1 Samuel 22

1 Samuel 22:1

DAVID GATHERS HIS MIGHTY MENChapter 22 begins that period in David’s life when he hides in the caves and dens of the earth. He is learning that the King’s business does not require haste. God is schooling and training him as He has His other men. During these years when he hides from the presence of Saul who seeks to kill him, he is hunted and hounded. He is driven from pillar to post. He is forced to hide in the forests and caves of the earth to escape the king’s wrath. During this time David describes himself in the following ways: (1) I am hunted like a partridge (1Sa_26:20); (2) I am like a pelican of the wilderness (Psa_102:6); (3) I am like an owl of the desert (Psa_102:6); (4) My soul is among lions (Psa_57:4); and (5) They have prepared a net for my steps (Psa_57:6). David becomes weary during these years of running away from Saul. When Saul presses him hard, he withdraws to the cave of Adullam, which is a rocky mountain fastness, southwest of Jerusalem, in a valley between Philistia and Hebron. A marvelous comparison can be made between David and David’s greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, during this period of his rejection which covered about ten years. This time in David’s life compares to the present state of our Lord. You and I are living in the days of His rejection. The world has rejected Christ just as David was rejected and hunted like an animal. Saul, his enemy, was abroad; and our enemy, Satan, is abroad today. We are admonished in 1Pe_5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” David could say that his “soul was among lions,” and we can say the same today.

It is during these days that the Lord Jesus Christ is calling out of this world a people for His name. He is calling those who are in distress, those who are in debt, and those who are discontented. These three classes of men existed in David’s day. There were those who were in distress. They were persecuted and oppressed by Saul. David was a long time in breaking with Saul. There were many who were loyal to Saul, but they were finally forced to flee because their lives became endangered. Many fled to David and joined up with him. If you have felt the whiplash of injustice in the world, if you have felt its unfairness, if you are oppressed and have no place to turn, look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people today are trying to find a way out of their troubles and are turning to all kinds of nostrumssome to drugs, some to drink, and some to suicide. There is one who is calling all of us today. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luk_19:10). He wants to help you. He can help you. “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Heb_2:18). Are you tested and tempted? Are you in distress? You need a Savior, and He is calling out those who will come to Him this day. There were others who came to David during this time of rejection who were in debt. Debt is a cancer that destroys under any circumstance. In that day when a man got into debt he could lose his property and he could be sold into slavery. Men should have been protected, but they were not. This man Saul was permitting men to become slaveshe was not enforcing the Mosaic Law. Sin has made us debtors to God. Remember that in the prayer Christ taught His disciples, it says, “Forgive us our debts.” God alone can forgive us. Forgiveness always rests upon the payment of a debt, and those who were in debt had to flee. David, actually, did not pay the debt, but Christ did. He paid the debt of sin by dying on the Cross. He set us free. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you and for me. If you realize you are a debtor to God and have no means to pay, He will pay that debt for you. You can flee to Him. What a wonderful privilege that is! The discontented also came to David. This means that they were bitter of soul. The circumstances and experiences of life had soured them. In the past few years I have noticed a restlessness sweeping our land and the world. In some areas it has become a great flood. Masses of people march in the street and protest about this, that, and the other thing. There is an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and discontentment. My friend, life will make you bitter unless you see the hand of God, as did Joseph whose story is told in the final chapters of Genesis. There is One to whom you can go today. He is the Lord Jesus Christ, the rejected King. He is fairer than ten thousand, and He says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). He also says, “…If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink” (Joh_7:37). As David in exile receives these four hundred distressed, debt-ridden, and discontented men, what a picture he is of the Lord Jesus Christ in this age of His rejection as he is calling out of this world a people to His name.

1 Samuel 22:3

Fleeing to Moab is what another Bethlehem family had done several generations before David. Elimelech, you recall, had taken his family to Moab during a period of famine in Israel. Because of this, Ruth the Moabitess is in the Bible story. The father of David would be the grandson of Ruth the Moabitess, which is undoubtedly the reason the king of Moab grants the couple asylum in Moab. The very fact that David leaves the land of Israel and goes to Moab means he is really a frightened man. Personally, I do not think he should have left Israel, as God would have protected him if he had stayed. His faith wavered a bit as had Abraham’s when he went down to Egypt.

1 Samuel 22:5

SAUL SLAYS THE PRIESTS OF GODIt sounds like Saul is developing some paranoic tendencies. He has developed a persecution complex. Maybe he is entitled to this complex, because he has discovered that his own son has not been loyal to him. He is wondering why these men in his cabinet have not revealed this fact to himas apparently they had not. There is one man, however, who knows where David has fled and he tells Saul what he knows. We have met him before. He was at the tabernacle when David and his men ate the showbread.

1 Samuel 22:9

After Doeg gives Saul his information, Saul decides to go after Ahimelech the priest.

1 Samuel 22:11

Saul sent for Ahimelech the priest and the other priests who were in Nob. Saul demanded that Ahimelech explain why he had helped David escape. The priest gave the king a truthful answer. He had the highest motives and was totally unaware that David was not being honest with him. Later on David felt very bad that he had deceived Ahimelech into thinking that he was on a mission for Saul.

1 Samuel 22:15

In his anger, Saul did not listen to reason but commanded his servants to slay the priests. They hesitated to carry out his order. But Saul had gone so far in his rebellion and sin that he would not stop at anything. So he commanded Doeg to do his dirty work for him.

1 Samuel 22:18

This was a serious and awful crime that Saul committed. If God had not rejected him before this, He certainly would have rejected him at this point.

1 Samuel 22:19

The bitterness and vengeance of this man Saul was terrible. Bitterness is something that we need to beware of today. We are warned about it in Heb_12:15 which says, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” When bitterness gets into the hearts of God’s people, it is a vicious and an awful thing. I have seen it in churches. I have seen officers of the church use their positions, not to bring glory to Christ, but to vent their spleens, bitterness, vengeance, and hatred against someone else. It is a terrible thing when bitterness takes over, and this is what happened in Saul’s case.

He was definitely Satan’s man. You and I cannot be too sure about a person’s salvationeven when he is active in the Lord’s servicewhen you see him motivated by a vicious bitterness of heart and soul. It is indeed difficult to cull out the tares from the wheat at a time like that. Such was the case here.