I'm going to read 1 Samuel 21 beginning in verse 1 to chapter 22 verse 5. Remember last time that we were in 1 Samuel, David and Jonathan are in a covenant together. Jonathan gave David a sign. If Saul was still angry and wanted to kill David, then Saul or Jonathan would shoot arrows.
And they spoke with one another. They parted from one another. Now David is on an escape. He's a fugitive.
He is running from Saul. And essentially what we have in chapter 21 and up to chapter 22 verse 5 are various places that David goes to. He goes first to Nob and then to Gath. and then to the cave of Adullam, and then to Moab, and then to Hereth. So these are several places in David's journey when he is on the run from Saul.
So beginning in chapter 21 at verse 1.
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 21:1–22:5
Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David and said to him, why are you alone and no one is with you? So David said to Ahimelech the priest, the king has ordered me on some business and said to me, do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you or what I have commanded you. And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.
Now, therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand or whatever can be found. Then the priest answered David and said, there is no common bread on hand. But there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women." Then David answered the priest and said to him, truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out.
And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day. So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the show bread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. And David said to Ahimelech, is there not here on hand a spear or a sword?
For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. So the priest said, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.
And David said, there is none like it. Give it to me. Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said to him, Is this not David the king of the land?
Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? Now David took these words to heart. and was very much afraid of Akish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva fall down on his beard. Then Akish said to his servants, look, you see the man is insane.
Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? David, therefore, departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam.
So when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about 400 men with him.
Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab and he said to the king of Moab, please let my father and mother come here with you till I know what God will do for me. So he brought them before the king of Moab and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. Now the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the stronghold, depart and go to the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Herod.
Amen.
Introduction
I mentioned on Sunday that when we read these narratives of biblical history, it's not strictly history, it's not only history, it certainly recalls events It recalls data. It focuses on persons. It's historically rooted, to be sure. There's always a theological agenda.
Why the author writes what he does, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is to convey truth concerning God, his providence, his kindness, his faithfulness. and as well concerning things about his servants. And this chapter is no different, or this section is no different. It's rich in theology. As we look at each of these particular stops along the way in David's journey or his escape from Saul, we will learn certain things concerning God.
The Escape to Nob
Let's look at, in the first place, the escape to Nob in chapter 21, verses 1 to 9. In the first place,
David's Request for Bread
David makes a request for bread, verses 1 to 6. The setting. The tabernacle is no longer at Shiloh, it's located here in Nob. Ahimelech is probably the high priest.
He's the son of Ahitab, and he is also the brother of Ahijah, who's mentioned in chapter 14. This city, particularly in verse 19 of chapter 22, is called a city of priests. Chapter 22, the rest of the chapter after what I read, certainly ties in with this particular event in verses 1 to 9 in chapter 21. But it is the religious city, it is the central sanctuary, it is the place where the high priest ministers unto God.
The high priest is scared or he has fear when he sees David. Certainly he's probably in tune with the reality that there's this problem between Saul and David. The high priest doesn't want to get into the middle of this particular situation. Remember Saul is the reigning king.
Saul is now the recipient of a distressing spirit from the Lord. Saul is an apostate and Saul desperately wants to destroy David because David poses a threat to Saul's kingship. And so Saul has madness in his heart, he has malice in his heart, he has rage and a desire to terminate David. If the high priest has an understanding of this, certainly he would be afraid when he met David.
He says to him, why are you alone and no one is with you? Now note David's response in verse 2. So David said to Ahimelech the priest, the king has ordered me on some business and said to me, do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you or what I have commanded you. And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.
Now, certainly as we read that particular statement, we know that it's a lie. It is a falsehood. David looks at a Himalaya and makes up a particular story. John Gill says, he pretended he was upon a secret expedition by the order of Saul, which none were to know of. no, not his own servants.
And that was the reason why he came to him alone, which was a downright lie and was aggravated by its being told only for the sake of getting a little food and especially told to a high priest and at the tabernacle of God, and when he was come to inquire of the Lord there, and was attended with a dreadful consequence the slaughter of the Lord's priests there, which afterwards lay heavy on David's mind, and is the very sin he is thought to refer to in Psalm 119.28. This shows the weakness of the best of men when left to themselves. David, who as much hated lying as any man did, fell into it himself. So this is inescapable.
