OR,
THE RESPONSIBLE MAN, AND THE MAN OF
GOD'S CHOICE.
After this his fortunes in time change. A wanderer from his home, with no place above ground in which he could be safe from the determined hostility of Saul, he has to find a resting-place below it, in a cave of the earth. Thither he betook himself, and became the center of attraction, the rallying-point for his brethren and his father's house, as well as for all that were in distress, in debt, or discontented. God now began to show that He would gather people to His anointed one. To his followers, as Saul truly remarked, the son of Jesse had nothing externally to offer. Fields and vineyards, as yet, David could promise to none. Service, with hardship, was all he could ensure them, yet God drew hearts to him. Success often makes a person popular. David could point to nothing of that kind in his endeavors to frustrate the designs of Saul. Nevertheless, when in Adullam, he found himself at the head of a band of four hundred men. God was with David. But what creatures we are! It was after this that he went to Mizpeh of Moab, and entrusted his aged parents to the keeping of its king. It was natural to think of his parents. The Lord thought of His mother on the cross, and provided a home for her with John the Evangelist. But was David right in placing Jesse and his mother under the protecting care of an idolatrous king? How all here was determined by the king. His brethren had come to him in the cave of Adullam, but the care of their aged parents evidently devolved upon David. We may trace, too, in this step a foreshadowing of the future, when Edom, Amon, and Moab, escaping out of the northern invader, in the last days (Dan. 11:41), an opportunity will be afforded Moab of harboring the outcasts of the nation of God. (Isa. 16:4.)
Thus far David, left, as it were, to his own wisdom, acted for himself. God watched over him. But surely we must admit that this portion of his history (chaps. 20, 21.) is none of the brightest. Gibeah of Saul, Nob, and Gath are associated with a want of truthfulness in the man after God's own heart. We now enter on a new portion of his life. In this his trials increase, but he has now what is of immense value, the mind of God to direct him, first by the prophet, and next by the priest. The prophet Gad came to him, to tell him to leave the hold, and to depart into the land of Judah. Henceforth David can enjoy that which Saul had lost the guidance of God. Persecuted, exiled from his home, wandering from place to place, finding shelter in caves and natural fastnesses, he could avail himself of the guidance of God's prophet, and soon afterward of God's priest likewise. The land of Judah is now the field to which he confines himself, and first in the forest of Hareth, his whereabouts is discovered to Saul. But if he is persecuted by the son of Kish, he proves himself to be the real friend and protector of the people; for, whilst Saul was slaughtering the priests of the Lord at Nob, David was rescuing Keilah from an attack by the Philistines.
Asking counsel of the Lord, David went to Keilah, and the inestimable advantage of having God's mind is plainly seen, as we contrast at this time Saul and David. Saul, under the tamarisk tree at Gibeah, is like one fighting in the dark, as he upbraids his servants for not telling him that Jonathan is in league with David. Miserable man! He does not turn to God to learn the true condition of matters, but dark suspicion fills his heart; his son, his servants, his kindred, all seem to fail in befriending him, and Doeg, the Edomite, is the only one who is ready to do his bidding. With David how different. Directed by God to go to Keilah, his men at first demur, being unwilling to face the danger of an encounter with the Philistines; but when he inquired again of the Lord, the clear answer readily obtained removed all objections, Keilah was in consequence saved, and the enemy was smitten with a great slaughter. Inside the town, as its deliverer, a new experience awaited him, now afresh exposed to the attempts of Saul against his life. On former occasions Jonathan and Michel had befriended him, now he has to learn what One greater than David had to say, “For my love they are my adversaries....They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” ({vi 15760-15761}Psa. 109:4, 5.) The men of Keilah, it turned out, were quite ready, if the opportunity presented itself, to deliver up their savior to Saul, an act of baseness only frustrated because David, inquiring of the Lord by the ephod just brought by Abiathar, who had fled to him after the murder of Ahimelech, discovered the intentions of the Keilites. Saul looked upon David as fairly caught in a trap, shut up in a town which had gates and bars, and was marching to seize on his person. David, warned of God, departed from the city with his men. Saul had shown his contempt for God's prophet by following David, with murderous intentions, into the very presence of Samuel. He had shown his want of reverence for God by slaughtering His high priest. How did the Lord reply to the acts of the insensate monarch? He made him prophesy in the presence of Samuel, and He guided Abiathar, the new high priest, to the camp and company of David.
