Sunday School | David - 1 Samuel 24

Welcome to class. If you haven't been here, we've been studying through the life of David. I think it's great. Thank you, Susan. We're studying the life of David. We were walking through 1 Samuel for a few months, and we are in chapter 24. Well done.

So now, reminder. What we're trying to do here is several different things. One, we just want to understand what happened. What was David's life like? He is the most significant character in the Bible, second only to Jesus. There's way more content about David than anybody else besides Jesus. Not just what he said and what he did, but the songs that he wrote. Half of the Psalms are his. We just get an enormous amount of information about the narrative of his life. And so we figure if God's going to spend so much time on this one guy, we want to understand what it is about him.

One of the things—not the only thing, but I think the most significant thing about David—is why do we get so much content about him? Why is David such a big deal? Dan?

He's the king presaging the real king. Excellent. That's an excellent way to say it. He is the king presaging the real king. He is the archetype of Jesus. When the Messiah comes, he will be known as the Son of David. Now you're going to say Son of God, yes. He is the Son of David. So when the blind man shows up and says, "Son of David, have mercy on me," David is the pattern. He is the picture. He is the office. King. He is the King of Israel. When the Messiah comes, he's going to come to be King. And there are so many ways that David anticipates, pictures, and foreshadows what the Messiah is going to be.

And so largely, a study of the life of David is a study of what the Messiah ought to be, but also what man cannot be. Because David is this weird double vision spot. On the one hand, you see the way that he sets the path, sets the standard, and is the template for the Messiah. But he also can't live up to his own standards, and he's going to blow it terribly. We're in a portion of the story where David is still doing an incredibly good job. The collapse, the disappointment, the cratering is yet to come. Here in chapter 24, David honestly is killing it. He is doing an incredible job.

Reading Chapter 24

So we're going to take a look and just start reading chapter 24, verse one, and we'll talk about it in chunks.

After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, "David is in the desert of Ein Gedi." And so Saul took 3,000 chosen men from all Israel, and he set out to look for David and his men near the crags of the wild goats. — 1 Samuel 24:1-2

Now real quick, what just happened? Does anybody remember what just happened prior to this in chapter 23? What's our immediate context, Chris?

Saul tried to kill David, and then it just happened by chance—the day he just got called back?

Yes. There was a moment where David should have been dead. So what Chris is saying is that David had been basically being pursued by Saul, and they're basically about to meet around this mountain, and all is lost. Saul's about to come and capture him, and then Saul gets a message that says, "Hey, something's going down with the Philistines." And so right before this critical moment, Saul just abandons and leaves.

So Saul had been on the pursuit, and now he's done pursuing the Philistines. Pursuing the Philistines was the thing that had messed him up.

He came to the sheep pens along the way, and a cave was there. And Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in that cave—that exact cave, that's where they were hiding. And the men said, "This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'" And then David crept unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul's robe. And afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of the robe, and he said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lift my hand against him, for he is the anointed of the Lord." And with these words, David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. Saul left the cave and went on his way. — 1 Samuel 24:3-7

Alright, first off, what does the word providence mean? What's providence? Is that a term? It feels like it's a little archaic. Do you have a sense of what providence is?

The provision of God?

Okay, provision. Who said that? Lily. Okay, you don't sit back there. What happened?

You're up here. Okay. That's weird. Somebody stole Lily's seat. So the provision of God. Okay. So you're hearing what Lily has done immediately there, the word providence, you're hearing perhaps in it the word provide, okay? And so then you're just kind of turning provide into provision. It is the provision of God. That's good. It's a good start. We're to do a little bit of etymology work on that.

So yes, the provision of God. How do we use the word providence? What does it mean? Providence. It's not merely that we get stuff. God's formulation of history. Okay. God's formulation of history. What do you mean by that? Unpack. Taking place are under His control and we call it God. Okay. The things that take place in history everywhere? All things. All things? Maybe? God's in control. He lets things happen. But the movement working out of history is under His sovereign provision. Right? A reformed framing of that would be that God hath foreordained whatsoever comes to pass. Okay?

