Monday, November 6, 2017

Year 7, Day 310: 1 Samuel 24

Theological Commentary: Click Here


Yesterday we saw how corrupt people deal with life.  Corrupt people are always looking out for themselves.  Corrupt people are willing to use one another as stepping stones to make themselves better.  That’s how corrupt people live.

On the other hand, look at David in this chapter.  Saul comes into the cave in which he is hiding.  Remember, David is hiding from Saul because Saul wants David dead.  Saul comes into the cave to go to the bathroom.  He is utterly helpless.  Saul is at David’s complete mercy.

David’s own men encourage him to kill Saul!  They try to tell Saul that this is God’s opportunity being presented to David.  They want David to do what is best for him in the moment.  That’s perfectly natural.  It’s perfectly human.

However, look at what David does.  David cuts off a corner of Saul’s robe.  David finds a way to prove to Saul that he could have killed Saul but instead chose to let him live.  David shows us how righteous men live.  David will Kill when it is the Lord’s idea.  But he will not kill here because Saul if his king.

The neat thing is that we get a glimpse of righteousness in Saul because of David’s righteousness.  Remember, he brought down his army to pursue David.  Now, David is within his grasp.  However, Saul is shamed into righteous behavior because David has proven his heart.  Saul turns around and leaves David in peace.  Should David have killed Saul, there no doubt would have been more bloodshed between Saul’s followers and David’s followers.  David’s righteousness diffuses the situation completely and allows violence to pass from within their midst.

<><

No comments:

Post a Comment