First Samuel 25-28

God’s message to me: God always provides a way for us to do right. David was never forced to face Saul in direct battle. God gave him opportunities to make a choice. He could have executed the King easily and without danger to himself or he could do something to embarrass the king and show that he was honorable enough not to attack the Lord’s anointed. David made the latter choice. He was never forced to defend himself directly.

David knew the embarrassment wouldn’t stop Saul for long and decided to hide in the land of the Philistines in order to avoid having to constantly run away or risk death at the hands of the king’s men. In order to ensure his safety there he asked the king to provide him a place in a small town somewhere for him and his men to live outside of the royal cities so they wouldn’t seem like a threat. In order to provide for his men David attacked the people God had told Israel to destroy when they came into the land and, after destroying the entire population of the cities he attacked, he took the loot back to the town of Ziklag which the king of the Philistines had given him. The Philistine king would ask who he had attacked and, since the enemy didn’t survive to tell the king about the fight, David would claim he had attacked or raided an Israeli settlement. That made the king happy and convinced him that Israel would hate David so that David could not be a threat to the Philistines. The king was convinced he had just gained a strong general who would be forced to serve him forever because he had nowhere else to go.

Promises: God will protect his people and provide them prosperity in adversity. Saul’s desire to kill David was unreasoning and foolish. David’s ability to show this publicly was interesting to say the least. Cutting off the corner of the king’s robe while he was “doing his business” and then showing it to him publicly to prove he could have killed him but refused was one thing. Embarrassing both the king and his general in front of the army was equally effective. David and his friend snuck into the heart of the camp and stole the kings canteen and spear from beside his royal head while he slept with his general next to him. Then he showed the entire camp what he had done and how he had refused to kill the king.

Commands: Use your brain. David could have reacted to the king’s threat with lethal force and saved himself some trouble but he chose to think things through and take tactical victories to divert attack. He could have simply hidden among the Philistines but chose to take advantage of his situation to destroy those God had condemned. He could have continued to work in secret but instead made the Philistines believe he was improving their position when he was actually doing God’s work on behalf of Israel.

Timeless principles: When God makes a decision it’s final. God took his blessing from Saul because of Saul’s disobedience. He promised to take the kingdom from Saul. After delivering that message to the king Samuel never visited him again until he died. When Saul sought God’s council in battle God would not answer as He had promised. Saul sought a medium to get council from Samuel and Samuel’s spirit simply reminded the king of what God had already said. The kingdom would be taken from him and given to David and the king and his son’s would be killed in battle.

How can I apply what I’ve learned: It is always wise to treat people well who have done good for you. David and his men had protected Nabal’s men in the wilderness. They had provided defense and friendship to the shepherds and others who had been working in dangerous territories. They treated them well and made no demands of them nor had they made any attempt to harm or rob them. As a feast day approached David asked Nabal, as their employer, to show hospitality to his men.

Nabal refused to return the favor David’s men had shown and, in doing so, insulted them. Nabal’s wife, recognizing the honor of the men who had protected her husbands servants and flocks, gathered some servants and hurried to show David the hospitality her husband had refused.(Nabal, by the way, means fool and the man lived up to his name.)

Abigail’s actions kept David from attacking Nabal and killing all the men in his house. Nabal, who had thrown himself a feast after turning David away, died 10 days after learning what his wife had done. Saul had given David’s wife to another in the course of his actions against the young hero and his multiple attempts at murder and his efforts to harm David had become well known in Israel so that David was seen as the future king and Saul was disliked. Having lost his wife and having met an intelligent and wise woman who no longer had a husband to provide her with a home and inheritance, he married Abigail. Then he married Ahinoam and began a habit of polygamy that would not make life easy in the future.

more to learn for in-depth study: Reading the books of Samuel you can glean two basic facts: First, the books were not written by Samuel(he dies in chapter 25), but about Samuel and the events that surround his life. Second you can see they were written after the time of Solomon and after the Nation of Israel had been divided.(there are multiple references to the people of Israel and the people of Judah which implies it was written after these two groups began operating as separate kingdoms. That didn’t happen until after Solomon died.)

Saul had been told that the Lord was no longer with him. When the Philistines came against Israel, he sought God’s council but received no answer. The prophets and priests could not give him an answer, the Urim gave no answer, and no dreams came to direct him. In desperation, he went looking for a medium. All mediums and witches and soothsayers, etc. had been driven from the land by Saul’s command in accordance with God’s law but, fearing defeat, he went looking for answers from someone the Lord had forbidden. He granted her immunity in exchange for her services and she called Samuel to council the king. Samuel gave his last prophecy from beyond the grave when he told Saul that he and his sons would be killed in the battle the next day and that the armies of Israel would be defeated and captured by the Philistines.

tomorrow: First Samuel 29-31