1 Samuel 22:1-23: A Leader Worth Following

1 Samuel 22:1-23: A Leader Worth Following

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Samuel 22:1-23, so I’ll be reading a selection of verses from that passage. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

¹ David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. ² And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. ³ And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. ⁵ Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth. ⁶ Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. ⁷ And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, ⁸ that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” ⁹ Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, ¹⁰ and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” ¹¹ Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. ¹² And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³ And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”… ¹⁷ And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword. ²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. ²¹ And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. ²³ Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.”

May God bless the reading of his Word.

 Let’s pray: Father, your Word is more to be desired than gold and sweeter also than honey. So, help us to see its value, taste its sweetness, and experience its power this morning through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Every Christian fits into one of two categories: they’re either actively growing closer to God or they’re passively drifting away from him. It’s not really possible to be at a spiritual standstill. The nineteenth century theologian J. C. Ryle said it like this: “Believe me, you cannot stand still in the affairs of your souls. Habits of good or evil are daily strengthening in your hearts. Every day you are either getting nearer to God or further off.” It’s comparable in many ways to swimming in a river. You’re either actively swimming against the current or you’re being carried downstream by the current. Similarly, when it comes to our relationship with God, we’re either actively seeking God and growing closer to him or we’re allowing other things to direct our attention away from God and are drifting away from him.

So, I encourage you to ask yourself this morning, which category do you fall into? And to make it even more specific, are you growing in your knowledge of God? Are you growing in your love for God? And are you growing in your likeness to God? Or is it possible that you’re, more or less, trying to coast along and live off of yesterday’s gains in one or more of these areas—which actually means that you’re declining?

And as we turn our attention to our main passage this morning, we see a similar contrast between Saul and David. One of them—Saul—is moving further away from God, while the other—David—is growing both as a godly man and as a godly leader. It’s hard to imagine a more striking contrast than the one between these two men that we find here in 1 Samuel 22.

So, the main idea of this passage is that, as Saul continues to spiral downward, David demonstrates that he’s a leader worth following. Again, as Saul continues to spiral downward, David demonstrates that he’s a leader worth following. And as we work our way through this passage, we’ll be both warned by Saul’s negative example and encouraged by David’s positive example as we seek to become the people God wants us to be.

So, let’s dive in, beginning with verses 1-2. Remember that God’s chosen David to be the next king of Israel but that, for the time being, David’s on the run as the current king, Saul, seeks to take David’s life. And in the midst of those dramatic circumstances, verses 1-2 tell us, ¹ David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. ² And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

 So, we can see how dire David’s situation is from the fact that he’s forced to hide out in a cave. And not only do his brothers and his father’s entire household join him—since their lives are now in danger as well—we also read that all kinds of social outcasts join David and begin to look to him as their leader. These are the kinds of people whom society viewed as undesirable and who had been marginalized by society. Yet they apparently see something in David that gives them hope. They believe that David’s a leader worth following.

It reminds me of what Paul writes to the Christians of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:26-29: ²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. It seems that God prefers to use those who are unimpressive from an earthly perspective so that it’s clear to everyone that the power comes from God himself rather than from the “impressive” abilities of “impressive” people. So, what we find in the formation of this rag-tag group of people in our main passage is very much in line with way God most often works.

In addition, it’s also worth noting that it was while David was hiding out in this cave that he wrote Psalm 57. And I especially appreciate what he expresses in verses 1-3 of the psalm: ¹ Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by. ² I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. ³ He will send from heaven and save me; he will put to shame him who tramples on me. Selah God will send out his steadfast love and his faithfulness! So, in the midst of his distress and during this exceptionally low point in his life, David took refuge in God. And, in reality, this was foundational to every other good quality we’re going to see in David.

Then, returning to our main passage, we read in verses 3-4, ³ And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. Now, it’s likely that the reason David goes to Moab is because that’s where his great-grandmother Ruth—whom we read about in the book of Ruth—was from. So, even though Moab wasn’t always on the friendliest of terms with Israel, David has some family connections in Moab that he hopes will count for something.

