STRONG CHARACTERS IN CONTRAST.
-1 SAMUEL 18:5-16.-AUGUST
16.-
Golden Text:-“God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble.”-Psa. 46:1.
SAUL and David were
both men of strong character, but the former neglected the divine word and
counsel and undertook the management of his own affairs, while the latter
accepted the Lord and his leadings and by faith sought to follow him. The
results showed in both cases: Saul came to an ignominious end. David was
prospered and exhibited a wisdom and strength of character quite beyond his
times. We are not to forget in this connection that David’s discreetness and
obedience to the Lord kept him from the throne of Israel for years-years
of trouble, privation and wandering, whereas the following of worldly methods
might have led to much greater prosperity so far as outward appearances would
be concerned. Nevertheless, we are to remember also that the nation of Israel
had been adopted by the Lord as his chosen peculiar people, with whom he would
deal, whose course he would supervise, and in respect to whose rulers he would
decide. Neither are we to forget the great difference between the Jewish age,
with the divine arrangements and regulations of the same, and this Christian or
Gospel age, with its different regulations and its law of love, patient
endurance and spiritual instead of carnal warfare. Those who consider the
course of David and other faithful ones of the Jewish epoch to be patterns for
the Church, the body of Christ, show thereby that they have a total
misunderstanding of the divine Word on this matter. To their mind David’s
battles and victories and slaughters are figures illustrative of spiritual
battles and victories on the part of the antitypical David, the Beloved,-head
and body-the Christ.
Although Saul had already been notified by the Lord through the prophet
Samuel that the kingdom should be taken from his family and given to a neighbor
more worthy of the trust than he, more faithful to the Lord, nevertheless he
had been given to understand that the kingdom might endure in his hands for a
considerable time. We may assume, therefore, that Saul was on the lookout for
one to rise to prominence who should ultimately become his successor,-although
we have no reason to think that he understood that David had already been
anointed to this position, for David’s anointing was kept secret.
Saul, although appreciative of David’s prowess, was, nevertheless, jealous
of him because of the prominence to which his noble course brought him in the
eyes of the people. This jealousy was accentuated as he heard the praises of
David sung in grander terms than his own were lauded. Jealousy is always an evil
quality-no part of the Lord’s Spirit, the holy Spirit, but a strong
ingredient in the spirit of evil. Hatred, envy, malice, strife, works of the
flesh and devil, are all closely related to jealousy, and often spring from it.
Saul should have resisted the envious suggestions which came to his mind: he
should have allowed his mind to rise above all personalities and to rejoice
most sincerely, most heartily, in the praises of his young general. Doubtless
it was in part his remembrances of the Lord’s declaration that he should be
bereft of the kingdom that made him look with jealous eyes upon David from
thenceforth.
Jealousy is one of the great foes that confront
every Christian. It should be slain on sight as an enemy of God and man and of
every good principle; and to the extent that its presence had defiled the heart
even for a moment, a cleansing of the spirit of holiness and love should be
invoked. Jealousy is not only a cruel monster of itself, but its poisonous
fangs are almost certain to inflict pain and trouble upon others, as well as to
bring general woe and, ultimately, destruction upon those who harbor it.
Jealousy is sin in thought, wickedness in thought, and is very apt to lead
speedily to sin and wickedness in action, the probable result being the
defilement of men. The mind, if once poisoned with jealousy, can with great
difficulty ever be cleansed from it entirely, so rapidly does it bring
everything within its environment to its own color and character. This
sin, when it is finished, if it is allowed to grow, if it is not routed, if it
is not overcome, bringeth forth death. All of the Lord’s followers should be on
guard against this sin, and none need it more than those whom God has greatly
honored as his mouthpieces or servants in any capacity. Had David and Saul not
been in such high positions, jealousy and rivalry and enmity would have been
comparatively impossible.
Under the circumstances we are not surprised to read (v. 10) that jealous
Saul was troubled with an evil spirit-an evil disposition. Perhaps the
language should be understood as meaning that an evil spirit-in the
sense of a fallen spirit, a demon-troubled him. We certainly know that
as love, patience, joy and peace are elements of the holy Spirit-God’s
disposition-so a spirit of hatred and jealousy is an evil spirit or
disposition “from God,”-that is, away from God, to the contrary of God.
