or, The Responsible Man, and The Man of God's Choice.
1879 202 etc. In the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 17:15–20) God made provision for the day when Israel should desire a king. From whence he was to be taken, what he was not to do, as well as what he was to do — these were set forth by the Lawgiver in that book, and in that portion of it (Deut. 12 – 29) which treats of laws to be observed by the people when in the enjoyment of their land. Israel entered Canaan; Joshua, and the elders who survived him, passed away; judges were raised up as needed; but as yet no king was appointed over Israel, the only attempt to set one up, which was made previous to the days of Samuel, having proved a miserable failure. (Judges 9) A king, however, was clearly contemplated by God; and His purposes could not, and cannot, be accomplished without one. Hannah spake of the king (1 Sam. 2:10), but she never saw him. Her firstborn, Samuel, however, was commissioned to anoint David in the house of his father Jesse, and in the presence of his brethren, to be the first king on that throne (1 Chron. 29:23) which is yet to be filled publicly by the Lord Jesus Christ. But ere God marked out David for this office, there was one reigning, by divine permission, over the twelve tribes of Israel. Saul had been anointed by Samuel to be captain over God's people Israel, to save them out of the hand of the Philistines, for God had looked upon His people, because their cry had come unto Him. (1 Sam. 9:16.)
Saul was given to Israel in answer to their request. But was this request unforeseen by God? A sceptic may affirm that the portion of Deuteronomy above referred to could not have been extant, or known, to the prophet, else why did he seek to turn the people from their purpose? The fact was that they asked for a king through unbelief. The motive first put forward, that Samuel was old, and his sons walked not in his ways, was not the real reason which made them anxious to have a king. Samuel was, it is true, displeased at their request. It seemed like a personal slight in his eyes. In measure that was true; but God showed him that Israel's conduct on this occasion was only in harmony with their ways since they came out of Egypt. (1 Sam. 8:6–8.) And far worse than the personal slight put on Samuel was the rejection of the Lord as their King, for the proximate cause of their request was the invasion of Israel's territory east of Jordan, by Nahash, king of the children of Ammon. (1 Sam. 12:12.) In wilfulness and unbelief they clamoured for a king: "We will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." (1 Sam. 8:19-20.) Their words, then, clearly intimated distrust of the Lord's care of them, and interest in them. Unbelief really lay at the bottom of that popular movement — for popular movement it was; and the conditions under which they asked for a king were certainly not such as God could approve of.
That they were to have one was plain. This was no afterthought in God's mind. But their motives for desiring one were wrong. Scripture details all this to us (1 Sam. 8 – 12), giving the clue to Israel's actions, and furnishing us with a key, the key by which, if any difficulty arises in the mind about Deuteronomy 17, it can be satisfactorily explained; whereas the sceptic would settle the question, as he thinks, by the denial that Deuteronomy 17:14–20 is God's revelation by Moses. The law gave directions about the king, and guidance also for his conduct; but though foretelling the establishment of the kingdom, it did not prescribe the conditions under which they should prefer their request. Did, then, the existence of the law in Deuteronomy diminish their guilt in the matter? Assuredly not. They were wrong in asking for their king when and how they did, and, as the history shows, he became a hindrance to them. But to any true-hearted person among them, how comforting such a portion of the law must have been, as it showed that, whatever in their wilfulness and unbelief, they might do, God had given directions which, if carried out, would be for the welfare of all concerned when a king should be set over them. A saint of Samuel's day would surely have valued that law as a proof of Jehovah's forethought for His people. A critic of this day would deny its authenticity as part of the law given by Moses. The people's wish was for a king to fight their battles with the Ammonites; the Lord's thought was that the king should save them out of the hand of the Philistines. (1 Sam. 9:16.) Saul answered to the desire of Israel, but fell miserably short of the thoughts of God. Had God, in the days of Samuel, ceased to care for His people? Israel evidently seemed to think this. They considered only the pressing evil of the moment, that of Nahash, the Ammonite, acting against them from without. The Lord thought of a worse evil, the power of the uncircumcised within the land. Nothing less than deliverance from that would meet His desires on their behalf. And David, in whose choice the people had no part, and for whom they had expressed no wish, carried out the mind of God as to the Philistines, by first slaying their champion, and subsequently subduing them, and taking Metheg-Ammah, or Gath, out of their hands (2 Sam. 8:1; 1 Chron. 18:1); and finally destroying, with his captains, the remnant of the giants that remained. (2 Sam. 21:15–22.) But this introduces us to the kingdom in connection with David. To the histories of Saul and of David — both anointed of God, and on earth together — let us now turn.
