* 1 Sam. xxiii. 1-13; an episode acknowledged to be
     historical by nearly-all modern critics.

[Illustration:  326.jpg THE DESERT OF JUDAH]

     Drawn by Boudior, from photograph No. 197 of the Palestine
     Exploration Fund. The heights visible in the distance are
     the mountains of Moab, beyond the Dead Sea.

Saul already irritated by his rival’s successes, was still more galled by being always on the point of capturing him, and yet always seeing him slip from his grasp.  On one afternoon, when the king had retired into a cave for his siesta, he found himself at the mercy of his adversary; the latter, however, respected the sleep of his royal master, and contented himself with cutting a piece off his mantle.* On another occasion David, in company with Abishai and Ahimelech the Hittite, took a lance and a pitcher of water from the king’s bedside.** The inhabitants of the country were not all equally loyal to David’s cause; those of Ziph, whose meagre resources were taxed to support his followers, plotted to deliver him up to the king,*** while Nabal of Maon roughly refused him food.  Abigail atoned for her husband’s churlishness by a speedy submission; she collected a supply of provisions, and brought it herself to the wanderers.  David was as much disarmed by her tact as by her beauty, and when she was left a widow he married her.  This union insured the support of the Calebite clan, the most powerful in that part of the country, and policy as well as gratitude no doubt suggested the alliance.

     * 1 Sam, xxiv.  Thought by some writers to be of much later
     date.

     ** 1 Sam. xxvi. 4-25.

Skirmishes were not as frequent between the king’s troops and the outlaws as we might at first be inclined to believe, but if at times there was a truce to hostilities, they never actually ceased, and the position became intolerable.  Encamped between his kinsman and the Philistines, David found himself unable to resist either party except by making friends with the other.  An incursion of the Philistines near Maon saved David from the king, but when Saul had repulsed it, David had no choice but to throw himself into the arms of Achish, King of Gath, of whom he craved permission to settle as his vassal at Ziklag, on condition of David’s defending the frontier against the Bedawin.*

* 1 Sam. xxvii.  The earlier part of this chapter (vers. 1-6) is strictly historical.  Some critics take vers. 8-12 to be of later date, and pretend that they were inserted to show the cleverness of David, and to deride the credulity of the King of Gath.