1 Samuel 22:14 to 23:14

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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00:01

Lee, would you open us up with a word of prayer? Study your word.

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Your word is sufficient for faith and life.

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So may what we learned this morning help us to glorify you and live before you in a way that will please you.

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I ask this in Jesus' name.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Alright.

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1 Samuel 22.

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I'm actually going to read from 14 to the end of the chapter.

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It said, Then Ahimelech answered the king, and he said, And who among all of your servants is as faithful as David, even the king's son-in-law, who is captain over your guard and is honored in your house? Did I just begin to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me.

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Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing at all of this whole affair.

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But the king said, Surely you will die, Ahimelech, you and all of your household.

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And the king said to the guards who were attending him, Turn around and put the priest of the Lord to death, because their hand is also with David, because they knew that he was fleeing and they did not reveal it to me.

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But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priest of the Lord.

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Then the king said to Doag, You turn around and attack the priest.

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And Doag the Emite turned around and he attacked the priest and he killed that day 85 men who wore the linen ephod.

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And he struck Nob, the city of the priest, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children, infants, oxen, donkeys, sheep.

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He even struck the whole city with the edge of the sword.

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But one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitab, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.

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Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priest of the Lord.

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And David said to Abiathar, I knew that on that day that Doag the Emite was there, that he would surely tell Saul, I have brought about the death of every person in your father's household.

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Stay with me and do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks yours, but you will be safe with me.

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Okay, so last week, we saw that David escaped from Gath to the cave of Adullam.

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And then from the cave of Adullam, where did he go from there? Somewhere else.

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He went somewhere else.

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His family came to him, member's family, his brothers.

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They came to him.

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Remember, who else came out from the cities to him? The discontented.

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Basically, everybody who didn't like what Saul was doing or in debt and all that came and attached himself to him.

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And then they left there.

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They went across Judah, all the way over, crossed the Dead Sea somewhere or went around and ended up in Moab.

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And from Moab, he left his mother and father for safekeeping, because we didn't know what was going to happen to him.

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But he knew the Lord was going to do something.

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Then he skedaddled back around and ended up in what would be modern-day, probably, Masada, which would have been right around this area here.

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And then that brings us to today.

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And that is, Ahimelech was brought to Saul because he had heard that David had come to him for two things.

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David, we know of David.

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What was it? Food and a sword.

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Provision and protection.

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That's right.

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Provision and protection.

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But he does say, when Doeg, when he answers to Saul, he says, hey, he inquired of the Lord.

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That's not part of the narrative we know that David did, but it's possible.

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It wouldn't be something that David wouldn't have done, as we know that's exactly what Ahimelech said.

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Ahimelech says, hey, he did come to me.

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And if I did inquire, when he did inquire of the Lord, would that have been something that he would not normally have done? And what did Ahimelech do when he was asked? You may remember the specific thing that he did.

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He didn't stand up for himself.

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He didn't stand up for himself, and he didn't say anything about David deceiving him.

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Okay? David deceived him.

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And David lied to him under the pretense that he was doing the king's business.

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So, what would likely have happened? He would have been like, okay, man, he's on the king's business.

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Here's some food.

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Here's a sword.

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Go on about your merry way.

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Well, when Saul heard that, he made a procession of priests from Nob to Gibeah.

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Remember, it's just not far.

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It's about that far.

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About there.

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So, he takes him.

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He inquires of him.

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He appeals to David's character.

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Saul says, turn around and kill him.

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He's going to kill Abiathar.

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Now, I mean, he's going to kill Ahimelech.

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Ahimelech was a descendant of who? Eli.

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So, we see two things.

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A warning here.

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I think last week, that's where it kind of ended.

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The warning was, don't be like Saul and apostatize.

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We see the progression of him.

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But there is an encouraging word here.

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Although this is a tough way of being encouraging, that God's word will be fulfilled.

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We go back earlier in Samuel.

