Tuesday, March 11, 2014

David departed

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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1 Samuel 29:6–11, “Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not. Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master’s servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart. So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.”

The Lord intervened for David’s sake to ensure that he didn’t have to fight against Israel or Saul. Even though Saul had spent a long time trying to kill David, David had refused to do anything to Saul. David would have faced a serious challenge to his faith if he had been forced to go into war against his own nation. Should he try and defeat Saul and bring an end to Saul’s kingdom? On the other hand, if he changed sides he could very well help Saul and defeat the Philistines. If the Philistines were defeated then Saul would go back to being king of Israel. Saul was a dangerous and unpredictable man so David would not be safe in neither Israel nor Philistia. As it was, David was removed from the scene and played no part in the battle.

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