"See, my father, look at this piece of robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but I did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, 'From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you." (1 Samuel 24:11-13) David appeals to his familial relationship with Saul: he is Saul's son-in-law and he reminds him of that by addressing him as "my father". Then he says something like, "If I were guilty of plotting against you, I had my chance to kill you just a few minutes ago. If I'm an evil man like you say I am, you'd be lying dead in the cave right now. No one would blame me for striking down the man who has made my life a living hell, who has caused me to live in exile away from my home, my wife, my family, my work, and everything that is dear and familiar to me. But I am going to let God take care of this. I am going to let Him be the judge and jury and executioner. He has witnessed your wicked treatment of me and in due time He will deal with you as your deeds deserve."
David points out that the king has far bigger and better issues upon which to focus his time and energy. "Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May He consider my cause and uphold it; may He vindicate me by delivering me from your hand." (1 Samuel 24:14-15) He asks, "Why is Your Majesty chasing one poor guy all over the country? You have matters of government and matters of national security to attend to. You have the Philistines repeatedly invading the land. Why have you left your headquarters to come down into the wilderness with three thousand men to chase down one lone shepherd from Bethlehem? Who am I in comparison to you? Why are you wasting your time on me? I am not leading a rebellion. I am not orchestrating a coup. I'm just trying to survive. If you leave me alone I'm certainly going to leave you alone. The proof is in my hand that I intend you no harm!"
Saul temporarily feels guilty for his shameful behavior. I think he's conscience-stricken not so much because he's seen the light but because he realizes how close he came to death. David or his men could have taken advantage to his unarmed and vulnerable state in the cave. He realizes how careless he was to go into the cave alone without first sending some of his soldiers in to check it out. He thought he was safe in the cave because he had three thousand men standing outside but the danger lay deep in the cave behind him, not outside the cave. "When David finished saying this, Saul asked, 'Is that your voice, David my son?' And he wept aloud. 'You are more righteous than I,' he said. 'You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today.'" (1 Samuel 24:16-19)
Have you ever known anyone who is suddenly overwhelmed by guilt and shame for their actions and promises to turn over a new leaf? Have you ever seen them breaking their promise soon afterwards because their sorrow was temporary and their repentance wasn't genuine? That's how Saul is going to behave. Right now he's overcome by emotion but later, after the shock wears off, his sorrow will wear off too. At the moment he can't help but speak the truth because what little conscience he still has is troubling him greatly and he's aware of all his shortcomings and understands why the Lord wants to remove him as king. "I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands." (1 Samuel 24:20)
Now Saul elicits a promise from David. He asks David to extend mercy to him even though he has not been merciful to David. "Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father's family." (1 Samuel 24:21) Saul says, "Promise me that when you become king you won't wipe out my family and put an end to my name and my branch of the family tree. Please don't leave me without descendants in the land of Israel!"
David won't be like the heathen kings of the nations surrounding Israel. It was a common practice in ancient times that when a king of a different family or tribe gained the throne, he would have the whole family (or at least all the male descendants) of the previous king killed. This helped to prevent someone of the former king's family from announcing his candidacy for the throne and gaining a great number of supporters who will help him attain the kingship by force if necessary. Saul is afraid David will do something like this, not only because it's what men of other nations did, but because it's what he himself would do if he were in David's place. David promises not to leave Saul without any descendants in the land. "So David gave his oath to Saul." (1 Samuel 24:22a) There will come a time when David is responsible for putting seven of Saul's sons to death but this will be done upon instructions from the Lord. The loss of these seven will not put an end to Saul's family line, for David will keep another promise which was made to his best friend Jonathan. Jonathan also asked him not to wipe the family out when he becomes king and David agreed to honor his friendship with Jonathan forever. We will find David bringing Jonathan's son to live in his own house where he will be treated like one of the royal princes.
Saul spoke the truth when he said to David, "You are more righteous than I." Saul has no righteousness in him at all, as far as we can tell, and at every turn David has behaved in a way that is opposite to how Saul would have behaved. Because David is a more righteous man than Saul, the Lord has chosen him to be the next king. Because Saul has rejected the Lord time and time again, he has been rejected as the leader of the Lord's people. Saul doesn't allow this knowledge to lead him to repentance. He's temporarily sorry in today's passage but two chapters from now he'll resume his pursuit of David. David suspects this will be the case so he does not return to the capital city with Saul. Instead he remains with his men in a mountain fortress where he can see an enemy coming from a mile away and where he can more easily defend himself. "Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold." (1 Samuel 24:22b)
When someone's behavior has really hurt us, whether it's by committing one big betrayal or whether it's by committing a series of smaller disappointing deeds, we must be cautious when they claim to have turned over a new leaf. Of course we want them to turn over a new leaf---to repent to the Lord and allow Him to change their hearts and lives---but sometimes their sorrow is temporary. We don't have to act like they're lying to us but at the same time we don't have to throw ourselves wholeheartedly back into the friendship, romantic relationship, or business partnership. We must be careful to be sure they are consistently producing "fruit in keeping with repentance". (Matthew 3:8) If they have truly changed, their behavior will show it on an ongoing basis. Saul will not produce fruit in keeping with repentance. He says, "I'm sorry," in today's passage but by Chapter 26 he will no longer be sorry. He will have fallen right back into his former way of living and will once again be consumed by jealousy and hatred toward David.
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