Six Questions To Test Your Leadership: David Vs. Saul - 1 Samuel 22:6-22 Series

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1 Samuel 22:6 Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing around him. 7 Saul said to them, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8 Is that why you have all conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today." 9 But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul's officials, said, "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob. 10 Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine." 11 Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and his father's whole family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 12 Saul said, "Listen now, son of Ahitub." "Yes, my lord," he answered. 13 Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?" 14 Ahimelech answered the king, "Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king's son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? 15 Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father's family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair." 16 But the king said, "You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and your father's whole family." 17 Then the king ordered the guards at his side: "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me." But the king's officials were not willing to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD. 18 The king then ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19 He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep. 20 But Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, escaped and fled to join David. 21 He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD. 22 Then David said to Abiathar: "That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father's whole family.

Review

We pick up the story of David this morning with David and his 400 men hiding in the forest of Hereth. They had escaped out of the country and went to Moab and David said, “I’ll stay here until I find out what God will do for me,” and what God did for him was send him right back to the place he had just run away from. God has work for David to do there. So verse 5 leaves David there in Hereth hiding with his 400 men, and then in verse 6 the scene shifts up to Gibeah. Now it is time for an update on what Saul is up to.

Saul’s “Leadership”

6 Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul, spear in hand, (he loved that spear)

He always had to have that spear handy in case he needed to throw it at one of his officials – or a family member.

was seated under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing around him.

All those details – the tree and his officials standing there, etc. give us a picture of Saul conducting official business as king. We are going to get a snapshot here of what it looks like when Saul conducts official kingdom business. Last week we saw how David leads; now we get to see how Saul leads. And it is wonderfully providential that we would happen to hit this passage this Sunday, when we are ordaining new leaders. So today’s sermon is a study of leadership. But it is not just for the new deacons. As we found last week, the definition of leadership is when someone is following you. If you are voted the #1 evangelical leader in the world, or you have the office of President of the United States and they call you the leader of the free world, whatever position or title of leadership you might have, if you turn around and find that no one is following you, you are not leading. And conversely, if someone is following you, then you are leading.