That is precisely what we find in this particular section. As Gil says, it's a downright lie. And when we note verse 8, we observe that David's not a really good liar, which is a good indicator. If somebody's able to lie and they're good at it, that's a very terrifying situation.
Notice in verse 8, David said he had to leave in such haste that he didn't have time to pick up a sword for battle. or for protection. But in verse 5 he says that these young men are ritually pure. They have not laid with a woman in the specified time. This is completely incongruous.
Thankfully, a Himalaya doesn't see right through it. If you have no time to pick up a sword, you certainly don't have time to ensure the ritual purity of of red-blooded young Israelite men. So David here does lie, but there are several things we need to consider when we come to this particular passage. In the first place, the narrator does not make an interesting comment.
The Bible would be a very boring volume if after every particular situation there was a three to four page discourse on ethics. Not everything that we find in Old Testament narrative gives us an ethical pronouncement. Rahab's lie, for instance. Rahab does lie as well in order to hide the spies.
I think the Bible vindicates what she does later on. This particular situation, what happens in chapter 22, certainly doesn't vindicate David. But as well, we need to recognize that the Lord Jesus refers to this particular passage in Matthew 12. He doesn't mention anything concerning the lie.
Remember, Jesus is being questioned about Sabbath ethics. And he refers to this situation when David needed bread and refreshment to underscore the particular point that Ahimelech follows, is that mercy precedes ceremonial purity. So Jesus doesn't comment one way or another on this particular lie. The king himself, David, does however realize that it was indeed a great tragedy.
Notice in 22.22. So David said to Abiathar, I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me, do not fear, for he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe." So while he does lie, the rest of the Bible doesn't give us a particular ethical pronouncement on it.
David himself acknowledges that what he has created in this particular situation had repercussions that were quite severe and quite tragic. for those who were in the city of knob. Now note the request. He requests five loaves. The report is that there are no common loaves, but rather only holy loaves.
The stipulation is that the man must have been ritually pure. Now, holy war was considered a sacred enterprise, and as a result, the men who participated in holy war had to be ritually pure. Exodus 19, Leviticus 15 speaks to this particular stipulation. And when we get to 2 Samuel 11, it seems as if Uriah the Hittite had imbibed that particular ethic.
Remember when David sought to entice or got Uriah to the point where he could go back to his home and lay with his wife, Uriah restrained or refrained from that particular practice. Uriah was a a man faithful in terms of the prescriptions concerning holy war. So David says to the high priest here that it was, in fact, the case that they were ritually pure. And when we see in verse 5, when the vessels of the young men are holy, probably a reference to the male organ.
Some have said to weapons or to garments or to whatnot, but it's probably a reference to the sexual organ. Now, notice that the priest complies. The priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the show bread, which had been taken from before the Lord in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away. Now, in the first place, by way of a practical observation, we notice that when David flees from Saul, and even when David engages in unethical conduct, nevertheless, God provides his daily bread.
God provides for his servant. This whole section and much that follows is a time of great trial and difficulty and hardship for David. In fact, this particular chapter is the place or the context for four Psalms in the Psalter. When we come to David and Gath in verse 10, this is when David penned Psalms 34 and 56.
When we get to the cave of Adullam, this is where Psalm 57 and Psalm 142 were composed. David, in the midst of trial and hardship and difficulty, could nevertheless see the goodness of his God making provision for him every step of the way. Now we might read this particular passage and say, wait a minute, David lied and he got his daily bread. Does that mean that we can lie in order to get our daily bread?
No, we're not supposed to lie. Ninth Commandment, you shall bear no false witness. You are to be a man or a woman of truth. You are to speak the truth.
You are to swear to your own hurt and not change your mind. But as we look at this passage, we have to admit that God does indeed bless David with this provision of bread. Davis makes this observation. Some scrupulous reader may object and complain that David, in all his finagling and deception, does not deserve this provision.
You might just be tempted to say, that's not fair, David, you lied, you finagled, you worked the system, you manipulated the high priest, you shouldn't get your daily bread. Isn't that what some of us might be tempted to say? He goes on to say, so what else is new? Who would have daily bread if it rested on our desserts?
We'd all be skeletons. We can only second Jacob's position in Genesis 32, 10, when Jacob said, I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which you have shown your servant. Davis goes on to say, when everything is scraped down to the bone, I receive my daily bread, not because I am godly, but because Yahweh is gracious. That's the foundation upon which David is sustained and blessed and provided for.
