The Trials and Pitfalls of David and Saul
1 Samuel 27:1-28:25
Key verse 28:17
“The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors- to David.”
Last time we saw David spared the life of his enemy King Saul for a second time. David confessed his faith saying, “The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness…may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.” David believed God would continue to bless and protect him.
In this passage, David has a down time in his life of faith. He falls a victim to fear and forgets to trust in God who had been his protector. At the same time we also find Saul falling as a victim of fear and the foretelling of his death. May we learn how to deal with our times of fear and doubt.
I. David Among the Philistines (27:1-12)
Read v.1. “But David thought to himself, ‘One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” David had great spiritual victories in the previous chapters, including resisting personal revenge on wicked Nabal (ch.25) and two times resisting revenge on king Saul. David was learning God who protects him from his enemies. But now we find David low in spirit and faith. Saul promised not to harm him (26:21). But David knew he couldn’t trust Saul. David dreaded the thought of once again going on the move and hiding out in the mountains, only to be exposed by someone seeking king Saul’s favor as in the past. Though God had protected him in many ways, he was becoming fatigued, exhausted and fatalistic. He said the “best thing” he could do was to escape to the Philistines. Probably escaping to enemies of Israel was not the best thing. David tried to use his human reasoning to help himself. We don’t see him inquire of the Lord as he had in the past (23:1-5) to seek God’s guidance. We can be like David at times. We experienced God’s great help in our life in the past, even recently. But in the face of a new trial or a chronic problem, we doubt. In spiritual exhaustion we become low in faith. We look for some human answer to the problem at hand, but it is the time to pray. Jesus said, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” (Mt 26:41) So David and his 600 men took all their family members and moved into the land of the Philistines- to the land of Gath where king Achish was ruling. This was not the first time David came here. The last time was in ch.21 when David pretended to be insane when he was threatened. This time Achish is pleased to take David into his land (pleased David recovered from insanity). He felt David would be an asset as the enemy of Saul. Like S. Cyril quoted the saying, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” When Saul found out David was in Gath, he gave up searching for him (4). David was able to obtain the town of Ziklag for his people- about 20 miles south of Gath, so they lived somewhat isolated from king Achish and other Philistines. Altogether, David would live there for a year and four months (7). David’s plan seemed to be working so far.
In v.8-10 we see that during his time in Ziklag, David and his men raided people named the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. The Amalekites were God’s enemy and the Geshurites and Girzites may have been related to the Amalekites or other Canaanites of the past. Saul had failed to kill all the Amalekites out of his disobedience to God. It was the last straw in his disobedience which led to David being anointed his replacement as king (1 Sam15-16). David and his men got rich off raiding all their animals and clothes and other possessions. Achish saw David acquiring so many possessions he asked where he had gone raiding. David answered, “Against the Negev of Judah” or some other such place. David made it sound like he raided outlying areas of Israel- that he was against his own people for rejecting him. He hid the fact that he was attacking Israel’s enemies since he wanted to keep Achish under the impression David was not a threat to him or the Philistines. David did such a good job misleading Achish that v.12 says, “Achish trusted David and said to himself, ‘He has become so odious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant forever.’” By lying to Achish, David had slipped into a trap. The king trusted him so much that he was claiming David as his servant forever. David seemed to be doing okay at first when he went to the king. But he had not inquired of the Lord. We don’t see David making reference to God at all in this chapter. He depended on himself and depended on the king. But then he was being claimed as servant of the king of a Philistine nation which was clearly against God’s will for David to be the servant of God as king of Israel (28:17). In 28:1-2 we see Achish orders David and his men to fight with him against Israel, calling David his bodyguard for life. What a mess David was in! It’s like the famous quote: “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” (Sir Walter Scott). This is also a picture of playing with sin. We call ourselves children of God and try a little sin. But later it grows until without realizing it we lose our faith and are trapped under the devil’s influence. David had the promise of God to be Israel’s next king. When he trusted God he had God’s protection. When doubted he forgot God and got in a lot of trouble. How important it is to hold the promises of God.
