1 - 22 David Spares Saul's LifeWhen Saul returns from fighting the Philistines, he is told David is hiding the desert near Engedi. He picks 3,000 men to search for him. David's servants tell him that this is the day the Lord said He would deliver his enemy within his grasp. David moves to Saul, but he only cuts the end off of his mantle (because Saul is God's anointed). He calls to Saul, asking why he thinks he will harm him, and he declares he will not touch him, and asks Saul to swear he will not destroy him or his descendents (a great speech). He gives Saul his oath. Saul returns home & David goes back into hiding.
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After Saul pursued the Philistines someone told him where David and his men were. On the way there, Saul stopped at a cave to relieve himself. David and his men were in the cave, far back and out of sight.
4 His men told David, "This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish'". Notes indicate that this "prophesy" didn't exist and that his men made it up. The fact that David was supposed to replace Saul in the future probably fueled this.
David did sneak up to Saul, unnoticed, and cut off part of is robe. When he returned to his men with the piece of robe he was overcome with guilt because the Lord annointed Saul; he is God's chosen king. David decided not to harm him.
When Saul left the cave David came out and bowed on his belly to Saul. David asked him why he listed to anyone who said that he would harm him. He showed him the piece of robe which he'd cut off and explained that he had the opporunity to kill him but didn't. Not only that but if any harm came to Saul it would be of God's work, not David's and prayed that the Lord would avenge David for the wrongs Saul did and saught to do to him. He asked what each of their motives were at that moment (David was running to defend himself and Saul was focused on killing David).
Saul was overcome with grief at hearing his voice. It's like David was a ficticious character and, upon meeting him and hearing his voice, the reality of his innocence "hit him in the face". Saul realized that David "had him where he wanted him" just then, realized the honesty of his allowing him to go free, and assured him that all this made him worthy of being king.
Now "friends", Saul went home and David to his fortress.
This part of the story shows great faith, that David kept God's will above his own and what seems "right" in the world's eyes. I wonder what his men thought about all this? Hopefully, they were strong in faith also and realized the spiritual example David set but I'm sure there were some who didn't understand. I kept thinking about WW II movies and what if an allied squad was hidden somewhere where a Nazi officer went to pee? Or even today, if some of "our boys" were in Iraq and a known Alchida (?) terrorist came into your building? I think it's very realistic that one of David's men would have taken the matter into his own hands and killed Saul himself. This story also shows the confidence David's men had in him because they didn't overstep his authority.
Hey everyone! For those times when Karlton's busy life keeps him from posting, I just created an alternate blog so I can help him out. We need to keep our daily momentum up! The blog name is EASY: 151biblestudy2
I'll be posting 1st Samuel 25 in the morning, Tuesday March 18th.
See ya'll there!
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