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The Pierpont Morgan Library, NY/Art Resource, NY

Security breach. Another golden opportunity to kill the king presents itself in 1 Samuel 26, when David comes upon Saul at Gibeah, sleeping soundly along with his guards. As before at Ein Gedi, David refrains from regicide—contenting himself with snatching the king’s spear and water jug (left). He then presents the evidence of his restraint to the newly humbled monarch (at right), repeating what he said earlier—that while he could have killed the king, his hand was stayed because Saul is “the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 26:11). But David has also learned something valuable from the Nabal affair, and adds: “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him [Saul] down” (1 Samuel 26:10). In other words, when it comes to dealing with “pissers” like Saul and Nabal, the Lord can be trusted to do the dirty work.