Hill of Hachilah

1 Samuel 26

Saul would not amicably release his post as king; David would not forcefully take it. The position had been given to, then taken from Saul by God. The root reason why Saul would not cease his homicidal hunt for David is the same reason God revoked the kingship from him: Saul refused to heed God's counsel; a godly nation cannot be led by a godless king.

It was not because Saul was an imperfect person. All fall short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23. David was not an exception. David was imperfect. But David obeyed God. If Israel had a leader that obeyed God, they would be led into blessed places. The judgement with which their king would shape and define their nation would be informed by a perfect God.

Saul did not obey God, but losing the kingship was not a personal punishment so much as it was a divine tweak to ensure that the righteously led nation, born of Adam, Abraham, and Jacob would continue through generations. Generations that would carry scripture and this holy, wholly separate (from the way of the world), lifestyle straight to Jesus' birth and beyond. Changing the heart and life and world of countless multitudes.

Saul and three thousand men pursued David through the wilderness once again. Once again, God positioned David, the prey, to have the upper-hand. It would have been so easily, and presumably tempting, for David to end the seemingly ceaseless threat on his life. He could have committed the act and reasonably labeled it self-defense. Breathed his first breaths without constant vigilance for the enemy behind his shoulder. Instead, David chose to respect God's timeline. He chose to live longer as a hunted, innocent man because above all of that, he was a blessed man. A protected man. A man, by God, chosen to be king.

David's restraint should remind us of 1 Peter 5:10, in which we learn that our tribulations construct our character thus and prepare us for God's plan. Though terminal, Saul's position as king was sanctioned by God. David was humble enough to appreciate that it was not his authority to determine that end date, even if it meant further misery.

Is it not, in misery, that we either learn or abandon that which will determine the outcome of our situation? Is it not reasonable to see that David, while chased like a vole by a cat, had the opportunity to learn how to be king? He learned to seek counsel from God. He learned to take direction from God. He saw the state of the character of a person who had never learned those things. He witnessed how imperative it is to a nation that a king not cling to personal pursuits. He learned patience and perseverance. He learned how to lead; he learned how even a rag-tag army led, ultimately, by God very much renders the mightier army the underdog.

As there was no shortage of opportunity for growth for David, there is none for us. God is our provision and shelter as we are starved and rain upon by tribulation. We are students before his hearth even in cold and vulnerable physical, emotional states. If we allow ourselves to be. 

Saul did not. He was ashamed of himself. His desperation ate away at him, inside and out. He was a void; a bag of tumultuous wind. He lived as slave to his desire for status, power, wealth, ego. He lived in such a way that caused everything that mattered to him to die. Ashamed of himself, time and again, Saul refused to learn. He refused to abandon his plan, his methods, his timing and trade them for God's. 

Having gained entrance easily, and standing outside of a sleeping Saul's tent, David reprimanded Saul's men for their poor protection of their king. David refused to forcefully take the crown, he refused to inherit it by a lapse in an army's duty. It would be handed to him by God or he would not have it at all. Not out of ego, but humility. He would not take what God had not unequivocally determined to be his at the precise time the determined it.

And even Saul blessed David for this, and knew David would prevail over him. David's ability to place God over self was a testament even to Saul of strength not weakness. Trusting God is not inaction... it is the most active one can be. It is an internal restructuring of character, a battening of the hatches, as the world lashes and coaxes you to yield.

Are we not all David, hunted, prey to an adversary? Hunted by our own base instincts? Anger hopes to claim us. Desire, pride, greed. 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, in no uncertain terms, that our adversary prowls around, seeking to devour. Will be be devoured or we will be shaped by God? Can we withstand the growing pains, of resisting the adversaries of life, of exercising trust in God? For if we resist our adversary, it will flee, James 4:7.

Our adversary... the devil and everything that the word figuratively encompasses: Depression, disillusionment, anger, greed, arrogance, injustice, corruption, deception, danger...

How do we resist? We choose, in every moment and thought, interaction and act, what is sanctioned by God. Justice. Patience. Mercy. Discernment. Humility. Kindness. Wisdom. Harmlessness. Not to be doormat but a door, through which those who receive your righteous behavior might pass. In strength we resist when we yield not to the adversary but God, who is our strength most especially when we have none, 2 Corinthians 12:10.

