And David escaped from his presence twice. And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.
THE VALLEY OF THE KIDRON, IN THE WILDERNESS OF JUDEA.
The building on the left is the convent of Mar Saba.
Used by special permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
The "Wilderness of Judaea" is a wonderful place. Much of it is not a wilderness at all in our understanding of the term. It is, on its western edge at least, just a wild pasture land. But it was a very wild, desolate, and solitary place. The shepherd who kept his flocks there was in danger from the wild beasts and from raids of fierce robbers. Below the pasture land it is wilderness indeed. The land breaks off abruptly and falls in crag and precipice down to the very shores of the Dead Sea. "You cannot live in Judaea without being daily aware of the presence of the awful deep which bounds it on the east. From Beth-lehem and other points you look down into that deep, and you feel Judaea rising from it about you almost as a sailor feels his narrow deck."
And when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.
And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should slay David. But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, saying, "Saul my father seeketh to slay thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself in the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself: and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will talk with my father of thee; and if I see aught, I will tell thee."
And Jonathan spoke good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, "Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been very good toward thee; for he put his life in his hand, and smote the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great victory for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?"