1 Samuel 24: David Spares Saul
1 Now it happened, when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats. 3 So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to attend to his needs. (David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.) 4 Then the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 Now it happened afterward that David’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe. 6 And he said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.” 7 So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.
“The men of David said to him, “This is the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ Not that God had said these words, or made any such promise; but they put this construction upon those promises which God had made to him, of delivering him from all his enemies, and carrying him through all difficulties to the throne. This promise they conceived put him under an obligation of taking all opportunities which God put into his hand for their accomplishment.” (John Wesley)
Divine predictions are found in 1 Samuel 15:28; 1 Samuel 16:1, and 1 Samuel 16:12. Also: "Jonathan‘s words 1 Samuel 20:15; 1 Samuel 23:17 show clearly that these predictions were known.” (Albert Barnes) Yet in truth “he had a promise of the kingdom, but no command to slay the king.” (Matthew Henry) “A servant of God must never do an action unworthy of his holy name. A son must never conspire against a father. No crown becomes a virtuous prince but a crown of righteousness.” (Joseph Sutcliffe)
“Never forget that opportunity does not make a wrong thing right. That the ship was waiting to sail to Tarshish did not make it right for Jonah to take passage. Our actions must not be determined by the opening of the door of circumstance, but by conscience, faith, obedience, and the high sense of Christian honor.” (F. B. Meyer) “‘Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe privily.’ Here we see how ready we are to hasten God's promise, if the occasion serve never so little.” (Geneva Study Bible)
“David’s heart smote, i.e., his conscience, which keeps court in every faculty of the soul, checked him: such was his tenderness then.” (John Trapp) “He thought the action inconsistent with the respect which he owed to the king.” (Albert Barnes) He feared that it might be taken as a license to kill Yahweh’s anointed. “‘And suffered them not to rise against Saul’ — He not only would not do this ill thing himself, but he would not suffer those about him to do it. Thus did he render good for evil to him, from whom he had received evil for good; and was herein both a type of Christ, who saved his persecutors, and an example to all Christians, not to be overcome of evil, but to overcome evil with good.” (Joseph Benson)
“He is my master, I am his subject. He is the Lord's anointed, and therefore sacred as to his person in the Lord's sight. It is an awful thing to kill a king, even the most untoward, when he has once been constitutionally appointed to the throne. No experiment of this kind has ever succeeded; the Lord abhors king killing...” (Adam Clarke)—even hatred which gives him no place for repentance and good deeds.
Yea, let our wrath give place to prayer. “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (Timothy 2:1-4)
1 Samuel 24: David Appeals to His Father— The King—to See
8 David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down. 9 And David said to Saul: “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’? 10 Look, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is Yahweh’s anointed.’ 11 Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it. 12 Let Yahweh judge between you and me, and let Yahweh avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand shall not be against you. 14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? 15 Therefore let Yahweh be judge, and judge between you and me, and see and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.”
“A marvellous, eloquent address to King Saul was delivered by David. He tells him all what he had done and what is in his heart and thus shows the purpose of his soul to leave it all with the Lord. This is faith’s language.” (Arno Gaebelein)
David calls out: “My lord the king!”— He wanted no revenge, but only desired for the king to see him in the light of the truth. “And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself." "Doubtless he felt great distress of mind under all his trials; but he committed himself to God in prayer, and looked for deliverance from Him alone... [The 57th Psalm was written on this very occasion. See the title,—To the Chief Musician. Set to “Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David when he fled from Saul into the cave.”— And ver. 1–6. In ver. 6 he seems to refer to the very event in our text.. ]” (Horae Homileticae)—> Psalm 57: “1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; and in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, until these calamities have passed by. 2 I will cry out to God Most High, to God who performs all things for me. 3 He shall send from heaven and save me; He reproaches the one who would swallow me up. Selah.
