Considering the Bible

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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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

Saul Pursues David

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 23

24 And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.
25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. And David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them,
27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land.”
28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.
29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.

In our last passage we saw the Ziphites travel to see their king, in order to rat out David. Saul seemed hesitant to trust them, but simply couldn’t miss out on a chance to catch the young rebel, and this opportunity of Saul’s turns out to be one of the very near catches that we will see for David and his men.

But as we spoke of Saul’s spies in our last post, we find David has spies also that are feeding him information. It turns out that spies are influencing both sides of the war, and the information is changing as fast as possible.

Saul hears info from the Ziphites. David hears of Saul coming to the south, and ventures into the wilderness of Moan. Saul hears of David’s shift to the wilderness. It is here that Saul comes closest to actually capturing David, for he is only a hill away from David.

So close.

Until we have another “spy” or informant come to Saul informing him of trouble at home, of the Philistines raiding the home land. But why would this become a concern for Saul, as we know that Keilah, which was part of Saul’s kingdom was merely ignored when the Philistines invaded there. Saul was no where to be found. So why would this instance of the Philistines invading the land catch Saul’s attention, unless of course that it was his own personnel property that needed protection. If so, this fits with the character profile we have seen regarding this king. A selfish man, self centered and constantly grasping for more. A life that is always being pulled apart by his focus on self.

So off he goes from being so close to capturing David, causing further frustration on his part, with more frustration only to fall on this pitiable man.

On David’s part, we shall see this near escape come up often, where he uses all the skill of a master general, and yet is close to capture. He is rescued “at the last minute” by outside circumstances.

How often do we see this last minute escape for David provided by outside circumstances? How often the Lord orchestrates a situation where it appears we will be taken down, only to be rescued by outside influences.

Let’s cut to the chase here, for we know that outside circumstances and influences are orchestrated by God, the timing is of the Lord, and our security, as we follow after Him is in His hands. Close calls, from our standpoint, can be sometimes harrowing experiences, but from God’s point of view, close calls are a part of the orchestra He is leading to bring us closer to Him, to listen for His guidance, and to bring about a thankful spirit in our lives.

Let us thank Him for circumstances and influences that redirect danger from our lives.

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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

Saul Pursues David

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 23

19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon?
20 Now come down, O king, according to all your heart’s desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.”
21 And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me.
22 Go, make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he is very cunning.
23 See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides, and come back to me with sure information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

David was not everyone’s favorite rebel.

Recently he vanquished the Philistines as they were battling the city of Keilah. Finding victory, David and his men were then subjected to a faithless city, having to run before the Keilahites offered him up to Saul.

To be fair, this account of the Keilahites may have a slightly different interpretation than I have offered, since it seems that once the Lord revealed to David the Keilahites intentions to save themselves from Saul’s fighting machine, David willingly ran. Possibly to save the Keilahites of the suffering their king would being on them.

The Ziphites are not so guiltless. They seem to have a desire to assist King Saul, unlike the Keilahites, who may have only given up David in self preservation, if David hadn’t left.

No, the Ziphites sought out Saul at Gibeah, a town approximately 25 miles to the north of Jerusalem. They left their homes, and travelled to see the king with information of David’s whereabouts. Not simply a general location, but a very specific camp David was residing at, in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon.

David was on a specific hill. At first I imagined this “hill” to be mountainous, but it seems the Hebrew word for hill in this instance means hill, somewhat lower than a mountain. This information Saul was provided was very specific!

What good spy’s Saul has here! And they were willingly offering to Saul their full cooperation! What good citizens!

Saul provides the blessing of God on these good and faithful Ziphites. What? He doesn’t understand the blessing of God, nor is he in a position spiritually to pass a blessing on. And for the Ziphites – being blessed for being a traitor to God’s appointed King? Something is terribly wrong with this picture!

And though Saul “blesses” the Ziphites, he will not venture out until the information is verified. It is like he was saying – I don’t quite trust you Ziphites – Go make sure and then come back. Get more specific data.

Is Saul moving from a reactionary attack, based on shear hatred of David, to a more strategic, fact based plan to kill David at this time? Or is it that the Ziphites were known to be untrustworthy?

It seems the Ziphites were not necessarily untrustworthy, but merely seeking to gain the king’s favor. Seeking an earthly king’s pleasure against the Word of God leads to terrible betrayals, and huge treachery.

No- the Ziphites used their political faithfulness to a madman, to work against a movement of God. And we shall see in future passages that this behavior is confirmed in the Ziphites, for this is not the only time they offer up David to the king. We find that they show up on Saul’s doorstep again in chapter 26.

It also turns out that Saul was not as “strategic” as I may have suggested, for, in our next passage, it turns out that Saul couldn’t resist heading south to the region the Ziphites described, before gaining confirmation of David’s whereabouts.

