The Persecuted Savior

1 Samuel 23

Immanuel – 6/25/23

Last week, as we considered 1 Samuel 21, we saw David officially become an enemy of the state, with Saul essentially issuing a death warrant for David. David is now on the run: Saul the hunter, David the hunted.

Previous chapters portrayed David as a flawed leader with “an ends justify the means” kind of mentality. We saw him lie and deceive to get ahead and save his skin. Not a flattering picture. Not the kind of mentality you want your king to possess.

In chapter 23 things begin to pivot. David is maturing, growing, becoming what God has called him to be. And thank God that David needs a process of growth, for he was just a man, and we all need a process. None of us are perfect; neither was David perfect.

Purpose

1. David begins to embody God’s plan for Israel’s king.

2. Pull out implications for our life today.

There’s a lot to keep track of with David, so let’s take a brief moment to trace his movements since he’s been on the run: and remember, David was on the run with a small, but loyal, band of soldiers.

As we saw last week, the first place David fled to was the tabernacle in Nob. After receiving guidance from the Lord and getting provisions (including Goliath’s sword), they went to hide in the Philistine city of Gath.

But they were kicked out of Philistine territory, so David and his men fled into the wilderness. Meanwhile, people everywhere were hearing that David was in hiding and hunted by Saul. Those disaffected by Saul made their way to David, swelling his ranks to 400 men. David was now in command of a small army.

But with growing numbers David needed to move on, so they traveled into Moabite lands – into the land of his great-grandmother. There he placed his father and mother in hiding. God then directed David to leave Moab and return to Judah; which David promptly did and hid in a Judean forest.

While hiding in the forest of Hereth, David receives word that the Philistines are raiding a city of Judah.

Read vs 1

Keilah

The Philistines rob the threshing floors of Keilah. This means it is late summer when the harvest has been brought in; for the threshing floors were where the harvest was processed. In other words, the Philistines were stealing Keilah’s food, their means of survival.

And remember, the Philistines controlled the plains near the Mediterranean. They controlled the most abundant part of the Promised Land. They were killing Judeans and they were taking what they didn’t need.

David receives news of this raid. There’s an implication here that becomes an important factor throughout this entire chapter. David has an intelligence network, just as Saul has an intelligence network. They both have their scouts and their spies and their covert operations.

David receives this intel of Philistines killing Judeans and stealing what they didn’t need, and you can imagine how infuriating this must have been to him and his men. But David does not act out of emotion. Like a wise king, he inquires of the Lord.

Read vs 2-4

In these verses a significant shift has happened in the narrative of David. For the first recorded time, David speaks to Yahweh and Yahweh speaks back. No prophet or priest is mediating between the anointed king and his Lord. In fact, it is David acting as the mediator.

For when David asked if he should attack the Philistines, God answered positively: they should attack. But David’s soldiers were afraid. Already they are in danger from Saul’s army, how much more danger will they face if they kick the Philistine hornet nest?

So mediating for his fearful troops, David inquires of the Lord a second time. And for a second time the Lord answers David positively. But this time the Lord’s answer comes with an assurance. Not only should they attack, but God promised to give the Philistines into your hand.

Notice how open ended is God’s promise. He does not promise merely the Philistines raiding Keilah, but the Philistines. Faith understood what God was saying: under David’s leadership, God would give the Philistine people into David’s hand.

Having now been given this promise from Yahweh, David’s men march on Keilah in faith; for faith must become action, must become obedience.

Read vs 5

David’s army acts in faith, attacks the Philistine raiders, and just as God promised, the Philistines are defeated. Keilah is delivered and David is her savior – David.

Where was Saul? Why did not the king of Israel come to Keilah’s rescue? This was Saul’s purpose as king, the purpose God gave him.

“I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin (Saul), and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines.” -1 Samuel 9:16

By God’s decree, Saul was to save the people from the Philistine threat. But here, Saul is entirely absent. Just as Saul had rejected the word of the Lord, so he has also rejected his purpose from the Lord. David’s deliverance of Keilah once again affirms that David is the true king of Israel, God’s man, and already demonstrating his commitment to obey the Lord.

David had nothing to gain by attacking the Philistines, except for more trouble. But, he is motivated because he understands his calling, he is affirmed in his relationship to the Lord, and he believes what God has said. So he goes and does.

Do you know your calling? Do you have a dynamic relationship with the Lord? Do you believe God enough to go out in obedience? If you don’t know your calling and how to obey, then listen to the words of your King:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” -Matthew 28:18-20

There is one mediator between God and man: Christ Jesus our King. We are His fearful soldiers; but Jesus assures us that He will always be with us. He promises that the strongholds of the enemy will fall before us, that the gates of hell will not prevail against us – His Church (Matthew 16:18).

Do not sit in your Sunday palace and apathetically let the forces of darkness kill, steal, and destroy. Brothers and sisters, ambassadors and soldiers, join your King and make disciples! If we follow Him, He will show us just how great – and so much bigger than ourselves – is His salvation!