Providence, does that have a connotation for you, Catherine? Sometimes people use it like when they just don't understand. Okay, good. Yeah. So sometimes, and even Chris, you used the word happenstance. Right? So David's coming around the thing, and Saul's coming around the things, and it just so happened at that exact moment, David got or Saul got a message saying, Hey, you know, we've to go fight the Philistines. And it seemed rather happenstancy, and yet it was quite convenient, right, that that happenstance occurred at that exact moment. Yes? Yes. And God, because the bottom line is God knows everything. And so, you know what, he is part of his plan. I mean, so we accept it. Yes, okay. So God's plan is working out.

If you were here a couple weeks ago, we watched these Alpha videos. Do you remember I think his name is Nicky? Is that the name of the guy that runs the thing? Nicky Gumble. He was talking about praying for something. He was on a bus, and then he prayed that he was alone, and then God brought on some old friend onto the bus, and it was just a really extraordinary coincidence. Do you remember that? And he began to think, it seems like God was answering my prayer, and somebody said, well, yeah, think it was just a coincidence. He says, well, it's funny because I've noticed that when I pray, coincidences happen. Right? That's providence. It's providence. It seems coincidental, and yet somebody's running the show here. Okay?

Etymology of Providence

Now let's do a little bit of word study. Providence, you took us literally already from providence to provide. Break down provide. What does just kind of go to your Latin roots, okay? What is pro? What is vide? What is vide? To see, okay? So vide, like vidi, vici or video. V I D E is Latin for see. Pro, what is that? Forward. Forward. Forward, right? So pro vide, right, to provide. Providence is all about God's ability to foresee everything. He sees forward, and in his forward lookingness, his ability to see all things, he can make it so that just as you're coming around the mountain and David is about to meet you, the Philistine message shows up. Right? Because he sees all things. We see it and it seems rather marvelous when it occurs, but it's the normal thing. He can see exactly which cave Saul is going to go into when he needs to relieve himself, and prior to that, bring David and his men into that exact same cave. It seems like happenstance. It's quite a coincidence, but in fact, the God who sees all things brings it all to pass, such that David is in there and it's so easy to kill him.

Now, how do David's men interpret the event? They're in the cave, Saul comes in, and what do they how do they literally describe it? An opportunity. This is a no brainer. This is an absolute opportunity to kill Saul. Right? And in fact, yeah, Eric? It's not just that it's an opportunity. The men felt that it was God's will that they would. This is it. This is he said. Yes. David. When you said look at Eric's pointed to verse four, I think, probably. Take look at verse four here. Here's the men's response.

The men said, "This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, 'I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.'" — 1 Samuel 24:4

Now, does anybody know what they're quoting? Where is that coming from? Where did God say, I will deliver your enemy into your hands so you can deal with them as you wish? Joshua. Joshua? It's actually nowhere. It doesn't exist. There's nothing. Okay? Now, if somebody ever said that to him, they didn't say it in Scripture. Okay? Was never recorded. It shows up nowhere in this thing. And so they are they see it. It makes sense to them. And have you ever noticed this?

It makes sense to them, and so they ascribe to the Lord. Yeah, it makes sense to God. Because it makes sense to me, clearly this would make sense to God. This is what he's telling you to do. Right? Be really careful about that. Right? It's pretty easy to write a letter and then sign God's name on the bottom of it, but I don't recommend that as a course of action, okay?

Suzanne? Just in the previous chapter, when David was conferring with God about going down to Keilah. And the Lord says, I'm gonna give the Philistines in here. That's right. But like, they've taken it a step further. That's right. That's right. So God—there certainly are times where God will deliver into David's hands other enemies. But this message, this prophecy, this divinely ordained message that these guys are giving, it's not true. It's not real. In fact, quite the opposite. David is abundantly clear chapter after chapter after chapter that he has no authority to lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. But somebody shows up and says, Sure you do, and he doesn't take the bait. It's really important. When somebody shows up in your life and says, Hey, God is telling you to go do this, are you going to take the bait?

