It seemed as if Saul had experienced remorse to change his heart, but not so. Although spared by David in the cave, Saul returns home but continues to seek David's death. David sends some of his men to seek assistance from a wealthy man, Nabal. Nabal rejects them, but his intelligent and beautiful wife, Abigail, goes to David with food and supplies and seeks his mercy, for David and his men were preparing vengeance. When Abigail returns home and informs Nabal, he is frightened to the point that he soon dies. David interprets this as the Lord's revenge on Nabal. Soon after, David takes Abigail and another woman as wives, leaving his first wife, Saul's daughter, behind.
Meantime, Samuel has died and Saul continues his pursuit of David. David and one of his men sneak into Saul's tent one night, while Saul and his en are sleeping. Rather than kill Saul and end his personal exile, David again spares Saul's life, instead stealing his spear and water jar. Faced again with evidence of David's mercy, Saul tries to coax his return. But David remains skeptical and does not return. The Philistines, meanwhile, advance on Saul and his men, and Saul loses heart. So desperate is he that he visits a prophetess or witch, who wakes the spirit of Samuel from his death slumber. Samuel reminds that all of his misery is coming to pass because he did not obey the Lord's commands early in his reign.
I read this Saul "arc" as the story of a man whose sin and stubbornness led him so far from God that he becomes unmoored from who he is and who God created him to be. God does not call us to obedience to show His Power, or to somehow please Himself, but rather obedience to God's Will and His commands is what enables us to be the best selves that God created us to be.
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