha'ul and his men went searching for him. David was told, so he came down to the rock and stayed in the Ma‘on Desert. When Sha'ul heard that, he pursued David in the Ma‘on Desert. Sha'ul went along one side of the mountain, while David and his men went along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Sha'ul, while Sha'ul and his men were trying to surround David and his men in order to capture them. But then a messenger came to Sha'ul, saying, "Hurry, come, because the P'lishtim are invading the country!" So Sha'ul stopped chasing David and went to fight the P'lishtim. Therefore they called that place Sela-Hamachlekot [rock of divisions].

Sha'ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra'el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.

You have made it clear to me today that you have done me good; for when Adonai put my fate in your hands, you didn't kill me.

A man finds his enemy and lets him go unharmed?! May Adonai reward you well for what you did to me today.

I've heard that you now have shearers. Your shepherds were with us [for a while], we did them no harm, and they found nothing missing all the time they were in Karmel.