What a Sob Story

Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner." And King David followed the bier.

2 Samuel 3:31 English Standard Version

Whenever someone dies David really, really takes it hard. Here he's mourning Abner, his enemy-turned-maybe-friend. And when Absalom died he nearly lost his mind, then when his child by Bathsheeba didn't make it he lay on his face for a week. Bit of a drama queen, huh?

As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

1 Samuel 24:16 English Standard Version

Each time I read Saul's story, how he rose out of obscurity into God's favor and quickly out of it and into a painful and inglorious decline, I am struck by how God "interferes" with Saul's and David's life in very similar ways and yet how differently that affects them.

With David it is a blessing and keeping him on the stright and narrow, a guide, a refuge, a source of strength.

With Saul it's like he's a fish and God keeps telling him to walk on land. God's interference only seems to drive him further out of control. In the end, unlike David's, Saul's heart is entirely out of sync with God. Saul never truly loved God nor cared for Him.

Come With Me Into the Field

“Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they [David and Jonathan] went there together.

1 Samuel 20:11 New International Version

This phraseology immediately brought to mind Genesis 4:8 wherein the bitter Cain invites his brother Abel into a field not to save his life, but to kill him. The contrast is really striking.

Chronology In the Histories

As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”
Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”
The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

1 Samuel 17:55-56 New International Version

This story (David and Goliath) follows the story of Saul's evil spirit and the young man--the same David--who was brought to the court as a harp player to sooth his restlessness.

I've always thought it odd that Saul did not recognize David when he came to the camp--maybe the harp story comes second chronologically?

Either way though you'd think there'd be some recognition on Saul's part. He was half mad, though, so who knows.