Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Aug 22, 2012: 1 Samuel 21-28 David On The Run
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. This evening, 1 Samuel chapter 21 is where we begin. We'll be going through chapter 28, covering the chapters we read this week in the Bible in three years. Junior high, you're dismissed by the way to the class across the way. You can follow Roman out the back. Well, as we get started on our chapters this evening, the book of 1 Samuel, we don't have an exact author. We don't know for sure who wrote the book. Samuel probably participated in at least part of it, but he certainly did not write the whole thing because we do read about his death in our chapters this evening. It covers the time period of about 1075 to 1010 BC, and what we're seeing in the book of Samuel is the establishment of the monarchy. Well, on the timeline here, we're concluding the time of the judges, and we've covered that already in the chapters we've read thus far. Saul has become king, and what we're looking at now as we cover the chapters tonight and over the next couple days in our reading is the conclusion of Saul's reign, and we'll be moving now on into the reign of King David. The geography, the way that it looked on the left side here, you have the tribes broken up in the land that was given to them by Joshua. And so as Joshua led them into the promised land, they divided up the land according to the tribes, according to their needs. And so the tribes were all, you know, given their specific areas. And then later on now, as they now transferred into a monarchy with King Saul, it became a united kingdom. And so this was on the right-hand side here, you see the boundaries of Saul's kingdom. And we'll see those boundaries grow under King David and then also under King Solomon. Well, as we get started this evening, I want to quickly bring you back up to speed. We got to see the raising up of David last week in the chapters that we read. And it really began back in chapter 16 as David was anointed by Samuel to be king. In chapter 17, he... and defeated him and the people praised him saying Saul has killed thousands but David has killed tens of thousands and so there was this recognition of this great work of God that was happening in David's life and And so it was from there on out that Saul began to really be jealous of David. And in chapter 18 and 19, we see Saul try to pin David to the wall with the spear twice. He tries to pin him to the wall, and then he tries to capture David while he's at home, but his wife helps him escape out the window. And so there's this pursuit now of David that has begun. this animosity that has taken place now between Saul and David. In chapter 20, what we finished off with last time, Jonathan is trying to intercede and Saul becomes so upset at Jonathan, he even throws a spear at Jonathan, his own son, because he so badly wants to get rid of David. And so now David is on the run. He's fled from Gibeah where Saul was. He's fled from, you know, his home there in the palace. And now he's on the run. And that brings us to chapter 21, which begins this flight and we get to begin his journey in the wilderness. So chapter 21 of 1 Samuel, verse 6 is the key verse. It says, Here in 1 Samuel chapter 21, we're picking it up from chapter 20 where David has fled from Gibeah and he comes to Ahimelech, the priest. Ahimelech is the priest where the tabernacle is at this time at Nob or Nob. And so in verses 1 through 6, you have this exchange between David and Ahimelech where David makes up a story. He's not telling the truth. He is lying about, you know, his business and he's lying about people being with him. But he is genuinely hungry. And so Ahimelech provides for him some food from the show bread, the bread that was set before the Lord in the tabernacle. And every week they would remove the bread that was in there. They would put fresh bread in its place. And so Ahimelech provides for him some food from the show bread, the bread that was set before the Lord in the tabernacle. And so the bread that was removed was reserved for the priest, but Ahimelech goes ahead and gives it to David because he is hungry and thinking that his men also need it. You know what's interesting about these chapters we're looking at this evening is we get to see the weaknesses of David in these chapters. The Bible does not pretend that The people are perfect. He doesn't pretend that our heroes are flawless. David is a great example for us overall, but we'll see this evening, he also makes some serious mistakes. And so we get to learn from his mistakes as well as his victories as we study the life of David together. So he receives this bread from Ahimelech because of this lie. And if you want to read more about the showbread, that's in Leviticus chapter 24, verses 5 through 9. It's interesting that later on in the Gospels, you'll see Jesus use this account here in chapter 21 as an example. In Luke chapter 6 verse 3, Jesus is telling the Pharisees, hey, haven't you heard about when David went and he ate of the showbread because he was hungry? And Jesus is using this account to make the point that ceremonial law is not meant to be a higher priority than human need. Because the Pharisees and the scribes, you know, they were challenging Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. You know, that you were supposed to be resting on the Sabbath. But Jesus is challenging them that, you know, the human need is a higher need. And so the ceremonial law is not meant to be to the detriment of people. It's meant to be a help and a blessing to people. And so those like the showbread, there's exceptions that are made when there is a need that is greater. So he gives the bread to David and then David asks for a sword. In verses 7 through 9, you see David taking Goliath's sword. He says there's none like it. And so now he's going to be carrying that as he continues to flee for his life from Saul. Then we have in verses 10 through 15, David acting insane in Gath. So he's continuing to run and he ends