We may recognize the fact, too, that such an evil spirit as here took
possession of Saul was not only a spirit far from God, or anything that he
could approve, but we may even assume that, since Saul was God’s anointed
representative in the throne of Israel, the evil spirit could not have gained
control over him without at least divine permission. As holy men of old were
moved by the holy Spirit to speak and write matters of divine inditement, so
men have been moved and are sometimes moved today by evil spirits to speak and
to write perverse things. This is the thought contained in the word
“prophesied” in this verse. Saul spoke unwise things, improper things, spoke
foolishly while he had his javelin in his hand. The spirit of evil was upon
him, leading him to make a motion with his javelin as though he would do
violence to his faithful and humble young general who, as a friend and companion,
played for him upon the harp with a view to dispelling his melancholy. The
word “cast” (v. 11) is a stronger one than is borne out by the original, which
seems simply to signify a motion-although subsequently he did actually
hurl the weapon.- 1 Sam. 19:10.
David seems to have been quite intrepid, fearless, and again and again
exposed himself to Saul’s power when the latter was under the influence of his
melancholia. There is no mention of David’s fear, for although he felt it to be
propriety and duty to escape as he did, he seems to have had continually the
memory of God’s power for his preservation, and the fact that God had already
anointed him to be the king in due time. Such faith and courage points a good
lesson to all the members of the antitypical David. Nothing
shall by any means hurt us. Things may interfere with our fleshly interests or
comfort or course of affairs; but when we remember that we are not in the flesh
but in the Spirit, that it is as New Creatures that the Lord has promised us
the Kingdom in his due time, we can realize that no outside influence can
interfere with our real interests, our spiritual interests, nor hinder our
attaining to the glories of the Kingdom which the Lord has promised to his
faithful ones. Only our loss of confidence in the Lord and our unfaithfulness
to him could separate us from his love and his promises.-Rom. 8:35-39.
Saul’s jealousy of David was supported by his fear of him.
Doubtless he wondered often that the fearless youth who attacked the lion
should spare himself-even when he, Saul, had manifested openly his
hatred and opposition toward him. He perceived that the Lord was with David
and not with himself. David’s presence became distasteful in the palace, and,
as he could not be ignored, he was put into the army and various commissions
given him in connection with the interests of the kingdom, Saul evidently
hoping that through some indiscretion David would give an excuse for a turning
of popular sentiment against him-perhaps hoping also that in some of the
forays he would be wounded or killed. But the Spirit of the Lord, as the
Apostle explains, is the “spirit of a sound mind,” and in proportion as David
trusted the Lord and was guided by that trust he was enabled to do his part with
wisdom, winning the approval of the people and all the more the fear and awe
of Saul.
This lesson to some extent illustrates the relationship between the Lord’s
consecrated people and the world at the present time. The worldly are in
power, in influence, and yet they are conscious of the fact that divine favor
is no longer with them; that a change of dispensation is about to be determined
in the divine program; that the Laodicean stage of the church is to cease to be
the Lord’s mouthpiece, and to be spewed out; that the faithful little flock-of
whom not many are wise or great or noble according to the course of this world-are
to inherit the Kingdom with much power and glory. They do not indeed realize
that the anointed class is in their midst and mingling with them day by day;
nevertheless they feel a jealousy in respect to those who have more of the
Lord’s Spirit than themselves, and hate that which is purer and higher and
better than they themselves possess. At times their jealousy would almost lead
to murder; but they fear and hate the David class because of their closer
relationship to the Lord, and because of his blessing manifested in their
hearts and lives. Our Lord referred to such a condition of things in the end
of the Jewish age, which was certainly a type of the end of this age. He said
of the religious people of that time: “The darkness hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest its deeds be reproved; but he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in
God.” Thus, as a separation was made between Saul and David, and between those
who loved the darkness and those who loved the light at the Lord’s first
advent, so a separation is rapidly going on today between those who love the
light, the truth, and who are guided by the holy Spirit, and those who are of a
different mind or disposition.
Our Golden Text should be borne in mind as a comforting and sustaining
power to the Lord’s faithful. It is in full harmony with the words of the
Apostle in the New Testament, who declares that “all things are working
together for good to them who love God, who are the called according to his
purpose.”