Now remember, all this while, we are trying to understand how does David anticipate Messiah? Does that ring a bell for you? Can you think of other times where maybe somebody shows up and tells Jesus, Hey, you can go do this, and he's like, I don't buy it. I know what God has said in his word, and I'm not gonna follow this. Where do you see it? Okay, where does Satan do that to him? When he goes into the wilderness for forty days. That's what I was thinking too. Yep. Tell him that he can do anything. He can jump off this pyramid and he's gonna be caught. That's right. Satan likes to imitate the voice of God, right? And he calls Jesus to do these things, and Jesus is like, no deal. I'm not gonna do it.

It's the same thing in the garden, not with Jesus but with Adam and Eve—Satan is like, gonna give this, he's gonna countermand what God has said. And there's a wisdom in saying, You know what? I don't buy it. I know what he has said. I don't know if you're legit, and so I'm going be more cautious here instead of just taking your thing.

The Messiah, when he comes, is going do this beautifully. David is anticipating that. So there's this bogus message. David doesn't take the bait, but God is sovereignly, graciously doing something. Right? He did put him in the cave, if not to kill him for something else. Okay, we'll come back to that.

Dan? Just wanted to back up slightly and say that what David's guys are doing here is exactly what Saul was doing. Yes. Yes. Looking at circumstance and ascribing God's will to the circumstance. That's exactly right. And it's like everybody in the story is caught up in this—oh, we see what's happening, therefore this is God's will—except for the one.

Meaning-Making and God's Word

Okay. So what I love about you saying that, Dan, is one of the things when we come to scripture, there's a couple of things that we're trying to look at. Right? And I think I've given you these two broad things. On the one hand, we're looking at mankind. What are the characters in the story doing? Will they display their brokenness and their badness, their sin and their suffering, their guilt and their grief? Every study, every passage of the Bible is essentially an anthropology study, and you could ask the question, what is this saying is wrong with them and I'm part of them? What is wrong with us? That's happening in story.

The other thing is like, how does God intervene? What is God's solution? So what's the badness or the brokenness that we bring to the party? That's always happening in every passage. And then what is God's solution? That's also always happening. And if you can understand these two things, that's going to drive you to see what God really wants you to get.

And one of the things about our badness and our brokenness is that we have a tendency—have you noticed this? We're meaning makers. Right? Something happens, and so we create a narrative about it. And sometimes we'll create some divine narrative about it that might not be so. We saw it in the last chapter where Saul's like, Clearly, I know what the Lord is doing here. He's given David into my hands. It's amazing how often we interpret the circumstances around us to mean, God is on my side and he wants me to kill somebody. Right? That's what's happening here, both of these things.

There's something in us that says, I am now privileged to disadvantage somebody else because it's going to serve my purposes and I think that's what God wants me to do. Just be mindful of that, right? How is it that you're interpreting your world around you in that way?

Okay, that's what's going down here. All right, so let's see. So David doesn't kill him, but what does he do in the cave? Do you know?

Short of stabbing him in the neck, he does something else. He shows he could have killed him. How does he do it? He cuts the corner of his robe. This is an interesting thing. On the one hand, at the most surface level, the most obvious meaning of that is simply what? Proof. Proof that he could have. Right? So if I can get close enough to cut the corner of your robe off, then it's basically a way of saying, like, I was right on you and I didn't kill you. Do you believe me now that I'm not trying to kill you? Because that would have been so easy. Your army wasn't even here. I mean, he's incredibly vulnerable. He's got his pants around his ankles, and it's just easy. Right? But he doesn't do it.

So there's that. But there's, I think, a little bit more here. And I don't know that this would be super obvious, but any idea of what meaning, other than "I could have killed you and I didn't," might be ascribed to cutting the corner off his robe? There's some symbolism in there. Let's get into some of the symbolism here. Let's get some guesses.

I like this. So he's eating into his role as king. Right? There's this—the robe is a symbol of kingship. Right? This is his royal robe, and he's gonna take some of that. So in a way, there's this imagery here of like, they're gonna take this garment off you and give it to David. And so it's a bit of an erosion. It's like, I'm not gonna kill you, but I am gonna take your kingdom. I think that's part of it.

