Saul said, Thus shall you tell David, The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
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.