“‘Now I’m certain that you will indeed become king, and that the kingship of Isra’el will be established in your hands. So swear to me by Adonai that you will not kill my descendants after I die or blot out my name from my father’s family.’ David swore to Sha’ul, and Sha’ul went home, but David and his men went back up to the stronghold.”-1 Samuel 24:21-23
Still stunned that David didn’t kill him when he had the chance, Saul continues to “prophesy”.
From verse 21, he confesses David will be the next king of Israel.
In the ancient world, this had significant implications.
It meant David’s lineage would continue to rule over Israel even after he passed away.
It also meant that once David took the throne, it would’ve been customary for him to kill off all of Saul’s children.
When Saul asks David to not “blot out my name from my father’s family”…
It’s a request to keep his children and his descendants alive.
In those days, it would’ve been a nightmare of gargantuan proportions to have one’s bloodlines cut off.
Why?
Because there was a belief that one’s spiritual essence was terminated if there were no blood descendants to carry one’s lineage forward.
So David vows to Saul he will not hunt down and kill his descendants.
Did David keep his word in this matter?
He did.
Later on, we’re going to find that David shows great CHESED or mercy to one of Saul’s descendants, a disabled man named Mephibosheth.
He ends up bringing him into his own home to care for him.
Onward.
After Saul’s impassioned plea, the two men go their separate ways.
David and his men returned to En Gedi, and Saul returned to Gibeah.
So this leaves us with the $64,000 question.
Did Saul really repent here?
The truth is nothing had changed.
David was well aware that Saul was a manic depressive whose emotions were like an up-and-down roller coaster, and was NOT to be trusted.
We’re going to see David was right.
The King would soon slip back into his paranoid and homicidal behavior.
So there are a couple of takeaways here.
First, the ancient Middle Eastern belief that your spiritual essence ceases to exist if you don’t have children is a bunch of nonsense.
If you’re a believer, you know that eternal life is based on only one thing: whether or not you’ve been born again by accepting Yeshua as Lord and Savior.
That’s it.
So don’t stress and force yourself to get married and have kids because you’re worried about your soul essence ending or something.
My observation is that most folks get married out of social pressure more than anything anyway.
They don’t wanna be seen as losers in society, so they’ll find any man and woman, get married, and start popping out kids.
Unfortunately, those marriages soon end in divorce, because there is no spiritual foundation there.
Based on a lot of rocky marriages I’ve seen, I can truly understand what Paul meant when he said “It’s better to stay single homies.”
Raising kids and having to please a wife all the time seems like a serious thorn in one’s rear end if you catch my drift.
Onward.
Second, notice how David as a shadow of the coming Messiah bucks the tradition of the times by deciding to NOT kill off his enemy’s (Saul’s) descendants.
Instead, he decides to show love and mercy.
I am reminded of the following words of Yeshua:
“But I tell you, love your enemies!
Pray for those who persecute you!
Then you will become children
of your Father in heaven.“
-Matthew 5:44-45
Finally, the last takeaway is similar to what I talked about a couple of days ago about how works are the only true measure of a person’s faith.
On the surface, it would appear that Saul had sincerely repented here.
But as we see this crazy nutcase go back to his idolatrous and murderous ways, it’ll become painfully obvious his words meant less than nothing.
So I’ll just reiterate what I said earlier.
Words are meaningless if not backed by vigorous action.
Ya feel me?
See ya all next time.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN FIRST SAMUEL CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Leave a Reply