Me, myself, and I—three desperados that were David’s companions on his trip to Gath. Where was God? This chapter opens with David having a talk with himself. We actually hear what he’s saying in his heart! The problem with such soliloquies is that they limit a person to what is already known. When it sounds […]
How long must David be on the run? Will it ever end? “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Prov 13:12). In spite of his fair-sounding words, Saul’s obsession drives him to fight not just David but what he knows to be the will of God. For the second time, the Ziphites betray David’s location (see […]
Whew! I can recall when another’s wise words kept me from something I would later have regretted. David and 400 of his warriors were on the march, determined to wipe out Nabal’s entire male population (1 Sam 25:22). Perhaps David’s pent-up frustration against Saul could be released against a churlish man who wasn’t “the Lord’s […]
With Saul (chs 24 & 26), David acknowledged “vengeance belongs to the Lord.” With Nabal, not so much! Saul asked David to promise that he wouldn’t wipe out Saul’s family, for, he said, “I know indeed that you shall surely be king” (1 Sam 24:20). After David swore an oath, “Saul went home, but David […]
There’s a hair’s breadth between obsession and madness. Saul was like a kitten chasing a laser light. All anyone had to do to set Saul off was to say, “David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi” (1 Sam 24:1). As you head south along the western shore of the Dead Sea, to your right […]
How poignant that the first use of the word “type” in the New Testament refers to the print of the nails! In the latter half of 1 Samuel 23, Saul is pursuing David from one hideout to another. “So David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were encircling David […]
When the King of terrors comes knocking, how precious to have the King of kings answer the door. In our passage today (1 Sam 23:14-29), David and his valiant 600 are moving from one hideout to another along the southern border of Israel. Anyone who has traversed this territory knows what a menacing land it […]
Read More… from November 13, 2023 — A Step Between Me & Death
The stories of the threshing floors of Scripture have a great way of sifting the grain from the chaff. It was fortuitous that one priest, Abiathar, escaped Doeg’s slaughter and fled to David (1 Sam 22:20). He had the Urim and Thummim with which God’s will could be determined. It would be used several times […]