Introduction
Did you notice what is conspicuously absent from the chapter we just read? There is no reference to God. Yet, God speaks powerfully through a godless text (one of two chapters in the book without reference to God, the other being 31).
David's decision to exile himself is a difficult one to understand. In the previous chapter, he says that leaving Israel is equivalent to worshiping false gods, 26:19-20. Now David decides, on his own accord, to go to the Philistine territory. It becomes even more confusing when we consider David's experience last time he tired to find refuge in Gath, 21:10-15.
It is also difficult to know whether David did the right thing or not by going to Gath. The text doesn't condone nor condemn his action, at least not explicitly. We do, however, get this feeling that it was not the wisest decision to go there as we read through the chapter.
I. Overview of the Chapter.
A. Once David decided to go to Gath, he takes everyone who has been fighting with him and their families directly to Achish, 2-3.
1. Perhaps the pressure of keeping everybody's family safe drove David to his decision.
2. It is possible that Achish is a title rather than a name.
a. If that's the case, this Achish could be a different ruler altogether than the one before whom David pretended to be crazy.
b. This would make a bit more sense.
3. It's likely that Achish saw right way that he could potentially benefit from David and his men being in Gath.
a. Here is a group of men who are disillusioned with their king.
b. Not only that, David has a competing claim to the throne, which normally would mean that he would be willing to do anything to get to the throne.
c. Perhaps Achish saw an opportunity to strengthen his own army.
B. As far as David was concerned, his plan was a success, 4 (see 1b).
1. Saul gave up looking for him.
2. Sometimes, though, just having temporal relief is not the ultimate decider of what we should do.
C. Perhaps under the guise of giving some elbow room to Achish and not be a strain on the royal coffer, David suggests that he be granted a place to live away from the Gath, 5-7.
1. Achish gave David Ziklag, which eventually became part of the territory of Judah, 6 (side note: this tells us 1 Samuel was written after the kingdom was divided, but prior to the captivity).
2. The entire stay in Philistia lasted 16 months, 7.
D. During his time in Ziklag, David became a desert raider, 8-11.
1. The ancient inhabitants of the land became targets for David and his men, 8.
2. David and his men used brutal tactics in order to cover their actions with Achish, 9-11.
a. They would take all the belongings of these people and kill every last person in each community irrespective of age or gender, 9, 11.
b. He would do that because he wanted to be able to tell Achish that he was raiding Israel's territory when he visited Achish to share the spoils.
c. This was a political move on David's part in order to gain approval in Achish's eyes.
3. Is there a moral justification for David's actions? Yes and no.
a. The yes comes from the theological consideration of the conquest of the Promised Land.
1) Israel had been instructed to destroy all peoples in the land of Canaan as retribution for their heinous sins against God.
2) Israel didn't obey God.
3) Notice the description of these people that David was killing in 8 – they are all part of the peoples that Israel under Joshua should have annihilated.
4) In this sense, David is finishing something that Joshua had failed to do.
b. But the passage makes it very clear that David wasn't doing this in order to be obedient to the Lord; personal gain was his goal – thus, from this perspective there was no moral justification for his action.
E. David's plan worked better than he anticipated, 27:12-28:2.
1. The Philistines were planning a massive attack on Israel – one that was going to result in Saul's and Jonathan's death.
2. Achish makes David his personal bodyguard for life, 28:2.
a. Literally the protector of Achish's head.
b. This is quite a position for Achish to grant to David, given what David did to last guy from Gath that he met in battle.
1 Sam. 17:51 – Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it.
II. Moving from Overview to Application
A. The story has enough tension to hold our interest, but what makes it fascinating and difficult to understand is that it is godless, that is, it doesn't really tell us what exactly God is doing here.
B. As we try to figure out what it is that we should take home with us from this text, we see that it is sympathetic to David's difficulty and yet presents him as in the wrong.
1. The record of the Lord's repeated protection should have convinced David that the Lord was able t keep him even in Israel, especially when chpts. 24-26 show Saul as weak, exposed, and helpless.
2. There is also a dark shadow cast on the human slaughter of David's raids, 27:11.
a. This is repeated in this short chapter.
b. This was not how desert raiders usually behaved.
c. Thankfully for David's sake, it was not how the Amalekites behaved when they raided Ziklag in chpt. 30.