We do not allow a hunter, an adversary,  (in any of its manifestations) to determine us prey. We are not prey, forced into hasty, scrappy, corrupt, hopeless or retaliatory behavior. We are children of God capable to repel whatever negative force in our life tries to lash and coax us away from righteous behavior and trust in God's choices and timing. We are not pieces moved haphazardly, we are not mere victims or byproducts of the bad things or people that happen to us, we are beloved and strategically placed by God when we allow ourselves to be, when we allow ourselves to see. To listen. To follow God to our precise place in His plan.

Hold Your Fire

1 Samuel 25

There was a prosperous sheep rancher named Nabal during the time of a sheep harvest. Nabal was married to a good, understanding and beautiful woman named Abigail but he was a churlish (rude, in a mean-spirited way) and evil man.

The sheep harvest was a time of abundance, feast and good-will traditions. For this reason, David felt that it would be a fair time to approach Nabal about a business matter. David sent ten men to greet Nabal and to deliver this message: (paraphrased) peace to you, your house and everything that you have. We have protected your sheep and your flock, (none went missing or were harmed) and now that it is the season for you to shear (thus make money from that flock) we request compensation for our protection.

Immediately Nabal mocked David, "Who is David?". It is unlikely that Nabal did not recognize David's name: David had several famous victories over the enemy Philistines. There were songs sung about David in the streets (1 Samuel 18:5-7). Nabal accused David of being a rebellious servant of the king. This was untrue, but even if Nabal had been misled to believe that David was rebellious, (more likely his greed attempted to avoid bills due), he owed David for a service performed. Instead, Nabal refused to give any food or water to David's camp, whom he declared strangers unworthy.

When David's ten men returned to him with Nabal's response, David's response was hot anger. He told his men to equip their swords. The first attempt to deal with Nabal, David sent an non-threatening, ten men with a message. This time, four hundred men would go with swords.

Pause here to consider David's response. It was a violent overreaction most probably due to ego. Innocents would die due an ill-received personal insult? We have so much to learn from the best of David, but we have just as much to learn from the worst of him. Bloodthirsty retaliation should not be in our toolkit. We will all be personally insulted. We will all receive unfair treatment. But how will we respond? Will we immediately sell ourselves as slaves to our temper? For our temper then will act hotly, hastily in a way that is no better than the initial affront!

The ancient context might make these concepts seem abstract, but though the world has changed much, humans not at all. It requires spiritual wisdom and strength to consistently respond to circumstances in life with grace and patience and even-temperament. We pray for God to avenge us on matters small and great... not out of malice or desire for harm on another person, but out of desire restoration on our behalf and correction for the one responsible for the affront.

Resuming the story: Nabal was an impossible man; he could not be reasoned with and his own servants knew it. They therefore explained the situation to Nabal's wife, Abigail. Abigail was reasonable. She listened. She gathered facts and witness statements. She determined the appropriate response and compensation. Nabal, the greedy, arrogant, hot-head, did none of this. He insulted David and the result, as Abigail was informed, would be disastrous. David and his men were on their way to settle the score.

Abigail hurried and collected hundreds of loaves of bread, bottles of wine, sheep, corn, raisons, and cakes of figs. She loaded these onto donkeys and sent her servants ahead of her (without her husband's knowledge or consent). As Abigail came down the hill on her donkey, she successfully intercepted David.

David was still angry; he said: (paraphrased) it seems that everything I have done for Nabal was in vain; he returned me evil for good. Therefore, God should return evil to Nabal and everything that belongs to him. Abigail jumped down from her donkey and ran to meet David. She bowed down to the ground in front of David and began an earnest apology. She explained that Nabal was a fool (in fact, that is the etymology of his name) and that she was not there to receive his ten men and arrange appropriate compensation. She took responsibility, and implored David to consider her interception as God withholding him from bloodshed, from avenging himself with his own hand.

She asked for forgiveness and revealed that she had brought compensation for David. But more than that, Abigail, seems to have been sent by God to cool David down and prevent him from an action he would surely regret. She lauded David for his success and blessing (all due to his righteous character). She knew, and reminded David, that God would establish him as king. And as king, would David want, on his conscience, this bloodthirsty response to Nabal's insult?

Do not be so egotistical as to require instant retaliation, none among us are exempt from injustice. Why tarnish or prevent good work done in yourself? We pray to God for blessing. Blessing comes with responsibility. It requires character. How tragic, to receive a blessing long prayed for only to realize it is undeserved! What torment, to live with a guilty conscience. Allow God to be your Abigail, your wise counsel. The one who intercepts you from doing something you will regret. Instead of instant emotional and physical reaction, pause and consult God. Allow Him to reveal an objective picture, the greater picture. Exercise restraint. You will respond wisely, appropriately when you do so.

