David spares Saul(Twice)

As a general rule, what's usually the hard thing to do is

the right thing to do.

I've been reading the book of Samuel,

and I come to the part about David

sparing Saul. Now David didn't spare Saul

once but twice, David refused to kill King Saul

even though most of us could easily justify

him doing so. Saul was extremely jealous of

David, and tried to kill him several times,

and for what? Saul was blinded by jealousy

because the people of Israel loved David

more then himself. David never did

anything personally to Saul, in-fact

David loved Saul even when he was

being hunted down by Saul.

Now if that is not loving your enemies I don't

know what is.

David refused to kill the Lords anointed,

God chose Saul as King, So unless God

plainly told David

"Kill Saul" David wasn't going to touch him.

Now it happened, when Saul had returned

from following the Philistines,

that it was told him,saying,

"Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi."

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men

from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on

the rocks of the wild goats. So he came

to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave;

and Saul went in to attend to his needs.

(David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)

1 Samuel 24:1-3

So Saul has to "tend to his needs" and it just so happens

that he needs to "tend to his needs" at the same place,

the same exact cave David and his men are hiding out.

Coincidences? I think not...

This must have been a hard decision

for David. I mean imagine, there you are in

a cave hiding with all your men, when all of

a sudden in walks the man trying to kill you

all alone and vulnerable, he must of thought

"God is surely delivering my enemy into my hands"

just as his own men thought as 1 Samuel continues..

Then the men of David said to him,

"This is the day of which the Lord

said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver

your enemy into your hand, that you

may do to him as it seems good to you.' "

and David arose and secretly cut off a corner of

Soul's robe. Now it happened afterwards that David's

heart troubled him because he had cut soul's robe.

And he said to his men,

"The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master,

the LORD'S anointed, to stretch out my hand

against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD."

So David restrained his servants with these words,

and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And

Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.

1 Samuel 24:4-7

David had his chance to kill Saul, but instead he

cut off a part of his robe, and doing just that he

felt ashamed of. In David's eyes even though

it would be much easier for him to become King

if he just killed Saul, It would be wrong for him

to touch the anointed of the LORD.

God chose Saul as King, so God will

have to remove Saul as King, and not by

David's own hands. For David respected God,

and God's chosen people. David wouldn't

allow any of his men to touch Saul either,

and David feeling guilty for cutting off a piece of

Saul's robe,and hoping he can convince Saul

that he was not against him came out before Saul..

David also arose afterward, went out of the cave,

and called out to Saul, saying,

"My lord the king!" and when Saul looked behind him,

David stooped with his face to the earth,

and bowed down. And David said to Saul:

"Why do you listen to the words of men who say,

'indeed David seeks your harm'? Look, this day

your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered

you today into my hand in the cave, and someone

urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you,

and I said, ' I will not stretch out my hand against

my lord, for he is the LORD'S anointed.'

Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner

of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut

off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you,

know and see that there is neither evil nor

rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned

against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it.

Let the LORD judge between you and me, and

let the LORD avenge me on you. But my hand

shall not be against you. As the proverb

of the ancients says, 'Wickedness proceeds

from the wicked.' but my hand shall not be

against you. After whom has the King of Israel

come out? Whom do you pursue?

A dead dog? A flea? therefore let the LORD

be judge, and judge between you and me, and see

and plead my case, and deliver me out of your hand."

David trusted in God, he had such faith in God and

such bravery that he came right out into the open

before Saul and his three thousand men and fell

to the ground bowing before Saul. Pleading with

Saul, and telling him he has done nothing to deserve

Saul's disrespect, telling him if he wanted Saul dead

he could of done it inside that cave. David

considered himself a flea... a dog..

compared to Saul who was King and was anointed by

the LORD. David was saying

"Listen my lord the king, I will not touch you!

I don't want to harm you! and I never did want to!

even now after you have driven me this far

and you want me dead, my hand is still not against you!

Let the LORD avenge me but I will not!"

truly David was a man of God, who gave everything

up to the Lord instead of trying to justify

doing wickedness for wickedness.

So what happened? did Saul give up

trying to kill David? oh Saul promised

he would and he let David go, but

he still had that burning jealousy inside

him towards David, and kept trying to kill

David. So what about David? did he change

his actions towards Saul? well lets take a look at

1 Samuel 26..

And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah,

which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road.

But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw

that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

David therefore sent out spies, and understood that

Saul had indeed come.

So David arose and came to the place where

Saul had encamped. And David saw the place

where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner,

the commander of his army. Now Saul

lay within the camp, with the people

encamped all around him. Then David answered,

and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai

the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying,

"Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?"

And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."

So David and Abishai came to the people

by night; and there Saul lay sleeping

within the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground

by his head. And Abner and the people lay

all around him. Then Abishai said to David,

"God has delivered your enemy into your hand

this day. Now therefore, please, let me strike him

at once with the spear, right to the earth;

and I will not have to strike him a second time!"

But David said to Abishai,

"Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand

against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?"

David said furthermore, "As the LORD lives,

the LORD shall strike him, or his day shall

come to die, or he shall go out to battle and perish.

The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against

the LORD'S anointed. But please, take now the spear

and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go."

1 Samuel 26:3-11

Once again David has a chance to

kill or have Saul killed and he chooses not to.

David knows he doesn't need to kill Saul,

if God wants Saul dead then he will be dead.

Because yet again David gave it to the Lord,

for Saul was digging his own grave for what he

was doing, not only to David but Saul

was not being the King he should have

been for Israel, he wasn't trusting God..

wasn't seeking to do God's will.

David is the classic example of not repaying evil

with evil, David was the example of giving

his problems to the Lord, in not seeking revenge

because God will give to everyone according to

what they do. Saul was going to reap what he sowed,

and David didn't have to lay a finger on him.