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What did God tell Eli through the prophet Samuel he was going to do? He was going to cut off his whole family.

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Yeah, he was going to cut off his family.

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And when we talk about cutting off, that more times than not, it is talking about actually killing.

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So, when it talks about the guy was picking up sticks on the Sabbath, it said he was to be cut off from his family.

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What does that mean? To be killed.

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But then you have other times when someone is either uncleaned, say, or they're to be cut off from the assembly until they're no longer uncleaned.

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That doesn't mean kill them.

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It just means they're to be separated.

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Well, part of this fulfillment is that God had promised he was going to cut off all of Eli's descendants from the altar, but he says, but not all.

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So, from our understanding, we don't know, at this point, we don't know that anybody has left, has escaped.

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So God's fulfillment of wiping out Eli's line has been done, with the exception of he's going to not cut off all of them.

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Abiathar, or Abiathar, however you want to pronounce it, he is going to be the one that gets away, and we're going to see that here today.

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So, Doag turns around, he kills the priest of the Lord, and why would Doag have no problem killing the priest of the Lord? I think it's funny that his name means vile or malicious, so he's living up to his name.

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He certainly is.

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Actually, all of the Edomites were vile and malicious towards the people of God, and why were they? They weren't part of the promise.

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They were excluded, but there was supposed to be no contention.

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Okay, just because two brothers live in the same household, one gets favor, one does not.

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Should the other want to kill the other? No, but because of jealousy or whatever reasons, that's what happened.

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I mean, it goes back all the way to the birthright.

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It goes all the way back, you know, from him being...

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Two brothers.

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Yeah, two brothers.

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As a matter of fact, I think it's in Hebrews when it says that Esau, he sought, he wanted repentance, and he sought for it, but he was unwilling.

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A lot of people think, oh, that he was trying to repent and he couldn't.

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No, no, no.

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What he wanted, he wanted his birthright back so that he could have the blessing, but he was excluded.

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Under the Mosaic law, they were supposed to be kind to the Edomites, but the Edomites were never kind to their own, and in this case, hey, Doeg had no problem wiping out those who had the blessing of the Lord, per se.

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So it says in verse 18, the king said to Doeg, turn around and strike the priest.

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Doeg, the Edomite, turned around, he attacked the priest, and he killed on that day 85 men.

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My only way of understanding it, these men had to be bound, okay? They had to be bound.

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I am sure if one person came in here with a sword or a knife, I am sure between all of the men in here not bound by it, we could overcome.

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Now, somebody probably won't get whacked, but I am sure it could be overcome.

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So my assumption is they had to either be bound.

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The guys aren't just going to stand there and go, okay, run the sword through me.

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So he kills 85 of those that wear the linen ephod.

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In 19, he struck the whole city of Nob, the priest of the Edge of Sword.

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All right.

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So he leaves Gidea where Saul was at.

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However he goes, he has to take.

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Yes, ma'am.

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I was wondering, you said he was still wearing the priestly garments when they were slain.

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Sure.

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Did they wear the priestly garments at all? Any time they were doing their – yes, ma'am.

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Now, there was a specific ephod that the high priest wore that had all the jewels and the urim and the thermim and all that stuff in it, and we'll get to that here in a minute, because that's what leaves with what's-his-face when he peels out from Nob.

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So it says on that day he struck those who wore the linen ephod, and he struck the city of Nob with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children, infants, oxen, donkeys, sheep, and he struck with the edge of the sword everyone in it.

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Okay.

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Were there times under the Mosaic legislation where they were commanded to go and wipe out an Israelite city? Yep.

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If they went off into idolatry, Deuteronomy 2, Exodus 22, anyone who goes off and makes sacrifice to other idols or goes off seeking it, they were to be put to death.

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So if that whole city would have been off into idolatry, this would have been okay under the Mosaic law, but this was not okay.

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This is just straight-up, cruel, brutal hatred towards the people of God from Doeg under the commission of who? Saul.

