THE LORD’S ANOINTED

1 Samuel 26:1-25 (Key Verse: 26:23)

“The LORD rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.”

Thank God for the relentless weeks of 1 Samuel study from January until right before the summer ministry. It was quite a journey for all of us who longed for a little break. From Msn. Gideon’s Mother’s Day Special last week, we saw how David lost his temper and almost made a mistake but a woman of God’s humble and wise counsel stopped him. With that, we heard Msn. Gideon’s earnest prayer for raising up 12 Abigails and 12 Davids among and through us! In today’s passage, we see how God help David learn and grow more through the seemingly same incident. It looked like a repeat and yet there were differences and progresses from which David matured in every aspect. May God bless us to learn, grow and mature like David did. May He also reward us as we maintain our focus on Jesus. 

1. The LORD Forbid … (1-11)

Look at verses 1-2. Here, we see the Ziphites reporting David’s whereabouts to Saul and Saul’s corresponding moves. Have we not seen this before? Where? In Ch. 23, three weeks ago. In fact, what the Ziphites said to Saul and what Saul did in response are almost identical with those in Ch. 23. What can we learn from this? We learn that neither the Ziphites nor Saul learned anything. That’s why they repeated the same thing. What about David? He learned something from the two separate past incidents: one from the earlier encounter with Saul, the other, with Abigail. So, he did not repeat but could respond differently.

When Saul made his camp with his special forces of three thousands (like Delta Force), David could have been very much afraid and gone into the deep hideout. However, David got his lessons and no longer feared Saul. He now firmly trusted in God and in His protection. So, he sent out scouts for more information gathering and decided to infiltrate the enemy lines. Look at verse 5. After infiltration, David and his men learned that Saul’s camp was in disarray. The king and the chief commander, Abner, were lying down arbitrarily and there was no protective measure. David became even braver and decided to go into Saul’s camp directly. Note in verse 6 that David asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai, Joab’s brother, equally, not discriminating the former from the latter just because of his human background. With Abishai’s volunteering, both he and David went to the army by night and secretly entered the camp. In it, they saw Saul lying asleep with his spear stuck in the ground and Abner and the soldiers lying around him sleeping. What did Abishai have to say to David at this?

Abishai was so impressed with this unbelievable sight that he claimed God delievered David’s enemy into his hands. Then, he asked permission from David to pin down Saul to the ground with just one thrust of the spear. He said he wouldn’t need to strike him twice. What did David respond to Abishai’s request? He said “Don’t destroy him.” What is the reason? In verse 9, we can see that it was because of Saul’s being the Lord’s anointed. He said no one would be guiltless when he would lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Additionally, he added the phrase “the Lord forbid … ” In this phrase, we see David’s acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty and his taking control over all things. Even though David had the opportunity and the means to change the status quo (by killing Saul), and with that there was a good chance of him getting out of all sufferings, David’s principle was “the Lord forbid” and he never wavered. That was something he learned in his actual life struggles. On the contrary, the Ziphites or Saul never learned anything. They never sought God or thought about what it would mean in any specific situation. To them, their principle was not “the Lord forbid,” but “we forbid or I forbid.” “The Lord fobid” does not mean we become passive or pessimistic. In verse 10, we see David having the glimpse of what would happen to Saul, which reads, “‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ he said, ‘the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.’” In our Friday meeting, some of our members aptly pointed out that now David became like a prophet who could understand God’s heart and get His inspiration. This one verse clearly shows David’s progress in learning in his life. With the seemingly same incident, his perspective and direction was never the same. Rather, he became far-sighted, prophetic and God-like-minded. That is what God wants us to become. 

We are in the 21^st century, with ever-changing environment and uncertainty in every aspect. No one could tell what is in store even in one week ahead. We never fathomed that a systematic, global pandemic would engulf the whole world for about two years, which was five years ago already. “AIs” are everywhere, which we also never knew it would become like that half a decade ago. Difficult things in the work, in the school and in the gospel work we are serving. In the past week, two of my colleagues came to me and poured out their hearts saying it was difficult. Well, the gospel work is even more difficult. What can we do? We uphold the principle like David had, “the Lord forbid” and try to grow in learning and in understanding. We also teach the godly principle to our Bible students and next gens. In that way, God may raise up 12 Davids among us!

