People Who Shaped David: Saul
(1
Samuel 16:21-23; 18:5-12; 24:1-7)
1. It
is one of the most interesting and complex relationships to be found on the
pages of God’s Word...on one hand these two men were in many ways alike...they
were both--
--described
in scripture as “handsome” men...
--mighty
warriors who conquered the enemies of Israel
--natural
leaders whom others gladly followed...
--extraordinarily
gifted and talented men...
On
the other hand, they couldn’t have been more different...
--one
is said to have had an evil spirit on him while the other is said to have had
the Spirit of God on him...
--one
was more comfortable with a spear in his hand while the other was more
comfortable with his hands wrapped around a harp...
--one
was small, petty, jealous, and insecure while the other was self-assured and
confident...
--one
was rebellious toward God while the other, even though he made mistakes, was a
man after God’s own heart...
2. If
you haven’t already guessed it, I’m referring to Saul, the first King of
Israel, and David, the second King of Israel...in this session, as we continue
looking at people who shaped David’s life, going to focus on the relationship
between David and Saul...
3. While
don’t want to sound irreverent or be guilty of trivializing the word of God,
feel compelled to tell you that I can’t read the story of Saul and David in the
OT without thinking of my favorite cartoon when I was a child...for some reason
(and there’s probably some deep psychological reason which we won’t explore) I
always liked watching the adventures of Wiley Coyote and the Roadrunner...every
cartoon has the same plot...the coyote tries to capture or kill the roadrunner
and his scheme always backfires, coming back to harm him...that’s the way it
was between Saul and David...Saul became obsessed with doing harm to
David...but no matter what he did, his schemes always seemed to come back to
harm not David but himself...
4. Story
of Saul and David stretches over the last half of the book of 1 Samuel...begins
in chapter 16 and ends with the death of Saul in chapter 31...want to read
three vignettes from this story which I believe capture the essence of their
relationship...
--1 Samuel 16:21-23 – Relationship didn’t
begin contentious way...saw last week first part ch. 16 Samuel anointed David
be future king...after that, two things very quickly happened...Spirit of Lord
came mightily on David...departed Saul and evil spirit terrorized him...his
advisors suggested that soothing music would help Saul deal with evil
spirit...David played harp and was summoned to play for king...look at 1 Samuel
16:21-23 (text)...
--1 Samuel 18:5-12 – In ch. 17 is famous
confrontation between David and Goliath...explore that in future session...
made David national hero...and this is when trouble between Saul and David
began...look at 1 Samuel 18:5-12 (text)...
--1 Samuel 24:1-7 – Saul made it passion
of his life to pursue David for purpose of killing him...look at 1 Samuel
24:1-7 (text)...
T.S. – There are many
lessons to be learned from the relationship between David and Saul...want to
share with you in this session two very practical lessons...
I. Not
everyone is going to treat us with fairness and kindness
1. When was child sometimes my parents would make decision I didn’t
like...I would complain, “That’s not
fair!”...and you know their response...”Well,
life’s not fair!”...not only is it true that life sometimes not fair, but
people are sometimes unfair also...that is not kind of thing we want to hear,
but it is certainly something we need to know...most of us have already learned
this lesson in the hard school of experience...
2. When first began working in church setting, as most young
ministers are, I was rather idealistic and somewhat naïve...thought everyone in
churches just naturally loved each other...that was before met a man I’ll just call Mr. X…he was a rough
concrete contractor who didn’t seem to love anybody, especially the people on
the church staff where I served when I first left seminary...seem to make it
his personnel goal to harass, intimidate, and berate those who served in the
church...was impossible to please...if staff said white he would say black...if
staff said right he would say left...didn’t take much time around that man for
me to figure out that not everyone is fair and kind...
1. Think that’s a lesson David learned from Saul...while
David probably could have used better judgment in how he related to Saul, he
really didn’t deserve the way Saul chose to treat him...
2. Why did Saul behave the way he did toward
David?...think there are essentially two reasons:
--He had a
spiritual problem – Several times in the passages I read from 1 Samuel
the Bible speaks of an “evil spirit from God” coming upon
Saul...the idea that an evil spirit would come “from God” is troubling...most
scholars interpret that phrase to mean not that God sent the evil spirit but that God allowed the evil spirit to trouble Saul... what want you to
see in that is Saul had a spiritual problem ...was out of fellowship with
God...and invariably one result of being out of fellowship with God is
divisiveness and strife with God’s people...as I’ve told you many times before,
if always find yourself in conflict and disagreement with others, better check
relationship with God...Saul’s spiritual problem was one thing that drove him
to treat David so unfairly and unkindly...
--He had an
emotional problem – The problem was jealousy...in 1 Samuel 18:7 the
women were singing “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” How painful those words must have been for
Saul to hear... he began to see his popularity being eroded by David and
jealousy began to eat him alive...jealousy is a terribly debilitating
emotion...in Galatians 5:20 it is listed among the works of the flesh along
with such things as immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, drunkenness and
the like... reason jealousy is such a negative emotion is that it invariably
arouses in us other negative emotions...look at 1 Samuel 18...case study in
what jealousy does to a person... made Saul--
--angry –
“Then
Saul became very angry...” (v.8)
--suspicious
– “And
Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.” (v.9)
--fearful
– “Now
Saul was afraid of David...” (v.12)
And
at the root of Saul’s unfair treatment of David were his spiritual and
emotionally immaturity...
