For the second time, David found himself in a situation where he could have killed Saul, and for the second time, David chose to spare his life. David remembered that Saul was the Lord's anointed, chosen by God to rule over Israel, and therefore David refused absolutely to harm Saul in any way.

When the facts became known, this impressed Saul greatly. Saul confessed his sin and spoke to David kindly. In fact, he blessed David and declared that David would do great things and he would in the end overcome all his troubles; and in that Saul was right.

This was their final meeting. The two men would never see each other again.

David had been determined to carry out an act of great cruelty, and he would have done it, had not Abigail intervened with her great wisdom. Accepting personal responsibility for the foolish and evil behaviour of her husband, Nabal, she reminded David that as God's anointed king, he must gain his power in God's way, and not by the power of his own military action.

This was something that David had already resolved in his dealings with King Saul. David now saw that he must implement the same principle in everything that he did. God could deal with Nabal and his wickedness; David did not need to act - rather, he could and should hand the matter over to God.

At Engedi, there were plenty of hiding places for David, but there was no work for his 600 men. So David made the decision to return to the region of Ziph - where Saul had almost caught him - so that the men could work as guards for the shepherds, in a region at constant danger from violent robbers.

Of course, those guards were entitled to payment for their work, and they expected wealthy farmers like Nabal to pay at the time of shearing their sheep, when they would make good profits.

However Nabal refused to pay, and he did it with a nasty insult to David, whose men had worked so hard to look after Nabal's sheep. At once, David decided to act, and he himself led his men. In his anger, David failed to see that he was planning a massacre of men, most of whom were completely innocent. If Nabal's wife Abigail had not acted quickly to save David from the temptation, David would have been guilty of a truly terrible crime.

Engedi, near the Dead Sea, is a place of many caves, in one of which David hid from Saul, who wanted to kill him. However, Saul chose the very same cave when he needed to do something privately.

David's men urged him to take the opportunity to kill his enemy, and David was able to creep so close to Saul that, with a stroke of his knife, he cut off the fringe of Saul's robe. But would David now act to make himself king by ending Saul's life? And if not, how could God's promise ever be fulfilled that David would rule Israel?

The people in Keilah should have been truly grateful to David. With his group of 600 men, he fought to save them from the Philistines, who had been robbing their supplies of food. However, when Saul threatened to surround their town with his army, they cared little about David's life.

In Ziph, the inhabitants did not even need to be threatened to want to hand over David. They were glad to see an opportunity to please King Saul.

From both of these places, David's escape was truly a miracle. At one, a warning from God himself; at the other, an urgent message for Saul, was all that saved David from capture.

Yet in the middle of all this, David's friend Jonathan, the son of Saul, found him, and strengthened him with a reminder of the promises of God.

In the midst of Saul's persecution, David found a place of refuge in the cave at Adullam, and a band of men, outcasts from Israel, joined themselves with him.

However, Saul's anger continued unabated, and it drove him to one of the most terrible incidents in the entire Bible. Doeg the Edomite was remorseless in hunting down the families of Israel's chief priests. The sole survivor, Abiathar, escaped to David, taking the chief priest's ephod with him.

Welcome to our 200th Episode. During the last 5 years, we have released 200 talks covering 175 complete chapters of the King James Bible, studying each chapter verse-by-verse and word-by-word.

Today we reach 1 Samuel 21, with David in a truly desperate state, fleeing from King Saul, who is determined to kill him. David first goes to Nob, the town of the priests, where he begs for bread and a sword. Then he goes to Gath, the town of his enemy, the Philistine champion Goliath, hoping for a safe place of refuge from Saul's anger. On the way, there's deceit, and fear and danger, and the chapter doesn't show David at his best. But even so, David is learning a deeper trust in God too, and his experiences in this chapter provided the inspiration for two of the Psalms, Psalm 56 and 34.

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Jonathan tested the attitudes of his father, King Saul, towards David. Alas, the situation was much worse than Jonathan had ever imagined. An angry outburst from Saul was so violent that he almost killed Jonathan himself.

So it was a sad and difficult message that Jonathan brought to David as David hid in the field. It had become plain that Saul's cruelty had, at last, forced the two friends to separate.

Separated, yes - but still the love remained. Apart from each other, in life or even after their deaths, their friendship must continue. Their covenant, their serious promises to each other in front of God, demanded it.

Saul was dangerous and unpredictable - but until now, David and Jonathan believed that they were in control of the situation. Now however, after many attempts to kill David, David was at last convinced. His life was in danger; he could no longer remain with Saul.

So David asked Jonathan to test Saul. It was the beginning of the month, a festive occasion in Israel, and Saul expected David to be present at his feast. David, however, would go to Bethlehem and return on the third day. That would give Jonathan the opportunity to find out Saul's reaction to David's absence.

David and Jonathan realised the likely effect on their own friendship of this. If Saul was determined to kill David, then Jonathan and David must separate, perhaps for ever. So they made a covenant, promises of friendship, which they intended to be binding on them, and their families after them into the future.

David was now son-in-law to King Saul, and one of the chief commanders in his army. It did not make his life with this unpredictable and unreliable king any easier - rather, matters grew much worse.

Still for about 10 years, and with the strong support of Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, David managed to continue to serve Saul. Then, suddenly, matters grew much worse...