The History from Saul to David

Scripture reading: 1 Sam. 15:22-23

1 Samuel 15:22–23 (ESV)

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.”

At the end of the Judges period, prophet Samuel was born. And he performed the duty as a judge of Israel, but his sons were not so good. So the people of Israel asked for a king to rule over them. Why a king? Because the other nations had kings, and the Israelites wanted to be like them. So God relents and finally gives them a king, king Saul. And after king Saul, God gives the Israelites another king, king David. And this afternoon, we’re going to take a brief look at the stories of these two kings.

The History of King Saul

Now before we jump into his story, there’s an interesting concept I’d like to talk about. And this comes from Malcolm Gladwell, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him. He puts forward this concept of the better second half.

And he says that when it comes to stories, instead of having a really good first half and then a lousy ending, it’s better to have a better second half.

*SHOW SLIDE*

So for example, if you watched a movie, and the ending’s really good, you’re more likely to recommend it to your friends. This movie’s so good, but it’s a bit slow at the start.

On the other hand, if the movie starts off really good but has a lame ending, you’re not going to recommend it to anyone.

And, unfortunately, that’s the story of King Saul.

Saul’s this tall and handsome guy from the tribe of Benjamin. He was anointed by prophet Samuel in private, and then selected by casting lots in public (1 Sam. 10:20-24). And he became king at the age of 40.

And Saul begins his kingship with success after success. He defeats the Ammonites, the Philistines, and the Amalekites. And the people love him. But he makes two big mistakes along the way. In his second battle with the Philistines, Saul and his army is waiting for prophet Samuel. They need him to come and offer the burnt offering before the battle, but he’s seven days late. And the soldiers are starting to go home. So Saul does what kings are forbidden to do. He performs the burnt sacrifice offering himself.

1 Samuel 13:13–14 ESV

And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

So Saul’s downfall began when he chose to obey God’s Word 90% instead of 100%.

And because of this, God refuses to answer Saul’s prayer.

1 Samuel 14:37 ESV

And Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.

So if it feels like God isn’t responding to our words, maybe it’s because we haven’t responded to His Word.

I pray that we will be a church who obeys God 100%. Amen?

Now in the third battle, God commands Saul to kill all the people and livestock of the Amalekites. And Saul obeys up to 90%. He kills all but the king and the best of the livestock.

1 Samuel 15:9 ESV

But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

The prophet Samuel comes to him and asks, ‘What are these animal sounds I hear?’ And Saul tries to blame the people: “The people wanted to spare the best of the animals and sacrifice them to God.”

So what this shows us is that Saul feared people more than he feared God. He preferred the affection of man. He preferred to be popular and well-liked by men.

And in the end, his popularity couldn’t save him from the Philistines. Because the battle belongs to the Lord. So Saul’s life and legacy becomes like a movie that has an awesome beginning, but a lousy ending.

The History of King David

Now let’s look at David’s story. We’re only going to look at the early part of his life until he becomes king.

So David’s a young shepherd boy, and he’s out in the fields. And one day prophet Samuel comes knocking on the door, but none of David’s brothers is chosen. So David’s father calls him home, and David is anointed to be the king of Israel.

Fast foward some time later, David’s become so good at playing this musical instrument called a lyre, that he’s appointed as King Saul’s personal court musician. And then some time later, he kills Goliath and becomes a famous captain in the army. And he becomes so successful that people start singing songs about him. They sing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

1 Samuel 18:7–9 ESV

And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” And Saul eyed David from that day on.

So again, we have a story that starts really well. It’s exciting. But if you were God, and you wanted to prepare someone to rule your kingdom, what would you do? Would you give him an easy time? Success after success? Or would you give him obstacles to overcome?

There’s a saying. “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men. Weak men create hard times.”

God gives David a hard time. And so King Saul gets insecure and envious of David’s success, and tries to have David killed. So David is forced to flee and live a life of a fugitive.

And over the course of 10 years from 1020BC to 1010BC, David goes to 16 different locations in order to seek refuge from King Saul, who’s trying to hunt him down with a group of about 3000 men.

Rev. Abraham Park divides it up into three stages.

The first stage is from Ramah to the Forest of Hereth.

The second stage is from Keilah to the Wilderness of Ziph.

The third stage is from Gath to Ziklag.

So let’s go through the general events that happen in each stage. The cell group book and book 3 of the history of redemption series goes into much greater detail, but today we’ll just look at the general takeaways from each stage.

Stage 1: Ramah to Forest of Hereth

In the first stage, he first goes to Ramah, Gibeah, and Nob. Why these places? He goes to Ramah because the prophet Samuel’s at Ramah. Then he goes to Gibeah because Jonathan’s there. And then he goes to Nob because that’s where the tabernacle of God is. These three places are near to each other.

So in other words, he goes to see his pastor, his best friend, and he goes to church.

And because Saul is really hot on his heels, David gets desperate and he goes to the Philistine city of Gath. But Gath is Goliath’s hometown. So the people there recognize him, and he has to pretend to be crazy in order not to get captured.

Then he goes to the Cave of Adullam, which is where his family comes to him. Why? Because if I were Saul, and I couldn’t get to David, I’d get his family and hold them hostage. So his family’s also on the run. And more than that, it says that about 400 men came to him at the Cave of Adullam.

