Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day: now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.
David believed, however, that since God had anointed Saul it was not his place to do him harm (1 Samuel 26:9; cf. 1 Samuel 24:6-7). His reply to Abishai begins (1 Samuel 26:9) and ends (1 Samuel 26:11) with the reason David would not permit Abishai to kill Saul: he was the Lord’s anointed. In the middle of this reply, David mentioned alternative ways by which God might terminate Saul’s life (1 Samuel 26:10). He might die from some physical affliction, as Nabal had (cf. 1 Samuel 25:38), or of natural causes, or in battle (cf. ch. 31). David reminded Abishai that God could deal with Saul without their help.