1 Samuel - The Coming King Sample

David has been the hero so far in 1 Samuel, but now the chosen king looks more like Saul. In chapter 25 we saw how David was on the verge of committing great evil (25:33), but here in this chapter we see him actually commit atrocities. This reads, in many ways, as a God-less chapter (the name of the Lord isn’t mentioned once). It certainly undermines any temptation to hero worship of David. 

David’s fall from grace begins in verse 1, with his decision to leave the promised land for Philistia (he did this once before in 21:10–15, but didn’t settle there). We may sympathise, but his attitude here is full of fear and not faith (contrast with 26:10, 23–24). He seems to have forgotten the Lord’s promises. Accordingly, David moves away from God’s people to settle in a pagan nation. This is the city which had previously stolen the ark of the covenant (see chapter 5), and against which he had fought earlier (see chapter 17 – and note also that Goliath was from Gath!). Feeling hurt, mistreated or rejected, individuals sometimes slip into leaving the gathering of God’s people, but it’s never a good spiritual policy to leave the church behind. God’s church is the place where God’s blessing has been promised. 

David then leads a lifestyle of theft and murder, managing to break a whole number of the ten commandments in one fell swoop (vv. 8–10). He also ends up double-dealing with their king, Achish. While giving the appearance of being a traitor to Israel, he lies to the king about what he’s really doing (27:12 – 28:2). This is a clever survival strategy, and it works for David, yet it is God-less and faith-less. David thinks that death is worse than sin, but Jesus shows us that sin is worse than death (Heb. 12:3–4). Our true king gave his life rather than sin (Mark 14:36). Jesus is our model, not David.

REFLECTION

1. Where are you sometimes tempted to think that the end justifies the means? Why is that a faith-less way of thinking?

2. ‘Sin is worse than death’: why is that? What difference does that make to your decision-making?