It's not because he's good and he's earning his keep. He's not singing for his supper, but God in his grace and in his mercy wants to ensure that his servant makes it to the throne. And even though his servant is, like the rest of his servants, filled with sin, And struggling with issues, God comes in faithfulness and provides this bread so that he may not die. Now notice, as we consider the situation at Nob, the presence of Doeg.
If you've read ahead, if you know the story, you'll know it's Doeg who drops dime on David at Nob. It's Doeg, according to 22.8 and 9, that tells Saul what's happened in Nob. It's as a result of that that Saul goes on this campaign to rid the city of priests of all the priests. Notice what verse 7 says, Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
Back in chapter 14 at verse 47, there's a summary statement concerning Saul's reign and it says that he had battled against and had become a victor over the Edomites and so now Doeg is in Saul's employ. Robert Alter makes this observation. He says this seemingly intrusive notation is a piece of ominous foreshadowing. Verse 7 really doesn't need to be there, does it? at all.
I mean, we're moving along, David needs bread, in the next place he needs a weapon, but this statement concerning Doeg in verse 7, this is foreshadowing. This is putting a character in the right place at the right time so that he can then go spill his guts to Saul in chapter 22 to make sure that these priests die. Alter says the ghastly consequences of David's visit to Nob will pivot on Doeg's fatal presence. His identity as an Edomite reflects the enlistment of foreign mercenaries in the new royal bureaucracy.
It also marks him as a man who will have no inhibition in what he does to Israelites, even Israelite priests. So Doeg is an ominous figure standing there, hearing what is going on, witnessing it, and as we see later, he is the one that turns in David and the priests. Now notice the request for a weapon, verses 8 and 9. This is a good thing.
Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste. So the priest said, The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth, behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is no other except that one here.
And David said, There is none like it, give it to me. So now he's got food in his belly, he's got a sword on his side, and he's still on the run.
The Escape to Gath
And look where he goes next, to Gath. Now, Gath is where Goliath came from. As we come to verse 10, we might want to do a little sort of Monday morning quarterbacking or some sort of talking to our Bibles and say, David, that's probably not a good idea. I mean, you just lopped off the head of their champion.
You even have his sword on your side. David, everything in us thinks it's probably not a good idea for you to trek into Philistine territory, specifically Gath, where Goliath comes from. It says, David arose and fled that day from before Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. This is a risky prospect.
I think everybody would agree. Going to the city where the champion whom you just slain is or from. This is a risky thing, but it underscores his desperation. I mean, how bad must it have been for David to go to Gath?
Saul and his pressure was such that David would rather try and seek refuge and security in Gath of Philistia before he would go back into Judah or face Saul. So his desperation is manifested in this particular situation. The Philistines remind Achish that David is the man who slain Goliath. They recite perfectly what the women had said when David came back victorious from the Valley of Elah.
Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Now notice what happens. Now that Achish knows who David is, there's no question whatsoever. David is afraid, and rightly so.
I mean, if you were in this particular situation, you would be fearful as well. If the enemy king now knows your identity, and he wants to deal with you in a very severe way. So David is very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. And then notice in verse 13.
He fakes madness. He fakes madness. He changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. That's right, David.
He had a beard. We all see that. Yes. David feigns madness to try and escape the hands of Achish and the Philistines.
Now, again, this is the time when David composed Psalms 34 and 56. If we had an extra hour tonight, we would read each of these particular Psalms. When you read these particular Psalms, David speaks of the angel of the Lord delivering him. David speaks of the goodness of the Lord.
David speaks of being in the hand and in the care of the Lord. But wait a minute, David is faking to be a madman. He's pretending to be a madman. He's scratching on the doors of the gate.
He's letting his saliva fall down on his beard. How do we know he's not just lucky in this particular situation? Again, I think Davis is right on here. Says, we must not merely call this episode David's folly and sigh about how lucky he was to get out.
I suggest our response be governed by David's own response. According to the headings of Psalms 34 and 56, those Psalms arose in the wake of this fiasco in Gath. You may look at 1 Samuel 21, 10 to 15 and wonder, can anything good come out of Gath? Here is David, foolish, desperate, confused.
