David Spares Saul Again (Part 2 of 2)

The Bible is filled with stories about people making good and bad choices, wise and foolish choices, and how God responds. Today on Truth for Life, we'll find out why David was able to respond righteously, even when King Saul made a foolish decision. Alistair Begg is teaching from 1 Samuel chapter 26. You will notice verse 9, but David said to Abishai, "'Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD's anointed and be guiltless?'"

Notice and notice carefully. What determines his response to the suggestion of Abishai is not his circumstances, which are set up to do just such a deed, but rather his conviction. His conviction.

He is a man of conviction. Do not destroy him. It is wrong. It is wrong. He doesn't say, "'Don't destroy him, because I still have a forlorn hope that he might change and become a better person.'" No. Do not destroy him. Now, you see, that could have happened here easily. But no, this isn't situational ethics.

This isn't. He said, no, it's wrong to do. And furthermore, notice, he says, as the Lord lives, God can be trusted to deal with Saul. Now, we ask the question, do you think he learned anything from the incident with Nabal?

Yes, I think he did. Because remember, God deals with Nabal without the intervention of David. And so now, applying the same logic, David says, here's what may well happen. There's a number of ways in which God may choose to take him out. He may strike him. He may die of natural causes—that is, or his day will come to die. Or he may go down into the battle and perish.

Well, of course, that was exactly what was going to happen. But notice verse 11, the Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord's anointed. We are not, Abishai, going to take his life. But what we are going to take, we're going to take his spear, and we're going to take his water jar. Now, you can imagine Abishai thinking, goodness me, if I'd known that was the only reason I was coming down here, just to pick up the spear and the water jar, I might have let a himalek, the Hittite, go in my place.

I thought it was going to be far more fun than this. But what they were doing was they were removing the instrument that spoke of his power or of his aggression, and they were removing the water jar, which was a means of his sustenance. Not only today do we have a glass of water by our bed once we're of a certain vintage, but they had a water jar in those days too. So, go and take the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go. And then notice verse 12 says, So David took the spear and the jar of water. Well, I wonder what happened. Maybe it's this. Maybe he says, Now you go and get the spear and the jar of water, and they say, No, no, wait a minute. Let me take them.

I'm worried about what you might do if you get ahold of that spear, given your earlier request. And then we discover why it is that they've been able to go through this whole exercise, and no one saw, no one knew, no one woke up. Because they were all asleep. I get that, but that is some kind of sleep. Yes, but it was a special kind of sleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them. There's no discovery that ever comes in the world that is unknown to God. He was a master of anesthetics long before we discovered the capacity for anesthesia.

The deep sleep is not something new that pops up here, remember. It was used by God in the case of Adam when one of his ribs was removed in the creation of Eve. It was used in that great encounter concerning those smoking pots with Abram in Genesis 15. And it is used as an expression of judgment in Isaiah the prophet, when, in chapter 29, Astonish yourselves and be astonished, blind yourselves and be blind.

Be drunk, but not with wine, stagger, but not with strong drink. Here we go. For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep.

The deep sleep that makes salt vulnerable is the sleep that keeps David safe. If God be for us, who can be against us? Now, in verses 13–16, we have this little dialogue. And incidentally, as we go through this narrative, when we're reading the descriptive passages, we're waiting, as it were, for these conversations to give to us much of the understanding of what's taking place.

And we have that here. Abner fails. Abner's failure is a failure to do what, as a commander, he should be doing. And so David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill with a great space between them. This was not simply social distancing. This was in order to protect himself. And so, once he's in position—and remember, this is taking place under darkness, everybody is asleep—so David is actually providing the alarm clock, if you like. He's providing the wake-up call on this particular morning.

He's far enough away to be safe, and he's close enough in order to be heard. And so he calls out to the sleeping army, and he names Abner, who somehow or another looks like the stronger party in this whole encounter. Hey, Abner, how long do I have to stand here shouting before you wake up and answer me? Abner's response is somewhat defiant.

A little like, remember, Nabal's response back in chapter 25. Who does David think he is asking for this stuff? Abner's response is pretty similar. Will you not answer Abner? And Abner said, Well, who are you who calls to the king?

You think you can just come up here in the early hours of the morning and shout like this? David doesn't take it on as a challenge. Instead, he says to him, But I thought you were the main man, Abner. And if you are the main man, Abner, and if your job is to do what you're supposed to do, then you've failed at your job. And we won't delay on this, but in a matter of a few sentences, he reduces Abner to silence.

When Abner was asleep, he couldn't hear, and now that he's awake, he can't even speak. Now, David, in his conversation, has given Saul his place. He's referred to him as the Lord your King, the King your Lord, in verse 15.