And I appreciate how David’s first concern seems to be caring for his family—specifically his father and mother, who were too old to be able to join him out in the wilderness as he fled from one location to another. The reason I believe this is so significant is because the way someone treats their family speaks volumes about both their character and their readiness to lead others. This is why the New Testament teaches that anyone who desires to lead in the church as an elder must first prove himself by managing his own household well. In listing the qualifications for an elder in 1 Timothy 3:4, Paul writes, “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” 

And when you think about it, this is really something that should be common sense. For example, imagine that you were thinking about utilizing the services of a particular financial adviser but then discovered that this financial adviser had recently declared bankruptcy in his personal finances. I don’t know about you, but if I discovered that, I’d probably have second thoughts about allowing that financial advisor to guide my financial decisions. If he hasn’t demonstrated an ability to manage his own personal finances, why would I think he’d do a better job managing my finances?

Similarly, if a man hasn’t demonstrated an ability to lead and care for his family well, why would we think he’s ready to lead anyone else? Why would we think he’s ready to be a church leader, a political leader, a business leader, or any kind of leader or influencer in society if he hasn’t been faithful in leading and caring for his own family? So, this is why I appreciate so much the fact that David’s first instinct in our main passage is to make sure his parents are well taken care of.

After that, we read in verse 5, Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth. This is another admirable leadership quality in David—and actually just a good character quality in general. David looked to God’s guidance—given through this prophet—instead of relying on his own wisdom. I’m sure it must have been very tempting for David to simply remain in this “stronghold” he was in—since that would’ve seemed to be the most secure. Yet David obediently went where God told him to go.

Verses 6-8 then tell us, ⁶ Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. ⁷ And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, ⁸ that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.”

So, it seems like Saul’s having a bit of a pity party in these verses. He kind of sounds like the character Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh: “Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. Poor me.” Yet, not only does Saul seem to be wallowing in self-pity, he also seems to be doing so in a rather manipulative way. Instead of being the kind of leader who earns his people’s respect and admiration, Saul instead seeks to maintain his people’s loyalty through emotional manipulation. 

We also see Saul—specifically in verse 7—trying to entice his servants to be loyal to him by making promises to them that are highly questionable whether he’ll end up keeping. Will Saul really give “every one” of his servants fields and vineyards, as he says? Will he really make “all” of them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? Probably not. I appreciate what J. Oswald Sanders says in his book titled Spiritual Leadership. He states, “True greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you.” So, this is yet another area in which we see a striking contrast between Saul and David. One demands the loyalty of his followers, while the other earns their loyalty.

We then read in verses 9-10, ⁹ Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, ¹⁰ and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.” If you were here last week, you may recall that Doeg was briefly mentioned in the previous chapter, and he now takes a prominent role in this chapter. And even though most of what Doeg says is true, he leaves out some very important details of the interactions between David and Ahimelech and thereby makes it seems as though Ahimelech was deliberately disloyal to Saul.

After that, verses 11-13 tell us, ¹¹ Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king. ¹² And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³ And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”

So, it seems as though Saul’s becoming increasingly paranoid as time goes on. Recall that, in the previous verses, he accused his own servants of conspiring against him. And he now accuses Ahimelech the priest of conspiring against him. So, in Saul’s mind, just about everyone’s out to get him and is conspiring against him.

We then read in verses 14-17, ¹⁴ Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house? ¹⁵ Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.” ¹⁶ And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.” ¹⁷ And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord.

So, Saul’s actually so delusional in his paranoia that he orders his servants to kill not only Ahimelech but all the priests of the Lord. Fortunately, Saul servants realize that that’s absolutely insane and have enough fear of God that they don’t carry out Saul’s orders. However, Doeg doesn’t appear to have any such reservations.

Verses 18-19: ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.

So, it appears that Saul’s found his “hatchet man,” so to speak. What the rest of Saul’s servants refused to do, Doeg does without reservation and, seemingly, with zeal—as chilling as that is. Even though this passage only records Saul commanding Doeg to kill the priests, Doeg puts to death the entire city of Nob—including the women and children. It’s nothing less than a city-wide massacre. And, of course, even though this passage never specifically records Saul giving the order for this city-wide massacre, it’s unthinkable that Doeg would have carried out such a thing without Saul’s approval. So, it's quite accurate to say that Saul oversaw this horrific massacre.

