[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: Calvary Church
is dedicated to doctrine, and we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. [MUSIC PLAYING] Turn in your Bibles,
please, to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 22. Yeah, I knew that. 1 Samuel, chapter 22. We started to get into that last
week, covered a couple verses and stopped. We only covered one
chapter last week. You know I often bite
off more than I can chew. So anyway, we're going to
pick up in chapter 22 tonight. This is what we do
on Wednesday night. Dave, you first came when
we were doing Sunday nights. We used to do Sunday morning,
a different study Sunday night, and a different
study Thursday night. Three different things
during the week, and Sunday night used to be our, what we
call now, Through the Bible Wednesday Night. We make our way
through the scriptures. We go verse by verse,
chapter by chapter. We used to go several chapters
a week, but in my old age I've slowed down a little bit. We sometimes probe deep. Sometimes we don't
probe deep at all. Sometimes I go off on
tangents and tell you stories about swords,
like I did last week, but I hope to get through
two chapters tonight. (PRAYING) Father, thank
you for the stories that give principals, telling
us what is appropriate, what is not, what to
do, what not to do. Sometimes, we read of warnings. Sometimes, we read of
tremendous encouragement. Sometimes, it's just
filled with praise, and it reflects our
own hearts toward you. Lord, as we are
covering the life of one of the most important biblical
characters, King David, before he was King,
he was a man hunted. A man on the run. A man who was being
persecuted even though he was doing most things right. And so these chapters are
an incredible encouragement to those of us
who find ourselves in situations where we
have people against us, or wanting to speak out
against us, or move against us, or fire us, or whatever
the case might be, Lord. We just pray that we would
find our refuge in the Lord. I pray that you would
encourage us as we gather. I pray that you will
speak individually to people, as well
to those of us who call this our home church. Speak to us as a group. We are your people. We give you this time, and
just now trust for your Spirit, your Holy Spirit to do
the teaching ultimately, to all of us, self included. That we would be
built up together in the most Holy faith. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, I don't know who
it was, but somebody once wrote that of all the seven
deadly sins, perhaps anger is the most fun. Especially when you feel
like your anger is justified. When somebody has
done you wrong and you haven't done anything
wrong, and you just love the idea of payback. And we justify that when
we have that kind of anger. We call it righteous
indignation. Sometimes it is
righteous indignation. Sometimes it's just our flesh. I heard about a guy
who actually developed a product called "Revenge,"
a little aerosol spray can. He sold it for about $5. It was labeled,
"Revenge," and it was a foul smelling,
disinfectant odor, because he wanted to
get back at smokers. He just hated people
blowing smoke in his face, so he thought, I know
what I'm going to do. I'm going to develop a product
that will irritate people. It'll irritate their
eyes, their nose, it'll just smell really bad, and
I'll call it "Revenge." And it was his idea of
getting back at smokers, so he just carried around
with him and sold it. And I remember
coming across this, and I was amazed at the time
how popular this product was. So it seems that people love
the idea of revenge in general. Jesus said, "Love your enemies." I know he said that. You know he said that, but
be honest, that's a hard one, isn't it? It looks good on paper, but
when you have an opportunity to get back, to pay
back, our flesh loves it. It feels just so good. That's why I say of the
seven deadly sins anger, especially this kind, revenge,
is probably the most fun. But when you do
pay somebody back, when you do attack somebody
who's attacked you, when you go after them
for whatever reason, you discover that you are
poisoning your own soul. I think it was the
Chinese that had a proverb that says,
"he who seeks revenge, digs two graves." Because you're not only
hurting that other person, but you are doing
something to yourself. David, you might say,
had every reason, and we'll see it as the
chapters go on, every reason to get back at Saul. But he is still loyal to him. He still loves Saul,
and when he has the opportunity,
and his men, this is in chapter 24,
when his men say, "this is the Lord, delivering
your enemy into your hands", he wouldn't lift his hand. Because he still believed that
King Saul, as weird and wonky and off the spiritual grid
that he was, was still the Lord's anointed. So, as I mentioned
last week, chapters 21 to the end of the book
form that last section of this biographical
book of 1 Samuel, where David is a fugitive. He's on the run. He is public enemy number
one, and he goes from place to place. And when Saul and his men get
the intel of where David is, they go after him and
they try to pin him down. In verse 1 of chapter
22, which is-- we should take it as a whole-- David therefore
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 meet him. And everyone who
was in distress, everyone who was in debt,
