Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Samuel 26:1

"And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?" — 1 Samuel 26:1 (ASV)

The incident described in this chapter, the meeting between Saul and David, is very similar to the one recorded in 1 Samuel 24, and it is unlikely that such an event would have happened more than once. The existing discrepancies can be explained by the theory that one narrative fully describes certain incidents about which the other is silent. Overall, the most probable conclusion is that the two narratives describe the same event. (Compare the two narratives of Creation in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2:4 and following; the two narratives of David’s war in 2 Samuel 8 and 2 Samuel 10; and those of the death of Ahaziah in 2 Kings 9:27 and following and 2 Chronicles 22:9.)