There's nothing dismissive about his approach here. Why didn't you keep watch over your Lord the King? For one of the people came in to destroy the King your Lord. So he's taken Abner seriously, he's acknowledged the place of Saul, and yet at the same time he has masterfully ridiculed him. And I think, if you read verse 16 like this, it will come across. This thing you have done is not good, it's the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you've not kept watch over your Lord, the Lord's anointed.

And by the way, you might want to look at what I've got here. And he holds up across from the other side of the hill, he holds up the sword, and he holds the water jar, with the very things that were right at the head of Saul, and Abner's supposed to be there to protect him. You've been completely uncovered. And so has Saul. Well, now, we get to Saul. Saul recognized David's voice.

What is all this? Hallelujah, he says to himself, as he begins to stir in the morning hour. And his inquiry is—this is his inquiry before. Is this your voice, my son David? I can't help but think there's something kind of pathetic about Saul in this circumstance. Abner is the one who should be there.

He's not there. Now Saul, dreamily, seeing into the darkness, hearing the voice. And David says, Well, it is my voice, my Lord, O king.

And then he has these questions for him. Why do you pursue me? What have I done?

What evil is on my hands? He's guiltless. He's more guiltless than Saul knows in this incident, because Saul has been asleep when this drama has unfolded.

David, when Jonathan spoke in his defense, was pronounced guiltless back in chapter 19. And his question here is a fair question. Help me figure this out, he says. If what has happened here is because the Lord has stirred you up against me, then may we come to him, and he will accept an offering. But if it is men, then the men who have done this should be cursed before the Lord, because look at what they've done.

They've driven me out this day. I have no share in the heritage of the Lord. And essentially, what they're saying to me is, Go and serve other gods.

We can't jump forward to chapter 27, but it's almost prophetic, as we will see when we arrive there. And so he says, Here's my deal. Don't let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains. Same old, same old. We've had this conversation before, Saul. Power is on your side.

It was three thousand to six hundred, and then it was three thousand to two, and I represent as much of a threat as a flea or as a partridge that calls out in the mountains. Now, he's given two alternative explanations for the actions of Saul. This is expert diplomacy here, you see, on the part of David. Expert.

Expert. He says, If it is God who's responsible or if it is men who are responsible, then let's settle the matter. But he leaves it up to Saul to acknowledge that Saul is the problem.

And you have that in 21 to the end. Then Saul said, I have sinned. Down in the same verse, I have acted foolishly. I have made a great mistake. I have sinned. I have acted foolishly. Now, when Saul says that, it would be virtually impossible for him not to hear the words of Samuel ringing in his ears back in chapter 13, when Samuel says to him, You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God. For if you had, then the LORD would have established your kingdom forever.

And I remember when we studied that in 13, somebody came to me afterwards and said, You know, how can that possibly be? If he had done this, then that. I said, Let the story unfold. It will become apparent. And so this confession on the part of Saul comes with an invitation.

I've done this. I've sinned. Return my son David, for I will no more do you harm.

Oh! Are you gonna buy this line, David? Ralph Davis remarks, Just because Saul has been a fool, there is no reason for David to be one.

And David essentially says, I'm not coming back. But if you send one of your young men, you can have your spear back. Here is the spear, O king. Here is the spear, O king.

With a phrase, he drives home the point. He knew that Saul had twice used this spear to try and pin him to the wall. He has taken that spear from the head of Saul when he could have used it to have it driven into Saul's head, and he is now offering ignominiously for Saul to dispatch one of his young men to come back and pick up the spear and take it there. And then, in verses 23–25, you have this summation by David. So you have the failure of Abner, if you weren't following me. You have the setting of the scene, and you have the infiltration of the camp.

You have the failure of Abner. And you have the dialogue with Saul, his confession, and then these concluding words. The Lord rewards, says David, every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness. For the Lord gave you into my hand today.

It's virtually impossible not to see here a veiled reference to David. Basically, what David is saying is, The Lord helping me, I have done the right thing today. After all, he wrote the poem, Psalm 11, For the Lord is righteous, he loves righteous deeds, the upright shall behold his face. He writes, Psalm 89, Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. The Lord gave you into my hand today. And then he says, And I look to the LORD, verse 24, to deliver me out of all tribulation. Psalm 31 again, But I trust in you, O LORD. I say, You are my God.

My times are in your hands. That's Psalm 31. David actually believes this. And yet, even with this affirmation, and even in light of Saul's benediction, if we can refer to it in that way, well, then, Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David.

You will do many things and will succeed in them. And then it says, And so David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. It's the last encounter between the two of them.

This is the end of their dialogue. And as we end, it's important that we recognize something—vitally recognize something. The righteousness and the faithfulness that has been displayed in the actions of David is actually going to crumble. Quite dramatically in chapter 27, then, and eventually, when we get to 2 Samuel and chapter 11, if we ever do, all of his righteousness and his faithfulness crumbles in the face of a bathing beauty. So what are we to understand in this?