Finally, David cooled. He blessed God for sending Abigail to him; he blessed the advice and Abigail, for preventing him from bloodshed and selfish vengeance. He admitted that without the intervention, he would have killed Nabal and his men. He accepted all that she brought him and encouraged her to return home safely. So she did; she returned to find Nabal feasting and drunk. In the morning, when he was sober, Abigail told him everything. Nabal's heart turned into stone, his heart died and so did Nabal. The Lord avenged David and caused Nabal to die.

When David heard about Nabal's death, he expressed gratitude to God for avenging him. This may seem somewhat drastic. Did Nabal deserve to die for insult and refusal to pay for a service rendered? It seems like the answer is: no. In previous chapters, God gave David permission to kill men. David was a soldier and many enemies died at his hand, his orders. Yet God held David back from killing Nabal and his men. Is the difference the personal nature of the insult? Perhaps yes, Jesus taught us to not retaliate against personal affronts (Matthew 5:43-48). As children of God, we are encouraged to allow God to balance the scales of justice in our personal lives.

And maybe the reason why God enabled Nabal to swiftly die of natural causes was because of previous, greater offenses. At the start of the chapter, it was explained that Nabal was churlish and evil in his doings. Nabal was guilty of lifelong, repeated offenses devoid of repentance. He also served as a literal and symbolic barrier to God's plan. Despite his imperfection, David was a faithful man of God and during his lifetime, he would progress the kingdom. Evil cannot thwart this greater purpose. But also, on an individual scale, God's children can count on Him to defend them and mete out justice, judgment on their behalf.




As an aside (because it is included in the chapter, albeit briefly), David then took the widowed Abigail as his wife. This seems prudent, as Abigail was a good and faithful woman. She could provide David wise counsel and he had established a precedent for actually taking it. But, David then took another wife. And technically, David already had a wife: Saul's daughter, Michal (though Saul had taken her away and remarried her to someone else). David's infatuation with women, certainly with one woman, would result in the worst mistake of his life... but that is a sermon for another time.

Least in the Kingdom

1 Samuel 24

Hunted by the king, David fled from home to wilderness after wilderness, to cave after cave. God chose David to replace Saul, but Saul would not acquiesce. He did not want to relinquish the throne. His infatuation with the power and status of the role overtook his character and his responsibilities as a king and man. Entirely out of alignment with (the freedom of) God's will, Saul was enslaved by his own. God's will is freedom because it releases us from a task that is too big for us. Without God, we are not equipped to manage the demands of life. 

Our bodies consistently want things that do not fulfill our spirit. Unchecked desire is torment. The only peace, the only true form of freedom is found in alignment with the will of God. When we relinquish control to Him two major changes occur, we: (1) release anxiety and discontentment and despair (2) adopt trust, hope and joy. This happens because a relationship with God is built on an understanding of His character and faithful nature over time. He is wisdom! He is justice! He is meticulously generous.

Saul nearly foamed at the mouth with the desire to kill David. But Saul had once loved David and David was innocent of crime, so happened? Saul stopped, or perhaps never started, to seek fulfilment of the spirit. He chose to serve his body rather than God. And his body, like our bodies, want selfish, void things like power and prominence. It is not our body's natural inclination to readily agree with or even understand Jesus' statement in Luke 9:48, "... he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." Only through joyful subservience to God can we accept and even thrive in the concept that as the least we are the greatest version of ourselves.

Understand that by "least" Jesus did not mean unseen, unheard, unloved. We are seen, heard and deeply loved by God, even in our imperfection. God distributes spiritual gifts to each person (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) in divine assurance of individuality. Nobody is least important; each member is a crucial appendage of the whole body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

By "least" Jesus meant that we should endeavor to develop inherent selflessness. With complete faith that God will provide what we need, we can focus on what others need. We can follow Matthew 6:33 in faith that life lived in accordance with God's will will provide all that we need. And if we live with that faith, we do not have to live selfishly. We do not have to constantly try to procure things or elevate ourselves to feel relevant or worthy of some obscure status society has set. Instead, we can roll up our selves and do the work of God. Every day, with every interaction. 

The alternative is to devolve into some version of Saul. So obsessed with worldly status that every role and relationship held is destroyed. Unconcerned with the life's greater purpose: a vapid, tormented life. The shiniest stone in a pathway God plans to melt and pave over. Relevance in the Kingdom of Righteous, born of humble productivity on Earth, is the only worthwhile status. Anything else is a varying degree of superficiality.

