Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

To read 1 Samuel 19, click the link HERE.

Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”
“Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
“Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”
David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
“Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.
Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.”
So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan, and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
“Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.
Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

• 1 Samuel 20:1-42

David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on 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 chief shepherd.
David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. 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 Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish 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 Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane 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.
Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

• 1 Samuel 21:1-15

To read 1 Samuel 22, click the link HERE.

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

1 Samuel 19:1 ‘kill David’: “Saul no longer tried to disguise or cover his evil intent toward David, but ironically made known his intent to those who held David in the highest esteem (cf. 16:18; 18:1–4). God, in His mercy, made sure that David had sympathetic ears within Saul’s court to inform him of Saul’s evil plans (e.g., 19:7; 20:2).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 19:4, 5 ‘he has not sinned’: “Jonathan reminded Saul that David had done nothing to deserve death; in fact, he was worthy of honor for his good works toward the king and Israel. Jonathan knew that the spilling of innocent blood would affect all Israel, not just the house of Saul (Deut. 21:8, 9).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 19:9 ‘the distressed spirit’: ”Jealousy, rage, and anger once again dominated Saul, who was enraged by David’s success against the Philistines. See 16:14; 18:10.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 19:11 ‘Michal … told him’: “Michal, far from being a ‘snare’ (18:21) to David, was instrumental in saving his life. Michal, at this time in her relationship with David, displayed a covenantal love and faithfulness similar to that of Jonathan. See the title of Ps. 59.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 19:23 ‘the Spirit of God was upon him’: “This was the last time the Spirit of the Lord would rest on Saul. God turned Saul’s heart to prophesy and not to harm David. See … 16:13.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 20:6 ‘a yearly sacrifice’: “Apparently, David’s family held an annual family reunion that coincided with one of the monthly New Moon celebrations (cf. vv. 28, 29).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 20:8 ‘covenant’: ” Cf. 18:1, 3. Jonathan and David had solemnly pledged their friendship and loyalty to each other before the Lord. Their covenant is further amplified in vv. 13–17, 42; 23:17, 18. kill me yourself. As his covenant friend, David asked Jonathan to kill him, if he was deserving of death because of his possible sin.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 20:10 ‘Saul answered Jonathan roughly’: “It was not an unlikely thing that his father would answer Jonathan roughly; Saul had taken great offense against David, while Jonathan, his eldest son, on the contrary, loved David as his own soul. Jonathan could hardly think that his father really meant harm to so good a man as David, and he expressed to David that opinion. And then David, to be prepared for the worst, asked him this question, ‘What if your father answers you roughly?’ It did so happen; Saul answered his son with bitter words, and in the desperation of his anger, he even hurled a javelin at him. Yet Jonathan did not forsake David; he clung to him with all the faithfulness of love; and until his death, which was much mourned by David, he remained his fast and faithful friend. Now this question of David to Jonathan is one which we should put to all believers in Christ, especially to the younger ones who have lately entered into covenant with the great son of David, and who, in the ardor of their hearts, feel that they could live and die for him. They will meet with opposition from their dearest friends perhaps their father, brother, husband, or uncle will answer them roughly; or perhaps their mother, wife, or sister will become a persecutor to them. What then? What will they do under such circumstances? Will they follow the Lord through evil report? ‘What if your father answers you roughly?’ Remember that this supposition is a likely one. There are a few Christians so blessed that all their friends accompany them in the pilgrimage to heaven; what advances they ought to make in the sacred journey! What excellent Christians they ought to be! They are like plants in a conservatory; they ought to grow and bring forth the loveliest flowers of divine grace. But few are in that situation; the large proportion of Chris­ tians find themselves opposed by those of their own family, or by those with whom they work or live. Is it not likely to be so? Was it not so from the beginning? Is there not hostility between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman? Did Cain not slay his brother Abel because he was accepted by the Lord? In the family of Abraham was there not an Ishmael, born after the flesh, who persecuted Isaac, who was born after the Spirit? Was not Joseph hated by his brothers? Was not David persecuted by Saul, Daniel by the Persian princes, and Jeremiah by ‘the kings of Israel’? Has it not always been so? Did not the Lord Jesus Christ himself meet with slander, cruelty, and death; and did he not tell us that we must not look for favor where he found rejection? He said plainly, ‘I came not to send peace on the earth but a sword.’ And he declared that the immediate result of preaching the gospel would be to set the son against the father, and the father against the son, so that a man’s foes should be of his own household.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Samuel 20:14 ‘the kindness of the Lord’: “Jonathan acknowledged that David would one day be Israel’s king. With that in mind, Jonathan requested protection for him and his family when David took the throne.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 20:16-17 ‘The Friends who Matter’: “In the work that I do, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to rub shoulders with people of high status. I could easily have chosen to be friends only with those considered by society to be ‘important.’ But that’s not how I choose my friends. I look for people of character whose company I enjoy. Some of those people are famous and influential, others are not. I appreciate the people in my life for the ways they live according to their character and values and, in the process, shape and reinforce mine.
“My parents always discouraged us from hanging around people who didn’t share our values. We knew to be friendly to everyone but not to become friends with everyone. Instead, we were encouraged to hang out with people whose inner cores would build us up.  And I still look for that today.
“That’s why I always enjoyed attending the coaches’ camps put on each year by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. No one cares about status at those camps. NFL coaches interact with high school assistant coaches. Division I college coaches aren’t distinguished from small-school coaches. You wouldn’t be able to tell who’s who simply by listening to their conversations because they are all just guys who enjoy football, helping young men, and living for Christ. Their achievements and their status take a backseat to the more important things.
“The short week spent together at these camps gives me much-needed encouragement. I share the same values with the friends I’ve met there, and they build me up. Just being with them reminds me of the important things in life and reinforces the values I’ve chosen to have.
“When you choose your friends based on their values and not their status, being with them will recharge your batteries and help keep you grounded in a world in which status is much too highly valued.”

