Opening Prayer

Well, please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 22. God willing, we'll return to our exposition of Matthew's Gospel next Sunday morning, but this morning we're looking at 1 Samuel chapter 22, verses 6 to 23. For the last several sections, I've tried to summarize with one word the chapters that we've looked at. Chapter 19, we saw deliverance.

The Lord God delivers David from Saul. Chapter 20 is covenant. David's covenant with Jonathan was that which God used to encourage his servant. In chapter 21, we saw provision.

The mention of many places, many geographical locations where David went. He found refreshment in various forms and so God gave provision to his servant. Well, here in chapter 22 verses 6 to 23, that one word would be massacre. Saul and his wickedness become more apparent as we move through the narrative.

If David is a man after God's own heart and on a rise to power ultimately over the nation of Israel, and a place close to the heart of the God of Israel, Saul is coming unraveled, violently and wickedly so. So I want to read the section and then we'll look at several things in the text. Beginning in 22.6, when Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah with his spear in his hand and all his servants standing about him.

And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now you Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? All of you have conspired against me. And there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse. And there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie and wait as it is this day.' Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab.

And he inquired of the Lord for him, He gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. So the king sent to call Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahithah, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nab. And they all came to the king. And Saul said, Here now, son of Ahithah.

He answered, Here I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me to lie in wait as it is this day? So Ahimelech answered the king and said, and who among all your servants is as faithful as David? Who is the king's son-in-law who goes at your bidding and is honorable in your house?

Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me. Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.

And the king said, you shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house. And the king said to the guards who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me. But the servants of the king would not lift their hands or strike the priests of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg, you turn and kill the priests.

So Doeg, the Edomite, turned and struck the priests and killed, on that day, 85 men who wore a linen ephod. Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep with the edge of the sword. Now one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests.

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. Amen. Well, let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our blessed God and our Holy Father, we thank you for the Word of God. We thank you that you've not left us alone in this world. You've given us the Spirit, the other Comforter, the one just like your Son. We thank you that you've given us both the Old and the New Testament.

We pray that you would give us wisdom now, that the Spirit would guide us and lead us and illumine our minds and hearts that we may receive what you would have for us from this passage of Holy Scripture. We confess our sins to you and our transgressions. We know, Lord God, that we don't live in light of the Word of God as we ought, and as believers we struggle with remaining corruption, and we confess that corruption to you and pray for cleansing in the blood of the Lamb. And Father, for any and all here outside of Christ, we pray that today they would meet the Priest of God, even the Lord Jesus Christ, that one to whom Abiathar points.

And we pray that by your grace they would come to you through Christ and know the joy of everlasting life. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your goodness and for your graciousness. We thank you for not dealing with us according to our transgression.

We thank you for bringing us to this place. And we pray that you would be glorified and honored. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

Well, as I said, it is the case that we are seeing Saul come unraveled. He is a man from whom the Spirit of God has departed. And in several instances, a distressing spirit from the Lord has come upon Saul and he's engaged in wickedness. He has no reason whatsoever to seek to destroy David.

David is a national hero. David is a man whom the Lord God had gifted Israel with, a man who had beaten Goliath on the field of battle in the Valley of Elah. And ever since that instance, Saul has been overruled by envy, by rage, by malice, by distrust. He is truly a man that is coming unglued.

As we come to this passage, we'll look at three particulars. In the first place, we'll notice Saul's pity party at Gibeah. That is precisely what happens in verses 6 to 10. It's a pity party.

Perhaps you've undergone something like this in your own life. Perhaps you've seen it in your own children. Perhaps you've seen it in others. That idea where everything is all about them and they're moaning and they're whining and they're groaning and they're complaining.

That is what's overtaken the king of Israel. A man who's supposed to be mature, a man who's supposed to be level-headed, a man who's supposed to have government over his own soul and life has a pity party in Gibeah in verses 6 to 10. In the second place, we see the massacre at Gibeah and Nob in verses 11 to 19. And then in the third place, the escape of Abiathar in verses 20 to 23.

So that'll be the course of exposition and then we'll try and make some practical observations on the passage when we conclude.

Saul's Pity Party at Gibeah

But notice in the first place this pity party in Gibeah. It gives us the location. When Saul, verse 6, heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now Saul was staying in Gibeah.

This is where he lived. This is where his palace was. under a tamarisk tree in Ramah with his spear in his hand and all his servants standing about him." Someone still hasn't talked him out of holding on to that spear. Now certainly it's an indication or symbol or an emblem of his royal authority, but certainly after his proven record up to this point of being unbalanced or imbalanced, somebody should have tried to take that spear away from him. Now notice the accusatory question that he poses to his servants.

He is there with his men. He is there with those who are supposedly those who support him and all he has is condemnation. Notice in verse 7, Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now you Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? I think it's important for us to appreciate something.

This is probably how Saul had kept the servants under his employ. This is probably how Saul kept his servants loyal. Remember when Israel demands a king. Samuel then tells the people under God, through the prophetic word, what manner of a king they would receive.