In the wilderness of Ziph, about fifteen miles south of Keilah, the Son of Jesse now went. Here his last interview with Jonathan, of which history his preserved any record, took place. The affection that had existed between them continued. Jonathan came to strengthen his hands in God. He knew that David would be king, and was satisfied that it should be so, looking to be next to David in the kingdom. In this, however, Jonathan was mistaken, for the next mention of his name is to tell us of his death upon the battlefield (chap, 31:2); and the next time that David, in this history, mentions his name, it is to pour out a lamentation for the loss he had thereby sustained. ({vi 8040-8050}2 Sam. 1:17-27.) Jonathan never lived to see David reigning in power. In that wilderness, as far as we bow, they parted forever upon earth. “David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.” (Chap. 23:8,) Such is the brief account, without note or comment appended, given us of the two friends taking different paths. In Jonathan, however, he had still a friend, in the Ziphites he only found traitors. Here, amongst his own tribe, where, if anywhere in the lend, he could have been safe, he has to face and to feel the base treachery of the men of Judah, a foreshadowing of the conduct of the Jews, who delivered the Lord into the hands of the Gentiles. The base treachery of the Ziphites was unexampled in their day. They volunteered the information to Saul about the haunts of David, and twice over they did this (chaps. 23:19, 26:1); but each time God watched over His servant, and delivered him from his persecutor. What people were these Ziphites! “Blessed be ye of the Lord; said Saul, “for ye have compassion on me (chap. 23:21) Poor Saul. His language betrayed his unhappiness. Wretched Ziphites! Saul's blessing was the witness of their shame, and their conduct has not been allowed to sink into oblivion. David, it would seem, did not forget it; for when he sent of the spoil of the Amalekites to all the places (chap. 30.) in which he and his men were wont to haunt, among the list of places specially mentioned, Ziph is not found. In the day of his trial, the: Ziphites curried favor with Saul. In the days of his victory over the Amalekites, the Ziphites received no token of his favor. Which position was the best? To be the friend of the determined opponent of the man of God's choice; or to be ranked by David amongst his friends? A simple question, easily answered. May none who read these lines be regarded by the Lord as Ziphites of their day!
Pressed by Saul, David's case seemed well nigh hopeless. Retreating from Ziph into the wilderness of Maon, escape appeared cut off. “Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about, to take them.” (Chap. 23: 26.) Outnumbered, surrounded, David could do nothing. Flight was impossible. Saul's object seemed at last on the point of being attained; but God now interposed by an invasion of the Philistines from the west, which, diverting Saul from his purpose, till he could check the invaders, gave David the opportunity to escape with his men to the strongholds in Engedi, on the shore of the Dead Sea. What a thing it is to have God on our side, for, without our striking a blow on our own behalf, He can distract the attention of those who are harassing His people; and, further, He can so lead the enemy as to place him at the mercy of those he would persecute. For the next time that Saul and David were near each other, Saul discovered into how close a proximity he had been to David and his men in the cave. (Chap. 24.) With three thousand men Saul had come to seek David. Six hundred, at the utmost, David had.
