Martin Luther once wrote to a dying friend, “I received your letter in which you report that you are sick unto death—that is, if you interpret it rightly and spiritually, sick unto life.” Those lines remind us that life is seen differently when we know God and his ways. Therefore, our greatest need is God, to know him and love him.

I pray that we have seen through our study of 1 Samuel that this book indeed teaches us about God. The Bible itself reveals who God is to us, and 1 Samuel, in particular, does this. Our text this morning continues to do that. Therefore, as we look this morning at 1 Samuel 27-31, a five-chapter unit in which we read of David’s sojourn among the Philistines, I pray that we might continue to learn more about our God and his ways in order that we might live pleasing to him. So, as we walk through our text, divided into four sections (27, 28, 29-30, and 31), I want to point what each of these sections teaches us about God.

Even as we go through the necessary details of life, God is continually working out his purposes (27)

In 26:19, in David’s final conversation with Saul, David had said to him that Saul’s men had “driven [him] out this day that [he] should have no share in the heritage of the Lord.” It appears in 27:1 that this is coming about, for David is driven to Philistine territory in an attempt to flee from Saul. We read David’s words in verse 1 as he declares, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”

Thus, David takes 600 men with him and heads back to Gath and to Achish the king. It seems that Achish had heard well of Saul’s pursuit of David and wanted to highlight the conflict between the men. In addition, it appears that he thought that by allowing David to join him, it would be a crushing sign to the Israelites and greater protection for Achish against his enemies. And sure enough, verse 4 tells us that Saul no longer sought David.

David’s approach to Achish was quite shrewd. In order that Achish might not be able to oversee David’s actions, David suggests that Achish grant him one of the country towns in which to dwell. But he presents it to Achish as an action that would allow the funds of the city not to be drained in the king having to care for one of his servants. Thus, the king granted him Ziklag, where David lived for a year and four months.

And while David was in Ziklag he made raids against all of Israel’s enemies: the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. In fact, he not only defeated them, but he left no one alive. Therefore, there was no one to dispute David as he told Achish that he had received all his spoils from raids against Judah and gave Achish a portion. Therefore, David was killing Israel’s enemies and convincing Achish of his allegiance to the king as chapter 27 ends sharing Achish’s thoughts on David as the king declared to himself, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant” (27:12).

What is interesting in this text is all the things that are occurring for the long-term good of David and Israel. First of all, David is being provided for by his enemy. Second, he is convincing the enemy king that he is a friend while continuing to attack and kill the enemies of Israel. Therefore, the enemy king is harboring David while he continues to fight for Israel against her enemies. In addition, this shows David’s fitfulness for kingship as he is able to kill Israel’s enemies and not be detected by the king of Israel’s greatest enemy. But, finally, God uses this time to give Israel the land of Ziklag. Ziklag was a territory that had been allotted to the tribe of Judah, but it had never been successfully conquered. No, however, years later, as David and his men enter the town, it comes under Israelite control. In fact, in verse 6, “So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.”

I believe what should be clear to us in this text is that God is continually working out his purposes even when we’re going through the necessary details of life. Though David’s actions may seem crazy and not in any way normal, at this point in his life, David was just going through the necessary details of life. He had fled to another town, disguised his actions of killing Israel’s enemies, and befriended himself (deceptively) to the king. Again, though it might seem odd to call these “necessary details of life,” at this point in David’s life they were.

Yet, we can see, stepping back from the situation to get a glimpse of the bigger picture, that God is working to put David in a perfect position for kingship and delivering to Judah land that had been allotted to that tribe. God was continually working even as David simply went about the necessary details of his life.

In other words, our need to go about certain details of life never disrupts God’s work in and for us. When I was 12 years old I lived in a town named London, KY. It was a small town, but I had spent some of the best years of my life there. I had grown tremendously in my faith, had surrounded myself with Christian friends, and had developed a solid foundation of trust in Christ which continues to aid me to this day. Therefore, when my dad told me that because of a work situation that we were going to move to Paducah, KY, I thought, “This can’t be right.” In my mind this was a sure sign that God did not delight in me, as he was taking me from Christian friends and moving me across the state in the middle of a period of great growth in my Christian life.