And essentially the king would exploit the people over whom he ruled. The king would give their lands and give their resources to his officers. It seems to me that Saul is doing the very thing that he is accusing these men of being loyal to David for. Look at the text in verse 7.

He says, Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? Sort of like we might say, like I do. Saul is trying to bribe them. Saul is trying to keep them under his grasp.

Saul does not want them to depart and go and serve David. It truly is an abuse of power. We see him coming unraveled in the spiritual realm. We see him coming unraveled when it comes to rationality.

But we see him doubling down when it comes to political tyranny. He will protect his position at all costs. And what he does in terms of indicting these servants is to suggest to them that if David won't deliver the goods, then you ought to remain loyal to me because I will. I will grace your palms.

I will make you happy. I will deliver. He has to pay, ultimately, for their allegiance. Robert Vannoy says, so in Saul's questions to the members of his court, we get an indirect commentary on how far Saul had strayed from an awareness of his office as a covenantal king.

He had used the land in Israel, fields and vineyards, that really belonged to the Lord, to bind his court officials to himself. He had personalized his office and then concluded that David was doing the same. That's what's happening here. Now notice what he goes on to do in terms of his accusation in verse 8.

All of you have conspired against me. There's no evidence to suggest that is the case whatsoever. This man is paranoid. He's falling apart.

He sees problems where they don't exist. David was victorious in the field of battle. Everybody said this is a good thing. Saul rejected it because it did not give glory to Saul.

Notice, he says, the servants knew but did not tell Saul concerning the covenant between Jonathan and David. And then, what he says in the last place is truly incredible. What it says in verse 8, and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as it is this day. Could there be anything more pitiful or pathetic than a sinner who plays the victim.

This is typical sinner conduct, by the way. He doesn't say, I've made a mess of everything. My heart and my rage against David has brought me to this place. No, you won't feel sorry for me.

You have to defend me. You have to protect me. You have to fawn all over me. You have to cater to me.

You have to agree with me. This is the picture of political tyranny. This is something that I think our author also wants us to appreciate. That when men are devoid of the Spirit of God, you cannot trust for a moment that things will go well for the persons for whom they govern.

This man is in a wretched, sorry condition. He's engaging in a pity party in Gibeah. And now

Doeg the Edomite Fans the Flames

notice what he says, or what happens in verse 9. Verse 9, then answer, Doeg the Edomite. Remember there was a snapshot of Doeg the Edomite in the past chapter. Chapter 21, verse 7.

David goes to the city of Nob. He needs bread. He needs provision. He's on, according to him, a secret mission from Saul.

So Ahimelech the priest gives him this bread. But there's this brief snapshot that Doeg the Edomite happened to be there that day. Happened to be there. There's no happen to be there in the book of 1 Samuel.

It is the providence of Almighty God who governs all his creatures and all their actions according to his most holy, wise, and powerful preservation. But Doeg was there. It was foreshadowing. Now Doeg the Edomite comes back.

He's probably a foreign mercenary that is subject to Saul's government. And notice what he says. He was sent over the servants of Saul, and he said, I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahithah. And he inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine.

Doeg, in many ways, does report what actually occurred, though I'm not convinced that David inquired of the Lord then. Everybody says that. Ahimelech says, no, I did not do that. But look at what Doeg does.

Doeg's a bit, in a bit, in a sense, sort of feeding Saul's suspicions. He's sort of fanning the flames. He's not trying to minimize the situation. He's not trying to put off the situation, but rather he is instigating.

David Samora says, not only does Doeg claim that Ahimelech inquired of God's will for David, but he calls the holy bread provisions and refers next to the sword of Goliath. Each statement more military than the next, increasing the listener's tension, provoking the suspicion that the priest was aiding David in military preparations against who else, But Saul. So you see what happens here. Saul is whining to his servants.

Doeg says, I saw David in Nob with Ahimelech. And Ahimelech gave him provisions. And Ahimelech gave him a sword. And Ahimelech aided him in inquiring of Yahweh.

Doeg, as Samorah points out, is charging Saul. or encouraging Saul to believe that David is going to mount opposition against Saul's reign. But what does a tyrant do? Does he sit down and discuss the matter? Does he say, you know, we need to have a summit?

We need to exchange some watches and some hot chocolate? We need to speak kindly to one another? No, not this tyrant.

The Massacre at Nob and Gibeah

Note the second place. how Saul deals with a perceived threat to his kingdom. Notice, the massacre at Nibia and Gaul, verses 11 to 13. He accuses Ahimelech. Now, brethren, I'm pointing this out a little bit because we are in an election cycle.

I don't believe this text has direct application to who we choose as a prime minister or who the Americans choose as a president. Unless you've been living under a rock, you know there are election cycles in both countries. But I certainly believe that the Church of Jesus Christ ought to have the wherewithal to know something about politics, to know something about tyranny, to know something about God-hating rebels who occupy a place of authority over others. Saul throws off the rule of God absolutely.

What does Deuteronomy 17 specify? The very moment that a king occupies the throne in Israel. You know what his first job is? Has nothing to do with foreign policy.