up in Gath, which is a Philistine city, which is interesting because it was the home of Goliath who he slew, you know, a few years before. And now he has Goliath's sword. Now he's there in Goliath's hometown. And He thinks he's going to be safe there. Saul won't chase me into the land of the Philistines, he's thinking. But then they recognize him and they say, hey, isn't this David? He's supposed to be the king of Israel. And, you know, they sing the song that he's slain tens of thousands. And he realizes, oh man, I'm in trouble. And so he begins to act insane. He pretends madness. And really, this is not David's finest hour. Verse 13, you know, you see he really committed to the role. He changed his behavior, it says, pretended madness and scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva fall down on his beard. I thought about trying to demonstrate that for you, but I can't commit to the role like David did. His life was on the line, so I'm not going to try. But He really committed to it, you know, and so he's pretending to be absolutely insane because what his thought is, they're going to kill me. They know who I am now. They're going to put me to death. And so we see David here really acting in fear. His fear of Saul is causing him to lie and to manipulate the priest and now to pretend this madness over here in Gath. And again, it's not David's finest hour. Now, David also wrote many of the Psalms that we have in the scriptures. And so I'm going to reference a couple of those real quick. If you want to dig in a little bit more, there's a couple Psalms that are connected with this encounter of Gath. In Psalm chapter 56, he talks about it as well as Psalm chapter 34. And so if you want to read a little bit and get a little bit more insight into what was happening in David's heart before and after this happened in Gath, you can check out Psalm 56 and Psalm 34. Well, on the map, this is what it looks like. He was in Gibeah, which is again where Saul lived and where his palace was. He went over to Nob, where the tabernacle was, and got the bread and Goliath's sword. And then he went over to Gath, which is in the Philistine territory. It's about 30 miles. And so he, you know, putting some distance between him and Saul and heading into the enemy territory to try to protect himself from Saul's pursuits. And that brings us to chapter 22. Verse 2 says, And everyone who is in distress, everyone who is in debt, and everyone who is discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them, and there were about 400 men with him. So here in chapter 22, verses 1 through 5, you have the beginning of David's army as 400 men gather to him. It's an interesting group of guys who gather to him. Well, first his family comes to meet him, but then the rest of these guys, and they're, it says they're distressed, they're in debt, and they're discontent. These people are unsatisfied, kind of a rough bunch that perhaps maybe we would consider them the outcasts, you know, those who were distressed, in debt, and discontent. But what's amazing about this is as these 400 gather to David, they become later on, or from them comes the mighty men of David that we read about in 1 Chronicles chapter 11. And so this is part of God's work in David. It's part of David's training. Remember he talked about leading the sheep when he dealt with Goliath and how that prepared him to meet with Goliath and defeat Goliath. And this is part of, you know, to be able to lead the nation. It's the shaping of David as well as these men. And I thought it was interesting to consider, you know, putting that practically into our own lives. If you look around and, you know, everybody around you is distressed and in debt and discontent, you know, you might think, man, I got to get some better servants around me. I got to get some better people around me. But maybe God instead wants you to shape them and to make them mighty men, you know, to establish them and build them up. If you've got a bunch of distressed, indebted, discontent people around you, make them mighty, develop them. Maybe that's what God wants to do. And so these 400 men gather to David and he takes his family over to Moab and drops off his parents there. And he says, look, I'm not sure what's going to happen here. We're going to probably be rough in it. We're going to be in battle. And so for the protection of his parents, he drops them off in Moab. There's two Psalms connected with this account, Psalm chapter 57 and Psalm 142. You can check those out and get a little bit more insight about the time when David was in the cave and these men gathered to him. Well, verses 6 through 10 goes on to describe Doeg telling Saul how he saw David. So, Doeg was there at the tabernacle when David went, and Saul now is hearing about David, and he's saying, hey, to all of his servants, you guys aren't telling me when, you know, this enemy of mine is around. You got to tell me what's going on, but nobody would let them know, let him know where David was or what was happening until Doeg steps up. So, Doeg steps Says, oh, I saw David. He talked with the priest and the priest sought the Lord for him and took care of him. And so Doeg here we see is looking for advancement. He's looking to promote himself. And so he's volunteering this information. It's interesting that Saul's servants wouldn't tell him anything about David. But we can gather from the story, it's likely that they knew about David. Because we just read a few verses earlier that David's parents, his family, and then these 400 men gathered to David. So people knew where David was. So it's likely we could kind of speculate that some of Saul's servants knew where David was too, but they would not give him up to Saul. But here's Doeg looking for advancement, and so he gives the information. Well, it ends up happening in verses 11 through 19 that Doeg kills the priests and the people of Nob. And so there Saul summons the priests. He says, you guys, you're... David, my enemy, and you shouldn't be doing that. And so he tells his guards, kill the