1 Samuel 2

Chapter 2. The Trials and Triumphs of David’s FaithI am still confident of this:I will see the goodness of the Lordin the land of the living.(Psalms 27:13)And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)These two passages express the supreme lesson of the nine years of David’s life that immediately followed his anointing as God’s appointed king. It is the law of faith for God to give us the promise of blessing, and then put us to the test to see if we will hold our faith and prove worthy of our high calling. No life has ever been more severely tested than David’s, and everything in his life, the record of his personal trials and triumphs, is given in such fullness of detail that we can walk by his side as we read the story; and we can even feel the beatings of his inmost heart as we follow the wondrous Psalms, in which he has given us the deeper portrait of his inmost heart and his spiritual experience.

Section I: His Trials

Section I—His TrialsBitterly Hated

1. The first of these was Saul’s jealous hate. The favor with which he met him at first and welcomed him to his palace and his court as his trusted minstrel and honored armorbearer, and even as the captain of his guard, was soon turned into mistrust and jealousy as he saw that he had already won the hearts of the people. He began to feel that David was the dreaded rival of whom Samuel had already given him a solemn intimation. The first open outbreak occurred when the maidens of Israel shouted the praises of Saul and David, and ascribed to Saul his thousands, and to David his 10 thousands, of trophies of victory. Saul “eyed” David, we are told, from that day forward and was very wroth. There is nothing more painful than to be the victim of keen-eyed jealousy, which watches all our movements and imputes wrong to the most innocent action. It injects a sting into every pleasure, and destroys the frankness and confidence of every friendship. Deceived
2. Next, we find Saul intriguing for the destruction of David, and using even the affection of Michal, his own daughter, who loved the noble young Bethlehemite, and whose love her father played with. Saul wanted to inveigle David into a fatal snare and sacrifice his life while nobly striving to win the 200 Philistine lives which Saul demanded as the dowry of David’s chosen bride. But God carried him safely through, and Saul had the mortification of having to give his daughter to the man he hated and placing him in the powerful position of the king’s son-in-law. Attacked
3. Next, we find Saul cherishing no longer a mere sentiment of jealousy, but a deep, determined purpose of destruction. Twice Saul hurled the javelin at David’s breast as he played in his presence. When David was forced to flee Saul sent his officers to pursue David to his own home, where he was saved only by the strategy of his loving wife, who let him down through a window that he might flee from his pursuers. Pursued
4. Next, Saul pursued him even to Ramah, where he fled to the protection of Samuel the prophet; but as Saul and his soldiers came to the prophet’s precinct, the old spirit of inspiration came upon him and his soldiers, and they were compelled to prophesy like the rest, and returned baffled by the interposition of God. But it now became too evident that Saul’s purpose was unchanged, and that Samuel’s protection could not save David from his murderous hands. Innocent Blood
5. Next, he fled to Nob, the priestly city, where Ahimelech, the high priest, and the priestly colony dwelt, and there he obtained refreshment and also the direction of God through the priestly ephod, and took away with him the sword of Goliath. But, alas! he had soon the deep sorrow, far more distressing to him than his own danger, of learning that for this kind and hospitable act Ahimelech and the whole priestly family had been cruelly slain by the order of Saul, through the mean and treacherous tale-bearing of Doeg, the Edomite, who had been the witness of Ahimelech’s kindness and had quickly gone to Saul to tell the tale. It was in vain that Ahimelech pleaded that he only meant to honor Saul in honoring his son-in-law and knew nothing of the trouble between them. His life was ruthlessly torn from him, and when even Saul’s soldiers refused to touch the Lord’s anointed priest the low and despicable Doeg was only too glad to do the work. With his own hand he slew in cold blood 85 of the priests of the Lord. And not only so, but the very city of Nob was razed to the ground and every living creature in it was ruthlessly murdered. David learned from Abiathar, the only survivor of this tragedy, the fearful story, and his heart must have been crushed with the deepest of all griefs—that of being the innocent occasion of bringing ruin upon others because of their attachment to him. Separated
6. The next great sorrow that came to David was the loss of his own dearest friends. Michal, his wife, was cruelly taken from him, and given to a neighboring chief with the hope that he would become the murderer of David through jealous rivalry. Jonathan, his dearest friend, became separated from him, and after one more parting they never met again. Samuel, his aged and venerated father in the Lord, was separated from him for the remainder of his life, and when the old prophet died and was buried with high honor in Israel, David was not permitted to stand by his bier to pay the last tribute of affection to the man who would have appreciated his presence more than all the others. Even his own father and mother became separated from him, for with loving consideration for their safety he early took measures to remove them from Bethlehem where they were sure to be the objects of Saul’s unkindness, and to send them away over to the land of Moab to a remote kinsman of his, through Ruth, his ancestress, until his own plans should be settled. Henceforth he was alone and friendless, a fugitive among the mountains, with no friend to comfort him but God alone. Among Strangers
7. Next, he fled to Achish, the king of Gath. Here he found himself in even greater danger, for Achish and the Philistines remembered but too well his victory over Goliath, their champion, and he had to find means to escape with his life from the Philistine court. It must have been a peculiar trial to the simple, frank nature of David to have to resort to artifice for self-protection. A Fugitive