Between these two — both kings by divine appointment — there are great and important differences. Saul was not a converted man, though, after his anointing by Samuel, God gave him another heart, so that the aim of his life was changed, and his thoughts ran so far in another channel. (1 Sam. 10:9.) David was a saint of God, a man after His own heart. (1 Sam. 13:14.) Saul too, until he met Samuel, at the instigation of his servant, seems not to have known him. The servant, judging from his language, knew something of the man of God, whereas his master was in ignorance about him (1 Sam. 9:6); yet the prophet lived within the limits of the tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul and his family belonged. And the yearly circuit of Samuel to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh was all within the territory of little Benjamin. Kish was a mighty man of power, and the character of his son was evidently, in his native city, well known (1 Sam. 10:12); but to Saul, the man of God, the judge, the prophet was, it would appear, a stranger. Could that have been the case had grace previously worked on Saul's heart, and brought him to know God? With David, how different! Tending his father's flock by night, his thoughts turned to God (Ps. 8); and before he entered the lists against Goliath, he had experienced what the power of God could effect, and had known deliverance in the hour of peril. (1 Sam. 17:34-36.) Again, Saul comes before us as the responsible man, but David as the man of God's purpose, these two illustrating in some degree the first man and the second Man — Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ. As the responsible man, the continuance of Saul's dynasty depended on his obedience. (1 Sam. 13:13.) David received the kingdom unconditionally. One command only was given to Saul, namely, to wait seven days at Gilgal for Samuel, but that one command he failed to keep. (1 Sam. 10:8; 1 Sam. 13:13.) In this he resembled Adam. If he had been entrusted with a number of commands from the prophet, and had kept all but one; or if he had been commissioned to do some great thing, which had overtasked his powers to accomplish, his weakness would have been manifested certainly, and we might have regarded him as an unfortunate person; but no such lenient judgment can be passed upon him. All he had to do was to wait for Samuel, and it was just in this that he failed. The Philistines pressing upon Israel, Saul could not trust God; so he offered a burnt-offering, and forfeited, for himself and his posterity, the kingdom over Israel. How closely did he resemble Adam, first, in distrusting God, and next, in throwing the blame of his disobedience on the one who had given him the command! "I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou earnest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; therefore said I, the Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord; I forced myself, therefore, and offered a burnt offering." (1 Sam. 13:11-12.) Adam charged his sin upon God, — "The woman whom thou gavest me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." (Gen. 3:12.) Saul held Samuel accountable for his failure: "Thou camest not within the days appointed."
But we must not anticipate. Saul, after his anointing by Samuel, was given three signs, by which he would know that God was with him. (1 Sam. 11:13.) Two men would meet him by Rachel's sepulchre, at Zelzah, in the border of Benjamin, to tell him of the finding of the asses, and of his father's sorrow for his son. Three men would meet him by the oak (not plain), of Tabor, on their way to God to Bethel, from whom he was to receive two out of the three loaves that one of them was carrying with him. Further on, at the hill, or Gibeah, of God, where he lived — for he did not go beyond it — (vers. 13, 14), a company of prophets would meet him coming down from the high place, with psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp, and prophesying; and the Spirit of God would come upon him, and he would prophesy, and be turned into another man. Now these three signs, as they came to pass, might be regarded in two ways, either as simple proofs of the prophetic gift of Samuel, and so would tend to confirm Saul in the thought that he who had foreseen them could not have been mistaken as to God's mind about him; or they might be read, and surely, by one taught of God, would be read, in connection with the associations that such places as Rachel's tomb and Bethel could not fail to recall. Rachel had died just after the birth of Benjamin, who, first called the son of sorrow, was named by Jacob the son of his right hand. To this tribe Saul belonged, and the nation, in the depths of its humiliation, was now to look to him for deliverance from the yoke which pressed so heavily upon it. By the oak of Tabor he received two loaves of bread from the men on their way to Bethel, where God had revealed Himself to Jacob, when the fortunes of Israel's progenitor had been at their lowest point, himself a wanderer from his father's house, because of his sin. The remembrance of God in connection with Bethel might well stimulate any true-hearted person to encourage himself in God, who could act in grace, whatever might be the condition of His people in consequence of their sins; and the homage paid to Saul, by the offer of the two loaves, might strengthen him in the understanding that to him Israel was to look. Then the Spirit of God coming on him at Gibeah of God, where was a garrison of the Philistines, was calculated to teach him that God's power could be put forth in the very presence of the enemy.
Saul was now to be an object of desire, homage was rendered to him, and in the company of the prophets, who could rejoice in God, though Israel had been brought low, the Spirit of God came upon him. (1 Sam. 10:10.) At first modest and retiring, he hid himself among the stuff, that is, the baggage of the company gathered together to Mizpeh to learn who was to be their king; but his hiding-place discovered by the Lord, he was brought forth, and welcomed with acclamation. Judged by his stature, there was none like him among all the people. To outward eyes he must have appeared as born to be a king. Hailed as king, he is seen to the greatest advantage at the commencement of his reign; for when the children of Belial brought him no presents, and despised him, he held his peace; and when the opportunity first arose for him to lead Israel in battle, he availed himself of it at once, and planned the attack by which the Ammonites were routed. As the king, the Spirit of God having come upon him, he led Israel to victory; and as king he restrained the popular feeling which would have consigned the children of Belial to death. "The Lord," he said, "hath wrought salvation in Israel:" not a man, therefore, was to be put to death. (1 Sam. 11:13.) To God he ascribes the glory of the victory. So far all appeared promising. Modesty, energy, moderation, these characterised the king.
After this, at Samuel's suggestion, the people assemble at Gilgal to renew the kingdom there. Clearing the prophet of any abuse of power among them, and confessing that they had sinned in asking for a king, they learnt that on their obedience, and on that of their king likewise, would depend their preservation from visitations of divine judgment. (1 Sam. 12:14, 25.) And this took place at Gilgal, so rich in associations for Israel; for there, on their first entrance into the land, all the uncircumcised among them submitted to that rite, which speaks to us of the putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ (Col. 2:11), and might well have reminded them of their uncircumcised state of heart, which moved them to ask for a king. How suggestive, then, to them was Samuel's selection of Gilgal, rather than of Bethel or of Mizpeh!
