God's Grace in a Cave

Introduction

Context

From the cave

This is probably referring to one of 2 caves: the cave at Adullam (1 Sam 21:1) or the cave at En-Gedi (1 Sam 24:3).

Because of the proximity of this psalm with the previous psalm, I am inclined to think this is referring to the cave at Adullam. The writer of this superscript doesn’t feel the need to specify which cave—maybe because it is assumed to be connected to the historical conext of Psalm 56 and the king of Gath.

When the Philistines seized him in Gath. This story is found in 1 Samuel 21:10-12

1 Samuel 21:10–12 LSB

Then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has struck his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?” And David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath.

So David was afraid of the powerful Phillistine king . . . but if we go back a few chapters we can see that there was more going on in David’s heart at this time.

Saul had been rejected by God as king, and so Saul had been trying to kill David out of jealousy and to protect his throne (18:7-11).

As you all probably know, Jonathan—Saul’s son and heir to the throne—became a close friend of David. 1 Sam 18:1-4

1 Samuel 18:1–4 LSB

Now it happened when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan cut a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even his sword and his bow and his belt.

In chapter 20, David and Jonathan made a plan to protect David.

David would go into the countryside to hide, and Jonathan would determine whether Saul truly was bent on killing David or not. The plan was that Jonathan would shoot an arrow into the country to practice, and send a young boy to retrieve it. If Jonathan yelled to the boy that the “arrows are on this side of you,” then it would be safe for David to come back. But if Jonathan said “the arrows are beyond you,” then he must flee for his life.

Well, when it became clear that Saul really did want to kill David (partly because he tried to kill Jonathan when he found out David wasn’t around), Jonathan took his bow and arrows out to the field David was hiding in.

So when Jonathan communicated that to David using the arrows, he had the boy take his bow and arrows back to the city and went to say goodbye to David his close friend.

This goodbye scene is found in 1 Sam 20:41

1 Samuel 20:41 LSB

When the young man was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept more.

David was heartbroken by this whole ordeal. As a young man, he was certainly fearful and confused about Saul’s hostility toward him, he was heartbroken that he had to leave his dear friend behind,

And now when we come to 21:10-12, we see another reason for David to fear. The king of Gath has heard of David and his might.

One commentator pointed out that the fact that David fled to the land of the Philistines shows how David saw his standing with his people (Kidner, 220).

Why would he go to Gath—the hometown of Goliath?

Wasn’t thinking clearly?

Wanted to gain some sense of control/victory?

Thought he woudn’t be followed?

What’s interesting is that in 1 Sam 21:8-9 David asked for the sword of Goliath that he used to cut off Goliath’s head—something that would have surely reminded us (the readers) of David’s boldness for God.

Yet in the next section we see David acting insane instead of trusting God with the situation.

1 Samuel 21:10–15 LSB

Then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has struck his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?” And David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. So he disguised his sanity in their sight and acted insanely in their hands and scribbled on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? “Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman before me? Shall this one come into my house?”

This was a shameful, cowardly way to handle the situation—not at all like he acted before Goliath. It was a cowardly way to attempt to ensure the king would spare him.

Yet the Lord did spare him . . . in spite of his attempts to handle the situation himself.

He wrote Psalm 56 in the cave of adullam after that terrible situation. It’s possible he also wrote Psalm 57 while he was in that cave.

But if he didn’t write this psalm in the cave at Adullam, then we ought to consider the context of the other option . . . the cave at Engedi.

But either way, David is in danger and scared.

Point 1: 1-3

Point 2: 4-6

Point 3: 7-11