everyone who was discontented, gathered to him. So he became Captain over them,
and there were about 400 men with him. We ended with this verse
last week, I believe. But the description
is noteworthy, and it is one of my favorite
little sections in scripture. Everybody who was in distress. Why were they in distress? Well, they had enemies
all around them. They had enemies breathing down
their throat on every side, and their own political
leadership was weak. And because of that, the
people were distressed. Second, they were in debt. Now, why were they in debt? Because they had a
numb-skull named King Saul who was raising taxes. And Samuel warned them of this. Remember what Samuel
said back in chapter 8? He said, "you guys are clamoring
for a King, but know this. When you get a King,
it's going to be an economic strain on you. He's going to take your
sons and your daughters to work in his
palace on his staff. He's going to take a
tenth of your grain. He's going to take a
tenth of your vineyards. He's going to take a tenth
of your olive groves. And you are going to cry
out to God in that day." So they're in distress. They're in debt. The economy is collapsing. Taxes are going up. And then third, everybody
who was discontented. They were discontented,
once again, because their
political leadership. They wanted a change
in leadership. They're sorry that
they wanted this King, or they wanted a King
and got this King. But it's too late. Saul's in charge. Now, I don't want to make
too big of a deal of it, but I do want to say
when I read this verse, I feel we are in
similar circumstances. And I don't mean
that in any way, I'm not trying to make a
political statement here. I don't mean that just locally. I don't mean that
just nationally. I mean that internationally. I think now, more
than ever before, you have a world filled with
people who are in distress. And because of Coronavirus, not
just our country, but certainly our country, and the
nations of the world are feeling the
economic break down. They're in debt. And most people that I talk
to out there are discontented. I do believe we are
in the last days. And people will often
ask me, asked me lately, or have asked me over the
last 18 months, "where do you see the Coronavirus in terms
of the prophetic calendar?" And I'm always a little reticent
to answer that specifically, because honestly we have to
wait and see how it shakes out. But I see a number of
prophetic implications. One being this, Jesus promise
that in the latter days, the last days of
human history, he said there will be--
listen to his language-- distress of nations. Plural. Not just your nation, not just
your neighborhood, not just your state, or your country. Distress of nations
with perplexity. Men's hearts failing
them from fear. In that text, in
the Gospel of Luke, distress of nations
with perplexity-- perplexity could be
translated "no way out." People will feel distress,
and they will look, and they will see
no way out of it. No solutions. Things just seem to go
worse, to worse, to worse. Distress of nations
with perplexity. So I find here an
interesting parallel. Then verse 3, "David went
from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the King of
Moab, 'please let my father and mother come here with you,
till I know what God will do for me.' And so he brought them
before the King of Moab, and they dwelt with
him all the time that David was in
the stronghold. Then the prophet
Gad said to David, 'do not stay in the
stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.' So David departed and went
into the forest of Hereth." David goes to Mizpeh. Now, Mizpeh is a Hebrew word. Mizpeh is a Hebrew word
that means "watchtower." And it says, "of Moab." Where's Moab? Moab is east of
the Jordan River. Moab, the Moabites,
were enemies of Israel; certainly they were
enemies of King Saul. But David has already gone to
Gath, the Philistine capital, also enemies of King
Saul, enemies of Israel. Because David's working
philosophy at this time is, "the enemy of my
enemy is my friend." So Saul hates the Moabites. The Israelites
hate the Moabites. Moabites hate the Israelites. All go there because,
it's enemy territory. Certainly, I'll be safe. But there's another reason
David, I think went to Moab. David's great-grandmother
was from Moab. Remember her name? Ruth. Ruth the Moabitess, who
came back to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law,
and settled in Bethlehem, and married Boas. And they had children,
and then grandchildren, and then David was
born from that family. So he has kin back
there in Moab. And probably was well-connected,
probably stayed in contact with him, and so they
would respect David, and they would give him
asylum there in that place. But I want you to
notice something, just because I find
it interesting. I can't prove it. I don't want to make
a big deal out of it. But in verse 4, notice that it
says, "and they dwelt with him. All that time David
was in the stronghold." See, the word "stronghold." The word "stronghold" is
the Hebrew word, matsuda. And matsuda is, we
would translate it in English, masada. If you've ever been to
Israel on a tour with us, we take you one day to Masada. And Masada is 1,320 feet below
the level of the Dead Sea. It's right at the Dead Sea. And then it rises up 1,320 feet. It is a fortress. It is a stronghold. It is almost like an island
