1S19-2: Why You Should Never Try To Reason With An Evil Person

“Y’honatan spoke well of David to Sha’ul his father and said to him, ‘The king shouldn’t sin against his servant David, because he hasn’t sinned against you. On the contrary, his work for you has been very good indeed.  He put his life in his hands to attack the P’lishtim, and Adonai accomplished a great victory for all Isra’el. You yourself saw it, and you were happy about it. So why do you want to sin against innocent blood by killing David without any reason?’ Sha’ul heeded Y’honatan’s advice and swore, ‘As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.‘”-1 Samuel 19:4-6

Jonathan made one big mistake when he decided to talk with his father about David.

He tried to reason with evil.

It never works.

Sure, Jonathan was very persuasive.

He told his father that David was anything but an enemy of Israel.

He reminded him of the many victories David had won against the Philistines…

And how he had never been disloyal.

Jonathan’s concluding statement was also very reasonable…

“So why do you want to sin
against innocent blood by killing
David without any reason?”

Jonathan is referring to “blood guilt” in his question.

You do remember what “blood guilt” is, don’t you?

It’s one of those sins that cannot be atoned for by any means.

No sacrifice, substitute, or gift can be provided that will appease God in this situation.

The Lord will only accept the life of the trespasser as the payment for justice.

The bottom line is that if Saul goes ahead with his death threat and kills David, innocent blood will be on his hands.

He will be condemned…

But that’s not all.

The land of Israel will also bear “blood guilt” that can only be satisfied by putting the criminal (in this case, Saul) to death.

So if Saul kills David, not just him but his kingdom will be in jeopardy, unless he is executed.

Now it’s interesting how Saul responded.

He says “As Adonai lives, he shall not be killed!”.

Was Saul demonstrating sincere repentance here?

Absolutely NOT.

He was lying.

But what’s worse, he had just sealed his fate by making a vow.

It was just as bad as the vow Jephthah had made way back in the book of Judges when he was forced to sacrifice his daughter.

The only thing is Saul was much worse off than Jephthah because he had zero intention of keeping his vow.

It was only a deception to fool his son that everything was okay.

After Jonathan’s impassioned plea, it was clear to Saul that his son sided with David.

So I imagine Saul felt like he had no choice but to make this vow in front of Jonathan to deceive him.

And deceived Jonathan was.

Thinking his father was sincere, he went to David and informed him everything was fine.

So convinced his father would not harm David, Jonathan even brought David back to Saul, and Saul allowed him back into the court to play the lyre.

So everything appeared to be back to normal.

But we’re going to soon see it was all a facade.

Saul will again try to kill David with his spear.

Okay, so let’s stop here for the takeaway.

The lesson to be learned is what I already mentioned.

Do NOT try to reason with evil.

It never works.

If you’ve ever tried to reason with a narcissist, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

They possess a demonic ability to twist your words, manipulate your emotions, and distort reality to suit their narrative.

And as we see with Saul, they also have no qualms about lying or denying.

Some people simply cannot be reasoned with…

You have to separate from them or be destroyed in the process.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet,
and turn again and rend you”
-Matthew 7:6