Note 268 — Chapter VI
Evelyn Abbott translation
According to the older account, 1 Sam. xxviii. 2, when Achish requires him to march with him against Saul, David replies, "So shalt thou behold what thy servant will do." The narrative of the sending back of David at the wish of the remaining princes, and David's protest against it, belong also to the older narrative. This is repeated in Chronicles (1, xiii. 19) very emphatically, and without any motive in the context, so that it might be possible to accept the same view which represents David as constantly marching against the desert from Ziklag. For the moral estimate of David it is sufficient that it did not rest with him to join in the battle.