Ah, but it's the stuff Psalms are made of. You see, David understands theology. David, when he comes on the scene in 1 Samuel 17, the very first thing that he says in all of Scripture is, why is this uncircumcised defying the armies of the living God? In other words, if we serve a living God, that ought to affect the way that we deal with such threats and menaces like these.
David thinks of all things in terms of God. Davis goes on to say, So David does not say, I am lucky, but God is for me. He sees men not as frightful, but as flesh. His deliverance from all his fears and all his troubles, Psalm 34, 4 and 6, is the pledge that Yahweh will follow suit for other believers, verses 15 to 22, and the basis for his continuing praise, verses 1 to 3. along with desperation there is nevertheless praise.
Davis says, I do not mean that we should act foolishly in order that praise may come, but only that we should never forget God's mercy, given even in our foolishness. You know how many times God has delivered us when we have behaved poorly? how many times that God has granted our daily bread when we didn't earn it, we didn't sing for our supper, or how many times we acted foolishly. We may not have pretended madness in front of an enemy king and let saliva run down our beards, but we have engaged in no small share of foolishness. And nevertheless, God is for us.
Nevertheless, God helps us. Nevertheless, God delivers us. And that is precisely what we see here in Gath under this enemy king, Achish. Note Achish's response as well.
It's interesting. He says, look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? Have I need of madmen that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence?
Shall this fellow come into my house? It's almost as if he said, it's almost like, have I needed more madmen? I got enough madmen to deal with as the king of the Philistines here. Don't bring me another one to saddle me down with this particular problem and this burden.
So in Nob, God delivers David. When we get to Gath, God delivers David. And again, in ways that are mysterious. Certainly, David could sing with us, Cooper's hymn.
God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. It's not as if God dropped a battle ax onto David so that he could deal with all of his enemies. It's not as if God developed a helicopter and sent it down to shimmy David away into friendly country. These are means that we might not otherwise think would be the way that God delivers his faithful servant from these very difficult straits he finds himself in.
The Cave of Adullam
Now his next stop is the cave of Adullam, chapter 22, verses 1 and 2. This is the occasion for Psalms 57 and 142. Note, David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.
Now, David's father and his family were not foolish people. They knew that Saul's murderous rage against David was probably going to be turned against them. This was not unfounded based on what we see in chapter 22. If Saul will take the sword against an entire city of priests, Jesse, David's mother, and David's brothers are chump change.
He does not care about these people. Notice as well that Saul the tyrant has reneged on his promise. What was the promise that Saul had made for the man who killed Goliath? That man would receive his daughter, and that man's father would receive tax-exempt status in Israel.
Not only does Jesse not enjoy tax-exempt status, but now Jesse, who is in his older age, along with his wife, have to go on the run because they are the parents of David. Remember, David hasn't done anything. Now, in this chapter, David lies, to be sure. David is not a spotless, sinless, perfect man.
But up to this point in the narrative, what has David done? David has played his harp to soothe Saul. David has taken his slingshot and slain the giant. David has simply been faithful in terms of Saul's employ.
He has done nothing wrong. And yet Saul, in murderous rage and his tyrannical abuse of authority, wants to murder him. So now David's family comes to the cave of Adullam. Notice who else is in this cave.
Now, when we think of cave, we think of a little crevice at East Harrison. These are big caves. These are massive. And it's probably a complex of caves.
But notice, there's the distressed, the indebted, and the discontent. I mean, could there be a more fitting description for a miserable lot than verse two? And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. I mean, come on, that is as bad as it gets, right?
This is the riffraff. These are probably persons that suffered under the oppressive regime of Saul. Now, as Gil says, David's not excusing that persons don't pay their debt. Probably what's in view here is exploitation, authoritative abuse by way of a wicked monarchy.
But this is David's company. He's comforted by family, and he's comforted by these friends. An odd group to be sure. The triple D's that we have here.
Distress, debt, and discontent. So what do they do? We know David, you can be our captain. We want you to lead us.
You can be the captain over the discontented. So he became captain over them. and there were about 400 men with them. Now,
David as Type of Christ
it shouldn't take us a whole lot to reflect upon David's greater son. Remember, as we work through 1 Samuel, there is the typical significance of David that is seen step by step along the way. When we get to the New Testament, don't we find that Jesus is the captain of the distress? of the indebted, of the discontent? Isn't Jesus the captain of our salvation?
