“David, “Winning at Losing”
1 Samuel 24:1-22
Vs. 1-15 A troubled heart from a cut hem
Vs. 16-22 Tares, not just tears.
Intro.
In the 23rd chapter, David was in the classroom of refinement being taught by the two great instructors, ADVERSITY and PEOPLE. Geographically, his migration also indicates this, as you will recall that he left his “stronghold” in chapter 22:5 and went to the “forest of engraving,” only to be called by God in 23:2 to save the city of “carved out and tossed away,” then escaping to the wilderness of “refinement,” 23:14. Hey, I know this school, don’t you? Sure, you do. It is called the “School of Hard Knocks.” It’s been many years since I was in school, but I recall that we were taught things, and then every so often we would have a “test” to see how much of what we had been taught we truly had learned. Such is the case for David in this chapter. Jonathan had been used by God to teach David a lesson, which had a threefold truth, and if David had been paying attention, it would have “strengthened his hand in God” (23:16–17).
- “The hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you”: God will protect you.
- “You shall be king over Israel”: God’s instruction has a purpose.
- “I shall be next to you.” God’s presence will never leave you.
Now how do we know we are having a test upon that which we have been learning in the school of hard knocks? Simple, my friend, “opportunity”! Opportunity? Yep, “opportunity” is the test by which God reveals to us what He already knows about what He has been teaching us. These 22 verses give us insight into what it looks like to pass and fail the test as we contrast David and Saul. I’m especially excited about this, as I seem to do very poorly on the tests in the “School of Hard Knocks,” as I keep having to keep repeating the lesson.
A troubled heart from a cut hem
Vs. 1-2 In the Hebrew Bible, verse 29 of chapter 23 is the first verse of chapter 24, which makes sense since seeing that David left “the rock that stands between us and everything else” in verse 28 making his way to the desert oasis of En Gedi, and it is in the area of En Gedi that our story takes place. I again bring you the interesting truth of the geographical location. The “Dead Sea” is the lowest place on earth, and David and his 600 men have been chased to this place by Saul and his 3000 men. Ah, but there is something else that speaks to my heart about En Gedi (the fountain of the wild goat): that though David is being tested on his refinement, he has come to seek refuge in a fertile place where living water comes down. My point is that even at the “lowest times” in our lives, when we are on the run, the Lord desires to be our spring of life.
I find personally that the most fertile ground of my heart is always only a few hundred feet above the lowest places in my life! The waters of refreshment are always sweeter to the soul in the lowest times! Peter wrote to the persecuted church in 1 Peter 1:7 that “the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Saul takes 3000 of the men that were engaged in battle against the invading Philistines to pursue his son-in-law, showing again that “anxiety”, (Doeg) was still ruling his heart.
Vs. 3 Now here we come to David’s “opportunity” to see if what he had been taught at school was truly a part of his life. This area of En Gedi is noted for its caves; in fact, not too far from this area is where they unearthed the Dead Sea Scrolls, as the hills above the Dead Sea are littered with caves varying in size. With hundreds of caves and many of them large enough to place 600 men, it is clear that God was about to put David to the test as Saul chose this one to do his business in.
The 1611 King James Bible chose to use a euphemism to interpret this word and said that Saul “went in to cover his feet.” ? Yeh, think about it, and you will see what those 1611 scholars were trying to convey. Now, with an army of 3000 men, it is safe to assume that when one of those men needed to use the restroom, they were out of luck, as I’m sure the army did not stop whenever each one of them needed to use the restroom. Hey, but when the king’s got to go, man, the whole army has to wait. The Jews had strict standards for personal sanitation according to Deut. 23:12–14, and each soldier was required to carry a little shovel with them to dig a hole to do their business and then fill the hole.
What Saul didn’t anticipate was that the public restroom was already full, and apparently not one of those 3000 soldiers thought to check the bathroom before Saul entered. But it is equally apparent that the Lord was in complete control, and their eyes apparently had adjusted to the dark cave, and Saul could not see that there in the potty were the very 600 plus men he was out searching for.
I was on a trip a few years back and had to make a pit stop to do my business and didn’t realize that I had a stall-mate until I heard him say, “Are you in the area?” I was a bit surprised by the conversation and wasn’t going to respond until he repeated the question, so I felt obligated, “No, just passing through.” “Where are you at?” was his next question, to which I responded back and asked him the same. It was then that I heard him say, “Just a minute, Fred the Bozo in the toilet next to me thinks I’m talking to him!” Darn cell phones! And you think coming out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your shoe is embarrassing.
Vs. 4 Apparently David’s men were Marines, as Saul was “ceasing his opportunity” to take care of his needs; they wanted to “Seize the Day.” I’m not sure if what the men had heard were Jonathan’s word’s 20:15, “You shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the LORD has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” Or perhaps Samuel’s words of 15:28: “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.” Or perhaps something that the prophet Gad had said?
