I've always found the story of David hiding while Jonathan figures out King Saul's intentions towards David and their secret code to let David know what Jonathan discovers to be a bit odd. Why bother with all the secret code stuff if they were going to meet in person to embrace and talk anyway? Why didn't they just meet in a secret location for Jonathan to tell David what had happened, instead of bothering with the whole arrow thing?
But I think I know what happened. I don't think Jonathan really believed David that his father would actually kill him. But when Jonathan finally became convinced of the reality of his father's murderous rage, he realized the seriousness of the whole situation and the fact that he and David would likely never see each other again, or if they would, it would be short secret meetings only. And so the reality sinks in and the two friends cannot bear to part without an actual goodbye. So they risk discovery in order to embrace and reaffirm their commitments to each other. What a beautiful depiction of true friendship.
David Guzik says...
When David said goodbye to Jonathan, he did the right thing. First, he went to the house of the Lord. But when he was there, he did the wrong thing - he lied to Ahimelech the priest, and tried to protect himself with clever lies instead of trusting God to protect him.
David lied instead of trusting God to protect him. The result (in tomorrow's passage) was the murder of over 80 priests and the entire town of Nob.
David then decides to flee to Gath, the city of Goliath, with Goliath's sword in hand. Doesn't seem like a terribly bright idea to me. God humbles David as He rescues David out of his own mess by having David act like a madman to save his life.
Psalm 56 is technically tomorrow's passage, but it ties in to our passage today. From David Guzik again...
David’s words in Psalm 56 help us understand what happened here. The title of that Psalm identifies as the song he wrote when the Philistines captured him in Gath. Apparently, although 1 Samuel 21 doesn’t detail it, the Philistines captured David when he came to Gath. David thought he could find anonymity or sympathy among the ungodly Philistines in Gath, but he was wrong! So, at the end of 1 Samuel 21:10, when David wrote Psalm 56, he was in a bad place.
i. Psalm 56 begins the right way: Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up (Psalm 56:1). In other Psalms, David asks God to take up his righteous cause against his opponents. Here, David knows that his own sinful fears and choices brought him to this place, so he simply and wisely asks for mercy.
ii. In Psalm 56, David shows a different heart. Instead of trusting in his own cleverness or refuge among the ungodly, he says whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), in God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me? (Psalm 56:3)
iii. In Psalm 56, David renews his relationship and confidence in God. You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book? When I cry out to You, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me (Psalm 56:8-9). When David trusted in himself or in the ungodly, he had forgotten that God was really for him. Now he remembers it!
iv. In Psalm 56, David gets back in touch with God’s word. Three times in the Psalm, he repeats the phrase I will praise His word (Psalm 56:4; 56:10). When David trusted in himself or in the ungodly, he had distanced himself from God’s truth. Now, he will praise His word! In 1998, a Marine Corps pilot flying low in the Italian Alps clipped a gondola cable, and 20 people plunged to their death. Just a few weeks later, a crew of five Navy fliers was killed in California's Sequoia National Forest when their helicopter smashed into power lines. Three years earlier, a crash involving the same power lines had killed two people. In 1999, NATO forces bombed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and injuring 20 others. Each of these tragedies had the same cause: faulty maps. Investigators say that the National Imagery and Mapping Agency and its predecessor organization have played a role in at least a dozen accidents since 1985, some involving fatalities and loss of military aircraft. If you don’t have the right map, you will get into trouble. God’s Word is the map for our lives. So, when David says I will praise His word, he is back in touch with the essential road map for his life.
v. In Psalm 56, David starts praising the Lord again. Vows made to You are binding upon me, O God; I will render praises to You, for You have delivered my soul from death. (Psalm 56:12-13a). When David trusted in himself or in the ungodly, he didn’t have much to praise the Lord about. Now he does!
The slide that started on the road from Jonathan and continued on into Gath is now stopped. David is on higher ground again! This was the difference between David and Saul; both of them slipped. But Saul kept sliding, while David turned back to the Lord...
i. Was David walking in the Spirit or in the flesh when he pretended madness? Some commentators believe that David was in the flesh and trusting in himself. But the turn around of Psalm 56 happened before David’s escape, and it makes sense that the Lord would guide David into a path of escape that would humble him. When David tried to protect himself with lies, and when he tried to find refuge among the ungodly, he really was acting crazy. When David repented, asked for mercy, and trusted again in the Lord, it was as if the Lord said “You’ve been acting like a madman, David. So keep the act going and I’ll get you out of this!”
ii. Of course, David may not have even been conscious of the Lord’s guidance in his plan to pretend madness. But the Lord was guiding this righteous man just the same. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. (Psalm 37:23)...
(In Psalm 34) David is especially joyful because the Lord got him out of a mess that David himself made. God’s amazing goodness is shown when He delivers us when we don’t really deserve it. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
The amazing things is that in spite of our mistakes, God is still in control and works through it all. Even King Saul's mad order to kill the priests helped to fulfill God's promise that the priesthood would be taken from Eli's family.
Bob Deffinbaugh says....
Who would have ever thought that the prophecy of chapters 2 and 3 would be fulfilled as described in chapter 22 by a virtual madman? Even in his disobedience and insanity; even in his rebellion against God by the slaughter of the priests, Saul is being used of God to fulfill His promise, yet in a way that does not impugn the character of God.
Tomorrow's passage: 1 Samuel 22, Psalm 56, Luke 22:1-23
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