1 Samuel 21:7-9 Give It To Me!

 ”Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”“ ‭‭I Samuel‬ ‭21‬:‭7‬-‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Doeg, an Edomite: We meet a character we will meet again. Doeg was chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul, and he was not an Israelite but an Edomite.

i. Chief of the herdsmen: The word translated chief means mighty but can also be used to mean violent or obstinate. Doeg will show himself to be a violent and obstinate man.

ii. Detained before the LORD: By what we see of Doeg and his character, it is hard to think that he did real spiritual business before the LORD at the tabernacle. He was probably fulfilling some ceremonial requirement related to his employment for the king of Israel.

b. Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? We can understand why David wanted a weapon and why he asked. But it is also sad that David continued his lie about being on the king’s business. David is desperately trying to avoid the king’s business because right now, the king’s business is to kill David.

i. Considering what the king’s business was, David told the truth when he said, “The king’s business required haste.” That was true, but not in the way David meant it.

ii. “It is painful to the last degree to see one whose faith towered to such a lofty height in the encounter with Goliath, coming down from that noble elevation, to find him resorting for self-protection to the lies and artifices of an impostor.” (Blaikie)

c. The sword of Goliath: David was happy to have a good weapon (There is none like it). As David held this sword, he should have remembered how he came to win it. He didn’t do it with lies and half-truths. He did it with a bold trust in God, a trust that believed God and trusted Him to sort out the consequences.

i. David can have the sword of Goliath in his arsenal, but he would be better equipped if he had the faith that killed Goliath. Was David now trusting in Philistine swords more than the shepherd’s tools? There was nothing wrong with Goliath’s sword – the LORD had used it before (1 Samuel 17:51), but only in the context of radical faith.

ii. “David lost confidence in God and in the fulfillment of God’s purpose for his life which had been revealed to him. He went to God’s house for comfort and help and guidance, but he was detected as being wrong in his soul. Instead of acknowledging the truth to the only one who could help him and confessing that he had been telling a lie, he ran for his life again.” (Redpath)

d. There is none like it; give it to me: Knowing that something is precious and wonderful makes us want it. Being in a time of trial or stress makes us want the wonderful thing all the more. If this was true of Goliath’s sword, it is even truer of the sword of the Spirit, God’s word. We should always say of God’s word, “give it to me.”

(Guzik)

i. “There are some who are bent on taking away the Word of God. Well, if they discard it, ‘Give it to me.’ There are some who want to put it up on the shelf, as a thing that has seen its best days. They suppose the old sword is rusty, and worn out, but we can say, ‘There is none like that; give it to me!’” (Spurgeon)

Give It To Me!

“Being in a time of trial or stress makes us want the wonderful thing all the more.”

How true! One thing I’ve learned in leading a twelve step program is that EVERYONE has or had an addiction of one type or another.

It’s in that time of stress our human nature seeks comfort, we crave it.

Ask yourself this question: 

What wonderful thing do I find comfort in during a time of trial or stress and say to myself self, give it to me?

Replace it with the Word of God ‘There is none like that; give it to me!’

Blessings