priests, but they wouldn't do it. And so he tells Doeg, well, you kill them then. And so Doeg kills the priests. He doesn't stop there. He goes on to slaughter the whole village. And so we get to see a little bit of the character of Doeg here, certainly not a good example for us. Then in verses 23-23, we have Abiathar escaping and he flees to David. And so this is the lone priest, the lone survivor of Ahimelech's family. And he escapes the sword of Doeg. He runs, he hooks up with David, and he pretty much stays with David for the remainder of his life. At the tail end of David's life, he actually turns against David, but we'll get to that later on. We have a little bit of insight about David's thoughts and all of this in Psalm chapter 52. Psalm chapter 52, the heading of the psalm, it says, to the chief musician, a contemplation of David, when Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul and said to him, David has gone to the house of Ahimelech. And so as David is, you know, processing the information that all of these priests were slaughtered because Doeg saw him at the tabernacle, um, the things that were going on in his heart, the things that he was crying out to the Lord about are recorded there in Psalm chapter 52. So make sure you check out that Psalm later on. Well, as David is continuing to flee, he was in Gath. There he pretended to be crazy. He flees to Adullam and hides there in a cave. And that's where everybody gathers to him. He goes down south underneath the Dead Sea over to the region of Moab. And there he drops off his parents. And then the prophet Gad tells him, hey, don't stay here. Go back to Judah. And so he heads back across and he's back in now the region of Judah, the southern part of the nation of Israel at that time. And that brings us to chapter 23. Verse 14 is the key verse. It says, And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness and remained in the mountains in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. It's interesting to me. It kind of seems like every other chapter David is doing well. So we see him acting crazy and then he's doing good. Here in chapter 23, we have some really great examples from David. In verses 1 through 5, David saves the city of Keilah from the Philistines. But he doesn't just take it upon himself. he hears about this city that's in need, that the Philistines are attacking. And it says in verse 2 something very important. It says, And God says, Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah. And so before David rushes into this battle, he checks with God. God, is this what you want me to do? Do you want me to go and fight against the Philistines and save the men of Keilah? Well, David tells his guys, all right, guys, we're going to go to Keilah. We're going to fight the Philistines. We're going to save them. And they're like, what? We're afraid here. We're not even in battle. We're hiding and we're afraid and fearful. How can we go into battle? And so David goes back to the Lord in verse 4. And this is what I love about David in this chapter. It's key things for us to put into practice in our own lives. He goes back to the Lord. He inquires of the Lord again. He says, God, the guys bring up some good points. We're scared. Is this really what you want us to do? And God again replies, yes, go. And he gives him a promise at that time. He says, I'm going to deliver the Philistines into your hand. And so David goes. They are victorious. They defeat the Philistines and they have a great celebration and welcoming party into the city of Keilah. Then in verses 6 through 13, we now find David fleeing from Keilah because Saul hears about David being there. And so Saul mounts up his troops and he begins the journey. And I love it because when David hears about it, in verse 10, he It says, then David said, O Lord God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. And then verse 12, then David said, will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, they will deliver you. And so once again, there's another decision to be made. And what do we find David doing? He's inquiring of the Lord. Lord, I've heard about Saul coming. What do you want me to do? Is Saul really coming? And God tells him, yes, Saul really is coming. Okay, Saul's coming. So God, what do you want me to do? Are they going to hand me over to Saul when Saul gets here? God says, yes, the people of the city will hand you over. And so now David knows it's time to go. It's time to flee. And so he leaves Keilah and goes back into the wilderness. It's interesting that the city of Keilah would have given him to Saul, but it's not real surprising since they just, you know, heard about not too long ago the whole city that was slaughtered by Doeg for protecting, you know, David, for Ahimelech protecting David. But it is hurtful at the same time, you know, I'm sure. David has just helped them and now they're willing to turn him over to King Saul. I think it's maybe something similar to what the Apostle Paul experienced as he writes to the Corinthians for the second time or the book 2 Corinthians. how the apostle Paul was the one who went there and established a church and ministered to them. But in 2 Corinthians, he's having to deal with them because, well, they've turned against Paul and they're holding on to these other false teachers and they're kind of accusing Paul of wrongdoing and really slandering him. And Paul's the one who helped them. He's the one who established them and brought the ministry to them, but they've turned away from him. It's amazing how often that happens, that it's the very people that we help that are the ones who turn and betray, that turn and abandon us even though we helped them. I was communicating with a pastor just this last week who is going through this right now, where he has, you know, ministered to his body. He's raised up an assistant pastor, right? And, you know, the assistant pastor stepped in and was a great blessing. And, you know, they went through the ordination with him. And, you know, and he stepped into the role. But