The king acknowledged by all, the prophet receded from that place in the foreground which he had occupied up to that time, though he did not disappear off the stage of Israel's history; for whilst it appertained to Saul to lead the army, he could not act aright unless the mind of God was made known to him. This the Lord would communicate by Samuel. (1 Sam. 10:8; 1 Sam. 15:3.) And with the setting up of the kingdom, we read, for the first time since the days of Joshua, of the formation of a standing army. Hitherto, as occasion required, armies had been raised for special purposes, and were disbanded when the object for which they were gathered was accomplished. Henceforth the nucleus of an army Saul kept around him, reserving for himself on this occasion two thousand, to be with him at Michmash, and one thousand, to be with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin. With the one thousand Jonathan gained the first victory over the Philistines during his father's reign. This was at Geba. The Philistines heard of it, and Saul blew the trumpet through all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews* hear." (1 Sam. 13:3.) Jonathan's victory effectually roused the enemy, and people, as the sand which is on the seashore for multitude, accompanied by chariots and horses, confronted, at Michmash, the little army of Israel. Truly Israel seemed in a worse plight than ever. Disheartened, distressed, they followed Saul with trembling, who was now in Gilgal, awaiting Samuel's promised visit, according to his word, in 1 Sam. 10:8. The seventh day arrived, but Samuel had not appeared, and the people were scattered from Saul. Forgotten, as he thought, by the prophet, deserted by the people, who clearly had not confidence in him, Saul, waiting no longer, offered the burnt-offering. Samuel then appeared, for the seventh day, though come, had not gone. Now the king failed on this the first time that his obedience was put to the proof. His burnt offering was productive of no divine interposition. The armies of Israel gained no victory that day, for the king stood convicted of disobedience to the Lord his God. He had done foolishly. But the consequences of his sin were not to be confined to himself. His posterity would share in them, for God had sought Him a man after His own heart to be captain over His people, and that man was not of the house of Saul. In this again does Saul resemble Adam, all of whose posterity are involved in the consequences of his act, and another, the second Man, is the One to whom God has turned to accomplish all His will.
[* "The Hebrews." By this name the Philistines and others described the Israelites. (Gen. 14:13; Gen. 39:14; Ex. 2:11; 1 Sam. 4:6.) But Saul appears to use the word with reference to those Israelites who, from fear or other cause, had taken shelter with the Philistines. Compare 1 Samuel 14:21, where those of the people called Hebrews are distinguished from other Israelites.]
Saul had disobeyed, yet he seemed to honour God, for he would not engage in battle till he had offered his burnt-offering. In this there is instruction for us. If God has acted in any remarkable way in the past, there is the tendency in those who have not really the divine mind, for their present circumstances, to resort to the imitation of something, which formerly done, whether in obedience to a divine command, or resulting from spiritual guidance, was fruitful in happy results. Thus Israel, on the first occasion that they met the Philistines at Ebenezer, sought to make use of the ark as a charm, and so brought it, unauthorised by God, into the camp. In the days of Joshua the ark had been in the camp, and had preceded the armed men round the walls of Jericho, till they fell. But we never read of Joshua making use of the ark in a similar manner again. The Israelitish warriors, however, in the days of Eli, evidently recalling to mind that striking passage in their history, commanded its presence among them (1 Sam. 4:3-4), but only to suffer the most humiliating defeat they had ever known. "Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent, and there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen: and the ark was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain." Was it from lack of power that God did not give them the victory? No, for twenty years after, on the same battlefield, at Ebenezer, God gave to Israel a remarkable and decisive victory. Assembled at Mizpeh, not for war, but for confession before God, the Philistines came up in force against them. Alarmed at the advance of the foe, they entreated Samuel to pray for them. The prophet, however, having the mind of God, first offered a burnt-offering, and then cried to God. By his action as we know, he brought the death of Christ in remembrance before God, and the Lord answered his cry by thundering upon the Philistines, and discomfiting them, so that they were smitten before Israel, and then, for the first time, was the Philistine yoke of servitude removed from the neck of the people. (1 Sam. 7:13-14.) The Philistines were subdued, a term not used of Israel's enemies since the days of Jephthah, and never again met with in connection with the Philistines till David was reigning in power at Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 8:1; 1 Chron. 18:1.) The haughty uncircumcised people of Philistia never bowed down their necks in token of submission whilst Saul, the son of Kish, wielded the sceptre in Israel.
Now, in a similar way to that in which Israel acted on the first occasion at Ebenezer, Saul acted at Gilgal. Jonathan had smitten a garrison of the Philistines which was in Geba, thus bringing, as a consequence, the enemy in full force against Saul and his little army. Dispirited, demoralized, forgetful of God's former intervention on their behalf, and having no confidence in God, their king, or themselves, they "hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits. And some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling." (1 Sam. 13:1-7.) In this state of matters it was that the king offered the burnt-offering, and, doubtless, remembering the effect of Samuel's burnt sacrifice at Mizpeh, he expected a similar result. But he had acted in direct opposition to the prophet's command. Hence, as Israel learnt that the mere presence of the ark in the camp could not ensure them the victory, Saul discovered that his sacrifice produced not the results which probably he anticipated. Imitation will not avail in the work of God. We cannot command God's presence or power as men resort to a charm.
Saul's disobedience patent, his want of faith was afterwards rebuked, and that by the faith of his son, who, with his armour-bearer, climbed up a rock on his hands and feet, and routed a garrison of the uncircumcised. Now the host of the Philistines in the field trembled, the garrison trembled, and the spoilers likewise, and the earth quaked, when Jonathan and his armour-bearer had smitten just twenty men. Hearts and the earth are both in God's hands, and where faith is in exercise, He can make the stout heart to quail, and the earth under them to shake. But the enemy, be it remarked, was as vaunting as ever, till Jonathan and his armour-bearer assumed the offensive. They had first to strike; then God acted, and a trembling seized the host of Philistia. But where did this take place? Just where Saul had been afraid of his opponents. At Michmash, eastward of Beth-aven, the Philistines, by their presence, had utterly cowed Saul and Israel. From Michmash the battle, on the day of Jonathan's victory, passed over unto Beth-aven, and Israel smote them from Michmash unto Aijalon. (1 Sam. 13:5; 1 Sam. 14:23, 31.) As on the battlefield of Ebenezer, where Israel had lost the ark, the Philistines were subsequently subdued; so, where Saul had been afraid of them, Jonathan, by his faith in God, procured for the people a victory. For it was not under better auspices, as men would say, that he engaged his opponents. The position remained unchanged; but faith in God, which sees things as He sees them, made Jonathan view the Philistines in their true light as uncircumcised ones (1 Sam. 13:6); and, counting on the power of God, he went forward to victory, of the full fruits of which, however, Israel were deprived by the foolish behaviour of Saul. Now, for a time the Philistines were checked, and Saul could turn his attention and his arms against his enemies on every side, "against Moab, against the children of Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines."