of land in the landscape. And it's, because of its unique
situation, very defensible. King Herod built a
palace on Masada. The last holdout before one
of the Roman occupations that brought Masada down, took
place, the remaining Jews, were under Eleazar ben Jair. They stayed at the
stronghold of Masada. Now, I don't know that, when
it's a stronghold, matsuda, Masada, that it's
speaking of that Masada. Because Moab is still a
little bit further East, just on the Eastern part of
the Dead Sea and Jordan River. But it could be that Masada, the
one that we visit on our tours, was the Mizpeh, the
watchtower for the kingdom. And so as you would
go down, you would have somebody stationed
there at the fortress to see who is coming
toward that direction. So it could be that David
was stationed at Masada. So you that have been
to Israel, you're picturing Masada right now. So those who have
not been are kind of looking at me like, I don't
know what you're talking about. But trust me, when you go
with us on our tour to Israel, and you will one day,
you either go this time, or you'll go in the kingdom age. You'll see it. But it's good to go now so
you get a before and after. But we'll take you to Masada. And and you'll go to the
very top of this 1,320 foot watchtower. It's an amazing place;
an incredible view. And you go, I don't want
to walk 1,320 feet up. Don't worry, there's a cable
car that goes all the way up, you'll be fine. Unless you want to do what I've
done for 21 times and hike it, up and down. But anyway, David went to this
place until Gad, the prophet. Gad the prophet. Who is Gad the prophet? Answer: I don't know, but he
sort of comes out of nowhere. There's no explanation
as to who he is who is, what his lineage is,
or what he's up to. There's no history, just
Gad shows up with a message. And David is
thinking, "Gadzooks! If a man of God comes,
I better listen to him." Later on, Gad will show
up again in chapter 24 when David numbers the people. 2 Samuel, chapter 20,
when David numbers the people, and judgment comes
upon David, and upon Jerusalem. It is Gad who will be the
spokesperson to David. So he just kind of shows
up, and he tells David, "get out of here and go
to the land of Judah." So David departed, and went
into the forest of Hereth. If you are in
Masada, and somebody says, "go to the forest,"
you're going, yes. This must be from the Lord. Because Masada, and that
area of Moab and the Dead Sea is just barren. I mean it makes Rio
Rancho look lush. It is just, there's nothing. So David would be refreshed in
going to this forest in Judah. So he went to the
forest of Hereth. Now, Hereth, I can't tell
you exactly where it is, but Judah is hilly country. It is 23, 22, 2,500
feet above sea level. So it's cool. It's 30 miles inland, but it
takes the prevailing ocean breezes, so it's
really great weather. And Judah is very hilly country. And in ancient times, it
was very densely populated with trees. Since Israel has gotten back
into the land, May 14th, 1948, they have undertaken
a massive project called The Reafforestation
of the Land, where they have planted millions upon
millions upon millions of trees by hand. And so you'll drive
through Judah, and you'll see all this
beautiful-- these conifer pines, and wispy pines, and
all these different kinds of vegetation. And the tour guides are
always quick to point out every one of those trees was
planted by hand since 1948. And they believed that because
so many of the occupiers before them tore down the
trees, including the Romans, including the Crusaders,
to build their siegeworks that they owed it to
future generations to make it a beautiful place. So whether you're up north
and Mount Carmel, or you're down south in Judah, you see
these forests that at one time, in biblical times,
that's what it was like. It was very densely forested. Now they have
reforested it, and you can see it once
again, what it was like from its
biblical perspective. So much so, that experts
say that this success of tree planting in Israel
has managed to change the climate of Israel itself. Because what it does
in the biosphere, it attracts more moisture,
more rain clouds, and they have actually increased
the rainfall measurably. You could check that
out on your own. Don't do it on your device in
church, but when you get home. But the weather
has changed because of their incredible vision
to reforest the land. I know this has
nothing to do with, per se, what we're
dealing about but, he does go to the forest of Hereth. And if you go to
Judah today, and you go through that
same area, you'll get a picture of what it looked
like during David's time. Now in verse 6 the camera pans. We're now not dealing
with David and his men, but now Saul and his
reaction to David. "When Saul heard that David
and the men who were with him had been discovered, now
Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah
with his spear in his hand." Boy, that guy likes
holding that spear, right? He always has a point
to make, doesn't he? Everywhere he goes. He was going to throw
his spear at David, then throw a spear
again at David, then throw it at Jonathan. He's always holding that spear. "And all his servants
standing about him, then Saul said to his servants
who stood about him, 'hear now, you Benjamites, will
the son of Jesse--" he can't even say