Now, however, that story is almost humorous to tell, for I can tell you how in only a few weeks after that move my dad’s mom had a stroke and we were close enough to care for her, how we became part of a church where my faith was nourished even more than it had been before, and how I was in a place where I was only two hours from a Baptist school in Jackson, TN so that I ended up coming here and have never lived in Paducah since. In other words, this necessary detail of moving across the state which appeared to me at the time as something that was necessarily thwarting God’s work in my life was actually God’s means for doing even more in me than I had anticipated. In fact, that which is present in my life right now (including my presence at this church) can be traced back to God’s hand as my dad came to me with the then distressing news that we were going to be moving when I was twelve years old.

Therefore, let me exhort you today not to doubt God’s working in your life, but to trust that even in the necessary details of life God is carefully crafting your life to honor him. Even as we see with David in 1 Samuel 27, may we trust in true of ourselves. After all, God is so concerned about our lives honoring him that even before the foundation of the world God prepared works for us so that we might walk in them.

Among our greatest struggles, God’s children have the assurance of knowing that God is with us and for us (28)

As chapter 28 begins, we find David in a predicament. The Philistines have gathered their forces as they have decided to go to war with Israel. Therefore, Achish says to David, “Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army” (28:2), and David responds, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.”

This is no easy unfolding of a story to behold. What is David going to do? If he fights alongside Achish against Israel, how could the Israelites ever accept him as their king? After all, he would have shown his willingness to fight with their enemies against them. On the other hand, if David and his men turn on Achish, David’s life is at risk for he has surrounded himself with the Philistine army, which appears ready to triumph over Israel. So what is David to do?

However, just as we are ready to find out what happens, the author switches us to a different setting – that of Saul. He notes again that Samuel has died, for that will be an important detail in our upcoming story. And the author provides some other important details as well, such as Saul putting the mediums out of the city, even as God had prohibited their practices.

As we turn to Saul, we find him in a desperate state. He sees the Philistines and is greatly afraid, as the author tells us that “his heart trembled greatly” (28:5). Therefore, Saul inquires of the Lord, but there is no answer. It seems that every possible means he has to hear direction from the Lord is just providing him silence. Therefore, he decides to go to one of these mediums he has cast out of the city, and so Saul and his men head to Endor.

As Saul arrives at Endor, he comes disguised, after all the medium would not dare attempt her practice before the one who had driven her out of the city. This would be like a policeman trying to bust a drug dealer by interacting with him in what should be an undercover situation while the policeman in dressed in full police garb. Regardless of Saul’s appearance, however, the woman is still frightened. She fears that she is being set up and her sinful practice exposed so that she might be caught in a trap and killed. Therefore, Saul guarantees her that no punishment will come upon her.

As she gets ready, Saul tells her to bring up Samuel, and as she sees Samuel she screams because she all of the sudden realizes that it is Saul who has made this request. In the midst of her screaming, Saul asks her to describe the man, she describes Samuel, and Saul bows and pays homage to him.

Samuel, however, is not honored by Saul’s bowing but rather asks him, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answers that it is because he is distressed, God will not speak to him, and so he wants Samuel to speak to him on God’s behalf. And indeed Samuel does bring Saul a message, but it is no doubt one Saul does not want to hear. He tells him, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The Lord will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines” (28:15-19).

The news is almost too much for Saul to handle. He had gotten more than he had bargained for in hearing from Samuel. So he falls to the ground, filled with fear. And he was weak, as he had eaten nothing. Therefore, the woman and Saul’s servant convince him to eat a bit, and he does. And the chapter ends, “Then they rose and went away that night” (28:25) as Saul and the reader knows that Saul is walking out in the night to his death.

But what are we to learn in this text? We are reminded that sin is never the right way to go. It may promise instant pleasure, but in the end it is disastrous, even as Saul gets contact with Samuel but then hears what he doesn’t want to hear. Perhaps as well, we are to see that though the consequences of sin may not be immediate, judgment will come to those not in Christ. Perhaps both of these and more should be seen by the reader in the text and applied to our heart.

