David and Saul

The stories of Israel’s first two kings overlap. While the first king is in decline, the second is beginning his rise to greatness. The story gives us plenty of opportunities to compare the two, but perhaps none more poignant than 1 Samuel 24.
In chapter 24. we have a point of intersection. Saul and David pass each other - one on the way down, the other on the way up. But at this moment, they are equal.
As the king of Israel, Saul was the man who "stood head and shoulders above everyone else" (9.2). But Saul faltered. and lost his way. Samuel, who anointed him king, heard Yahweh say, "l regret that I made Saul king" (15.11). Desperate to atone for his mistakes, Saul grabbed hold of Samuel as the prophet was turning his back on him, and tore his robe. The seer commented sadly, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of lsrael from you." (15.28)
When Samuel went to find young David to anoint him, he first met his seven elder brothers. On seeing, Eliab first, a fine looking man, Samuel thought. "Surely before Yahweh, is his anointed king!" (16.6) But Yahweh had not chosen him, nor' six of his brothers who each
their turn before Samuel’s eyes. Seven is the complete number, but it was the eighth son (an afterthought?) and just a boy, who was 'the one Yahweh had chosen.’ So David made his inauspicious entrance.
At first Saul was delighted to have David around, but he soon regretted inviting a rising star into his lacklustre court. People liked David more than Saul. He made him an general, to get him out of the public gaze. But this backfired  too - people started singing his victories.
Rejected by God, and troubled by an evil spirit, Saul drove David out and in fits and starts he pursued him, looking to kill him.
David and his band of outlaws were hiding in some caves when Saul and a company of three thousand men passed through, hunting them. Three thousand would have easily overpowered David's rag tag army. but for the chance that made Saul turn aside into the very cave where David was hiding. He was off guard. he was fatally relaxed, and David stood behind him, sword in hand.

KILL HIM!!!

He could be king tomorrow, he could be enjoying life in a palace, not skulking in a cave, living out the destiny that Yahweh through Samuel had promised him.
With these thoughts (maybe) in mind, David raised his sword...and cut the corner of the kingly robe.
Saul is at his mercy, but David cannot bring himself to take events into his own hands. But just as Samuel’s robe tore, and the old prophet wryly passed comment on Saul’s declining fortunes, so now David re-enacts the moment.
Having cut the robe, David is “stricken to the heart.” Why is he so upset? These words seem out of place, but they remind us how deeply David felt in this matter. As far as David’s followers were concerned, he was Robin Hood, and Saul was the Sheriff of Nottingham. But David gives them a stinging rebuke, and does not permit them to harm Saul. There is more behind this than respect for Yahweh’sanointed. David loved Saul like a father. To become king in place of Saul is as much tragedy as triumph for David.
When Saul leaves the cave, David hurries after him, and kneels before
him. Turn and turn about. Now David is at Saul’s mercy.  With touching devotion he appeals to Saul. "My Lord! Your majesty! It's me, David! Why do you listen to those who tell you that I want to kill you? You are anointed by God. Look, here's proof that I don't wish you
harm.I could have killed you now, Yahweh gave you into my power. but all I did was cut the corner of your cloak. See, here it is! I've done you no wrong, you're a father to me, even though you're hunting me to put me to death. Who are you chasing, anyway? What am I compared to you? I'm like a dead dog or a flea! I will let Yahweh decide between us, I will never take vengeance into my hands."
It’s a long speech, and an extraordinary one in many ways. David’s extravagant humility might make it seem ridiculous, but he also prays, “May Yahweh avenge me on you.” He says things you would say to a mortal enemy, but also things you would say to someone in total authority over you, whom you admire, respect and love. Strange though it is, we feel the power of David’s appeal - our hearts melt as we read it.
As for Saul, he lifted up his voice and wept. Saul wept, because he wished that David was dead, and wished that he didn’t wish that. He recalled his own anointing by Samuel and knew how it will end and refused to believe it. He wept because he loved David and hated him in the same breath: he wept because the two of them were passing each other and going in opposite directions and there was nothing he could do to change it. Saul’s tears acknowledge David’s greatness, and mark the significance of the moment for us. His words, “is this your voice, my son?” will be echoed much later when it will be David’s turn to lift up his voice and weep, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18:33).The moment ends, and the two move on. Saul, bowing to the inevitable, that David will be king after him, asks David for the only mercy he feels there is any chance of God allowing him - clemency for his family. David promises this. and they part from each other.
Why, when this feels an like a reconciliation, does David not return to Saul's court?
To expect that is to overlook the powerful currents tugging these two characters in opposite directions. The two men will never stand face to face again. Next time they speak it is after a similar story when David has spared Saul’s life, but they shout to each other "with a great distance between them." (26.13) The currents have moved them both on. Soon after that, Saul kills himself after suffering defeat in battle.
Why should it be that Saul is rejected by Yahweh, while David is “a man after [his] own heart”?  (13:14) David’s sins - adultery and murder - seem a lot worse than Saul’s  - offering a sacrifice when he shouldn’t have, making a rash oath, and failing to utterly destroy the Amalekites. (13:9, 14:24 & 15:9) But for all David’s failings, he did not lose faith with Yahweh, while Saul’s trust all too easily faltered.
After David made his poignant appeal, Saul lifted up his voice...to weep. To whom did he lift up his voice? Who else but Yahweh?Yahweh has been the unseen actor in this intense and emotional play. David’s men say to their leader, "Yahweh has put your enemy into your hands." But David’s response is to remind them that it was Yahweh’s initiative to anoint that man, and to forbid them to presume to harm him. He calls for Yahweh to avenge him, but will not usurp Yahvveh’s prerogative.
So it is David. not Saul, who is the man after Yahweh’s heart.  And it will he the Son of David, many centuries later who will be Called "My Son!" - not by a king - but by Yahweh himself.