Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Year 7, Day 312: 1 Samuel 26

Theological Commentary: Click Here


I’ve always found this conflict between Saul and David interesting.  Saul seems bent on destroying David.  David seems bent on not destroying Saul.  Time and time again Saul pursues David to kill him.  Time and time again David finds himself in apposition to kill Saul and he lets him live.  This is a great study in contrasts.

What makes this story even more great is that we need to consider why it is that Saul desires to kill David.  He desires to kill David because he is jealous.  He wants to kill David because David is God’s elect and that means that Saul’s son won’t ascend to the throne.  He wants David dead because he is king and he is used to following his own compulsion.

On the other hand, look at David.  We are told again and again that David is a man after God’s own heart.  What is so special about David, especially since he seems so prone to sin?  What makes David special is his understanding that God’s ways are different than the ways of mankind.  How many times does David’s own soldiers try to convince him to take the life of Saul?  How many times does David refute them and allow vengeance to be in God’s hands?  In this regard – in fact, in almost all scenarios except those that involve wives – David is incredibly gifted at looking beyond what the world would expect and instead look to what God would call him to do.

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