Aren't we the persons described in verse 2? Isn't this an apt and fitting explanation of who we are, distressed, in debt, and discontent? This was one of those moments where I had the reflection myself and then I read John Gill and he had this to say. In this he was a type of Christ who receives sinners distressed with a sense of sin, discontented in their present state, and in debt and unable to pay their debts.
And Gill says, see Matthew 11, 28, come to me. all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." So you see, even here, as David is on the run, as David escapes, as David goes into this cave of Adullah, we would think, wow, this has got to be miserable. A man who's been anointed, a man who's been identified, a man that will sit upon the throne. It will be called the throne of David from subsequent to him until the Lord Jesus comes, is living in a cave as a fugitive, running like a hunted dog. And yet God says it sends his family and God surrounds him with these triple D folk that want to make him their captain.
The Departure to Moab
Now in the next place, he goes to Moab. Now this is quite a journey. He's got to cross the river Jordan to go to Moab. Let's read the text, verse 3.
Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, please let my father and mother come here with you till I know what God will do for me. So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. Now notice the particular request David is a good type of Christ. Again, what is David, or the greater David on the cross?
He says, woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother. This is Christ's care for his mother. David does that in this particular instance.
Please let my father and mother come here with you. I want them protected. If I'm on the run, if I am fleeing, if I'm escaping, if I'm a fugitive, if I'm being hunted like a dog for something I never ever did, I don't want my parents to suffer this sort of thing as well. He goes or he appeals to the king of Moab so that he will give them safe quarter, so that he will give them safe haven.
And note that David is acknowledging God's providence. Let my father and mother come here with you till I know what God will do for me." Now if it is the case that Saul chokes in his sleep and David assumes the throne tomorrow, well then David will come fetch his folks and they can live happily ever after right there with him in Jerusalem. But David is open. David knows and David acknowledges that he is not living in a godless world.
He knows that he must wait till he knows what God will do for me. And as well, we have to appreciate the wisdom of David in this particular instance. Why Moab? Why would David go to Moab?
Well, in the first place, the Moabites were enemies to Saul. Certainly, anybody that was an enemy of Saul would be a friend to the Moabites. And in this instance, David is an enemy of Saul. But something even more fundamental, some of David's blood was a reason to argue for this particular situation.
Who was David's great-grandmother? Her name was Ruth, and there's a book of the Bible all about her. And so what David does here is absolutely brilliant. He appeals to the king of Moab based on the relationship to Ruth the Moabitess.
And the king of Moab is far more gracious than the king Saul. The king of Moab does what Saul should have done. Saul was supposed to give tax-exempt status to David's family, but he doesn't do that. Now they are in danger of their lives, and they have to seek refuge in the Moabite king, and that is precisely what happens.
Now
Providence Planned Long Beforehand
note God's ways here. Look at what happens. The way God's providence functions, the daily bread in Nob, the escape from Achish in Gath, the surrounding by family and friends in the cave of Adullah. And note here that God had acted in the distant past. to prepare this situation in a favorable way for David.
This is beautiful. Again, Davis makes this perceptive comment. He says, in David's case, all the unusual arrangements For Davis' commentary, sometimes he gives illustrations from our own history, typically history of war and baseball. He seems to like baseball quite a bit.
But one of the illustrations he uses, I just skimmed it so I'm probably shaky on some of the facts, but there was a particular instance where a man saved another man during the war. I think the man that saved the other man was a Polish pilot and he saved this one man by giving him a ride but dropping him off before he got to the checkpoint because the man that he saved was a Jew. Now later on in the war, this Polish pilot was downed and he ended up with severe brain trauma. When he woke up in the hospital, there was the man that he had delivered all those few years prior.
And Davis's point was, God oftentimes does things back here to provide a favorable outcome over here. Now, in this particular story that he was speaking about, it was just the span of a few years. Notice what we have here, though, with this Ruth-David connection. He says, in David's case, all the unusual arrangements have been made over a century before.
Yahweh plans his kindnesses long beforehand. Isn't that beautiful? I like to think that way. God plans his kindnesses long beforehand.
He directed circumstances long in advance in order to bring a ray of relief in David's present distress. It was not something David set in place, it was a gift. Yahweh arranged it long before. Nor is it something he does only for chosen kings.
A great number of his saints have stories to tell about desperation and providence. Has it ever been the case that you look back and you say, wow, now I understand why that happened for this particular time. That is what we have here, standing in Moab while David is asking for a safe haven for his parents.
