Scripture: 1 Samuel 22:1-23
Sermon Series: 1 Samuel: God of Reversals – Sermon 23
The world woke up to the shocking news on August 13th 2014. The King of Comedy, Robin Williams (picture), who made so many laugh had taken his own life. For some time his apparently happy face had masked a heavy heart weighed down with despair.
This morning we’re continuing our series in 1 Samuel. David is in the cave of Adullam (map), about 15 miles from Bethlehem. David isn’t just in a physical cave, he’s in a spiritual and emotional one. He’s in despair. It was during his cave experience that he wrote Psalm 142, “no one cares for my soul” (vs. 4).
Martin Luther (picture) was subject to such fits of darkness that he’d hide himself away for days and his family removed all dangerous implements from the house for fear he’d harm himself. At one point in his depression his wife, Katie, entered the room he was in dressed in total black. Luther asked who died and Katie said that by the way he was acting God must have.
Read the Bible for yourself and you’ll find that along with David – Moses, Elijah, Paul to name a few – all struggled with despair and depression. No wonder Chip Ingram (picture) calls depression “the common cold of emotional disorders.” I know that like many of you, like me, have had your own bouts with despair. And David has reason to be in the cave of despair.
He’s struggled with sorrow. David has been brought to the bottom of life! He’s hurting, broken and defeated. The Crown Prince of Israel is living in a cave because it’s the only place that he knows is safe.
He’s struggled with suffering. He’s only done the right thing, yet nearly a dozen times Saul has attempted to kill him. He doesn’t know who he can trust. He’s lived for the Lord but been repaid with evil.
He’s struggled with separation. David has been cut off from his family, friends and followers. He’s alone. He was at a place where he had nothing and no one. Have you been there? Are you in a “cave” this morning?
David ran to the cave for safety but he doesn’t find refuge in the cave. He finds refuge in the Lord and he finds the Lord in the cave. Psalm 142:5, “I cry to you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living’.” The Lord, not the cave, is his place of safety. God doesn’t want us to live in the cave. To leave the cave, we must first turn to the Lord. He’s our refuge, our place of safety. Then, there are practical steps from the Lord as our refuge that free us.
In 1 Samuel 22 we’re working through Escaping your cave God as He did for David has practical steps for us. Read with me verses 1-5 (p. 245): “David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, ‘Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.’ And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. Then the prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.’ So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.” If you’re taking notes…
1.We exit the cave of despair by caring and ministering to others. When you’re depressed and discouraged, what do you want to do? Be alone. You might sleep in, pull the blinds down to stay in the dark. That’s the worst thing that you can do.
Verse 2 is the original motley crew. A growing number of others couldn’t tolerate Saul’s evil regime. These outlaws were fugitives. As Walter Chantry (picture) writes, “Injustice…becomes a way of life for authorities who begin to practice abusive measures.” This band of 400 became the nucleus of what would become David’s fighting force and future kingdom.
God used Saul’s hatred of David to make him their chosen leader. David’s skill was soon evidenced as he turned them into a disciplined guerrilla army.
In many ways David typifies our coming Savior. Think of the team Jesus gathered around Him. A rough fisherman, Peter, a Roman sellout, Matthew, prostitutes and thieves, the formerly demon-possessed, Mary Magdalene.
The Bible doesn’t teach celebrity Christianity. Do you feel like a loser, a reject? Then, Jesus is looking for you. 1 Corinthians 1:26: “For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.” Our Lord isn’t looking for hipsters. While we’re thankful when someone rich or very intelligent or one of the beautiful people comes to Christ, they’re not the typical ones. It’s more often the desperate and despairing.
David had been alone. Now he has 400 friends…probably not the ones that he’d have picked. They come in bitter, wounded and taken advantage of. David who had been suffering begins to minister to them.
David Brooks in his book, The Road to Character, quotes from George Eliot’s novel Adam Bede, when he says in the journey through life, we have to live with all kinds of different people, and they with us: “These fellow mortals…must be accepted [for what] they are: you can neither straighten their noses nor brighten their wit nor rectify their dispositions.” That’s the case as this ragtag group assembles. David would look out upon these folks and say, “Wow, what a group!” It changes his focus from himself. Despair is fueled by self-focus. Being others’ focused is part of God’s plan and healing.