Well, we understand a number of things. One is that David is not the hero of the story. No more than Daniel is, no more than Joseph is, God is the hero always. We're to recognize this, that these kings, no matter how good they were, were eventually going to come to a halt. And there would be a longing for another king who would come. That king, when he came, would come in the unfolding of the prophecies in the Old Testament—"Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall deal wisely and execute justice and righteousness in the Lord.

Now, where is this king? Well, Jesus stands on the waters of the Jordan, and John the Baptist says to him, I think that you should be baptizing me rather than me baptizing you. And what does Jesus say? Thus it is fitting to fulfill all righteousness. To fulfill all righteousness. You see, the story of the Bible makes perfectly clear that none of us is righteous—no, not one. That if we were left to try and produce a righteousness and a faithfulness of our own, it would be a disaster. But the story of the Bible is that by the grace of God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ is granted to those who are united to Christ by faith. Our time is gone, but let me just drive this home, if I may, by pointing you just to one section of Romans chapter 3. And you can ponder this on your own as the day unfolds. Paul has been writing about how the whole world is accountable before God, and that by works of the law, by our endeavors, none of us will be justified in his sight, because the more we realize how the law of God unfolds, the more we're conscious of our sin. So is it a hopeless situation?

No. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood—that's what we were singing about, the wrath of God is satisfied—to be received by faith.

To be received by faith. I went to an event this week. You had to have an armband. A wristband. If you didn't have a wristband, you couldn't go in.

How do you get a wristband? What do you have to do? Do you have to be a certain kind of person? Do you have to have a certain amount of money?

What do you have to do? Well, mercifully, I didn't meet any of the requirements at all. I was able to get a wristband because of what someone else had done for me. Paul Simon has a song, actually, called Wristband. It's on a Stranger to Stranger album, and it's based on the fact that as the performer, he walks out of the building that he's going to perform in, and the door locks behind him, and when he tries to get back in, the man at the door says, You can't get back in without a wristband.

I don't care who you are. And some people have got the idea that somehow or another, if we can only produce the correct wristband, if we can only, by our perfect lives or by our honest endeavors, we'll be able to get in through the door when the question is asked, What are you doing here? What are you going to say?

When they say to you, Where's your wristband? What are you going to say? I was a pastor, I was a good person, I tried my best, I was… No. The only answer is to be able to say, not simply, I'm with him—i.e., Jesus, who is our perfect righteousness—but actually, I'm in him, united by grace through faith, all who believe. So the story of David, in all of his wonders and in all of his imperfections, as with the rest of the Bible, points as inevitably and wonderfully to the one who is the king, who will come and reign in your heart and in your life as you turn to him in repentance and in faith. You're listening to Truth for Life.

Alistair Begg will return shortly to close today's program. As we learned today, one of the ways David was protected from sinning was by recalling God's word and trusting in his promises. All of us would benefit from having more scripture hidden in our hearts. We want to recommend to you today a small booklet that will help you easily establish the practice of scripture memorization. It's called How to Memorize Scripture for Life, and the title is perfect because this is a booklet that provides a teaching pattern that will in fact show you how to commit verses or full passages, even complete books of the Bible, to memory for life. After you select the scripture you want to memorize, this booklet will provide you with the auditory and visual tools that will help you retain what you're studying, and you'll be surprised how much you're able to remember as you follow this daily routine. Most importantly, you'll strengthen your prayer life and your relationship with Jesus in the process. Ask for the booklet How to Memorize Scripture for Life when you donate to the Bible Teaching Ministry of Truth for Life today.

You can give a one-time gift at truthforlife.org slash donate, or you can arrange to set up an automatic monthly donation when you visit truthforlife.org slash truthpartner. Now here's Alistair to close us with prayer. Father, we thank you that the story of the Bible is a story of how, despite our rebellion against you, disinterest in you, that in the wonder of your love, you have come and sought us out. You provided prophets in order that people might hear your voice. You provided priests in order that there may be a way of sacrifice. You provided kings in order that the objections and rebellions might be subdued. But eventually, it was all left hanging.

It was like a dangling conversation. Until suddenly, from across the other side of the river, came the cry of the Baptist, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. So that in this wonder, our acceptance before you could never be on account of who we are or what we've done.

All of our best endeavors are no good. We need a perfect, sparkless righteousness, which you have provided to all who believe in the wonderful gift of your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen. I'm Bob Lapine. Today we learned a wonderful lesson from David about trusting God. Next time we'll hear about another occasion where David chose to rely on his own cunning instead. Tomorrow we'll hear the results. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.