”Then Saul knew David’s voice, and said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my Lord, O king.” And he said, “Why does my Lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand? Now therefore, please, let my Lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, may they be cursed before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ So now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”“ I Samuel 26:17-20 NKJV
a. My lord, O king…. my lord…. Please, let my lord…his servant: This phrasing shows that David spoke to Saul with genuine humility. Since David was so right and Saul was so wrong, it would have been easy for David to project a superior attitude towards Saul, but he didn’t.
b. What have I done, or what evil is in my hand? David first asked Saul to consider the facts and to clearly think about what David had done.
c. If the LORD has stirred you up against me…. if it is the children of men: David made it easier for Saul to repent. David knew very well that the LORD or other men had not stirred up Saul but that it came from Saul’s own bitterness, carnality, and jealousy. But he offered these suggestions to Saul to give him an easier way to repent. He could admit that his actions against David were wrong without admitting that they originated with himself.
d. They have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, “Go, serve other gods”: David revealed his own heart’s struggle under the pressure from Saul’s relentless persecution. What hurt David the most was that he couldn’t go to the house of God and openly be with the people of God, living his life after the LORD as he longed to. The pressure of all this tempted David to consider leaving Israel altogether and to go among those who worshipped other gods.
e. So now, do not let my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: David concluded his appeal to Saul with a simple request. “Saul, please don’t kill me!”
i. “There is a vast deal of dignity in this speech of David, arising from a consciousness of his own innocence. He neither begs his life from Saul, nor offers one argument to prevail upon him to desist [stop] from his felonious attempts, but refers the whole matter to God, as the judge and vindicator of oppressed innocence.” (Clarke)
f. As when one hunts a partridge in the mountains: “It is worthy of remark that the Arabs, observing that partridges, being put up several times, soon become so weary as not to be able to fly; they in this manner hunt them upon the mountains, till at last they can knock them down with their clubs. It was in this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be able to destroy him.” (Clarke)
(Guzik)
“bitterness, carnality, and jealousy”
It will do us good to examine our hearts for it was said:
”Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.“
Psalms 139:23-24 NKJV
For we may have sinned and not realized it but if we ask God to examine our heart as written in Psalm 139 He will reveal any wicked way in ourselves.
Do you have any bitterness, carnality and jealousy buried in your heart? ❤️
Blessings
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