Can I connect the dots? This is God’s plan for the local church, for our church. One of the best things you can do, one of the best things that you can do for your children, is to break out of the “we four-no more” mentality.
Studies show that cancer patients find a new reason to live by reaching out to other cancer patients. Alcoholics find the strength to stay sober by helping others in their recovery. Every believer is in recovery from the devastation of sin. We need each other. We need to pull back the masks. You don’t have your act together and neither do I, but we have a great Savior.
2. We exit the cave of despair by taking care of those closest to us. Kent Hughes (picture) writes that even if parents have no financial needs, “there is still a Christian obligation for hands-on, loving care. Nurses may be employed, but there must be more—the care cannot be done by proxy. Emotional neglect and abandonment is not an option, for such conduct ‘is worse than an unbeliever.’” It’s what David does here. He rightly perceives that his family is at risk, particularly his parents who are now well up in years. Saul’s hatred for David would no doubt spill over to his parents.
His brothers desert Saul’s forces to join David. In the cave of Adullam a family reunion took place. David was encouraged that he was not alone.
David is introduced, not just as a commander, but also as a caregiver—a caregiver for his parents. David’s growing faith shines through. Notice verse 3, “till I know what God will do for me.” David knew that he was anointed to be the next king of Israel, but he had no idea how God was going to get him there. David had to trust and obey when he didn’t know what God would do.
Honoring one’s parents is God’s plan. It’s part of the Ten Commandments and repeated in the New Testament. It’s a form of honoring all authority, including God’s. As Tim Keller (picture) says, “It’s respect for parents that is the basis for every other kind of respect and every other kind of authority.”
I love how the Bible weaves together. Did you notice who David entrusts his parents to? The King of Moab. David’s great-grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabitess and they were enemies of Saul.. If you’ve never read the book of Ruth, it’s better than a Hallmark love story.
During difficult times it’s tempting to neglect family, parents or children. Turning our focus externally honors the Lord and helps us.
I’m so thankful through the years as I’ve watched many of you care faithfully for your aging parents. You are living out what David does here with your own parents.
3. We exit the cave of despair by listening to God’s Word. International evangelist, Ramesh Richard (picture) sent out an email containing a one-sentence prayer that’s life changing: “Lord, do things I’m not used to.” That prayer is an invitation to the Lord of the universe to enter our little worlds and shake it up any way He chooses. It’s a way of saying, “Lord, here’s my life. I’m inviting you to come into my world and rearrange anything you like if it will make me more effective for your Kingdom.”
That’s David, what God tells him to do, humanly speaking, is nuts. “Then the prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.’ So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth” (vs. 5). He’s just fled Israel for his life and God commands him to go back. Remember The Fugitive (picture) and Richard Kimball? The last place authorities expected him to go was to return to Chicago to find the one armed man who’d murdered his wife. It would have been tempting for David to have asked, “Judah? Gad, can you check that memo again?”
That’s always been God’s method. When He wants to shake up the world, first he finds a man or a woman and He begins to shake them up. And when they’re shaken up, God uses them to shake up the world around them.
Doing God’s will is right. It’s blessed but it’s not safe. Yet David obeys right away. No questions or hesitation. We will never get out of the cave until we listen and obey God’s Word.
What does it mean to be quick to respond to God’s word? First you must hear God’s word. David received God’s Word through the prophets. We receive God’s word through the Bible. If you’re open to hearing God’s Word, it begins with reading the Bible for yourself. You commit to sit under the preaching of God’s word regularly. You study it with others, memorizing key passages, and reading good Christian books to help you to understand It. The first step in being quick to respond to God’s Word is being in the Bible.
Then like David, you must be quick to obey God’s word. It’s not enough to read it or hear it. You must obey it and do what it says. You can’t submit to God’s authority in your life without obeying God’s word.
Who would want to be a Christ-follower in today’s worlds? is a question very like, who would want to join David in the days of Saul? Throwing in your lot with David meant being on the run. It meant abandoning hope of benefitting from Saul’s power.
The call of the gospel of Jesus Christ is radical. If our hope is in this world, if our hope is that it will give us safety and security, we won’t be able to faithfully follow Jesus. The safest place for the believer is in the will of God in obedience, even if it’s like David, in the middle of enemy territory.
