This week, in preparation for Sunday’s sermon, read chapters 20-22 of 1 Samuel. This section begins the story of David as a fugitive from King Saul. The words of chapter 21 verse 10 – and David rose and fled that day from Saul – summarize the action of the next few chapters of the narrative. The “cat and mouse” story of King Saul’s wild pursuit of God’s choice for king occupies the narrative until the final chapter which relates the death of Saul.
In our last sermon from chapter 20, we discussed the close covenantal friendship between David and Saul’s son, Jonathan. In Jonathan we discover a prototype of a disciple of Jesus Christ, as Jonathan surrenders house, father, land, and inheritance for the sake of submitting himself to God’s messianic king. Though Jonathan appears naïve of the jealous murderous nature of his father, by the end of the chapter, he is finally fully aware that Saul is out to kill David. David parts ways with his friend and from this point forward he becomes a fugitive, all alone.
Chapter 21 reports David’s safe passage from Nob to Gath (yes, the very same Gath that is the home of the Philistine champion Goliath!). David feels safer within the border of his enemy than he does in the courts of the Israelite king Saul. This illustrates how far Saul had fallen and become like the kings of the surrounding nations. Saul is a paranoid king who uses Gentiles to kill Israelites. Is there any wonder why David felt safer in Goliath’s hometown?
In chapter 22, Saul’s evil is put on full display as he orders the massacre of 85 of his own unarmed Levitical priests by the hand of Doeg the Edomite. We never hear of Doeg again; there is no indication that he received justice for his brutality, yet we know he will receive his due recompense in eternity even if he was never brought to justice on earth. Saul and Doeg are fully responsible for their horrid wickedness, but do not miss the fact that they also fulfill the word of God against the priesthood of Eli (see 1 Samuel 2:31-33). While not authoring the evil, God used His enemies to bring to pass His word. Commentator Dale Ralph Davis observes, “If we know that as men oppose God and his people they will only fulfill his word, it doesn’t take away sorrow or grief or suffering; but it gives secret certainty to victory.” In his words this “puts steel into Christian endurance.” Indeed, God works all things together according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11) and 1 Samuel 22 illustrates that included among “all things” are even his wicked enemies.