It seemed Saul was about to capture David. Saul’s network of spies was about to deliver David into his hands, and Saul would finally have the peace he sought!

This passage reminds me of times when I seek to accomplish something, in order to find some sense of worth, or to justify a decision I had made, or to have a sense of completion. I may, in a sense be seeking a type of peace in these decisions. I tend to drive people, (as a hangover from work) and need to adjust my focus to people and not tasks.

An alternate view of this passage is that Saul sought to hurt someone. The Ziphites sought to hurt someone. They found a type of fellowship in this desire. They may have felt a bond of some type. Hard as it may be to believe, this may also become a trap for a believer, letting a group dynamic influence a just decision.

Consider your associations and test to see if the goals of the organization are just and right. If there is some uncertainty, or if those you associate with are working against God, it may be time to consider if you should remain? Is it simply a bond that started out right, in pursuit of God, but is now actively working against God?

This takes wisdom from God and clear spiritual discernment, but the Lord is able to teach each of us as we seek Him.

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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

Saul Pursues David

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 23:15-29
15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.
16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.
17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.”
18 And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

In the verse previous to 15, the author tells us that David was in the strongholds and mountains of the wilderness, due to Saul seeking him everyday. David was the subject of constant harassment, constant stress, constant pressure, from a king he had served faithfully. Yet the die had been set and Saul was determined in his actions. Saulnwas settled in his mind that David had to die, and in the past passages we have seen Saul abuse his wife, his daughters and his son in the pursuit of killing David. No one was safe until David was dead

Now the circumstances of how Jonathon, the son of David’s mortal enemy came to visit him is a mystery. David may have made the appointment with Jonathon, providing Jonathon his exact whereabouts. Yet this was an opportunity for this information to be leaked to Saul, for the transmission of this data to somehow find it’s way to the King.

And the danger was not only on David’s part, for if Saul, in his murderous tirade, knew Jonathon visited with David, it might be the end of Jonathon.

But the meeting was set and the two men were able to discuss David’s circumstances. For some unknown reason, only Jonathon’s message has been preserved for us. Three messages come to David from the lips of Jonathon.

Do not fear

Jonathon spoke words of peace on David, ensuring David that Saul shall not find him. Was this simply words of hope, words that were meant to encourage. Surely. But were these words of surety, or an absolute promise, as if a Word from God?

I don’t understand that Jonathon was a prophet, but at the very least, he may have uttered these words as a repetition of the promise of God to David years earlier. Jonathon made this conclusion of escaping Saul’s hand due to the promise of David ascending to the throne of Israel, which Jonathon rightly reminds David of his future.

You shall be king

David shall be king, and to be king over all Israel. This was the promise of God that ensured both men that David would escape the hand of Saul. And then Jonathon says “I shall be next to you”.

I don’t recall any portion of the promise of God stating this, nor of David providing this promise. So what was Jonathon talking about? Was he thinking of a co-regency, where he would be equal to David in the kingdom?

When Jonathon speaks of being “next” to David, Jonathon may be implying a rank of second in the kingdom, for the Hebrew word מִשְׁנֶה mishneh, sometimes speaks of being second in rank. Might Jonathon be suggesting his desire of a position of power to David? Possibly, yet I want to think that Jonathon was of a purer heart, and simply be referring to his informal, personal support for, and friendship to David in his future reign.

Saul knows this

This is such a sad statement! Saul knew David would ascend to the throne, and yet he toiled against the will of God, against his own benefit, against the good of his own nation, and against his own families existence!

Consider Saul waking up to the realization of David’s supremacy, and humbly coming to him in front of the nation of Israel, bowing the knee and giving up his position of power to David. What would be Saul’s legacy? How many benefits would shower down on Saul for this act of humility?

Knowing the truth and fighting against it is foolish. Yet to agree with the truth takes humility, a washing away of pride and arrogance, the giving up of advantage and power, of losing reputation and starting over.

Truly there are many forms of loss when we are agreeing with the truth. Confession of sin and repentance may cost us much, even our very way of life.

And what do we get out of it?

The foundation of agreeing with the truth is that we are conforming to reality. We are no longer living in a fantasy world, a would of smoke and mirrors, of deceit, cheating, backstabbing and conspiracy. We are no longer looking over our shoulder, but have joy, purpose and a life to live, not a death to fear.

Saul may have been too far gone by this time in his life. I have no idea, nor do I suppose any but God knew of Saul’s opportunity to repent at that time. Sadly we know he did not repent, that his last years were spent fighting against the truth.

If you have been fighting against a truth the Lord has spoke to you about, quit fighting.

Don’t be a Saul.

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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