We are at the point where David's life is in danger. Jonathan makes this clear to him, and Michal covers for him as he escapes. Interestingly, he escapes to Samuel (19:18ff). Saul sent people to hunt David down; but the Spirit of God had other ideas, as all the emissaries that Saul sent fall into a prophetic frenzy. Finally Saul goes himself, and he, too, has the Spirit fall on him so that he is quite literally out of his mind (19:23-24).
David in Chapter 20 goes back to find Jonathan, and they arrange for Jonathan to get word about his father's plans. Saul accuses Jonathan of treason, favoring David over himself; and the father-son relationship is irretrievably strained from that point on.
In the Gospels, Jesus refers to the episode narrated in Chapter 21, where David solicits the assistance of Ahimelech the priest, and takes the holy bread that has been offered to the LORD. David himself feigns madness and hides in the Philistine city of Gath, and then moves to a cave in Adullam. His family and allies generally know where he is by this time; and he begins to exercise leadership in the classic way: people come to him for guidance; and the most disaffected elements of society gather around him (22:1-2). They're a tiny, ragtag bunch of relatives and malcontents. He moves his parents in the care of the King of Moab. But Ahimelech is in grave danger because of the assistance he gave to David. No Israelites would obey the king's order to kill Ahimelech. Only Doeg the Edomite would do so. Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escapes, but the rest of the family are slaughtered. David takes Abiathar under his protection.
In Chapters 23 and 24, we watch Saul divide his attention between the internal threat that David represents and the external threat of the Philistines. When David has a chance to kill Saul (24:3 ff), he refuses to do so, saying: "The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD's anointed, to raise my hand against him, for he is the LORD's anointed" (24:6). But David did cut off a scrap of Saul's cloak, demonstrating that he was close enough to do serious harm to Saul but refused to do so. Saul finally realizes--and becomes resigned to the idea?--that David is set up to be the next king, and it's probably inevitable.
25:1 tells us that Samuel died. The mediating, judging influence of this man will no longer be felt in Israel. And in this chapter we have the story of Nabal, and see David meet Abigail, Nabal's wife, and develop a relationship with her. What started out as simple gratitude soon develops into a relationship that will be significant indeed. Abigail, after Nabal's death, becomes one of David's wives.
David and Saul continue their cat-and-mouse games. It's important to remember that Saul represents the tribe of Benjamin, and David the tribe of Judah; and I think we will see that the north-south division of the Kingdom of Israel after Solomon's day occurs along similar fault lines. A strange sort alliance between David and the Philistines develops (Chapters 29-30).
The book of 1 Samuel ends with the deaths of Jonathan and Saul. The story of Saul's death is ambiguous. Was it a suicide or an assisted suicide or outright murder? Once again we see how respectful David was to the very end of Saul's status as the LORD's Anointed.
This is a great story! The narrative is rich and detailed. You get a sense of what motivates the characters to act as they do. The human characters are....well....so human. They could be people in our own time.
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