God so led Saul blindfold, as it were, that he is found alone in the cave, in the presence and payer of David, to experience the forbearance of his son-in-law, and the respect in which the man after God's own heart held one who had been anointed by the Lord. What cared Saul for David as such! How differently did David view Saul as such. “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” (Chap. 24:6.) What God had set up, though rejected by Him, David would not raise a hand to destroy, reading, surely, in this a lesson to many a one since his day. If provocation could have justified the slaughter of Saul, David had received provocation enough. If providential circumstances had been a safe guide for David, surely, when Said entered the cave alone, David's time to be avenged had some. It was in this light that his men viewed the matter, and urged him to take advantage of his opportunity. Placed in his power, David made Saul aware of the, risk he had run, and forced the king openly to acquit him of any designs against his person or his life; whilst he remitted his cause to the Lord, to judge between them, and to plead his cause, and to deliver him out of hand. “'After whom is the king of Israel Come out? after whom dost thou pursue'? after a dead dog? after one flea?” (Chap. 24: 14.) What a victory did David gain that day ! Saul had to humble himself before him, and to entreat his kindness for his offspring when David should be king in power, making David to swear to him. Saul could trust to David's oath. David could not trust Saul.
Samuel now died. The link formed by the Lord between Himself and the people, after the failure of the priesthood, and before the establishment of the kingdom, was to exist no more. The king was there, though as yet in rejection. All Israel lamented after Samuel. How ready are people to sorrow outwardly for one when dead, to whom they did not care to listen when living. There was a time, when Samuel was everything to them, namely, when feeling the pressure of the Philistine yoke. What had it been of late? Samuel had experienced what it was to be rejected. (1 Sam. 8) This, too, David knew—once the hero of the nation's songs, he was at this time the hunted, homeless, persecuted victim of Saul's malice. How few, after all, of the nation as yet rallied round him! From the depths of Lowliness, to the height of grandeur and power, some have passed, and David amongst that number. But as yet his only change was from wilderness to wilderness. So he left that of Engedi to sojourn in that of Peron, a little to the south-west of his recent place of abode. It was sheep-shearing time, when men were generally disposed to be hospitable and kind (Gen. 38:13; 2 Sam. 13:23); and to Nabal—a rich man—an opportunity was now offered to show himself friendly to David and to his men. Nabal, however, was naturally churlish. He was willing to receive favors, but was unwilling to repay them. To David's messengers he returned a disdainful answer: “Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master.” In Nabal's eyes David was nothing hut a slave, who had broken away from Saul. Opportunities were lost on such a man. All David's care of his interests went for nothing in Nabal's eyes, when David asked to be remembered. Abigail, Nabal's wife, discerned something of the truth about David. Nabal knew nothing about him but his family pedigree. In this he resembled the Jews, who knew the Lord as son of Mary, but could discern nothing more in Him; whilst David resembled the Lord in going about and doing good, and showing many favors to his countrymen. Now he has again to experience what the Lord Jesus knew full well-hatred, rewarded for good. Nabal was deaf to his appeal; but, worse than that, he railed on the messengers sent to him. All the bitterness of his heart came out, when the opportunity of acting graciously was afforded him.
What an opportunity he lost, and lost forever, of showing kindness to the Lord's anointed. To nature, Nabal's refusal was hard to endure, and, in this respect, unlike the Lord, David prepared to avenge himself; but, met by Abigail, God preserved him from that, and shortly afterward took up Himself the controversy with the man who had thus treated His servant. Nabal was removed by death, and Abigail became David's wife. She had discerned in David his true character and position, and, with David in the foreground of the picture, all surrounding objects were seen by her in their right light. Nabob her husband, is a man of Belial-Saul, the king, is only a man. But David was fighting the battles of the Lord, and he would yet reign over Israel. The whole political history of her day was plain to Abigail, when David was the chief figure before her eyes. How plain, too, things can become now, when the Lord Jesus Christ is before the soul. David must live; Nabal, and all his enemies, must die. For her, as for Jonathan, and for Saul, when in his right mind, David is the future king, and no new dynasty is to supersede his. Ruler over Israel he was to be. She knew it. She confessed it. And all her desire was to be remembered by him in that day. But, like the penitent thief, who asked the Lord to remember him when He should come in His kingdom, yet found that he was never to be away from Him from that day forth, she shortly afterward discovered that her place was to be with David in his future career. Death set her free from the law of her husband, to be the wife of David whilst he was still in rejection. The Lord, she said, would build David a sure house, because he fought the battles of the Lord, and evil had not been found in him all his days. His soul would be bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord his God. The souls of his enemies God would sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. Between her and Jonathan, both attracted to David, there was this difference: he was attracted by what David had done; she was occupied with what he was.