Has nothing to do with economic growth. Has nothing to do with jobs creation. Has nothing to do with all those particulars. What is the primary and first procedure of the reigning king in Israel is to take out his own pen, his own piece of paper, and write for himself the law of God.

Saul couldn't care less! Had Saul written out the law of God, that self-same chapter 17 in Deuteronomy and chapter 19 would have told Saul, you need witnesses. There's this thing called due process. There is this issue wherein the government shouldn't just be able to take you out of your home and throw you into prison or murder you without somebody hearing your side of it.

Due process is from God and Saul rejects it. Notice, he addresses Ahimelech and the way that Saul addresses David is similar. He's always the son of Jesse, isn't he? Well, here Ahimelech is the son of Ahithah.

He's not Ahimelech. Again, Saul, it seems, keeps men at distance as he's got them under his crosshairs. He assumes the guilt of Ahimelech. He shows no regard whatsoever for the law of God and its demand that on the basis of two or three witnesses every fact is established.

Why is that that we don't pay attention to it? Why is it that we are so quick to throw in our two cents without hearing the matter? Without hearing from witnesses? Without seeing evidence?

You see it all over the place. We hear a tidbit of information and we're castigating some and exonerating others. You know, we're not in a position to make those calls at times. And in the church, this person looked this way or said this, so as far as I'm concerned, they're guilty.

The first to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. Are we going to be like Saul, rebels, and reject the word of the living God? Or are we going to calm down? Are we going to chill out?

Are we going to weigh the evidence and the data and the facts and judge accordingly? Saul has no regard for the rule of law. It will never go well. When a man occupies a place of government power who has no regard for the rule of God's law, it's typically not going to go well for the people under his government.

It's just the way it is. When a man sets himself up in the position of being God, when he has become a rival lawmaker and he excludes the living and the true God, That's not going to be a good situation for the people under his government.

Ahimelech's Defense and Saul's Contempt

Now notice the defense by Ahimelech. He defends David in the first place. David is a faithful man. David is your son-in-law.

David holds a high position in the military. David is honored in the royal court. It's as if Ahimelech is saying, why in the world would I conspire with David? Why in the world would I aid and abet this man in his rebellion against you?

A Himelech essentially is saying, I'm not convinced he's in rebellion against you. All these things are true of him. He's a faithful man. He is the king's son-in-law.

He holds a high position. He is honored in the royal court. Why in the world, Saul? Ahimelech at this point is a bit of the voice of reason to this tyrant, similar to Jonathan in chapter 19.

Remember when Jonathan comes to Saul in chapter 19, Saul tells his servants and Jonathan, we need to kill David. And Jonathan says, wait a minute, and he offers up all these pieces of rational evidence as to why Saul shouldn't kill David. And Saul for a moment said, okay, you're right, I won't kill David. And later on he tries to kill David.

What should we glean from that? Tyrants cannot be reasoned with. They're not rational men. They are madmen.

They are out of their minds. When a man sees himself as if he is God, for anybody to try and reason with him, for anybody to try and offer up any counter evidence, is to suggest that his voice as God isn't good enough. Saul's in a bad state, brethren. Saul is in a horrible place at this time.

Now notice, he then affirms his innocence. This is the Himalaya in verse 15. Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me.

Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much. It's a good case, isn't it? Essentially, David's a great guy.

He's probably not even in opposition against you. And if he was, I'm certainly not conspiring with him. I'm just a priest functioning in the city of Nob seeking to glorify Yahweh. And yet, what does Saul do?

Notice, he calls for a massacre.

Saul Commands the Slaughter

I wonder if we feel the weight of this particular passage. It's easy to read through 85 people lost their lives or a city got slaughtered and say, well, you know, I wasn't there. Didn't happen to me, didn't affect my family, didn't involve me. Do you see the depths to which Saul has fallen?

It is almost as if the author, I think he has multi-reasons for the book of 1 Samuel. It's always about the glory of God. If you ever wonder what a Bible book is about, you'll never go wrong saying the glory of God. If you ever ask the question, what is the scope of Scripture?

It is Jesus Christ. You'll never go wrong there. He asked, why did Samuel write Samuel? Yes, it's to teach us concerning the glory of God.

It's to teach us something concerning his kingdom here on earth. But it's also teaching us something theological in nature in terms of the man who's after God's own heart. How do we dare to be a David? How do we follow in the footsteps of a man of God like David?

But as well, how do we avoid? How do we resist? How do we guard against and stay far from Saul? Saul's a wretched picture of human depravity in all of its filth and blackness and wretchedness.

Look at what Saul says in verse 16, the king said, you shall surely die Ahimelech, you and all your father's house. The utter absence of due process, Doeg's report and the defendant's response no witnesses, no cross-examination, no ability to argue this out in a rational and logical and legal context. No, as far as Saul is concerned, the testimony of the Edomite trumps everything because it fits the narrative that Saul wants people to believe. That David is a usurper, that David is a rebel, that David is a man not after God's own heart, but a man who is after his own lusts and his own desires.