the name of David-- "will the son of Jesse
give every one of you fields and vineyards and make
you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? All of you have
conspired against me, and there is no one
who reveals to me that my son has made a
covenant with the son of Jesse. There's not one of you
who is sorry for me or reveals to me that
my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie
in wait as it is this day." Boo hoo. What a baby. "It's all about me." And "you don't love me." And "you don't care about me." Here's what's interesting. He says, "hear now,
you Benjamites." Couple possibilities. Number one: Saul's power
base has become so narrow now that really he doesn't
have all the tribes. He's not representing
the 12 tribes of Israel. Really the people
that are following him are just his own tribe. He's from the tribe of Benjamin. So his power base,
his influence, people are bailing right and left. They're joining David, or
they're not hanging with Saul, or they're not just responding
to the call to arms. It could be that his power
base is limited to just his own tribe, the Benjamites. Number one. Number two: he is speaking in
particular to his own tribe saying, look, you're
Benjamites like I am. Nobody else is going to treat
you with the extra favor, giving you the gifts
and things that I do. Jesse is from the
tribe of Judah, so he won't treat you Benjamin
to a special favor like I am. It could be that he's
intimating that of all the tribes of Israel he's giving
the Benjamites certain favors. So there's a couple
of ways to look at it. It seems to me that his power,
he's struggling with people. And it's mostly his own tribe,
Benjamin, that is loyal to him. But notice how paranoid he is. He's so upset. He thinks that there's
going to be an ambush. He believes that his own son
Jonathan has come up with a way to kill him, which isn't true. But you know, when
you're paranoid, you see demons and everything. Everything's a sign. Everything's against you. I find it interesting how
some people that I've met, that I know, are
suspicious in nature. And everything's a conspiracy. Yeah I know they say this,
but really, something else is going on. And it might be. But because they kind of feel
that way about everything, it makes me just think that they
may be a little bit paranoid. I think Saul certainly was. Everybody's conspiring
against him. Then, answered Doeg. Remember Doeg from
last week's study. Doeg the Edomite. Edom, like Moab, Edom is
East of the Jordan River, east of the land of Israel. Longtime enemies of the Jews. This one has defected, this
one works for King Saul. Doeg is the chief
of the herdsmen, we are told in a
previous chapter. Then answered Doeg
the Edomite, who was set over the
servants of Saul, not all translations say that. Some translations
say he was sent, set over their mules,
or the donkeys, of Saul. So it could be he's just nothing
more than the chief donkey herder, donkey keeper. He said, "I saw the son
of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of
the Lord for him, gave him provisions
and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine." Now that's true. David did go to Nob. David was given bread. David was given this sort
of Goliath the Philistine. But it wasn't a conspiracy. In fact, David lied
to the police at Nob and said, "I'm here on
official police business. The King sent me." And the priests were
understandably upset because David was
alone, and they knew how Saul was off his
nut, and could attack them, and their worst fear will
come true in this chapter. We also remember that this
guy, Doeg the Edomite, was there and overheard
the whole situation. Now the Edomites, get this,
were descendants of Esau. Descendants of Esau. You know the story of
his Esau and Jacob. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob was the one
that the covenant that God promised to Abraham
and Isaac was going to go to. Not the firstborn, Esau, but
the second born, because Esau sold his birthright to Jacob. There has been animosity
between the sons of Esau and the sons of Jacob
to this very day. To this very day, the
descendants of Esau-- not all, but for the most part-- in their respective
Arab nations, despise the sons
of Jacob, Israel. And one thing they have
hated since May 14th, 1948, is that there is a Jewish
presence in the Middle East. According to many of their
people, their belief system, their ideology, their
Islamic ideology, there should be no
Jewish presence at all. That's why if you wonder why
some nations, and certainly Palestinians, don't even
acknowledge Israel as a nation. It's not a nation. They're the occupiers. Even though they had the
land way before those people had the land. Goes all the way
back to this promise. But there's been animosity
between the Edomites, including Doeg, and
the sons of Jacob, the Israelites, for generations. Since they were brothers. Still going on to this day. Here's a little
pericope of that. So Doeg the Edomite
said, look, I saw this whole thing going down. Verse 10: "then he inquired
of the Lord for him and gave him provisions,
gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistines,
and the King sent to call Ahimelech the
priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house. And the priests who were in
Nob, and they 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.'"