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You understand that Saul is not the deliverer of Israel here.

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He is a destroyer.

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Imagine how many women.

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Let's say there was one man with one wife and one kid there.

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You see how many people they slayed on that day? And not just that.

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All the donkeys, the oxen, and the sheep.

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What was Saul commanded to do that he did not do to the nation of Amalek? He didn't slay the king, and he didn't haggag, and he didn't slay all the animals he was supposed to.

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He saved the best for the Lord.

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So those descendants of Amalek, the whole nation, everything that they had was under Corrine, which means devoted for destruction.

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This was not.

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And this man sends Doeg and all of his buddies or sent him with a cohort of soldiers to go and wipe them out, and that's exactly what they do.

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It's just brutal.

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Why would you want to do that to your own people? Hatred.

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Hatred towards David.

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That's what it boils down to, hatred towards David.

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Now, if you can go back and just read it at your own time, I think it's Psalm 52.

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David looks back, and he makes an account of what Doeg did and his character and nature, and that God's going to cut him off and all of his descendants and all of that, and we know that through the prophet Obadiah that that's exactly what happens.

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God eventually wipes out all the Edomites.

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The Herods were the Edomites.

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I think the last one we see alive is when Agrippa, I think it is, gets eat by worms and acts.

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So that will be fulfilled in the New Testament.

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So in verse 20 it says, But one son of Ahimelech, the son of Etab, named Abiathar, escaped and he fled after David.

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Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priest of the Lord.

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Saul hadn't actually killed them, but he had commissioned it, therefore he's guilty.

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Had killed the priest of the Lord.

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And then David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul.

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There's no doubt in my mind that if David would have known that he was not just going to tell Saul, but he was going to kill the 85 priests and the whole family, he would have taken a sword of Goliath and cut him in half.

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There is no doubt in my mind.

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Now, because of David's deception and David's lying to Ahimelech, do you see the destruction in the wake of that lie? We do agree with that, right? Or do we disagree? His deception caused the 85 priests to be killed, all of the city, the men, the women, the children, all of that.

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Because of a lie.

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And he admits it.

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I have brought about the death of every person in your father's household.

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Interesting here that he says, stay with me, do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks yours, but you are safe with me.

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Do you see the contrast between what Saul said to Ahimelech and then what David says to the now priest, the now only high priest? What did Saul say to Ahimelech? You shall surely die.

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You're not going to get out of the wrath of my hand.

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And what does David say to this one? You'll surely live, you'll be with me.

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You stay with me, you're going to live.

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It's ironic that here it is, David is on the run for his own life.

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Now he sees that the priests have been slaughtered in a whole city, and Abiathar comes to him, and he sees that Abiathar is obviously in distress, and he is now rejuvenated.

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And now, you know what, we're going to fight this thing.

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You're going to be safe with me.

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He doesn't say he's going to go kill Saul, but he's just saying, hey man, you're going to be okay with me.

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Now that brings us into chapter 23, that we're going to have a change in scenery.

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This is going to be where David, he's going to Keilah, and I'm just going to read through verse 14.

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It says, and then David saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are plundering the threshing floors.

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So David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go and attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.

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But David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here, even in Judah.

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How much more then if we are to go up to Keilah and fight against the ranks of the Philistines? And then David inquired of the Lord once more, and the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hands.

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So David and his men went to Keilah, they fought against the Philistines, and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter.

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Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

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Now it came about that when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

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And when it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut him in, entering a city that has double gates and bars.

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So Saul summoned all the people of war to go to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

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So David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him, so he said to Abiathar, Bring the ephod here.

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And then David said, O Lord God of Israel, your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.

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Will the men of Keilah surrender me into their hand, or will Saul come down just as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell your servant.

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And the Lord said, He will come.

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Then David said, Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into Saul's hand? And the Lord said, They will surrender you.

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And then David and his men, about 600, arose, and they departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could.