In other words, Saul is casting upon David the very things that are true of him. Now notice, he tells his servants, verse 17, when the king said to the guards who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of the Lord. You ever read scripture and think for just a moment, what if I would have been there? And it's one thing to sit on a Sunday morning and hear preaching or on a Monday afternoon and read scripture and sip chamomile and put your pinky finger out and read passages like these and say, wow, what a terrible thing.

Saul says, turn and kill these priests. Remember, according to verse 11, when Saul summons Ahimelech, all the priests of Nob come to Gibeah. All the priests of Nob are all the priests of Israel. Nob was the city of priests.

So presently they're in Gibeah. The priests have left Nob, they're in Gibeah. Saul has heard all he needs to hear, and now he tells his servants, turn and kill the priests. Two problems here.

If you were one of the servants, you'd say, wait a minute, what are you talking about? Which is, in essence, what they do. And if you were one of the priests, imagine the response there. What are you talking about?

Kill me? What did I do? We like to defend our own lives, don't we? We like to get out of the way when that car comes careening down the street.

We try to move. When a madman orders our destruction at the hands of men with swords, we would probably say, wait a minute! Hold your horses, Saul. Steady this out.

Can we talk about this? Note what the servants do. The servants will not take up their sword against the priests. In this, they show virtue.

But they didn't stop Doeg. In this, they demonstrate heartlessness. John Gill nailed it when he said their conscience would not suffer them to do it. These men could not take their swords and murder the priests of Nah, which it would have been.

It would have been murder. Lawlessness, malice, those things are components that are necessary to define the crime of murder. He says, their consciences would not suffer them to do it. They refused to obey the king's orders and chose rather to expose themselves to his resentment than to be guilty of such a crime.

Saul's footmen had more sense of honor, justice, and truth than he himself had and were worthy of praise. It's legit, isn't it? Gil is right. They had more of a sense of justice or honor justice and truth than the king himself had.

And as a result, they are worthy of praise. But hear what Gil goes on to say. But they would have been deserving of more, more praise, if they could not have prevailed upon him by entreaties and remonstrances to have foreborn such a bloody execution. Instead of being the tame spectators of it, they had taken him and bound him as a madman and so facilitated the escape of the priests and prevented this shocking scene of wickedness." I'm sure you've seen the quotes before.

They fly around Facebook or social media all the time. It's not only the man who takes the sword against the innocent. It's the man who stands by and does or says nothing that's guilty too. You see what Gil says?

They are worthy of praise insofar as they would not take their sword and kill the priests of Nob. But you remember Doeg the Edomite, given the command, says, yeah, I'll take that. That's in my wheelhouse. I'm not even an Israelite.

I'm not beholden to any priest in any place, especially not in Israel. Now these servants, or these soldiers, stood by and watched a mass execution. Brethren, we may not be the person that is actually cutting off another person's head, but we may be the bystander watching and saying nothing. We may be a party to it by our complicity, by the fact that we are too weak-kneed and too Nancy-boyish to stand up and intervene.

What is more of a threat to a king than a challenge to his tyranny? You know, it's interesting. King James, the famous King James of the King James Bible, had a problem with the Geneva Study Bible. He had a problem with the Geneva Bible.

It wasn't called the Study Bible. Everybody studied then. You didn't have to tell them, this is a study Bible. Really?

I didn't know what that meant. Everything is a study Bible. Study the Bible. That should be just basic information.

Well, I can't just study this Bible because it's not a study Bible. The Geneva Bible had notes that were a bit offensive to King James, especially in Exodus chapter 1. Because in Exodus chapter 1, it commends the Hebrew midwives in their resistance to the tyrant, Pharaoh. Pharaoh said, butcher baby boys that have Israelite names.

And those Hebrew midwives didn't. As well, in Exodus 1, verse 22, it tells us how the king's rage was to be poured out upon Israel. And the Geneva Study Bible said this is the way, I'm just paraphrasing here, this is the way of tyrants when their authority is challenged. You see, the point though, brethren, is that at some point, and I'm not here preaching social revolution, that might be something that's coming to your head.

There's political cycles. Butler's preaching 1 Samuel 22. Is he going to tell us we need to go get guns and march against Ottawa? No.

But I'm telling us we need to be more biblically minded when it comes to the world around us. Why do we oppose tyranny? Why should we oppose tyranny? Why should we reject rule by wicked men?

Why is it the case? Have you wrestled with any of these things? You ask the question of the Bible, what sort of political theory do you commend to us? Yeah, we're not going to answer all of that right here and right now, but brethren, these are things that Christians need to get in their heads.

We can appear so ignorant. We're going to appear so foolish. We're going to appear the way that people perceive we actually are. That we stick our heads in the sand and we pretend that the world's not out there.

You know, in my mind, in my understanding, with reference to the scripture and a biblical worldview, it isn't the Christian who stuck his head in the sand. It is the God-hating rebel. By putting his head in the sand, he is seeking to exclude the God of heaven and earth. What happens to Paul when he stands before Festus, or Felix, and Festus says, Paul, much learning is driving you mad.

You say, well, I'm sorry you feel that way. I apologize. He said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, but I speak the words of truth and reason. What's the implication of Paul's statement?

Festus, you're mad. You're nuts. You're out of your mind. Christians, we have answers in the Bible.