It's also important to note that the language used in these verses to describe this mass slaughter is the same language used earlier in 1 Samuel 15:3 to describe what God had told Saul to do to the Amalekites. God had commanded Saul, “Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” This, of course, was a manifestation of God’s judgment on the Amalekites for their wickedness. Yet, Saul had failed to obey God and had instead—along with his army—kept the best of the spoil of the Amalekites for themselves.

So, note the grim irony of what takes place in our main passage. What Saul had neglected to carry out against the Amalekites, he now carries out against his own people. The very judgment God had commanded Saul to inflict on a wicked nearby nation, Saul instead inflicts on his own people—and even on a town of priests, no less!

This illustrates the way in which, if sin’s not dealt with, it inevitably gets worse and worse. Sin is like a spiritual cancer that might start small but always metastasizes and spreads throughout the whole person. In the case of Saul, he began with relatively subtle sins but now engages in something that’s more horrific than words can even describe.

And you’d better believe that sin will exhibit that same tendency in your life as well. Even though you might not be in a position to carry out any city-wide massacres, if you leave sin in your life unchecked, it will eventually overtake you and wreak havoc in virtually every aspect of your life.

You see—even for those of us who are Christians—the more we sin, the more desensitized to sin we become. Even though we might feel terrible about a sin the first time we commit it, we don’t feel quite as bad the second time as we did the first time. Then we feel a little less bad the third time and even less bad the fourth time. And, before we know it, we barely even give our sin a second thought.

In 1 Timothy 4:2, Paul refers to those “whose consciences are seared.” That’s the analogy Paul uses. Just like the flesh of an animal might be “seared”—or, more literally, “cauterized”—with a branding iron with the result that scar tissue forms and that portion of the animal’s flesh is desensitized to further pain, that’s what happens to our consciences when we continue in sin.

So, ironically enough, people who are more concerned about their sin often have less to be concerned about, while people who are less concerned about their sin often have more to be concerned about. This means that, if you don’t find yourself grieving over your sin on a regular basis and being deeply disturbed over the sinful tendencies within your heart, you should probably be quite concerned about the state of your spiritual health. The theologian John Owen once wrote, “Sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still.”

In addition, as we consider Saul’s horrific massacre of the city of Nob—carried out with a disturbing level of zeal by Doeg—it’s also important to note how this demonstrates the unspeakable evil that lurks within every human heart. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that we’re fundamentally different from Saul or Doeg but instead recognize that—apart from God’s grace and also with adequate opportunity and sufficient motivation—we also are quite capable of engaging in horrific evil ourselves. 

Several weeks ago, the reason I was absent from our worship gathering was because I traveled to Poland for a meeting with some of our missionaries. And while I was in Poland, I decided it would appropriate to visit Auschwitz, which is perhaps the most infamous Nazi concentration camp and a place where upwards of 1.1 million Jews and others who were deemed “undesirable” were put to death. So, I went on a 3-hour tour of the camp and saw the evidence of what had taken place. I saw the massive piles of hair that had been shaved off of these victims—enough hair to fill our entire multipurpose room downstairs. I saw other massive piles of their eyeglasses and suitcases and other personal belongings. I even saw surprisingly large piles of crutches and prosthetic limbs—since the Nazis also made it a practice to kill the disabled. And, most sobering of all, I walked in the gas chambers where most of the killing took place and saw the industrial ovens where the bodies were later burned.

Now, obviously, this is an extreme example of human evil—as is the massacre of the city of Nob recorded in our main passage. However, don’t underestimate the evil each one of us is capable of, given the right circumstances. How many of us—apart from God’s grace—would simply “follow orders,” like so many soldiers did in the concentration camps?