8. His next refuge was the cave of Adullam in one of the valleys of southern Judea, and there his camp became the resort of all the outlaws, criminals and discontented persons in the land, who fled to his standard because of a certain community of distress and helplessness. So the man who had been accustomed to the sweetest of associations and the most congenial friendships found himself the chief of a band of freebooters, a sort of Rob Roy, at the head of a lot of vagabonds whom he had to accept as his comrades and friends. Oh, you who complain of uncongenial associations, learn a lesson from the life of David. He did not complain about his associates, but he set himself to lift them up to his own level. Before he got through every man of them was a nobleman, and they were trained to be the future princes of Israel. This is what Christ did when He came down from heaven to be the companion of rude and ignorant men of earth. This is the honor of the missionary who goes among the heathen, and, overlooking all their degradation and misery, finds it his chief honor and glory to lift them up to the loftiest and noblest lives, and, like Christ, who has thus lifted us, found his joy in realizing the glorious transformation. If God has associated you with those who are beneath you, lift them, inspire them, and let the wilderness and the solitary place of your life rejoice and blossom as the rose. Treachery
9. Next, he has the bitterness of treachery. While a fugitive in the mountains he found that the Philistines had invaded the land and attacked the city of Keilah, and he personally marched to its rescue and saved it from its enemies. But, in turn, instead of gratefully remembering his kindness, the men of Keilah plotted to betray him into the hands of Saul, and, but for God’s forewarning through the oracle of the priest, he would have perished through this cruel conspiracy. There are few trials harder than to have our kindness met by base ingratitude, and to have those we have befriended and even saved become our cruelest foes. Was there any cup of sorrow that David did not drink? Hunted
10. Next, we find him pursued by Saul even into the wilderness with a troop of 3,000 soldiers, until he had to fly from place to place and find new refuges among the barren mountains and the precipitous fields of Maon, En Gedi and the desolate region around the Dead Sea. But all through this God protected him, and enabled him on two occasions to have the opportunity of taking the life of Saul had he so wished, and of proving his magnanimity in the very sight of the king. Day by day for weeks and months he was hunted like a partridge in the mountains. His life was continually in his hand, and the strong language of many of the psalms can only be understood as we realize his imminent and instant peril and his marvelous escapes from destruction. Are you in a position of danger? Is your life assailed? Are you surrounded by enemies on every side? The God of David still lives to deliver those who trust Him and sends His angels to encamp around their dwelling. Nabal the Churl
11. One of the meanest trials of his wilderness life was the churlish and niggardly Nabal, a shepherd of Carmel, who, after David had protected his herdsmen and his flocks for several months in the mountains, turned back his messengers with coarse insult and sent to David the rude taunt that he was probably a runaway slave from his master, and why should he give him his flesh or his bread. For once David was provoked to wreak sudden vengeance on this miserable cur, but was saved from the crime by the tact of Abigail, Nabal’s beautiful wife. There are times when the bite of a mosquito is more trying than the roaring of a lion. There are little imps in life that worry us more than the larger foes that assail us, and we need more grace to keep our sweetness amid the thousand petty and harassing worries than in the roar of the torrent and the crash of the tempest. David knew this, and Christ knew it well. The last and bitterest trials of the cross were the taunts and the jeers and insults of the crowd whom He could have withered by a glance had He allowed Himself for a moment to lose the victory of His love. An Exile
12. The crowning trial came at last when, in a moment of utter discouragement, he said, “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” (1 Samuel 27:1). So, in an hour of unbelief, he left the land where God had told him to stay, and went down and accepted a home at Ziklag, which he made his headquarters for nearly a year and a half. Thence he went out on marauding expeditions against the Philistines, carefully concealing his movements lest they should drive him from the country, working all the while with loyalty toward his own land. Disaster But at last the crowning disaster came, when he returned one day with his soldiers to find Ziklag a heap of smoldering ashes and all their wives and property carried away by a horde of Amalekites. For a while they could only lift up their voices and weep, and we are told that they wept until they had no more power to weep. It was an hour of hopeless despair, and at last David’s very companions turned upon him, and even threatened to stone him as the occasion of all their sorrow. But just then shines out the triumph of his faith, and it is added: “But David found strength in the Lord his God” (1 Samuel 30:6). Quickly he sent for Abiathar, the priest, and asked counsel of God, and by divine direction he pursued and overtook the raiders. Striking them with sudden surprise, David scattered them and recovered all the spoil, their wives and children and their property unharmed. Indeed, so vast was the booty that he was able to send a portion of the spoil to all his friends in Judah as a kind of foretaste of the kingdom which he was soon to bring them. Such were some of the tests and trials of David’s early life. God gave him the promise of the kingdom, and then He put him to the test for nine bitter years until he was disciplined and trained for his high calling.

Section II: His Triumphs

Section II—His TriumphsNotice the spirit in which he endured these trials: Prudence

1. It was with the spirit of prudence. He was not reckless and he did not bring needless trials upon himself, as we often do. Many of our afflictions are simply the results of our imprudence or foolishness; but we are told expressly that “[David] had great success” (1 Samuel 18:14), and gave no occasion to his enemies to reproach him or to take advantage of him. It is a great thing in the hour of sorrow to maintain a good conscience, and, looking up into the face of God and man, to be able to say, “My conscience is dear” (1 Corinthians 4:4). Sweetness
2. He kept his sweetness and his love through all the bitter provocation. Again and again the enemy tried to make him meet hate with hate and wrong with wrong, but he triumphed in the end in the spirit of generosity and love, and in spite of the injustice of Saul, he made even that wicked man acknowledge his own righteousness and magnanimity when he might have taken his life, and nobly spared him notwithstanding the demands of his own soldiers that he should slay him when God gave him the opportunity. Next to a good conscience is a sweet spirit in standing through tests and trials. Love can endure all things, but even faith will break down if we lose our gentleness and become irritable and vindictive. Faith
3. He overcame by faith. It was this that Satan assailed as he ever does. It is the trial of our faith which is much more precious than gold that perishes. It is thus that he assailed the Master in the wilderness. God had told Jesus that He was His beloved Son, and then suddenly He plunged Him into circumstances of deepest distress, and Satan pointed to the barren desert and the naked rocks and Christ’s own physical hunger, and he whispered with a horrid sneer, “If you are the Son of God” (Matthew 4:3, Matthew 4:6). But Christ believed in His Father’s love and waited for His Father’s deliverance. And so Satan comes to us and points to our distress, tries to make us doubt our promise; but let us never let go our confidence, but hold it fast, for it has great recompense of reward. God is just waiting to see if we will trust Him to the end. Joyfulness
4. David not only believed, but he rejoiced. More even than faith and the very blossom and fruit of faith is the spirit of joy and praise. All through those days of darkness, David kept his joy and his song. He not only trusted but he rejoiced. He not only stood, but he stood singing, triumphing and rejoicing, and out of these dark hours have come to us the sweetest of his psalms and the noblest notes of victorious praise that are found in this wonderful Psalter with its unequalled notes of joy and triumph. Psalms of Life Space will not permit us to go over all the psalms which are described with some prefix connecting them with these days. There is the 59th, written when they were watching his house to slay him. There is the 11th, sung when he was like a bird driven to its mountain and hunted as a partridge among the hills. There is the 57th, composed when he was in the cave; and the 52nd, when he heard of Doeg’s despicable crime against the priests of Nob; and the 54th, when the Zithites are treacherously trying to sell his life to Saul. But out of them all there are no grander songs than four that we will specially name: One of these is the 27th, a psalm of triumph, which was written just after he parted from his father and mother in the land of Moab, and was left alone in the desert. Oh, what a new meaning it gives to the words literally translated, “Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me” (Matthew 27:10). Oh, what a lofty elevation it adds to the shout, “The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” (Matthew 27:1). “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Matthew 27:13). The next of these psalms of praise is the 34th, perhaps the richest of all the psalms of David in the spirit of triumphant praise. But we may have often failed to notice that this psalm was written when David was driven from the presence of Achish, the king of Gath, and was supposed to be out of his mind. People still think us out of our mind when we use his language, but he was anything but crazy when, amid his desolation and helplessness, he could look up and say, “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips” (Psalms 34:1). “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all” (Psalms 34:19). And thus looking over all his foes, he could add, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them” (Psalms 34:7). There is another of these memorial psalms, written just after God had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. It is, perhaps, the most elegant in imagery of all his compositions. How vividly he speaks of his sorrows: “The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me” (Psalms 18:4-5). How sublimely he describes the interposition of God for his deliverance (Psalms 18:10, Psalms 18:16-19). How eloquently he describes the glory of his divine Friend (Psalms 18:29-35). How tenderly, as a soft undertone, there sings through all the magnificent oratorio of his praise that little soft, sweet chord that tells at once the story of David and of God, “You stoop down to make me great” (Psalms 18:35). There is yet one more psalm which, while written later in David’s life, doubtless refers all through to the story of David and of Saul. It is the 37th Psalm. Back of these wonderful beatitudes there are two figures that we can clearly trace. One of them is the man of hate who seeks to slay the righteous. The other is the man of meekness who frets not because of evil doers, who trusts in the Lord, who commits his way unto the Lord, who rests in the Lord and waits patiently for Him. The culmination is, “I have seen a wicked and ruthless man flourishing like a green tree in its native soil, but he soon passed away and was no more; though I looked for him, he could not be found” (Psalms 37:35-36). And then, “Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace” (Psalms 37:37). “The meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace” (Psalms 37:11). Truly out of David’s sorrow came David’s songs. What is God getting out of our trials? What are we getting out of them? Are we meeting them with wisdom, with love, with faith and with praise? After 3,000 years are we yet so far behind the man who not only sang, but who lived the song of faith and praise in life’s darkest hour? Do we wonder that he was “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14)? God help us to be more like him, too!