We know what God's Word is concerning several issues. So again, this is not a sermon on social revolution. Show up to my house in the morning and I'll arm you with the bandoleros and the sombreros and we'll go out and we'll make our money. No.

But think. There's a scary passage in Ezekiel 9, probably one of the scariest, in my estimation, in the entirety of the Bible. Ezekiel gets a vision, and in that vision he sees six men. And these six men have slaughtering weapons, battle weapons, killing weapons.

There's another man, he's clothed in linen, he's got a writer's ink horn. And in the vision, that man with the linen is told, I want you to go and I want you to mark the heads of those who sigh and cry over the abominations in Israel. I want you to go and mark the heads of those who sigh and cry over the abominations, I think it's Jerusalem. And then he goes on to say to the six with the slaughtering weapons, I want you to follow the one in the linen, and whoever doesn't bear the mark on his forehead, I want you to kill them.

What's the point? Israel has become a bastion of idolatry. Israel has become a place where babies are murdered. Israel has become a place where human sacrifices has been engaged in.

Israel has become a place that looks pagan. Spare the ones who at least sigh and cry over it. Spare the ones who at least care. Spare the ones who at least shed tears.

But to those who don't sigh and cry, those who don't care one whit, those who just care about themselves, take them out. And in the vision, guess where these men are told to start? Begin at my sanctuary. I see sometimes, and I read sometimes, and I hear sometimes that pastors don't always preach on, you know, basic ethics.

Why is abortion wrong? Why is euthanasia wrong? Why is the death penalty right? You need to know these things, brethren.

You need to sigh and cry over the abominations in the land. Perhaps you are one of these servants that won't take up sword to dash these priests down to the earth. Perhaps you're not crying out to the Lord. You're not intervening as you're able.

You're not saying. You're not writing. You're not praying. You're not doing anything.

I'm not saying we all have to be political activists. This is not a call to go stand up and hold signs in five corners. Pray, brethren. Pray.

All of us can pray. I'm not into that either. Pastors guilt manipulating people. You've got to write 10 letters to your members of parliament.

I don't care if you write 10 letters. You should be on your knees at the throne of grace in a time of crisis. The time where baby murder and old people murder and all sorts of wickedness are just upon us. Do we cry to God?

Do we say, Oh Lord, how long? We try to pray for the persecuted church. We try to read the letters and the updates. We try to keep that before us.

Because out of sight, out of mind, It's one of the best things about those 10 videos thus far that have come out from CMP. Nobody knows what goes on behind the doors of a Planned Parenthood clinic. Now they do. And it underscores this wickedness as well.

Now they do and they still don't care. They still don't care. that babies are being butchered and their parts are being sold so that women can joke about purchasing Lamborghinis, and there's still a debate about defund Planned Parenthood? It just shows you that men are committed to wickedness. It just shows you that Proverbs 8 is absolutely correct.

Those who reject Me, that's Christ speaking His wisdom, love death. They love it. They traffic in it. They dance in it.

They celebrate it. And it's all over. That's US. Happens in Canada too.

I'm going to preach on the sixth commandment tonight. Euthanasia. It's the new law in 2016 in Canada. Does that concern us?

Does that bother us? Does it affect us? Yeah, I'm not trying to manipulate you. Write ten whatever's to whoever.

You know, email with this petition. But brethren, at some basic level in our human psyche, it ought to affect us enough to pray, to cry out to the Lord God. So notice, Goeg steps up to the task. And what does he do?

He murders the priests there in Gibeah. Remember, they'd all left Nob and they came with Ahimelech to Gibeah. So Doeg, probably not single-handedly, probably some Doegites, some of his supporters, assisted him in the task, the bloody and the cruel task, of ridding Saul of his problem, which had never been affirmed to even be a problem. These 85 priests certainly didn't do anything.

A Himelech didn't do anything. There was no witness evidence to corroborate this whole spiel. But Doeg is right there to execute the wrath of Saul upon the priests of Nod. Talk about religious persecution, huh?

You see, that wasn't enough. That's never enough. The tyrant's sword is never satisfied with the blood it gets. Look at what happens.

They're in Gibeah. Doeg the Edomite, middle of verse 18, turned and struck the priests and killed on that day 85 men who wore a linen ephod. Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword. Wasn't enough to slay those men.

Let's go kill their families. And not just their families, their livestock and everything. Those of you who have been there on Wednesday night, you'll know the principle. It's called the harem.

Harem principle. It's a thick H sound, kind of a CH in Hebrew. Harem. What's the harem principle?

It's what God commands in holy war. When Israel goes to dispossess the land, they're not to do it with a social media campaign, they're to do it in a bloody manner. They are to kill all the men, all the women, all the children, all the livestock, and dispossess them from the land. Isn't it intriguing?

This was Saul's command in chapter 15. In chapter 15, Saul was told by God to go and to kill Agag and the Amalekites. When Saul goes to deal with the Amalekites, he doesn't kill Agag. He doesn't kill the livestock.

He spares them, probably for his own greedy, ill-gotten gain. But he makes up this story that I thought we could sacrifice to the Lord. It rings hollow, buddy, because you're a wretch. Note what's happened.

