1 Samuel 23-27 (Seeking God's Will / Samuel Dies / David Spares Saul & Allies w/ the Philistines?)

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1 Samuel 23-27 (Seeking God's Will / Samuel Dies / David Spares Saul & Allies w/ the Philistines?)

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Let's turn to 1 Samuel chapter 23. 1 Samuel 23.

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So over the next two weeks, we're going to try to finish up the book. So tonight, we're going to cover chapters 23 through 27.

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And then next week, the plan will be to cover the final three chapters, 20, well

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I guess 4, 28 through 31. So we're going to be doing more of an overview since we're covering more ground.

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So here in chapter 23, this is titled David Saves the City of Kiala, this really isn't a well -known story.

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It's something that doesn't get covered in Sunday school. You know, there's a lot of Old Testament passages that everyone knows like David and Goliath, but a chapter like this rarely gets brought up.

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But, you know, this is one of the benefits of going chapter by chapters that we're just covering everything.

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So the thing that stands out to me about this chapter is David is constantly seeking

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God's will. He's just consistently inquiring of the Lord.

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Now, how did men back in Bible times, in the Old Testament, how did they, someone like David, inquire of the

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Lord? How did they do that? Any ideas?

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Well, they would do it through the priesthood or through the high priest. Well, what's the problem?

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The high priest is now, what, dead, right? Saul killed the high priest

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Ahimelech, but there was one man who escaped, and that was

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Abiathar. So David now has Abiathar as his priest. Abiathar comes to David, he has the ephod, he has those holy objects that we talked about while studying,

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I think, the book of Exodus and Numbers, the Urim and the Thummen, who remembers talking about that?

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And if you wonder, well, what are they? What is that? Well, we don't know. We don't know how it works. Some people think it was something like rolling dice or casting lots, but we really don't know anything about these objects or how they were used.

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But yeah, in the last chapter, Saul killed the priest, but now Abiathar is with David, and David is constantly seeking

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God through the priest. And of course, today, under the new covenant, how do we seek

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God? Through the priest. Through the priest, through the high priest, our great high priest,

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Jesus Christ. And we have the ability not to use the Urim and Thummen, whatever that is, we can go directly to God through Christ Jesus.

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So that's something that they didn't have that same direct access that we have today.

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But let's look at 1 Samuel 23, 1 through 13. It says, then they told

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David, saying, look, the Philistines are fighting against Kielah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.

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Therefore, David inquired of the Lord, saying, shall I go and attack the

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Philistines? So who is David asking? He's asking God. Okay. And the

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Lord said to David, go and attack the Philistines and save Kielah.

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But David's men said to him, look, we are afraid here in Judah, how much more than if we go to Kielah against the armies of the

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Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord once again, and the

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Lord answered him and said, arise, go down to Kielah, for I will deliver the

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Philistines into your hand. And David and his men went to Kielah and fought with the

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Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Kielah.

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Now, you would think they would be very grateful, and I'm sure they were at first, but you would assume they would be loyal to David after this.

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Of course, that's not the case. It says in verse six, now happened when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David at Kielah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand, and Saul was told that David had gone to Kielah.

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So Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.

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So it looks like there was only one way in. David's in there. Saul figures he has him trapped. Verse eight, then

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Saul called all the people together for war to go down to Kielah to besiege

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David and his men. When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, he said to Abiathar, the priest, bring the ephod here.

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Then David said, oh, Lord, God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Kielah to destroy the city for my sake.

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Will the men of Kielah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard?

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Oh, Lord, God of Israel, I pray, tell your servant. And the Lord said, he will come down.

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So Saul is coming, and David said in verse 12, will the men of Kielah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?

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And the Lord said, yes, they will deliver you. So there's no loyalty there.

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Verse 13, so David and his men, about 600, arose and departed from Kielah and went wherever they could go.

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Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Kielah, so he halted the expedition.

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So why is David alive? It's because he was seeking God's will.

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If he hadn't sought the Lord, what would have happened? Well, yeah, he would have been trapped in the city and they would hand him over to Saul, and I guess

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God would have to deliver him some other way, but still, David, that's the point. He's constantly seeking

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God. So David delivers the city. He finds out no loyalty. He is constantly seeking

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God's will. Because of that, he is spared. So the important thing to highlight in this chapter is

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David's close walk with God, as opposed to Saul, who really had no walk with the

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Lord at this point. Saul really didn't seek God's will. Matter of fact, he's going to again, and is

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God gonna answer him? No, at first, Saul could seek God's will and God would speak to him, but after Saul rebelled enough times, again and again and again, then

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God just said, I'm not speaking to Saul. So David has this close fellowship with God, and because of that,

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David ends up thriving while Saul ends up dying. So how do we apply this?