The Departure to the Forest of Hereth
Now notice in the final place, the departure to the forest of Areth. Verse 5, now the prophet Gad said to David, Do not stay in the stronghold. Depart and go to the land of Judah." So David departed and went into the forest of Harith. No sooner, verse 3, does David say, till I know what God will do for me, verse 5, Dad is there telling David specifically what he must do.
You see, God's providence truly is glorious. Now, we may not get a gad dropping into our lives saying, eat the Wheaties, or take the banana, or take that job, or buy the yellow house. We may not get that sort of direct intervention from God, but God's providence is sure. He governs all his creatures and all their actions, and he is purposed in Romans 8 to do good to those who love him and to those who are the called according to his purpose.
So no sooner does David say, I need to wait till I know what God will do for me. Verse five, now the prophet Gad said to David, do not stay in the stronghold, depart and go to the land of Judah. So David departed and went into the forest of Herod. Now there's a contrast here that we ought to appreciate.
Saul had rejected the word of the Lord. It comes to a head in chapter 15. Remember, kill Agag, kill the Amalekites. Saul claims to have done this.
Samuel says, if that's the case, why am I hearing sheep and oxen? Saul rejected the word of the Lord and then Samuel says, God therefore has rejected you. Saul had received a distressing spirit from the Lord in 1614. Saul knew the departure of the Lord according to 1812.
Later on, in 28.6, Saul will inquire of the Lord. Do you know what Saul gets? He gets nothing from the Lord. This is a mercy.
This is a blessing. This is a good thing. The prophet comes to speak to David. This is another affirmation, another seal of approval, another statement to us, the reader, that David is God's man.
We know that because God is speaking to him. God is directing him. God is moving him. God is blessing him.
God is prospering him. God is watching over him, even in the most distressing times that this man had ever faced up to this point.
Application
Now, in conclusion, we ought to consider three things, and then we close. In the first place, this chapter highlights that there are trials in the life of God's people. I don't think you can dispute that. There are trials in the lives of God's people.
If we don't know trials and we're God's people, hold on and wait. You will know them. You will get them. You will experience them.
There is no escape. When we live in this world, Jesus promised us in John 16, 33, you will have tribulation. You can't avoid it. You can't escape it.
You can't run from it. I mean, David was able ultimately to escape Saul, but David could never escape trials. Never. They dogged him to his very grave.
One commentator, Vannoy, very excellent little commentary on this book, he says, this was a difficult and dangerous period in his life, one in which he underwent severe testings and trials, but also one in which the Lord sustained him in spite of his own failures and his persistence or and the persistence of Saul in seeking his life. We ought to appreciate that probably this is formative for the man that David would become. You see, we look at trials and we think, God's trying to get me. God's punishing me because I coveted a biscuit at dinner last night.
That's probably not the case. I'm not saying God doesn't judge, God doesn't chastise, God doesn't inflict punishment upon his erring children. But in times of trial and distress, there is often a remedial benefit in view. God has his ways of shaping us.
When we read in Romans 8 that God has predestined us, that He is going to conform us unto the image of His Son, if His Son learned obedience through suffering, how do you think you and I are going to learn obedience? Is it going to be sitting on a park bench with a cup of tea? No, it's going to be through suffering. That's one of those little things that we as Christians don't like to sort of peek back and look on.
This is God's means. This is how he shapes us. This is how he molds us. This is how he makes us useful.
Roger Ellsworth says, so it was off to the wilderness with David. There, God would break him of relying on his own wisdom and teach him to rely wholly on the word of the Lord. God frequently brings hardship into the lives of his children in order to bring them to a higher level of maturity and usefulness. That's the fact.
That's the reality of it. So when we're in the midst of trials, instead of whining and complaining, we certainly are to cry out to God. We can certainly take pen to paper and write psalms of praise to God, but we ought to appreciate the reality. With David as an example, with our Lord Jesus as an example, with the Apostle Paul as an example of a man who was tried and afflicted, we ought to see in these men something of a paradigm for all of God's people to follow.
It's going to be through hard times that we're going to grow. It's going to be through the difficulties that we're going to progress. It's going to be through testing that we mature and that we're shown to be faithful men and women. Chapter 21 and 22 certainly highlight this for us.
