1 Samuel 26:7-8

The two accordingly go by night , or "at night," as soon as night came on, and find Saul asleep within the trench, i.e. inside the wagon rampart, as in 1 Samuel 26:5 , and his spear, the sign of his royal authority, stuck in the ground; not at his bolster, but "at his head; and so in 1 Samuel 26:11 , 1 Samuel 26:12 , 1 Samuel 26:16 . The word literally signifies "the place where the head is." Like David's men in 1 Samuel 24:4 , Abishai sees in Saul's defenceless condition a proof that it was God's will that he should die, but there is a difference of language in the Hebrew which the A.V. does not represent. There the word rendered deliver is really give ; here it is "hath locked up." At once. Hebrew, "once." Abishai would pierce him through with a single stroke so thoroughly that no second blow would be necessary. The purpose of this would be to prevent an outcry.