1 Samuel 24: Radical Love

Imagine yourself in the situation where the realization of all your hopes and dreams were within your immediate grasp. You simply had to reach out and take it. But in doing so, you would be required to compromise your deeply held principles. Or in contrast, if you had the chance to remove a terrible threat to yourself, your friends and your family, but it would mean descending to the very level you were trying to eliminate. This was the dilemma David found himself within the cave at En Gedi.

For years, Saul and his men relentlessly pursued David. He tried multiple times to kill David, He took David’s wife, Michal and gave her to another man, he even went after his family requiring David to hide his parents with the king of Moab. Such hatred was not deserved, but was born out of jealousy; ever since David defeated Goliath. David was not a rebel, never once did he try to undermine Saul or take the throne of Israel. In fact, most of the time (when he wasn’t running from Saul), David spent defending Israel from her enemies. From this passage, we also discover that Saul knew in his heart that David was destined to be king as he indicated in verse 20: “I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.

Also, let’s be perfectly clear, Saul was evil. In 1 Sam 22 we read that he murdered Ahimelech, his family, the priests, and all of the men, women and children of the town of Nob, just because they aided David. In today’s world, we might call him a terrorist or a war criminal. But he was king. David had every reason, and probably every right, to kill Saul and rid himself and the nation of Israel of this evil man.

So why didn’t David kill Saul when he had the opportunity? He mentions several reasons in his confession to Saul.

1. David respected the authority of the king. David refused to raise his hand against the “LORD’s Anointed,” (vs 10). After all, Saul was anointed to be king and chosen (albeit reluctantly) by God. In David’s mind, to attack Saul would be to attack God.

2. David would not seek revenge or incite rebellion. (vs 11-12) David recognized that it was not his place to take vengeance, nor was he willing rebel against the nation of Israel or it’s king.
3. David would not descend to Saul’s level and commit murder. Vs 13 states “As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.’” To kill Saul would have amounted to murder, the very evil Saul was guilty of.

There is an important lesson for us learn from this story. In Matthew 5:44-45, Jesus commands us to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” David, in sparing Saul’s life and actually apologizing afterward, is a perfect example of living this command. You see, Jesus wasn’t just referring to that neighbor you don’t get along with, or someone from another political party. In this list he would have included those who radically oppose the Christian faith, people who shout “death to America”, terrorists, Somali pirates and even human traffickers. Of course this doesn’t mean that we condone or in any way participate in the evil. But Jesus loved and died for them as much as he did for us. Are any of us more righteous than Jesus that we can be so selective in whom we love or pray for? Hard words, but Jesus never said that the Christian life was easy, or even safe. On the contrary, Scripture and church history is filled with danger and hardship for those deciding to walk in the Way. But the rewards are eternal.

Posted by Michael Adkins