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We're trying to make application as we go through these chapters. David had the priest and the ephod to discern

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God's will. So how, for us today, how do we discern the will of God?

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What do we have? We don't have a priest. We don't have an ephod. We have, okay, the Bible. That's the first thing you think of.

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We have scripture to go to discern the will of God. Do we have anything else?

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The Holy Spirit. Okay, we have the Holy Spirit. So while the details are different, we are also able to seek the

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Lord's will. We can make decisions based on what we see in scripture.

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Sometimes the Bible is clear. Oftentimes the Bible is so clear, there are some matters, quite frankly, that we don't have to pray about.

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Obviously, we should pray. We should consistently be praying, but some things you don't have to pray about because God, his word just tells us.

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But what about those issues where God's word doesn't directly speak to our situation?

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Then what do we do? Okay, we pray. I would say you try to look for some principles in God's word, but if you're still not sure, we can pray.

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Okay, but God doesn't answer us audibly like he, and I don't know that God was audibly responding to Abiathar, probably not, but however it worked,

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God doesn't do that for us. So what ends up happening is God will lay a burden on our heart.

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God will give us conviction. God will make his will known either through people he brings in our life, circumstances, something along those lines.

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So there might have to be a time where we read the Bible, we don't know, we have to pray, we're waiting for peace, we're waiting for some sort of conviction, and God might give that to us so we move forward with what we feel

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God would have us to do, or sometimes we just have to stay put and wait and see what

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God does next. So God speaks through scripture and he leads through conviction, through circumstances.

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Who has ever felt that God has really led you in a very specific way, by placing a burden on your heart, or you felt conviction about some of that?

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I need to do this, I need to do that. Who's felt that? Okay, yeah.

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I mean, really, every Christian should feel that. Often, perhaps.

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So that's how we seek the Lord, and David was doing it consistently. We should do it consistently.

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Might I say you should do it daily, all the time.

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So God still leads us today. Does anyone have a story that you'd like to share about some 30 seconds or a minute or less of how

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God's done that? You don't have to if there's nothing you wanna share, but anyone? Go ahead.

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Well, I think the first time I felt, because I was always raising my hand when a missionary would say, were you willing to go?

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Ever since I was a little boy, and missionaries always did, and I always said yes.

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And I was at a men's retreat, and a man walked in and said, we're assembling a team to go to Haiti, and I wonder if you'd be willing to pray and if the

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Lord would have you to go. And so, once again, I did it. And when I walked out of the building, it was as if he said, this is it.

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This is it, finally, after all these years. And then, of course, he keeps doing it. Israel, Providence Christian Academy, FM Cosmesicus, and you just can't, you can't tell where.

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Some might say I'm impulsive. Well, the scripture says, what is it? Psalm 37, delight yourself also in the

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Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. How do you know if God really wants you to do something?

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You'll want to do it. You'll want to do it for him, for his glory. Long as it's not something that's directly opposed to some command of scripture.

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Obviously, there's some things that we can't say, God led me to do this, and it's like a violation of his commandments.

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That's clear, but yeah. Oftentimes, we know because of a strong feeling.

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Typically, we don't want to go by our feelings, or that's what you'll hear often. I probably say that, and that's true.

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Feelings can be misleading, but if they're in line with God's word, and you feel that conviction, that is one way that the

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Lord leads us. Okay, so David receives a word from God. He departs from the city, and he goes into the wilderness.

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In verse 16, it says, then Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.

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So here is another way that the Lord works. He works through other people, bringing people into our lives to strengthen us.

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So David and Jonathan, you remember they had that tearful goodbye a few chapters earlier.

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Well, they meet up again, and Jonathan doesn't tell us what he's doing. He's probably reminding

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David of all the times that God delivered him. He's probably reminding David of the promise that you will be king.

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So whatever is happening, Jonathan is strengthening David. So David may have been having doubts, who knows, but he walks away from this time with Jonathan.

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I think he's regained his confidence, not just in himself, but trusting in God's plan.

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So Jonathan's reminding David of all the things that have gone on up until this point.

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And it just reminds us of how important it is for us to come alongside other people.

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There's somebody hurting right now, somebody who needs a friend right now that tomorrow, this week,

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God can open a door and you can go and strengthen them. And we need people to come into our lives and strengthen us.

