Saul heard a song that wasn’t about him and decided that it was. The women sang an ordinary victory song in an ordinary form — and Saul heard a coronation for somebody else. Two verses later he installed a lens: from that day on, Saul kept a jealous eye on David. Two verses after that, a spear left his hand.

David caught that spear, and then got hunted for years by the man who had been the closest thing to a father he had. Twice he stood over Saul with the weapon within reach and a friend at his elbow whispering that God had handed the man over. Twice he refused — not because he felt nothing, but because he would not sit in a seat that belongs to God.

And here is the part almost nobody preaches: after Saul wept, blessed him, and admitted he’d been wrong, David went back to the stronghold. He forgave. He didn’t move back in. Two chapters later Saul was hunting him again with three thousand men — and David’s forgiveness had still been real.