But whilst gaining victories, and whithersoever he turned vexing his enemies, it was left for David to subdue each one of these. Nothing permanent could Saul effect. He was a warrior, that was true; he delivered Israel out of the hand of them that spoiled them; but for decisive results in battle with these different enemies, Israel had to wait till David reigned in Jerusalem. In the catalogue of Saul's wars one other enemy is briefly mentioned in chapter 14:48: "He gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites." But this expedition ended most disastrously for Saul; so it is related at length in the following chapter.
"Amalek," said Balaam, "was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever." (Num. 24:20.) God had not forgotten what he did to Israel, narrated in Exodus 17:8-16. Now the time had come for the execution of divine vengeance, and to Saul was entrusted the duty of carrying out God's before-announced purpose. (Ex. 17:14.) Generations had come and gone since the Lord had sworn that He would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Had He forgotten His oath? No. The lapse of time made no change in His mind, and the hour having arrived, Saul is commissioned to carry it out. But in that he failed, sparing Agag, and the best of the flocks and of the herds. His disobedience was immediately dealt with. "Because," said Samuel, "thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." (1 Sam. 15:23.) He lost the kingdom for his family when he disobeyed the word of the prophet, which was the command of the Lord. He was himself rejected from being king, when he spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the flocks, and of the herds. Agag was slain by Samuel, Saul was rejected, and now a new person comes on the scene — a man after God's own heart. The kingdom was rent that day from Saul, and given, in God's counsels, to David, though he was not yet manifested as the man of God's choice. From that time, too, Samuel came no more to see Saul till the day of his death. They did meet, however, once in the interval when Saul was made to feel that the power of the Spirit of God was stronger than that of a demon. (1 Sam. 19:24.)
In the midst of this sorrowful history, it is a refreshment to read of one heart which entered into it all in real sorrow. "It grieved Samuel" when the Lord told him of Saul's disobedience, "and he cried unto the Lord all night." And again, "Samuel mourned for Saul." He had felt his own rejection by Israel, but he did not, as nature might have dictated, exult over the fall of the one who in some degree occupied the place he had filled. Nor was he indifferent to the king's sinfulness. How should the servant of God be unconcerned at the open disobedience of the man whom, by God's command, he had anointed to be king over His people? Samuel mourned for Saul. He felt it all deeply. In Saul there seemed no conscience work. "I have sinned, yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship the Lord thy God." Such was Saul's utterance, which evinced how little a sense he had of the gravity of his offence. Amalek was God's enemy. Saul had not taken God's part in the matter, as he had been commanded, and all his anxiety seemed to be not to lose his place in the estimation of men, but there was no indication that he humbled himself before God. Samuel mourned for Saul, who did not mourn for himself. Now the probation of the responsible man has ended. He has been tried, and found wanting. But his life is prolonged for a season, and, still wielding the sceptre in the place which God had set him, he demonstrates his opposition to God, and his enmity to the man of God's choice.
Here we enter on a new chapter of Israel's history, and we might say a new book of the world's history; for the introduction of David upon the scene was an event of worldwide and of political importance. It is true the theatre of the events about which we read, in connection with the son of Jesse, was but a small one, since the land of Canaan, and even the extent of David's kingdom, occupies but a small space on the map of this earth. Mightier kingdoms than David's have existed, more extended sovereignties have been known than he ever possessed; but he sat on a throne, and, as its first occupant, on which no Caesar, no emperor, will ever be seated — the throne of the Lord. (1 Chron. 29:23.) The kingdom given to him was the first public step taken by God in connection with the establishment of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ over Israel. God's purposes must be accomplished; so, when the responsible man fails in carrying them out, another one, the man of God's purpose, is raised up to fulfil them. Saul was not the king of God's choice. The Lord had indeed hearkened to the wish of the people; He had given them a king, and victories they had gained under his banner. Were they satisfied with things as they were? God was not. So now, unasked by the people, He provided for himself a king. But where was he to be found? No one knew — not even Samuel — till guided of God, He anointed David to be king in the midst of all his brethren. The people, by asking for a king, virtually said that the Lord had not made their interests His object and concern. His selecting a king, without any request from them, after Saul's disobedience, effectually refuted any such imputation. "The Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people" (1 Sam. 13:14), was a clear intimation from God that the true interests of Israel were then, as much as they had ever been, of real concern to Him. But David was not brought forward till Saul had openly failed. So the Lord Jesus Christ, God's appointed King, was not spoken of till the first man had. demonstrated what he was.
