1 Samuel 27-30: Equal Parts
AS WE BEGIN THIS STUDY STOP, DAVID, THE NEXT KING, WAS IN DESPAIR.
SAUL HAD STOPPED TRYING TO TRACK AND CAPTURE DAVID TO KILL HIM BUT DAVID FELT SURELY THE DRAMA WAS NOT ENDED.
STRANGELY, DAVID DECIDED TO FLEE JUDAH IN ISRAEL AND GO TO ISRAEL’S ENEMY TERRITORY, THAT OF THE PHILISTINES.
IN THIS DECISION, DAVID DID NOT SEEK GOD’S COUNSEL WHICH WAS A SERIOUS LAPSE OF FAITH BY THIS ONE CHOSEN OF GOD.
IN CHAPTER 21 DAVID HAD SOUGHT REFUGE THERE AND HAD TO ACT AS A MADMAN TO STAY THERE.
GOD SENT HIS PROPHET, GAD, TO TELL DAVID NOT TO REMAIN WHERE HE HAD JUST ARRIVED, BUT DAVID DID NOT OBEY.
THE PHILISTINE KING, ACHISH, ALLOWED DAVID AND HIS MEN TO STAY AMONG THIS ENEMY’S TERRITORY, SETTLING IN THE TOWN OF ZIKLAG.
DAVID WAS SURELY IN A MESS BECAUSE THE PHILISTINES WERE CONTINUING TO WAR AGAINST ISRAEL, AND CLEARLY DAVID AND HIS MEN AT SOME POINT MAY HAVE TO FIGHT AGAINST HIS OWN PEOPLE.
THE PRINCES OF KING ACHISH DID NOT TRUST DAVID AND BY GOD’S WILL, DAVID WAS DISMISSED AND SENT BACK TO HIS NEW ADOPTED CITY.
WHILE DAVID AND HIS MEN HAD BEEN IN DISCUSSIONS WITH THE KING, THE ANCIENT ENEMY OF ISRAEL, THE AMALEKITES, ATTACKED ZIKLAG, DESTROYING IT EASILY AS NO MEN WERE THERE TO DEFEND IT.
DAVID AND HIS MEN LOST THEIR WIVES, CHILDREN, AND ALL LIVESTOCK.
DAVID’S MEN QUICKLY RECOGNIZED DAVID’S MISTAKE OF LEADERSHIP AND SPOKE OF STONING DAVID
DAVID HAD LEARNED HIS TERRIBLE LESSON, AND NOW HE DID SEEK GOD’S WILL, THROUGH ABIATHAR, A PRIEST, WHO TOLD DAVID TO BEGIN THE COUNTER ATTACK AND THAT HE WOULD RECOVER ALL HE HAD LOST.
THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS KEPT AND THE BATTLE TO RECOVER ALL THAT HAD BEEN LOST WAS WAGED AND WAS SUCCESSFUL.
THE LESSON WAS NOT LOST ON DAVID, AND HE RELEARNED WHERE HIS TRUE LOYALTY SHOULD BE CENTERED, ON GOD AND HIS WILL.
IN CHAPTER 28 THE CONTINUED WAR BETWEEN THE PHILISTINES AND ISRAEL WAS SET TO CONTINUE.
THE PHILISTINE KING ASKED DAVID AND HIS MEN TO SIDE WITH THE PHILISTINES IN THE WAR, AND DAVID GAVE A VAGUE & AWKWARD ANSWER, WHICH WAS NOT “NO” NOR WAS IT “YES”.
THE REST OF CHAPTER 28 DETAILS THE ISSUES FACED BY KING SAUL AS HE TRIED TO PREPARE FOR THE WARFARE THAT SEEMED NEVER ENDING.
28:3 MENTIONS AGAIN THE DEATH OF SAMUEL, GOD’S PROPHET, AS WELL AS REVEALING THAT SAUL HAD BANISHED FROM ISRAEL ALL WITCHES, AND THOSE WHO PRACTICED THE DARK ARTS, KNOWN AS FAMILIAR SPIRITS.
THESE WERE CONSIDERED AN ABOMINATION TO GOD ALL THE WAY BACK IN DEUTERONOMY 18 & LEVITICUS 19 & 20.
SAUL SOUGHT THE WISDOM OF THE LORD IN THE COMING BATTLE BUT WE ARE TOLD IN 28:6 THAT THE LORD ANSWERED HIM NOT.
WE NOTE ONCE MORE THAT THIS ANSWER BROUGHT NO REPENTANCE OR CONFESSION FROM SAUL.
GOD STILL AWAITED HUMILITY FROM SAUL AND SAUL GAVE NONE.
SAUL REQUESTED INFORMATION FROM HIS PEOPLE OF WHERE HE COULD FIND ONE THAT WOULD PROVIDE A FORECAST OF THE FUTURE IN THE BATTLE, A WITCH, A DIVINER, A FAMILIAR SPIRIT, ONE WHO HE HAD HIMSELF BANISHED.