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And when it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up his pursuit.

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David escaped into the wilderness, into the strongholds, and remained in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph.

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And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

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So here's the change of scenery, Keilah.

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So, obviously, Saul's dereliction of duties.

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He's allowed the Philistines to come in.

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By not keeping them on the coastline, they have come to the city of Keilah, and now they're robbing the threshing floor.

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It's interesting that David knows that this is happening, but Saul doesn't.

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Or if Saul does know, he does nothing about it.

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He doesn't even want to go to Keilah from the narrative until he finds out that his archenemy is there.

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And it says, Behold, the Philistines are plundering the threshing floors.

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Why would they be plundering the threshing floor? Food.

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So what time of year would this have been? Harvest.

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Yep, this would have been harvest time.

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So David inquired the Lord, Shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go and attack the Philistines and deliver them to Keilah.

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Now, there is somewhat of a discrepancy on is he inquiring of the Lord on his own, or is he inquiring through Abiathar, or Leviathar, through the ephod? We don't see the ephod being in his hand until verse 6, where it says, Now it came about that when Abiathar the son of Hemelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

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Now, my understanding of this would be that when Abiathar came to Keilah, he came to David with the ephod, with David there.

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And I get that from the Septuagint.

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The Septuagint actually translates it that Abiathar came with David to Keilah with the ephod.

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So he obviously is, that's who he inquires of based on what the Septuagint says.

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So, go ahead.

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I was just going to say, because it's not like he went back and got it.

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No, and we know that when he obviously, when he left, he brought that.

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And remember, what was this ephod? It was what the high priest wore.

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And how did normally, did they inquire? It wasn't, a lot of times, it wasn't just crying out and asking.

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And however that worked.

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Sometimes we think like it's throwing dice or however it was.

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We're not told actually the mechanics of that or how it works.

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We just know this, that said yes or no.

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Was it two blacks or two whites? I don't know.

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We just know this, that was the means by which they did it.

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Do you know, Bert? Not for sure.

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Okay.

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Jack, you were there.

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So we don't really know.

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We just know that was the means and the mechanism by which they could inquire of the Lord.

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So, and it was given to them under the Mosaic legislation so that that would determine whether it was valid or not valid.

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Remember, we've got the, I think it's in the proverb where it says, you cast a lot, but decision's in the hand of the Lord.

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You know.

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So, this is what they have done.

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So, he says, he inquires of the Lord and the Lord answers him.

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You go and you attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.

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David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid even in Judah.

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Alright.

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When these men came out to David, they were not a formidable fighting force at this point.

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Why did they leave? They were...

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Because they were discontented.

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They were taxed.

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Yeah, they were getting taxed to death and they were just tired of it and they saw that David was a faithful man that wanted to protect people so they surrounded himself.

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So he says, alright, you want us to go to Keilah and fight the Philistines? Don't you know that Saul is already chasing us? So now, you're going to have us fighting the enemies of our own people and our own people want to kill us.

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Now, when David inquired of the Lord and he said, you go, was it an act of unbelief for David to then ask again? He's not asking on his behalf.

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He's asking on behalf of the men.

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That's right.

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And I don't believe it was an act of unbelief.

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If somebody wants to think that it is, that's fine.

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And here's why.

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Even as church leaders, if we make a decision, me and Andy and Keith decide we're going to make a decision, we'll just take it for the budget.

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This don't mean come budget time next year y'all fillet us.

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Alright, let's say we lay out a budget and we give the opportunity, I think it's usually a week or two, to examine it and then y'all come back and we have an overwhelming amount of people saying, hey man, we don't agree with this.

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Well, me and Andy and Keith have prayed over that.

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I think it would be king jerkdom for us to go, I don't care, affirm it.

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No, no, no, we have to say, you know what, maybe I missed it.

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Maybe there was a piece, maybe we didn't hear the Lord in this.

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And I do believe that in this case, he's going, look man, my men are not behind me.

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Maybe I have missed a piece of the information.

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Maybe I'm not hearing it.

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Maybe my desire is to go fight for these people because I want to be the deliverer of Israel, but I don't have any backing.

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So what does he do? Out of surety, he says, yes, he inquires of the Lord again.

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Remember, Gideon didn't have anybody telling him, hey, you sure about this? It was Gideon's own faith that said, hey, I ain't real sure about it.

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Let me lay it out again.

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Let me lay it out again.

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So, he says, I'm sorry, where we at? He said, how much more then, if we go and fight the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord again.

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The Lord answered him.

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He says, you arise and you go.

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And you fight Keilah, and I will give those Philistines into your hands.

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So David and his men went to Keilah.

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They fought, and then they led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter.

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Then David delivered the inhabitants to Keilah.

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All right.

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Why would the livestock of the Philistines be in there? We're going to take a break.

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We're going to slaughter a bull.

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We're going to eat us some black Angus.

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He leads away the Philistines' livestock, because if they're robbing the threshing floor, who's going to haul off the grain? Who's going to be the beast of burden? The Philistines ain't dragging back on their back hundreds of pounds of grain.

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They're going to put them on oxen and cattle and donkeys, and they're going to send them back.

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So David slaughters the Philistine, basically captures the booty or the spoil of the Philistines, which would have been their own cattle, and he delivers the city.

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Now in verse 6, it came about that when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, he fled to David at Keilah, that he came with him with Ephod in his hand.

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And it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah.

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So it's been a long time up until Ahimelech, him going to Nob, that his intelligence on David has not been real good.

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Now whoever it is that's given him this insight, he's got a handle on where David's going.

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Someone has told him, hey, he's gone to Keilah.

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Was it because there was a great slaughter there and somebody escaped or come and told him? Whatever it is, he finds out that David's in Keilah.

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And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hands.

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Is that not a statement of straight-up hypocrisy? I mean, did God deliver His anointed king, the one that He has chosen to be king of Israel, was God delivering him into Saul's hand? But look at that.

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That is a blinded man.

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He believes that at this point God has given him into His hand.

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He shuts himself in by entering a gate with double bars and double gates.

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So here it is.

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He's like, all right, come nighttime, they're going to close them gates.

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He's trapped.

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There's nowhere for him to go.

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So Saul summoned all the people of war to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

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And when David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, bring the Ephod here.

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Okay, here it is again.

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Bring the Ephod.

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I want to know what the Lord is telling me.

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And David said, O Lord, O God of Israel, your servant has heard the certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah and he will destroy the city on my account.

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You see, once again, he destroyed a city on account of David, and it was a city of priests.

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Now he's willing to destroy another city of Israelites on account of who? David.

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This man hates his own people.

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You do see the contrast in chapters 22 and 23 between David and Saul.

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If you have not caught on that Saul is the prototypical apostate at this point, you're blind.

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There is nothing in Scripture at this point that shows that Saul is a converted man.

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He is willing to kill the people of God, kill the priest of God.

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He's willing to shut the mouths of every person that would speak truth and to speak the voice of God into his life.

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If you even go back, when Samuel was told to go to Bethlehem, what did Samuel say? If he finds out I'm going to Bethlehem, he'll kill me.

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So you go back even before the time that he anointed David, there was something already in Saul that even Samuel knew, that dude will kill me.

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When he chased David into Ramah where Samuel was at, and he sent messengers and groups after messengers, the Holy Spirit stopped those men and let them prophesy, and he protected his man, protected Samuel as well.

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And then when Saul says, you know what, y'all won't do it, I'll take care of it myself, he goes there.

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Do you think for one second when he got there to kill David that his intention would not have been to kill Samuel as well? Certainly.

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He did not want the voice of God in his life, no more than it was when Herod had beheaded John the Baptist.

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He silenced every voice of God in his life.