II. Saul Consults a Witch (28:1-25)
In ch.27 we find David in a bad spot when he forgot the promise of God. In ch.28 we find Saul in an even worse place due to his life of disobedience to God. The Philistines were gathering for war against Israel as had happened many times before. But for Saul he sensed this conflict would be worse than before. V.5 says when he saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. In the past, Saul faced the Philistines courageously and valiantly defended Israel. But now he is full of fear. He had abandoned his relationship with God through his disobedience. Especially he had been spending so much time full of jealousy trying to kill David who he knew God appointed to succeed him as king. He had been rebelling against the will of God in his life. Especially he had no personal relationship with God. When we have a right relationship with God we can face problems with faith and courage. But with a broken relationship with God we face the same problems with fear- because we know God is not with us. In v.6 we see that is the case when Saul inquired of the Lord it says the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. God refused to answer Saul because Saul never repented of his sins and kept a hard heart before God and so had been rejected by God. Saul felt alone and fearful and desperate. Even Samuel his one time shepherd had died. Saul felt he had no where to turn. So in v.7 we see he resorted to inquiring of a medium. A medium is someone who is used to communicate with the dead. A female medium is also called a witch that is more familiar to us. They were used in ancient times and are still used today as we heard some examples in our Bible study. Even in modern America there are psychics and palm readers who offer to tell our future through the use of mystic powers. V.3 mentioned that Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. This was because they were enemies of God as it says in Lev20:6 “I will set my face against any person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.” But now Saul himself was seeking out a medium even disguising himself so as not to be revealed as a hypocrite. We thought about why Saul or anyone would want to seek out a medium. M. David mentioned that if we don’t have a clear answer that makes us feel secure, we are insecure. We get frustrated and want to know what will happen to us: will we graduate? get a job? Get married? To whom? Be rich? How long will I live? God wants us to trust his promises by faith. That’s why Abraham is always a good example for us. God told Abraham to go to the place he would show him, though Abraham did not know where he was going. Abraham did not demand to know his future from God. He went by faith believing God’s promise. So Heb. 11:1 says, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” When we live by faith we are free depending on God’s promises. When we don’t believe God’s promises, we live in constant fear of our future. We need personal faith in God- personal relationship with God by trusting him. God is looking for our personal faith in him.
The following verses are mysterious and controversial. We had some of our own disagreements and lively debates during Bible study. Saul came secretly to the woman and persuaded her to bring up the spirit of Samuel from the dead. We don’t know if this was Samuel’s own spirit or some other manifestation. One way or another God allowed it and Saul received the message he was seeking. The woman probably made some chanting noises and then v.12 says she saw Samuel. At that point Saul’s identity was revealed to her and she screamed at the top of her voice, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” It was a very eerie scene for sure. Saul fell prostrate to the ground telling Samuel in v.15, “I am in great distress. The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
In v.16 Samuel replied, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and become your enemy?” Read v.17-18. “The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors- to David. Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today.” Samuel says all that is happening is the fulfillment of what the living Samuel told Saul before. He is quoting his own words from 15:28 that because of Saul’s disobedience in the matter of the Amalekites, the kingdom would turn over to David. Then Samuel concludes in v.19 saying, “The Lord will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also hand over the army of Israel to the Philistines.” Saul hoped for some assurance to stabilize his heart of fear. But Samuel concluded by pronouncing the judgment that would be carried out on Saul. Saul and his sons would die at the hand of the Philistines and the army of Israel would be defeated as well. What a crushing blow this was to Saul, so he fell full length on the ground, paralyzed by fear. Finally, at the urging of the medium and his men, he got up, ate and left. Saul’s downfall was his stubborn ambition. He needed to repent when God’s will was revealed. We should not stubbornly stay fixed on our own plan, but be willing to give up for God’s sake. Jesus said, “Whoever saves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mk 8:35)
People fall when they leave God out of our lives. Nations fall when they ignore or rebel against God. God blessed our nation when we trusted God. But more and more we are in danger of God’s judgment. God wants to warn us and teach us from the bad examples of David and Saul so we can be on guard against falling into the same traps. God is looking for personal faith and commitment to him. May we believe his promise to bless us and be our God.
Read key verse 28:17