“Sha’ul said to David, ‘Here is my older daughter Merav. I will give her to you as your wife; only continue displaying your courage for me, and fight Adonai’s battles.’ Sha’ul was thinking, ‘I don’t dare touch him, so let the P’lishtim do away with him.'”-1 Samuel 18:17
Recall that one of the agreed-to-rewards for slaying Goliath was getting the king’s daughter’s hand in marriage.
Here’s the reference:
“The soldiers from Isra’el said [to each other], “You saw that man who just came up? He has come to challenge Isra’el. To whoever kills him, the king will give a rich reward; he’ll also give him his daughter and exempt his father’s family from all service and taxes in Isra’el.”-1 Samuel 17:25
However, when Saul offers his older daughter Merav to David, again his true colors are revealed.
Notice how Saul adds the condition “…only continue displaying your courage for me, and fight Adonai’s battles”.
That wasn’t part of the original deal.
The original deal was the man who defeated Goliath would get a rich reward, the king’s daughter’s hand in marriage, and his family would be exempt from taxes forever…
Not that he’d have to continue risking his life on the battlefield.
See, here’s the thing.
Using his daughter as a tool of treachery, Saul planned to trick David into fighting the Philistines, hoping he would die in battle.
Now what I want you to notice is the satanic way Saul couches everything in this BS religious piousness.
He uses the phrase “fight Adonai’s battles”.
Do you really think Saul gave two hoots about fighting Adonai’s battles?
No man, he was just using God’s holy name to mask His real intention which was to get David slaughtered on the battlefield.
He figured if he kept sending him out to battle, it was just a matter of time before he got killed.
Another thing that needs to be said is that while the battle for Canaan was a Holy War, not every battle met that high standard.
Any battle fought as a holy war had to be led by God Himself and operate under some very strict rules.
All of the battles Saul was making David fight were the result of his agenda.
He could have cared less about fighting a Holy War under God’s direction.
And he’d already demonstrated he couldn’t even obey basic Holy War protocol per the law of Herem when he fought the Amalekites.
This leads us straight to our takeaway for today.
Beware of religious leaders who use the name of God to promote their selfish agendas.
This is an abuse of their authority.
Usually, the abuse takes the form of the congregation leader requesting donations for some ridiculous “Godly project” they wanna get financed.
If you’re a church leader, you should be careful not to pressure others using God’s name.
I was once part of a congregation whose leader told me if God wants you to max out the credit on your credit card to fund a “Godly project”, you should do it.
That is spiritual abuse, plain and simple.
You should never blindly follow every instruction from your pastor, preacher, or teacher who claims they’ve heard from God.
Ya feel me?
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