The hour had come for the appearance of David, in connection with Israel's history and God's purposes. So Samuel was commissioned to go to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, and, directed by God how to proceed in the matter, the prophet departed on his mission. How far must Saul have got from God, when Samuel feared for his life, if he executed the command entrusted to him. (1 Sam. 16:2.) Seven of Jesse's sons passed before Samuel, but the king was not among them. At length, the least thought of by men, the youngest; who was with the sheep, was sent for, and the prophet, directed by the Lord, poured the anointing oil upon him. Two things characterised him — his beauty, and his outward appearance. Saul was remarkable for the latter (1 Sam. 9:2), but his heart was not right with God. Eliab, David's elder brother, had personal appearance to commend him, but "the Lord," Samuel was told, "seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh at the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh upon the heart." (1 Sam. 16:7.) Saul had another heart given to him after he had been anointed. We read nothing of this kind as regards David. The Lord saw his heart, which man could not. Besides this, he "was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." (1 Sam. 16:12.) So, whilst there was that in him which God alone could fully discern, he was not deficient in that which man could admire. In nothing suited for a king was he to be deficient. His heart, that God saw. His personal appearance all could admire. Thus far as to his person. Here, however, another thing should be noticed. David was anointed king without any conditions as to the continuance of his kingdom and dynasty being expressed or implied, for he was the man of God's purpose, the type of the Lord's Anointed, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now the aged prophet's chief service was finished. He had witnessed the rejection of the priesthood in. the line of Ithamar. He had seen the failure of the king for whom Israel had asked. He lived to anoint the king whose throne shall never pass away, though for a time it has been overthrown. Himself the link between God and the people during the transitional state between the manifested failure of the priesthood, and the raising up of the king of God's choice, he lived long enough to see the commencement of the train of events which yet await its full accomplishment, when the faithful priest shall walk before God's anointed for ever. (1 Sam. 2:35.) Thenceforward, on three occasions only, does Samuel figure in the history (1 Sam. 19, 1 Sam. 25:1, 1 Sam. 28), though he judged Israel all the days of his life. In this we may trace something analogous to the condition of things in the days of John the Baptist. At first, the one on whom all eyes were fixed, and to whom the crowds turned, he ceased to occupy the same prominent place after that the Lord had been baptised of him in Jordan. (John 3:26.) His work went on till his imprisonment stopped it; but, as he beautifully declared, speaking of the Lord, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Similarly the prophet, under whom Israel had been victorious at Ebenezer, retired into comparative privacy after he had anointed David to be king. To Saul, as king, he had given directions. To David he gave none that we read of, but left the public stage free for the display of the deeds and victories of the son of Jesse, whilst he carried on his less obtrusive service of judging Israel, till death terminated his mortal career. Henceforth two men are prominent in the history, both anointed by God to be kings over Israel; the one Saul, that is, "asked," who, as his name may serve to remind us, was raised up when the people asked for a king; the other, David, that is, "beloved," whose name may remind the reader that he was a special object of divine favour.
David, anointed by Samuel, now becomes the instrument by which God is to work in power. The Spirit had come in power upon Saul. (1 Sam. 10:10.) He now came in power upon David (1 Sam. 16:13), and left Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. God had not made Saul king without giving him power for his work. Rejecting Saul, He raised up David, and fitted him in a similar way for His service, for God never sends anyone to warfare at his own charges. We must, however, make a difference between these two men. The Spirit coming on any person in the manner the historian has described, for the same term is used with reference to Saul and to David, does not of necessity imply a constant endowment of spiritual power. In Saul's case, the Spirit thus came on him, in chapter 10:10, and chapter 11:6. In David's case the Spirit came on him from that day and forward. Was Saul, then, less well furnished than David? By no means. As long as he was under probation God bestowed the Spirit in power whenever he needed it. But knowing what the instruments were, God dealt with each accordingly. Now a sad spectacle presents itself. The one who had been entrusted with temporal power on earth, and not deprived of it, actuated by an evil spirit from the Lord, is led, as the sequel shows, into direct personal antagonism to the man after God's own heart, and seeks to use his authority to take away David's life. Into man's hand God, after the flood, put the sword of government, and has never withdrawn it. How has he used it? He has wielded the sword of justice to put to death the holy One and the Just, and to stop, if possible, the spread of God's truth. The power given of God has been used against God. A diabolical course of action certainly. But such a state of things was not permitted, till man had shown insubjection to God. In Saul's case, this demoniacal possession was not allowed, until he had manifested disobedience to the divine command. Yet, guilty as he was, and therefore deservedly suffering, God was willing to show him mercy, till he rejected it. But who was able to cope with the evil spirit, and to set free the king of Israel — for a time at least — from its influence? None but David, the son of Jesse. He alone could minister to the king in this matter, as he alone could conquer the giant. When he played before Saul the evil spirit departed from him (1 Sam. 16:23), a type, surely, in this of Him who could cast out demons when none else could (Mark 5:4; Luke 9:40); but only a type, for the Lord could give His disciples authority over evil spirits to cast them out, David could authorise no one to soothe the son of Kish.
At Saul's court David played. When his presence was no longer required there, he returned to his original occupation of keeping his father's sheep in the wilderness. (1 Sam. 17:15.) He knew his place, and kept it; and in his place learnt about God in a way others had not, and the lesson thus learnt fitted him for future usefulness. In these different conditions his ways commended him. At the court, in the camp, and with the sheep, he conducted himself wisely and well. Nevertheless, till God took him out of his original calling, David returned to his humble occupation of a shepherd. Was time thus spent time thrown away? Who would say that, as he reads Psalm 8? which describes lessons learnt, it would seem, during the night season. Who would say that he had wasted his energies in the sheepfold, when he experienced as a shepherd the deliverance of God? Now the time arrived, and the occasion arose, for which God had been training his servant in the wilderness.
