Saul continued to pursue David, despite having asked for forgiveness for his previous attempts to find and kill David. David had been anointed to be the next king of Israel, but Saul was not ready to give up his throne and preferred to remove all of the oncoming threats to his rule and reign over Israel.

David had found Saul encamped on the side of hill along with three thousand of his selected men, the “special forces” of the Israelite army. Saul was once again in pursuit of David, still looking to kill him, to remove the threat that David represented to his kingdom.

This time, as a warning to Saul and all of his men who were supposed to be protecting him, David had taken Saul’s spear and water jug in the middle of the night while Saul and all of his men slept. Then, after calling to Saul and his men from a distant hill, Saul responded in supposed repentance:

Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”

1 Samuel 26:21

I say that Saul responded in “supposed” repentance because Saul had now tried to kill David several times. Saul called David to come back to him, to embrace him, to return to the kingdom, but David was wiser than to just take Saul at his word. If Saul was truly repentant, he would have called off the search. He would have returned back to rule his kingdom. He would have left David alone. David had shown Saul kindness, having twice respected the fact that he was God’s anointed, the appointed king of Israel, and he did not kill him when he had the opportunity.

But that wasn’t what Saul did. He used words of repentance, but he didn’t display it with his actions. Nothing really changed. His repentance was hollow. If he could have killed him, he would have. In fact, Saul only stopped seeking to kill David when David went to live amongst the Philistines, amongst the people who were the sworn enemies of the Israelites.

David didn’t fall for the trap that Saul laid out for him. He gave back the spear and water jug, but he didn’t return to Saul. He didn’t embrance Saul. David was wise enough to see through hollow repentance and so he didn’t reorient his life each time that Saul said that he was sorry for what he had done. David waited to see the “fruit” of Saul’s repentance, a true outcome, but it was an outcome that never came. Saul never actually came back to David in true repentance, and while this did have an effect on David and his life, David didn’t become a fool. He didn’t believe the lie that Saul was sorry for what he had done, and so he didn’t return, allowing Saul to destroy him even further.

As the people of God, we are called to offer forgiveness when it is requested. At the same time, we should also be wise and not foolish in the way that we offer ourselves to those that are requesting forgiveness. We don’t know, but David may have forgiven Saul. However, he certainly didn’t offer himself back to Saul as Saul asked him to do. He didn’t return to Saul because he hadn’t yet seen the true fruit of the repentance. This is a lesson for us as well, that we must be wise, hearing not only words, but also seeing actions to back up the words that have been spoken.