- What mean to our lives
today?...what’s the application?...what should we learn from this?...the
lesson want you to see is not that we are to assume that anyone who is
unfair toward us is necessarily spiritually and/or emotionally
immature...the lesson is that we are to guard against spiritual and
emotional immaturity in our lives which will lead us to be unfair, unjust,
harsh, condemning, critical, and impossible to please...
- For when we live that
way, not only do we make others miserable, we make ourselves miserable as
well...I saw that in the man I described earlier...not only did he have
way of making others unhappy, he had permanent scowl etched on his face
which was just the outward sign of a shriveled, bitter inward spirit...
- We need to learn to
pray what David prayed in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart;
try me and know my thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me.” (Psalm
139:23-24a)
II. We are not to return evil for evil or
mistreatment for mistreatment
- There is something in
us which drives us to get even with, to strike back at those who do us
harm... it is natural for us to desire to retaliate...
- David had perfect
opportunity do that in relation to Saul in 1 Samuel 24...in that cave in
the wilderness of En-gedi David could have easily taken Saul’s
life...David’s men encouraged him to do just that...but instead, David
merely cut off part of Saul’s robe and then showed it as evidence of his
lack of desire to return evil for evil...
- This
concept of not returning evil for evil (speaking of personal relationships
not national policy!) is fully developed in the New Testament. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew
5:38-45. Also, Paul develops this
them in Romans 12:14-21. Those
statements do not mean that Christians
are to be the doormats of world.
They do not mean to be good Christian we must sit back and let
anyone do anything he/she may desire do to us. After
all, David didn’t lay down and let Saul take his life. However,
they do mean that followers of Jesus should not be dominated by a
vengeful, get even type mentality.
They mean that when someone does something, either inadvertently or
on purpose, that harms or offends us, our immediate response should not be
to find way strike back or get even or do even worse to that person. And there is a good reason we should
avoid that kind of spirit. A
vengeful, get even type mentality will inevitably do us more harm than
person at whom we are striking back.
A vengeful spirit will eat us up on the inside and make us sullen,
sour, unproductive people.
- WHEN
SOMEONE HARMS US WE ARE TO SEEK THE BEST FOR THEM - Jack MacGorman
in commentary on Romans makes this astute observation: "THE
WORLD AT ITS WORST RETURNS EVIL FOR GOOD.
THE WORLD AT ITS BEST RETURNS GOOD FOR GOOD AND EVIL FOR EVIL. BUT THE FOLLOWER OF JESUS CHRIST IS
COMMANDED TO RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL." [LBC]
The clear teaching of the Scripture is that we're to do good to all
people, even to those who do not do good toward us.
--v.14
‑ "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not." (Give them a
blessing instead of a curse!)
--v. 20 ‑ "But if your
enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is
thirsty, give him a drink..."
Just as there is a practical reason
for not being characterized by vengeful spirit, there is also practical reason
for doing good to those who do harm to us.
The most effective way of getting rid of an enemy is to make the one who
is an enemy a friend. We must be careful
not misinterpret statement about heaping "burning coals upon his
head" in verse 20.
The Scripture is not saying we
should be kind to our enemies so they will suffer more. The idea is be kind so that our kindness may
move our enemy to repentance and reconciliation. Most commentators say the "burning
coals" refers to the burning shame a person feels when evil is met
with kindness. The practical reason for
returning evil for good is that doing so may have positive influence on those
who are the recipients of the good.
- Adrian Rogers, Mastering
Your Emotions...Edwin Markham, poet... retirement...discovered banker
had defrauded him...no money to retire ...bitter, angry, resentful...sat
around for days thinking ways to get even...during that time, even though
needed to, was unable to write any poetry...said God seemed say to him, “If do not lay this to rest, will
destroy you...cannot afford price you are paying for your vengeful
spirit...”...decided lay aside resentment and stop trying to do evil
to the man who had so harmed him...amazing thing happened...poetry again
began flow from his pen...wrote what perhaps became his most famous
lines: “He drew a circle that shut
me out—heretic, rebel, and thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!”
- And from David’s example
in relation to Saul we can learn that we are not to return evil for evil
or mistreatment for mistreatment...
Conclusion
1. The
lessons that David learned from Saul are clearly demonstrated in the life of
Jesus, who is referred to as “the Son of David” at least 12 times
in the gospels...
--who
was ever treated more unfairly than Jesus?... the spotless lamb of God, perfect,
without sin,...yet dying on a cross for the sins of others...
--who
was ever more gracious in the face of unfair treatment than Jesus?...not
returning evil for evil or hate for hate, but offering forgiveness to those who
killed Him...
2. May
we learn and live those lessons in our lives...