Yes, okay. Way back—does it have to do with when Saul or the robe? Yes, Ali, excellent. Okay, so do you remember the scene where Saul steals somebody's robe and tears it away? Do you guys remember this story? That's excellent, Allie. And again, it's symbolic of kingship transfer. That's part of what else is going on here.

And I think there's one other thing that's more obscure. Suzanne, got something obscure you want to throw on the table? He puts the corner of his robe over her, as like, "Oh, interesting." I will care for you. And so David is showing that Saul is no longer caring. Okay. I had not thought about the Ruth dynamics. That's such a strange story. There might be something there too, although casting the garment over is a provision. That might be invoked here. I'd have to think about that one. I don't know if that is or not, but it might be.

Okay, Ali, you got the super obscure one yet? Sorry, did it have to do with the tearing of the curtain? I don't think so. Maybe. But that would fit under the category of obscure. So that's good. That's what I'm looking for.

Okay. So yes, I would think all of that is wrapped up in here—that when he goes after him, "I could have killed you, I'm chipping away your royal robe, you're going to lose the kingdom," all these things. And the whole thing is profoundly disrespectful, although it's better than stabbing him in the neck. But go to Numbers 15 and tell me if this doesn't—if you think this might be meaningful. It's not only a symbol. It's not just the garment, but the part of the garment that I think has meaning.

In Numbers 15, look at verse 38 and following.

Speak to the Israelites, and say to them: "Throughout the generations to come, you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at, and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes." — Numbers 15:38-39

The very part of the garment that he cuts off—this is what he's cutting off. This thing that reminds you of the laws of God that you are to obey. God basically—David is essentially saying, "Well, you're not doing that, so I'll just get rid of it. What's the point?" And in that, he's not only taking away, not only suggesting he's not fit to be king, but he's not really a fit follower of Yahweh in the first place. Right?

I think there's a lot going on here, and he doesn't kill him. So that's all the stuff that's happening there. So it is not merely—we're gonna see why this chapter's gonna end with an exaltation of David, that he is fit to rise to the throne—but it is also a rebuke against Saul, who is not following the law, is not performing his kingly duties, and God has providentially brought him into this place where he would be rebuked and judged. Okay? Make sense?

You think that when he cut back, that's why he was conscience-driven?

Cutting away something that should have been—something he shouldn't cut away because that would have reminded us all to go back to the Lord. Okay. So Marty, it's such a great thing because I'm so glad you said it because we'll get here—let's see, where is it? Stay with me. You're going a little bit ahead, but I think you're exactly right. Where does he say where is David conscience stricken? Where is that? Verse five? Already? I thought it was down lower. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're not going ahead. I'm just out of order myself.

So afterward, David was conscience stricken for having cut the corner off his robe. — 1 Samuel 24:5

When I read that, I'm like, David, relax. Like, why are you freaking out about that? Right? It seems like he's having a pretty strong emotional reaction to cutting off the corner of his robe when he could have killed him. And why is he like, maybe that was a bit too far? Because it doesn't seem like it's very far at all. But if you understand what it means, then perhaps it was a bit too far. Right? And so David sees it, he takes it, and then he's like, and he kind of rolls it back.

Which is what kind of an exquisite level of sensitivity does he have that he would feel bad after that relatively benign action, right? But yes, I think that's how it all comes together like that. So that's a great eye. Okay, how you doing? Keeping up? Everything's good?

So he's in the cave, he cuts the thing, and I think that it means—I think those things—I don't think I'm making any of that up. That's all really what's meant by there. And he's essentially voiding Saul's claim on the kingship. It's a big deal. Okay, Bob first and then back to Catherine.

Jonathan, just a few chapters back, give him his robe too. Yes, several times. This whole chapter that you can see Jonathan did it and Saul says it. Yes. And this garment thing, like we don't—garment shmarment, right? But it keeps happening where the clothing is emblematic or symbolic of this rule, who is gonna really be king? So that's all what's happening here. Okay, Lily, I lied. So Lily, then Katherine, go.

