1 Samuel 26:21

“Then said Saul, I have sinned, etc.] Which is more than he acknowledged before, and yet, it is to be feared he had no true sense of his sin, and real repentance for it; but, like Pharaoh, his guilty conscience for the present forced this confession from him; (see <020927>Exodus 9:27); return, my son David: meaning to his own house, or rather to his palace, since he had disposed of his wife to another man: for I will no more do thee harm: or seek to do it by pursuing him from place to place, as he had done, which had given him a great deal of trouble and fatigue: because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day; and therefore spared, when he could have taken it away; which showed that his…”

“My soul, &c. - This second instance of David's tenderness wrought more upon Saul than the former. He owns himself melted and quite overcome by David's kindness to him. My soul was precious in thine eyes, which I thought had been odious. He acknowledges he had done very ill to persecute him: I have acted against God's law, I have sinned: and against my own interest, I have played the fool, in pursuing him as an enemy, who was indeed one of my best friends. And herein I have erred exceedingly, have wronged both thee and myself. Nothing can be more full and ingenuous than this confession: God surely now touched his heart. And he promises to persecute him no more: nor does it appear that he ever…”

“26:21 I have sinned: Saul had seen the error of his ways once before (24:16-19). David had no good reason to trust him this time (see 27:1). • I have been a fool: This Hebrew term (sakal, “play the fool,” see also 13:13) is different from the word meaning “fool” (nabal) used in ch 25. However, the two words have parallel meanings. Saul and Nabal are parallel figures.”

“I have sinned: Sa1 15:24, Sa1 15:30, Sa1 24:17; Exo 9:27; Num 22:34; Mat 27:4 I will no: Sa1 27:4 my soul: Sa1 26:24, Sa1 18:30; Psa 49:8, Psa 116:15 1 Kings (1 Samuel) 26:23”

“Moreover, Saul could not help confessing, "I have sinned: return, my son David; I will do thee harm no more, because my life was precious in thine eyes that day." A good intention, which he never carried out. "He declared that he would never do any more what he had already so often promised not to do again; and yet he did not fail to do it again and again. He ought rather to have taken refuge with God, and appealed to Him for grace, that he might not fall into such sins again; yea, he should have entreated David himself to pray for him" (Berleb. Bible). He adds still further, "Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have gone sore astray;" but yet he persists in this folly. "There is no sinner…”