See, everything's a conspiracy. "'In that you have given
him bread and a sword, and have inquired
of God for him.'" How dare you pray for him? "'That he should rise
against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.' So Ahimelech answered
the King and said, 'and who among all your servants
is so faithful as David, who is the King's son-in-law,
who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? Did I then begin to
inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the King impute
anything to his servant, or to any in the
House of my Father. For your servant knew nothing
of all this, little or much.' And the King said, 'you
shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your
father's house!' Then the King said
to the guards--" This is his elite guards, now. "Who stood about him, 'turn and
kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand
is also with David, and because they knew when
he fled and did not tell it to me.' But the servants of the King
would not lift their hand to strike the priests
of the Lord. " Mark that. Their King, their government,
has given them a direct command and they look to their authority
and flatly refused to obey it. Disregard it. Not going to do it. "It's an order. I'm the King. I'm the government,
you must do as I say!" Not going to do it. Why? Because it was an unreasonable
request, and an unbiblical request. So they said, "no,"
and they disobeyed. "We must obey God
rather than man." "And the King said to Doeg,
'you turn and kill the priests!' So Doeg the Edomite turned
and struck the priests, and killed on that day 85
men who wore a linen ephod." That is, who were
in the priesthood. "Also Nob, the
city of priests, he struck with the edge of the
sword, both men and women, children, and nursing infants." Unthinkable. "Oxen and donkeys and sheep--
with the edge of the sword." Doeg the Edomite
was not a patriot. He was not a nationalist. He was an opportunist. He saw this as a way
to ingratiate himself with the King to score
points, to get a promotion. He killed 85. Josephus, the Jewish
historian, Flavius Josephus-- whom I have quoted for
years, because he has written on Jewish history-- says that the precise number in
all, all total of those people that lived in-- priests,
families, everybody. Women, children--
385 he butchered. 385. Sad that Saul is becoming like
so many other Middle Eastern tyrants who are just
in total control and don't think about life. Don't think about killing,
or raping, or pillaging. If it serves their purpose, or
suits their manner, they do it. "Now 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 Lord's priests. So David said to Abiathar,
'I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was
there that he would surely tell Saul.' Now look at what he says. "'I have caused the
death of all the persons of your father's house.'" David takes the rap for it. David, here, even though Saul
is the one who gave the order, David takes the blame. Why? Because David knows that because
of his sin, his lie, right? He said, "I'm here on
official royal business," and the priest didn't believe
David, but David assured him. Took the bread, took the sword,
got out of the situation, took provisions, and left. David now realizes, because of
my sin, because of my folly, my sin has affected
other people. And it's always that way. It's always true. Your actions always
affect other people. For better or for worse. Good actions, bad actions. You never sin, you never
do anything in an isolated, in as an island. You always affect others. So David realized that. We should realize that. God said to the first humans
on the Earth, "in the day that you eat thereof of that
tree, you will surely die." Death entered the
human race on that day. In Romans 3, we're told,
"the wages of sin is death." So David realizes, "I have
to take part of this blame. I know Saul gave the order,
but I was the one who lied. Doeg was there. I knew it when I saw it. And so he says to Abiathar,
"'stay with me; do not fear." And Abiathar will. Abiathar will be his priest. You'll see him throughout
much of the history of King David and his reign. "'For he who seeks my life seeks
your life but with me you shall be safe.'" David did sin. David did lie. We can't excuse that. Yeah, he got warm bread,
he got a cool sword, and he got delivered from the
enemy of Saul temporarily. But he caused the life
of at least 85, if not, according to
Josephus, 385 people. And again, we have
to realize that when we look at heroes in
the Bible like David. David, a man after
God's own heart. Yes, but like we said last
week, even the best of men, are men at best. They're still flesh and blood. They still blow it. They still make mistakes. But he tells Abiathar
to stay with him. Now, during this time,
David wrote a psalm. And the psalm that
he wrote is Psalm 52. So I have marked
that out, and I'm going to read just
a portion of that. If you want to turn to Psalm
52, you're welcome to do that. Won't take you
but a few moments. You know where Psalms are. Psalm 5-2, 52. And you'll notice what it says
at the beginning of the psalm. "To the Chief Musician. A Contemplation of David, when
Doeg the Edomite went and told Saul, and said to him,
'David has gone to the House of Ahimelech.'" So here's part of the psalm. "Why do you boast in
evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God
endures continually. Your tongue devises
destruction like a sharp razor working deceitfully. You love evil more than
good, and lying rather than speaking righteousness. You love all devouring words
you, deceitful tongue." Now you know who
he's writing against. You've read that psalm before. Now you know what's going
on in David's thinking. He's thinking of Doeg. I don't even like
the name "Doeg." [LAUGHTER] "God shall likewise
destroy you forever." You will find in
the Psalms, several of such judgemental psalms. We call them
"imprecatory Psalms." An imprecatory psalm,
or an imprecation, is the calling down
of, an assailing, or a judgment against somebody. And David was pretty liberal
with these imprecations. On one time, like we read a
couple of weeks ago, he says, "don't kill them all at once. Let them die a slow death." That was a worship song. That's the lyrics
of a worship song. "Break their teeth in
their mouth, O God." Can you imagine singing that? (SINGING) Break their teeth
in their mouth, O God. The Psalms were the
hymnal of Israel. So you read some of
these inprecatory Psalms. One of my pastors
