1 Samuel 25:1 – Death of Samuel
Samuel
died and all Israel mourned. Samuel was
a prophet of God who designated and anointed Saul as Israel’s first king. He was the prophet who told Saul his kingship
would be taken away. He was the prophet
who anointed David as Saul’s replacement.
It was Samuel who David could flee to when pursued by Saul. David was very close to Samuel and must have
suffered a great loss at Samuel’s death.
1 Samuel 25:2-44 – Mercy Through Abigail
David
took his men to Maon to serve as guards for the sheep owners, which was the
custom. Nabal was one of the owners who
was very wealthy and had lots of goats and sheep. The proper time for payment was when the
sheep were sheared. It was shearing time
so David sent men to Nabal with a polite request for his share of the
payment. Nabal refused to pay and used
cruel and nasty words. He said he didn’t
know David or his family so why should he pay.
David’s
men were offended. They returned to
David and told him what Nabal had said. David
had endured Saul’s threats, but Nabal’s mean words caught him off guard. After all David was used to getting his way
and the people honoring him. Nabal words
made David angry and David was ready to attack and kill Nabal and his entire household. But Nabal’s wife, Abigail realized she must
act quickly and smooth things over with David.
Without telling Nabal she ordered her servants to take supplies to David
and his men. She would ride behind. She got there just in time and urged David
not to carry out his attack. She accepted
the blame for Nabal and offered herself as a sacrificed if David would spare Nabal
and all the innocent lives.
She
urged David to accept the gift and prayed that God would act against all
David’s enemies. It was God who should
punish Nabal. Abigail convinced David saving
Nabal and his servants. She was a wise
woman. She was humble, brave, courageous
and ready to take Nabal’s punishment. God was using her to save David from doing
this evil thing.
Nabal
was greedy, mean, prideful, arrogant, self-centered, cruel and ungrateful that David
and his men had guarded and protected his property. He didn’t want to pay for David for his
protection. He was a cheater and was
pleased about it. He was a proud and
foolish man. His name means Fool.
What
impresses me about David is that he never hesitates to confess. He had no wrong deeds to confess, but he
confessed that his plans were wrong.
Many confess their sins, but refuse to change their attitudes. David confessed and changed his attitudes
immediately. He expressed thanks to
Abigail and to God.
God
dealt with Nabal. His heart became like
a stone since he was unwilling to change his attitudes. Soon Nabal died. He died because of God’s judgment. Nabal was rich and successful. He had stored for himself material things of
this world, but lost it all.
Principle: Conviction of sin is God’s mercy.
David
extended God’s grace to Abigail by asking her to marry him which would honor
her and protect her from any hardships.
David already had 2 wives, Michal and Ahinoam. God doesn’t condone polygamy. God established from the beginning that
marriage was between 1 man and 1 woman.
David’s marriages would cause problems in the future to his family and
to the nation, but God is merciful to sinners.
David
loved God but was still not a perfect person.
God used Abigail to keep David safe and hold him back from doing
wrong. If you are a child of God by
trusting Jesus, He will show you where you are doing wrong by using other
people like Abigail or through His Word.
His mercy is great.
God
doesn’t keep us from every sin, but apart from God’s intervention in our daily
affairs there would be a whole lot more sin in our lives than there is. David
was willing to listen to Abigail. He may
have been acting foolishly, but he recognized her wisdom.
When
has God used someone to tell you of a sinful attitude or action?
Did you
listen and recognized their wisdom?
Are you
an Abigail to others?
1 Samuel 26 – Mercy to Saul
This
chapter is similar to chapter 24
where David found Saul asleep which gave him the opportunity to kill him and
then David would be free from Saul for good.
It is a kind of replay. When God
wants to teach us a lesson and we fail to learn that lesson, He will continue
to bring experiences our way which confront us with the same basic test. God wanted David to retake the test so he
could receive a higher score.
Now in this
chapter Saul’s men reminded him about his anger towards David. They told him where David was and urged him
to kill David. Saul went with his men
and camped close to where David was. When
David saw that Saul had followed him there, he and Abishai went into Saul’s
camp at night while Saul and his men were asleep. Abishai told David that God had delivered
Saul into his hands and to kill him.
Again David refused to kill Saul not because he was afraid of Saul. He was more concerned with doing what God
wanted and doing it God’s way. By David’s
obedience to God, be had grown into a man of integrity. He had just seen how God had dealt with Nabal
and David knew God would punish Saul, too. David considered Saul as a holy man and a
servant of God. He had not been loyal to
God, but he was still Israel’s king.
David was loyal it Israel and to Saul.
David wanted
to reason with Saul so he went a distance from the camp and called out to Saul
and demanded answers, but he already knew the answers. Saul was wicked from the sin in his heart. Saul confessed he had sinned and didn’t chase
David again. David didn’t acknowledge
Saul’s confession, but he spoke of God’s justice – “The
Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness.” – 1 Samuel 26:23. David trusted God, but he didn’t trust
Saul. True repentance goes beyond words.
It’s shown by our actions.
Saul
admitted he had sinned, but quickly went back to hating David. He may have realized it was wrong to try to
kill David, but he failed to tell God he was wrong to be jealous of David. He still had sin in his heart so his heart
became hard.
In this
chapter we learn that God defends His own.
God defends the innocent and will bring about justice. We should be confident of God’s protection
and care.
Have
you truly repented from your heart or have you just said the words?
What
keeps you from true confession and repentance?
Principle: God
defends His own.
1 Samuel 27 – Mercy in David’s Move
David didn’t
trust Saul and thought that someday Saul would find him. He knew he couldn’t continue to hide from
Saul in Judah. He became desperate and decided
if he and his men along with their families would move to Philistine country
Saul would stop searching for him and he would be safe. So he asked Achish son of Maoch king of Gath if
they could live there. Achish accepted
David and his men probably because they are both enemies of Saul and because David
brought 600 fighting men with him. David
lived there for 1 year and 4 months. While
David lived among the Philistines, he went out and attacked Israel’s enemies
killing men and women. He took sheep,
cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothes.
David lied to Achish by telling him he was fighting only Israel, which
was Achish’s enemy.
David
was not acting like a man of God. He had
become a liar, a robber and a murderer.
God waited patiently for David to realize what he was doing and to come
back the Him.
When
have you taken matters into your own hands and made a desperate choice without
consulting God?
Do you
listen to your fears rather than to God?
This
was not the first time David lied. He
loved God, but still sinned. This story
teaches us to be careful and not fall into against sin and to keep our eyes
fixed on Jesus. When you sin, quickly
confess it and repent. Ask for God’s
help to return to obeying Him. If you
are a child of God, you know you are in His family because of Jesus’ work on
the cross. You may be a child of God,
but if you keep going in the wrong direction, God gives consequences. However, He will never take away His love or your
salvation.
Principle: Temptation fools us into thinking sin is
okay.
Next time
we will continue our study in 1 Samuel. See you here.
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