1 Samuel 24:9 - Meaning and Application

David’s speech to Saul is warm and moving. He is trying to show Saul how much wrong he has done by chasing him, and to win him back to peace. David speaks with respect, but he also speaks plainly.

He calls Saul “father” because Saul was both the king of Israel, the father of the nation, and David’s father-in-law. From a father, a person should expect compassion and a fair view. It is unnatural for a ruler to try to destroy a loyal subject, just as it is unnatural for a father to ruin his own children.

David then lays the blame for Saul’s rage on evil advisers: “Why do you listen to men’s words?” (1 Samuel 24:9). It is fitting, when a king does wrong, to blame those around him who pushed him toward it or failed to warn him against it. David had every reason to think Saul was acting from envy and hate, but he kindly assumes others may have misled him and made him think David was his enemy.

Satan, the great accuser of believers, still works through helpers in many places, especially in courts and places of power. Such people often try to paint God’s people as enemies of rulers and a danger to the land. Then they stir up public hatred against them, as if they were wild animals to be hunted.

David also solemnly declares his innocence. He says there is no evil or wrongdoing in his hand, meaning he has done no crime against Saul and means him no harm. He is not pretending he has never sinned at all, only that he has not sinned against Saul. Yet Saul is hunting his life.

This may have been the time when David wrote Psalm 7 about Cush the Benjamite, whom some think was Saul. In that psalm, David appeals to God and says that if there is guilt in his hands, then let the enemy pursue and take him. He also says, in the middle of that prayer, that he has delivered one who was his enemy without cause.

David then gives clear proof that Saul’s charge was false. He says, “See the corner of your robe” (1 Samuel 24:11). That piece of cloth is a fair witness. If David had meant Saul harm, he could have taken his head just as easily as he took the robe corner.

He adds that God’s providence had given him the chance to kill Saul. The Lord had delivered Saul into his hand in a surprising way. Many people would have taken that as a sign that God wanted Saul struck down then and there. Saul himself had once spoken that way when David had the smaller advantage over him (1 Samuel 23:7). David did not act like that.

Others around David urged him to kill Saul. He had just blamed Saul for listening to men’s words, and rightly so, because if David had followed such advice, Saul would not be alive. But David did not listen to them. He was held back, not by fear of Saul’s men, but by fear of God.

David says Saul is his lord and the Lord’s anointed one, the king chosen and set apart by God. Because of that, David owes him loyalty and protection. So he says, in effect, “I will not lay a hand on him.” He had such self-control that even strong anger could not overthrow his duty.

David also says he will not be his own avenger. He leaves judgment to the Lord: “May the Lord avenge me on you,” meaning may God rescue him from Saul’s hand, “but my hand will not be against you” (1 Samuel 24:12). He then adds an old saying, “Wickedness proceeds from the wicked” (1 Samuel 24:13).

This proverb can mean that wicked people often ruin themselves in the end. Their own evil comes back on them, and they bring about their own downfall. In that sense, it is a good reason for David not to touch Saul. It can also mean that bad people do bad things, because their actions match their hearts. If David had been the wicked man Saul claimed, he would have done such a wicked deed. But he would not, because he feared God.

It also means that when wicked people hurt us, we should not be surprised. If someone lies among thorns, he should expect to be scratched. Yet we must not answer evil with evil. Though wickedness may come from the wicked, it must not come from us in revenge. If a dog barks at a sheep, the sheep does not bark back.

Finally, David tries to show Saul how unworthy it is for a great king to chase such a small and helpless man. He asks, “Whom is the king of Israel pursuing? A dead dog? A flea, one flea?” (1 Samuel 24:14). It is beneath Saul’s honor to hunt a man who is no match for him, a former servant, a poor shepherd by birth, now a wanderer in exile. David is not trying to resist Saul, and to defeat him would bring Saul no glory.

David even speaks of himself as a dead dog, and Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son, later uses the same kind of humble language about himself (2 Samuel 9:8). If Saul had any generosity in him, that humility should have moved him. It is enough for a lion to have struck down its prey once. What honor is there in trampling on a dead dog? What pleasure can there be in chasing a flea, especially for a king? David felt that Saul had no more reason to fear him than to fear a flea bite.

He calls on God again and again as the righteous Judge (1 Samuel 24:12, 1 Samuel 24:15): “May the Lord judge between me and you.” The justice of God is the shelter and comfort of innocent people who are being mistreated. If people wrong us, God will set things right, at the latest on the great day of judgment. David leaves his case with God and is content to wait for the right time for God to defend him.