David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty.
      2. David gets information of Saul's movements and acts defensively. He did not march out to meet and fight him; he sought only his own safety, not Saul's ruin; therefore he abode in the wilderness (1 Samuel 26:3; 1 Samuel 26:3), putting thereby a great force upon himself, and curbing the bravery of his own spirit by a silent retirement, showing more true valour than he could have done by an irregular resistance. (1.) He had spies who informed him of Saul's descent, that he had come in very deed (1 Samuel 26:4; 1 Samuel 26:4); for he would not believe that Saul would deal so basely with him till he had the utmost evidence of it. (2.) He observed with his own eyes how Saul was encamped, 1 Samuel 26:5; 1 Samuel 26:5. He came towards the place where Saul and his men had pitched their tents, so near as to be able, undiscovered, to take a view of their entrenchments, probably in the dusk of the evening.