Yeah. There's layers of meaning on this. And so that's, again, we're trying to learn how do we read narrative. You could just blitz through this chapter. Right? Just read it and run through it, and then miss so much of the substance behind the events, right? But all these layers of meaning, I think, are present. Yes? Catherine?

I don't know if you got verse five. Yeah, go for it. Yeah. It would have to be incredibly tempting. If somebody's been trying to kill you for—I don't even know. I haven't done a map of the timeline here, but at least a year, a couple years? Right? I mean, it's been going on for a while, and to have him right there, you understand why the men are like, boom, the Lord has delivered him into your hands. And he does have a knife in his hand. I mean, he's cutting this thing off—you know, with a knife, and then he's—yeah. So he's in there, and yet David is steadfast and will remain so throughout.

Alright, let's keep going. Verse eight. I'll read it.

Then David went out of the cave and he called to Saul by the way, there's a gap here. Saul's like a distance away. Saul went out of the cave and called to Saul, "My Lord the king." Look at that, it's a very gracious label. My Lord the king. He just cut his king's robe. My lord the king. And then Saul looked behind him and David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

What does that posture denote? Service, respect, humility. Right? He's not taunting, he's not mocking, he's unbelievably tactful here, ridiculously so.

And he said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, 'David is bent on harming you?' This day you've seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not lift my hand against my master because he is the Lord's anointed.' Notice the why, right? You hear people talk about respect to the office, not the man. That's what David is doing. He is the Lord's anointed. See, my father, look at this piece of robe, of your robe in my hand. I cut off the corner of your robe, but I didn't kill you. Now understand and recognize that I'm not guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I've not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge the wrongs that you have done to me. But my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, from evildoers come evil deeds, so my hand will not touch you. Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? May the Lord be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it. May he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand. — 1 Samuel 24:8-15

That thing that I just read, do you know what that passage's claim to fame is right there?

It's the longest continuous quote of David in his entire narrative. This is his longest speech. One of the ways that we judge the importance of something in narrative is simply by how much size is given to it. The author of this could have just abbreviated, but he gives us this whole big long thing. That just tells us, slow down, what's going down there? What's the message?

So I'm confused. David comes out of the cave. He is close enough to Saul that Saul can see him, hear him, see that he's bowing down, see that the robe is not just a piece of cloth, it's actually his. So David's literally positioned himself in a situation where if this doesn't work, Saul's walking back to the hill with his whole army and it's over. So David knows this is gonna work, or he believes it's going to, but he still feels bad about the strategy he took to get there.

So this is good. It's a little bit weird because Saul is about to say, "David, is that you?" The distance is tough. Like he can hear him, he can see him, but he may not be able to physically recognize him with his eyes. I don't know what that distance is. Is he 100 yards off? I don't even know. And how close is Saul's army? Saul hasn't seemingly brought his bodyguards with him and certainly hasn't brought his entire army with him. So maybe the army's down there and he went on a walk to find a cave. I don't exactly know what the distances are. But there's some weird gap where he's yelling across, and Saul has enough ridiculous uncertainty that he's like, "David, is that you?"

So that's the distance thing. But then your question is: in that context, why does David feel bad if he's still—tell me the tension for you.

He's Saul's about to basically let him off the hook and say, "Okay." And he leaves. That's kind of the end here. David, I mean, sure it could have been a mile away, but they know exactly where they are now. They're literally in the sight of it. I'm like, it could be over right then. For Saul, you can kill David out completely. And yet God says, no, this is the moment. But David feels bad enough—right, I did something wrong even though God is using it to end this conflict.

Yes. David is going to perennially feel that he has absolutely no right or authority to lay a hand on Saul. It's gonna come up over and over again. This story is gonna end with Saul saying, "You're right, I'm wrong, you're gonna be king," and then you turn the page, and Saul's right back at it again. So I think you're gonna find David is not gonna trust a word that Saul says, and yet he will never ever defend himself.