HE WAS GIVEN THE INFORMATION HE SOUGHT, DISGUISED HIMSELF, AND IN THE DARK OF NIGHT VISITED THIS WOMAN WHO IS DESCRIBED TO US AS “THE WITCH OF ENDOR”.
1ST CHRONICLES 10 TEACHES US THAT SAUL’S DEATH WAS CAUSED BY HIS SEEKING AND USING THIS FORBIDDEN WOMAN.
IN VERSE 11, AFTER RECEIVING PROMISES FROM SAUL THAT HE WOULD DO HER NO HARM, THE WOMAN ASKED A MOST SERIOUS QUESTION:
“… whom shall I bring up unto thee?”
VERSES 12 & 13 TEACH US THAT THE SPIRIT OF SAMUEL HIMSELF WAS RAISED TO SPEAK WITH SAUL.
THE AGE OLD QUESTION IS WHETHER ANY WITCH HAS SUCH POWER TO RAISE THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.
VERSE 12 STATES THAT WHEN THE WOMAN SAW SAMUEL, SHE HAD SHOCK AND FEAR AT HIS APPEARING, SUGGESTING THAT HIS ARRIVAL WAS UNEXPECTED BY HER.
MOST EARLIER BIBLE SCHOLARS SEEM TO BE OF THE OPINION THAT SUCH POWER IS RESERVED TO GOD ONLY AND THIS IS WHY GOD HAS LONG FORBIDDEN HIS PEOPLE TO INQUIRE OF SUCH PEOPLE AS THEY
COULD ONLY DECEIVE THOSE WHO SEEK THEM.
THE MAIN QUESTION FOR US IS NOT ACTUALLY WHO RAISED SAMUEL BUT THAT SAUL WAS SO FAR GONE INTO INSANITY THAT HE WOULD SEEK ANSWERS FROM SUCH A ONE & NOT OF GOD WITH REPENTANCE & CONTRITION.
SAMUEL TOLD SAUL THAT HE AND HIS SONS, WOULD DIE THE NEXT DAY.
THAT PREDICTION WILL COME TRUE IN CHAPTER 31, OUR NEXT STUDY STOP.
CHAPTER 30 IS FOCUSED ON THE SITUATION IN THE CAMP THAT DAVID HAD LEFT UNGUARDED AT ZIKLAG AND ENEMY TROOPS ATTACKED IT, BUT DID NOT KILL THE PEOPLE OR THE LIVESTOCK.
THESE AMALEKITES WHO ATTACKED WOULD HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO DO SO HAD SAUL COMPLETELY DESTROYED THEM AS COMMANDED BY GOD IN CHAPTER 15.
CLEARLY SOME ESCAPED SAUL AND HAD REBUILT STRENGTH TO BE ABLE TO ATTACK DAVID’S TOWN.
THE PHILISTINES HAD ONCE AGAIN REFUSED TO ALLOW DAVID AND HIS MEN TO FIGHT WITH THEM AGAINST ISRAEL, DISMISSING THEM BACK TO THEIR TOWN WHERE THEY FOUND THE TOWN BURNING.
WE MUST NOTE THAT GOD’S SOVEREIGN WILL WAS HARD AT WORK IN THIS MOMENT.
IN THE BATTLE TO COME BETWEEN THE PHILISTINES & ISRAEL, COMMANDED BY SAUL, THE LORD ARRANGED BOTH THAT DAVID AND HIS MEN WOULD BE DISMISSED FROM FIGHTING AGAINST ISRAEL AS WELL AS BEING ABLE, AFTER DAVID INQUIRED OF GOD, TO RECOVER ALL THEY LOST.
DO WE REMEMBER THAT DAVID HAD EXPERIENCED TWO MOMENTS OF BEING CLOSE ENOUGH TO KILL SAUL AND REFUSED BOTH TIMES, AS DAVID SAW SAUL AS GOD’S ORDAINED & ANOINTED ONE.
HOW WOULD IT HAVE LOOKED TO ALL OF ISRAEL IF DAVID HAD A HAND IN KILLING ISRAELIS AND THEIR KING?
GOD WAS HARD AT WORK TO SHIELD DAVID FROM SUCH ISSUES.
CHAPTER 30, VERSES 11-20, SHOW GOD’S PROVIDENCE STILL WORKING.
DAVID FOUND AN EGYPTIAN STRANGER WHOM HE HELPED AND THIS MAN WAS ABLE TO POINT OUT WHERE THE AMALEKITES HAD CAMPED.
THIS MAN WAS A SLAVE TO THE VERY AMALEKITES DAVID WAS SEEKING.
DAVID WAS ABLE TO SAVE THE MAN’S LIFE AS WELL AS HIS FAMILY IN THE ATTACK TO COME.
