Once again, Saul acts like an idiot. He wants to search out David so that he can capture him and kill him. This same man had already said to David:
And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. (1 Samuel 24:20 ESV)
Saul knew David was with the LORD and that nothing could stop yet. He even admitted that David will be king of the land someone and that Israel will be established through David. Yet, here he is — chasing after the same man. Am I that blind to my surroundings? Sin will blind every man, but the LORD can grant discernment and wisdom. If I go about my business not listening to the LORD, not hearing his direction, I will very well go the same way as Saul — following the words of earthly fools.
Honestly, I don’t think there is anything else I want to write about this passage. All of the sudden, the LORD gave me a clear thought that is an answer to a prayer I have had for quite some time. God is telling me that I should go to the Hutto church. This is bizarre. I haven’t heard Him this clearly in a long time. It is wonderful to hear this and to feel this kind of knowledge from the LORD.
Father God, thank you for your answers to prayers. Father, I have done nothing to deserve Your grace but You are amazing. Thank you, Father, for caring about me enough to talk to me and give me direction. Thank you for opening my eyes. You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. I give all of the praise to you. In Jesus Christ’s holy name, amen.
I am amazed at how this chapter starts — “Now Samuel died.” Samuel was amazing in character. I was surprised to read so little about his actually death. However, more important to me is the phrase “all Israel”. I assume that the verse could have just as well said Israel, but it didn’t — it said all Israel. Samuel did not have an enemy apparently. Samuel was respected and loved by all in Israel. His death was mourned by all. When I pass away, I’m not sure I really want anymore to mourn my death. I hope, instead, that people would be celebrating. I say that not because they are happy I am gone but they are confident in my salvation based on the fruits of my salvation, and they know that I have gone home to be with my Creator.
This story of Nabal reminds of Matthew 19:23-24:
23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
Nabal was very rich but he did not have a heart for the LORD. Luckily, his wife, Abigail, did not share his demeanor. She realized the importance of David with the LORD and went out to meet him. I am not sure if Abigail was spiritual at this point or not, but it strikes me that this woman has just left her husband (without telling him) to go and meet this other person, giving him quite a few belongings of her husband. That had to be a brave decision to have to make! When it comes to decisions in my life, am I brave like Abigail or am I cruel and evil like Nabal? Nabal means fool. I wonder how often I am a fool?
God is clear in His Word that I need to read the Word and meditate on it day and night. Why do I say that? As I do my quiet time, the LORD is telling me things that I do not even realize I am being told. I have to listen, be patient and be faithful to Him. Samuel was all of these things. He was obedient to the LORD. Nabal was not. Nabal was a fool. I have a choice in my daily living to follow God in righteousness or to follow the world in foolishness. Only through prayer and obedience to the LORD can I find myself on the correct side of the path.
David always let the LORD guide him. Even when he was able to kill the man who was chasing him and trying to kill him, he let the LORD give him guidance. David had a good heart. The LORD knew this and told him to spare Saul’s life. The only reason David spared Saul’s life is because the LORD had anointed Saul. This is a great testimony to trusting in the LORD. David had a perfect opportunity to kill Saul yet he did not because he was a good man — a man of God. While I am not presenting with opportunities to kill my enemies, I am certainly presented with opportunities to gossip or talk ill of them. Do I walk away from those situations and be a better man or do I do evil in the sight of the LORD? I am not good at this — I struggle with this greatly. Every single day at work, I find myself struggling with this precise issue. David gives me encouragement and guidance on how to behave in these situations. I would do well to follow his leadership.
Because of David’s heart and obedience to the LORD, Saul was impacted. He realized he was doing evil to David for no good reason. Verse 16 says that he “lifted up his voice and wept”. This would have to have been amazing to see. This man who has been chasing David, trying to kill him, has just lifted his voice to the LORD and is audibly crying. It appears to me that He has remorse for his sin and wants to be cleansed by the LORD.
I also think while that Saul recognized the errors of his ways, he also was willing to admit that he was “out of his league”. The LORD clearly had big plans for David. Saul goes so far as to say that he realizes David should be king of Israel (verse 20). That had to be hard for Saul to finally swallow his pride and be humble. While it was probably obvious to most around Saul and David, it couldn’t have been easy. I certainly struggle with that same thing. It is hard to be humble, especially at the office. I am very glad that David, Saul and others in the Bible have given me these examples to follow for my own good.
David models how we should make decisions in our life — he prays to the LORD for direction. Three times in five verses David “inquires of the LORD”. He was focused on God’s wisdom and direction, not his own. This is exactly how we should make the decisions in our life. I don’t know about others, but I am becoming more convinced that “hearing the LORD” is a gift given by God. I don’t exactly hear Him. I have talked to many Christians that certainly show the fruits of their salvation and they have similar experiences. However, there are others that can clearly hear the LORD, just like David in this passage. Is my salvation at question because of this? No. Does the LORD still love me? Yes. As a person on my team said to me today: “I would love it if there was a bush in my backyard that would catch fire every so often.” However, that is not my reality. That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go before the LORD for wisdom and discernment on decisions in my life. He is in control and will guide me down the right path.
I am impressed by the fact that David and his men have been hiding from Saul and now they are going to go into this city and attack the Philistines. When you are hiding from someone or something, you don’t think about going into public places and starting a war — you know that people are going to talk about that. David was living for God’s will and His plan — not his own.
Again, David isn’t sure what to do next when he hears that Saul is coming to capture him at Keilah. He prays to the LORD and asks for instructions. The LORD tells him everything he needs to know so that David flees the city and lives in hiding in the wilderness. Do I listen to the LORD like David? He has protected me so many times but am I willing to listen to Him when times are good and bad?
The key take-away from this passage today is that prayer is the key to decisions in my life. Just like David, I have to take my questions and concerns to Him for guidance and direction. When the answer isn’t perfectly clear, maybe I am not listening hard enough (or quiet enough). I need to focus on Him and His Word for guidance.
I begin to see some level of parallel between David and Jesus. If I look at 1 Samuel 22:2-3, I find that those who were distressed, those in debt, and those bitter in soul came to David. This reminds me of the sinners that flocked to Jesus. In fact, Jesus wanted the sinners to flock to him. He wanted to share with them so that they may learn and turn to God. Do I live a life that draws others to me in order to see Christ? At work, I struggle very much with this problem. I tend to live much more in sin at the office than perhaps at home or church. I have to focus more on Him than I do today. How can I do that? Is it prayer? That certainly seems a reasonable answer and He knows that my prayer life is not what it should be at this time. Perhaps I need to focus more on improving my prayer life so that I can live more in Jesus and help others to see Him.
Saul is an evil person. There is no two ways about it. He decides to kill Ahimilech and the other priests from Nob because they did not tell him about David. Now, why in the world would they think there was a problem between the two (Saul and David)? Saul is extremely jealous of David and will stop at nothing to get to him. This is interesting because I remember when Samuel appointed Saul king over Israel and thinking that this is what they wanted so now they have it. Again I am thinking that same thing — this is what they wanted, so now they have it. I wonder what the people around Saul thought of all this? The passage does make an interesting point in verse 17:
And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord.
Why wouldn’t these servants kill the priests? They knew it was wrong and they knew it was not justifiable. I wonder how many of them stayed with him and followed his leadership versus did their own thing and avoided him at all costs.