In Ephes-Dammin, where subsequently David and Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, successfully withstood the onslaught of the Philistines (1 Chron. 11:13), the power of the uncircumcised received a check at the hand of the stripling son of Jesse. The Philistines stood on a mount on the one side, and Israel on a mount on the other, with the valley of Elah between them; and there went out of the camp of the Philistines a champion, Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span, that is, about nine feet nine inches in stature, and he defied the armies of Israel. From before him they all fled. In his presence Saul, and even Jonathan, felt themselves powerless. For forty days he defied Israel — a pitiable spectacle indeed — challenging any one to single combat, with servitude, as the penalty to be meted out to the conquered foe. The crisis had now come — the question was fairly put. Israel, if their champion were beaten, were to be servants to the Philistines; the Philistines, if Goliath was slain, offered to be servants to Israel. No longer, then, would the enemy admit of a compromise. Victory or servitude, and that without hope or prospect of any end to it. Such were the terms on which Goliath proposed to meet a champion from the children of Israel.
How bold in his words, yet how really apprehensive of danger, did he show himself to be! Why all that armour, the helmet, the coat of mail, the greaves of brass on his legs, with a javelin (Joshua 8:18), not a target, of brass between his shoulders, and an armour-bearer with a shield going before him? What thought had Goliath taken for the safety of his person! Encased in scaly armour, and with a shield to cover his whole person borne before him — in such attire, but not till he had taken such precautions, did this giant challenge the Israelites to single and mortal combat. Appearances were all in his favour; his height was imposing, and his armour would seem to defy penetration. But these precautions surely indicated a want of confidence in himself, and a fear of those he contemptuously called the servants of Saul. How bold the enemy can be before those who are afraid of him! And "when Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid." And no wonder, for unless God is brought into such circumstances, what can feeble man effect? For forty days this went on. A full period of probation Israel passed through; but as yet no one was found to take up the challenge. The people were made to feel their own powerlessness. When this had been realised, David, sent by his father, entered the camp. He saw the giant. He heard his words. He witnessed the abject terror of the men of Israel. All were afraid but David, the youth, who viewed the matter in the right light.
Offers had been freely made by Saul to any man who would meet the giant, and kill him, of freedom for his father's house in Israel, and the king's daughter for his wife, and enrichment with great riches. The people, to whom David addressed himself in the camp, were well acquainted with them, yet they failed to nerve one single man to volunteer for such a perilous service. And no wonder. For what are promises of temporal favours and earthly enjoyments for one who has to face, as he thinks, certain death to earn a title to possess them? Such sink into insignificance in the presence of the power of the enemy, and with death confronting the man. But David looked at the matter in another light. The servants of Saul Goliath termed his opponents. To defy Israel had Goliath come, said the people, addressing David. He, however, remembered who Israel really were, namely, the armies of the living God. In this strain he answered them, and in the same strain he spoke to Saul. He sought to rally all Israel, that they should no longer be afraid. Could the armies of the living God be overthrown? Could death triumph in such circumstances? The very language he used — and it was the simple truth — should have settled the question for Saul and for Israel, as it was already settled for him. The armies of the living God were Israel, whom Goliath defied, and he, the champion, the terrible one, was but an uncircumcised Philistine.
With David, then, it was not a question how things looked to man, but what the things were in God's sight. He viewed things in the light in which God viewed them, and all was clear and certain for him, the man of faith. "Let no man's heart fail because of him," David said to Saul; "thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine." This was the language of faith, not the bravado of a boaster. Goliath was only an uncircumcised Philistine, he had not the token of God's covenant on his person. (Gen. 17:11.) But all this was lost upon Saul, He looked at David, took note of his youthfulness, and attempted to discourage him. All right, if David had been going in his own strength; but if the contest really lay between God and the enemy, what mattered youth and inexperience in war? The living God must conquer him who terrified His people with the dread of death. So David knew, and in God's strength would he meet the giant. For God was his God. He had proved His delivering power at the sheepfold. There he had received that training which fitted him for the combat. The lion and the bear, which had robbed his father's fold, he had slain single-handed. What better than the fate of those unclean beasts could the uncircumcised Philistine have meted out to him, seeing he had defied the armies of the living God?
Armed with Saul's armour, David assayed to go, for he had not proved it; but the armour of man's devising, since the conflict really lay between God and the enemy, encumbered the man of faith. So, putting it off, and furnished only with offensive weapons provided by God, the five smooth stones out of the brook, he went forward to the encounter. The Philistine moved forward, preceded by his armour-bearer. David went to meet him, with God for his shield. Goliath disdained him, and cursed him by his gods, vaunting of his ability to give his flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field. Boasting in word, attempting, too, perhaps, to terrify David by cursing him, this was all that the enemy could do. David heard his boastful language, and replied with becoming spirit, "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands." Confident was the Philistine, as confident was David. Yet how different was the spirit of the latter from that of the former! Goliath boasted of his strength, "I will give thy flesh," etc. David trusted in the Lord; "the Lord," he said, "will deliver thee into mine hand." To Goliath he speaks of Jehovah. To Israel and to Saul he made mention of the living God. Each term was in keeping with the circumstances in which David was placed. To rally Israel and Saul, he reminds them of the living God. Answering the boastful Philistine, he speaks of Jehovah of hosts as the God of the armies of Israel. The living God could not be overcome by the power of death. Jehovah of hosts, who has power in battle, could not be subdued by the champion of God's enemies. In His name, then, David, stripling though he was, would go forward, and felt sure of the victory.
With the sling and the stone Goliath was conquered. The weapon needed was not far off. In the brook which ran between the two armies the stone was found that laid low the champion of the uncircumcised, and silenced for ever his boasting. All his armour proved unavailing to ward off the death-blow: even the shield borne before him by his armour-bearer did not intercept the stone. God provided what was wanted, and it was found to be all-sufficient. A principle we have here of wide application. God does provide the weapons wherewith, if called upon, His people may meet those opposed to Him. The Lord promised to provide them. (Luke 21:15.) So Stephen proved the Lord's faithfulness to His word, when His enemies were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake. (Acts 6:10.) In this he does not stand alone, for the Lord still cares for His people.