However, I think that there is something else that is more primary here. I think we are to learn something from the contrast of David’s struggle with Saul’s struggle. After all, the events of chapters 28-29 are not in chronological order. More than a few scholars have noted that studying the geography in these texts shows that this event with Saul actually comes after that of David in chapter 29.

And it does seem a bit odd that the author would introduce the desperate situation of David only to leave it, speak about Saul, and then return to David’s situation in chapter 29. It is clear that the author wants us to see David’s situation and Saul’s situation together. He even reverses the chronological order of the narrative so that we might see them together. Again, why would he do that?

I think it is because the author wants us to compare David and Saul’s situation. Yes, David is in a tough situation. This is a time of great anxiety for David, possibly. He doesn’t know what will happen. By contrast, however, anxiety is too little a word for Saul’s situation. God has rejected him, is silent when Saul seeks him, and has told him that Saul and his sons would be killed the next day. The difference between Saul and David is that though both are in tough spots, God is with and for David while God is absent from Saul and against him.

Perhaps, then, the text is to serve as a reminder to us that though we will have struggles in this life, if we are God’s children, we need to remember that our struggles are of the David variety and not of the Saul variety. For isn’t it easy of us to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with our struggles? It’s easy for us to take our situations and blow them up in our minds as if they are the greatest struggle known to man. When, in reality, not only are they temporal (if nothing else, ending when we die or the Lord returns), but they are going to unfold into great blessings in our lives. We will see in chapter 29 that David’s situation actually ends up great, while Saul is facing eternal consequences.

Therefore, I am not telling us to pretend as if our struggles do not exist, but I am telling us to measure them constantly against eternal matters so that we might see them as we should. When we are in times of struggle, it is good to remind ourselves that we have the greatest blessing in knowing Christ. Even as Michael Card has written that he will remind himself “that I am the richest man, though I must beg for bread, for the very one who might condemn has called me friend instead.” Indeed, David’s struggles seem great, but if we step back and compare them to Saul’s, we are assured that David is walking under the hand of a sovereign God who loves him, is with him, and is for him. May we then, this day, step back a bit from our own lives and realize that unlike those in this world who do not know Christ, we are walking under the hand of a sovereign God who loves us, is with us, and is for us.

God will work all things together for good for his children (29-30)

Chapter 29 brings us back to the point where the author had left us in 28:2. David is caught in this difficult situation of being asked to go to war against Israel alongside of the Philistines. But the situation is quickly sorted out. For as the Philistine lords bring their men together for battle, they notice a number of Hebrews with them and ask, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” (29:3). Then, they notice that not only is this a group of Hebrews, but David is among them. Achish answers that it is indeed David but that he has been loyal to him and given him no reason to doubt his allegiance.

Thankfully for Achish and David as well, the Philistine lords are not so easily taken. They point out that if David really is an enemy of the king of Israel, one way he could get back in right standing would be to let a number of Philistine heads roll.

Thus Achish is left to tell the news to David, obviously disappointed. He instructs him to go home the next morning, and though David puts up a weak fight (most likely for show), David and his men indeed leave the next morning. And, though the text does not say it explicitly, we see clearly that God has delivered David from this difficult situation.

Chapter 30 shows us that things do not remain rosy for David and his men, however. After the three day journey home, David and his men arrive at Ziklag only to find that the town has been burned and all the women had been taken captive. Therefore, David and his men respond as they should as they “raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep” (30:4). And on top of that, many of the people want to stone David. After all, they were already bitter in soul; that’s why they had come to David in the first place. But now their homes were destroyed and their wives and daughters taken. They must have thought David’s planning should have accounted for such a raid. Therefore, David “strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (30:6).

Then, David asks God if he should pursue these men and if he will overtake them. The Lord says, “Yes,” and David and his men are off. On their way, they find an Egyptian slave who had been left behind by one of those who had made the raid. They promise to spare his life if he will point them in the right direction, and he does. Thus, as they find the Amalekites celebrating with all their spoil, David and his men attack them. We read, “And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a men of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, ‘This is David’s spoil’” (30:17-20). So David recovered everything.