• Tony Dungy, Uncommon Life – Daily Challenge (excerpt from devotion for 10 January)

1 Samuel 20:26 ‘unclean’: “At first, Saul did not question David’s absence at the feast, assuming that he was ritually unclean and thus could not participate in the meal (cf. Lev. 7:20, 21; 15:16).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 21:2 ‘The king has ordered me’: “David, fearing someone might tell Saul where he was, deceived Ahimelech the priest into thinking that he was on official business for the king. He supposed, as many do, that it is excusable to lie for the purpose of saving one’s life. But what is essentially sinful can never, because of circumstances, change its immoral character (cf. Ps. 119:29). David’s lying led tragically to the deaths of the priests (22:9–18).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 21:5, 6 ‘bread … common’: “Since that bread was no longer on the Lord’s table, having been replaced by hot bread, it was to be eaten by the priests and in these exigencies, by David under the law of necessity and mercy. See … 21:4. The removal of the old bread and the replacing with new was done on the Sabbath (Lev. 24:8).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 21:9 ‘escaped without provisions’: “David had been warned by Jonathan that Saul sought his life, and, therefore, he left the court in a hurry and fled. He appears to have gone in such haste that he did not take proper provision with him; he did not even take his sword. Coming to Nob, where the priests dwelt, he received the sacred bread that had been offered to God as the showbread, and he and the men with him ate it. And when he asked Ahimelech if he could furnish him with a weapon, he said there was no sword there except one: ‘The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth be­ hind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.’ And David said, ‘There’s none like it; give it to me.’ We should not spiritualize this text, but I will simply say that as a general principle, the conviction of excellence leads us to desire possession. ‘There’s none like it’ is the conviction of excellence. ‘Give it to me’- there is the desire to possess. This truth of God in spiritual things may be applied to some six or seven things. First, it may be applied to the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. ‘There’s none like it; give it to me.’ Another example of excellence is the salvation provided in Christ Jesus. The third illustration is unfaltering faith in the promises of God. Those who have enjoyed this will know there is nothing like it in all the world. The fourth thing equally precious is a life of near and dear communion with Christ. The possession of spiritual power-the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit is another most precious thing concerning which, I trust, we have a conviction of excellence which will lead us to desire its possession. I want to speak so as to touch some who are not yet converted, and I think I must use another illustration of the principle which leads wise people to desire possession, namely, the privilege of the Christian. What is a Christian? Well, first, he is a son of God, an heir of heaven, a prince of the blood imperial, one of God’s aristocrats soaring right above the common level. He is as much above other people as other people are above brutes. He is a person of a new race-he does not belong to this world-he is an alien, a stranger. His citizenship is in heaven. He can look up to God and say, ‘My Father.’ The Spirit of adoption is in his heart. Once more on this list of excellence: the Christian’s hope. May we not justly say, ’There is nothing like it’?”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Samuel 21:13 ‘changed his behavior’: “David feared for his life, lacked trust in God to deliver him, and feigned insanity to persuade Achish to send him away. See the titles of Pss. 34, 56. Drooling in one’s beard was considered in the East an intolerable indignity, as was spitting in another’s beard.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 22:2 ‘David – like Christ, despised and rejected’: “David in the cave of Adullam is a type of our Lord Jesus Christ­ despised and rejected among the sons of Adam. When David was in dishonor, it was the time for his true friends to rally around him. And so at this hour, when the name of Christ is associated with much dishonor and rebuke, now is the time for the true followers of the Savior to rally around his banner and to embrace his are privileged to enlist under the banner of Christ at this present time, who will not be ashamed to confess him before the sons of Adam, or to boldly take up his cross and to suffer such loss and persecution as it may please his providence to ordain for them. But besides his own relatives, others joined with David. Why did they join him? For much the same rea­ son that has influenced many of us. It was because they had need of him. They ought to have gone to David because his character was so good and his conduct so upright. They ought to have helped him because his disposition was so kind and sympathizing. They might well have rallied to his standard because he was the Lord’s anointed. They might, as wise people, have cast in their lot with him because there was prophecy and promise of his triumph and his reign over the nation. But they were really swayed by other motives. They went to him for three reasons-because they were distressed, because they were in debt, and because they were discontented. Those who have no power should take heart because Christ is the power of God. There is ability enough in him to make up for all our impotency. We may come and cast ourselves with all our weakness on his irresistible might, and we will have a full supply of all our souls need. Come to Jesus, all who are lost, ruined, undone, poverty stricken. Come and trust the Master, the son of David. The poor debtor will be taken out of the debtor’s prison and introduced to the Master’s table. Bankrupt debtors make good soldiers for the King.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