God shall send forth His mercy and His truth. 4 My soul is among lions; Ilie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be above all the earth. 6 They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down; they have dug a pit before me; into the midst of it they themselves have fallen. Selah”
David was not an opportunist seeking to overthrow the sovereign king, who had been anointed by the prophet to serve Israel. Here: “Contrary to the report of those who said David was Saul's enemy, he proves himself to be his friend.” (Geneva Study Bible)
David asks Saul: “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’?.... to take away thy life, and seize upon thy crown and throne; than which nothing was more foreign from him.” (John Gill) David blamed the king’s advisors. “He had many deadly enemies at the court of Saul, who evidently laboured with success to deepen Saul’s jealousy, and to widen the breach which already existed between the king and David. Doeg has been already mentioned as one of the more prominent of these slanderers; another was Cush the Benjamite, who was alluded to in the inscription which heads the seventh Psalm. The Ziphites and their representatives at the royal residence also belonged to this class of malicious foes spoken of here.” (Adam Clarke)
David likewise had an evil advisor in his camp, yet he heeded not his voice. “Yahweh delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is Yahweh’s anointed.’“ I used it as an opportunity to do good.
“‘Moreover, my father’— a reverential form of addressing an esteemed superior, (2 Kings 2:12; 2 Kings 5:13,) but in this place it may mean more. Saul was David’s father in law, and by this address the son of Jesse shows the king a childlike respect and reverence.” (Daniel Whedon)— “’See’ — … as if to bid defiance to every barefaced insinuation which might have been made against him, he holds up the skirt of Saul's robe, and says, ‘See!’ what greater evidence would my lord and father desire, that I value and wish to preserve his life, when in the same moment I cut off thy skirt, I might have cut off thine head.“ (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)
“If men wrong us, God will right us, at farthest, in the judgment of the Great Day.” (Matthew Henry) “Yahweh judge between me and you, and Yahweh [will] avenge me of you:’ if thou persistest in thy injuries and cruel designs against me.” (John Wesley)— “and [He will] see and plead my case,’— this springs from a consciousness of innocence” (Adam Clarke)— “and [He will] deliver me out of your hand. But my hand shall not be against you.” He quotes an ancient proverb, perhaps pertaining to Cain- the first murderer" “‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness.’ That is, men may be known by their actions; wicked men will do wicked actions; among which, this is one, to kill their sovereign lord and king.” (Benson)
But I am clean of all charges. I will wait for my season to be king. Thus I am not a threat but a dead dog, yea, a flea— “By these similes David meant to describe himself as a perfectly harmless and insignificant man, of whom Saul had no occasion to be afraid, and whom the king of Israel ought to think it beneath his dignity to pursue. A dead dog cannot bite or hurt, and is an object about which a king ought not to trouble himself (cf. 2 Samuel 9:8 and 2 Samuel 16:9, where the idea of something contemptible is included). The point of comparison with a flea is the insignificance of such an animal (cf. 1 Samuel 26:20).” (Keil & Delitzsch)
Rather employed by the king against Israel’s enemies, David had proven himself powerful destroyer to the king’s enemies, even God’s.
“‘Yahweh therefore be Judge, and judge between me and thee,’... Signifying he did not desire to be judge in his own cause, but leave it with God to determine it for him in His providence: ‘and see, and plead my cause;’ look with pity upon him, take his cause in His hand, plead it, and do him justice: ‘and deliver me out of thine hand;’ which was a prayer of faith, believing he would do it in due time, see Psalm 7:6.” (John Gill) ”Thus, however great and complicated our trials be, we should take no hasty step [Isaiah 28:16], but ‘commit ourselves to God as a faithful Creator [1 Peter 4:19],’ and expect assuredly the final accomplishment of all His promises [Psalms 37:5-6].” (Horae Homileticae)
1 Samuel 24: Saul Convinced of Sin- But Not Converted to the Faith
16 So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 17 Then he said to David: “You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. 18 And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when Yahweh delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may Yahweh reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. 20 And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 21 Therefore swear now to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.” 22 So David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
“David’s noble self-restraint, followed as it was by no less noble words, awoke the best side of Saul’s nature. Chords began to vibrate that had long been silent. [As a young man, he had played the Psalms in the king’s court to soothe him when he was troubled by evil spirits.] The memory of happier days, before their intercourse had become clouded by jealousy and hatred, came trooping back, and Saul was himself again.” (F.B. Meyer) “‘And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, ‘[Is] this thy voice, my son David?’ or rather son-in-law. For a moment he saw and acknowledge the truth concerning "his son" David whose life was an epistle written on the heart of the king, “written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.” (2 Cor 3:2-3)