Chapter 15, Saul is supposed to do this to the Amalekites and he doesn't. This is the self-same chapter that we often refer to to teach that rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. That's what Samuel says to Saul because God commanded Saul to go and institute this harem principle upon the Amalekites and take care of business. He doesn't do it to the Amalekites, but he does it in Israel.

You ever get that glimpse at the end of Judges? There's a similarity to what happens in Sodom. At the end of Judges, there is a similar situation to what takes place in Sodom and Gomorrah. It's a vile rape scene.

You know what the author at the end of Judges is telling us? Israel has become the new Sodom. The author here is telling us that Saul, the tyrant, will reject and rebel against the word of the living God when it comes to the legitimate enemies of Israel. But when it comes to Saul's enemies, his perceived enemies, his enemies who haven't been convicted or convicted according to due process, for Saul now he'll implement this harem principle.

For Saul now he will exterminate not only the priests, but their families. Robert Alter says, now he is carrying out the ban he executed only imperfectly against Amalek. The terms used are virtually identical. But the massacre is directed at his own innocent people.

Saul's madness has become sinister and lethal.

God's Sovereignty in the Slaughter

Now before we move on, we need to understand how sovereign God really is. Saying that seems odd, right? How sovereign God really is. Sovereign means what it means.

But He's so sovereign. No, He's sovereign. But we need superlatives and we need adverbs or adjectives. We need to make it more so.

He is the most sovereign-ist. You see, this brutal, wretched, ghastly, ghoulish scene fulfills the Word of God. There's high mystery here. Our confession says the doctrine of predestination needs to be handled with prudence.

Back in chapter 2, there was a priest named Eli. Guess who Abiathar is directly related to? Eli did not function as a godly man. Eli did not restrain his sons.

As a result, his sons plunged the sacrificial system into great, great troubles. God told Eli, through the prophet Samuel, that his house would be destroyed. Don't forget that. In case you forgot that, This incident at Nob, this incident at Gibeah, ought to rehearse the reality that God doesn't forget His word, God doesn't forget His promise, God does not neglect His own prophecy.

He brings it to pass. I'm going to lean on Davis here because I think he says it well. Ghastly, brutal, and unjust, yet one cannot read of Doeg's slaughter without recalling the prophecy of chapter 2. Doeg's butchery fulfills the word of God against the house of Eli.

That word had been spoken perhaps 40, maybe 50 years before. No, now in the carnage at Gibeah and Nob it had come to pass. He says, don't berate the word of God. God is not the author of this evil.

Place the blame where it belongs, on this renegade Edomite and on the Antichrist who commands him. They dared to destroy the priests of Yahweh. It is a horrid wickedness for which Saul and Doeg are fully responsible. It is a clear fulfillment of the word Yahweh had spoken.

Put it together and one truth becomes clear. Please listen. I personally don't care if the food is hot, cold, or whatever. I think people should stay till the sermon is over.

We can eat cold food, brethren, or not have coffee in the first minute. This stuff is absolutely crucial. Listen to what David goes on to say. Put it together and one truth becomes clear.

Even in opposing God's kingdom, God's enemies only bring to pass God's Don't you find comfort there? That's another thing that really ought to get our goat, is those who have a problem with the sovereignty of God. Oh, we don't like this doctrine of predestination or election or sovereignty. What are you talking about?

We want to say with Paul, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. In love He's predestined us. There is nothing more comforting to the saint of Christ than the sovereignty of God. Why is it the case that that's offensive to some who name and profess Christ?

If you haven't tasted and seen the sovereignty of God, you're short. You're gypped. You are not where you ought to be. Davis is absolutely correct.

Even in opposing God's kingdom, God's enemies only bring to pass God's word. You see a similar instance. We're running out of time. But in Acts chapter 4, how do they pray?

How do the saints pray? How do the apostles pray? to do whatever your hand predetermined to do. Oh, they acknowledge the wickedness of Herod and Pilate and their complicity in putting the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they say, doing what your hand determined to do. Sovereignty wasn't an offense to them.

Sovereignty wasn't an affront to them. Sovereignty was the very foundation upon which they brought their prayers and petitions to the Lord God Most High. That's a great doctrine, a great truth, a beloved thing that the church ought to hold to, and care for, and defend.

The Escape of Abiathar

Now notice finally, quickly, the escape of Abiathar, verses 20 to 23. Now one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. So basically he escapes, he tells David what occurs, and then David confesses, or David owns, or David feels remorse and feels regret. Notice what David says in verse 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. I don't know how David got up the next day, to be honest with you. I really don't know how David got up the next day. Have you ever done something really bad and it just wants you, you just want to stop?

I don't mean kill yourself or go do that, but how did David move on? Look what David ascribes to himself. I have caused this. I should have known when I saw Doeg, the Edomite, standing in the house of the Lord.

I should have deflected. I should have stopped. I should have taken him out, whatever the case may be, to neutralize the threat of Doeg reporting back to Saul. David owns this.