2. The LORD Rewards … (12-26)

In verses 11b-12, David suggested they take only the spear and water jug instead of taking out Saul’s life to give him a lesson and they succeeded in doing so. No one saw or knew about it because God had put them into deep sleep. Look at verses 13-14. Then David made sure there would be enough space between them and began to call out to the army and to Abner. Even though David believed in God’s protection, he did not forget to do his part of safety. Once in San Diego Zoo, one tiger jumped the space between it and a taunting visitor and hurt him. Spiritually, we may need to make sure we have enough space between us and the sinful nature, so that it may not jump to us. In the ensuing verses, David pointed out that as soldiers and guardians under the king, Abner and his men must be held responsible for not being able to guard their lord the king. Surely, protecting one nation’s supreme leader would be of paramount importance. Look at what happened to our nation when JFK was assassinated. When David called out to Abner, he did not forge to mention the Lord’s anointed again. As always, he did not see Saul as his archenemy but the Lord’s anointed. In fact, David quoted “the Lord’s anointed” four different times in this Ch. 26 alone. On Friday, one man of God pointed out that we are all the Lord’s anointed because we are all a royal priesthood (1 Pe 2:9). Priests have been anointed to be special. So, let us respect each other and consider ourselves very special for the advancement of the gospel. 

Look at verse 17. While Abner had no clue who was calling out to him, Saul immediately recognized David’s voice and asked him if it was his voice. David answered yes and added his honorific, “my lord the king.” In his dealing with Saul, David never lost his respect. Look at verses 18-20. David began to plead with Saul regarding his innocence. He first called himself as Saul’s servant even though he was his son-in-law and a great warrior and general. He clearly asked Saul what wrong he was guilty of. He furthered his argument with something he never did previously. David pointed out that if it was the Lord God who incited Saul againt him, he was ready to die as an acceptance offering. Who knows? David committed sins unbeknownst to him and God was using Saul as an instrument to punish him. That was probably not the case but David went so far as saying to him like that so as to be proven innocent. David said again to him: if it was by the people that Saul chased after him, he used a strong phrase that those people should be condemned. He finally asked him not to let his blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. Even if he would die for whatever reasons, he would not want to be far away from the presence of the Lord. Here we see David trying his best to tie up all loose ends so that Saul might not have no excuse. Note in verse 20 that David humbled himself again by calling him a flea and a partridge (like the lyrics of a Christmas Carol, Twelve Days of Christmas, “on the first day of Christmas, my true love sent me a partridge in a pear tree”).

Look at verse 21. What was Saul’s response? He confessed his sins and wrongdoing and asked David to come back, calling him as his son. He promised that he would not harm him again based on what David did to him. To that, David returned Saul’s spear. While returning it, David also gave his final remarks for all people. Look at verse 23. ““The LORD rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The LORD delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed.” Here, we see David becoming even a theologian and scholar who could grasp the Biblical truth in a nutshell. In God’s history, this has been well shown from various places and through many godly people. At the Garden of Eden, our God wanted to reward us with the tree of life when we would live in righteousness and faithfulness. Obviously, we failed, but our God in his own righteousness and faithfulness promised to send us the woman’s offspring who would reward us with victory over the devil and the power of sin and death. In between times, many people were rewarded like Abraham, Joshua, Caleb, and David due to their righteousness and faithfulness. Apostle Paul similarly grasped the biblical truth on his own and tablated in his famous Romans 2:7, which reads, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” Our ultimate reward is Jesus Christ and his eternal life when we have righteousness and faithfulness in him. In a month or so, we are going to have a historic Midwest Summer Bible Conference in 10 years in which we would like to learn in-depth what it means to follow Jesus: why, how and its fruit. It would be a wonderful occasion where all people with all different backgrounds gather together at a beautiful Loyola University, become one and genuinely renew and reinforce our following of Jesus. We will be rewarded handsomely there. 

In conclusion, we saw how David learned his lessons from his life struggles and grew and matured. He no longer feared Saul but kept his principle firmly: “the Lord forbid.” When we learn and grow in difficult situations and especially grasp and teach the principle we have hope of rasing 12 Davids among us. Our God rewards us for our righteousness and faithfulness. May God richly bless our Midwest Summer Conference so that we may reaffirm our ultimate reward, Jesus and his eternal life in and through us!