1 Samuel 22:1–2 ESV

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

So this tells us something about David’s reputation. He was known as someone who would care for people in distress, in debt, and bitter in soul. He was their place of refuge. And that’s what happens when we take refuge in God. We become a place of refuge for others. We don’t judge people for where they’re at or what they’ve done. We don’t kick others when they’re down. Instead, we lift people up by the love and promises of God. Amen? I pray that Zion church will be a place of refuge, because our members seek refuge in God.

So after David’s family comes to him, he decides to take care of his elderly parents. So he goes to a city in Moab called Mizpeh, and the king of Moab receives him and allows his parents to take asylum there. Why can David go to Moab like this? Because his great grandmother Ruth was from Moab.

And it says that he stays in a stronghold, a fortress in Moab. And it’s so safe and secure there. Saul can’t get to him because he’s in a foreign country. So he could just stay there for the next 10 years. But what does God do? He tells David to get up and get back into the place of danger.

1 Samuel 22:4–5 ESV

And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

This is the difference between David and Saul. When God gave Saul a command, Saul only obeyed up to 90%. On the other hand, David obeyed God’s Word even though it meant going back to a place of danger.

Stage 2: Keilah to the Wilderness of Ziph

What about the second period?

At the second stage of his flight, David experiences betrayal from other people. During this stage, people went out of their way to tell King Saul of David’s whereabouts. That’s why we see David going into the wilderness many times during this stage. There’s the wilderness of Ziph, the wilderness of Moan, the wilderness of Engedi, the wilderness of Paran, and then back to the wilderness of Ziph.

For example, while David’s at the Forest of Hereth, he hears that the Philistines are attacking Keilah. So he goes there and saves the people there. But God reveals that they would betray him to Saul.

1 Samuel 23:5 ESV

And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

1 Samuel 23:12 ESV

Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will surrender you.”

He’s saved the city, but they won’t save him. And when he later goes to the wilderness of Ziph, they travel about 40km to Saul’s hometown in Gibeah in order to report David’s location to Saul. 40km without a car is a lot of effort and resources.

It’s also during this stage that David spares Saul’s life twice.

Stage 3: Gath to Ziklag

In this third stage, David’s so sick of running away from Saul. So he decides to go to the city of Gath to find refuge. And notice that these two cities are both Philistine cities. So what’s David thinking?

1 Samuel 27:1 ESV

Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”

Are these words of faith? It seems as though David’s lost his hope, and now he has to take matters into his own hands.

And look at what David says to the king of Gath.

1 Samuel 27:5 ESV

Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”

The word for ‘favor’ here is ‘hen’, which is the same word for ‘grace.’ And here David depends not on the grace of God, but on the favor of man. As soon as Saul hears that David’s in Gath, he gives up on catching David.

But now David’s landed himself in a sticky situation, because in Ziklag, David’s almost forced to join the Philistine army in their battle against Israel. But by the grace of God, the Philistine commanders refused to let him take part. That’s in 1 Sam. 29.

Conclusion: The differences between Saul and David

In conclusion, the stories of Saul and David show us the importance of complete surrender and obedience to God’s Word.

If Saul had obeyed God’s Word completely, the people might not have liked him so much. Imagine killing all the livestock of the Amalekites. All those precious resources, gone to waste. His approval rating would have gone down for sure.

What about David? It’s not recorded, but David must’ve had a lot of negative feedback and criticisms from the people following him. When God told him to leave Moab, to go back into the place of danger, I’m sure the people had a lot of complaints and grumblings. But David feared God more than he feared people. He chose to obey God’s Word rather than listen to the people.

As leaders, Saul and David had to consider the means through which they win the hearts of the people.

There’s a saying, “What you win them with is what you win them to.”

For Saul, he chose to win their hearts by obeying their desires. For David, he chose to obey God’s Word in spite of the people’s desires.

I pray that we will win the hearts of people not through big lights and loud music and miracles, but through our complete obedience to the Word of God.

When we look at the story of Saul and David from a redemptive historical perspective, we can recognize a pattern that we’re familiar with. There are two people. The first is favored by God. The second person is envious and angry at the first person. And so the second person tries to kill the first person out of envy.

We see this in Cain and Abel, where Cain kills Abel out of envy and anger.

We’ve just seen this in Saul and David, where Saul spends ten years trying to kill David.

We also see this in Jesus’ life. When Jesus came, the Pharisees and religious leaders hated Him and wanted to kill Him. Why? Because of envy. Because He got the attention of their followers.

Luke 6:11 ESV

But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

Matthew 27:18 ESV

For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up.

When God told David to get out of Moab and into danger, David obeyed God’s will and lived. David even spared Saul’s life twice. But ask David if he could lay down his life for Saul. I’m not sure what his answer might be.

Jesus, on the other hand, rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, as a lamb into the slaughter. And He died on the cross, bearing the sins of those who nailed Him there, pleading with the Father, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

That is our Lord. That is His obedience. And Jesus calls us to follow in His footsteps today, to live a life of Amen to the Word of God. Not just when we feel like it, or when we feel it’s safe to do so.