DAVID’S KINDNESS WAS CLEARLY PLEASING TO GOD WHO HAD PLACED THIS MAN IN DAVID’S PATH.
WHEN DAVID AND HIS MEN FOUND THE AMALEKITES, THEY WERE INTOXICATED AND WERE DESTROYED BY DAVID, CAPTURING MUCH SPOILS AS WELL AS RECOVERING ALL THEIR PEOPLE UNHARMED.
A PORTION OF DAVID’S MEN HAD BEEN TIRED BEYOND BATTLE AND HAD REMAINED BEHIND GUARDING SUPPLIES & RESTING.
SOME OF DAVID’S MEN WHO HAD ENTERED THE BATTLE WERE STRONGLY UNWILLING TO SHARE THE SPOILS WITH THESE MEN BUT DAVID COMMANDED OTHERWISE.
DAVID DECREED THAT THE SHARE FOR ALL MEN WOULD BE EQUAL, WHETHER SOME HAD FOUGHT AND OTHERS HAD STAYED BEHIND GUARDING SUPPLIES.
DAVID REMINDED HIS FIGHTERS THAT THEY HAD BEEN BLESSED BY GOD TO REMAIN ALIVE IN THE BATTLE.
IN 30:25 DAVID TURNED THIS PRINCIPLE INTO LAW FOR THE FUTURE, KNOWN AS “EQUAL PARTS” AND WHEN THEY RETURNED TO ZIKLAG, DAVID SHARED THE SPOILS WITH THE MEN AS WELL AS OTHER CITIES IN JUDAH.
A COMMON THREAD RUNS THROUGH ALL OF CHAPTER 30.
FIRST, DAVID WITH THE EQYPTIAN MAN, AND THEN DAVID AND THE MEN TOO FATIGUED TO FIGHT, AND FINALLY WITH DAVID AND OTHER CITIES IN JUDAH.
IN ALL THREE INSTANCES, DAVID SHOWED MERCY, GRACE, AND LOVE TO PEOPLE WHO MAY NOT HAVE SURELY DESERVED IT.
WHY WAS HE READY TO DO THESE THINGS?
BECAUSE GOD HAD DONE THESE VERY THINGS TO HIM.
HERE GOD’S MERCY AND GRACE CONTINUED THE CHANGE NEEDED IN THE HEART OF DAVID FURTHER PREPARING HIM EVEN MORE TO BE THE KING GOD INTENDED HIM TO BE.
ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL LESSONS ON DISPLAY FROM THOSE WHO GOD HAS SAVED IS HOW THEY TREAT OTHERS.
JESUS SPOKE ON THIS VERY ISSUE IN JOHN 13:35 TEACHING HIS APOSTLES THAT THEY WERE TO LOVE OTHERS AS HE HAD LOVED THEM.
HE WAS SPEAKING OF AGAPE, THE DIVINE LOVE THAT SEEKS NOTHING IN RETURN.
1000 YEARS BEFORE JESUS DAVID WAS LEARNING OF SUCH LOVE.
AND 1000 YEARS BEFORE PAUL THIS SHARING BY DAVID WAS FOUND IN THE WRITINGS OF PAUL IN 1ST COR 12, WHERE HE EXPANDED THIS THOUGHT BEGUN BY DAVID TO INCLUDE ALL PARTS OF THE BODY OF THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST BEING EQUALLY NECESSARY.
PAUL SAID THE BODY HAS MANY PARTS, AND ARE SO CONNECTED THAT THE BODY NEEDS THEM ALL TO LIVE AND WORK PROPERLY, AND EACH PART IS EQUAL TO OTHERS AND ALL ARE IMPORTANT TO THE WORK OF CHRIST.
THE FINAL CHAPTER OF 1ST SAMUEL, CHAPTER 31, OUR FINAL STUDY STOP IN THIS IMPORTANT OLD TESTAMENT LESSON, BRINGS TO AN END THE TRAGIC STORY OF SAUL.
IT LAYS THE FOUNDATION FOR DAVID TO ASCEND TO THE THRONE AND THE FINAL BATTLE OF MOUNT GILBOA DISPLAYS GOD TEARING THE KINGDOM FROM SAUL.
THE DAY IS FULL OF TRAGEDY, BUT NO SURPRISES BECAUSE IT IS THE FINAL RESULTS OF SAUL’S LIFE OF DISOBEDIENCE AND IT FULFILLS THE WORDS OF THE PROPHET SAMUEL WHEN HE WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD IN SAUL’S PRESENCE.
THE SOVEREIGN WILL OF GOD WAS STILL WORKING DURING THIS BATTLE AND WE WILL SEE IN 2ND SAMUEL WHAT ARE CALLED THE GOLDEN YEARS OF ISRAEL AS DAVID RULES THE NATION UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF THE LORD.