says, "I vote that we have a prayer service, and
pray imprecatory Psalms against the Taliban." Right? You did that say that,
right, Matt Perillo? Right? Yeah. [LAUGHTER] Yeah yeah. For everybody in
the world to know. That's a good idea, though. I'm with you on that. So chapter 23 begins, "then
they told David, saying, 'look, the Philistines are
fighting against Keilah, and they're robbing
the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired
of the Lord, saying, "shall I go and attack
these Philistines?' And the Lord said to David,
"go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.'" Keilah was a little town
in the foothills of Judah, around Jerusalem. Now whose job was it
to protect Israel? Saul's job. He's the King. But he's not doing a good job. He's not thinking
of protecting life. He's thinking of his
own political future, and David trying to
take it away from him. So David becomes
the deliverer, even though he is not the King yet. He's the King in waiting. David is the one who
will save Keilah. But notice, that he first prays. "Lord, is this something
you want me to do?" Instead of saying, "look,
I just got to do it. I mean, it's pretty obvious. Nobody has to really
pray about this. You got the enemies
attacking, you have these poor innocent
people being attacked by the Philistines, who
have been butchering people around the land. I've got to protect them. I got to save it. He prayed, "Lord, do
you want me to do this?" Sometimes we think that
certain things in life, really, we don't really need
to pray about that, because it's just there. It's obvious. You just do it. It's foolish to presume
that, Everything should be brought before the Lord. Just make it a habit. Ask the Lord before. You know, you can always do more
than pray, after you prayed. But you really can't do more
than pray, until you pray. You begin there. You begin seeking God's advice. You begin your day in the
morning, "Lord, take this day. Let my life be lived
for your glory. Show me what opportunities
you have for me." Just begin your day that way. And then pray, as the Bible
says, without ceasing. In all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths. And "David's men said
to him, 'look, we're afraid here in Judah. How much more if we go to
Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?'"
Now remember, this was not a trained army. These are men in
debt, discontent, and now disoriented. They're thinking, look, I don't
want to go fight in a battle. Our lives are in danger
here, let alone to go to war. But David drafts
them for the battle. And because of that,
he's going to train them. As I said last week,
these 400 ragtag men will become David's mighty men. And here, they enter
their first lesson of what it is to trust
in the Lord for victory. "Then David inquired
of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered
and said to him, 'Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the
Philistines into your hand.' And David and his
men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines,
struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the
inhabitants of Keilah. Now it happened, when
Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David at Keilah,
that he went down with an ephod in his hand." Why is that important? Because David is inquiring
of the Lord what to do. But now we know
the means by which David engaged God in prayer. In the ephod that the priests
wore, the high priests wore, this covering, the
ephod, there was a pouch. A pocket. And in that pocket,
there were two stones according to the law. One is called the Urim. And the second was
called the Thummim. Or Urim Thummim in Hebrew. The Urim and Thummim. Lights and perfections
is what it means. It is believed that
one stone was white. The other stone was black. And perhaps, when asking God
if you should do something, yes or no, it was sort of a
binary, very basic system. It's like white means
yes, black means no. Or black means yes,
white means no. We don't know. But he would go in,
and pick out a stone, and that would be the answer. Now I know it sounds
crazy, and almost sounds like you're like
throwing dice to find out God's will for your life. "Lord, should I marry that gal? I don't know. Let me throw it. If I get snake
eyes, it's a yes." Right? It kind of sounds like that. But the difference
is this worked. This was prescribed by God. God told them to
inquire of him this way. And so David is being obedient
to the law that he was given, the law of Moses, the dictates
of the Levitical code, and that's why the ephod,
this priest with the ephod, and the Urin and Thummim
was so important. Because David would inquire
of the Lord using that method. Saul was told,
David, verse seven. Or Saul was told that
David had gone to Keilah, so Saul said-- now watch this. "Saul said, 'God has
delivered him into my hand, for he has shot himself in by
entering a town that has gates and bars.' And Saul called for the
people to gather for war, to go down to Keilah to
besiege David and his men." Saul is bonkers. And not only is he
superstitious, but like so many superstitious
people, they see things as signs from God. This guy's not even close
to the heart of God, and he says, "Oh, this has got
to be the Lord doing this." Probably not. But again just so
conspiratorial, so superstitious. Some Christians I know, kind
of take this approach to life. That if there's two
people on the side of an argument, that
whatever side of the argument they're on, is God's side. And whatever side
of the argument that other person, or
people, are on, is the devil. Right? That's how we think. And so, if something works in
our favor, "Oh, it's the Lord." Or "oh, it's the devil." Saul was living in
that kind of idea. So this is the Lord. The Lord's doing this. He's helping me out here. "When David knew
that Saul," verse 9, "plotted evil against him, he
said to Abiathar the priest, 'bring the ephod here.' And David said, 'O Lord God
of Israel, Your servant--" he's referring to himself,
I'm Your servant, Lord-- "Your servant has
certainly heard that Saul seeks to come
to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake." And he asks the Lord this, "Will
the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as
Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I
pray, tell your servant.' And the Lord said,
'He will come down.' David said, "Will the men of
Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?'"