However, 200 men had stayed behind, so when the men of battle arrived back with the others they wanted to withhold the blessings of the spoil from them, but David responded, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall be alike” (30:23-24).

Finally, David takes some of the spoil and sends it throughout Judah as a gift to his countrymen from their enemies.

In this story we see a number of things. God’s provision for escape from Achish’s army, direction to attack the Amalekites, the provision of an Egyptian slave to direct them, and David’s understanding that all had come from God as a gift from his hand. We also see great tragedy, even if it is only temporary, as David and his men lose their homes and have their wives taken away. We see grumbling and celebration. So what is it we see in this text about the ways of our God?

In summarizing all of this, I think we can say that this text is a reminder that God is working all things together for God for his people. For whether things seem to take a positive or negative turn throughout these events, God was always working them for good. Even the raid on Ziklag would result in David being able to send the spoil throughout Judah.

And the Lord promises this to all his people in Romans 8:28. God works all things together for good for those who love him and who are the called according to his purpose. God works all things together for good for his children. This doesn’t mean we won’t go through difficult times such as we see with David in this story. Nor does it mean we will have all the blessings David had that we see here. But, what is common with us and this story of David is the God directing our lives and his. He is the same God who works all for good in the life of his children.

For David, all things were working so that he might be the next king. For us, all things are working so that we might be more like Christ. Thus, even as it would be easy for us to scream at David, “Brother, don’t doubt. Press on. God has promised you the throne and has provided at every turn, even turning what others intend for evil into good” let us also be willing to proclaim that to ourselves this morning, for we serve the same God who continues to work in the same way.

No matter how dark things get, we can rest on the sureness of God’s Word (31)

Finally, as we turn to chapter 31, we have the tragic story of Saul’s death. The author leaves us little time to question the outcome of the war. In verse 1 of the chapter we read, “Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.” As the chapter goes on, however, we read the details of Saul’s sons dying (including Jonathan) and of Saul himself being wounded severely before taking his own life.

The next day the Philistines come to ravage what remains, and as they find Saul and his sons, cut off Saul’s head, send messengers through the land to proclaim the good news, and hang Saul’s body along with the bodies of his sons on the wall of Beth-shan. But when the men of Jabesh heard it, they went and took down their bodies, and the chapter ends, “And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days” (31:13).

Again, it is a sad and heart-breaking story. Saul and his sons are killed. Israel’s first king is dead. The one who began his reign by delivering the men of Jabesh is now having his body “delivered” from its hideous display by them. The first king is an utter failure.

However, what we also are reminded of is that God’s Word is sure. Indeed, Saul dies, but Saul dies even as Samuel had declared as the mouthpiece of God. God’s Word is going to happen. And Saul could never have started the kingly line for Israel, for he was from Benjamin, and the promise of Genesis 49:10 showed that the scepter would come to one from the tribe of Judah. Therefore, as David of Bethlehem of Judah comes forth as the next king, we are reminded that God’s Word will not be thwarted.

Therefore, no matter how dark or difficult things might get in our lives, we have something that is an anchor for our souls – God’s Word. Let us therefore pour ourselves into it as we pour it into our hearts and minds.

Through these final chapters, we see that 1) even as we go through the necessary details of life, God is working out his purposes, 2) even among our greatest struggles, God is with us and for us, 3) in all things God is working them together for our good, and 4) that in our darkest hours we can still know the sureness of God’s Word.

God’s purposes are being fulfilled as he is with us, working for our good, and allowing us to anchor our souls in the sureness of his Word. That is our strength. And ultimately all of this comes to a climax as God brings forth his only begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Indeed, this Christmas we are celebrating that what God was working out in David’s life has come to fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And it is Christ that links us with David. We can see God’s provision and care for David, and be reminded and instructed in his provision for us, for we know that David’s greatest gift and our greatest gift from God is the same. His name is Jesus of Nazareth. Therefore, may we proclaim our trust in him and praise him for his great glory even as we come to the table. Amen.

CONFLICT, THE KINGDOM, AND THE COMING OF THE CHRIST