Regardless of Saul's resistance, God would remove him from the throne. God enabled David escape Saul several times; but this time, David had the opportunity to capture (and kill) Saul. David had arguable reason to seek revenge on Saul, and even to kill him: Saul had attempted to murder him on several occasions (self-defense), murdered innocents who associated with David (justice), and forced him to leave his home, wife and hard-won reputation behind (restitution).

David crouched in the cave, unseen by Saul, in complete control of the situation and with Saul wholly vulnerable. Goaded by his men to finally take revenge! David stood and slashed at Saul's... robe, then felt instant regret. Instant regret not because of his restraint but because of his lack of it. David regretted raising his weapon at all. In those moments, Saul exited the cave.

David did not believe that it was his right to harm Saul, as he had been anointed by God as king. That role had since been given to someone else, David himself, but that did not make it David's duty to dispose of him. David held his men back from attacking Saul. David allowed Saul to leave, then he followed. This was David's opportunity to speak to Saul, (paraphrased): 

Where did you hear that I wanted to harm you? The Lord put you right in front of me, my men urged me to kill you, but I spared you. See, I have a piece of your clothing in my hand. I cut it off but did not kill you. Now you can see and know that I plot no evil toward you and have not sinned against you... yet you hunt my soul to take it. The Lord can judge between us, and he can avenge me, but I will not harm you. For as the ancient proverb states, wickedness proceeds from the wicked. But my hand will not harm you. After whom does the king of Israel come? After a dead dog, after a flea. The Lord therefore be judge, and plead my cause, and save me from you.

David's words stunned Saul to a moment of clarity and shame, (paraphrased): 

Is this you, my son David? Saul wept. You are more righteous than I am, you have rewarded me good when I have rewarded you evil. Today is proof you have be kind to me, the Lord brought me to you, but you did not kill me. For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? The Lord will reward you good for your choices today. Now I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. Promise me that you will not kill my family after my death, or destroy my family name.

David promised and Saul went home.

We learn from David to let the Lord avenge us. We do not need to resort to evil behavior to restore justice to our lives. We need only to, like David, relinquish control, to allow God's will to supersede our own. Saul resisted and fought God's will... and lost the kingdom. David subjected himself to it... and won the kingdom. 

How was David least in this situation? If he even felt it at all, he suppressed the bodily desire: to avenge himself, to remove a serious and dangerous threat to his life; to oust the person who stood in the way of his promotion. If it was God's will that he remain in the wilderness and Saul to (for now) remain on the throne, David would not protest. He had enough ease of mind in God's ultimate plan, enough presence of mind, to resist a wicked, hasty, selfish action. Least in that he did what was right rather than what seemed most immediately beneficial to him.

Accommodate God

1 Samuel 23:6-29

To the point of ruthless delirium, Saul was infatuated with power and status. It caused him to disregard God, neglect his responsibilities and harm the people he cared about. We have as much to learn from him as we do from David. Similar to David, Saul came from humble beginnings and was an unlikely choice for king. But he lacked a heart for God and thus got swept up by the world.

In Matthew 16:25, Jesus stated: For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 

Saul never lost his life for God. He gained, gained, gained but never dedicated any of it, and certainly not his soul, to God or His purposes. Our individual agenda should always be secondary, (or even better: altogether irrelevant,) to God's plan.

The notable difference between Saul and David: David dedicated himself to be a servant of God's will; Saul dedicated himself to his own will, and thereby enslaved himself to his desires. Had he relied on and learned from God, Saul would have been able to overcome the selfishness, hostility, jealousy, ego and all other character flaws and corrupt tendencies and bad inclinations that he had.

David loved and was obedient to the Lord and the Lord protected David; despite Saul's dogged efforts to kill him, David continually escaped. And David's continual dependence on God allowed him to cling to the best of himself. He was able to overcome the emotions he, reasonably, could have felt: anger, despair, retaliatory. 

The same was true for David's best friend, Saul's son, Jonathan. According to tradition, Jonathan was supposed to be king after Saul. Instead, God chose David. Jonathan loved the Lord and chose to celebrate David as God's chosen. Jonathan loved his best friend and God more than status, power or tradition of the world. He trusted God to distribute justice, to alter his life to accommodate His plan, even if it meant he would never have the power or status he grew up thinking would be his.