And the Lord said, "Yup, they will deliver you." You have to admit. For a town that has
just been delivered from their actual enemies-- the Philistines, by David-- for them to take the
hero, and rat on him, and deliver him to the guy
who wants to seek his life, must mean that they
are more afraid of what Saul would do to them,
than what the Philistines might do to them. That's how bad it was living
under the political influence of this numbskull, King Saul. So yep, they'll
deliver you to him. So David and his
men, about how many? 600. So the number has
grown from 400 to 600. So people are bailing
on Saul right and left. And they're coming over
to David and his side. So it's a ground roots movement. "...about six hundred, arose
and departed from Keilah, and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that
David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition. And David stayed
in the strongholds in the wilderness,
remained in the mountains of the Wilderness of Ziph." It's about two miles Southeast
of the the area of Hebron, out in the open country, not
in a walled city anymore. It says this-- this
is fascinating. "Saul sought him every day." Just let that sink in. If you have somebody trying to
kill you every day, or let's put it this way, if you have a
trial that you face every day. If you have an obstinate
child every day. If you have chronic pain, or
a chronic disease every day. Or a boss who just is
trying to get you every day. It gets old. It wears on you. David is facing this
every day for years, but it says, "God did not
deliver him into his hand. So David saw that Saul had
come out to seek his life. And David was in the
Wilderness of Ziph." In a forest. If you are dealing
with anything chronic like this, whether it's chronic
pain, or disease, or attacks from others, let this
minister to your heart. You're fine as long as
God is delivering you out of that hand. And I would say this:
what you need during times like that is encouragement. Let's see David's encouragement. "Then Jonathan, Saul's son,
arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened
his hand in God." A better translation:
strengthened his confidence in God. Bolstered his faith in God. Just his presence,
and his encouragement. That's the idea. He came and
encouraged David, who was worn down by this trial of
suffering Saul, day in and day out. "And he said to
him, 'Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my
Father shall not find you. You shall be King over Israel,
and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that. So the two of them made a
covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in
the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house." Proverbs 27 says, "As
iron sharpens iron, so a man's
countenance-- so a man strengthens the
countenance of his friend." Just when David needed
encouragement the most. Now, there is a spiritual
gift in the New Testament called The Gift of Exhortation. A better translation is
"the gift of encouragement." and I love to be around
people who have that gift. In fact, I usually know who
they are, and I seek them out. I don't want to be around
Eeyore, the donkey, always seeing something bad. Find me Tigger. Right? Find me Barnabas the
son of encouragement. Find me Jonathan. Somebody that'll
strengthen your hand, strengthen your heart in
the things of the Lord. "Iron sharpens iron." Ask the Lord for that gift. The church is in desperate
need of encouragers. "So well, the gift
of exhortation is me, kind of like
lowering the boom." No, that's the gift
of condemnation. There's no such gift. So the gift of exhortation
is the gift of encouragement. Somebody once said
"a pat on the back, even though it's just
a few feet away removed from a kick in the pants,
is miles ahead in results." Ask God to give you that
gift of encouragement. The church needs it. Then the Ziphites came
to Saul in Gibeah, saying, "Is David
not hiding with us in the strongholds in the woods,
in the hills of Hachilah, which is in the south of Jeshimon?" They ratted him out. They gave David's coordinates,
GPS coordinates, to him. Here's exactly where he is. "Now therefore,
O King, come down according to all the desire
of your own soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver
him into the King's hand. And Saul said, 'Blessed
are you of the Lord, for you have had compassion on
me.'" There's this crazy guy again. This is God. This is a sign from God. "Please go and
find out for sure, and see the place
where his hideout is, and who has seen him there. For I am told that
he is very crafty. See therefore, and take
knowledge of all this working places where he hides; and
come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if
he is in the land, that I will search for him
