DAVID, A TEMPORARY PHILISTINE
1 Samuel 27-31

This is the last session in our study of The First Book of Samuel. In a minute, we’ll look at all four chapters, although the quarterly focuses only on parts of one or two. But first:

Think through the entire story of the book if you will. It presents Samuel as a towering figure, the last judge, a ruler, and a crowner of kings! The book begins with his birth and ends with the death of Saul.

Samuel replaces Eli, who must himself have been awesome as a younger man.The people clamor for a king, so with the Lord’s leadership he anoints Solomon and l ate selects him publicly. A young man named David shows up at court as a troubadour, soothing the moody king. Later he shows up to rescue Israel from the giant Goliath. Saul makes him an officer and a leader, and his victories make him more popular than Saul. Out of jealousy and paranoia Saul begins to try to kill David, forcing the younger man to flee. Prince Jonathan helped him escape to become an outlaw with around 600 rebels following him.

Lessons from the month:
God has a plan for our lives. We are not accidents.
David demonstrated with Goliath that with God’s help we can tackle giants!
If you fail to fulfil God’s plan, he can and will replace you.
Friendship is of huge importance, as is loyalty to one’s friends.
Above all, in this book David has the patience to believe God will bring His will to pass in His own time and way.
Recognize to that this is sacred history, revealing how the Lord acts in history to bring about his purposes. He is here fulfilling his covenants with Abraham and Moses and beginning a new covenant with David.

In today’s lesson, we cover several chapters, although the quarterly shows only a part of two. In Chapter 27 David,has avoided Saul narrowly at least twice, so he escaptes to Gath, one of the five major Philistine cities.

WHOSE SPEAR?

1 Samuel 26

Saul was paranoid. Rather than repenting after the Lord rejected him, he brooded that David was plotting against him to seize his kingship. Thus, when he was in one of those moods, he threw his spear to pin the other to the wall. The danger drove David to become an outlaw, and like in the old West, Saul rounded up a posse to chase him down.

Note David’s attitude toward the king as God’s man. He kept this view even when he was king and forced to leave Jerusalem during Absalom’s revolt. Twice when he had sure opportunities to kill Saul, he refused to, stating he would not touch “God’s anointed.” He knew Samuel had anointed the king, just as he anointed the young shepherd.

On this particular occasion David got a report that Saul and his men had encamped at a particular place. So he took a scouting party and night and found they indeed were nearby. The enemy had apparently gone to sleep during the night, perhaps over-confident. Abishai, later one of his “mighty men” volunteered to go with him. Both men quietly entered the camp in the dead of night and found the king and his general, Abner, asleep in the middle of the camp.

Abishai grasped the opportunity and asked David to let him dispatch Saul with one spear thrust. David shook his head, but they took Saul’s spear and water jug with them. Then, safely on top of the hill, David called loudly to Abner to taunt him.

“General! Saul should have you executed! You let us come in right under you nose – everyone asleep! No guards posted! Inexcusable! And Saul! You think I want to kill you? If I did I sure could have! Look! Here is your spear and water jug. I’m no threat to you. I’m like a flea you could swat, or a partridge. I’m harmless to you, God’s anointed.

Saul’s mood swung back to more positive. He recognized the worth of what David had done and said. He confessed to acting the fool in pursuing him and vowed he would be safe if he came back. Instead, David told him to send someone to recover the king’s property, which he apparently did.

Amazingly, Saul blessed David, and both of them went home.

ABBY SAVES HER FAMILY

1 Samuel 25

Two thirds of a verse tells us Samuel died. 

Our daily paper shows most deaths in about a two-inch column. Those who wish and can pay may have a longer obituary, but not even a full page can adequately cover the average person’s life, much less an outstanding individual. Yet if our lives are our best obituary, Samuel wrote a hero’s life. A king-maker, he crowned two, and broke one. He rose to prominence through his faithfulness to God’s calling and gained the respect of the nation. What obituary are you writing?

Next we meet an interesting couple, who would make a great pair for a situation TV comedy. Nabal was a rascal, a sort of Archie Bunker with a mean streak. Abigail was a wise woman who could think rapidly on her feet. She also was a good looking woman. I’ve wondered if John Adams’s wife was named after her. After reading Adams’s biography by David McCullough, I came away thinking perhaps she should have been our second President.

Anyway, last week we saw David being driven into the life of a rebel and guerilla warrior, living off the land. In exchange for protection from Philistines and other marauders, villagers would support David and his 600 men. Recently they had offered protection to Nabal’s shepherds as they kept his sheep out on the Carmel outcropping. No marauders, either animal or human bothered them, and they knew it.

Nabal was rich and owned 3000 sheep, 1000 goats and much more. During days of shearing, David sent ten men to ask Nabal to donate a sheep or two to feed his men. Nabal treated the messenger roughly and sarcastically asked who David thought he was? There were plenty of rebels around these days, bandits, and runaway slaves. He couldn’t be bothered with them. So the men reported back to David who became enraged. “Grab your gear and let’s go!” he called for 400 men, leaving 200 to protect their base. 

Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s men had heard the exchange between their master and the messengers. He recognized how the refusal might be received, so he reported to Abigail. She too recognized their danger and ordered a huge food supply to be loaded up and sent immediately to David, hoping to head him off before his vengeance struck. She herself followed, and they did indeed head off David and his men. 

She went and threw herself on the ground at his feet. She asked David to blame her, not her husband and pardon the offense. Abby said she did not see nor hear what happened or the outcome would have been different. She said Nabal meant fool, so fool was his name and folly his game. She then turned to prophesy David would one day be king and asked him to remember her favorably then. David accepted her apology and her gift, so the crisis was averted.

When she went back home, she found her husband throwing a major banquet, happy and drunk as a skunk. The next morning, she gave him time to get past his hangover and recounted what happened. When he realized 400 armed men were about to decimate his entire ranch, “his heart died within him,” and he froze. I would guess he had a major stroke on the spot. Ten days later he died. 

Scripture says the Lord killed him, thus giving us a problem both in interpretation and theology. Repeatedly scripture says the Lord is long-suffering, patient, and forgiving. Yet, here Samuel says He killed a man for his rudeness and foolishness. 

Perhaps the easiest way out is to take the traditional approach of synagogues and churches. The Lord is sovereign and decides when every person will die. Nabal was no different. Besides, by taking him out, the world is freed of his arrogance and selfishness.

Many Old Testament scholars like to point out that people in those days did not make the distinction we do between direct and indirect causes. Everything that happened did so because God willed it. We make a distinction between God’s permissive will that allows some things not in his active will. Otherwise, we could not sin.

On another issue, note one of quite a few examples where a woman takes a leading role. We are told this was a paternalistic society that strongly favored men. And so it was. But here and there we find strong women taking a major role. The result was she saved her family and on her husband’s death, she became David’s third wife. Saul had taken Michal from him when he abandoned the court. He had then married a girl from Je, Amnon.  Now he married the beautiful and smart Abigail, bringing a happy   ending for both of them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

DAVID INVENTS ROBIN HOOD

1 Samuel 21-22

Saul’s ego and paranoia drove him to a murderous mood. Warned by Jonathan, David had to flee.

First he went to Nob, a priestly town south of Jerusalem about halfway down the Dead Sea, though inland. There he told the chief priest, Ahimelech that he was on an urgent, confidential mission for the king. He demanded something to eat and convinced the man to give him day old bread that had sat in the Holy of Holies before the Lord. (Jesus would reference this when the Pharisees criticized the Twelve for idly snacking on grain as they walked through a field.) He claimed he left in such a hurry he forgot his weapons. Ahimelech offered Goliath’s sword, and David said you can’t beat that. (Another confirmation that David was a big man.)

Doeg, the secretary of the sheep department, happened to be in town and saw David. He reported back to Saul which changed his dangerous mood to vicious. “Bring me the priest.” When Ahimelech was before him, the king demanded to know why the priest was plotting with David. That good man had no idea what Saul was talking about and assured him that David was a very loyal citizen. That totally enraged the king, whose paranoia was growing by the moment. “Kill him!” he roared, “And go wipe out the whole village of Nob!” The king’s men knew what was happening and did no such thing. But Saul could not be appeased. He turned to Doeg, pointed to Ahimelech, and repeated the command. Doeg was not an Israelite, but an Edomite and took delight in wiping out 85 priests, their families, and cattle.

Meanwhile, David went from Nob to Gath, one of the five cities of the Philistines. When he was recognized, he feared for his life and pretended to be insane. King Achish took one look at him and pronounced these classic lines (I love them!):

¹⁴ Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? ¹⁵ Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

Next, David retreated to a cave, known as the cave of Adullam. You have doubtless heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 13 caves near the Dead Sea south of Jerusalem. Likely he went in that general direction. Word was circulating and men who were not liking Saul’s behavior joined David. He was in effect establishing an outlaw band of rebels. During this time of exile, these men lived as Robin Hood would live two thousand years later in England. They were always on the move, hiding out, and living off the land. They were also to become popular by helping villagers in many ways. I’m sure there were many tales told for years that did not make it into the Bible. Their number soon grew to 400, then 600, a small but effective army.

Ahimelech’s son, Abiathar, went to David and told him what was happening at Nob. So David added him to his band and promised him safety. David expressed guilt for recognizing Doeg, but not stopping him from escaping.

Anyway, Abiathar was also a priest, and it was probably through him. That David consulted the Lord.

A message came to him that the Philistines were harassing a Jewish settlement at Keilah, and stealing grain from their threshing floors. So David asked the Lord what he should do. The Lord said go. But the troops were afraid. “We’re running from Saul here in Judah. It’s not safe to come out in the open and wage war!” So David once again asked God what to do, and God had not changed His mind.

So David’s band of men fought their first battle and won their first victory. They saved the people of Keilah, while defeating the arch-enemy of Israel. In addition to inflicting a decisive defeat on the Philistines, the group also captured a good deal of enemy livestock.

Saul did indeed hear of David’s victory, but did not rejoice. Instead, he thought he had caught him penned up within a town. But David also had a spy service and heard of the king’s coming. So by the time Saul and his army arrived, the outlaws had disappeared.

We’ll pick up there next week.