David now married, and had two wives, both of them, probably, of the tribe of Judah, for there was a town, named Jezreel, in Judah, not far from Maon and Carmel ({vi 6258-6259}Josh. 15:55, 56), from which it is likely Abinoam came. By her he had Amnon, whose history is connected with the sorrows of his house. By Abigail he had Daniel, or Chileab, of whom we read nothing. He probably died young, for, on Amnon's death, Absalom, the third son, looked forward to the throne. After Absalom's wretched end, Adonijah, the fourth son, regarded the throne as his right by birth. The Lord did build David a sure house, but Abigail had no share in the building of it.
We now come to Saul's last interview with his son-in-law. Betrayed again by the Ziphites, David's hiding-place made known by them to Saul, the king set forth for the last time to seize the person of his daughter's husband. But how impossible is it to fight successfully against God. For, whilst Saul and his host were asleep in their camp, David, accompanied only by Abishai, walked into their midst, and took away the king's spear at his bolster, and his cruse of water; “for a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.” A deep sleep, úÌÇøÀãÌÅîÈä, a term never used of natural slumber, but of sleep, either supernatural, for a special purpose ({vi 52;373}Gen. 2:21; 15:12; {vi 12949;13666}Job 4:18; 33:15), or spiritual, in governmental dealing with man. (Prov. 19:15; Isa. 29:10.) How easily can God deal with those opposed to His will! Here, without the exercise of power in judgment, but by supernatural sleep falling on them, God paralyzed the action of an army, and let the object of their pursuit walk about in their camp unnoticed and unharmed. What a proof to Saul that the Lord had departed film him, and was protecting David for, awakened out of his slumber by David, when at a safe distance from him, he learned how his life had once more been in David's hands, and that he owed his preservation from death to the grace of God restraining the hand of his son-in-law. David now addresses Saul: “If the Lord have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering; but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go, serve other gods. Now, therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the Lord, for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.” (Chap. 26:19, 20.) The alternative here put is worthy of notice. If the Lord had stirred up Saul, it could only have been because David had sinned. But clearly his conscience charged him not with any willful sin, for which he was suffering divine chastisement in such a manner. An offering, therefore, if he had unwittingly sinned, would settle the matter with God. But if evil men had stirred up Saul, cursed were they of the Lord.
We live in a day of grace, so such language would not become us. By-and-by, however, it will be seen that those who willfully persist in frustrating God's purposes about His king, will be dealt with in unsparing judgment. ({vi 30990;31038-31039}Rev. 17:14; 19:20, 21.) Saul knew perfectly well the true state of the case, and, like Judas, Pilate, his wife, and the centurion, all of whom justified the Lord, Saul cleared David But, further, he condemned himself: “I have sinned. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” Saul's own words determine the matter. “Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee,” will be the Master's words to the wicked servant. Out of his own mouth was Saul condemned, and David justified from all charge of evil-doing. But David could not trust Saul after this, any more than before. He remits his cause wholly to God to judge: “Let my life be much set by in the eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.” Saul's life had been much set by in David's eyes, yet he would not trust his in Saul's hands; and although the king said, “Return, my son David,” he would not return. The siren voice of Saul had no charming power on the ears of David.
Further, Saul owned that there was a glorious future before David, and yet he had been seeking to take away his life. There was a clear conviction in the king's mind of David's increasing greatness, but that conviction had in no way checked his desire to destroy him. He was fighting, therefore, with his eyes open as to the future in store for David, yet, like a man dealing blows in the dark, he never could strike the object he aimed at. He had passed the zenith of his career, how long, and how sadly. David had not reached his, and beyond David Saul here also sees nothing. “Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail.” Conviction which leads to no amendment, nor to a right course of action, must only increase the condemnation of the one who confesses to it. After this they parted, and never again, that we know, met on earth. Saul went onward to his end. David waited to ascend the throne. But the whole of Saul's career was run ere David was king in power.
