1 Samuel 24:1-25:44, John 10:22-42, Psalms 116:1-19, Proverbs 15:20-21
Today is the 19th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is always fantastic to be here together around the Global Campfire gathering and taking the next step forward together. And, so, it is a joy to be here with you today. And our next step for leads us back into the drama that we have going in…in the book of first Samuel, the drama between King Saul and David, who is the king’s son-in-law at this point, but who is also a fugitive on the run, trying to stay alive at this point as King Saul does everything in his power to try to find, locate, and kill David. So, let’s pick up the story. First Samuel 24 and 25 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, in first Samuel today…well…a couple of things. First of all, Samuel died, and he was buried at his house in Ramah and everybody mourn for him and that’s all were told. Samuel died. All Israel gathered together and mourned for him. They buried him at his house in Ramah. There isn’t a lot of pageantry about it in the Bible. It’s just that Samuel being the last judge of Israel and a prophet of God, we should at least take a moment here and say, okay, so Samuel’s passed from the story and we’re moving on without this prophetic voice of Samuel in Saul’s life or in David’s life. But we have kind of journeyed with Saul and David. We saw the whole thing unfold. We saw how David got famous. We saw how paranoid Saul got about David. And we’ve been watching David be on the run, doing everything he can to protect his family, but just trying to stay alive as Saul pursues him. Today we sort of turned a corner in that story, and now the character of the two men is becoming very very clearly apparent. It’s becoming clearly apparent to us, the readers of the Scriptures as we read the story, but it was also becoming very apparent to those who were near David and observing him. So, one of the scenes that we experienced today in today’s reading was that Saul and his men are hiding near the oasis of Ein Gedi. The oasis of Ein Gedi is a place until this very day, and it's…it’s quite near the Dead Sea. So, we are in the desert. We are very near the Dead Sea. We are really near the lowest point on earth below sea level, which is the Dead Sea. And the oasis of Ein Gedi just is…is a fresh water source in the desert that’s running down from Jerusalem toward the lowest point on earth. So, there’s a water source there and there are caves all throughout that area all over that area and can continuing further north and south of Ein Gedi. So, just a little north of Ein Gedi would be like the caves of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. So, there’s caves all over this area. But the fresh water source at Ein Gedi would’ve been necessary. So, David is hiding in the caves of Ein Gedi, and we were just there not too long ago. And there are…there are photographs of Ein Gedi in Promised Land, photographs from the land of the Bible, the picture book from land of the Bible. Ein Gedi is covered in the Promised Land film. So, you can kinda go see all this for yourself. But this is the place where we locate ourselves in today’s reading. the king, king Saul has elite troops hunting David, searching for David, and the king is leading them. They’re trying to find David and his men to kill him. David’s hiding in a cave with his men. Saul’s gotta go to the bathroom. This is a funny…really, really, funny story to me in its own way because of what’s just not being said here. Saul’s with his elite troops. If he’s gotta go the bathroom he’s gonna go to the bathroom unless he needs some privacy. And he needs some privacy. So, he needs a little privacy to do his business, his royal business. And, so, he…goes into a cave as the Scriptures tell us, to relieve himself and David and his men are in the back of the cave. So, Saul…Saul comes into the cave, right? Probably takes his robe off or whatever, sets it aside or whatever, moves it around, however, and he squats down and he’s doing his business, and this is being observed and witnessed and he doesn’t know that. And, so, here is David with his mortal enemy with his trousers around his ankles basically like completely vulnerable. He could be killed so easily. And David creeps up behind the king as the king is focusing his attention on what he’s doing, and David is able to cut off a little square, a little patch off the king’s robe and retreat back into the cave. And the king finishes up what he’s doing and adjusts himself and gets ready and goes back out to lead his men and that’s when David comes out of the cave. My father, right? King Saul. He calls to the king, and there is a small discussion. David is essentially saying, why…you know that…why are you…what do you think you’re gonna win if you kill me? Like, I'm…I’m…am I more valuable than a dead dog or a flea? Who am I? You are the king. Who am I? And and what have I done? In what way have I sinned against you? In what way have I been been disloyal to our nation? In what way have I sinned against God’s anointed, the king of Israel? And that’s when David reveals that he had cut off a patch from Saul’s robe. And he tells him, the Lord delivered you into my hand. You…you could be dead right now, like literally. You’ve been searching and searching everywhere high and low to find me to kill me and do you could be dead right now with your blank eyes staring at the ceiling of a cave. You could be dead. You were delivered into my hand, but I will not lift my hand against God’s anointed. Everybody is seeing this. These elite troops of Israel are seeing this. David’s men are seeing this. The king is…is remorseful and repents in this in this moment. He is seeing this. He confesses that he’s seeing this. So, this is a moment in the story where observing the character and the actions of these people is important as we understand where the pathways of Saul and David lead. David has led with character, and it’s being seen and it’s going to matter. It’s actually going to matter a lot as we continue forward in the story.
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for stories like this that intertwined lives and pathways are forged and we see where the road lead leads and we see where the actions lead and we see the character of people and where their lives take them. Holy Spirit come and shine the light of truth into our own hearts, into our own character. Illuminate the path that we are walking as we observe the paths that Saul and David are walking and show us the narrow path that leads to life, the only path we want to be walking. We ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Coming soon…