Secondly, in terms of provision, we have seen the provision of daily bread, the protection from hostile enemies, the encouragement of family and fellow distressed people, the preservation of family and the word of the prophet. Again, Vannoy makes this observation. He says, so chapter 21 provides a wake-up call to God's believing people of all times and places. It is a reminder that, one, living as a Christian in a fallen world is inherently dangerous.
See, we may forget that from time to time because we're not being chased by Saul. We may forget that from time to time because we're not standing toe-to-toe with Akish hearing Philistines report on who we are. We may forget that at times because we have air conditioning and because we have cars and because we have, you know, all these niceties and these good things that we appreciate. But Vanoy is right.
It is inherently dangerous to live as a Christian in a wicked world. This is one of the reasons why familiarity with your Bible is most helpful. And dare I say familiarity with the Old Testament. Not that the New doesn't have its fair share, but a lot of these Old Testament narratives gives us the nitty gritty on how life is lived in the trenches for God's people.
And it is inherently dangerous. Remember Naboth and his field. Ahab wanted to expand his holdings, so he has Naboth murdered. That is proof positive that it is inherently dangerous to live as a believer in an ungodly world.
He says, secondly, our own foolish behavior often heightens the dangers of this hostile environment. I mean, it'd be one thing if we lived in a fallen world and we didn't have our issues. If we didn't walk around making more messes. I mean, wouldn't that be nice?
We only had to contend with the mess that was out there. But it seems at times everything we touch turns to a mess. We've got the Midas touch. Only we don't make things gold, we make things mess.
That's a challenge, brethren. As we study David in this particular chapter, the man lied. Now, we don't say, well, God blessed it for His glory. No, God in His grace, nevertheless, provided food for David.
What we need to understand is that our own foolishness oftentimes heightens the dangers of this hostile environment. With that in mind, we ought to pray like Solomon. Lord, give me wisdom. Remember, God commended Solomon because Solomon didn't ask for more cars or more boats or more houses or more wives, but Solomon asked for wisdom.
He says, in the third place, God's mercies are new each day in spite of our failures. Isn't that conspicuous in this section of scripture? Do you not see that God's mercies are new and fresh each day? David gets up out of bed, off he goes, and he meets God's blessing.
David gets up out of bed, off he goes, and he meets God's blessing. in the most unlikely circumstances and in the most unlikely places. He's not going to Christian conferences. He's not going to Sunday school teachers' meetings. He's not going himself to Bible study.
He's going to the Philistines. He's going to the Moabites. He's going to the Cave of Adullam. And what does he find every step of the way?
But God's compassions and his mercies are new each morning. And then the fourth thing that Vannoy points out, God's purposes for his people cannot be frustrated by the designs of the ungodly. That's also very important for us to keep in mind. David is going to be the king.
Saul doesn't like that. Saul is resistant. Saul is murderous. Saul is enraged against this plan.
But God will see to it that his man sits upon the throne. Through trial, through struggle, through tribulation, through difficulty, David will eventually sit upon the throne in Jerusalem, such that it will be called the city of David, the throne of David, the holy city of our God. And then he goes on to say, I'm just reading this because he said it so well. He says it is important that God's people be reminded of the dangers that are endemic to their own journey through life as strangers and pilgrims on earth, and that these dangers do not just arise from without, but also from within.
And in all of this, there is the occasion for worship. You know that Psalm 34 is an acrostic psalm. That means that each line of the psalm begins with the letter of the alphabet, such that you have an A line, and then a B line, and then a G line, and so on all the way. I'm sorry, brethren, but if I was going to write a psalm when I was on my way to one of these various places, I don't know that I would spend the time to ensure that it was an acrostic.
The man was a worshiper of God. Now, certainly, the spirit of God is upon him. But these instances, these scenarios, these difficulties, and these trials were nevertheless places of worship for David, because he knew his God. and he walked in light of that God.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for what it instructs us concerning your faithfulness to us in the midst of trial and difficulty. We are not David, we don't have the same circumstances, but we have the same God, and in this we greatly rejoice We pray that you'd watch over each one of us, that you would protect us, that you would grant us grace, that you would help us, God, to see things with a theological perspective, to see things in terms of your providence and in terms of your kindness and your care over us. We thank you for the scriptures.
We thank you for the realistic depiction that you give us of your servants and especially of yourself. Go with us now, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.