1 Samuel 26:10

10 I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives," David added, "the LORD will strike him. Either his time will come when he'll die [naturally], or he'll go into battle and be swept away.

1 Samuel 26:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 26:10

And David said furthermore
In order to make Abishai easy, and prevent his doing what he proposed:

[as] the Lord liveth;
which was the form of an oath, made to assure Abishai of the truth of what follows, and therefore he need not be hasty to put Saul to death, since it would not be long before he should die, in one or other of the three following ways: either

the Lord shall smite him;
suddenly, which the Jews call cutting off, or death by the hand of heaven, by the immediate hand of God:

or his day shall come to die;
the time appointed for him to die a natural death, of some disease common to men:

or he shall descend into battle, and perish;
which was commonly reckoned death, casual or accidental, and in which last way Saul did die, ( 1 Samuel 31:3 1 Samuel 31:4 ) .

1 Samuel 26:10 In-Context

8 Abishai said to David, "Today God has turned your enemy over to you. Please let me nail him to the ground with one stab of the spear. I won't have to do it twice!"

9 "Don't kill him!" David told Abishai. "No one has ever attacked the LORD's anointed king and remained free of guilt.

10 I solemnly swear, as the LORD lives," David added, "the LORD will strike him. Either his time will come when he'll die [naturally], or he'll go into battle and be swept away.

11 It would be unthinkable for me to attack the LORD's anointed king. But please take that spear near his head and that jar of water, and let's go."

12 David took the spear and the jar of water near Saul's head, and they left. All of them were asleep. No one saw them, knew about it, or woke up. The LORD had made them fall into a deep sleep.