then this last week, he kind of just dropped a bombshell on them and said, never mind, I'm leaving. I'm not going to another church or anything. I'm just, I'm just leaving. I don't want anything to do with you guys anymore. And so this pastor is just like, you know, hurt. But it's the reality that David faced, you know. Many times those that are helped, those that, you know, we pour into, that we save, we go to battle for, are the ones who turn and say, yeah, never mind. Now, I share that not to say, well, don't help anybody, but I share it to flip it around and say, what about those who've poured into you? Make sure that you are not abandoning them or betraying them. Are you hurting those who have done so much to help you? Something to consider. Let God challenge your heart on it. Well, then in the remainder of the chapter, we see Saul pursuing David in the wilderness of Ziph and in the wilderness of Ma'on. We'll look at that in just a second. But the thing in chapter 23 that I always come back to, and it's a chapter I refer to often, is how David repeatedly inquires of the Lord. And I think it's a great example for every one of us that you and I, we need to ask God for direction each step of the way. When things are unclear, you know, when things were unclear to David, are you sure, God, this is what you want? He asked the Lord. When you're scared, when you're freaked out and said, man, Jerry's been telling us to go pass out flyers in our neighborhood, and God, I'm scared, then ask God again and says, Lord, is this what you want? Give me direction. And it's okay to bring those requests to God and to seek him. He wants you to do so. When When you hear rumors about threats, you know, Saul's coming to get you. Ask the Lord. Lord, are these rumors true? Lord, what do you want me to do with this information? How do you want me to respond? When you need more details about a situation, ask the Lord. We see this great example in David of inquiring of the Lord. And you know, I would encourage you in this, that you have more access to God than David did because of what Christ has done for us upon the cross. You have the added benefit of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You have access to God that's unprecedented in the Old Testament. So inquire of the Lord each step of the way. Let God direct you in all your steps. Well, here on the map in chapter 23, we have David in Keilah. He saves them from the Philistines, but then Saul's coming, so he flees and he goes down to Ziph, And Ma'on and the wilderness around those areas. Now when you read about wilderness here in David's flight, here's an idea of what that looks like. It really is barren, desolate wilderness. Not a lot of vegetation. It's, you know, not a lot of water. It's really hard terrain. hard terrain. And so this is the kind of region that David is leading around these now 600 men and he's, you know, just trusting in God to provide for him. In Psalm chapter 54, you get a little bit of insight about David's prayer as he was in the region of Ziph. And Saul was coming out to him and the Ziphites said to Saul, hey, David's hiding in our area. Come, you can come and get him now. And so you can check out Psalm 54 for some insight there into David's heart. Well, that brings us to 1 Samuel chapter 24. Verse 7 is the key verse. It said, Here in verses 1 through 7, again, we see an amazing example in David as he spares Saul there at En Gedi. He has a great opportunity here to put Saul to death. You know, David does make mistakes. We've already seen a couple. We'll see some more. But here, again, we have this great example. David is hiding in this region called En Gedi. And there's all kinds of caves around that area. So he and his men are hiding in this cave. And Saul comes into the cave to attend to his needs. This is a very biblical way to say he had to go to the restroom. So he's attending to his needs there in the cave. The very cave that David and his men are hiding in. I mean, what... A crazy coincidence, right? What an amazing orchestration of God and his work. And David's men say, this must be the Lord. This is a sign from God. David, here's your opportunity. Put him to death. It could only happen if God wanted this to happen, David. This is your cue. God wants you to kill Saul. But David here gives us such a great example in verse 6. He says to his men, the Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord. David here shows great character. He shows that although Saul hated David and David was, you know, Saul's enemy, Saul was not David's enemy. David wasn't trying to get rid of Saul. He wasn't out to get Saul. Saul was out to get David. And David at this time is not bitter regarding that. He's not trying to take matters into his own hands. And furthermore, he's saying, that's the Lord's anointed. That's the one that God has placed in authority over me. It's not my role. It's not my position to lay a hand on that guy. This is not what God wants me to do. David's here recognizing something that's really important. He's saying, God would not use this kind of a sign to tell me to kill his anointed king. And it's an example for us regarding the idea of using signs. You know, sometimes people use signs to determine and dictate what they do. This must be a sign. This must be the indication that God wants you to kill Saul. David says, no, that's not what this is at all. The danger of using signs to make your decisions is that there are signs that are not from God. There are signs that are misinterpreted and misunderstood. Signs are not clear indications of the will of God. Now, when we're in David's shoes, you know, that's hard to imagine. You know, especially if it's regarding something that you really want. I mean, how... easy would it have been for David to take Saul out so that he doesn't have to live in that barren, desolate wilderness anymore. When we're in the midst of a situation and there's something in front of us that we really want, and then, you know, some kind of a sign happens, well, we can't imagine that it could be anything