1 Samuel 22:7 ‘Benjamites’: “Saul asked those of his own tribe whether associating themselves with David would provide for them more possessions and privileges than they already had from Saul.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 22:16-19 ‘curse on Eli’s house’: “This fulfills the curse on Eli’s house (see … 1 Sam. 2:31), with the exception of Abiathar, who was later dismissed from the priesthood by Solomon (1 Kin. 2:26–29).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 22:17 ‘would not … strike the priests’: “Although Saul condemned Ahimelech and the priests to death, his servants knew better than to raise their weapons against the priests of the Lord.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 22:20 ‘Abiathar’: “Lit. ‘The father is excellent.’ A son of Ahimelech (cf. 21:1) who escaped the slaughter and joined David’s company, he performed priestly functions for David for the rest of David’s life (cf. 23:6, 9; 30:7; 2 Sam. 8:17). See note on 22:16–19.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

1 Samuel 22:22 ‘I have caused’: “David recognized his responsibility for causing the deaths of the priests’ families and animals, acknowledging the devastating consequences of his lie to Ahimelech (cf. 21:1, 2).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

My Thoughts

Saul goes totally off his rocker.

He gathers his trusted men along with Jonathan, his eldest son.  He tells them that they must kill David.

Jonathan argues that David has done nothing wrong and that what David has done has benefited Saul.

Saul vows not to kill David, but he immediately starts to plot how to kill David.  In biblical times, making a vow was one of the most sacred things someone could do.  Jesus taught that it would be better to never make the vow.  But in Saul’s demented mind, he was king, and he thought he was above the curse upon someone who went against a vow.

But during this moment of plotting, David is at King Saul’s table.  An evil spirit enters Saul, and he tries to pin David to the wall with a spear.  David runs for his life.  Later, he goes to his house and Michal, daughter of Saul and wife of David, helps David escape.  She puts an idol in David’s bed and places goat hair on the pillow.  He tells the guards who are sworn to kill David that he is in bed asleep.  Saul demands that the bed be brought if necessary.  David must die.  Then the ruse is discovered.  David is already in Naioth with Samuel.

In Naioth, the men with Samuel are prophesying.  A team of assassins come to capture David, but instead they prophesy.  Another team and a third team are sent, all laying down their arms and prophesying.  Even Saul goes to Naioth, strips naked, and prophesies.  The people see him prophesying and wonder if he too is a prophet from God.  Rev. MacArthur notes this was the last time a good spirit ever indwelled Saul.

In 1 Samuel 20, we see the friendship between Jonathan and David grow.  Jonathan thinks that there is still hope.  David disagrees.  They establish a test at the New Moon festival.  Being a son-in-law, David would be required to be at the table, but David concocts a ruse.  He tells Jonathan to say that he is in Bethlehem where his family always makes a sacrifice at this time.  If Saul gets angry, which he never did when talking to Jonathan, then Jonathan would give David a sign to run for his life.  Saul, on the second day, asks about Jonathan.  Jonathan tells the lie.  Saul cursed Jonathan angrily for joining forces with David against him.

Jonathan gives the signal that David is in danger and then he dismisses his servant.  They swear their allegiance to each other, they kiss, and David leaves.

So much is made of this encounter that is not biblical.  They were not lovers; they were friends.  In those days a kiss was a greeting or a blessing upon someone leaving.  Deep inside, they knew they would never see each other alive.  Jonathan and David had fought the Philistines side by side, or at least army commands next to each other.  Having been in the military, you had to trust the man on your left and the man on your right, or there would be no security for the people under your command.  David and Jonathan were like brothers because they trusted one another with their lives.  The Scripture says they loved one another as they loved themselves – precisely the command that God gives us to love our neighbor in the same way.  There is nothing here that suggests anything different.

