THE utter discomfiture of the Philistines ensued; and the shepherd lad was honoured by the king, and received with due regard by the brave old general Abner, and fervent generous admiration by Jonathan, the king’s son, who, though much older than David, loved him henceforth with ardent, noble, equal friendship. In eastern fashion, he arrayed him in his own robe, and girt him with his own sword, and David became the chief hero of the army. When the triumphant host returned home, and the women came forth with garlands, dancing and beating their timbrels as they sang —
“Saul hath slain his thousands,
But David his ten thousands,”
the bitter suspicion crept into the king’s heart that here was the person of whom Samuel had spoken to him — the man who was to be raised up to wear the crown in his stead;* and he hated the youth accordingly.
In an attack on the Amalekites, Saul’s troops had stooped to plundering and looting against the instructions of God delivered through Samuel. Saul pleaded that it was his troops who had taken it upon themselves to act in this way, and added that they had offered sacrifices to God from their spoils. “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,” Samuel replied, “as in obeying the voice of the Lord?”