The fact is that the same moral disease that resulted in such unspeakable atrocities in the past is within the heart of every human being—a moral disease we call “sin.” Job 15:14-16 (NIV) says it like this: ¹⁴ “What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous? ¹⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, ¹⁶ how much less mortals, who are vile and corrupt, who drink up evil like water!” In reality, the seeds of every conceivable sin lie dormant within every human heart, and the only thing that keeps those seeds from sprouting and coming to full fruition is God’s restraining grace. That’s the only thing holding people back from even the most extreme moral atrocities such as what happened at Auschwitz or the massacre recorded in our passage. Apart from God’s restraining grace, the evil within every human heart would have its full expression.

This is why many of the remedies that are often suggested for what ails us are woefully insufficient. In reality, we don’t just need the three simple steps to a better “us” offered by the self-help movement. We don’t just need to leave behind old bad habits and form some new good habits in our lives. And we don’t just need to embrace an array of external religious rituals or religious practices that will supposedly help us to be better people. In reality, we need nothing less than an entirely new nature. We need the spiritual heart transplant that God talks about in Ezekiel 36:26 as God removes our heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. We need our old self to be put to death and then we need to be raised anew to live as profoundly transformed people. 

And the only way any of this is possible isn’t through the “five pillars” of Islam or the “eightfold path” of Buddhism or the vague sentiments of “spirituality” that seem to be popular in our society right now. Instead, the only way we can experience the radical transformation we so desperately need is through Jesus and what Jesus has done to rescue us from our sins.

Jesus existed as God from all eternity yet came to this earth as one of us—a real flesh-and-blood human being. He then proceeded to live a perfectly sinless life and eventually allowed himself to be crucified in our place and in order to pay for our sin. All of the judgment and wrath our sins deserved was poured out on Jesus on the cross so it wouldn’t have to be poured out on us in hell. Jesus was then raised from the dead and is therefore now able to save everyone who puts their trust in him.

As we read in Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” And as Romans 8:1 declares, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” If you haven’t yet experienced that, that can be true of you even today if you’ll put your trust in Jesus—renouncing all confidence in your own moral accomplishments to make you right with God and instead putting your confidence exclusively in Jesus.

And for those of us who are already Christians, it’s important for us to be aware of what we were before Jesus rescued us so that we can better appreciate what Jesus has done. That’s why—as uncomfortable as it might be to discuss the hideousness of our sin as we’ve done this morning—it’s something we nevertheless need to be reminded of from time to time. It’s not until we see the depth of our sin that we can begin to comprehend the greatness of our salvation.

And it’s that depth of sin that we’re reminded of in our main passage as Saul oversees the massacre of both the priests and the entire city of Nob. Thankfully, though, God prevents the priesthood from being utterly wiped out by enabling one of the priests to escape. Look at verses 20-23: ²⁰ But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. ²¹ And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house. ²³ Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.” And Abiathar will continue to be David’s priest for the rest of David’s life.

And even in these verses, we continue to see David demonstrating that he’s a leader worth following. In verse 22, David takes responsibility for his deceptive actions in the previous chapter and confesses to Abiathar “I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father’s house.” In striking contrast to Saul, who has demonstrated a habit throughout his kingship of shifting the blame for his wrongdoing onto others, David takes responsibility for his wrongdoing and admits that he bears some of the blame for what happened at Nob.

We also see David demonstrating commitment and care for those under his leadership. He tells Abiathar, “Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping.” In contrast to Saul, who massacres his own people, David demonstrates a commitment to the welfare of those who are with him. And that’s one of the most important character qualities a leader can have—whether we’re talking about leaders in the civil government, leaders in the church, or leaders in the workplace. The role of a leader is to look after the welfare of those whom God’s placed under their leadership.

And, of course, the greatest example of a leader who leads in this way is Jesus himself. As godly of a leader as David was, he ultimately foreshadows Jesus, who cares for those entrusted to him in a way that’s greater than any other leader has ever done. In John 10:11, Jesus describes himself as “the good shepherd” and states that “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus saw the extreme danger we were in and acted decisively to rescue us from our sin—even though it involved laying down his life in order to redeem ours.