<t /><p class="bodytext">Then the people said to Samuel, &#8220;Who were the ones asking, &#8216;Will Saul reign over us?&#8217; Hand over those men so we may execute them!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Jonathan replied, &#8220;All right!<n id="1" /> We&#8217;ll go over to these men and fight them.

<p class="bodytext">The sin of these young men was very great in the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s sight, for they<n id="1" /> treated the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s offering with contempt.p>

<p class="bodytext">So the men did as instructed.<n id="1" /> They took two cows that had calves and harnessed them to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls.

<p class="bodytext">David asked the men who were standing near him, &#8220;What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and frees Israel from this humiliation?<n id="1" /> For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he defies the armies of the living God?&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Then David approached the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to go with him,<n id="1" /> those whom they had left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and the people who were with him. When David approached the people, he asked how they were doing.

<p class="bodytext">When David&#8217;s<n id="1" /> oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, he became angry<n id="2" /> with David and said, &#8220;Why have you come down here? To whom did you entrust those few sheep in the desert? I am familiar with your pride and deceit!<n id="3" /> You have come down here to watch the battle!&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said<n id="1" /> to him, &#8220;Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don&#8217;t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become<n id="2" /> our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men?<n id="3" />