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This is all different ways that God works. You know, it's just a reminder.

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Sometimes, you know, David probably knew all the stuff Jonathan had to say, but sometimes you need to hear it again.

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It's like with a sermon, you know. I've heard many sermons, like I've heard this message before, like it's nothing brand new, but I needed to hear it right then and there.

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It happened to me just a few months ago. There was another local pastor in the area preached a sermon on Sunday night.

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I can't say that any of it was brand new to me, but I really needed to hear that that night.

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And it really, really did strengthen and encourage me. So this is why the church and having

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Christian friends is so vital. We can just help motivate and strengthen one another. Okay, verse 18 says that David and Jonathan made a covenant before the

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Lord. What is a covenant? It's the promise, an agreement, a binding agreement.

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Just a reminder, we have a church covenant. So this isn't something people only did back in Bible times.

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When someone becomes a member of Morris Corner Church, you enter into a covenant agreement.

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You agree not only to do like the basic things of attend and give and serve, but also we agree to look out for one another.

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We agree to be kind to one another. We agree to help each other if we're in need.

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So all of this is necessary to successfully live out the Christian life.

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So just as David and Jonathan needed each other, so do we. So David is ultimately successful in the end because of what?

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What's the one thing that guarantees David will rise to the throne?

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Believing in the Lord. Yeah, well, he's believing in the Lord, but it's the Lord himself.

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It's God's promise. So David will succeed because God is with him.

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That's true, but God is using other people to bring about his will.

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Rarely does God use a miracle in nature to deliver his people. He does that in the

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Bible sometimes, but other times it's just circumstances. So David is in the wilderness.

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Chapter 23 ends with Saul's troops. Basically, we don't have time to read through everything, but his troops circle

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David. David is trapped. Like David is finally caught, but you know what happens?

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Saul then gets word that the Philistines have invaded elsewhere. So now all of a sudden

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Saul has to withdraw. He has David right where he wants him finally, but then, hey, the

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Philistines invade. So Saul has no choice. Now he has to pull his troops and go fight the real enemy.

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How did that happen? Somebody in Israel did something, said something, provoked the

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Philistines, they invade, and David is delivered through the providence of God.

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So that's how God works, through circumstances. Okay, chapter 24, moving on.

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Chapter 24 is titled David Spares Saul. This is a well -known story.

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This probably does get covered in Sunday school. Is that true, Sue? Okay, Sue says yes. This is part of the

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Sunday school curriculum. David is in the wilderness of En -Gedi. He's hiding out with his men in the caves, so it's a perfect place for them to hide.

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Saul, once again, this thing with the skirmish with the Philistines must have come to an end, so Saul now can waste his time and go back persecuting

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David. Seems to be his favorite hobby. So Saul, Saul goes into this cave, and wouldn't you know, this is the exact cave

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David is hiding in. You think of all the caves in Israel, what are the odds that, it's like 100%, because this is a divine appointment here, yeah.

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Can I tell you, though, that I did hike that. This wasn't the last time I went to Israel, but I did hike that with a young woman from Switzerland, and there's not that many caves, and there is sort of a trail that goes up, and I betcha it was one of two, because there was a spring of water that came out there, too.

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But anyways, it really made these stories really come to life. I might well have been in the very cave.

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Yeah. I have pictures. Okay. So David and his men are hiding out in this cave, and all of a sudden,

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Saul comes in, and the scripture says that Saul went into the cave to attend to his needs.

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Well, the King James Version says that Saul went in, and he covered his feet, and there's been much discussion about what exactly that means.

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Most translations say that Saul went in and was relieving himself. Okay, that's one idea.

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Some scholars, however, believe that Saul went in to take a nap. We don't know.

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It doesn't really matter. Either way, David and his men, they see this. They see,

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I mean, can you believe it? Here comes the king right into the very cave that we're,

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Saul's vulnerable. Whatever he's doing, Saul is a sitting duck. So they say to David in verse four, this is the day of which the

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Lord said to you, behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand.

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Now, would it look like that? Oh, absolutely. This is like the perfect opportunity that you may do to him as it seems good to you.

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And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe.

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This would lead me to believe that Saul was sleeping, but again, who knows? Either way, now it happened, verse five, afterward, that David's heart troubled him because he had cut

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Saul's robe. I don't think I would have been as bothered by that, but David was. Verse six, he said to his men, the

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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

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Lord. So David restrained his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise against Saul.

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And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. So it's understandable that David's men, when they see this, they figure this is a sign from God.

