In our last teaching we saw David confront Saul at the Oasis of Ein Gedi, and there we saw a great part of David’s character revealed. One thing we saw revealed was his boldness, his courage and that he really trusted in God. He was able to stand up and confront Saul because he believed that God would defend him and that God would be in control. We also saw some of David’s crafiness, and his wisdom and the words that he used. He chose not to kill Saul, and instead he chose to cut a part of his robe off. It showed that he never had any intentions of killing Saul, he always saw him as king. It showed his humility. We saw his character revealed through his humility. He said, “After whom do you pursue Saul? After a dead dog after a flea”. David is stressing his insignificant and his unimportance in the face of a great king. We saw Saul respond in a very interesting way. He said, no not at all, you are not insignificant, you are going to be king someday. It is shocking but it reveals Saul’s insanity and that in times he had moments where he had it all together. But David knew that Saul would continue to come after him.
Meanwhile, both David and Saul received a shock because their spiritual mentor, Samuel the profit, had died. David received this news while in the wilderness of Maon, and there had a very interesting encounter with a very beautiful and wise and crafty woman herself named Abigail, and there we will find ourselves in the setting of this episode's topic.