Saul pursued David through the wildernesses of Ziph and Maon and onto a mountain. Saul and his men were one side, David and his on the other. Saul's men surrounded David; he was trapped. Then suddenly came a messenger to Saul: the Philistines had rerouted to continue their attack on the city David had just defended. Saul had to abandon David, disassemble his trap of men, and turn to fight the Philistines. Once again, God provided David escape.

Save Keilah

1 Samuel 23:1-5

David is informed of an enemy attack on a city in the lowlands of Judah. Recently escaped from the homicidal king, David is, seemingly, in no position to answer this threat. He has at this point amassed a small army, but they lack the number, might and experience of the king’s army. However, unlike the king, David is not distracted by selfish pursuits. The defense of Judah is his priority, immediately after his first priority: obedience to God. It is why God chose David as the king's imminent replacement.

Before action, strategy or even fear, David’s reaction to crisis is to consult God: Shall I go and smite these Philistines? Imagine if our first response to a crisis was to turn to God, as if He were visible in the room, to shift our eyes from the messenger to God, leaving no room for fear in split second trust in God and say: what are my orders? A spiritual soldier's question to the Righteous General.

David received his response from God in a somewhat less subtle manner than we generally seem to receive ours; His response was immediate and definitive: Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. But David’s relationship with God was strong; since he was a boy facing a giant, David had undiluted faith in God’s goodness and ability. 

Practically, the more likely we are to follow God’s advice, the more likely He will be to give it. And as sure as God spoke the answer to David, He will place His answer in our heart, gut, mind, soul. Faith in Him and reason within the parameters of His righteous way, will provide the clear response we yearn to have.

Despite having only a rag-tag, and rather small, assemblage of people (that could only generously be labeled an army), God’s affirmative answer was enough for David to commit to the cause. It was not enough for David’s men. They felt their insufficiency, keenly; they were not confident even within their stronghold, never mind out in lowland city against a trained and ruthless army. And so for them, David returned to counsel with God and received the reassurance his tiny, haphazard army wanted: Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.

It seemed not to have occurred to David to ask God if he would win; he seemed only to wonder if he should go. In previous chapters, David scoffed at the idea that God could ever lose; that invites us to believe that David knew, by the Hand of God, he and his small army would defeat the Philistines; he did not need to hear God explicitly say it. But maybe it invites us to believe something else, too… perhaps the outcome did not matter to David. Perhaps God saying: arise, go, meant that the journey, adventure, trial would be worthwhile.

In a sense, spoken directly to our souls at conception, at birth, and as we grow and enter new stages, new phases of life, God says: arise, go. And it does not matter so much, the outcome, because if our eyes are fixed on God, the journeys, the adventures, the trials will be worthwhile. If, like David, our instinct is to consult God in the split second after life-altering news and circumstance (and even in the small or general stuff), we can rely on God to guide, protect and provide. Fixed on God, every moment and interaction is a blessed lesson and therefore no day, no journey is a waste. Every day, we are better equipped to arise and go at it… if we trust like David.

Plenty of us trust like David’s men; we will go if victory is ensured. In David’s heart, with God, victory is assured… whether or not it is the victory we anticipated. Almost none, maybe actually none of us think: “Hey, I think I’ll try this new job! Maybe I’ll fall on my face and maybe this whole thing will blow up in my face cause me to learn so much about myself and life that I’ll come out wiser and more productive than ever! With more faith and gratitude than ever!” Or, “I think I’ll become a parent so that it will completely alter life-as-I-know-it and force me to learn selflessness and resilience like I never imagined!”

Of course not. Instead, we think: “Hey, I think I’ll try this new job. I could make more money than ever. I can make my own hours. I won’t be micromanaged. I won’t have to deal with the problems of my current job anymore… etc. etc.” Or, “I want to have a boy/girl! I won’t make the same mistakes my parents made. I’ll have a ballerina. I’ll have a soccer player. I won’t let my kid overuse technology. Won’t it be so fun to have a little you, or a little me?”

How many of us instead pray: “Dear God, please catalyze the life-trials that will better my character and ultimately result in the life you want for me.”? And yet, that is the very reason why we are here.

 

Maybe David never specifically prayed that either but he was prepared for it… for whatever outcome, if God chose the path. He was prepared to live life in obedient service to God, as a conscientious student of God, with fervent love and ardent faith in Him. We render any outcome a victory if we live in such a way.

David and his men went to Keilah and saved the people. God clinched the victory. When circumstances arise, ask God to chart you through or away from them as He sees fit. To Him be deeply connected; together you will actively love thereby save so many, while He actively loves and saves you, if you consistently ask for and follow, trust God's counsel.