except for God saying, that's what I want you to do, go for it. And so there's a danger in using signs to make decisions. David's very wise here. Here's a couple things to consider when you're seeing some kind of sign or what we would consider confirmation. Number one, if God is giving you confirmation or he's giving you a sign, it will always be in line with God's word. It will always be in line with God's word. God did not tell David to take vengeance, to take matters into his own hands. God did not command David to do that. This would be a violation of God's commands. And so, signs and confirmation will always line up with God's word. God won't give you a sign to say, it's okay, go ahead and, you know, have sex before marriage. He's not going to give you a sign to say that. Now you might say, well, I had this sign and so that's why it's okay. God's not going to give you a sign and say, it's okay, go ahead and hold a grudge and be bitter against that person. No, that's strictly forbidden. It's called sin. God's not going to give you a sign to say, it's okay, continue on in sin. Violate my commands. That's fine. No problem. Because here's the confirmation. Here's the sign that you need. God is not going to do that. And so when God brings confirmation, when he gives a sign, it will always line up with his word. So that's number one. The second thing is that It needs to be confirmation to what God is already saying. Signs, confirmations need to go along with what God is already speaking to your heart. So if a prophet had come to David and said, David, I want you to kill King Saul. And then this happened. Well, it would be a different set of circumstances. It would be the confirmation to what God had already spoken. So when we're considering signs and confirmations, number one, we need to evaluate, does this line up with the Word of God? But secondly, is this something that God's already been showing me, that He's already been telling me, He's already been preparing me for this event, for this time? There was an account I often refer to in Jeremiah's life. Where the Lord tells him, buy a field. Didn't make a lot of sense because the field was out where Babylon was camped as they were coming against Israel, coming against Judah. And then his cousin comes in and says, hey, I have this field. Why don't you buy it from me? And it says that Jeremiah says, then I knew that it was the word of the Lord. And so God had been speaking to him and then there was the sign. And so it came together and Jeremiah knew that's, this is what God wants me to do. And so that combination of God speaking to you, plus the sign is really what we need to be looking for as we're making decisions and not just making decisions on, look, it's a sign. Saul's right here. God must want you to put him to death. Otherwise, why would he have done this? But David was wise. He realized this is not a sign. And so he refused to take matters into his own hands. Well, Saul finishes up his needs there in the cave and he heads out. And then verses 8 through 15, David follows him and pleads his case to Saul. He says, Saul, look, I have the corner of your robe here. I could have killed you, but I'm not trying to kill you. I'm not out to get you, Saul. And so he's proving to Saul, look, my heart's right towards you. I'm not against you. He says in verse 12, let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you. David acknowledges, you've done me wrong, Saul, but I'm not going to try to pay you back for that. I'm going to let God avenge me. I'm going to let God take care of this. He says, my hand shall not be against you. He refused to take matters into his own hands. These are really good things to consider. for your home. Hey, you've wronged me, but it's not my responsibility to pay you back. These are great things to consider for your work. Hey, you've wronged me, but I'm not going to take matters into my own hand to make sure that you pay for it. And these are great things to consider for ministry. You know, people will wrong you at church, but it's not our responsibility to make sure that they pay for it. Let God handle those things like David did. Great example here. Well, he convinces Saul. And so verses 16 through 22, Saul returns home. He goes back. He says, oh, I repent. I'm sorry. I've been doing wrong. I'm gonna go home and I'm not gonna chase you any longer. I like what Wiersbe points out about this. He says that Saul's greatest concern was that David would spare his descendants, which David promised to do. However, it was Saul's sins and not David's revenge that destroyed his family. Isn't that interesting? Saul was out pursuing David because he thought, hey, he's supposed to reign next. I better put an end to that. He tells David, all right, okay, I'm not going to chase you anymore, but just save my family. Don't kill my family. But because Saul insisted on continuing to rebel against God, he ended up destroying his own family. He's running around pursuing David, trying to save his family. And in the process, he destroys his family. You see, there's great cost at not behaving like David and seeking the Lord and following Him. And the very things that you're pursuing are the very things that you will destroy if you're not hearing from God and walking with Him. You're trying to find happiness? You will destroy your own happiness if you're not walking with God, if you're not hearing from Him, making the decisions that He wants you to make. You're trying to accomplish this or achieve that, protect your family, whatever? Listen, if you're outside of what God has planned for you, if you're not walking with the Lord, you're going to destroy yourself and those things in the pursuit of those things. Because what does the Bible say? Seek first the kingdom of God. He must come first. We must let Him direct and guide our lives. And He'll add all those other things to us. Well, this encounter at En Gedi is here in the southern part of Israel, right on the shores of the Dead Sea. There's a little valley that kind of leads into the Dead Sea there. And