Year 7, Day 313: 1 Samuel 27

Theological Commentary: Click Here

The thing that I hate most about studying the life of David is exactly the same thing that I love about studying the life of David. David is such a real person.  One minute I am praising David’s focus on God’s ways.  The next minute I am confounded by his actions.  He’s so real because he’s always bouncing between awesome character, questionable character, and downright bad character.

For example, take today’s story.  I think this is a story about questionable character.  David flees Saul, which sounds like a great idea.  If David isn’t in the territory of the Hebrew people, then Saul will have a more difficult time trying to kill David.  It works out well for both people.

David goes to the Philistines and lives among them.  While not an ideal move, David seems to be accepted and makes a living among them.  He doesn’t make enemies of them and gets along well with the neighbors.  Again, this seems like a swell decision.

Furthermore, David goes on raids in order to provide for his people.  While not a great ethic choice in the modern world, the truth is that raiding was a cultural reality in David’s day.  Right or wrong, it was a part of life.  David chooses to raid people who dwell away from the place he’s chosen to live among the Philistines – although not too far.  This also seems like a great idea.  If you are going to make people mad at you, you don’t want it to be the people that you live right beside.

But then we see the flaw in the character.  David lies about what he’s doing.  David allows the Philistines to think that he has been raiding his own people.  David lies to cover up that he’s not really making his own people mad at him.  David doesn’t just allow the Philistines to believe what they think is true, David promotes the lie.  That’s pretty sketchy in my book.

Furthermore, David knows what he is doing is wrong.  David kills everyone he meets when he raids.  He does this so that there wouldn’t be any survivors to tell stories to counter David’s lies.  This is simply downright corrupt.  Raiding for supplies was a part of life in the ancient world.  Slaughtering everyone you raided was not a part of everyday life.  It may have happened occasionally, but even then it was an atrocity when it happened.

David really has questionable character in this story.  Yes, many of his decision are based on sound logic.  But are they based upon godly logic?  Is David seeking gain in the world around him through godly means or through worldly means?

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