And yet David lived to fight another day. You know how he does it? Because he understands there is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. He understands it's the blood and the righteousness of Jesus upon which we stand.

Brethren, learn something from David. He continued to soldier on, even when he had done grievous things. How, we might ask? Grace.

Mercy. It wasn't his virtue that he looked to. It wasn't his ability that he looked to. It wasn't his power or strength that he looked to.

It was to the Lord God most high. When David is given the opportunity later to be judged or punished, what does he do? He says, I'd rather be in the hands of my God. Don't throw me into the hands of men.

I don't trust myself in their clutches, but I'm good when it comes to God. Indulging out punishment. That's what David says. Now notice, as we end or conclude the exposition.

Verse 23, stay with me, do not fear, for he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe. The contrast couldn't be sharper, could it? Saul murders priests, David saves them. Saul guts them in Gibeah and their families in Nob through the agency of Doeg.

But David says, stay with me, I'll protect you. You see, David is the man after God's own heart. David is the man who walks by faith. David is the man who knows the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

Saul is a reprobate. Saul is the one that has rejected the living and true God. David walks in his Lord. And we need to understand the significance of this, because remember, at the end of chapter 19, The end of chapter 19, when Saul takes off his clothes and he prophesies, when the Spirit comes upon him and he prophesies.

Remember when he took off his clothes there, he wasn't absolutely naked. It was a divestment of his royal robes. The author's telling us that he's no longer God's king. What's the author telling us here?

Saul doesn't have access to the priesthood. Without access to the priesthood, you don't have access to Yahweh. David now has a priest. David now has Abiathar.

David now has the prophet and the priest, and he is the king. Abiathar then stands, this is Davis, as a witness to the way God insistently preserves a remnant of his people. The priests of God may be destroyed, but not completely destroyed. The people of God may often be put down, but never put out.

Abiathar's escape does not mean that all God's servants are immune from the world's butchery, but that the world's butchery can never wipe out all of God's servants. The Lord does not promise that we will never die for the kingdom of God, but the Lord promises that the kingdom of God will never die. That's what Abiathar shows us. Let Saul take his rage against the priests of Nob, and the kingdom marches on.

God will have a priest over his household. Make no mistake about it.

Application

In conclusion, my dear brothers and sisters, in the first place, we learned that there will be enemies for God's covenant people. That was true in Saul's day. It is true in our day. This is why we hear about, and this is why we pray for the persecuted church.

This is why we ought to be concerned. We ought to show that solidarity with brethren by going to the throne of grace on their behalf. There will always be enemies to the Church of Christ. It is a certainty.

It'll never be the case. It's the New Jerusalem wherein righteousness dwells. In this place, there's a lot of unrighteousness, and a lot of that unrighteousness is targeted against the people of Jesus.

The Misery of Political Tyranny

In the second place, and I think we've shown this, we ought to appreciate the misery of political tyranny. The misery of political tyranny. Now, it seems to me that in an election cycle, there's two basic responses from the people of God. On the one hand, you get that group that says, if we can only elect the right guy, then everything's going to be great.

We can only elect the right guy, then everything's going to be great. You've heard that, haven't you? You don't look at me like, what are you talking about? Those people are out there.

Their websites are out there. You can click on them and see. If we only elect the right people, everything will be great. Make America great again.

Restore chickens in every pot, and cars in every driveway, and jobs. It's all this idea that if we just elect the right guy, then everything's going to be great. But then you get the other websites, you get the other Christians who say, we shouldn't think one whit about politics at all. We should just concentrate on the church and do what the church is supposed to do.

What are we supposed to believe? How are we supposed to navigate? Which websites do we visit? Well, the idea that salvation and redemption can come from any man or political party is patently false.

The psalmist puts it this way, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. On the other hand, brethren, political tyranny makes difficult the functioning of the Church of Jesus Christ. It seems to me that Paul the Apostle, as well he should, gives us the perfect response, the biblical response. We don't put our trust in those men, but we pray for those men.

I know it seems so odd, doesn't it? We need to recognize the dangers of a political tyranny. Salvation cannot be gotten from a man or political party. but a great deal of bloodshed can be gotten by a man or a political party. So be savvy and recognize these things and don't cast your ballot for Saul.

That would be foolish. That would genuinely make difficult Paul's injunction in 1 Timothy 2. Why are we supposed to pray for kings and all those who are in authority? So we'll have jobs.

So we'll have whatever it is that they're telling us we're going to have. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. So on the one hand, don't trust in a man or a political party. But on the other hand, don't disregard the ramifications of a man or a political party.

You vote in a Saul and life is going to be very difficult. You vote in a Saul and things are going to be very bloody. You vote in a Saul and things are going to be very harsh and it's going to be very difficult. Now, that's not to say we ought not to slug it through the difficulty, but Paul's prayer seems to envision this sort of an environment so that we can be unharassed and free to worship our God the way we are supposed to.

Doesn't that seem like The response. We need to understand as well the preservation of the covenant people. It's been an encouragement going through 1 Samuel because it underscores the power and the ability and the super competence of Almighty God to preserve His kingdom. Doesn't it?