there's a spring there and some waterfalls and stuff. And so there's a little bit of life. Most of the desert is dead. you know, desert. It's barren. There's nothing there. But there would be these little streams and springs that would be there. And so here in En Gedi, there was like a little oasis where, you know, there's palm trees and things. And here's a little picture of it. So, you know, it's not much, but it's a whole lot more than the rest of the desert where there's trees and some refreshing springs and some caves. And so there's a little bit of life there at En Gedi. And that's where this encounter takes place. All right, that brings us to chapter 25, verse 32. It says, In verse 1, we have the death of Samuel. So the prophet Samuel dies at this point. And then verses 2 through 13, you have the account of Nabal offending David. Now again, this is a very important point. We get to see the highs and the lows of David's character as we look at this account. Here's not his finest hour either. He makes some serious mistakes here. He sends messengers to Nabal and says, Hey Nabal, I hear you're having a big party celebration. Hey, we protected you so that you're able to enjoy the things that you're enjoying right now and partake of the feast that you have. In the This region in that day, you know, is very common for there to be thieves, for there to be kind of large groups and these raiding parties that would go around. And so when David was in that region, he and his men protected Nabal's territory and his crops and his flocks and so on and so forth. And they didn't partake of it. They didn't take it for themselves, although they could have because, you know, they were a bigger army than Nabal had. But, you know, they were following David and David was holding them to their integrity and saying, no, we're not going to steal from people. And so they provided protection. And so David just sends a messenger and says, hey, whatever your hand finds to give us, you know, we'd love to receive. He's not demanding. He's not, you know, being unreasonable. He's saying, look, I protected you. You know, in essence, a worker is worthy of his wages. And so if you could bless us with something, that'd be great. And the interesting thing here is Nabal could have just said, no, I really can't afford it. You know, I don't think I want to give to you right now. And probably that nothing would have happened. But instead, Nabal goes out of his way to insult David. To call him a rebel and disobedient and so on and so forth. And so, man, David gets the message and he is offended. He is upset. He is irate. He's completely just filled with rage. And he says, mount up guys. We're going to go wipe this guy out. So he mounts up his men and they're on the way. And I like the way that Pastor Pancho Juarez describes this. It's like using a shotgun for a cockroach. I mean, it's like way overkill. He's got this massive army for this one guy who's insulted David. But Abigail hears about it. And so verses 14 through 35, she intercedes. She hears about what happened. The servants are like, you better do something, Abigail, because, I mean, he's going to die. And so Abigail gets some food together. She runs to meet David. She intercedes. And the situation is calmed down. And so here David says, Although he had a clear head last chapter and he spared Saul, here he's filled with rage and he's about to kill Nabal over this insult. And then in verses 36 through 38, you have the death of Nabal. It says in verse 38, after about 10 days, the Lord struck Nabal and he died. And so you see, David was about to take matters into his own hand. He ended up letting God do it because Abigail intervened. But it would have been a whole different story if David had done this. If he had wiped out Nabal as a result of this, it would have been a much bigger issue for his character and for the plans that God had had for him. Well, then in verses 39 through 44, you have David getting married now with Abigail. Now that her husband is dead, she says, hey, I'd rather be with David. And so he invites her to be his wife and she accepts. All right, so David's flight from Saul here in Ramah, that's where Samuel was. That's where he died. That was his home. In Carmel, there to the south, that's where Abigail and Nabal lived. And that's where this situation happened. And then they got married afterwards. And that brings us to chapter 26. Verse 9 is the key verse. It says, but David said to Abishai, do not destroy him for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless. And verses 1 through 4, Saul is once again pursuing David in the wilderness. It was just a couple chapters ago. Saul said, I repent. I'm not against you anymore. You know, you're fine. I recognize that you're not out to get me. But now Saul has changed his mind. And so he's out to get David again. And so he takes an army of 3,000 to pursue David. And in verses 5 through 12, we have David and Abishai going into the enemy's camp, going into Saul's camp. And they take Saul's spear and his water jug. So the whole army is sleeping. And they get there into the midst of the camp where Saul and his bodyguard Abner are. And they're both asleep. And again, in verse 8, Abishai says, hey, look, it's a sign from God. God's delivered your enemy into your hand. He says, David, please, let me strike him down. It won't even take two strikes. I'll kill him in the first blow. He won't even wake up. He'll just be dead. He won't feel a thing. We won't torture him. You know, it'll be real quick and painless. Let me do it. It's a sign from God, David. But again, David is very wise. He says, no. In verse 10, David says, as the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him or his day shall come to die or he shall go out to battle and perish. So he says, look, the Lord just killed Nabal. God could do that with Saul. Or maybe he's going to live to be an old man. Or he's going to go out to battle and he's going to die in battle. He's going to die. David already knows that he is going to be king, that God had promised him that. And so David is just trusting God to work it out. He'd been anointed by Samuel for many years now that he was going to be king. He knows it's God's will for him to be king, but how he becomes king is very important. And so he says, look, I'm not going to take this into my own hand. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against him. It's a great example for us Don't take matters into your own hand. Even when there are signs, even when you know that this is God's will, this is eventually what God is going to do, that's not the license for you to just make it happen on your own. Let God do the work and accomplish His purposes. So they take, instead of killing him, they take his spear and his water jug and then they go across to the other side of the mountain. And here David now taunts Abner in verses 13 through 16. It was Abner's responsibility to guard the king. And David says, hey Abner, look what I got. Were you sleeping on your duty? You know, sleeping on your watch? What happened? Someone could have killed him. And he's taunting Abner. And Saul hears the exchange. He wakes up in verses 17 through 25. Again, he realizes, oh, I've sinned. You could have killed me. You didn't. You know what's amazing here is God is giving Saul another opportunity to repent. And Saul says he repents, but it's not genuine. Just like the last time. Saul says, I repent. I've sinned. I won't chase you no more. But then here he is chasing David. It's another opportunity for Saul to repent. He does return home, but his heart's not changed. And so it will continue to lead him to his ultimate destruction, which we'll see in just a moment. Well, this takes place back in the area of Ziph. And so David, as you can tell, is staying right there around the Dead Sea in the southern part of Israel, which is known as Judah. And it was the land that was given to the tribe of Judah. And so it's in that area. He just keeps going around from place to place as Saul pursues him. Well, in chapter 27 now, again, we kind of see the flip-flop every other chapter. We see the dark side again and the weakness of David. Verse 4, it says, and it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he sought him no more. In verses 1 through 4, David flees to Gath. And what we see here in this chapter and the next couple of chapters is that David really wavers in his faith. He's trusting God very boldly in chapters previous. You know, starting with Goliath and then, you know, they're dealing with Saul. He's trusting God, but now he is wavering and he spends almost a year and a half with the Philistines, a place that God had not called him to. I really like the things that Wiersbe says about this. Check it out. He says, David won a great victory over Saul only to be overwhelmed by despair. Such feelings are not unusual. You cannot have mountaintops without valleys. However, when you are feeling low, it is a dangerous thing to talk to yourself and make important decisions. David should have talked to the Lord. We see it says David says to himself, he says in his heart, man, Saul's eventually going to catch up with me. I'm doomed. He's talking to himself. Previously, we've seen David inquiring of the Lord. But here he talks to himself. And he makes an important decision as a result of this conversation he has with himself. You see, the thing that God would have us to do is to talk to him and make the decision based on what he says, not based on what we say in the conversation to ourselves. But he comes up with this plan. I got to figure out. I got to figure out what to do. What am I going to do? I know. I'll go to Gath. I'll go to the Philistines. And he figures, Saul's not going to chase me there. So he goes to Gath. In verses 5 through 7, Achish, the king of Gath, gives the city named Ziklag to David. And so he begins to live there. He begins to set up permanent residence. And then he goes on raids there in verses 8 through 12. And he's the enemies of Israel. He's not attacking Israel at this time, but he's raiding the enemies of Israel. But what we see here is just this web of lies that he's creating as he tells Achish, you know, hey, I'm fighting against Israel, but he's actually going against these other towns and cities. And it's really forcing David to deal brutally with these cities. And he has to leave no survivors so that no one can go tell anybody what's actually going on. And so again, it's a dark hour in David's life as we get to see a weakness here as he trusted in his own thoughts. He figured, I have to work out this plan and figure out what I'm going to do. And so there's, you know, very terrible results from this decision and this conversation that David has with himself. Well, here on the map, there in the northern part is Gath, and that's where he goes originally. That's where he also went and pretended to be crazy, by the way. Neither time to Gath is really a good account in David's life. But now he moves down to Ziklag, which is the city that the Philistine king gave him. And so he's setting up town there. And then the Amalekites are down to the south, and the other groups that are mentioned there that David is attacking are down in the southern part or to the south of the nation of Israel. Well, that brings us to our final chapter this evening, 1 Samuel chapter 28. Verse 7 is the key verse. It says, Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her. So in verses 1 and 2, we have David allying himself with Achish and saying, Yes, I'll go with you to battle. And we'll see that unfold in a couple chapters. Then in verses 3 through 10, you have Saul inquiring of a medium. Saul here is freaked out. The Philistines have invaded the land and he's trying to hear from God, but God's not responding. In verse 6, it says, when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. Sometimes we can look at this and go, man, God, that's not fair. Why would you not respond? You replied when David inquired of you. But as you consider the account, it's really not a surprise that God is not answering Saul after Saul wiped out all