Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.
Throughout this chapter the writer balanced statements that credit God for David’s successes (1 Samuel 18:12; 1 Samuel 18:14; 1 Samuel 18:28) with others that credit David for them (1 Samuel 18:5; 1 Samuel 18:14-15; 1 Samuel 18:30). Both reasons were true. God’s choice of David and David’s choice of God worked together to make him successful. The opposite was also true of Saul. The Lord had forsaken Saul, but Saul had also forsaken the Lord, and the result was tragedy.