David Spares Saul’s Life

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

1 Samuel 24:1-7
1 When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.”
2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks.
3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.
4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed.”
7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way.

In our last post we saw that David was rescued by outside influences. Saul was hot on the trail of David until he found out that the Philistines were attacking Israel, probably his own estate. (See previous post for reasoning on this statement)

Saul had to fight off the Philistines, for the sake of his nation, (or maybe his estate!) Nevertheless, Saul took care of his required business and got back to his focus – killing David!

After a spy informed him of David’s whereabouts, he gathered 3,000 of Israel’s finest warriors and headed out to kill the next king of Israel.

Now a word about Wildgoats’ Rocks. It is another name for Engedi, and this location, per our map to the right, is on the western shore of the Dead Sea, but the map doesn’t rightly describe the topography of the area. Enter Google Maps, to give us an idea of the rock formation of the area.

No wonder they called this area Wildgoats’ Rocks, for the only animals in this area were goats, who could climb the escarpment. This location is also an oasis, fervently green amongst some of the dryest areas on earth. Truly a contradiction of expectations.

It is in this location, Saul sought out David. Traveling up and down the coast, looking for traces of David, having no success. Eventually taking advantage of the many caves found in the escarpment, Saul took advantage of the caves to find some privacy to poop. (everybody gotta poop!) Even the king! All this hunting takes a lot out of a guy, and this happened to be the time Saul had to set aside to sit down and think!

Where would David be? How can I find him? What resistance will he put up? All these thoughts must have been twirling in his head as he was distracted for a few moments. And while Saul was fuming about finding David, he unwittingly had stepped into the very cave David and his men were gathered.

To all appearances, God had delivered Saul to David. Even his men reminded David of God’s plans to deliver Saul to him. But I do not recall any promise from God to David of delivering Saul to him.

Where did David’s men get this information? Was it a popular rumor, based on the men’s desire to see justice for David? Had the men heard from God? I can’t find any record of it! Might this simply be the zeal of the men to justify killing the king? I think so.

But not with David.

David did not listen to his men, for he was to lead them, and listen to God. Listening to men as opposed to God is a great challenge for a Christian leader, but I digress.

David was of such a sensitive heart towards God, that he could not hurt the King even though Saul was hunting him down. Stealthily, he crawled up to the kings robe, possibly taken off during Saul’s “distraction”, (for who wants to poop with a robe on – that just gets nasty!)

The deed was done – David got a snippet of the kings robe, without harming the king. Without the king noticing. Without the king realizing he wasn’t alone! Amazing stealth.

David cut a piece of Saul’s robe, and notice his reaction when he got back to his men.

And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe

David was convicted of cutting a piece off the Kings robe! How could he allow Saul’s death?

The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed.

David would not allow his men to kill his enemy! How crazy is that? How utterly extreme is that!

It is as if David is a picture of a future King who would tell his men (and women) to not kill their enemies, but HE went just a bit further. He actually stated we are to love our enemies!

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies …

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