This again, as we're looking at how this pictures anticipates what the Messiah is gonna be, that's very, very significant. He could kill him, he could end it, but David will believe that Saul will be a threat until Saul is dead. And David will never move to neutralize the threat. Both of those things are going to define David's time prior to becoming king, for sure.

It strikes me like David's imprecatory Psalms. He is going to lead to God's hand.

That's right. Raising it off through God's hands. This is the entire thing. The nature of the imprecatory Psalms—we look at them and they seem bloodthirsty, but the Psalms are never like, "I'm gonna kill them." It's always, "God, you kill them, because I'm not gonna touch him, but you can." And that's how these things work. David will not be the agent of Saul's destruction, but he does trust and hope, and I think we could say desires that the Lord will bring that about. That is the only thing that can help you be a Christian pacifist: if you believe that God will be just and therefore you do not need to be the executor of that justice. That is how that whole thing works.

It's not even saying, "Is that you?" Is it your voice? David's been living out in the caves for a couple of years. He probably looks pretty rough. He might not recognize him.

Yes. He remembers hearing his voice because David used to sing for him. And the language that David is using is like, "Hey, you're trying to kill me." Saul's like, "Who am I trying to kill again?" He should recognize him from context, if nothing else.

So it's the longest speech that David gives. What's the essence of the speech? What is David's primary theme here in this long thing? And by the way, I'll just tell you this as a heads up. Saul's going to respond with Saul's longest speech. So you have David's longest speech and Saul's longest speech juxtaposed.

The author of narrative here is trying to tell you something with that. This is the core message. This is the meaning. What are we going to get in these speeches?

So David's message is what? Would you fact, do it at your table. Just kind of go into your defined groups here and just take a minute. What is the essence of David's message here in his speech? Just kind of skim back through it and then we'll talk in just sixty seconds.

Alright. Got a theory? What's the message? Distill it down. What is David's core speech? You guys got an answer here?

I think he's basically saying I'm good and you're bad, but I'm not gonna do anything about it. Is that just how we should just live our lives, just walk around and listen? If you hear nothing else, I'm good, you're bad, but whatever, right? Okay, good.

I was just gonna say that if we put it in the picture of the coming Messiah, David knows how this is gonna end. The longing behind it is that I've got this, and so I'm just putting you aside, Saul. David knows what the Lord is going to ultimately do.

I mentioned that in the ESV, there was no punctuation. ESV says, when David says, I'm a dead dog. I'm a flea, exclamation exclamation. The NIV says, question mark question mark. Change the whole perspective. David's saying, am I a dead dog? Am I a flea? Why are you coming after me? Why do I mess? That's all because God's gonna judge between you and it's almost rewarding. Whereas the other way of reading it is saying like, hey, I'm just a dead dog. I'm just a flea, you know. Wasting your time. Why are you doing this? I mean, I'm not doing anything. Yes. It's one of those times where you read two different translations. You get kind of a different perspective.

The Lord has chosen between us and may he continue to do so.

David's Core Message: Loyalty and Innocence

The way I would boil all this down, there's so many different things that he's saying. It's a long speech. You've got a lot of threads. I think his primary thing here is his protestation of his loyalty to the king. His innocence. He's like, Saul, look at it. I'm loyal. I am—everybody is telling you that I am bent on your destruction, but I'm not. What more evidence do you need? It's a protestation of his innocence of the primary charge that hangs over his head. He's not doing anything bad. I'm loyal. I'm innocent. I'm not guilty. Right? That's what he's saying.

And Saul is going well, we'll see what Saul does. Right? Well, in fact, we'll see it in a second. How does he make his case? He's innocent. He's loyal. I'm not going to kill you. I'm not. I am good, and you are bad, but I'm not going to do anything about it. Right?