But at any rate, we need to recall that these men were the same men who had been under Saul’s regime that had left them “strayed out, put out, and bummed out,” and they reminded David that before him was the opportunity obviously given by God to end all of their hardships, suffering, and trouble, placing him that very day on the throne of the nation.
There are many times, Christians, that we view our opportunities as things we need to take up and do. Abraham had been promised an heir, and years had elapsed, so he and Sarah decided God needed to be helped out to fulfill His promise to them. Listen up now, believer; God doesn’t need our help to fulfill His promises He has made to us. We see in this passage the difference of two principles:
- Waiting on the Lord: Waiting on the Lord is where we look to know His will in some area of our lives. It is a difficult thing to wait on the Lord for direction and leading.
- Waiting for the Lord: Waiting for the Lord is where we wait upon Him to move on our behalf, and this is where we most often fail the test, is it not? You see, waiting for the Lord comes after waiting on the Lord, and isn’t this the reality that makes it so difficult? We have waited on the Lord for direction, and He has given it, and now we assume that since He has clearly directed us, it must mean that we are to move out on our behalf. Ah, dear saint, we still must wait for the Lord to go before us; otherwise, we can get ahead of Him.
Apparently David was somewhat persuaded by the opportunity as well as the men’s encouragement as he crept forward in the dark with a knife in hand. In chapter 23:7, Saul was certain that the Lord had delivered David into his hands; the question as it relates to us is not whether or not there was an opportunity, but just what was the opportunity to be used for?
Was it to be used for personal vindication or the glory of God? If David was to take this opportunity to advance himself into the promise of God, then he would have set a dangerous precedent and left the question always open that he had placed himself upon the throne and not the Lord. So Christian, you see, the test is always about who is on the throne!
David realized what we so often fail to realize is that his greatness as king was going to be established by him establishing the Lord’s greatness! Exodus 20:13 clearly tells us, “You shall not murder,” and this was not killing an enemy on the battlefield; it was the assassination of a king.
I can’t help but think of those 600 pairs of eyes as they watched David stealthily creep up behind Saul, take his knife, and instead of plunging it into Saul, simply slice off the hem of the King’s garment. But why the “skirt”? Well, according to Numbers 15:38–19, the fringes of the garments spoke of certain positions, sort of the way in which stars on a general’s shoulders represent their authority and rank. David’s action said three things, all of which were true:
- It said that David didn’t respect Saul’s authority and leadership.
- It should be that Samuel’s words in 15:27–28 were being fulfilled: “Samuel turned around to go away; Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.”
- It said to Saul that all who accused David of being out to get him were liars, as clearly God had placed Saul into the hands of David.
Vs. 5 Now this verse tells us that David’s actions clearly troubled his heart. David had shown disrespect to the King, whom God clearly still had in power. Saul may not have loved God, but God clearly still loved him enough to give him the opportunity to obey and turn from his sin. Hey Christian, have you ever said one of those “cutting remarks” about someone else?
Then you justify it by saying, Well, it is true about them; you know they have only heaped this stuff upon themselves by their own actions. Gossip to be gossip doesn’t have to be untrue; it just needs to be spread! Oh dear saint, we need to take a lesson from David and have a repentant heart over our “cutting remarks and actions” towards others, no matter what kind of person they are!
Vs. 6: David tells his men, “Hey, guys, it’s not about the person, man; it’s about the position.” God had already spoken to Samuel about Saul’s removal, but David had no right to “cut away a piece of Saul’s character.” Only the Lord has that right. Oh sure, he could have justified his actions by saying, “Hey, Saul has rejected the Lord,” but again, the truth was that as long as Saul was still on the throne, God had not yet rejected Saul! Jesus told us in Matt. 5:44 to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” Moses in Ex. 14:13 told the nation to “stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.” And Peter in 1 Peter 2:23 reminds us that Jesus “when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.”.
Vs. 7 The word “restrained” in the Hebrew suggests considerable effort on David’s behalf keeping the men from doing what he was not willing to do. It is one thing to keep yourself from acting in the flesh; it is quite another to keep others from doing what would be in your best interest, yet David does. How easy it would have been for David to say, “Man, you know I can’t keep these fellows from taking the guy down!”
David’s actions here reveal three things about his heart:
- “Went out of the cave”: That is to say that David made himself vulnerable by coming out into the open. Hey, Christian, how about it? Are you vulnerable and transparent before those who are out to get you? Man David was as he revealed his location by coming out in the open before the king and 3000 men. We are naturally self-protective, aren’t we, especially as it relates to where we really are? But if God is our protection, His trials have a purpose, and His presence is with us, then we can come out in the open just as we are, can we not?
- “Called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” Second, we see by his statements to Saul that David is submitted to the Lord’s will and timing in his life. Remember now that Saul’s own son Jonathan had told David in 23:17? Saul himself knew that he was to be king over Israel. How about it—are you submitted not just to the Lord’s will but timing as well? Again, it is the waiting not just on the Lord but for the Lord as well.
