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Tara Leigh Cobble
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Yesterday, David fled from Saul with the help of Jonathan, and now David is a fugitive. Today, we recount a lot of his travels as a man on the Lamb. His first stop is in a place called Nob, which was a religious headquarters at the time because he needs supplies, food and weapons. David runs into Ahimelech, the priest, who is the great grandson of Eli, the priest who raised Samuel. Ahimelech seems suspicious, but doesn't ask a lot of questions, except for why David is alone and David lies to him. The first thing we need to address here is that David lies to protect his own life. This is less like Rahab's lie to protect the spies and more like Abraham's lie that Sarah was his sister. David lies like this. It suggests he doesn't believe God's promise to make him king, and his lie leads to the slaughter of many innocent people and priests. The second thing we need to address is that the holy bread is only supposed to be eaten by the priest. We see Ahimelech make a concession here. People over process, and it's hard to know how to feel about this at the time. However, Jesus refers to this rule bending in Matthew 12 as a reminder that inherent in the law is. Is the spirit of the law, which is that God values mercy over law. While all this is happening, there's another man there who's probably a prisoner of war. Doug the Edomite. Saul had defeated the Edomites. You may recall that they're the descendants of Esau. They were Israel's closest relatives, but also one of their biggest enemies. Doeg pays attention to everything that's happening. He may think that any information he gains can serve as his ticket to freedom. He watches carefully as David takes Goliath's sword, the one he used to behead him, and flees to the land of the Philistines. David goes into enemy territory to escape Saul. First he goes to meet Achish, the Lord over the city of Gath, who recognizes him. David may have wanted to offer himself to Achish as a mercenary, but the people of Gath are suspicious of David, so he starts acting insane and flees Philistia to go back to Judah. He lives in a cave for a while, and his family meets up with him there, probably because their lives might be at stake as well on account of him. While he's there, he assembles a ragtag bunch of followers. They were the outcasts, men who were in distress, in debt, bitter and discontent. And there were 400 of them. They leave the caves and travel east to Moab across the Jordan river, where David drops his parents off because they're old and unfit for the fugitive lifestyle. And even though the Moabites are enemies of the Israelites, David's great grandmother Ruth was a Moabite, so their family has some roots in the land. Plus, he and the Moabites now share a common enemy in Saul. Then David heads back west across the Jordan again and stays at the place Scripture calls the stronghold. This is probably a place called Masada, which is a big rock in the middle of the Judean desert. But then a prophet comes and warns him to leave, so he packs up and goes to a forest. It feels like David is doing more moving around than the Israelites did in the wilderness. At one point, Saul gets suspicious that all his servants and troops have betrayed him. So he gives a big speech about traitors. Doeg the Edomite seizes the opportunity to prove that he's no traitor, and he spills the beans about Ahimelech, the priest helping David. Saul summons Ahimelech and all of his crew from Nob, family and co workers and everyone, and accuses Ahimelech of being a traitor. But he pleads innocent and ignorant. Still, Saul orders Doeg to slaughter all of them, including 85 priests. Then Saul's army goes to Nob and kills everyone there as well, including animals. Ironically, Saul almost does to Nob and the priest what he should have done to the Amalekites from the beginning. He kills everyone, almost everyone. One of Ahimelech's sons escapes. His name is Abiathar, and he finds David and tells him what happened. David knows he's the reason that Abiathar's whole family has been massacred. So he pledges loyalty to him. And Abiathar becomes David's priest for life. Cut to a city in Judah called Keilah. It's under the attack of the Philistines, so David is trying to decide if he should go there to help out. David consults with God twice, and God promises and grants victory. But then Saul gets word of David's whereabouts and he's like, yes, we found him. All my dreams are coming true. He rallies everybody to go down after him. David suspects all this is happening, though, so he inquires of God again, and God gives him the inside track. By this time, David's crew has grown to 600 men. But despite how many there are, Saul can't Find them. He keeps seeking David unsuccessfully. I've got news for you, Saul. You'll never get what God won't give. Next, David and his crew go to the wilderness of Ziph. It's a desert wasteland in the allotment for Judah. And guess who shows up. Jonathan. He comes to acknowledge that David is Israel's next king, not him, despite the tradition of primogeniture, and that both he and his father know that now. Meanwhile, some people from Ziph tip Saul off that David is there. And Saul's like, but are you sure? And he has them double check before he makes another trip in the desert. Can't say I blame him. They confirm it, so he heads down. And wouldn't you know it, as soon as David is within sight, Saul gets word that the Philistines have attacked, and he has to rush back to war. Foiled again. Then David leaves Ziph for an oasis called En Gedi in the Judean wilderness. Saul comes back after fighting the philistines and brings 3,000 men with him. And while David and his guys are in a cave, guess who comes in to relieve himself? Saul. What are the chances God allows David to be tested here? Will he wait for God's timing or take matters into his own hands? David's men are quoting God's promises at him as a reason for him to take action. But we don't actually see that God has said these things to David, so it's possible they're just inventing promises or misapplying something they'd heard. David wisely resists their words. His faith in God enables him to wait. Well, however, God does permit David to cut off a corner of Saul's robe. It gives David a chance to clarify his intentions with Saul. And you know, this had to remind Saul of what happened in 1st Samuel 15 when he pulled off the corner of Samuel's robe. And Samuel said, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. David has no faith in the king, but he shows respect for the king and faith in God all at once. He trusts God's sovereignty even over the timing of this wicked ruler's reign. He knows it will come to an end in God's perfect timing. And because he trusts God, he can show honor to the current king as God's anointed over their nation state. In this exchange, Saul acknowledges that David belongs on the throne. And he asked David not to kill his descendants. That's typically the way things happen when a new person takes the throne. They kill all the family of the former king to prevent a couple. But David keeps this promise to Saul. He also makes a similar promise to Jonathan in 2015, and he keeps that one as well. Then Saul goes home and David and his men live in the stronghold My God shot today was God's incredible timing from a surprise attack by the Philistines that pulls Saul away at the last minute to Saul's need to relieve himself just as he approaches the very cave where David was sitting. Everything we read today was so perfectly timed that it almost read like choreography back and forth and kickball change. I'm glad God invited us into this dance with him where he guides his kids, always making way to fulfill his plan no matter what attacks the enemy has in mind, he leads so well and he's where the joy is did you know you can access transcripts of each day's episode in two places? The first place is in the TBR store at thebiblerecap.com for they're just $1 each. The second place, and my personal favorite, is through the Recaptains. If you join the Recaptains at the transcript level or higher, you'll get each week's batch of transcripts. That is a hard phrase to say each week's batch of transcripts. To help you take notes and read along with the podcast, visit thebiblerecap.com and click the Recaptain's link or find the links for both options in the show Notes.