David had said that he would cut off Goliath's head. A vain boast it might have sounded, for there was no sword in his hand. He did it nevertheless. The giant's head was severed by his own weapon, a fore-shadowing, surely, of that of which we read in Hebrews 2:14. The combat over, the Philistines fled, and Israel pursued them to the gates of Ekrom and Gath, their two nearest cities. Israel spoiled the Philistines, but David was contented with Goliath's head and Goliath's armour. The armour he put into his tent (Luke 11:21-22), the head he carried to Jerusalem, here mentioned for the first time in connection with God's king, but in perfect keeping with the order of events. For the one who has the power of death must be vanquished ere the kingdom can be set up in power. So Jerusalem, the place of the throne, only comes into notice in this history after the death of the enemy of God and of His people. And now a question arises as to David's parentage. Whence was he? Saul asked. To Saul it was unknown; to Abner likewise. And none answered the question, till David himself told Saul of his father. Some in the camp knew who he was, but his parentage was not openly proclaimed till after the death of Goliath. (Compare with this Rom. 1:4.)
Henceforward David was to be famous. His name was never to be forgotten. Israel remembered his victory, women celebrated it in song (1 Sam. 18:6-7), and the enemy never forgot it. (1 Sam. 21:11; 1 Sam. 29:5.) As for Jonathan, he loved him as his own soul. They were knit together in love at once. It could not be otherwise. Jonathan, who had smitten a garrison of the uncircumcised, could not but be drawn to David, who had conquered Goliath. And nothing Jonathan had was too good, in his eye, for David to be invested with. Of all that had distinguished him before the people he had divested himself, that David should be arrayed in it. Saul, actuated by human thoughts, which completely shut out God, pressed on David the use of his armour before he met Goliath. Jonathan, after the victory, invested David with his robe, his garments, his sword, his bow, and his girdle. Saul thought to shield the person of Davie from the blows of the giant. Jonathan gave to David, in token of his admiration and his love. In him we see that putting aside of self which is the fruit of divine grace.
Jonathan was occupied with David. Saul eyed him from that day and forward. To him he was an object of jealousy, to Jonathan of admiration. What caused this difference? The songs of the women put Saul in the second place. This the king could not endure. So jealousy took possession of the unhappy monarch, and urged him to a course, which his better judgment, at times, condemned, but from which he never really turned. From this time, till Saul's death, David experienced his bitter enmity, and the history which sets this forth divides itself into several distinct portions. From 1 Sam. 18:9 – 19:17 we have David as yet at the court and in the camp. From 1 Sam. 19:18 – 21:15, we see him a fugitive from his home. 1 Sam. 22 – 26 describe his life, trials, and escapes in the land of Judea, and 1 Sam. 27 – 31 exhibit him as an exile with the Philistines, dwelling at Ziklag, until Saul's death. Many must have been the lessons that he learnt of God's goodness in sustaining him and delivering him during these years, in spite of his failures. And during this period of his life many of his psalms were probably composed. Thus God has made his trials, as He did the imprisonment of Paul, to redound to His own glory, and to the instruction and comfort of His people in all succeeding ages.
Whilst at the court, and in the camp, God, in a marked way, watched over David, and raised up friends where they might not have been expected. Twice did God preserve him from being struck by the king's javelin. (1 Sam. 18:11.) Removed by Saul from the court, he was transferred to the camp, where he behaved himself wisely, and the Lord was with him. In the camp, and on the battlefield, he by his conduct gained the hearts of all the people; but this only made Saul the more afraid of him. So, wishing to compass his death, without directly imbruing his hands in David's blood, Saul made him acquainted with the dowry he wanted, ere he could become the king's son-in-law, by marrying Michal, Saul's daughter. Outwitted in his diabolical plan of thus compassing David's death, for David slew of the Philistines just double the number required, and, being still victorious in battle, Saul charged Jonathan and his servants to kill him. Here, again, the unhappy monarch's purpose was defeated, for Jonathan befriended him, and a third personal attempt on David's life (1 Sam. 19:10) proved as unsuccessful as the other two. What folly to fight against God! But what power can the enemy exert over a man! Attempting next to have David assassinated in his own house, the wretched man's daughter, Michal, took part against her father. After that, following David to Samuel's house at Ramah, the Spirit of God is seen to be superior to the spirit of evil, since Saul himself is once more found among the prophets. The power of the enemy was powerless before the Spirit of God. The king, so often led by the demon, is, however unwillingly, and to his own confusion, controlled by the Holy Ghost. Neither man nor devil can prevail against God. Into what a dreadful position, however, can a vessel drift which once was used of God! Once endowed with power by the Holy Ghost to work for the deliverance of Israel at Jabesh Gilead, the same spirit has at Ramah to counteract the murderous intentions of this unhappy man.
The second portion of the history of David in trial has commenced. He has become a fugitive. But at what a juncture to fly from Naioth! Saul's intentions were certainly manifested, but God's sheltering care and power were as clearly evidenced. How irrational is unbelief, and God may demonstrate it to our confusion. David fled to Jonathan, and told him, what Jonathan could not as yet credit, that nothing short of his death would satisfy the king. The opportunity for testing the accuracy of David's statement was speedily afforded Jonathan; but clearly it was not of the Lord that David should put into Jonathan's mouth a story destitute of truth. In this we see the man apart from the type, and whenever henceforth, in his exigency on account of Saul's enmity, he trusts to his own inventions, invariably have we to mark how untruthfulness characterised him. Born in sin, a transgressor, too, we see illustrated in David what it is to be the man of God's purpose, in whom the divine plan was to be carried out. He did not deserve the honour and greatness, being only a type of Him who is worthy of it all. As a man we can trace in him the taint of the fall, but, despite his failings, God's purposes connected with him are carried out. Had God dealt with him as He did with Saul, on the ground of responsibility, would he have remained the head of a dynasty which is never to end? A saint he was, but a sinner likewise; and, when left to himself, how low did he sink! Yet his throne will be established for ever. (Isa. 9:7.) As a type of the Lord, David stands out apart from all. But as an illustration how God's purposes can be carried out, despite the failure of the instrument, in this, thank God, he is not alone.
