Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.
David returned Saul’s spear to him (1 Samuel 26:22), the symbol of the right to rule. Perhaps David did not return the jug of water to remind Saul that he still had the power to end Saul’s life. He felt confident that God would repay each of them eventually, and he determined to wait for Him to do so (1 Samuel 26:23). David acknowledged that Yahweh was his real deliverer (1 Samuel 26:24). This may have been the occasion when David composed Psalms 54 (see its title) the last verse of which ascribes David’s deliverance from his enemies to Yahweh. Saul could have overwhelmed David’s smaller band of followers. Instead he departed with a prophetic declaration of David’s final success (1 Samuel 26:25; cf. 1 Samuel 24:20). The text does not record another meeting of David and Saul before Saul died.