“Then Sha’ul said, ‘I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you any longer, because you regarded my life as precious today. Yes, I have behaved like a fool. I was altogether in the wrong.’ David answered, ‘Here is the king’s spear. Send one of the men over to bring it back. Adonai will give every person a reward suited to his uprightness and faithfulness. Adonai put you in my power today, but I would not raise my hand against Adonai’s anointed.'”-1 Samuel 26:21-23
David has spared Saul’s life a second time.
What follows is a replay of the cave incident at En-Gedi.
Saul, all soppy and sentimental, calls David his son.
He admits David’s loyalty.
He then begs David to come home to his palace and promises he won’t harm him.
David ignores his offer.
He asks Saul to send one of his men over to retrieve his spear.
Ironically, this was the same spear Saul had flung at David more than once in an attempt to kill him and that doubled as his royal scepter.
David had a moment of clarity here.
He understood Saul could no longer be trusted.
He also realized expecting to be rewarded for his good deeds was futile.
There’s a huge takeaway here.
On this side of heaven, we expect our works to be rewarded.
We feel Saul should have paid David back for sparing his life…twice no less.
Yet, the truth is only Adonai guarantees blessings for our righteous deeds…
And those blessings may not be immediately forthcoming.
They may not even be in this lifetime.
Yeshua said as much in the following verses:
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”-Matthew 6:1-4
Before departing from each other, Saul tells David:
“May you be blessed,
David my son;
you will do great things
and surely triumph.”
WOW!
Saul has just bestowed a blessing upon David.
He tells David all his deeds will be met with success.
In Hebrew, a “blessing” is called a BERACHAH or בְּרָכָה.
This word is used 68 times in the Tanakh and is first used when God promised Abraham “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”
This will be the last time these two men will see each other.
Just as the Lord protected David from himself and took care of Naval, so too will he soon take care of Saul.
What do I mean when I say “the Lord protected David from himself”?
What I mean is that minus God’s divine intervention through Avigayil, in his anger, David might have gone ahead and slain Naval and all his men…
He would’ve had the sentence of blood guilt over his head.
Fortunately, that did NOT happen.
By the skin of his teeth, David avoided staining his hands with Naval’s blood.
And he would avoid staining his hands with Saul’s blood.
The takeaway here is that David needed God’s direct intervention to be saved from his evil inclinations.
And so do you.
Our Bible heroes are some of the most sinful and imperfect men you will ever encounter.
This includes Avraham…
This includes Moses…
And this includes David…
David’s flaws are going to be well demonstrated in the next chapter.
See you then.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“To those who seek glory,
honor, and immortality
by perseverance in doing good,
He will pay back eternal life. “
-Romans 2:7
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN 1ST SAMUEL CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
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