throughout all the clans of Judah.'" We won't look at it,
but write down Psalm 54. David writes Psalm 54
right around time frame. "So they arose
and went to Ziph," which is toward the Dead Sea, so
they're descending, once again, in elevation. Going kind of back
tracking toward Moab, down by the Dead Sea,
descending in elevation. There's ravines in that area. I've been in this area. It's barren, but it's rocky,
and there's these huge hundreds of feet cliffs, drop offs. So you can be on one
plateau with a ravine, and you can see
that the other one, you could talk to the
person on the other plateau. So that's the setup here. Where did I leave off? Verse 24. Thank you. "Then they arose and
went to Ziph before Saul. David and his men were in
the wilderness of Maon, in the plane on the
south of Jeshimon. When Saul and his men went
to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went
down to the rock, and stayed in the
Wilderness of my Maon. And when Saul heard
that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon. Then Saul went on one
side of the mountains, and David on the other-- David and his men on the
other side of the mountain." Again, picture the ravine. And "So David made haste to
get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were encircling
David and his men to take them." So Saul breaks up his army
into two, and one go one way, and one go the other way,
and let's head him off on that other plateau, or that
other mountain, the other side of the ravine. "But a messenger came to Saul,
saying, "Hasten and come, for the Philistines
have invaded the land!" Therefore Saul returned
from pursuing David, and went against
the Philistines; so they called that place
the Rock of Escaping. Then David went up from there
and dwelt in the strongholds at En Gedi. And that's where we close
for tonight's study. We'll pick up at
En Gedi next week. En Gedi, by the way,
in the Hebrew language, whenever you see the word
En, it's "ein" in Hebrew. "Ein" Gedi means, "the
spring of the wild goats." And when you travel
with us to Israel, and we will take
you to Ein Gedi, you'll see why it's named that. Because there's this
species of ibex, this mountain goat, all
throughout that area. And as you're walking
up this narrow path, you'll be ascending, and
En Gedi is beautiful. You'll understand why
David hung out there. There's a natural spring
that flows out of the rocks and empties into the Dead Sea. And it's very
refreshing, verdant. There are waterfalls, and
greenery, and pools of water. We often take our groups
and go swimming in them. And you'll see all these little
caves where you can hide. And that's where David and
his men hid at En Gedi. But David, for much
of his refuge-- just make note of this-- is in the desert. And you will find-- have
you found, in the Bible, that God sometimes takes
his choicest servants and teaches them profound
lessons in the deserts. Moses, he took to Midian. In the desert. John the Baptist,
the Judean Desert. Paul the apostle, the Arabian
Desert for three years. And now David, down in the
Judean Desert by the Dead Sea. So some of these
servants of the Lord, rather than God sending
them to Rome or to Babylon, or the cushy places, he
sends them to the desert. He gives them not
a PhD, but a BSD: Backside of the Desert degree. And they learned some
deep and profound lessons, and they write about them. David writes so many
Psalms during this, but we'll pick it up
next time as we find out a very interesting,
intriguing story, and I'll try to
paint the picture as we cover the next
two chapters next week. (PRAYING) Father, thank you for
the ability to gather together, verse by verse, chapter
by chapter, book by book, going through what Paul
referred to in Acts 20 as the whole counsel of God. Certainly David is somebody
we should know about, because we worship
the son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the descendant of David, one who will rule and
reign in the kingdom age from the throne of David,
geopolitically in Jerusalem. And then as the King of Kings
over the entire universe after that. So David becomes a very
important figure to us, especially when it
comes to the covenant that God makes with David. Lord, I pray that we would be
encouraged if we find ourselves in a desert place, not just
literally, but figuratively. If we feel that we are being
hounded, or hunted, or pursued, or misunderstood. Or we're facing some kind of
chronic, painful condition. Lord send us those Jonathans
to bring us encouragement, and may we look for
people who are struggling, and give them your
encouragement, strengthening their hand in God. That we might serve
you wholeheartedly, and with pure faith. In Jesus' name, God's
people said, Amen. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series Expound.