- “David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down.” Finally, I marvel at not only David’s submission but his complete surrender of the heart. I have a tendency to give things to the Lord only to pick them up again, but David subjects himself to the hand of the Lord and is at peace with it.
David further past the test of the heart by being very gracious:
- Vs. 9: David makes it easy for Saul by saying that his actions were caused by bad council instead of a disobedient heart.
- Vs. 10: Next, David reveals to Saul that he had every opportunity to kill him and did not take it, thus proving that though Saul saw David as his enemy, David did not see Saul as his.
- “I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” In recent years, much has been made of this statement by false teachers and others who interpret it to mean that it is wrong to correct or biblically evaluate a person’s teaching. Clearly David’s statement in context has to do with harming physically or killing God’s choice. We pastors and teachers of God’s word are not to be isolated from evaluation or accountability, as clearly seen in James 3:1 and 1 Cor. 11:31.
- Vs. 11-13 David was content to allow God to be the judge between them and not to be the judge. It was inevitable that God was going to judge Saul; Samuel had prophesied as much, and David cutting the hem of his robe ought to have brought him back those many years to when he tore at Samuel’s robe. What David is saying is that he won’t be the one doing the judging.
- Vs. 14-15 Finally, David suggests that Saul get a new hobby, as he is not worth the effort.
There is an interesting side note to this in 2 Samuel 16:8, as Shimei, a descendant of Saul, says, “The LORD has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son. So now you are caught in your own evil, because you are a bloodthirsty man!”
But David had a clear conscience, as he had nothing to do with the blood of Saul or his house and, as such, didn’t have to look over his shoulder. Hey, Christian, you won’t always know what is in your heart until opportunity reveals it, and in David’s case, opportunity revealed that David was not looking to get out of his refinement, but rather he was trusting God to get everything out of his refinement.
Tares, not just tears
Vs. 16-19 There is little doubt that David’s actions as well as his words had an impact upon Saul. Neither is there any doubt in my mind that Saul was sincere in his remorse and even perhaps convicted of his sinful actions towards David. Yet with that said clearly, we don’t have biblical repentance. How can you say that pastor? I mean, he is weeping and saying all the right things. Yes, he does, but in chapter 26:2, we read, “Then Saul arose and went down to the Wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the Wilderness of Ziph.”
2 Corinthians 7:10 tells us that “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” It is plain to see that what Saul had was sorrow, but not godly sorrow that produced repentance that led to salvation. We put too much importance on emotions and right words as signs of true repentance, but clearly in the case of Saul, both of those indicators only showed that he was guilty. The only true indicator of true repentance is the consistent actions of a changed life. Anyone can cry and say the right words when their guilt over a situation is made public, but the proof is seen in their actions.
Underneath these words of Saul is still the same problem that he does not deal with, and that is that he is a man who is more concerned with his reputation than God’s. Fourteen times in seven verses, Saul uses the words “I, me, and my.” In fact, if you read all the words of Saul, you will see that Saul has reduced all his troubles to a “you and me” situation (26 times). Saul lived under the delusion that just because David was his enemy, he was his!
To further illustrate this, look carefully at Saul’s words in verse 21: “Swear now to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.” Did you see that, “Swear to me that you will not destroy my name!” Where are the words in Saul’s speech about his tainting the Lord’s reputation? Where do we hear in Saul’s words anything about how his actions have hurt the people he was called to serve? You will not find them; instead, all you hear is a comparison between himself and David based upon being caught in his own rebellion. Tears without repentance just leave a wet face.
Oh, how the Lord would have desired Saul to have a cut heart instead of just a cut robe, not just weeping at his own guilt but a contrite spirit. The Lord spoke through the prophet Joel in 2:13, saying, “So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.”
You see, Jews would rip their robes as a sign of remorse. They did this so others would say, “Man, that guy is really ripped up over his guilt; see, he is tearing his robe, man.” But God says, “Hey, don’t just do any outward thing; children do the inward thing!” When the Pharisees came out of Jerusalem at the time John the Baptist was baptizing so many in Jordan in Matt. 3:4, he spoke to them, saying, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” There needs to be true evidence of change. There is no point in saying, “I’ve played the fool, if in the end we stay on the stage!”
Vs. 20-21 This is a most amazing statement made by Saul, as it is a prophetic realization that it would be David that would establish Israel as a nation and not him. Throughout the Judges and into Saul’s reign, never once did Israel establish her kingdom, but they will under David’s reign. So Saul is saying I may be king, but I don’t have a kingdom!
Vs. 22 One final note: even though David makes a promise with Saul, you will note that he does not go back to the palace. David attempted reconciliation knowing that he could not trust Saul, yet he still did the right thing. It is clear from David’s action that he didn’t buy Saul’s confession, and rightly so! Brothers and sisters, let us remember that Jesus laid down His rights to cover our wrongs. Ruth Gram was once asked what she wanted on her tombstone, and she said, “Construction finished; thanks for your patience!” Ah, how true! When you come down to it, we are all just fixer-uppers!