Jesus is our mediator and our savior. David, who prefigures Jesus, mediated for his soldiers and was savior of Keilah. David was also a priestly king.

Read vs 6

Remember Ahimelech from last week’s sermon: he was a tabernacle priest that had aided David and Saul killed him for it. Saul also killed 84 other tabernacle priests and all the inhabitants of Nob.

Abiathar was Ahimelech’s only surviving son and one of the last remaining tabernacle priests. Because he is loyal to David, he is a major target for Saul. Chapter 22 details how Abiathar fled to David for protection and David agreed to keep him safe.

Here in chapter 23, Abiathar came to David shortly after David had rescued Kailah. We also learn that he came with an ephod in his hand. The ephod was a garment worn by all the priests, it was a priestly robe. Since Abiathar is one of the last remaining tabernacle priests, this may be one of the last remaining tabernacle ephods.

Remember what robes signify in 1 and 2 Samuel? Robes are a symbol for the kingdom: like when Jonathan gave David his robe it was a symbol that he was transferring his right to the throne over to David. Now, this priestly robe coming to David symbolizes that the priesthood was with David. For Israel was always meant to be a kingdom of priests.

For God spoke to Israel at Sinai: “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

-Exodus 19:5-6

Under David, the kingdom and the priesthood were uniting; just as we see David mediating before God and leading like the true king of Israel. He was a priestly king.

This, of course, should immediately make you think of Christ, our great High Priest and our eternal King. Better than David ever could with Israel, Jesus makes His Church into a kingdom of priests.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. -1 Peter 2:9

I hope you hear the Great Commission in these words; and see how profoundly David prefigures Jesus.

Read vs 7-8

Suddenly, the narrative’s perspective shifts to Saul; and now it is his turn to receive an intelligence report. Finally, Saul has a bead on David’s location. But there is a powerful irony in Saul’s words; an irony that is meant to show us Saul’s folly and lostness.

Saul says, God has given [David] into my hand. God has not given anything to Saul. As commentator David Firth writes: “Unlike David, Saul is solely dependent upon human information. He may speak of God, but has no knowledge from God.”1

Saul has no ability to recognize that the priesthood is with David, that David is fulfilling the kingly purpose, and that Yahweh is clearly with David. Additionally, there is no joy on Saul’s behalf that David has just rescued Keilah from the hands of the Philistines. All Saul can see is the possibility of annihilating the Davidic threat.

So he musters the full force of the Israelite military to march on Keilah.

Read vs 9-12

David receives another intelligence report. Apparently, he has spies near Saul, for he knows Saul was plotting harm against him. As solid as this intelligence is, and before David acts upon it, he prays. For David understands – more than strategy and human counsel – the will and wisdom of Yahweh is what he needs most.

Once more, now with ephod in hand, David goes directly to the Lord and asks two questions. First, will Keilah betray him? Second, will Saul attack? God only answers the second question. It’s as if God wants David to engage further, to press into the relationship. David asks again, will the men of Keilah betray him? The divine answer is, yes.

We have no idea why the men of Keilah would want to betray their savior. We only know that they would. It’s another foreshadowing of the coming King and the city He came to save that would betray Him.

What a contrast between David and Saul! David speaks to God like a friend; even receiving an intelligence report from heaven. Saul presumes to know God but has entirely misread the divine will.

Read vs 13-15

The Wilderness

Notice how the people flocking to David continues to increase. His army of 400 has now grown to 600. No doubt some of the men of Keilah have joined him. This army marches double-quick out of Keilah and heads south, into the desolate wilderness of Ziph.

There the game of cat and mouse begins between Saul and David. Every day Saul hunts David; but every day, God delivers David from Saul’s hand. Indeed, David is only able to evade Saul because God protects him.

And it turns out that David is not actually impossible to find. Jonathan does it.

Read vs 16-18

Have you ever had a dream where you are being chased? No matter how hard you run, you just cannot seem to escape. It’s David’s living nightmare. The army of Israel, under Saul’s command, dwarfed David’s 600. If Saul caught up to them, David was dead. There was much to fear.

But Jonathan came.

Jonathan, the son of Saul, is deeply loyal to David: And how powerful their brotherly love! Jonathan is essentially risking everything to covertly visit David; and he does it for no gain unto himself. See how verse 16 tells us that Jonathan went to strengthen David. In other words, Jonathan risked his life to encourage David.

Jonathan calmed David’s fears with a twofold encouragement. First, he encouraged David by assuring him that Saul would not find him. Second, he affirms that David will be king.

Jonathan was the technical heir to Israel’s throne. But he understands God’s plan and he humbly renounces his rights that David would be king. What chapter 18 symbolized in the transferal of a robe is now made explicit and clear: David will be king, Jonathan will be at his right hand as second in command.

Jonathan also says something rather surprising in verse 17: Saul my father also knows this. Saul knows God wants David to be king. He knows! Yet he clings to his reputation. He cannot let go of his identity of self-importance. He knows, and yet he cannot admit it to himself. And Jonathan – so much wiser than his father – can see it all.