And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.—David's great gentleness and Saul's "conscience compelled him to yield.” (Geneva Study Bible) “The tears of Saul, the tears of Esau; nay, all the tears which have been shed from the days of Adam to this hour, have no efficacy to change the heart, or wash away sin.” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)
“Then he said to David: ‘You are more righteous than I;’— which could acknowledge sin— but ".... it appears he thought himself righteous, though David was more so; the righteousness of David was so glaring, that his enemy himself being judge acknowledges it, but will not confess his own wickedness, having no true sense of sin, nor real sorrow for it.— ‘for thou hast rewarded me good’; in times past, and now; heretofore in killing Goliath, fighting his battles for him against the Philistines, driving the evil spirit from him, by playing on the harp before him, and now by sparing his life, only cutting off the skirt of his garment, when he could with equal ease have cut off his head: ‘whereas I have rewarded thee evil’: in seeking to take away his life at various times, by casting a javelin at him more than once, sending messengers to kill him, and hunting after him from place to place, to take him and slay him.” (John Gill)
“‘And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when Yahweh delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely?’ i. e. he will certainly destroy him. And therefore thou hast not dealt with me after the manner of men, but hast imitated the clemency of God in this act.” (Matthew Poole) “Therefore may Yahweh reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.” “For the time being, Saul permitted the nobler sentiments to come into his heart, but there was no true conversion...” (Paul E. Kretzmann) as time will reveal. Saul asked Yahweh to reward David according to his works, because he knew of his own fickleness.
“’And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.’ “How knew he this?… Surely by David’s kingly virtues, and good success, whereby God made him formidable to his enemies, but amiable and admirable in the eyes of all Israel.” (John Trapp) Yet history revealed that “he did not cease to persecute him against his own conscience.” (Geneva Study Bible)
“Saul’s sin therefore was the greater in persecuting David, whom he knew God had set up. See Psalms 4:2-4.” (John Trapp)
“‘Therefore swear now to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s house.’ As it was usual for kings to do in those days, generally destroying the families of those to whose thrones they were advanced.” (Joseph Benson) This is a picture of that great day of judgment when King Jesus will cut off His enemies who persist in evil. “Saul knew that an oath would bind David, though it was insufficient to bind himself; see 1 Samuel 19:6. He had sworn to his son Jonathan that David should not be slain; and yet sought by all means in his power to destroy him!” (Clarke)
“‘So David swore to Saul.’ David complied with this request as far as he was able: but, as God was resolved to punish the posterity of Saul, for the injury done to the Gabaonites, he was forced to give them all up, except Miphiboseth, the son of Jonathan. (Calmet)- He could not promise to defend them, if they [ultimately] proved guilty.” (George Haydock)
“‘And Saul went home.’ Convinced, but not converted; Punctus et repunctus, minime tamen ad resipiscentiam compunctus.— “‘but David and his men went up to the stronghold.’ — i.e., Of Engedi, [1 Samuel 24:1] for they knew that there was little hold to be taken of Saul’s melting protestations, whom they had found so faithless. Credulity argueth folly.” (John Trapp) “In every life there is at least one opportunity of showing the real quality of the heart. David seized it! This is the sublime appeal of the Gospel! God does not crush us by mere power. Love, truth, persuasion--these are the weapons of God’s warfare! (J. Parker, D. D.)
“The picture may well move solemn thoughts and pity for that scathed and solitary soul, seeing for a moment, as by a lightning flash, the madness of his course, and yet held so fast in the grip of his dark passions that he cannot shake off their tyranny….Two great lessons are taught by that tragic figure of the weeping and yet unchanged king:
1. One is of the power of forbearing gentleness to exorcise hate. The true way to ‘overcome evil’ is to melt it by fiery coals of gentleness. That is God’s way. An iceberg may be crushed to powder, but every fragment is still ice. Only sunshine that melts it will turn it into sweet water. Love is conqueror, and the only conqueror, and its conquest is to transform hate into love. 2. The other lesson is the worthlessness of mere feeling, which by its very nature passes away, and, like unstored rain, leaves the rock in its obstinate hardness more exposed. Saul only increased his guilt by reason of the fleeting glimpse of his folly which he did not follow up; and our gleams of insight into some sin and madness of ours but add to our responsibility. Emotion which does not lead to action hardens the heart, and adds to our guilt and condemnation.” (Alexander McLaren)
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