How does he make his case? Just look at some of the language that he uses. How would you characterize him? He could divide his message, I think, into two different modes to it. On the one hand, he's unbelievably tactful. He honors Saul. He says, My Lord, the King. Right? And even when Saul is completely responsible for this fantasy of David's treachery, he says, Why do you believe men when they tell you that I'm trying to kill you? Right? Do you see how he's very—he's not saying, You're making this up in your head and you're lying about it. He says, Why do you believe your false advisors? Do you see how there's this graciousness to his tone? He could be far more accusatory. Why do you keep chucking spears at me? Instead he says, Why do you believe those that say to you? His whole mode and what's his physical posture as he's giving this speech? He's on the ground. He could not be any more humble, lowly, gracious, tactful, non-accusatory toward the man who is repeatedly trying to kill him.

There's this odd differential there. Not only are his words humble, his behavior is like I will not, right? There's a humility that transcends the whole thing. So half the message—half the message is his gentleness, his lowliness, his humility in all things. Okay? What's the other half? Because it's the exact opposite of that.

He calls for God to judge. There's a boldness. So he's humble, he's lowly, he's gracious, he's tactful, and he says, and this is going to end really badly for you. Right? Look at it, he kind of gives this little five point thing at the end.

He says, "May the Lord be judge. May he decide between us. May he consider my cause, uphold my cause. May he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand."

He is this weird mix. Again, we're looking at how does this whole thing anticipate Messiah? When Jesus comes, he's going to be both. He's going to be lowly and gentle and humble—like a sheep before his shearers is silent. He's not going to open his mouth. And he's going to jump in the Pharisees' face and say, "Woe to you. How will you ever escape being condemned to hell?" Right? He will not falter until he establishes justice on the earth.

We've talked about this in other contexts, but great leaders mirror or match these two seemingly opposite things: great personal humility along with an indomitable will. And David is going to be as kind as he can be, but he's not going to pull his punches. That spread—to be able to be forceful and direct and clear without being insulting and unkind and harsh. Like that weirdness.

When Jesus comes, he's going to be the ultimate both/and. He is the lion and he is the lamb. We've talked about this. This is one of my favorite sermons of all time: Jonathan Edwards' "The Admirable Conjunction of Diverse Excellencies." Do you remember this? We've talked about this in this room. Jesus is super, super hot and he's super, super cold, but he's never lukewarm. Right? He's infinitely worthy to receive all good and infinitely patient in suffering evil. He is exalted to the right hand of the Father and communes with the lowly. This mirroring of opposites—this lamb-like lion and this lion-like lamb—is the hallmark of Messiah. And David is manifesting that reality here. Okay? Make sense?

Man, to be like that, do you need to be more gentle and more humble and more tactful, or do you need to be more bold and courageous and forceful and honest? Or do you need to be both?

Catherine: Just to make David's character stand out even more, I see what he could have done. One of the things he could have done was he could have said, "Saul, face it. I can't help it that people love me more." He could have gone that route. But he's not in it for us. He's just lowering himself and denying all that. That speaks really loud.

Right? You can say, "Hey, remember that song about me killing tens of thousands? How many? I forget, what was your number?" But he doesn't.

Let's look at Saul's response.

When David finished saying this, Saul asked, "Is that your voice, David, my son?" And he wept aloud. "You are more righteous than I," he said. "You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me of the good you did to me. The Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way that you have treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants like you cut off my robe, or wipe out my name from my father's family." — 1 Samuel 24:16-21

What is the essence, first of all, of Saul's message? What's the bottom line for this longest narrative of Saul? There's no repentance. We're going to get to the pseudo-repentance in a second, but what is the message? David, you're right, but so what? That's what he wants. There's another core thing. What is maybe his prediction?

Eric: He sees David as his son who he loved when he brought him to the court. He sees him and knows he's going to be the king, and he's going to be Saul's legacy. That's the thing, right? He wants to make sure that legacy continues. That is heir language. That's Psalm 2.

Today I have become your father. — Psalm 2

That's Psalm 2. That is when the kingship is transferred. He's using inheritance language, and he says, "It is surely the case that you will be king."