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David, God wants you or he wants us to kill Saul. Now, if you were there, I mean,

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I might've thought that. I mean, it seems pretty reasonable. I mean, if we're saying that God is working through circumstances,

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I mean, this is, if there's ever a sign, this would be it. But David feels this is not the right thing to do.

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Why? Well, I think David knows the scriptures and he knows what the scripture says about the thing called the sixth commandment.

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Thou shalt not kill. This would not have been self -defense. If Saul, whatever Saul's doing, either way, this couldn't be self -defense.

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So David figures, if I kill Saul or if I allow you guys to do it,

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I'm gonna be the guilty one. So in these chapters, we basically learn

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David's position is that Saul, because he is God's anointed, unless Saul is struck by God himself or unless somebody else kills, something else happens, we are not touching

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Saul. We will not take matters into our own hands.

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So Saul leaves the cave. He goes along his way. David follows after him from a distance and he starts to yell out to Saul, look at verse nine.

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And David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say, indeed,

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David seeks you harm? Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave and someone urged me to kill you, but my eye spared you.

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And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord for he is the

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Lord's anointed. Moreover, my father, and you notice that, that David calls

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Saul his father. Well, what does Saul call David? David, my,

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David, my son. So verse 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.

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No, 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.

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Let the Lord judge between you and me and let the Lord avenge me on you, but my hand shall not be against you.

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As the proverb of the ancients say, wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand shall not be against you.

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After whom has the King of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue, a dead dog, a flea?

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Therefore, let the Lord be judge and judge between you and me and see and plead my case and deliver me out of your hands.

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So David is very content to leave things in whose hands? The Lord's, that's always a safe, safe thing to do.

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So it was when David had finished speaking these words to Saul that Saul said, is this your voice, my son,

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David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. 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.

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And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me, for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

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For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore, may the

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Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now

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I know indeed that you shall surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.

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Now for Saul to come out and say that and admit that, presumably in front of his soldiers,

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I mean, this is quite a thing. But you know, this moment with Saul in tears saying this stuff, it's gonna be short -lived, right?

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So he gets into this back and forth with David and he's feeling sorry. And this is gonna happen again in chapter 26.

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And this is why a lot of people say that Saul was either, you know, we're not medical experts, so we can't really diagnose him, but it's common to hear people say that Saul was bipolar or whatever.

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You know, he's just constantly, you know, going from one extreme to another. But Saul now begs

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David that when he takes the throne, that David wouldn't cut off his descendants.

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Here's a common thing that would happen. When a new king would take over, when there'd be a revolution, something like that, the new king would do what?

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You'd just kill everybody who is related to the old king. So that's what

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Saul is afraid of. Is David gonna do that? No, David probably wouldn't do that anyways, but Saul asks him to make a promise and David will keep that promise.

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Besides, David has already made a covenant with Jonathan. So at least for Jonathan's sake, he was gonna show kindness to descendants of Saul.

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But David is a man who, here's another contrast. David is a man who keeps his word. Saul is a man who what?

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Always is breaking his word. So a Christian really needs to keep their word because unbelievers, people who are of the world, are constantly going back on what they say.

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So we shouldn't do that. Verse 22, so David swore to Saul and Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

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Okay, now moving along to chapter 25. What's the major event in chapter 25?

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Starts out with what? The death of Samuel. Yeah, the death of Samuel. And what is it? Just a couple of verses.

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Looking at this, it amazes me that such an important man in Israel's history, how many verses does he get?

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Just like a little statement. Oh, and Samuel died and moving on.

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Like Samuel is a major figure in Israel's history.

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So it just seems odd to me that so little is said about such an important man. But then again, we haven't heard the end of Samuel, right?

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He's gonna reappear in the story in a couple chapters, although there's debate over whether or not that's really

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Samuel that comes up, but we'll get to that next week. The rest of the chapter deals with a story about David and Nabal and his wife,

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Abigail. So this is a fairly well -known story. We're not gonna read through it, but so far we've seen

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David as a great man. He's been described as a man after God's own heart. Godly man.

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David has lied, that's true. He's lied a few times to save himself, but still a lie nonetheless.

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But now from this point on, we're gonna start seeing David's flaws more and more. As David starts to collect power, he's gonna start collecting something else.

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And what is that? Wives. Yeah, David's gonna start collecting wives. So David and his men are in the wilderness and they approach the estate of a wealthy man named

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Nabal. Scripture says about Nabal that he was harsh or evil in his dealings.

