Story Producer 149 - Saul chases David

Title ideas:Saul hunted for David to kill him. Doing good to repay evil.Do good to people who treat you badly.Repay evil [actions] with evil [actions]?

King Saul was hunting for David and for men who had joined with David. During those days, someone reported to David, “Philistines [tribal enemy] are attacking [Israel’s] Keilah Town and stealing people’s food grain!”

So David prayed, “O Lord! Should I go to Keilah [town] and attack those Philistines?” The Lord replied, “Yes, go to Keilah [Town], for I will help you to defeat those Philistines!”

So David and his men hurried to Keilah, attacked the Philistines, and defeated them, as the Lord had promised.

When King Saul learned [heard] that David was in Keilah, he led his army there, to capture David and his men.

But the Lord said to David, “Leave Keilah, for the people here will betray you to King Saul!” So David and his men left Keilah before King Saul came there.

One day, men from Ziph Town went to King Saul and said, “David and his men are hiding near our town!” So Saul replied, “Go find [scout] where David and is men are hiding. Then my army and I will come capture them!”

Meanwhile, David and his men went farther away, but Saul and his army kept looking for them. One day, Saul’s army was moving on one side of a hill [mountain] while David and his men were moving on the other side to escape from Saul.

A messenger came to King Saul and said, “Philistines are raiding our county, taking away everything. Please come quickly!” So Saul and his army left off hunting for David, to go attack the Philistines.

After fighting with Philistines, Saul went with 3000 good soldiers, to hunt again for David. As they moved through the wilderness, they came to a cave near some [noisy] livestock pins beside a road.

David and some men were hiding inside that cave. When Saul entered into the cave to relieve himself [take care of a need], David’s men whispered to him, “This is your chance to kill Saul!” But David was not willing to harm Saul.

Instead, David sneaked near to Saul in the dark, and cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing. Saul did not know David was there or what David was doing.

After Saul had left the cave, David came out from the cave and shouted, “King Saul! I could have killed you inside this cave. Look at this piece of cloth that I cut from your clothes! I do not want to harm you, so why do you try to kill me?”

Saul replied, “Is that you, David?” Saul began to weep, then said, “You are right, and I am wrong. You have shown loyalty [kindness] to me by not killing me when you could have done so!

“Certainly, you will become the next king over Israel! Please promise me that you will not kill my children or their children, after you become king!”So David promised King Saul that he would not kill his descendants, and Saul led his army away from David.