OVERVIEW:
David is a fugitive from Saul and runs to Nob, Gath, Adullam and the wilderness; David spares Saul’s life; Samuel dies; Abigail spares Nabal’s life.
HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS:
After escaping from Achish in yesterday’s reading, chapter 22 begins with David entering the cave called Adullam. When news travels as to his whereabouts, it’s interesting that the “down and outers” fled to where he was. They are described in 22:2 as those “in distress, in debt, and/or discontented.” David became somewhat of a makeshift leader of over 400 of them initially, the number soon growing to about 600! (23:13) As the old saying goes, “Misery loves company!” David could certainly relate to their situation and they could certainly relate to his! David cries out to the Lord in song during this time, and the songs are recorded in Psalm 54 and 142.
It is apparent that David is thinking that if Saul did end up killing him that he might well seek to do the same to his parents, so he seeks to bring them into the protective care of the king of Moab. That seemed a fitting place since David’s father’s grandmother, Ruth, was actually a Moabitess. After securing their protection, David exits to secure his own place of protection. God sends the prophet, Gad, to specifically tell David to get himself back into the land of Judah.
When Saul gets word of what David was doing and where he was headed, he is filled with rage against his own men and throws a little “pity-party” for himself. (22:7–8) He accuses them of conspiring against him, and berates them for not informing him of the covenant Jonathan had made with David sometime earlier. (18:3; 20:16)
Then, no doubt seeking to suck up to the enraged king, one of Saul’s key leaders, Doeg, tells Saul that David enquired of the Lord in Nob, then he went to Ahimilech the priest, and how Ahimilech had ministered to David. Saul commands his foot-soldiers to annihilate Ahimilech, and anyone there who was wearing a priestly garment, but they refused to kill them. Saul then commanded Doeg to do it, and by the time it was all said and done, he alone had killed 65 priests in cold blood. Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped with the “ephod” (an instrument used at this time through which God revealed His will) and went to inform David of the fate of his fellow priests of the house of Ahimelech. David tells Abiathar to stay with him, knowing that Saul would certainly seek to take his life.
In chapter 23, David gets word that the Philistines were fighting against God’s people in Keilah, and he immediately seeks to know the will of the Lord concerning smiting them. God unhesitatingly tells David to go for it! David’s men, however, wanted confirmation from the Lord about it, and God confirms that He would deliver them into their hands. Just as God had said, David and his men defeated them with a “great slaughter.” (23:5)
When Saul heard the news that David and his men were shut in the gated and barred city of Keilah, Saul is so spiritually disoriented that he viewed it as his “God-given” opportunity to put an end to David’s life. As David inquired of the Lord as to whether he should stay in the city and trust the people of Keilah to protect him, God reveals to him that he better get out of the city while he could! David departed into the wilderness of Zish and hid out
in a mountain, as Saul sought daily to kill him.
At a time when David was tired, discouraged, and afraid, God used Jonathan to come out into the wilderness to where David was to speak words of encouragement to him. What a beautiful way 23:16 describes it: “And Jonathan…strengthened his (David’s) hand in God!” Oh, may God use each of us to carry out the ministry of strengthening the hand of those around us in God! Can you think of someone that could use that strengthening
ministry from you today?
The Ziphites send word to Saul of David’s whereabouts, and conspire with Saul to help him find him. (23:19) As Saul is in hot pursuit of David (23:20–26), a messenger comes to Saul bearing news that he needed to return because the Philistines had invaded the land. (23:27–28) When David heard that Saul had departed, he made his safe haven a
cave called Engedi. (23:29)
When Saul returns to seek David in chapter 24, Saul has brought 3000 soldiers with him that were constantly surrounding him. Saul, however, “just happens” to enter into the very cave where David and his men were hiding in the pitch darkness of the sides of the cave.
He has entered the cave alone “to cover his feet,” as it were (an expression the men of that day used to refer to relieving themselves), and to take a short nap. Oh my, what an opportunity for David to finally be able to rid himself of his enemy! With all that David had faced in dealing with Saul’s rage, in our humanness, it would be hard to fault David had he taken advantage of this unbelievable twist of fate, as his enemy lay alone, unprotected, literally within arm’s length! David might well have interpreted this opportunity as God communicating to him the very thing David’s own good men were whispering in his ear, that this was THE DAY, and this was THE WAY, the Lord intended to deliver David from Saul’s irrational and unreasonable pursuit.
Though David was certainly tempted, David refused to listen to anything other than the clear message that there would be another time when God Himself would provide David’s deliverance from Saul, and his rise to the throne through events that only God Himself could orchestrate. David even worried that he had failed the spirit of the test by embarrassing the king by cutting off a small piece of his clothing to let him know that he could have killed him had he simply chosen to do so. Once again, David’s sensitive heart pleased God. Once again, may David’s sensitivity to the Lord’s perfect will for his life cause us to examine just how sensitive we are to carrying out the perfect will of God for our lives. God was able to use the realization that David had the perfect opportunity to take Saul’s life but refused, to appease Saul at least for the time being!
In Chapter 25, all of us who have worked for a bona fide, biblical “fool” take great hope. (Note that the name “Nabal” actually means “fool!” Like so many biblical characters, he certainly lived up to his name!) Abigail saves her “fool” of a husband, and for this God blesses her abundantly. Many would have thought themselves powerless to redirect an
army like David’s, but Abigail was “a woman of good understanding” (25:3) who knew when to “make haste!” (25:18)
Through this passage we are reminded of the biblical principle and mandate that “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19) David had trusted God in not taking out vengeance upon Saul, but was about to blow it by seeking vengeance against Nabal. God uses Abigail’s wise handling of the situation to avert David’s vengeance against her husband. Within a matter of two weeks, God had already exercised His vengeance against Nabal, and he was no more! Oh, may we learn to trust God to deal with the enemies that surround us, rather than seeking to deal with them ourselves in the power of the flesh!
CHRIST IS REVEALED:
- By DAVID’S REFUSAL TO TAKE THE KINGDOM by force, or before God’s appointed time — 1 Samuel 24:10–13 (John 6:15 – Our Lord Jesus Christ refused to become king of Israel until God’s appointed time.)
- By ABIGAIL’S EFFORT TO MAKE PEACE between David and Nabal — 1 Samuel 25:21–28 (2 Cor. 5:19 — God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.)