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I mean, his own wife calls him a scoundrel, so I mean, he's a pretty bad guy. But Nabal was harsh in his dealings, but it says that his wife,

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Abigail, was very beautiful and wise. She had good senses about her.

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So it appears that when David and his men were in the wilderness, that they did something to protect

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Nabal's flock and his shepherds. So really, you can look at it that Nabal maybe owes

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David something, but it's that time of year where there's gonna be the shearing of sheep, there's gonna be plenty of milk and vegetables and meat and all the rest.

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So David sends a message to Nabal to see if he would give him and his men some aid.

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And what does Nabal do? He responds with insults. Verse 10, Nabal says, "'Who is

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David and who is the son of Jesse?' In other words, he's basically saying, "'David is a nobody.

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"'I don't care about David. "'Tell David to get lost.'" I mean, this is basically what he's saying, that David is just some deadbeat who ran away from his master, like all the others that do that.

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So this is a real insult, a real slap in the face. And as soon as David hears when

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Nabal's response is, David's like, "'All right, we're gonna go and we're gonna kill this guy.'" Probably not what

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David should have done. So Nabal is drunk. David's on the way with his men to kill

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Nabal and Abigail, because she's very wise. She hears about this, she intervenes.

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So the next morning, long story short, the hangover wears off. Abigail has helped

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David. She's fed him, give him and his men all the stuff they need. Nabal kind of wakes up and realizes he's in big trouble.

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Now, if you just read through the story quick, you might get the sense that David just, he wanted to go in and get rid of Nabal so he could take his wife.

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That's not really what was happening. Who kills Nabal? Not David. Who kills him?

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Yeah, it says the Lord struck Nabal. So Nabal died, but next thing you know, because Abigail is now a widow, what does

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David do? Remember, she's not just wise, she is very beautiful. So David now, officially

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David is now a what? Begins with a P. He is now a polygamist.

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Okay, how many wives does he have? It says he took Abigail and this other woman, what's the other woman's name?

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Ahinoam, but David already has a wife, right? Michal, Saul's daughter, even though it says in verse 44 that Saul had given

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Michal to another man, they're gonna get back together. So David at least has three wives.

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So David is now officially a polygamist. So this is another way that David does not look that good.

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He's making the same mistake that other men in the Old Testament made. If you think of a few names,

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Jacob, Israel himself practiced polygamy. Abraham, I guess, wasn't technically a polygamist, but he did have a child with his, yeah,

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Hagar, his wife's maidservant. Gideon, another man that practiced polygamy.

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Later on, Solomon, David's son will continue the practice. What was God's attitude towards polygamy?

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God didn't really, it's one of those things that you might say that God overlooked it.

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Like these men are never condemned for it, but every time somebody practiced polygamy, it never worked out well.

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It always caused problems. And we know from Jesus's words in Matthew 19 that God's plan from the beginning is one man, one woman for life.

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So in the Old Testament, these men of God did it, and that's just the way it was.

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Here's the thing, people will read the Bible and they'll say, well, this is the argument the

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Mormons made, right? Because the Mormons used to practice polygamy. They said, well, David practiced polygamy and Solomon practiced, and they're getting the idea that because someone in the

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Bible did something, that made it right. Is that how you read the Bible? No, it never says this was something that God commanded or even approved of.

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So that is not the way to read the Bible. Long story short, it was tolerated, we might say, but in the

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New Testament, 1 Timothy 3, speaking of the bishop, men of God in the Old Testament, again, tolerated.

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Men of God in the New Testament, absolutely not. Now it is specifically forbidden.

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But again, it makes David look bad. All right, so as we move along with the book of 1

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Samuel, most of this is historic narrative. We're not seeing too many doctrinal passages like we did in Exodus and Deuteronomy.

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But we do see doctrines that are reinforced. And basically, one doctrine, and you can let me know if you see something here that I am not picking up on, but one doctrine

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I see reinforced is the doctrine of the depravity of man, that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

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Even the man of God, David, I mean, look at some of the things he's doing. So you see any doctrines that come out?

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You know, maybe the goodness of God, that he's not just, what

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God did to Saul, he could do to David. He could reject David, because David's done a lot of, is gonna do a lot of terrible things.

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So any other doctrines that kind of jump? God's mercy. God's mercy. He withholds what we deserve.

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Yep, yep. Maybe the perfection of Christ, because, you know, there wouldn't have been a need for Jesus if David was perfect.

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Right, good. Yeah, this teaching of the depravity of man, it really is the basis for, you know, the gospel, and why it's necessary for Jesus to come, to die for all of these things.

