Considering the Bible

David Flees to the Philistines

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 27:1-12
1 Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”
2 So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
4 And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.

In our last post, we watched as the existing king of Israel and the future king of Israel faced off after some very embarrassing circumstances for Saul and Abner, along with some very good logic provided by David, the future king.

During the discourse, Saul confessed his sin towards David, and invited him home. (How sweet!)

David, on the other hand provided an argument to Saul of the current situation that was unanswerable, much like the Son of David often provided to those who sought His life!

During this speech of David, and in the middle of one of his claims, he mentioned that if men had stirred up Saul to persecute David, the end result, which was horrendous to David, would be that

1 Samuel 26:19 ….they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

The men who had stirred up Saul was intending to drive David from the God he loved, from the temple where he sought the Lord, and into a land that was foreign and without the God of Israel.

In our passage today, we find that David refused the kind offer of Saul to return to Israel, and it’s general populace, (along with being within Saul’s grasp at any moment), but that he left the nation completely, knowing Saul was not to be trusted at all, that his words were to be rejected.

So we find David resorting to Achish, king of Gath, in the land of the Philistines.

Now if you have a good memory, this isn’t the first time David has went to Achish. Early on in David’s fleeing from Saul, David showed up at Achish’s doorstep, seeking some refuge of a type. For a brief reminder consider reading 1 Samuel 21:10-15, or Life of David – 12.01 and 12.02

This time, David flees Israel to enter the land of Dagon, the fish god, bringing his 600 men, with their families into pagan territory.

This strategy of David is not uncommon for those who follow the Lord, disappearing for a time to allow their enemies to be taken care of.

Did not the parents of Jesus go into pagan territory to keep the future King of Israel, and Savior of the world safe from a wicked king in Israel? David removed himself from Saul’s grasp, and in doing so, would never interact with him again.

What turmoil David must have endured, for we know that he literally cut himself off from his family, for he had lost his wife Michal to Saul’s instability, he lost access to his best friend Jonathon, all of the relationships he has forged while fighting for Israel under Saul’s kingship were done, other than those he was now traipsing into foreign land. Certainly a time of David’s life that offered him the temptation to despair.

On top of all his turmoil, he would no longer enter the temple, no longer be where the Lord resided, and to be before Him. He would be amongst weak, foreign, lifeless god’s who mocked the True God and His followers.

David’s strategy worked, for we see in the 4th verse, Saul no longer sought David, since he had fled to Gath.

Could we conclude that when David claimed the men that forced him to the land of other gods, that in reality, those men, or that man was to be cursed for doing so?

Let’s reread 1 Samuel 26:19

1 Samuel 26:19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant…. 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.’

David was delivering Saul his own curse, in that Saul was the reason David fled his nation, and had entered Philistia, a land that was rife with other gods.

Saul intent may have been to corrupt David, but we know that he came out of Philistia stronger and more passionate for the will of God than when he entered. We shall see David enter struggle after struggle, disappointment topped with despair, but he came out of the land of the Philistines ready to reign and to bring glory days to the nation.

What man planned for evil, God used for good. Does that sound familiar? Very much so, for God orchestrates our lives through the good and the bad, to bring about His will.

The best example of this is of course the Lord Jesus, for He entered the worst possible condition, that is the taking of His life, the violent removal from the land of the living, to only arise to greater glory, greater authority and greater power.

He did not stay in the land of the dead, but arose to provide entrance into the land of the living for all His followers.

May we give thanks to our Son of David, no matter our own situation. If it be difficult, look to Him, for He is orchestrating the good even as we follow Him.

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible

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 26:21-25

21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a great mistake.”
22 And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it.
23 The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the LORD gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”
25 Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

Here we go again.

Saul confesses his error before David, somewhat in similar fashion as he did in 1 Samuel 24:16-21. There are differences though. Other than an admittance that he had sinned, and the invitation for David, his son to return to the family, Saul only speaks of his living the life of a fool. How utterly sad.

Then Saul tries a different tack. He invites David back into the fold. This is very revealing, for I imagine (and that is all this is – my imagination) that Saul is thinking – if I can’t capture this threat to the throne, maybe I can convince him to come back, that my invitation will be sufficient to entice him into my surroundings.

Saul may be sincere, but I fear not. Is it not true that once a man’s word is broken, which Saul has proven on capable of on numerous occasions, only a foolish man would trust enticing words from him.

Proverbs 25:19 Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.

Yes Saul is untrustworthy, and may be sensing his own failures.

This turns out to be Saul’s last interaction with the future king of Israel. A future king that sought to have his kingdom built on allowing God to place him on the throne, and not through acts of violence or treachery.

