David witholds his hand from Saul

1 Samuel 26:1–12 KJV 1900

1 And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon? 2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed. 5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him. 6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him. 8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not smite him the second time. 9 And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless? 10 David said furthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish. 11 The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go. 12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them.

Introduction

David is once again hiding in the wilderness of Ziph.

This is the same place he had been hiding last week in our message.

The thing that we may not understand is that at least a few years have passed since Jonathan had visited David last week.

In that time, David had experienced a lot of growth.

There had been the episode where David and his men had been hiding in a cave at En-Gedi.

Saul had coincidentally come in to the cave to use the restroom.

David had a chance to kill Saul.

But, he did not.

There had also been the episode with Nabal.

David had been protecting the workers and thee animals of Nabal.

When David needed help, Nabal turned him away.

David had been enraged and immediately headed off to kill Nabal.

Abigail, Nabal’s wife prevented David from raising his hand against Nabal.

That night, God took Nabal’s life.

These two events will heavily influence David’s actions in tonight’s passage.

Once again, the Ziphites betray David’s location to Saul.

David might have assumed that his marriage to the influential, recently widowed Abigail might have improved his standing in the region.

Perhaps it had.

It’s important to know and remember why the Ziphites were so eager to turn David in.

It wasn’t necessarily that they didn’t like David.

Remember, he was a member of their tribe.

Rather, the Ziphites turned David in to Saul 2x because they were afraid.

Saul had previously massacred the entire priestly citizenry of the city of Nob because they had harbored David.

This evil never left the collective minds of the Israelites.

It’s what made it so difficult for David to find shelter so many times.

The last time that Saul had attempted to enter the wilderness in search of David, God had providentially prevented him.

After Jonathan’s visit, which we looked at last week, the Ziphites had turned David in.

As Saul had marched against him in the southeast, the Philistines had invaded from the southwest.

Saul had been forced to redirect his army away from David.

This time, though, Saul marches 3,000 troops to the wilderness, specifically to the hill that had become David’s wilderness HQ.

The hill of Hachilah.

3,000 troops marching through the wilderness would not be hard to spot.

Remember, David has spies all through the wilderness as an early warning system.

The spies would have warned David quickly of the army’s approach.

David, though, needs more specific information.

He wants to know if Saul is with them.

The spies come back and confirm that Saul is indeed with the army.

David abandons Hachilah and waits for Saul to settle in.

Saul, of course ascends Hachilah.

This is where David’s camp had been reported to be.

There is no David there, so Saul and his men make camp for the night.

Whether to wait for David to return or to rest up for a search the next day.

David though, is not far.

As soon as night falls, he takes two of his most trusted men and ascends Hachilah.

The two men that he chooses are Ahimelech and Abishai.

These are two of David’s bravest companions.

Abishai is probably about the same age as David.

Together, the three men use the brush to hide their climb.

They actually climb beyond Saul’s camp and then turn back so that the Israelites are below them.

As they examined the place where Saul and his men are sleeping they take stock of the camp’s layout.

Saul is in the middle, sleeping.

Close to him is Abner, his top commander and body guard.

Surrounding them is as many troops as could fit in that area.

After taking a look, David asks the two men, who will accompany him into the camp.

This is a suicide mission.

David is asking which of the two men wants to go die with him.

Remember, this army has marched for one reason, to find and kill David.

Abishai speaks first and volunteers to accompany David.

Together, they make their way all the way to center of the camp.

Before them, at their feet lay Saul.

His spear is embedded in the ground by his head.

A pitcher of water lay next to him.

Seeing this, Abishai whispers to David a tempting proposition.

God has delivered Saul into David’s hand.

Give the command and Abishai will strike Saul with his own spear.

He will pin him to the ground, killing him with a single blow.

David immediately rejects Abishai’s offer.

David knows that he would be guilty if he raised his hand against the anointed one of God.

Even if Abishai was the one to deal the death blow, it would have been David’s command that ordered it.

David, having just seen God handle the Nabal situation, tells Abishai that Saul’s life is God’s to take or prolong.

Either God will kill Saul.

Or, Saul will live out his years.

Or, he will fall in battle.

Regardless it is God’s place to deal with the leader of his people, not David’s.

David was committed to honoring God’s position as the giver and taker of life.

He refused to entertain the idea that it was God’s will for him to kill Saul.

He didn’t even allow himself to think that maybe, back at the cave he had made a mistake and God had given him a second chance to kill Saul.

David knew that it was God who raised Saul up, and that God was perfectly capable of removing Saul when the time was right.

There are lot’s of reasons that we could get into for why David could not be the one to kill Saul,

It should suffice us to acknowledge that David believed that Saul’s death needed to be an instance of God doing God things.

Saul’s death must not be an instance of David doing God things.

We must learn this lesson too.

It may not be a person (though it could be), but there may be a situation in your life that you wish was different.

You wish this person or issue or problem would just go away.

Maybe you’ve even thought, if I ever had the chance to do something about this, I would take it.

Could I simply caution us, that maybe, before we do that, we take a step back.

Could i encourage us to just take a pause.

There are two ways that we can handle difficulties in our lives.

We could say God’s way versus our way.

We could say in the flesh or by faith.

We could say take matters in our own hands or leave them in God’s.

Just because someone tells you something is God’s will, that doesn’t make it so.

David chose honor over results.

As a result, when he was finally crowned king, he could do so innocent of any and all treason or treachery against Saul.

Let’s say you do get the outcome that you would like to see.

Will it come to pass because God did God things?

Will it happen because you did God things?