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But basically, something else we can draw from this, God can use imperfect people.

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Okay, I know that's all he has to work with. But, you know, it's been said that God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick.

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I always kind of like that statement. Sometimes when you read through, especially the

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New Testament epistles, you can get the idea that, you know, you have to be like near perfect in order for God to use you.

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You don't really get that sense by reading the Old Testament. You can get it from certain New Testament books.

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You definitely don't get that idea from the Old Testament. So God can use imperfect people.

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It's really a question is, you know, it's not are you impeccable, it's are you available?

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Are you willing to let God use you? All right, move along to chapter 26.

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We're almost done. David discovers where Saul and his men are camped.

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So they're all camped out, they're sleeping. David and his servant

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Abishai, they sneak through the camp where everyone's asleep. And verse 12 says a deep sleep from the

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Lord had come upon them. So there's no possibility of anyone waking up. God's keeping

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David safe. Another way, this is a sort of a miraculous thing. So David sneaks through the camp.

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There's Saul in the middle with his spear and a water jug next to his head. So David's like, let's go grab that stuff that's right next to him.

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We'll take it out, we'll go beyond the camp and whether David's standing on the ledge or whatever yelling at, now he starts yelling down at everybody.

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And who is he addressing? He's addressing Abner who is the commander of the military.

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He's Saul's, you know, right -hand man. He's like, hey Abner, look at what we have.

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We have the spear, we have Saul's water jug. You're not a very good commander because we could have killed your master.

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Abner, how come you let us do that? You deserve, Abner, you deserve to die. It seems like David might be having a little fun with this.

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But then it goes back into the same, you know, Saul recognizes his voice and then David, is that you my son?

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And they go back into this, you know, back and forth. But here's how the chapter ends, verse 25.

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Here's what Saul says to David. May you be blessed, my son David. You shall both do great things and also still prevail.

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No matter what Saul does, again and again, he just can't get

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David. Saul, it's one failure after another. And in the end, Saul ends up praising

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David. He just can't, he can't help it. Chapter 27 is titled,

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David allied with the Philistines. Is that true? Sort of.

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Philistines are the enemy of Israel. David, once again, he feels like it's safer to live outside of Israel.

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So now he's living among the Philistines. David and his 600 men, they strike up an agreement with the

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Philistine king and he gives them a whole city or a town to live in and to sort of make that their base of operations.

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What's the agreement? Why do the Philistines allow David to live there? Because they believe that David has turned traitor.

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David tells the Philistines that he's raiding Israelite villages.

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I remember there was one of these history channel specials on TV that said that David was actually killing

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Israelites and he was going through raiding Israelite towns. Is that actually what he's doing here?

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No, he just says that he is. Who's he actually raiding?

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Who? The Philistines or these other heathen tribes. So basically he gets this city of Ziklag, the

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Philistines, they think David is now their ally and that the people of Judah must really hate

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David now because he's raiding their villages. But the opposite is true because David is helping them by raiding their enemies.

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David's popularity only continues to grow. So like I said before, and bringing this to an end, everything that happens from here on out, it's all to exalt

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David and to eventually bring Saul down. The symbolism is how all things, circumstances, everything is working together for the good.

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And really you just need eyes of faith to see it because we can see how this is working for David's good, right?

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You can't read these chapters and not see it. Saul is racking up one loss, one failure after another, but I'm sure there were people in Israel from their vantage point, it looks like, hey,

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Saul's the king and David's the loser. Saul is in a position of power and David is just on the outs.

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Is that really the situation though? And not really. And so it is today, it can look like Satan, the

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God of this age, it can appear as though he's winning. And sometimes it seems like, yeah, he is winning.

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But Jesus right now, like David, Jesus is the rightful king. Jesus, his body, the church is being persecuted, that's true, but it's not gonna last.

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Saul, his kingdom is coming to an end very, very soon. And Satan, the

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God of this world, his kingdom is gonna crumble. I wanna say soon, but there will be a transfer of power soon when

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Saul's kingdom falls, David will sit on the throne. The time is drawing near when Jesus comes back.

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The kingdom of darkness will come to an end and Jesus will sit on the throne and reign over a kingdom without end.

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So it looks like the devil's winning and Jesus is losing, just like it looks like David is losing and Saul is winning.

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That is not the reality. God has declared that who's the king? David is the rightful king and he will take the throne.

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And that's gonna happen someday with Christ. So we need to have eyes of faith to see it, amen.