In his book, Finding God, Larry Crabb (picture) writes: “I have come to a place in my life where I need to know God better or I won’t make it. Life at times has a way of throwing me into such blinding confusion and severe pain that I lose all hope. Joy is gone. Nothing encourages me.” We find hope the same way David did by knowing God, by being in His Word and obeying.
4. The most common and dangerous place for the cave of despair is in your own heart. Joseph Stalin (picture) was a master at producing terror in the hearts of his ministers. Stalin’s dinners in the Kremlin went on all night. He’d sit at a long table and force his ministers and cronies to drink, hour after hour, while he plotted and probed and flattered and terrified them. When their brains were numb with fear, vodka and confusion, his secret police would lead one or two of the ministers away, without explanation to be shot. Stalin was paranoid and paranoia induces paranoia.
It’s a disaster when you have a mad man like Stalin, or Nero, or Hitler who hold absolute power. They can do whatever they please, even if it’s insane and there’s no one to stop them. That’s King Saul.
The narrative shifts with the camera turning to Saul. It will turn back to David before we finish but this section is all Saul. It reminds me of Star Wars (picture) where you flip from the light and camaraderie of the Resistance to the dark side of Darth, the Emperor and their evil cohorts. .
Let’s pick it up in verse 6 (p. 245): “Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, ‘Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.’ Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, ‘I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.’
Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. And Saul said, ‘Hear now, son of Ahitub.’ And he answered, ‘Here I am, my lord.’ And Saul said to him, ‘Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?’ Then Ahimelech answered the king, ‘And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house? Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.’ And the king said, ‘You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.’
And the king said to the guard who stood about him, ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.’ But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord.
Then the king said to Doeg, ‘You turn and strike the priests.’ And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.”
Saul’s ability to track David, his intelligence, has been rather poor. The last time he had any news of his enemy’s movements was when David fled to Samuel in Ramah. The picture we’re given of Saul is vastly different from that of David. He’s “sitting at Gibeah,” “on the height,” “under the tamarisk tree,” surrounded by his servants and “with his spear in his hand.” It’s a good thing the spear is in his hand. He’s got a habit of letting it go as he’s tried a couple of times to nail David and once to kill his son, Jonathon.
Any news of David sets Saul off. Saul dehumanizes David by calling him “this son of Jesse.” He’ll do the same thing with Ahimelech when he calls him “the son of Ahitub.”
He tries to bribe those surrounding him with false promises. “Do you think that he would be able to give you fields and vineyards? Do you think that he would be able to make you a commander of thousands and commanders of hundreds? And you have all conspired against me?”
That’s a line from the devil. The devil says to us: “Why would you obey God? Why would you trust Jesus or follow Him? If you come with me, I’ve got so much for you.”
It was the warning given by Samuel in chapter 8, “Now, if you get this king, this is what he will do. He will take your daughters and the vineyards and the olive orchards and give them to his servants” (1 Samuel 8:11-14). And here we are. What’s Saul saying? “I’m the king of the castle. I can’t believe what you people have done.” But what does he say they’ve done? “You’ve conspired against me. You’ve kept information from me. None of you are sorry for me, that I am the hunted one.” It’s a big lie. It’s Saul who is lying in wait. It’s a rant. None of this is actually happening.
We wondered when Doeg would show up. Right on cue, “Then answered Doeg the Edomite…” He’s referred to as “the Edomite” three times in this chapter so we know that he’s not part of God’s covenant family. The report Doeg gives is a half-truth. He leaves out important details. For example, he doesn’t let Saul know that Ahimelech gave the stuff to David on the false premise that David was serving Saul. He fails to mention that Ahimelech gave David these provisions because David lied to him.
Ahimelech is accused of complicity. Remember, he’s unaware of the conflict between Saul and David. But Saul accuses him: “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse?” Verse 13 “he has risen against me to lie in wait, as at this day.” See the paranoia? David hasn’t risen against Saul. He’s not lying in wait.
The response of Ahimelech is one of innocent naivete. There’s a beauty in his humble honesty. Given the fact that Doeg invented the notion of inquiring of the Lord, he responds to that: “Do you think that this is the first time that I have inquired of the Lord? No! Not at all.” The bottom line is Ahimelech subtly asks, “where are your conspiracy theories coming from?”