III. Even a Godless Text Teaches Godly Truths and Gives Godly Directions to the Lord's People – Three Applications:
A. Lean on your true security.
1. David is convinced that his only security rest in the Philistine territory, 1 (there is nothing better).
a. Contrary to the Lord's record of protection, contrary to the Lord's promise that he will be the king, David is sure that he will perish in the hands of Saul.
b. David was under severe pressure here, yet at this point he looks to Gath rather than the Lord as his security.
c. David deceived himself by leaning on a substitute, something less than the everlasting arms of the Lord.
2. How do we avoid deceiving ourselves with a substitute? How can we go about leaning on the Lord instead of the Philistines? By talking truth to ourselves.
a. Notice that this whole Gath episode started with David talking with himself, 1 – what he kept saying to himself determined his action.
b. What we say and keep saying to ourselves will direct our way.
1) All of us constantly talk to ourselves.
2) How crucial it is to feed our souls what is true, especially about the adequacy and sufficiency of our God!
c. Soul talk is quite a familiar idea in the Bible.
1) Jesus represented the foolish farmer as talking to his soul.
Lk. 12:19 – And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry."
2) David himself knew how to properly talk to himself.
Ps. 62:5 – My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my expectation isfrom Him.
d. The junk you tell yourself can make a big difference on what you going to lean on.
3. Be careful with what you tell yourself.
4. Be sure that you are telling yourself things that lead you to lean on your true security.
Ps. 42:2-5 – My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, "Where is your God?" When I remember these things, I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go with the multitude; I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept a pilgrim feast. Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.
B. Learn the craft of wisdom.
1. This godless text presses us to learn and use the skills of wisdom.
2. The words of Proverbs 14:12 might come to mind as we read about David's decision
Pro. 14:12 – There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
a. It's not that David didn't think – he actually seems to have given it a lot of thought.
b. His whole scheme has been a stroke of genius some would say.
1) He is enjoying a lot of freedoms.
2) The families are protected.
3) Saul is not after him.
4) His way seemed right to a man.
3. His plan, however, worked a little too well.
a. Achish had become such a David-believer that he insisted that David and his men fight with him against Israel.
b. David's decision led him to a point where he was risking his kingship over Israel – if he goes to battle with Achish, he will be considered a traitor and the people of Israel will never have him as king.
4. With all the pressures he was under, David failed to consider that escaping Saul may not be the only important thing to consider.
a. We may have times in our lives when the pressures brought by a particular problem may be so great that all we can think about is how to get rid of this problem.
1) If only I could get rid of this problem, I would be able to get on with life.
2) If only there was some relief, I could function again.
b. The desire for relief is so great that we fail to rely on the wisdom of God.
1) We see that in the couple whose marriage is so bad that they decide to go get a divorce.
2) We see that in the person who gives up on "high maintenance" friends.
3) We see this in the person who decides to move away rather than dealing with the stuff of life at a particular place.
Pro. 14:12 – There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
5. The Bible tells us that the wisdom of God will enable us to make decisions that glorify him, not necessarily that bring immediate personal relief.
a. We see this is Jesus's decision to go to the cross – certainly not immediate personal relief.
b. Yet, it is in considering the glory of God that long-term, lasting relief comes.
Pro. 3:5-7 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.
Jam. 3:13-18 – Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
C. Get a grip on grace
1. This godless text is a gracious text that directs us to get a grip on the grace of the Lord.
2. This text shows an ugly David – a David who kills men, women, and children so that he can lie to Achish.
3. How can God choose, support, sustain, and protect a man who deceives and butchers people like this?
a. Well, in the same way that he chooses, supports, sustains, and protects you.
b. What this text is telling us is that this chosen, anointed servant of the Lord is made of the same stuff as all the Lord's people.
1) The Bible does not claim that God's servants are dipped in Clorox so that they will be infallibly sin-free and attractive to us.
2) The living God does not have some clean material to work with.
3) As long as we wallow, however subtly, in some idea of human worthiness we will never understand the Bible, we will never tremble before God, and we will never delight in God.
4. We must get a grip on grace because that's how God gets a grip on us.
Conclusion
What a godless text! Yet we can here from him through it. It reminds us to lean on our true security, to learn the craft of wisdom, and to get a grip on grace.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2016/07/god-speaks-in-godless-text-1-sam-27.html
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