DAVID AND SAUL
1 Samuel 24
“When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed?”
This is simple logic: “kill or be killed”, “win or lose”, “succeed or fail”. When we see the world in black and white, the answer is simple. This is the driving power of life in this world: survival of the fittest. When religion comes into the picture, it is a simple transition to “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish’”. It is still the same logic, but now couched in religious language. This is the mind of Saul and that is why he sought to kill David.
Many among us think in similar terms. When the cards favour us we praise God for his love and kindness. When they don’t, we pray that God will do something about the situation. When things finally don’t turn out in our favour we ask why and decide in our heart of hearts not to entrust ourselves to God.
David rejects this kind of religion, where God is a tool to enable his success. To him, God is the one he serves and honours. It is not that he did so perfectly—his adultery with Bathsheba was a terrible failure on his part—but there were many instances when David stood on his principles, principles that place God at the centre, and this incident is one such.
“The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” It is not for him to terminate the anointing of Saul; that is God’s prerogative.
“As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.” “I will not participate in evil”, and for David, to harm his king (and his father-in-law) is to be disloyal and that is evil. He did not want to become an evildoer.
Instead he rested on God. “May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. … May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.”
This is not a “do nothing and let God do everything for me” stance. David refused to turn against his principles to gain success; he may be killed (and that is in the hands of God) but he will not turn to evil to serve his cause.
In this instance David was a shining light for his God. May we, when our time comes, have the faith and wisdom to shine for him too.
“You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly.”