In verses 16–19, we have murder at the hands of Doeg. In Ahimelech’s naivete, he assumes commending David will be the kind of thing that Saul wants to hear, when it’s the reverse of what he wants to hear.
Saul turning to his guard orders them to kill all of the priests, but they won’t do it. Saul’s world is crumbling. His influence waning. He’s lost control of his family and his army. All that is left to him is to enlist the help of an Edomite. To “Doeg the Edomite,” he says, “You’re the one. Kill the priests.” So this evil descendant of Esau does the evil deed. He not only murders the priests who accompanied Ahimelech but he travels to Nob and exterminates the village. He murders every remaining man, woman, child, and animal. When he’s done, there was nothing left but blood and rotting flesh. Even the sound of a barking dog wasn’t heard in the city. He went far beyond what Saul had commanded but Saul bears great guilt in this because he doesn’t attempt to hold him back.
But Doeg’s slaughter fulfills a prophecy given back in 1 Samuel 2. God promised that the house of Eli would be destroyed. Now fifty years later, the prophesy is fulfilled. The priesthood of Eli is being decimated, paving the way for a whole new priestly group.
The shift is moving from Nob as the center of religious life and to Jerusalem. This butchery is actually tied directly to the wickedness of Ahimelech’s great-grandfather, Phineas, the brother of Hophni, the depraved sons of Eli. Saul may be on the throne but it’s a spiritual madhouse.
5. We exit the cave of despair by taking personal responsibility. “But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. And David said to Abiathar, ‘I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping’.” (1 Samuel 22:20-23). Look at the contrasts between Saul and David. Saul is ultimately responsible for the deaths of the priests, but David accepts the blame. Saul destroys the priests, but David protects the remaining priest. Saul forfeits the counsel of the priests in his life, but David gains a priest and advisor for the rest of his life.
Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” David recognizes that he was wrong to lie to Ahimelech. He confesses his sin and accepts responsibility for his actions.
David later wrote a psalm about this incident. Some psalms have inscriptions at the beginning that give their historical background. The inscription for Psalm 52 is: “When Doeg the Edomite had gone to Saul and told him: ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’” Psalm 52 is the last we hear of Doeg. He joins a long line of evildoers who attack God by persecuting God’s people.
David was free because he took responsibility. As believers, we need to consider that there are often consequences for our lives whenever we choose to not walk by faith and obedience to the Lord. Those around us will be affected. Because
of our choices others will stumble in their faith and we won’t be able to repair the damage that’s been done. David took responsibility for the slaughter of the priests. He also takes responsibility for Abiathar, making sure that he’s safe.
Conclusion: Misery is the inevitable consequence for those who choose not to be rightly related to God. It’s only logical to conclude we can’t believe in God without also believing in a destiny for those who don’t want God.
C.S. Lewis (picture) said that no one goes to heaven deservingly and no one ever goes to hell unwillingly: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
David and Saul illustrate those two types identified in the quote by Lewis. David illustrates the person who responds to God’s call of salvation in faith and begins the lifelong process of transformation. Saul is the contrastive figure, who shows consequences of tuning God out and refusing His call. The two are going in opposite directions.
Saul is gradually self-destructing, while David is growing in strength and faith. Saul while free ends up in a cave in his own soul. David turns to God, obeys His Word, cares for others and though still a fugitive is truly free!
Elyse Fitzpatrick (picture) writes: “The depressed don’t simply need to feel better. They need a Redeemer who says, ‘Take heart, my son, my daughter; what you really need has been supplied. Life no longer need be about your goodness, success, righteousness, or failure. I’ve given you something infinitely more valuable than good feelings: your sins are forgiven’.”
David entered the cave of Adullam, terrified, broken and desperate. By God’s grace he emerged as the captain of an army. He went in running from a crazy king. He came out reaching out to take the crown. The cave refined David’s life and helped prepare him for the tasks that lay ahead. David grew in that cave because he trusted God and obeyed Him.
What about you? Are your cave experiences blessings to your life, or are they burdens that seem too dark, too heavy? David found his escape in the Lord. It can be the same for you.
Do you want to be free from the cave? You’ll only find the help you need in the presence of the Lord. Cry out to Him
and He will set you free!