There's a lot of threats coming against the kingdom. From without, that champion from Gath named Goliath, and from within, that tyrant that was a Benjamite son of Kish named Saul. It should promote confidence for us and to us in the one who declared, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Haiti shall not prevail against it. If God is able to preserve his kingdom in such tumultuous seasons as we see here in 1 Samuel and through 2 Samuel and through the kings and all of those things, if he is able to preserve it, then certainly when his son promises in Matthew 16 that he will build his church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it, we ought to say yea and amen and we trust you Lord Jesus that even if we are under assault, that even if the gutters run with blood, we nevertheless will believe that Christ will maintain that for which he died.

There's a certain bit of comfort in that, isn't there?

Christ the Eternal High Priest

And then I think, and I've alluded to this, that Abiathar points to us about God's mind for keeping a priest over his house. If you want to write this down later, this was another point of application. Study Psalm 52. Pastor Cam read it at the outset of worship.

When did David write Psalm 52? He wrote Psalm 52 when Doeg, the Edomite, told Saul that David had been with the Himalek in Nob. And that psalm breaks down into three sections. The description of God's enemies, the judgment against God's enemies, and the preservation of God's people.

It's good to reflect on David. Psalms, at the time, are the ones that jive with these historical narratives. There's a great world of comfort. David describes the enemies, he tells of God's judgment against them, and then he rejoices in the reality that God preserves his people.

That final lesson You may be a non-Christian here this morning. You may be an unbeliever. You may be somebody who hasn't come to Christ. And I know if you attend this church, you hear this every week.

We pick on you. We're really not. We're not trying to pick on you. We don't know who you are.

There's no sign. There's no bulb. There's no halo. There's no black presence thereof.

There's nothing that would indicate one way or the other. But probably in your own heart of hearts, you know if you've made peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. In your heart of hearts, you know that the life that you now live in the flesh is either that ordained by God for his glory and your well-being, or that which is a rejection of his will, which is a rebellion against his mind as revealed in scripture, which is ultimately degradation to yourself. You see, men think that liberty comes in a bottle, or in a pill, or in a cigarette, or in a joint, or whatever it may be, or in a political party, or in self-righteousness.

That brings degradation, brings emptiness, it brings confusion and chaos. Sin never produces good things. But learn from this passage that God has purpose to station a priest over his house. In 1 Samuel chapter 21 or 22, when the Antichrist Saul is trying to destroy the very covenant people of God, God puts his hand upon Abiathar and brings him to David.

Now consider the fact that David will later compose a psalm, and in that psalm he will write concerning his greater son. The Lord, Yahweh, has sworn and will not relent. You, Christ Jesus, are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. There is a priest over the house of God today.

There is one to whom you can come in your guilt, in your sin, in your shame. There is one who takes sinners like you, and who cleanses them, and who washes them, and who purifies them, and who gives them a righteousness. I mean, this is why it's called good news. You can't speak of it without a smile, because you know this is what's happened.

We were degraded by sin. We were in our filth. We were in that wickedness, and that mire, and that wretchedness. And God came, and God cleansed, and God washed, and God gave us the righteousness that is not our own, that is imputed and received by faith alone.

Believe on Him. Believe on this priest, not Abiathar, the priest over the house of Nob in the days of David and Saul. But believe on Jesus, of whom Yahweh has sworn and will not relent, that He is a priest forever. He's not going away.

This is one of the apostles' arguments in Hebrews 7. You know what limited the Levitical priesthood? They dropped dead. They died.

They couldn't maintain it. Not Jesus. The Apostle says he ever lives to make intercession. He's always stationed at the right hand of the Father. 1 John 2 tells us at the right hand of God we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous.

Sinner today ought to be the day of salvation. Believe on Jesus. Receive the forgiveness of sins. Receive that righteousness that avails with God wherein one day you will enter in. to that place where there's no more political tyranny, where there's no more bloodshed, where there is no more effects of the ravages of sin.

Doesn't it encourage you to read chapters 21 and 22 of the book of Revelation and say with John at the end, even so, come Lord Jesus. deliver us from this evil. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for the word of truth. We thank you for your graciousness and your mercy to us. We ask God in heaven that you'd open ears and hearts to the truth of the gospel here and other churches in Chilliwack and throughout Canada and all over the world. We pray that your word would run swiftly and be glorified.

We pray that multitudes would come to the Father through the priest, Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, that they might know the joys of being found in him. We thank you for this time to meet together, and we pray that you would go with us now. And we ask through Christ the Lord, amen.

Scripture References

• Exodus 1; 1:22
• Deuteronomy 17; 19
• 1 Samuel 2; 15; 15:23; 19; 20; 21; 21:7; 22; 22:6; 22:7; 22:8; 22:9; 22:11-13; 22:15; 22:16; 22:17; 22:18; 22:20-23; 22:22; 22:23
• Psalm 20:7; 52; 110:4
• Proverbs 8
• Ezekiel 9
• Matthew 16:18
• Acts 4; 4:28
• Ephesians 1:3-4
• 1 Timothy 2
• Hebrews 7; 7:25
• 1 John 2; 2:1
• Revelation 21-22