Now this is weird because Saul is such a mess, but the central message of David is: I'm loyal, I'm innocent, I've done nothing wrong. And the central message of Saul is: You will be king. And once again, we are looking at how do we see this in Messianic terms? When the Messiah comes, he will be the innocent one who is accused, who suffers, who is maligned but does not defend himself, and who most surely will be made king. And that's what's going down here.

Now, the fact that it's coming out of Saul's mouth is so strange because Saul is about to take it all back in like three verses. He's just completely worthless. But the language—this prophetic speech is spot on.

Dan?

Saul's Vulnerability and Apparent Repentance

This section has been confusing to me, but here's how I've rationalized it. I'm just throwing this out as a possible reading. Saul really is alone here, that he doesn't have his men surrounding him, that he really did go off by himself. And he knows David has his guys with him, and Saul is scared. He is at David's mercy if that is true and he's sly and he's kind of just repeating back what David said, and he goes into the "David, my son." I'm gonna use this warm language because maybe it'll get you not to kill me right now. He repeats back what they both know to be true to get out of there with his life.

So what we know that's about to happen, if you read the next chapter, Saul's apparent repentance just dissolves like cotton candy and water. It's just gone. It's gone, baby gone. Right? So either he was lying and it was all a pretense, just maybe for his own safety, or he really meant it but he just couldn't retain it. And I don't honestly know which one it is.

I think the nature of humanity is that it's both at the same time. Sometimes I feel genuinely repentant until I get past the cop. Do we know this phenomena? You're like, "Man, I was really driving too fast. I should have actually, never mind," and we're gone, right? That could be the phenomena that's going on. Saul has his own internal pressures that are gonna drive him, but there are his advisors. His advisors want him to maintain the kingship because they get to keep their jobs if they do. So there's a lot of different pressures, and maybe others are like, "Man, we can go kill him. We don't need to do it." And so he's kind of back and forth and in and out on this.

David's Organized Case vs. Saul's Emotional State

David's speech feels very organized. He's making a case. Point A and B and C points to C. David's definitely a lawyer making his closing case to the jury. He's very tidy. Whereas Saul, starting with "Is that your voice, my son David?" and then ending with "Oh, also, regardless of what I said before, since you're gonna be king, don't kill my kids." It just feels so potentially tied to his bipolar nature.

David doesn't have the time to fully unpack it, but if you go through David's case, you can outline it. He's a lawyer making his closing case to the jury. He's really very tidy. Saul is emotionally crying, which suggests that he might be sincere or at least sincerely scared, which would serve the point about vulnerability. So he's kind of coming at it from a little bit different angle.

David, Jesus, and Paul: A Pattern of Tribulation

There's another similarity here. David is accused, and then "No, he's fine." He's accused. "No, everything's great." He's under attack. "No, no, we're never gonna hurt you." And that has similarities when Jesus is going to be accused and attacked and they drag him before this trial and this trial and this trial. That pattern shows that his tribulations will be many from multiple sources. And yet through all the crazy, he will prevail.

There's one other character in the Bible that has that same paradigm, and it's Paul. Everything that happens in Acts already happened in the Gospels. When Paul shows up, he's on this march to Jerusalem. When he gets to Jerusalem, he's on trial before Festus, he's on trial before King Agrippa, he gets bounced around and held around, and all of that is meant to be an echo of the way that Jesus' trial goes. It's showing us that what Jesus did, Paul does as well, and David had done earlier. So those are some of the pictures.

Okay, here's where we're to stop because we've got to let you go to church.

Final thing, the big point here in verse 20 or 21—where Saul says, "You shall surely be king." Verse 20: "I know that you will surely be king, and the kingdom will be established in your hands."

I know that you will surely be king, and the kingdom will be established in your hands. — 1 Samuel 24:20

Whatever Saul meant and whatever he said, he's exactly right. David is innocent, he is loyal, and he will be made king. So watch as we continue through Samuel—just look for what does this tell me? What am I learning about the character of the man that God chooses to place on the throne? It's gonna be instructive to us as we understand what it is that is so exalted and beautiful about Jesus, and that he is all that he is on your behalf.

Jesus will not spend his power and his might. He will not cash in.