David Spares Saul

Wednesday WORD

1 Samuel 24

Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David. Saul went to relieve himself in a cave. David and his men were in the cave. 

The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’”

 David cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. David was conscience stricken. He said, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lords’s anointed or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” David sharply rebuked his men. 

David said to Saul, “The Lord delivered you into my hands. Some urged me to kill you , but I spared you. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrong  you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, “From evildoers comes evil deeds.”

Saul said, “You are more righteous than I. You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. May the Lord reward you well for the way you have treated me today.” 

1. My Bible says there is no reference to what David’s men said, so maybe they were interpreting the Lord anointing David as king as permission to destroy Saul. Let us be very careful and with much prayer and keeping in mind the character of God, when we interpret the WORD. It is easy to twist scripture for our own good.
2. David put the ball, so to speak, back in the Lord’s court when he said, “May the Lord judge between you and me.” The Lord says in severe verses that it is His to avenge. Let’s let Him do it his way. (Dt 32:35; Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30)
3. David was respectful even toward someone truing to harm him. He did not picket or throw rocks or take his mob to cause riots to get his point across.
4. It would have been so easy to do what was right in front of him, but David had self control and knew Who was in control.