Reasoning With An Unreasonable King (1 Samuel 24:1-22)

We have followed the life of David from the time where he was a shepherd boy tending the flocks of his family to the battlefields of Israel. He has matured from a boy into a man, killing a giant, winning the heart of the nation, and developing into a man of God. He had reached the pinnacles of power, but also fell into times of despair. He has received the love of many and the hatred of a few, one of them being King Saul, who saw David as a constant threat to his power and influence over the nation. For some time, Saul had been in pursuit of David in a desperate attempt to trap and kill him before he could ascend to the throne as the rightful king of Israel, anointed by God through the prophet Samuel. At this point in David's life, he and his loyal band of men were hiding in a cave, when an opportunity arose for David to be rid of his enemy once and for all. In the providence of God, King Saul had entered the cave to relieve himself, with apparently no guards to watch over him while he tended to his personal needs. He was in a position of helplessness and a ready target for David to exact vengeance for all the misery that Saul had brought upon him. Here was the perfect moment to kill Saul, claim the throne, and end the years of trouble this mad king had initiated. Instead, David acted in a manner that reflected the godly character that had molded his life up to this point. Instead of harboring hatred, revenge, and murder, he displayed grace, compassion, and forgiveness. How is this possible?

Forgiveness of an enemy is one of the hardest things anyone could do. It is on the scale of a Holocaust survivor forgiving the Nazi guards of the concentration camps, or of a family forgiving the murderer of a loved one, or of a business executive cheated out of a deal or company by someone whom they believed to be a friend and partner. Those of you reading this message can probably think of times where revenge looked like a viable alternative to what you were feeling at the time. Pastors who have been wrongfully or forcibly terminated from their position for no clear reason comes to mind, and we want nothing more than to wreak havoc upon those who have wronged us. These incidents hurt in every possible way, and sometimes opportunities present themselves as a means of "turning the tide". As Christians, do we follow the world's example of revenge that never seems to end nor give full satisfaction to the offended party, or do we go to the Word of God and see how men like David and even the Lord Jesus handled situations such as these in a way that disarmed the enemy, not with weapons of force, but with the weapon of the Word and Spirit?

Let us look again at the situation in which David finds himself. 1 Samuel 18:9, 15, 17, 21, and 26 describe the hatred that Saul had towards David. It was a hatred based upon everything that Saul was not. He hated David because he walked with the LORD as Saul had done early in his reign. He hated David because God was blessing him in spite of all the difficulties he was facing. God had abandoned Saul due his to his disobedience and pride, and now he was constantly tormented by an evil spirit that drove him into periods of madness and rage (1 Samuel 15: 10-35, 18:10-13). This rage included a maniacal desire to kill David (1 Samuel 23:14), consuming him to the point where he most likely was neglecting his royal duties and instilling distrust and contempt among his subjects as a result. Saul had found out where David was hiding and pulled out all the stops to find and kill him. He had almost trapped David (1 Samuel 23:25-28), but God intervened and spared David. Saul had an army of 3,000 men against an army of 600 under David. This mad king was doing everything in his power to stop David and prevent him from being the next king of Israel. Now, if you were David, how would you feel at this time? I imagine that you would want to put an end to this drama and take matter into your own hands. This opportunity presented itself when Saul went into the cave to take care of his personal matters, unaccompanied by any guards.

As Saul was relieving himself, David and his men saw a prime moment to take action. 1 Samuel 24:4 and 10 describe how David's men encouraged him to take the sword, be rid of Saul, and bring relief to David and in a larger sense, to Israel. These 600 men saw David as a champion and hero. If he did not take the chance to kill Saul at that moment, how would they see him? Would he not look like a coward in their eyes? Here was the subtle temptation to get even and protect his reputation. Here is where revenge would get its day. This was the moment where David could change history, rise up as the rightful king, and seize the throne for himself. Who would have blamed him if he did kill Saul? Most of the nation would have cheered him on. Here is where David's character overcame the desire to "get even", and it is a lesson we need to learn as well, especially in these days where it seems that everyone is at each other's throat for whatever reason. Verses 5-22 show David as a man of integrity. Instead of taking Saul's life, he spared him. He quietly cut off a piece of Saul's robe, and as soon as he did it, he knew that he had done wrong. While David could not respect Saul the man, he respected the office of Saul the king. David knew that he did not have the right to play judge and jury in the life of Saul.