and their readiness to do whatever the king might ask. When he and his men were pinned down one day, David longed for a drink, and said out loud how much he would like to have water from the well at Bethlehem – which was of course inaccessible due to the Philistines. But that didn’t stop his three heroes. Off they went, broke through the Philistine army, got water from the well at Bethlehem and brought it back to David. But David didn’t drink it. His shrewd sense of political judgment was even sharper than his thirst. ‘God forbid’, he said, ‘that I should drink the blood of these men, who went
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