The last portion of David's history during Saul's life now commences (chaps. 27-31.), and again we see him failing to trust Jehovah. Yet in what remarkable ways had God preserved him from being seized upon by his enemy, and the last escape not the least remarkable one of his life. But, looking at circumstances and men, instead of trusting God, “David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me, than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me to seek me any more in any coast of Israel; so shall I escape out of his hand.” (Chap. 27:1.) In the exercise of patience and dependence on God we so often fail. So was it with David. His judgment about Saul was correct. He sought for him no more when told that he had fled. (Chap. 27:4.) At what a price, however, did David purchase rest from the king's persistent pursuit of him! Dissembling now again characterized him, and by accepting Ziklag as a gift from Achish, he professedly owned the Philistine's right to deal with land which belonged to God's people. A fugitive from his country, a pensioner at the court of Achish, and with professions of attachment to the person of the Philistine king, he was ready to swell with his band the army of the uncircumcised which moved to battle against Saul at Jezreel. Whilst at Ziklag, David invaded the Gershurites and the Amalekites, putting to death every man and woman among them, lest Achish should hear of his acts, and his displeasure and his suspicion be aroused. But, worse than all, forgetful of God, and of His former tokens of preserving care, he deceived Achish by the answer that he returned to his inquiries. Thus David failed again.
Saul's last act of disobedience has now to be recounted. He had driven out David from his home; he had despised God's prophet, in the person of Samuel, at Naioth, in Ramah; he had slain God's priests, namely, Ahimelech, and others, at Nob. Now the mind of God, when he wanted it, he could not get. God had deserted him, who had first put himself in open opposition to God. To an unhallowed source for acquiring knowledge about the future the wretched king then turned. He well knew it was an unhallowed source, and one forbidden of God; for he himself had at one time cut off those that had familiar spirits and wizards out of the land. Of this the witch at Ender reminded him, a last warning, if he would have taken it, to pause in his downward career; for death was the penalty attached to the sin of consulting such people. (Lev. 20:6.) In Saul's case the penalty was exacted (1 Chron. 10:13), and from Samuel's lips, who appeared at his request, he learned of the defeat of Israel, and of the death of himself and of his four sons on the morrow. (1 Sam. 28:19.) Saul, who had openly turned from God, got his answer from the aged prophet of God. God thus met the unhappy man, and did not allow a demon to personate His servant. It was Samuel whom Saul saw. It was an unusual eight the witch beheld. She confessed it, when she told Saul she saw gods ascending out of the earth. Her familiar spirit was unable to act, for God Himself had taken up the matter against Saul.
Samuel was dead, yet he existed in the unclothed state, and in the woman's house at Endor held intercourse with Said, and told him what would befall him and his eons on the morrow. The king's course of departure from God is plainly recounted, and the future as clearly declared. He would be on the morrow with Samuel. Then death does not terminate existence for the righteous or the wicked. Samuel was dead, but he had not ceased to exist. Saul would die, but he would be with Samuel in the place of departed spirits, called in the New Testament, hades. The existence of such a place, and who are there, is all that Samuel by his word declares. The condition and distinctive position of each in hades he was not commissioned to reveal. But this at least is clear, that the prophet was better off there than here. He had no desire to come back to earth. He had been disquieted by being brought up. (Chap. 28:15.) His peaceful state had been interrupted by appearing on this occasion to Saul. Two points about the other world are, then, here made clear. Death is not the end of any man's existence; and the righteous dead have no desire to be brought back upon the stage of this world again. Saul got his answer, one of no uncertain sound, but one which could give him no ray of comfort. God, he felt, had forsaken him. Samuel confirmed this. It was true. Nothing now remained for him but death, and after death the judgment. His reign, which commenced, to outward eyes, so auspiciously, ended disastrously. Victory attended him at the beginning—defeat, followed by death at his own hand, closed his career. He went out of this world to meet an offended God. Thus ended the course on earth of the responsible man.