David first goes to Nob where Ahimelek has the priests.  He lies.  He says that he and his men are on a mission, and they need weapons and bread.  The only bread is consecrated bread.  Ahimelek can only give David the bread for his men if they have not been with a woman – ceremonial cleanliness requires more than this, but that is all that is asked.  David probably told the truth that in that regard his men were always “holy” when on a mission.  One of the other aspects of ceremonial cleanliness was not touching a dead body.  So, remaining “holy” is virtually impossible with the hand-to-hand combat of that day.

As for the sword, Ahimelek offers David the sword of Goliath.

Doeg the Edomite is there with the priests.  David knew Doeg was faithful to Saul, but he said or did nothing.  He maintained his ruse and left with the bread and sword.

David then goes to Gath.  At this point, David encounters people who sing the songs about him in Israel.  David becomes frightened enough to pretend to be crazy.  He is not welcomed at Gath, and he goes on to Adullam where his family and 400 men join him.

They move on to the Moab town of Mizpah.  There are several locations with the name Mizpah in the Bible, several different places mentioned in Joshua alone.  David leaves his parents there for their protection.  God, through the prophet Gad, instructs David to remain in Judah.

In the meantime, Saul reaches Nob.  He challenges Ahimelek for providing aid to David.  Ahimelek pleads his ignorance that David was an enemy.  Saul orders all the priests to be killed.  None of Saul’s soldiers would do so, but Doeg the Edomite volunteers.  He kills all but Abiathar, who escaped and joined David.  Doeg goes on to kill everyone in Nob, being those that supported the priests.

David says that Abiathar is as safe with him as any other place since Saul is trying to kill him.

Note that Abiathar now is the sole survivor of the Eli line of priests.  They were cursed to all be killed and within one generation, all but Abiathar are killed, and Abiathar would be dealt with by Solomon.  Yet, there are other descendants of Aaron who could take over, if the branch of Eli is completely removed.

Here we see the work of evil similar to many times since then.  If the anointed one, or Anointed One (in referring to Christ), could be killed, then God’s plan of redemption would be thwarted.  But the line of David would be preserved, and the line of Aaron would be preserved.  Then when it comes to Jesus, He rises from the dead.

David is never killed by Saul, but there are many times when the prospect of living was dim.  But David did not run from God.  He trusted God.  When you read the Psalms, there are many psalms where he asks where God is, but he always praises God also.

When we have enemies attacking from all sides, God is the only one we can trust.  Praise Him.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

1 Samuel 19 1. How has your loyalty to friends been tested recently? Were you giving the test to others, or taking it yourself? Did you (or they) pass the loyalty test? How so?
“2. Is there any situation in your life right now in which you feel like ‘the enemy is closing in’? Have you devised a plan of escape? Have you had to make good on it yet?
“3. Like Saul, have you any less-than-holy plans which God continues to frustrate despite your persistence? What would it take for you to submit to God’s stronger and wiser will? How can you use praise and worship to help you?
1 Samuel 20 1. Do you think your parents are totally honest with you all the time? Why? When have you presumed to know their innermost thoughts, only to be proven wrong in a big way? How did you handle that piercing hurt?
“2. What does this chapter indicate about the quality of a ‘Jonathan-David type’ friendship? When have you experienced such a covenant bond with a member of the same sex?
“3. Whose circumstances and emotions do you most readily identify with: Saul, trying to preserve your own self­ interests?·David, trying to escape and torn by conflict of interests? Or Jonathan, losing a loved one?
“4. When is it right to go against authority in obeying God? When is it wrong? What elements in civil or familial disobedience are never right?
1 Samuel 21:1-9 David at Nob 1. Jesus supports David for eating the show bread (see Mt 12:1-4). Why? When is it right to disregard sacred rituals (see Lk:6:6-9)?
“2. Does this principle apply to David’s lie? To sexual holiness?
“3. What ‘sacred bread’ has the Lord fed you with this past week? With what ‘sword’ has he armed you?
1 Samuel 21:10-15 David at Gath 1. When has an ‘in­ sanity plea’ or role play worked for you?
“2. How do you honestly face fear?
1 Samuel 22:1-5 David at Abdullam and Mizpah 1. In what area of your life are you waiting to learn what God will do for you?
1 Samuel 22:6-23 Saul Kills the Priests of Nob 1. When, if ever, have you been consumed with a desire for revenge? If looks or thoughts could kill, how many of your friends would be dead by now: 9? 99? What friends? Are you still bearing any hateful grudges? Any stepping-over-others to get ahead?
“2. What ‘little sin’ have you committed, only to be shocked at its far-reaching consequences? How can you help each other to ‘count the cost’ of each temptation?
“3. With whom do you-most readily identify? Which of their weaknesses do you also detect in your own life?
“4. How will you bring these admitted weaknesses under the lordship of Christ?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There is one set of questions for 1 Samuel 19 and 20.  There are two sets of questions for 1 Samuel 21 and 22 as noted.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.