043. Saul Lay Sleeping

Saul Lay Sleeping

(1 Samuel 26:7) The sheikh’s tent was always distinguished from all other tents by a tall spear standing upright in the ground in front of the tent. It was customary, when a party went out on an excursion to rob or for war, that at night the place where the chief slept was designated by a spear. So Saul, lying asleep, had his spear stuck in the ground at his head and the people lay round about him. This whole scene is truly Oriental, even to the deep sleep into which the whole party had fallen. Then the cruse of water at Saul’s head agrees with the customs of the people of that day. It is a hot, dry country and the people need a drink in the night, and the quantity that an Arab can drink is enormous.

We see Saul and his party asleep in a shady valley, after the weariness of a hot day. David, from the hillside, marks the spot where the king slumbers, creeps carefully down and stands over his persecutor. Abishai pleads with David to be allowed to strike him once, just once; but David forbade him, and, taking the cruse of water and the spear, he ascends to the top of the hill and then cried out to Abner, Saul’s body guard. What a sensation must have gone through the camp as David’s voice rings from the hill-top!

"Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like thee in Israel? . . . As the Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is and the cruse of water that was at his bolster." (1 Samuel 26:15).