Letting faith form
1 Sam 21:1-22:2
David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?"
David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find."
But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here — provided the men have kept themselves from women." David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!" So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd.
David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent."
The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one."
David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances:
"'Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands'?"
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
What an unlikely...unpropitious, inauspicious beginning to a reign as king ~ because David was, remember, the king. Saul was the "sitting" king, but David carried the anointing and authority from God to be the king. He begins his reign by killing a giant ... that is good. And, as I have said before, I think he did that because he was doing what a king should do: fight for the kingdom. Had Goliath and the Philistines won, David would have lost everything. If he was ever going to have a kingdom, Goliath had to go down. So...that was good. And we see amazing faith in that encounter. Here was a small young man, so small that Saul's armor swamped him. Yet in unyielding faith he knew that (1) God had already helped him to kill lions and bears, and (2) God would not sit by and let some filthy Philistine defile His name. But then...
Then jealously aroused by that dang Top 40 song, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten-thousands", Saul begins a campaign to have David killed or to kill him himself. And, let's admit it ~ that would be a bit on the daunting side...right? Ever had your father-in-law throw a spear at you at a family dinner? That will ruin your day and smear anxiety over the warm-fuzzies from the day's devotional...right? So David stands up to a Goliath, but runs away from Saul. That's pretty understandable.
But ~ David runs to Gath! Yeah, check the map: Gath is the capital city of the Philitines. And David takes refuge in the court of King Achish of Philistia. When I was in high school taking Algebra (and this just goes to show you DO use what you learn in your math classes in real life) I learned a little mnemonic to help remember how to do problems with multiplication of signed numbers.
The friend of my friend is my friend { + times + = + }
The friend of my enemy is my enemy { + times - = - }
The enemy of my friend is my enemy { - times + = - }
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. { - times - = +}
Yeah, that fourth one ~ perhaps that is what made Achish accept David. If David was Saul's enemy, and Saul was Achish's enemy, didn't that make David Achish's friend? Perhaps he liked the idea of having someone in his court who could give battle advice, location of troops, troop strategy consultation...who knows? But I guess Achish's advisers didn't learn my mnemonic. What they did was listen to the Top 40 songs.
But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances:
"'Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands'?"
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath.
Isn't it intriguing? The advisors say, "Isn't this David, the king of the land?" ... David, KING of the land... . Wow! How did they know? But however they knew, however they heard that song, David got the message and came up with a great plan. He feigned insanity and proceeded to skip town. Space Mountain in the dark...right?
So what was going on in this man . . . this intimate with God, warrior extrordinair, exemplary hearted man? Where was his faith?
I think God was using this to form his faith. David had a big job in front of him...he had to act like a king, but not get to be recognized as king. Saul got the crown and the throne, David got the job. David had to learn this lesson.
So David, with drool dripping off his beard, matted hair and wild eyes, escapes from Philistia and sets up camp in a little cave just on the other side of the border. And the first thing he did, I think, was write a song.
Next: Psalm 34
David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him, and asked, "Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?"
David answered Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, 'No one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.' As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find." But the priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here — provided the men have kept themselves from women." David replied, "Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men's things are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!" So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd.
David asked Ahimelech, "Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king's business was urgent."
The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one."
David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances:
"'Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands'?"
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"
David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there. All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
What an unlikely...unpropitious, inauspicious beginning to a reign as king ~ because David was, remember, the king. Saul was the "sitting" king, but David carried the anointing and authority from God to be the king. He begins his reign by killing a giant ... that is good. And, as I have said before, I think he did that because he was doing what a king should do: fight for the kingdom. Had Goliath and the Philistines won, David would have lost everything. If he was ever going to have a kingdom, Goliath had to go down. So...that was good. And we see amazing faith in that encounter. Here was a small young man, so small that Saul's armor swamped him. Yet in unyielding faith he knew that (1) God had already helped him to kill lions and bears, and (2) God would not sit by and let some filthy Philistine defile His name. But then...
Then jealously aroused by that dang Top 40 song, "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten-thousands", Saul begins a campaign to have David killed or to kill him himself. And, let's admit it ~ that would be a bit on the daunting side...right? Ever had your father-in-law throw a spear at you at a family dinner? That will ruin your day and smear anxiety over the warm-fuzzies from the day's devotional...right? So David stands up to a Goliath, but runs away from Saul. That's pretty understandable.
But ~ David runs to Gath! Yeah, check the map: Gath is the capital city of the Philitines. And David takes refuge in the court of King Achish of Philistia. When I was in high school taking Algebra (and this just goes to show you DO use what you learn in your math classes in real life) I learned a little mnemonic to help remember how to do problems with multiplication of signed numbers.
The friend of my friend is my friend { + times + = + }
The friend of my enemy is my enemy { + times - = - }
The enemy of my friend is my enemy { - times + = - }
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. { - times - = +}
Yeah, that fourth one ~ perhaps that is what made Achish accept David. If David was Saul's enemy, and Saul was Achish's enemy, didn't that make David Achish's friend? Perhaps he liked the idea of having someone in his court who could give battle advice, location of troops, troop strategy consultation...who knows? But I guess Achish's advisers didn't learn my mnemonic. What they did was listen to the Top 40 songs.
But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances:
"'Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands'?"
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath.
Isn't it intriguing? The advisors say, "Isn't this David, the king of the land?" ... David, KING of the land... . Wow! How did they know? But however they knew, however they heard that song, David got the message and came up with a great plan. He feigned insanity and proceeded to skip town. Space Mountain in the dark...right?
So what was going on in this man . . . this intimate with God, warrior extrordinair, exemplary hearted man? Where was his faith?
I think God was using this to form his faith. David had a big job in front of him...he had to act like a king, but not get to be recognized as king. Saul got the crown and the throne, David got the job. David had to learn this lesson.
So David, with drool dripping off his beard, matted hair and wild eyes, escapes from Philistia and sets up camp in a little cave just on the other side of the border. And the first thing he did, I think, was write a song.
Next: Psalm 34
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