1 Samuel 24
’I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’
The story up to now…
In the beginning of 1 Samuel, Israel cry out to Samuel to give them a king so that they can be like all the other nations – God gives them Saul – who looks great, and is great, for a while. Then it becomes obvious that Saul’s loyalties are divided between pleasing God and pleasing the people. Soon, God becomes merely a tool for holding on to power and pleasing the people for Saul.
God finally gives up on Saul, removes his Spirit from him and gets Samuel to anoint David to be king. David does not start a revolution, but goes back to tending sheep. He is soon taken into Saul’s service, first as a musician in his court, and then, after killing the giant Goliath, as a warrior.
God favours David, and he has great success in battle – Saul is really pleased with his young musician/warrior until the women start singing more songs about David than about Saul. Saul become Jealous of David and adds to it paranoia about David stealing the kingdom from him. He sends David on more and more dangerous missions, hoping that the Philistines will kill him, but God always protects David and gives him the victory. Of course, David becomes even more famous because of this, and Saul becomes more jealous and paranoid.
A couple of times, while David is playing the harp for Saul in the court, Saul is so enraged that he tries to pin David to the wall with his spear. David stays with Saul until Saul sends a hit squad to David’s house. Then he goes on the run, hiding from Saul.
Saul becomes obsesses with killing David – he kills priests and whole towns that help David, at every rumour of David’s location, Saul sets out to chase him down and kill him.
Twice, God puts Saul at David’s mercy, but David refuses to take the advantage and kill his adversary.
Read 1 Samuel 24
In 1 Samuel 26, David and Abishai sneak into Saul’s camp while everyone is sleeping – they take Saul’s spear and the water jug that is sitting at his head. Then they climb the hill opposite the camp and call down to Saul and his men to prove once again that he has no intention of killing Saul. He again uses the words, “The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.” - 1 Samuel 26:23
“I would not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed”
- out of relationship with God, not fear or love of Saul
There have been people who have applied this concept to people in church leadership who have had moral failure. The church won’t fire them because they will “not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.”
It’s actually badly applied for a few reasons – one is that leaders actually have biblical requirements for lifestyle –they are requirements that all Christians should live up to, but if a leader is not living up to them, they should be removed from leadership.
Second, being anointed as King over Israel is different from being a leader in a church – we’ll see how it is better applied in a moment.
While I have heard of people who use this concept not to deal appropriately with fallen leaders, what I hear about more often is people who ignore the idea all together and attack their leaders at every opportunity.
David’s resolve does speak to is the “feeding frenzy” that can happen when a prominent church leader does have a moral falling. I have seen and heard Christians attack leaders mercilessly when they see a little weakness – this is not right.
When it became apparent that Saul had gone so far from God that he could no longer be king, Samuel goes to him and prophetically speaks that both God and he would be leaving Saul to his own devices, and then he goes to his home and morns the loss of what Saul should have been.
When we see a leader fall, there should be a great deal more mourning and a great deal less gloating.
How can we apply David’s resolve to “Not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed?”
Anointed in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, by and large, it was only priests and kings who were anointed. The oil of anointing was a symbol of the Holy Spirit’s presence in their life, enabling them to rule and minister in God’s name.
Now, if you are a Christian, you are given the Holy Spirit to live in you. Every Christian is anointed!
Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost and proclaims that Joel’s prophesy has come about: it says,
" ’In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy. – Acts 2:17-18
1 John 2:20 & 27
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. … the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.
2 Corinthians 1: 21-22
It is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
So it is no longer just the person who leads that is “God’s anointed”, but, if you have the Holy Spirit, that is, if you’ve given your life to Jesus and accepted his forgiveness, then you are the Lord’s anointed, and the person sitting beside you is the Lord’s anointed!
It speaks a great deal of how we treat one another.
Our relationship with God is caught up with our relationship with the people around us.
I actually love how you folks treat one another – so maybe this doesn’t need to be said here, but it is always good to be reminded.
In other places, I have seen Christians treat each other in terrible ways. This is not right.
I don’t know if you’ve read the book “The Shack”; it’s a novel about Mack who spends a weekend with God. Whenever they begin to speak about someone, Papa (God) will say, “Oh, I’m especially fond of that one.”
When we recognize that God deeply loves everyone that we meet, everyone that we know, and if we deeply love God, it would be hard to treat them badly.
When we recognize that God has anointed everyone who follows Jesus, our heart must be like David’s who says “I will not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.” I will not harm the one God loves – David meant Saul’s Body, but I think that we can extend it to mean their soul, their reputation, their person…
We can murder someone with our words:
Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
How many times have you said “idiot” under your breath about a Christian sister or brother – or maybe something worse!
We can also be quick to pass judgment about other Christians – I can do this about those who I think are arrogant in their beliefs – especially when their beliefs are different than mine. There you go – I arrogantly judge their arrogance!
Jesus says
Matthew 7:1-5
“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.
“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.
Out of deference to God, our love for him, his love to us, and his grace to us – we can not kill the people he loves with our words and our attitudes.
1 John 4:20
If we say we love God yet hate a brother or sister, we are liars. For if we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen.
What if someone is going down the wrong path?
David rebukes Saul – but he will no harm him. And, he rebukes him in a way that honours him.
Galatians 6:1-5
Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If any of you think you are something when you are nothing, you deceive yourselves. Each of you should test your own actions. Then you can take pride in yourself, without comparing yourself to somebody else, for each of you should carry your own load.
We treat each other this way because of our relationship with God – David’s emphasis was on “Lord’s”, not on “anointed” – honoring Saul was a way of honoring God. Even if Saul was acting dishonorably, David honored him out of deference to the one who anointed him.
Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves
What about national leaders? – especially at election time – we Canadians are very good at running down our leaders.
Romans 13:1-2
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.
1 Timothy 2:1-3
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
Prophetic role – calling elected rulers to God’s ways, but always with the honour that they deserve, even if they act dishonourably.