Even more than David, God has anointed Jesus to be King of all kings, and your king. You know it, for it has been decreed from heaven! But I wonder if you cannot admit it to yourself. Do you cling to your identity, your hopes and dreams, your reputation, your fears; all the while you chase what you cannot find. You are actively working against the true King, and no one can stop the plan of Yahweh!

Well, with encouragement, Jonathan strengthens David. And because good friends cannot speak promises enough to one another, they once again make covenant over their future together. Jonathan then leaves for Gibeah.

It’s the last time David will see Jonathan – at least as far as the Bible is concerned. How good it is that Jonathan’s last moments with David were to strengthen his friend in the Lord.

Later, in another time of discouragement, and when Jonathan is no longer around, David must do this alone.

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul…But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

-1 Samuel 30:6

Jonathan will die fighting the Philistines. But with his life he strengthened his friend in the Lord. And indeed, David became strong in the Lord.

Jonathan strengthened David at just the right time, for another round of treachery was about to befall David.

Read vs 19-24a

The Ziphites were people of Judah, David’s own tribe. How striking that, for a second time, two communities of Judeans were prepared to betray David. But unlike Keilah, the people of Ziph actually carry out their betrayal.

Danger for David only seems to be increasing. He faces persecution everywhere he goes; just as the closer Jesus came to His throne, the more his persecutions intensified.

It’s remarkable that in verse 21, Saul again presumes Yahweh’s favor; proclaiming a blessing over the Ziphite traitors. But God is neither speaking to, nor guiding Saul. The only guidance he receives comes from the mouths of treacherous men.

Again we see Saul’s determination. Wherever David is hiding, Saul will search him out. He will sift the masses of Judah if he must. His one ambition, his sole focus, is to kill David.

Read vs 24b-26

David continues to flee south and also starts traversing the rocky landscape to the east, gradually heading towards the Dead Sea.

David and Saul are both receiving reports of the other’s location. Both make tactical movements to capture or evade – hunter and hunted. Eventually Saul is right on top of David, about to overtake him. Saul has cut off David’s maneuverability and escape looks impossible. Was Jonathan wrong? Because it certainly seems like Saul has found David.

Surely, David would have been captured and killed had not Yahweh intervened.

Read vs 27-29

God shakes Saul from his hunt with a Philistine attack. Considering Saul’s passivity over Keilah’s raid, this must have been a serious invasion. Saul immediately leaves to fight back the Philistines.

At least David and Saul are unified in their priority to deal with the Philistine threat. For David, it was a calling from God. For Saul, it was a pragmatic necessity. For if the Philistines went unchallenged then what kingdom would he have to reign?

How true it is, as verse 14 said, that God did not give David into Saul’s hand. The Philistine attack was from the hand of God in order to protect David. God rescues His king in the most unexpected of ways.

David moves from the place of near capture, the Rock of Escape, and takes up temporary residence in the cliffs and caves lining the Dead Sea. (Remember Lot, who also found refuge in a similar location.)

Throughout this whole narrative, David is truly beginning to embody what God purposed the king of Israel to be: defeating the Philistines, mediating for the people, and oriented entirely by faith. There is no doubt: David is king.

In Psalm 54 we hear David’s song of trust that he wrote in this incredibly dark time – when he was betrayed by the people of Ziph and hunted by Saul.

Read Psalm 54

In a time of great danger, of verge-of-death kind of fear, David trusted God and worshiped God. Even before God delivered him, he knew that God had delivered him: meaning, God promised, and His promise is as certain as it gets. So when crushing fear fell upon David, he could still sing, I give thanks to your name, O Lord…For He has delivered me from my trouble (Psalm 54:6-7).

Very few of us will ever know fear like David did. Indeed, let us pray that none of us will ever be hunted for our faith and calling.

Even still, we are plagued by many fears. Many fail to obey the Great Commission out of fear. Perhaps the best way to drive out fear is not to muster up your strength and charge the proverbial machine guns. Perhaps fear is best defeated by worshiping the God who delivers, who saves, who rescues.

For as David writes in Psalm 54:4, Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. If He is for you, then who can be against you? He has already triumphed over your enemies and He hears your every prayer.

The next time fear tries to invade your heart, remember these powerful promises of God. He will not fail. If you see one of your brothers or sisters facing down fear, strengthen them with the promises of the Lord, as Jonathan did for David. And even if night seems to be closing in all around you, there is no better time to worship; for we worship a God who loves to bring life where there is death.

Remember, as the soldiers followed David, they helped him rescue the oppressed, even if they were met with ingratitude and betrayal. They did not hesitate to follow their king, even if it meant persecution. And what happened?

· God protected them.

· God grew their numbers.

· God eventually expanded their king’s dominion.

· Israel was led into its most glorious age.

David prefigures Jesus.

· God protects us in Christ.

· God will grow our numbers.

· God will expand His kingdom.

· Glory lies in our future.

Follow your King, obey His command, fear no persecution!

1Firth, D. G. (2009). 1 & 2 Samuel. Pg 250. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.