1 Samuel 21 – 25
Now we start getting into the perilous flight of David from Saul. Verse 21:3 has David trying to get provisions for his men:
Now then, what do you have at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.”
The priest ends up giving them “holy bread” since they have been pure in the wilderness. In the next chapter we find this act of kindness cost Ahimelech his life. I never really liked these parts of the Bible since the senseless blood bath the ensues is sometimes justified as “of God”. Parts like this have justified killings over the years in the name of God, and I honestly don’t think God is that vengeful.
At the same time if we get into this “God is love” mantra we are able to justify a bunch of sins that will be covered by “grace.” We tend to want to dismiss the reason Saul lost his anointing was because he showed mercy on the king and some of his livestock. God said kill everything and he did not. To me a “God of love” would never had done this in the first place. That is why we cannot solely focus on the attributes we like and dismiss the ones we do not.
In verse 24:4 David spares Saul’s life, but makes sure he has a token to show Saul what he could have done:
And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
This story cracks me up since the reason David got so close is Saul was “taking a dump!” If you think about it, that’s either gross or funny that God would have given Saul the “urge” to go potty in the cave where David is hiding. David immediately surrenders himself to Saul and swore not to harm him.
Verse 24:12 & 13 has David telling Saul this:
12 May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you.
I like how David can quickly quote a proverb in an instance of pressure. Think about it he is pulling his life in imminent risk and here he can pull a proverb quote out. That is working under pressure! I have always envied ones who could quickly and easily quote scripture. I have been in those situations also, but only because I had read the verse that morning.
One example was recently we got on the discussion on how Chick-Fil-A served pork and was “cherry picking” the Bible because of their stand on gay marriage. People immediately jumped in with Peter’s vision in Acts and said that allowed all foods. Well someone chimed in that Jesus never said it and therefore like homosexuality the issue is open since only Paul said it was wrong. Well this was right after reading Mark 7 where Jesus said “all” food was acceptable, so I got to seem like the Bible nerd. But even so was I doing this for my glory or the glory of God?
Enjoy the stories of the Old Testament, but make sure you have you New Testament glasses on and don’t take these stories as truths that we must follow. We don’t need to follow our pursuers into the bathroom stall and cut their pants to prove we are loyal. But at the same time it sure would be nice to have the connection David has with God!!