At Engedi

The wilderness of Engedi, located on the western shore of the Dead Sea, is an ideal environment for fugitives to hide due to the abundance of water flowing from the waterfalls. David, with his 600 men, hid there. (1) After returning from fighting the Philistines, Saul hears news that David is in the wilderness of Engedi and heads there leading 3,000 of his elite troops. An army many times larger than the 600 of David was gathered. (2) Upon arriving in Engedi, Saul feels the need to relieve himself and enters a cave alone. This cave was used to shelter flocks of sheep overnight. (3) David’s men were scattered and hiding in various caves in the area. The cave Saul entered happened to be the one where David and few of his men were hiding. They were hiding in the inner recesses of the cave, the darkest part of the cave, so Saul did not see them.

Cutting off the edge of the robe

(1) David’s men interpreted this event as God delivering Saul into David’s hands. They advised David to kill Saul. (2) David stood up and secretly cut off the edge of Saul’s robe while Saul was crouching and relieving himself. This served as proof that David had the opportunity to kill Saul but chose not to do so. (3) Afterwards, as David’s conscience bothered him for having cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. This means he felt remorse. (4) Although his men still urged him to kill Saul, David rebuked them and did not allow them to do so. Why did David feel remorse? Surely, at this point, Saul was completely deviating from God’s will. However, this still does not justify killing Saul, who had been anointed by God as king. It is God Himself who is to judge Saul. Cutting off the edge of Saul’s robe was an act of disrespect and insolence. That is why David felt remorse. David did not repay evil with evil; instead, he repaid evil with good. What can you learn from David’s attitude?