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Now, when we get to this point, he's willing to wipe that city out.

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He's already wiped out the priest of Nob.

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When we move forward, I think it's in chapter 28, when God does not speak to him through ummum and thurmum or through prophet or priest, and he says, God's not speaking to me at all.

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Well, of course God's not speaking to you at all.

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Dude, you've killed everybody.

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You've killed every voice of God in your life.

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Now you're whining and crying because God doesn't speak to you anymore.

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You've created that yourself, and what does he do? He goes to a witch.

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He goes to a witch.

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So he said he is plotting evil against him, so he said to Abba, bring the ephod.

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Verse 10, David said, O Lord God of Israel, what a prayer! Your servant has heard that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah and destroy the city on my account.

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And will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Okay, he wants to know.

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Is Saul going to come? Will they deliver me? And the answer is yes.

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Isn't it great to know that God has exhaustive knowledge of all things? This is contingent knowledge, okay? This isn't God saying, hey, we really don't know what's going to happen, but if you leave, then I'm going to make this happen.

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No, no, this is God saying, hey, this is what will happen.

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This is not God on the move.

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God is saying, of course they're going to give me into their hands.

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Look, if they showed up to that city, knowing you just killed the priest of the Lord and everybody else, and they say, hey, if you just throw David out here, we'll let the whole city live.

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Where are they going? What's the natural inclination? It ain't going to happen.

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I mean, this is somewhat of a parallel to Caiaphas when he says, hey, it's expedient for one man to die than a whole nation perish.

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Well, they're saying it's expedient for this man to die.

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But if you see what he says, hey, he will deliver you into their hands.

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He doesn't say anything about his men.

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It's expedient for one man to die than the whole city of Keilah.

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Hey, and not only that.

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If you're reading through these, we do make connections and illustrations that point to Christ.

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Hey, man, this is the deliverer of those people.

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The deliverer of those people are willing to betray.

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That's it, man.

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They're willing to betray him.

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There's betrayal to David all through.

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Even when we get into 2 Samuel.

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I try to read through it once or twice a week.

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And I didn't make the connection until a few weeks ago.

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Me and Sybil were on our way home, and I said, hey, you know, we think about Jesus being betrayed by his close friend.

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David is betrayed in 2 Samuel by a close friend, Ahithophel.

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And then that betrayer goes out and hangs himself.

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Look at that connection.

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That's the first time.

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I try to read through my Bible once a year.

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And that's the first time in all the year.

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I was like, man, that's cool.

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Not cool that he got hung himself, but the connection.

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That the betrayer goes out because of his wrong counsel and hangs himself.

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So he says, O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell your servant.

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And he says, yes, he will come down, speaking of Saul.

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And then David said, will the men of Keilah surrender me into Saul's hand? Yep.

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And the Lord said, they will surrender you.

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And then David and his men, about 600, arose, and they departed from Keilah.

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So we see that from the time that he left the stronghold, the Adullam to the stronghold, that he has gathered up himself another 200 men.

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Because when he was in the cave of Adullam, there was 400.

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So he scooped him up a couple hundred more fighters.

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And it says here that when it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.

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So here it is.

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The only reason why he was going to go to Keilah was not to deliver the people from the Philistines, was not to stop them from looting the threshing floor.

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It was to kill David.

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And not only was it to kill David, but it would be willing to kill everybody in the city to do so.

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David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds and remained in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph.

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And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

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Why did David escape? God cared for him.

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Because the Lord was with him.

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Because the Lord was with him.

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Why was he able to defeat the Philistines? Was it because David was some formidable fighting force? Because God was with him.

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Because God was with him.

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Why was he able to escape from Ahimelech with provisions and a sword? Because the Lord was with him.

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God provides him.

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Hey, regardless of his deception, regardless of his lying, the Lord has still maintained the provision and protection of his man.

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Now, I like Matthew Henry, just to let you know.

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But he is very inconsistent over the next few chapters with this.