David understood the truth of the Lord’s faithfulness, of how the Lord reward’s us out of our decisions in life. Living a life of self centered desire, walking over others to get ahead, and focusing on my own wants will lead to a life God cannot bless. With that said, it must be reiterated that in all things God is abundantly gracious to us in our circumstances, no matter our decisions, yet it is for us to act properly for the blessings to be released in greater ways.

David said he would not put out his hand against Saul, and that Saul’s life was precious in his sight.

Is not David expressing God’s own thoughts towards His enemies, and expressing the very actions of the Son of God as he proved God’s thoughts. He did consider our lives precious, and not only kept death from falling on us, but took the death we deserved. He is of course the Son of David, and in His life, He exhibited decisions David made here with added grace and added mercy, culminating in His own sacrifice.

Consider verse 24 in relation to God honoring David’s life due to David honoring Saul’s life. David looked to God for salvation from tribulation, and protection.

1 Samuel 26:24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may he deliver me out of all tribulation.”

Alas, not so with the Son of God, at least in regards to His earthly life. He went through death, even as He saved others, even to save others.

The truth is still the truth, for as we read in verse 23

1 Samuel 26:23 The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness…

Jesus has been rewarded for a sinless life and a sacrificial death, by way of being raised from the dead, and being lifted to the highest position. He is the King, and as Saul spoke the last words to David, may the same be considered for our Savior.

1 Samuel 26:25 ESV – Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.”

Jesus succeeded in all His actions, and is the Most Blessed!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible

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?

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible

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 26:13-16

13 Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them.
14 And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?”
15 And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.
16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”

David’s beef is with Saul, but in this portion of Scripture, David takes on Abner.

Let’s take a moment to consider who Abner is.

First off, he is the “general”, or commander in chief of Saul’s troops. He is first cousin to the king, and he it is who brought David to Saul after his giant killing! He eventually became a king maker when Saul’s army was defeated at Gilboa, and setting up Saul’s (weak) son Ish-bosheth, he essentially became a power broker in the Northern Kingdom.

It is assumed he was at the battle of Gilboa, in which his king died, and for a period of 7 years, was the military leader David would have to face when war broke out between Israel (Ish-bosheth) and Judah (David).

One other item that seems pertinent to this short time considering Abner is the type of culture he existing in. Israel, and the surrounding nations were based on an honor/shame based society. Throughout the Word, shame appears twice as often as guilt. Honor appears over 115 times in the Old Testament. All this to provide a background to David’s message to Abner – not King Saul.

David – “Will you not answer, Abner?”

Although this is the literal translation, and provides us the formal request from David to discuss the previous (unknown) entrance and theft of the Kings spear and water bottle, I really like the NLT, where it catches, what I think was David’s intended message

David – “Wake up, Abner!” (NLT)

Of course Abner responds, hopefully understanding that the camp had been infiltrated with the spear and jug gone!

Abner – “Who are you who calls to the king?”

Again, the NLT brings out a possible intent of the response from Abner.

Abner – “Who is it?”

Having opened up a line of communication, David brings his volleys of questions, all based on the shame associated with failing to guard the king.

David – “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.

Abner, David implies, you have a reputation of being a man’s man, a fighter, a general, a leader. Is this true? You have a reputation that is unlike any other in Israel. You are the top of the pile, the confidant of the king, the protector of the throne! No one in Israel is like you.

If that is true, why did you let down the guard, ignore the safety of the King. As a matter of fact Abner, by allowing the enemy in the camp, it appears the enemy has more respect for the king than you. The enemy, (David and his cohort), only took a weapon, which could have easily been used against the king, and a jug of water. They respected the king’s life, even proving their allegiance to the king over your own.

What shame! What an utterly devastating attack on Abner!

David continues with Abner, pronouncing a death sentence on him, depending on the Lord for the timing and occurrence. Death was deserved.

David was kicking sand in Abner’s eyes and he did it very effectively. All the camp of Israel, all 3,000 soldiers of Ahab, may have heard this message. If not, the rumor mill would provide the details for all to know.

Abner received a gut punch to his life at this time is his military career. I wonder how it all washed out in the end, as Abner and David face off in future conflicts.

Let me ask my reader. Golly – let me as my reader a bunch of questions!)

• Do you think we as a society have walked away from a honor/shame based society?
• How about as God’s people?
• Do you personally relate to the social valuation of honor and shame for your life?
• Might the assigning of shame perform any benefit to the bearer of it?
• Could this shift be related to the hardening of our conscience as our society slips further and further from the Word of God?

Thoughts that keep me up at night. Have a good day, and be thankful for a God who is honorable, and seeks to keep us from shame! May His name be praised!

Thanks again for coming to visit. I hope you found something of interest in this post and would appreciate a comment, to begin a discussion. If you know someone this blog may bless (or challenge), send them a link, so they may join us in our discussion.

Come join us at Considering the Bible