Prayer Challenges
Current Challenge from Doug Knox.
November
Man Builders, Part 31
1 Samuel 24:1-7
David—Forged Masterpiece, Part 13
THE KIND OF MEN WE CHOOSE TO BE (INTRODUCTION)
David’s Unending Flight
The closing chapters of 1 Samuel present ordeals that stretch David’s capacities as a commander and a man. Missteps that occur in the spur of the moment lead to potentially fatal results. At the same time, they present character-building opportunities that galvanize David and the men who are with him into a defending force. The final verses in 1 Samuel 23 record a brief episode during which Saul pursues David in the wilderness of Maon, about fifteen miles west of the Dead Sea. As Saul closes in on David and his men, he receives a message that the Philistines have raided Israel. He abandons the chase to tend to the Philistine threat, and David settles in the strongholds of Engedi on the western shores of the Dead Sea.
Principle Over Opportunity
After an unspecified length of time, the Philistine threat ceases, leaving Saul to pursue his maniacal pursuits once again. While the strongholds bordering the sea offer David’s troops a good defensive position, they limit his mobility. Saul seizes the opportunity and seeks David with a large force:
When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 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. 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. 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.’”
--1 Samuel 24:1-4
In the confined spaces around the stronghold, such a coincidence is a reasonable possibility. For David’s men, the opportunity is priceless. Saul, doubtless unaccompanied now, would be an easy kill. Their zeal for the man they have come to respect runs deep, and it drives their thinking. “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.’” The reasoning is persuasive. After years of flight from the king’s relentless pursuit, David’s men possess a fail-safe opportunity to end their leader’s torment. With a single thrust of the sword, Saul would be gone. However, the opportunity is not what it appears to be, and David knows it. His servant mentions the day that the LORD said he would give David’s enemy into his hand to do to him as he wished. Doubtless, David’s servant is sincere, but his passion has overtaken his reason. First, David never considered Saul his enemy. On the contrary, he has served Saul in his courts. Second, the LORD never promised that he would give Saul into David’s hand, much less allow David to do as he pleased with him. His subordinate thinks in the heat of the moment. If David were to indulge him he would become like every other rebel who attempted to overthrow a reigning king by coup. Third, the man has failed to think ahead. If David and his men were to kill Saul, three thousand of Saul’s loyal troops outside the cave would blockade the six hundred men inside. A bonfire with green wood at the entrance would either smoke the men out to be massacred or suffocate them to death inside.
Instead, David makes a more subtle move:
Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's robe.
And afterward David's heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul's robe. 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.” 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
--1 Samuel 24:4-7
Doubtless, when David approaches Saul, his men expect vengeance. Instead, he returns with a piece of Saul’s robe and a stricken conscience. For the moment, let us set aside the children’s church stories of the super-spiritual biblical hero who is so attuned to God’s will that he breaks down under performing an act so insignificant as to cut a piece from Saul’s robe. I believe the picture is more basic. Cutting a piece from the king’s robe is a big deal. No one with a healthy sense of social standing would be able to humiliate his national leader without feeling remorse. David’s conscience bothers him because the action is so outlandish.
The scene unfolds deliberately through a series of closely connected steps:
- When Saul enters the cave, the men interpret the event as the fulfillment of God’s promise (in the original language, “Behold, the day that the LORD said…”). No such promise is recorded. However, we can expect such a reaction from men who have developed a fierce loyalty to David. They are pumped, and they think in the moment. Their excitement over their perceived opportunity shows in their pronouncement, “You shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.”
- Under the shadow of his men’s urging, David moves toward Saul. The conflict dominates the scene. We are in the moment. The question as we watch David is less, “Will he kill the king?” and more, “How might he humiliate the king after he kills him?”
- Unexpectedly, David only cuts a section from Saul’s robe. This is a dangerous move. Any sound or moment of imbalance will alert Saul. David’s action puts him and his men in potential danger.
- The gamble is successful, and the text shifts to the turmoil that David feels. “Afterward,” presumably following his retreat to the back of the cave, he has time to think about what he has done. “David’s heart struck him.”
- Under this new crisis of conscience, David speaks to his men about the meaning of honor. “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.”
- The text adds, “So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul.” Passions clearly run high, and David must work hard to convince his men to act on principle rather than impulse.
- Saul leaves the cave then, and the issue no longer presses the men.
The Power of Reasoned Persuasion
The scene in the cave shows growth for both David and his men. When David refuses to violate Saul’s position on the throne, he demonstrates a respect for the value of authority over power. The clear turning point in the scene lies with David’s declaration. David places himself above those tactics that the king uses. The fact that he twice acknowledges Saul as God’s anointed mark his personal line of demarcation. He refuses to compromise his principles on this issue. His speech also signals an important lesson for his men. At this point, we are in the middle of the scene with passions running high. His refusal to permit his men to attack Saul places him in danger of rebellion. However, as the episode continues to unfold in the second half of the chapter, David will leverage the event as a sign of his integrity. When Saul sees that only David’s sense of principle kept him from murdering the king, he melts in humility. Of course, Saul will turn against David again, but David’s men witness his sense of honor in his command. He earns a higher level of respect from his men. These things will garner him the respect that he needs to rule his kingdom in unity and ultimately bring in a period of international peace.
Doug Knox