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In one chapter where David lies, he says it's okay.

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In another chapter where he lies, he says he should be condemned.

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And in another chapter where he lies, he says it's okay.

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He just says it shouldn't be addressed.

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Or when he slaughters, when he goes out and he goes back to Achish and he slaughters the enemies of God, he says that's okay because he was doing God's work and killing the people.

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But he was lying to Achish.

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So understand that we're seeing a pattern, okay? A pattern of David of doing what? What's that? That and deceiving.

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Deceiving.

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Deceiving.

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What did he do once he committed adultery with Meshuvah? He lied about it.

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Lied about it.

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What did he do? He deceived the people.

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And what did he do? He misled the people.

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I tell you what.

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Not only did he mislead the people, he misled Uriah.

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He sent Uriah back with his own death warrant.

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Is that not deception? Then brings him back, tries to get him schnockered so he goes to sleep with his wife.

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You know? So you see, even now, we're seeing David at times trust within himself.

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Now, to Matthew Henry's defense, because I do like him, he is very inconsistent in these few chapters, I do believe his intention is to sanitize David.

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Is that not often what we do? Is David not the greatest king of Israel besides Jesus Christ himself? Right? So what do we try to do? Try to whitewash it so it don't look nearly as bad.

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You know? Whether Samson, Jephthah.

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You know, think about all those judges that had very bad character flaws and we try to sanitize them.

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Okay, yeah, we try to justify it.

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Look, the Scripture here is just making a record of what's taking place.

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It's not recommending that we act this way.

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But we are seeing, because of his lying and deception, look at what it has cost.

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I mean, David even says, because of what I have done, your whole household is dead.

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So even David knew that there was something wrong with what he had done.

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Now, we're going to see that David, moving forward, will try to be a little less deceptive.

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Maybe it's because now that he's surrounded himself with some men that are willing to stand up and fight, sure.

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To protect? Yeah, probably so.

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But it does not give us any right to say, Okay, hey, David did this, so let's do it.

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Okay? Will Saul continue to seek David? Yep.

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He's going to continue to seek David.

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Matter of fact, we're fixing to have an interaction next week or the following week, depending on how far we get.

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We're going to see that he has the opportunity to kill King Saul and he doesn't.

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And why doesn't he kill King Saul? It's interesting that his counsel around him says, Go ahead, man, here it is.

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And they say the same thing that Saul says.

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Oh, man, God delivered him into your hand, this is it.

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This is the opportunity to get it.

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And what does David do? He does not.

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Is David a man of integrity? Yes.

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Did he have failures? Yes.

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He's human.

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And that should point us to Christ, who will be that perfect prophet, priest, and king, who will never fail, who has never failed, and he will always do what's right.

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And he will always expend justice like it's supposed to.

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Hey, man, when David gets out here and he starts running around, and I'll tell you what, man, he starts for a year and a half, he lays waste to cities.

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And when we get there, that's going to be difficult.

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That's going to be difficult to say is what he was doing right.

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Matter of fact, in that whole chapter, I think it's the only chapter in 1 and 2 Samuel together where God's never mentioned.

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Interesting connection.

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But when we get there, we go, oh, wow, David was doing what was right in his own eyes.

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Was he justifying what he was doing? I have no idea.

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But David is God's man.

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God has protected him.

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And next week when we get to the pursuit through Zipf, which is this area down here, this is Zipf.

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It's in this area right here.

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They'll continue to see him, that and the desert of Moan and all this right here.

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So this is where we'll take place next week.

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Mike, you'll close us out with a prayer, brother? To be like Christ.

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David is a type, and yet we are not called to be like David.

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We are called to be like you.

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We pray, Lord, that we would be found faithful.

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We know that we are bound to fall, and yet we pray, Lord, that you would continue to lift us up, that we would look to you to give us strength to be more like Christ, in whose name we pray and ask it all.

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Amen.

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Amen.