“Let God fight your battles” (St. Luke’s: Friday, January 19th, 2018; 1 Samuel 24.3-21; Ps. 57; St. Mark 3.13-19)

Robin Hood in the Bible?  The tale is told of an outlaw with a price on his head who lived in the wild with a band of outcasts.  This motley crew lived a nomadic existence, always moving from place to place, with the authorities always on their tail.  This band of “lawless men” would intervene to protect the defenseless and ensure that their kind of justice was done.  These men of the wilderness knew that their leader was destined for great things, and they impatiently awaited the day when he would enter into his glory and they would all at last be free…  Does this story sound familiar?  Listen to the opening verses of 1 Samuel chapter 22:

“David …escaped to the cave of Adullam …Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and [David] became captain over them” (1 Sam. 22.1-2).

Congratulations… sort of.  This does indeed sound a lot like the story of Robin Hood and his band of merry men.  As we saw on Tuesday, David’s troubles began the day the prophet Samuel came to his village and anointed him to be king of Israel – him, the youngest of Jesse’s 8 sons.  One might think that being chosen to be king would be cause for celebration; however, as far as David was concerned, the situation that he found himself in was far from straightforward – not only did he have his 7 older brothers to worry about, there was already someone sitting on the throne of Israel!  Samuel had anointed Saul as king only a few years before.  Indeed, when God initially sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint the next king, the prophet was afraid for his life (cf. 1 Sam. 16.2).  From God’s point of view, Samuel’s anointing of David was the divine will; from Saul’s point of view, the prophet’s actions were treasonous and seditious.  If one reads further on in the story, one sees that Samuel had good reason to fear the wrath of King Saul (cf. 1 Sam. 22.6-19).  Following his victory over Goliath – as we saw on Wednesday – David comes into public prominence and wins the heart of the nation.  As we saw yesterday, David’s first great triumph put King Saul in the young upstart’s shadow, inspiring in Saul a murderous envy (18.1-9).  Saul makes several attempts to murder David (18.10-11, 17, 25-29; 19.8-17), including the underhanded tactic of making David his son-in-law.  Once Saul discovers that his younger daughter is in love with David, he establishes an unusual bride price for the aspiring groom – proof of the death of 100 Philistine soldiers (18.25).  In sending David on this dangerous mission, Saul hopes that he will not survive the ordeal.  David, of course, does accomplish the feat and becomes the king’s son-in-law. As they say, “Keep your friends close…”

Man on the run.  Finally, after Saul attempts to have David arrested in his own home, David has no choice but to run for his life.  As David’s band of “merry men” gathers in the wilderness, King Saul and his army set out through the wilds of Judah in search of “Israel’s most wanted”.  This brings us to today’s story.  This episode begins on a comical note, as King Saul feels the need to make a rest stop and avails himself of a cave, which he enters in order to – as the Hebrew euphemism has it – “cover his feet” (i.e. do a # 2).  As fate would have it, this road-side toilet just happens to be the very cave in which David and his men are hiding.  David’s companions urge him to seize this opportunity – while David’s enemy is alone – to strike and avenge himself on Saul, thereby solving all his problems at a stroke (as it were).  What David does is to cut off a piece of the king’s cloak as he is indisposed, thereby acquiring proof of his ability to have ended Saul’s life.  But David refuses to go beyond that – “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to …the Lord’s anointed” (24.6).  David honours the fact that God had chosen Saul to be king and will entrust Saul’s end to God’s timing.

An appeal to the divine Judge.  David proceeds to follow Saul out of the cave and to confront the king with the strip of his cloak as evidence that David means him no harm.  David adopts the stance of the innocent man who suffers unjustly and invokes Yahweh’s justice:

“May the Lord judge between me and you! May the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you… May [the Lord] …plead my cause, and vindicate me against you” (24.12, 15).

This is an excellent demonstration of a member of the people of God trusting Yahweh to fight their battles for them.  This is a biblical theme – as the Israelites were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea at the time of the Exodus, Moses encouraged the members of God’s people to

“not be afraid, [to] stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still” (Ex. 14.13-14; cf. 2 Chronicles 20.17).

Trust and obey.  God had chosen David to be king; what God expected from David in the meantime was trust and obedience.  Indeed, it was Saul’s failure to do those two things that led to his downfall and to Yahweh’s decision to replace him with “a man after his own heart” (cf. 1 Sam. 13.1-15; 15.1-35; Ac. 13.22).  The failure to trust and obey God is a recurring theme in the Scriptures and is one of the biblical definitions of sin.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given everything they needed as a free gift from the Creator, and – many theologians have said – would have achieved the “knowledge of good and evil” by trusting and obeying God.  However, through a failure to trust the Creator’s goodness, they decided to disobey the divine command not to eat the fruit and instead, to grasp at equality with God for themselves.  The primal sin of Adam and Eve is repeated over and over again throughout human history – as well as throughout each of our lives – as humanity is driven by fear and pride as opposed to faith (i.e. “trust”) and obedience to God’s will.  Saul had received the crown of Israel as a free gift from Yahweh; however, once in power, he acted first out of fear – he grew impatient for Samuel to arrive to offer sacrifice before a battle and decided to perform the priestly duties himself; secondly, he presumed to follow Yahweh’s instructions concerning the Amalekites only to the extent that he considered to be politically advantageous.  Following these two mistakes, Yahweh regretted having chosen him as king and Samuel was sent to anoint David.  That day in the cave, David also faces the temptation to not trust God, but rather to take things into his own hands.  David had good reason to take Saul’s life – besides the fact that Saul was trying to kill him was the fact that he had been anointed to be the next king of Israel.  What’s more – since his anointing by Samuel, several characters in the story have been telling David that he will be king one day.  Even Saul, at the end of today’s episode, tells David that he knows “that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand” (1 Sam. 24.20; cf. 16.1; 21.11; 23.17; 25.28).  This part of David’s life story shows us that if God has chosen you for a mission, you will face opposition and adversity.  We must trust in God’s justice.  That is how we can love the unlovable – even our enemies.  However, no matter what obstacles may lie in our path, no matter who opposes us, if we trust God and do what he is asking us to do, we will succeed.  Amen.