Theological Commentary: Click Here
In this
chapter, God uses David to save a town from the hands of the Philistines. Unfortunately for David, these aren’t people
who are loyal to him. When Saul hears
about David’s presence, Saul pursues David.
The Lord warns David that the people of the town will turn David over to
Saul, so David flees.
There is a
neat point that we can bring out here.
Do you remember who came to serve with David? In the last chapter, we hear that David is
joined by those who were distressed under Saul’s kingship, those who were
embittered under Saul’s kingship, and those who were indebted under Saul’s
kingship. In other words, David is able
to make friends of those who would be in a better position for him to become
king.
On the other
hand, take these people of the city that David just saved from the hands of the
Philistines. They are masters over their
own city now that David has saved them.
While they should feel a debt to David for freeing them from the
Philistine oppression, they actually see David as a means to strengthen their
position under Saul!
What’s the
lesson that we can learn here? It is not
safe to assume that people will remember what we’ve done for them. People will always seek the path that will
put them in the better position. The men
who are David’s allies are such because it will be to their advantage. The people of the city seek to turn David
over because they see an advantage to it.
Of course,
that doesn’t mean that we don’t go out and do good. We continue to help people regardless of
whether they are appreciative and remember or not. We do it because we know that God will
remember. But we do it remembering that
people will seek their own advantage first; it is just human nature to do so.
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