David had been again left to himself, and what was in his heart had come out; but as the man of God's purpose, his followers were being increased, whilst Saul's end approached. Going to battle with the lords of the Philistines, some of the tribe of Manasseh swelled his ranks, and on his way back to Ziklag more of them joined him, the last chance for any in Israel to own the king, whilst still rejected by the nation. ({vi 10740-10742}1 Chron. 12:19-21.) Delivered from his false position by God, though ostensibly it came about by the worldly wisdom of the Philistines, he returned to Ziklag to find it burnt, and all that he and his men had possessed carried captive by the Amalekites, they knew not where. Thus God chastised him for his unfaithfulness, and brought him back to real dependence on the Lord; for without a friend, it would seem, to stand try his side, he had to hear the murmurings of his followers, who threatened to stone him for the loss of their wives, their sons, and their daughters. Poor David! He wept. They all wept. But he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Weeping was common to them all. Encouraging himself in God is only spoken of David.
Here he was alone, and doubtless his soul was restored by this dealing of God with him. But how had he fallen! Saul never joined hands with the Philistines, yet Saul at Ender was deserted by God. David, who had fallen so low, could nevertheless, at Ziklag, inquire of God by means of the ephod, and was assured of victory over that very people, for the non-fulfillment of God's word, against whom Saul had been rejected. The saint of God can never be in too low, too desperate, a condition for God to come in, and bring him out of it. This David experienced, for, following after the enemy, he “smote them from the twilight, even unto the evening of the next day, and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.” (Chap. 30:17.) All that the Amalekites had taken, he captured, being more than they had lost. God was thus gracious unto him.
Returning from the slaughter of the Amalekites, the time had at last arrived when David could reward, by the bestowment of his favors, those who had befriended him and his men during his wanderings because of Saul. He thought of them, and requited them. Further, on the receipt of intelligence of Saul's death, as the king, he dealt judicially with the one who professed to have slain Saul, and sent a message to the men of Jabesh Gilead, in token of his marked approval of their act in burying the bones of Saul and his eons. Justice and judgment are prerogatives of the king. As yet, however, he was but king in Hebron, and owned only by the tribe of Judah, having to wait God's time till all Israel should accept him; For seven years and six months he thus waited, during which there were long wars between the house of Saul and the house of David. They of Saul's house were the aggressors (2 Sam. 12); but all efforts to thwart God's counsels proved abortive. One by one, every hindrance to David's receiving the homage of all Israel was removed. Abner was treacherously slain—Ishbosheth was murdered. At length David was anointed king over all Israel, all the tribes accepting the man of God's choice. Throughput this time of expectancy, how did David act? He waited, for the most part, for God to act on his behalf. Once did he depart from this, his only right path, when he yielded to Abner's proposition to secure, by his personal interest, the kingdom for David. That the Lord would not allow. David was not to be indebted to Abner for the allegiance of all Israel. God would move their hearts to receive him. And He did. Yet that was not all. David waxed greater and greater, and increased in power and the extent of his dominions, till the throne of the Lord was established, in fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, from sea to sea, and from the river Euphrates to the ends of the land.
Saul, the responsible man, went from bad to worse. He failed at the outset of his career, and ended it only after he had exhibited undisguised, unmitigated, and ceaseless opposition to the man after God's own heart. David, on his first appearance, was alone, his brethren did not even stand by his side. Trusting in God, he slew the giant, and, as his troubles increased, men rallied round him, till at length there came to him a great host, like the host of God. (1 Chron. 12:22.) At times his deliverance seemed hopeless, but God always opened a way of escape, till, every opposer and hindrance having been removed, he stood forth before Israel and the surrounding nations as the man of God's purpose, the king of His choice. How long will it be ere David's Son, of whom David was a type, shall be seen and owned as King of kings, and Lord of lords?