Read 1
Samuel 25-26 & Luke
16:19-31
To discover:
As you read consider how David’s treatment of Nabal differs
from his treatment of Saul.
To ponder:
Samuel’s death marks the transition
to God’s chosen king and his line. However cracks start to show in David’s
righteousness. Having protected and done good to Nabal’s shepherds, he quite
reasonably requests only “whatever” provisions the wealthy Nabal might give him
and his men. But Nabal refuses, saying David is just a wayward servant rather
than God’s anointed. However, rather than showing the grace he showed Saul, David
rallies his men and makes a hasty oath to kill every male in Nabal’s household.
He is saved from this sin only by the intervention of Nabal’s “intelligent” and
“beautiful” wife Abigail. A servant tells her what his “wicked” master has
done, and she intercedes with David, bringing provision, bowing in respect, and
acting wisely in affirming his kingship, just as the wise men did Christ
(25v26-31). She’s a model of the godly wife, who is strong enough in God not to
be infected by the ungodliness of her husband. (David himself is wise to later
marry her!)
Abigail
is clear that to this point God had “kept” David from “avenging himself,”
urging him not to have this “burden of needless bloodshed” on his conscience when
king. In response, David displays the humility we should when challenged about
our sin. He accepts his fault, seeing Abigail as being sent by God to keep him
from doing “wrong.”
When Abigal
tells Nabal, he dies. David’s praise in 25v39 is key. He acknowledges God has
“upheld” his “cause” by bringing “Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.” Contrasting
Abigail’s wisdom, throughout Nabal’s actions have been regarded as “foolish,”
patterning Saul’s foolishness in standing against David (see 26v21), and
challenging the reader to respond more wisely to God’s king. As with Saul
however, David should have left vengeance against Nabal to God, knowing that by
God’s hand the fool will end up bringing destruction on himself.
This theme is
stressed by these events being sandwiched between two in which David restrains
himself from killing Saul. So with Saul after him again, in chapter 26 David displays
huge courage by sneaking right up to Saul in his own camp. But whereas Abishai
sees this as a God given opportunity (as in 24v4), offering to kill Saul, David
commands him not to as Saul is God’s anointed. Instead, having learnt his
lesson, he is confident that “the LORD will strike him down” whether by old age
or in battle. This displays astonishing patience in the ultimate justice of
God. And every evil done against us will be revealed and punished after death,
whether in the individual themselves, or in Christ if they are a believer.
Instead
of attacking Saul, David has Abishai take Saul’s spear and water jug. He then
mocks Saul’s commander Abner, shouting of how he didn’t guard Saul sufficiently
to prevent the theft. Saul however, displays his fickleness in calling David
his “son.” David then declares his innocence again, stating that if Saul is
against him as God’s punishment for a sin David may have committed, “may he (God)
accept an offering,” but if because of the encouragement of men, then they
should be “cursed,” not least because by driving him to the Philistines, they
are effectively encouraging him to worship foreign gods. This declaration
reminds us of the seriousness of rejecting Christ because of the pressure of
others, or of influencing others to do so.
David
concludes by declaring he is harmless (the “flea”?) and not worth hunting (the
“partridge”?) Again Saul voices a commitment not to harm David, even describing
himself as a “fool,” and affirming David will “surely triumph.” David returns
Saul’s spear and prays that because he has spared Saul’s life and God “rewards
everyman for his righteousness and faithfulness,” may he therefore “deliver” him
(David) from “all” his trouble. Whether we experience earthly deliverances or
not, Jesus teaches our final deliverance is our reward for acting righteously
when faced with hostility (Matt 5v11-12).
Praying it home:
Praise God for that he will call
all things to account and reward all who have done good through faith. Pray
that you would be able to accept the rebukes of friends over your sin, rather
than resent them.
Thinking further: Applying the
life of David
We have to be careful about
applying the life of Old Testament “heroes” because often they are not quite as
heroic as we assume. We’ve seen this many times, and even David doesn’t always
do the right thing. We must therefore look for clues in the text as to how we
should view any individual’s actions and weigh what we read through the wider
scriptures. Another issue with David and the kings in particular is that they
are an imperfect pattern of the perfect King Jesus. So even their righteous
actions and God’s interaction with them are not necessarily a model for us, but
a picture of what would be for God’s anointed Christ. Having said that, we
reign in Christ, so there may be aspects of their rule that do apply. Moreover,
they are also members of God’s people, meaning that there may be lessons to be
drawn from their lives nevertheless. In short, we must be thoughtful in our
application, asking questions on these three levels: How does this look to
Christ and responses to him? What aspects apply to us as those who reign with
Christ? And valid lessons are there for us as everyday believers?
If you receive this post by
email, visit bible2014.blogspot.co.uk
and make a comment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment