Samuel No.16 A Sad Episode

1 Samuel chapter 21. David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he met him and asked, why are you alone? Why is no one with you? David answered to Halimenech the priest, the king charged me with a certain matter and said to me, no one is to know anything about your mission and your instructions.

As for my men, I've told them to meet me at a place. Now then, what have you to hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find. But the priest answered David, I don't have any ordinary bread to hand.

However, there is some consecrated bread here, provided the men have kept themselves from women. David replied, indeed women have been kept from us as usual, whenever I set out. The men's bodies are holy, even on missions that are not holy.

How much more so today? So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the presence that had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away. Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the Lord. He was Doeg, the Edomite, Saul's head shepherd.

David asked Halimenech, don't you have a spear or sword here? I haven't brought my sword or any other weapon because the king's business was urgent. The priest replied, the sword of Goliath of Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of behind the Ifod. If you want it, take it.

There is no sword here but that one. David said, there is none like it. Give it to me.

That day David fled from Saul and went to Ashish, king of Gath. But the servants of Ashish said to him, isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances? Saul has slain his thousands and David, his tens of thousands. David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Ashish, king of Gath.

So he feigned insanity in their presence. And while he was in their hands, he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. Ashish said to his servants, look at the man.

He's insane. Why bring him to me? Am I short a madman that you would have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house? May God add his blessing to the reading of his word. Now in the word of God, let's turn to the 21st chapter of the first book of Samuel.

Let me say, as you may have gathered if you had a chance to look through the notes and news, that for quite some while I've been taking studies on a Sunday morning on 1 Samuel, sometimes chapter by chapter, occasionally just leaping over a chapter, not because it didn't have anything to say, but simply because I don't want to be continuing in 1 and 2 Samuel to the millennium, assuming that's still future. But what I want to do is to lift out today, as I've sought to do during the past months, something of the practical teaching that is contained within this historical book in the first half of the Bible. I'm always sad when I see in my garden, small though it be, flowers start to wilt.

Sometimes it's a natural consequence. They've run their allotted span. Other times, though not recently, it's because the sun was too hot or they didn't get enough rain.

More often than not, it's my fault. I didn't look after them properly. It's always sad to see a flower wilt.

But an even sadder spectacle is to see a godly man on the droop. Someone who once walked tall, now slouching and limping along. Someone who once had a magnificent faith, now at the point where faith is so very, very difficult to hold on to.

There is a very unusual reference to which you've no need to turn now, unless you particularly wish, in the prophecy of Daniel. If memory serves me right, it's the seventh chapter in the authorized version, which speaks of one whose concern it is to wear out the saints of the Most High. Have you ever seen a worn out saint? Possibly if you're honest, you said you did two hours ago when you looked in a mirror.

Or maybe it's not quite as bad as that, but there have been times when you felt spiritually pretty bankrupt, pretty worn out. And why is it, and I sometimes have to ask myself this question in touring abroad, why is it that sometimes outstanding men and women of God find themselves reduced to the level of drooping, of being worn out? One of the things that attending and preaching at mission conventions around the world has brought to my attention is the fact that there is no one who gets so spiritually tall that he can't at some stage, as a result of heartbreaking circumstances, be compelled to droop. There are times when folk find faith difficult to hang onto, and even those who seem to be so very flourishing come upon hard experiences.

Now I say all that as an introduction to what you discover within the 21st chapter of this passage of scripture to which I'm directing your attention. We might well entitle what is contained here a sad episode. If I'd had more room in the title space in Notes and News, then perhaps I would have called it the enigma of the sadness of David.

Now let me try and sketch in the background, one or two of you will not be aware of the way that I preached last time. It was my privilege to bring you to this particular passage or the chapter before. But with an economy of words, I want to tell you that David has been directed by God in a most graphic fashion to move from the court of Saul and from all that has been precious to him, life in Bethlehem, easy access to the prophet Samuel and to the prince Jonathan.

He has to leave all this behind, because as those of you who are in on the story will know, the pre-arranged signal from Jonathan to David by sending arrows onto a particular flight course is that David has to move away, away from the habitat that he's known, out into the wilderness as a fugitive because Saul is after him and threatens his life. And if there's one thing that David didn't want, when Jonathan came with that pre-arranged signal, it was for the arrows to go beyond him. He wanted them to fall in front of him, so that he, David, could return to that which was known in his life and not move out to the unknown.

Now I tell you that the purposes of God, my young friend and my older friend sometimes, will be very mysterious and very unpalatable for you. This is why I have a premium of always speaking against those who say that when you become a Christian, your problems are so resolved that from then on, in a simplistic fashion, life is happy ever after. For this purpose was the Son of God manifest to destroy the powers of the evil one, but those powers still have some control in our world today, as illustrated in our prayers.

And within the pursuit of the purposes of God, we're sometimes brought up against great difficulty in times of spiritual barrenness. So here is David, and he's sent out literally into an area that he doesn't know very well and into experiences that, for him, are utterly unattractive. He will go out into the wilderness, where the foxes of holes and the birds of the air have nest, but David, anticipating his greatest offspring, the Lord Jesus Christ, will not have where to to put his head, and he doesn't like the idea.

And so this becomes the sadness of David. This tragic episode, when David, magnificent warrior that he was, great man of faith that he illustrates, falls over when God reveals his purposes to him, and he tries to adapt what the Lord wants him to do in his life, just to maneuver it a little way. You ever done that? I wish I could say that in my years of Christian experience, I'd never tried just to adjust the thinking of God.

I do believe he's omnipotent, but now and again he needs a bit of help from me. You know, I say that with tongue-in-cheek, but really it boils down to that. Does it in your life, will you be honest? Lord, not so.

You remember the words that fell from Peter's lips? Lord, sovereign Lord, infinite Lord, you who have all wisdom, all knowledge, Lord, that's what it means when you address God as Lord. Not, not so. Here's my finite little mind making its contribution to your heaped up wisdom, just to keep you along the course, so that you've got it right.

And this is really how David is reacting at this point, you see, he wants to adjust because what he sees of the wilderness experiences is totally unacceptable to him. Now there's evidence of David's great spiritual dilemma, cropping up actually in the 20th chapter, it's anticipated there, and it becomes full-blown in the 21st. You see, if you're going to be spiritually barren, then one of the things that will happen is this, maybe as a causing factor, a causative factor, you will suffer from the fear of man.

The third verse of the 20th chapter illustrates what I'm trying to get at. At the tail end, David knows that Saul doesn't like him, to put it mildly, and so he says to his friend Jonathan, yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death. I think that comment through.

Only let me bring it to you in this form of a proposition, which I'll then illustrate from this experience. How is it that some men can ride over incredible obstacles and then fall down at a much smaller one? Now this is what I mean. David felled Goliath, you remember that? Goliath struck fear into the hearts of all the Hebrews, including Saul the king.

And here is this young whippersnapper David, and he goes down the valley of Elah, having rejected the armor that Saul has handed to him, and he fells Goliath. He gets over the major obstacle. And then, in the passage of time, Saul, the one who quaked when Goliath spoke, directs his animosity, his enmity towards David, and David is fearful.

He gets over the larger, and he stumbles at the lesser. Now this is a phenomenon that you sometimes get in history. Great battles have been fought by courageous armies, and then suddenly there's a smaller skirmish, and all the panic seems to break out amongst the troops who've been so victorious.

You see, you can never guarantee that because you have been triumphant in one great difficulty, that the small ones will create no problem for you. This is the beginning of the saddest episode, or one of the saddest episodes, in the life of David. And I say it's reproduced within the experiences of so many people.

Let's take Peter, shall we, as an example. Who do men say that I am? The words of Jesus. You remember, to Peter and the rest of the disciples? And Peter gets over that tremendous obstacle.

Lord, you are the Son of the living God. You are the Christ. Complimentary remarks are directed to Peter from the Lord Jesus.

And yet the months roll by, and here he is by some brazier, by some open fire, and it's cold. He's in the palace of the high priest, and a young girl comes along, and she suggests that Peter is associated with a carpenter, and he says, I never knew the man. He gets over the highest obstacle, and he falls at a midget, a miniature one.

The sad episodes in life very often are stimulated by our fear, our fear of man, a disproportionate fear. That's what David had in regard to Saul, and it led to what I would next define in trying to diagnose David's problem. It led to a lowering of his standards.

Here is David, the end of the 20th chapter. He leaves, and Jonathan goes back to town, and David goes to Nob, to Ahimelech, the priest. It's the first verse of the following chapter.

Nob is some miles from where David has been with Jonathan. It's actually in the hilly slopes, not that far away from modern Jerusalem, and there there's a little enclave of priests and their descendants, just 85 or 86 of them, and David's in need. You see, he's beginning the life of the fugitive, the life that he doesn't want, but the life that he must have within the purposes of God, for David shall have traits of his character brought to the forefront, and also weaknesses exposed as a result of what God has in store for him in the next few years.

So David is in need, and what does he do? Well, he goes to this priest, Ahimelech, and he starts to deceive a man of God. He does so by telling Ahimelech that he is on his own, and that he does have a company of men who are some distance from him, and that really they are there at Nob, because Saul the king wants them there. David doesn't feel it's right to disclose to Ahimelech that there has been a row between him and Saul, and he's on the run.

He lowers his standards. He deceives the priest. You know, it's amazing what a man can do, even a godly man, when he's out of touch with the Lord.

When he's out of touch with God, then his conduct, I read in one commentator's contribution some while ago, his conduct, his professional behavior can be so different from his former way of life, until his present actions become unacceptable and unbelievable. He's lowering his standards. David is going to be tested on the anvil of his own preaching.

If any of you have any pretensions to be preachers, take my advice. Think it through very carefully before you agree, because the most harrowing experiences I have are when God reminds me of things that I preached, and that I failed to live by. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the valley of the shadows of deep darkness, I'll fear no evil.

Now David, that's what you said. You said it as a teenager. Became one of the most popular psalms sung in the synagogues in Israel.

Now you're going through the valley of deep darkness. How are you going to cope? Fear no evil? That's what you said, but you're in front of a Himalaya, and you're not telling the truth. You're acting out of character with what we have come to know of you.

David, how is it? How are the mighty fallen? You see, God will test you. You can sing these great hymns, my friend. Many of our hymns are prayers of faith, vows that you make before the Lord, and there can come times in your experience when God will say to you, right, you sung it, now live by it.

He lowers his standards, and as a result of what happens, if you read the following chapters, you will discover 85 people lost their lives, because David, the shepherd lad, the sweetest psalmist that Israel ever knew, deceived a Himalaya, the priest, and as a result, Saul wrongly accuses a Himalaya of being treacherous towards him, and the priestly camp, apart from one descendant of a Himalaya, is annihilated, because of David lowering his standards. You see, this is what happens. It's a knock-on.

It's a consecutive thing. You start to have the fear of man. You move away just slightly from the purposes of God, and ere long, you find yourself in a spiral events, a spiral of events which overtake you, and you can't control yourself.

You're acting completely out of character with what we have known of you, and what you have known of yourself subsequently. You see, it's only in God's light, says David. He's a good preacher, is David.

That's the problem with preachers. Very often, their preaching is far in excess of the quality of their living. In his light, I shall see light.

You remember one of the opening psalms, and that's quite true. What does it mean? Well, when I walk within the purposes of God, when I know His light, His nearness, I see light, and I walk deliberately, and I walk knowingly, and I have no area of confusion whatsoever. Let me put it in New Testament context.

Jesus saying, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness. If we walk in the light, then we have fellowship with him. But you see, that's not a blank check that God gives you without some measure of responsibility that you have to live up to.

If you're going to have fellowship with God, then it must be on His terms. Because you are a Christian, it does not mean that you can never grieve the Holy Spirit. You can do that quite easily, as you can grieve your brother, your sister, your wife, your husband, or whatever.

And when God is grieved, because you are moving away from His purposes, then the light that He promises to direct towards you is eclipsed because of your disobedience. And how I see David in the 21st chapter is a man who is not walking in the light of God, and as a result of this, it's total blackness, it's confusion. This is why he goes from one mistake to another mistake to another mistake.

I don't criticize David. You see, I find here in the 21st chapter an illustration of myself, caught up in a downward spiral, not able to control and condition events within my life, because at one point I've gone away, I've deviated from the purposes of God, the lowering of standards. David, disheartened.

And as a result of what is happening, as he deceives Ahimelech, David's problems increase. He appreciates that there's a man there, verse 7, by the name of Doeg. Now this rather unfortunately named fellow was also a confidant of King Saul, and David appreciates that sooner or later Doeg will be off to Saul to tell Saul where David is.

And the upshot of all that is David appreciates that he's without a spear. He's utterly unarmed. Look at verse 8. And so David puts a question to Ahimelech, don't you have a spear or sword here? You see, he's going to need one.

Well, because of Saul, because of the men who are pursuing him, he's going to need some way of defending himself. But for those of you who've got spiritual vision, as you read the 8th verse and the the reaction of Ahimelech, you will appreciate that David's perception has been blinded completely. Now remember, Ahimelech's not exactly in control of an armory.

They don't usually get weapons where priests are. Very funny, priests, if they've got a stockpile of weapons alongside them. But what they have there at Nob, which isn't so far away from the valley of Elah, is a trophy which has tremendous implications for every Israelite.

I'm referring to the sword of Goliath. It was taken from the scene of the battle, and it was pinned up somewhere in one of the walls of the sanctuary at Nob. Now David says, get me that one.

There's none like it. And I think that if there was ever a time when David's spiritual blindness is revealed, it was just then. Now I'm departing from most commentators in my argument here, but I'm immodest enough to believe that I'm right.

I think that this was God speaking to David in his blindness, in his confusion, endeavouring to help him. You see, the sword of Goliath, what should it have brought back into the forefront of his mind? Well, the occasion when he, David, as a young lad, went down the valley of Elah. He had no sword.

He had no javelin. Even the equipment of the king he spurned because it was too big for him, and he felt clumsy in it. You remember? And David just had the sling, and he picked up the stones, and with God he was all right.

What does that sword stand for? Not for something for David literally to take down and put beneath his buckle, and ultimately to wield against Saul or against the Philistines, but surely it is providentially the disclosure of God for David to remember that time had been in the past when he, David, on his own with God were sufficient to vanquish the Philistines. And so David could have still coped out in the wilderness, fulfilling the purposes of the Lord, believing that spiritual equipment would be granted to him whenever the occasion arose. But David, who had not hesitated to advance against Goliath with nothing in hand more than his sling, now the fear of man possesses him so much that he places confidence in Goliath's sword, and he says to Ahimelech, bring it to me.

There's none like it. Oh, the tragedy of failing to recall past lessons, the way that God dealt with you, the failure of using your trophies in a wrong way, instead of stimulating your confidence for the present, groping back into something which is really a helpless utensil to come to your aid in present difficulty. This, I suggest, was a tragedy of David.

He didn't need the sword. What he needed was the reminder that that God who'd helped him in times past would help him against Saul and all the problems out in the areas to which he'd been directed by the symbolism of the arrows. Now, you see, it's a spiral.

I've said that before. It's a knock-on thing, you see. You're moving out to the presence of God, and you become duller and dimmer in your spiritual perception, and so David's reason is impaired.

I look at the 10th verse with utter horror. David realizes that Doeg has gone to Saul, and so there's no safe place in the kingdom for him. So what does David, with his reason, decide to do? That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish, king of Garth.

Can I take you on the journey? You see, the very territory that David had to cover to get into Achish should once again have reminded him of the way that God had blessed and helped him in days gone by. From Nob he would have to go down the slopes of Olivet, across the Brook Kidron, and ultimately to the valley of Elah. Now, it was at Elah that he fought the Philistine, Goliath.

Surely that would have brought back to David the memory of what God had done for him in the past, and how the Lord was directing him in the present. But you see, David is spiritually blind at this stage. I mean, does insanity have any greater illustration when David seeks hospitality from king Achish with the sword of Goliath under his buckle? I mean, if anything was less likely to impress the Philistines, it would be a reminder of the way that David had felled their champion.

But a man can get very low in reason when he's moving out of the purposes of God, when emotion is on the throne, and his concerns for doing God's will have really evaporated. You see, the Lord Jesus, if he were along and were commenting on this story, I think I speak reverently, would point us to a saying of his, that we are to seek first the kingdom of heaven, and not to fear him who can slay the body, but rather fear the one who could, as a result of his interests in our life, condemn both body and soul in hell. You see, this is a great problem that's confronting David at this moment.

He's so concerned about his life, his physical well-being, that he forgets the more important thing, his integrity as a man before his God. You know, the Bible says the way of a transgressor is hard. One of the hardest experiences in life, and some of you dear friends will testify to it as much as I, is when you go against what you know to be the will of the Lord in your life.

You are not a backslider with comfort. The way of a transgressor is hard, and when you try to adjust God's circumstance, the circumstances that God brings, or if you like to water down some of his law, simply because it suits you better, ultimately you inflict far greater injury and hurt upon yourself than the chafing you would feel if you submitted to the chastening of the Lord. Here I say as David, with his reason impaired, he, armed with Goliath's sword, goes off to Achish, the king of the Philistines.

And there, what does he do? How do you live in this world, my friend? What's your testimony like? You see, the apostle Paul says that we are to live blameless and harmless as the sons of God amidst a crooked and perverse generation among whom we are to shine as lights. Is there much illumination as a result of your testimony in the area where you're living, amongst your family, amongst your friends? You say, why are you saying this? I haven't followed you. Well, you see, it's David that I'm coming back to.

The reason why we're studying David is not because historically he's interesting. I mean, he is, I'll warrant that, but it's not my procedure on a Sunday to lecture in Old Testament history. We're concerned with David because he's a like man to us.

In other words, there is that of David which resembles us, particularly in his weaknesses. So here is David, a righteous man chosen by God in the camp of the Philistines, which by definition must stand for the ranks of the ungodly. Now, what sort of testimony has David amongst them? Well, Achish and his men recognize immediately who he is.

Their intelligence actually is a little incorrect. They believe that he's already in control of Israel, that he has superseded Saul. That's not yet right, but their prediction was fair.

And so they remind themselves of one of the songs which is being heard around Israel. Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands. This is the man who has come right into their camp armed with the sword of Goliath.

You know that expression, out of the frying pan into the fire? Smile if you know it. It's nice to get some sort of feedback from the congregation. It's not a biblical one, and yet in one sense it sums up what's happening here.

He's out of the frying pan, he's away from Saul. Oh, but he's into the fire. And that happens when you try to flee from the purposes of God in your life.

You hurt yourself more. They're conniving behind the back of the king. David's all ears.

He knows what's happening. And he appreciates that he is not being received with a great amount of favor and enthusiasm. They don't take him as a defector that's come over to their side and therefore should be treated royally.

They look upon him as a threat. And David, whose life is in danger from Saul, has the conclusion or makes the conclusion that his life is in much greater danger on the part of the Philistines. So what does this man do? This man who years ago has been anointed by Samuel in the town of Bethlehem.

This man who is called the friend of God. This man who has had greater theological perception as to who God is than the majority of contemporary theologians. What does he do? He's unpleasant.

He dribbles the saliva out of his mouth flowing onto his beard. His fingers become as a claw of an animal as he scrapes against the doors of the place where he is. He pretends that he's mad.

How are the mighty fallen when David's son of Jesse is in such circumstances that he has to feign madness to get himself out of the dilemma. But David, you're called to live as a spotless man amongst a sinful generation. You're called to shine as a light to the glory of the God of Israel.

And look at you. With all the murderous intentions of Saul towards you, he could not have reduced you to the state in which you now find yourself in. You see, my friend, the cost of running away from God.

Not the cost of forfeiting your salvation. I don't believe that is possible. But the cost of forfeiting your credibility.

The cost of being out of the will of God to the extent that you're hurting yourself and hurting yourself and hurting yourself. The cost of being at Nob. The cost of being at Garth rather than being at Adullam where God has directed you.

And the only way that David will achieve his self-respect again by God's grace is when he gets out of Philistia and he goes back to the wilderness to which the arrows have pointed. For it's there in the cave of Adullam that God shall restore David and show you and me how he treats with compassion his disobedient servant. Now isn't it interesting, and I say this with my concluding comments, that in the 34th Psalm you find at the head of the psalm, if you will turn to it, an acknowledgement of when David penned the verses.

I read it as you're finding it. Psalm 34 of David when he feigned insanity before Abimelech who drove him away and he left. I will extol the Lord at all times.

His praise will always be on my lips. David is now through the experience. He's come to his senses he's back in the area where the arrows have directed he is to live his life.

And he tells us in the fifth verse, those who look to God are radiant, their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man he called David in his wretchedness, David with the bespittled beard, David with the forfeited reputation. This poor man called and the Lord heard him.

He saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and he delivers them. Yes, says David, I didn't see it at the time, but I now know it.

Verse 9, fear the Lord you his saints, not Saul, not Goliath, not Achish. Fear the Lord. Why? Because if you fear the Lord then there is nothing lacking in your experience or as the A.V. puts it, there's nothing else to fear.

And David the penitent preaches to you and me from his graphic tragic experience. Come my children, verse 11, listen to me. I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Whoever of you loves life, I David, you love life, that's why you jeopardize the life of the Himalayan men and desire to see many days that was you, David. Keep your tongue from evil. We know what you're referring to, David, and your lips from speaking lies.

Ah, but David, we've often done this. We've engaged in evil and we've told lies. What can our future be? Verse 19, the Lord, verse 18, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Verse 22, the Lord redeems his servants. No one who takes refuge in him will be condemned. If I had the time, I'd take you on to the 56th Psalm, which also was written at the same moment, but I've said enough.

Here in our chapter, there is an account of one of the saddest episodes in the whole of the experience of David, but thank God for him, there was a resolution, as there is for you and for me, a returning to the heart of the purposes of God, back to Adulam, where God wants you to live, and away from Philistia, and the unwarranted fear of Saul and Achish. Let's sing a hymn, an old hymn that dovetails with what I've tried to share. 414.

414. We'll sing the refrain after the first verse, and then after the last verse, all right? There are five verses, we'll sing trust and obey after the first verse, then go right through the other verses, and sing it right at the end of the fifth verse. 414.

414. 414. 414.

414. 414. 414.

414. Father, help us to appreciate that in our life, you know the way we take, and we have the option of making it your way or ours, and even if we choose the latter, you still know, and ultimately will use Achish to send us back in our mad state, to the place where you want us to go. But Father, we ask that with sense on our side, we may elect to do what is your will, and thus know the secret of abiding in yourself, and the presence of God with us, day by day and week by week.

Help us to walk in the light as you are in the light, and always to have fellowship with you, for Jesus' sake. Amen.