When Evil Abounds
1 Samuel 22:6-23
6 Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
7 And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds,
8 that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.”
9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub,
10 and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11 Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king.
12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
13 And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”
14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house?
15 Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.”
16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.”
17 And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.
19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.
20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord.
22 And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house.
23 Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”
It took a long time to get this particular devotion started. Not because the text is terribly difficult to understand or requires a great deal of cross-referencing or anything like it. The reason for the struggle is because the story is just so disturbing. The murder of the priests is so very intentional and immediate. And not only do they die, but so do their wives, children and animals. This is a rage that is fueled by evil. Their lives were lost because they gave David food and didn’t bother to send a memo to the king about it. What can you say about something so purposefully violent? When hatred is given the lead terrible things happen. And that is what rules Saul by this point in his life – hatred. That he can exercise that hatred without regard for another single person is frightening. He certainly isn’t the only one who has ever behaved this way. We have examples throughout history of similar individuals and occurrences where hatred was the obvious motive for violent actions. During the time of Saddem Hussein, I heard that his son like to push people into the piranha infested water for the slightest infraction of his rules. This is an evil that is spurred on by hatred. Or maybe it’s the other way around.
On a textual note: We are informed that the palace guard was unwilling to execute Saul’s order to kill so he asked Doeg the Edomite. Edomites were descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (Israel) who hated God. So it is quite likely that Doeg had no love for David and certainly no love for God’s people. What he was doing in the court of Saul is anyone’s guess.
Once again, David does the admirable thing. He is truly saddened by the actions of Saul and takes full responsibility even though he did not directly cause the deaths. He knows that Saul is acting in response to David’s visit to Nob and sorrows over the loss of life. He is a good leader who loves the people and wants to protect them. But while he is willing to take responsibility for the one man who is left alive, he does not go after Saul. Why not? Because God didn’t tell him to do so. Instead of taking things into his own hands, he remains faithful to God and to His leading. This is impressive. We will find David actually protecting Saul’s life in the future, as God has not commanded David to deal with him. David leaves that to God. And there’s our lesson for today. Are we willing to leave God’s in control of those who are difficult in our lives or do we quickly try and take care of them ourselves? Return to Psalm 52 from yesterday. Where does David turn when others are out to hurt him? He turns to God and surrenders these people up to Him. This is an awesome pattern to follow and while difficult to do sometimes, well worth the effort.
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