But to return to the history. Jonathan and David together in the field, the former knowing full well who was to be the future king, makes the latter swear to show kindness, not only to him, but to his seed after him. Jonathan sees nothing beyond the establishment in power of David's throne. (Chap. 20:14-15, 42.) In this he was right. There will be nothing on this earth to supersede it. But how little could it have appeared to outward eyes that the fugitive, as David had now become, was to sit upon a throne, and that the house of Saul should be indebted to his clemency for preservation from death! Jonathan, too, though he expected to see David commence his reign, did not expect to survive him. David would abide when Jonathan would be here no more. (1 Sam. 20:14.) The covenant then made David kept. In the zenith of his glory and greatness he remembered it, and his kindness to Mephibosheth was a proof of it. (2 Sam. 9) And later on, near the close of his reign, he acted upon it, in sparing Jonathan's son from being hung by the Gibeonites for Saul's slaughter of the Hivites, in his zeal for Israel and Judah. (2 Sam. 21:7.)
Leaving Jonathan, David fled to Nob, and, by his deceit there, was the cause of Ahimelech's death. (1 Sam. 22:22.) At Gath he feigned himself mad. After that he is found in Moab, whither he had taken his aged parents, to place them under the protection of its king. In these movements, had he the guidance of God? In asking such a question, are we sitting in judgment on a fellow-creature as those who would have done better? God forbid. Placed in similar circumstances, failure on our part might be just as conspicuous, and equally inexcusable. What led to such failure? — this is the question for us. The answer to this lies on the surface. David had left God out of his calculations. How often may we be in danger of doing the same?
But his visit to Nob calls for more than a passing notice. Ahimelech, at David's request, gave of the showbread to him and to his men, which by the law was assigned only to the priests. The condition of things in Israel was abnormal, for the anointed of God was persecuted. "He had need, and was an hungered, he, and they that were with him." (Mark 2:25.) His act was clearly allowable under the circumstances. It showed what was the state of matters in Israel. It showed, too, that God would not allow anything to stand in the way of the carrying out of His purposes, which at that time were inseparably bound up with the preservation of David in life. For little as it was, doubtless, then, and certainly was afterwards, understood, the providing for the wants of the Lord's anointed and his company, was a matter of no small moment to God. (Compare with this portion of the history Matt. 12:3-4; Mark 2:25-26; Luke 6:3-4.) Men could not put the Lord's anointed, and those with him, into straits for the supply of their necessities by rejecting him, and then attempt to use God's institutions to prevent those wants being met. No divine ordinance was to stand in the way of God's anointed, and those with him being cared for by God. But though David evidently acted in this abnormal way in accordance with the mind of God, his story told to Ahimelech we must not justify, nor his flight to Achish, king of Gath, with the sword of Goliath in his hand. Think of the conqueror of the giant a fugitive in Goliath's native town, and with his sword! There dissembling, for fear of the Philistines, so as to be dismissed by Achish as a madman, he leaves his territory for the cave of Adullam, not far off. He has now reached his lowest condition. A fugitive from house and home, he finds shelter in a cave for himself and his men.
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 centre 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 endeavours 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 harbouring 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 afterwards 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 Michal 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." (Ps. 109:4-5.) The men of Keilah, it turned out, were quite ready, if the opportunity presented itself, to deliver up their saviour 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 has 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 (1 Sam. 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. (2 Sam. 1:17-27.) Jonathan never lived to see David reigning in power. In that wilderness, as far as we know, they parted forever upon earth. "David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house." (1 Sam. 23:18.) 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 land, he should 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 (1 Sam. 23:19; 1 Sam. 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." (1 Sam. 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 (1 Sam. 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 favour with Saul. In the days of his victory over the Amalekites, the Ziphites received no token of his favour. 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." (1 Sam. 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 be had been to David and his men in the cave. (1 Sam. 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 power 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." (1 Sam. 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 Saul entered the cave alone, David's time to be avenged had come. 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 Saul's hand. "After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog? after one flea?" (1 Sam. 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 Paran, 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 favours, 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 but 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 favours 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 for ever, 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 afterwards 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. Nabal, 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 afterwards 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.
[* Abigail calls Saul a man, adam not ish. This latter would have been a term of respect, the former was not. These two correspond somewhat to homo, and vir in Latin.]
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 (Joshua 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 Chillab, 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, tardemah, a term never used of natural slumber, but of sleep, either supernatural, for a special purpose (Gen. 2:21; Gen. 15:12; Job 4:13; Job 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 from him, and was protecting David; for, awakened out of his slumber by David, when at a safe distance from him, he learnt 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." (1 Sam. 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 wilful 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 wilfully persist in frustrating God's purposes about His king, will be dealt with in unsparing judgment. (Rev. 17:14; Rev. 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 (1 Sam. 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." (1 Sam. 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. (1 Sam. 27:4.) At what a price, however, did David purchase rest from the king's persistent pursuit of him! Dissembling now again characterised 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 Endor 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 sight 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 Saul, and told him what would befall him and his sons 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. (1 Sam. 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. (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 by 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 Endor 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-fulfilment 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, ho "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." (1 Sam. 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 favours, 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 sons. 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. 2:12); 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. Throughout 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 fulfilment 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?