of the priests. And Saul has been in rebellion against God. So Saul wiped out the people that God put there for that very purpose of hearing from the Lord. He wipes them out. He says, I don't want to hear from the Lord. I don't want to hear what God has to say. I don't want to do what God says. And so it's no surprise now that when Saul is inquiring of the Lord, that God is not responding. Because he made his choice very clear. We need to seek the Lord while we have that opportunity. Oftentimes people will think, well one day at some point I'm going to turn and get right with the Lord. But you may not have that opportunity. We need to inquire of the Lord now. Saul is desperate. But the Lord's not responding. So he turns to a medium, right? That's what anybody would do. Makes sense to me. Not real brilliant. And so in verses 11 through 19, now Samuel rebukes Saul. Through the medium, Saul and Samuel have this conversation. And Samuel explains in verse 18, this is because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek. Therefore, the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Samuel tells Saul, look, you're in this position because of your disobedience. You've been rebelling against God and that's why you're in this position. Well, after that encounter, Saul is very weak. He hadn't eaten because he was freaked out because the Lord wasn't responding. And so verses 20 through 25, you have the medium and the servants of Saul taking care of Saul, kind of nursing him back to health. And then he goes back to his army to prepare for battle. And he's going to go into battle in the next chapter. And it's going to be his final battle. Here we are in the northern part of Israel when this is happening. Gilboa, it's a little mountain or hill there in Israel. That's where Saul's camped. The Philistines are nearby. They go up to Endor, which is where this medium is. And so that's where he encounters Samuel. He goes back to Gilboa and that's going to be the place of his death as he is defeated by the Philistines. Well, as we finish up our time together and kind of wrap this up, I want to encourage you in a couple things. First of all, what we see from these chapters is there's lots of hope for you and I. Because we get to see David in his weakness. We get to see his imperfections. We get to see those seasons where he just kind of freaks out and forgets about God and tries to do it on his own. We get to see the highs and the lows. God uses imperfect people like David, like you, and like me. And so don't get discouraged that there's, you know, still times where you make bad choices, where you mess up really terribly and even run into the, you know, land of the enemy for a year or so. God still can use you. He can still work in your life. He can still do an amazing work. But it comes back to what we learned in 1 Samuel 23, and that is inquire of the Lord. Each step of the way, when you're scared, When you need more information, when it's unclear, inquire of the Lord. You have more access to God than David did. Don't just rely upon signs. Don't just, you know, say, well look, it can't just be a coincidence, so I must do this. No, let it be the confirmation of what God has already been saying to you. Make sure that those signs line up with God's word, but that it also is the confirmation of what God has already been speaking to you. And then thirdly, I would say, learn the lesson from 1 Samuel 28, and that is the importance of obedience. When you inquire of the Lord, be committed to obey. Sometimes we want to hear from God, but we've not decided yet if we're going to obey him. You know, it's like, Lord, tell me what your plan is so I can decide if I want to follow that plan. We need to inquire of the Lord, not just use signs, but we also need to have that commitment. Lord, whatever you say, that's what I will do. And when God is not responding, when you're inquiring of the Lord and he's not responding, as it was happening in Saul's life, I would say, look, you better check your priests. Check your priests. God has put people in your life to help you walk with him. Have you killed them? Have you put them out? Have you shut them out and shut them up? Have you kept them from being a voice in your life, allowing God to speak to you through them? And so when God is not responding as you're inquiring, you better check your priest. The second thing you better check is check your obedience. You need to be committed to obey. But if God's not responding, if God's not speaking to you as you're inquiring of him, Maybe you better check and see what was the last thing that God spoke to you? And have you been faithful to do that? Samuel told Saul, it's because you did not obey the voice of the Lord. You didn't do what God said. And so inquire of the Lord. Don't just rely upon signs. But inquire of the Lord with a commitment to obey. And when he's not responding, check the last thing. Have you fulfilled what he told you to do? A lot of times we want to inquire of the Lord about different things. We already know what he said about this, but we don't want to do that. Don't talk to me about that, God. I already know what you said. But what about this over here? No. Be obedient to what God has said. Follow those instructions he's given to you. And if he's not speaking to you, check your priests. There's some people that God has placed in your life to give you counsel that he wants to speak through. Make sure you give him access to your life and let them speak into your life the things from God. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for these great examples. We can learn so much from them, from the good and the bad, from the highs and the lows. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to learn these lessons. As Paul said, these are examples for us that we would not lust after the things that they lusted after. That we wouldn't make the same mistakes. And so God, help us to seek you, to inquire of you. Help us, God, to listen to you and to walk in your ways. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.