David Spares Saul Again

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 26:17-20

17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.”
18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands?
19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

David has demolished Abner with words. He has nothing left at this time, being shamed in front of his men, and in fron t of the king, whom he is directly responsible for. A terrible situation for Abner.

Saul now takes the lead in conversing with David.

David lays the base complaint out. Why are you after me? What have I done to you to make this way? What evil have I performed? Make it make sense King Saul, for I am still unsure what I have done to deserve this.

And without waiting for response from Saul, David continues with an either / or statement that leaves Saul in the dust.

• The Lord is stirring you up to chase me.
• Men are stirring you up to chase me.

A simple either / or argument. Nothing brought into the discussion that is emotion laced, with feverish arguments, personal attacks, screaming, shouting and cursing, (although being separated by the fields, I am sure the voices were raised to be heard). I get the impression that David is addressing King Saul from a standpoint of logic. Not a discussion based on emotion, as all dependence of David being related to Saul, and of their personal relationship has been clearly jettisoned at this point!

The Lord Stirring Saul

First suggested reason David provided to Saul, as to his reason for hunting him down, is that the Lord is behind this action. Did David seriously consider this to be a possibility, for he had been crowned by God, had been informed of Saul having lost the kingdom, and was being led by God through this persecution.

But consider the wisdom of David in this offering. Saul must come to a point where he is to be shaken from any assumption he is doing the Lord’s work. If David has done anything offensive to God, and Saul is seeking the Lord’s will, a sacrifice may be performed to make things right.

The solution in David’s mind was based on the revealed will of God. For Saul, this option was simply unacceptable to agree to, since a sacrifice would allow David to live, and provide Saul no righteous opportunity to eliminate this young upstart!

Men stirring Saul

Only other option was that men were stirring up Saul to take David out of the picture. When I say men, I am including Saul as a source of the stirring up, and think David is simply offering this argument to honor the king.

If this continual effort to cut David’s life short is “of men”, of which Saul is providing ample evidence of being controlled by, the option is only worse for Saul.

v 19 …may they (whichever man is responsible for this injustice) be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

Both David and Saul understand that the war is strictly between two men, two kings, a worldly king and a non-worldly king. Between righteousness and non righteousness.

And David makes it clear.

If this continual persecution is of man, they are to be cursed of the Lord, for this aggression towards David is the commitment of extreme prejudice, jealousy, envy, hatred and self preservation. Nothing righteous or of God can be found in this action, for it drives a man of God away from the very God he is to worship. David is forced to leave the promised land to enter foreign lands, and if he is able to be in Israel, he can not be near the temple.

For David, all things centered around God. His argument before the king of Israel was logical and plain, provide straight forward conclusions to the two options provided, and left Saul without any response.

Consider the strength of David in his communication to the most influential men in Israel, Abner and Saul, and how he stripped them both of any ability to defend themselves in their actions.

The Son of David was only greater in His delivery of questions, of His provision of options within a situation, and of His conclusions to situations faced by those who hunted Him. He strictly and consistently appealed to truth, and left His opponents without response.

All of this is so awesome, for I too love to strip those who may be my enemy of any response to an argument. I often thought of myself as one who brought the gun to a knife fight, metaphorically speaking, when entering a discussion with one I may disagree with.

This is sin. Note that David showed respect to the King, and sought to dull the argument when possible without taking the sting out of the point being made. (I refer to David speaking of “men” goading on Saul when all knew the motivation was sourced from Saul himself!

For the believer, the weapons of our warfare are not characterized by pride, self worship, competitiveness, or the abuse of truth.

We are to speak the truth in love, even when addressing our enemy, realizing we are fighting for the person we are speaking to, and not against him or her.

Remember my friend, we follow the One who is full of GRACE and TRUTH. A massive challenge to present the truth in grace can only be met when we are constantly listening to His guidance and voice.

Are you listening or formulating arguments?

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