Hanging Out with the Down-and-Outs
1 Samuel 22
Turn in your Bible to 1 Samuel 22. In life, sometimes there are the haves and have-nots. The cream-of-the-crop and the leftovers. Have you ever played some kind of sport where a bunch of you get together and captains are selected, and they are to pick the teams, and you are just hoping that you do not go last in the draft? Sometimes when Anne has the car, I will walk to work and there is a sidewalk for about half the way as you get into Arkona. But the other half, closest to our house, I just walk on the side of the highway, which is taking your life into your hands. And a few weeks ago, they were replacing the sidewalks, and I said to Anne, maybe they will go out closer to our house. But no! Do you know where they always stop? Steve Levitt’s house. The haves! Apparently, the ones on the edge of Arkona are the have-nots! I thought maybe Steve’s great-great-grandfather was the king of Arkona at one time or something. Seriously, sometimes you have the in-crowd and then you have the outsiders. That is what we are going to find in our story this morning.
“So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it and went down there to him. Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter of soul, gathered to him; and he became a commander over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.”
1 Sam 22:1-2 (LSB)
This ragtag crew that came and hung around David and all his brothers. Maybe Saul was giving David’s family a hard time. But maybe they just realized that he would be the next king and wanted to support him. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt. We have often compared this first chosen king, a man that was chosen after God’s heart; with the coming King and Messiah, and the crew that followed Him around were likely the same sort. In fact, not even those who followed Christ physically when He was alive. But listen to the description of those who later would follow Christ after He had ascended into heaven. Paul said:
“For consider your calling, brothers, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may abolish the things that are, so that no flesh may boast before God.”
1 Cor 1:26-29 (LSB)
I believe that one of the realities of being a Christian over the past little while as the seeming wisdom of the culture is growing, that Christianity has lost whatever prestige it had. Though many would not have called themselves Christians, there was definitely a respect level for Christianity—at least by many at one time—but that is quickly vanishing. If you call yourself a Christian today, you are going to have to deal with the fact that you will be looked upon by most as simple, intolerable, unloving, and unwise. Let’s face it, our beliefs as Christians are no where near where they need to be if we want to move up the corporate ladder. The next step will be that Christians will likely be hunted by the culture. We are already sensing that the Christian community is being silenced, and it may not be long before we are at risk, which is where we find David and his band of men.
We saw last time that David fled from the Philistines where he acted like a madman, which we said was not one of David’s finer moments, as he seems to have lost the courage he had when he stood before Goliath. And now he continues to roam the countryside worrying about Saul. Remember David has been lying his way through much of this, which should remind us again that though David is a man of faith, as he is not the hero here. The final conclusion we made last time was that the security of our faith is based upon the grace of God, as what we saw was that the quality of David’s faith was secondary to the story. We said that we do not walk away from 1 Samuel 21 and conclude, isn’t David great! No, God is great! As we see that God’s plan is moving forward despite David, and that will continue this morning. I wish to play for you a few second segment of a Paul Washer sermon that my sister sent me after listening to the last sermon and addressing David’s great weaknesses. (https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HcCmgXuPvYM)
“You know sometimes because I preach in a lot of places, I hear something that it just makes me sick inside. Someone will go, oh you’re a man of God. Really? There are no great men of God. Let me repeat that, there are no great men of God. If you say something like that, I you’re your theology is really bad, I know you are unbiblical. All there are—are sinful weak men of a great and a merciful God. That’s all there is.”
Paul Washer
Good to be reminded again of who these stories should focus on.
“And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, ‘Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.’ Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the fortress. And the prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not stay in the fortress; go, and enter into the land of Judah.’ So David went and entered into the forest of Hereth.”
1 Sam 22:3-5 (LSB)
There is some mystery here of David’s connection that he could ask the king of Moab for this kind of favour. Here we find him not only on the edge of Israel. Not in the hub of Arkona, but now he is in pagan territory, out in Forest or something. So, David is hiding in caves, trying to find protection for his family, running from Saul in pagan territory. Psalm 57 is a psalm written by David when he was in the cave as he cries:
“Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul takes refuge in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until destruction passes by.
I will call to God Most High,
To God who accomplishes all things for me.”
Psalm 57:1-2 (LSB)
Imagine being in the predicament that David finds himself, and yet he still believes that God will accomplish all His purposes in the life of David. And what we have here is a growing group of people who are disenchanted by the existing reign of Saul. And we need to take note here that this is not an elite group, they are not going to receive any fanfare in the news. John Woodhouse notes that the ones who came to hide in this now crowded cave with David are:
“[T]he losers, the debtors, the downtrodden, the bitter, those disillusioned with such a kingdom. They were so dissatisfied with Saul that they joined the poor man hiding in the cave of Adullam. How desperate can that be?”
John Woodhouse, Looking for a Leader 428
This is a good lesson for us that we cannot expect to find victory if we are looking for it from accolades from the world, as we may have to be settled in being the down-and-out and not be looking to get the applause of anyone else. I remember when leading youth ministry and often telling our teens when announcing an upcoming event, I used to say, be there and be square. For if we are looking for applause or some kind recognition outside of Christ, we are likely going to be disappointed. And I know the temptation in this, times when we see the news and on one particular issue, we see a movement to the right, and we might respond, yeah! Got em! But that really for the most part is Millennial Kingdom talk, when Christ will come and reign on earth.
But until then, we may have to be content to hide in caves, and be considered by the world as the down-and-out, the foolish. For “not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world—the weak things of the world—the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen.” And here we see David with his band of men who are not the cream-of-the-crop. It might be easier for David to hide on his own than to have to trapes around with this crew.
Hiding in caves, seeking out a pagan king, and the fact that David finds some refuge with this king of Moab with no connection to him. In other words, we are aware of the promises of God, David was. But our circumstances give absolutely zero hope of God doing what God has said He would do. And maybe that is where you are this morning?
But is there a connection with David and the king of Moab? Does the future King David have a connection with the Moabites? What about David’s great-grandmother, Ruth? Here, God may have used the faithfulness of Ruth, a Moabitess, to provide for David a refuge more than one hundred years later, and David’s family stay with this King of Moab (vs 4) while David goes into the forest of Hereth. And this trip to the forest of Hereth was because of a warning by Gad the prophet. Here, God, while David is running for his life, uses the King of Moab to care for his family and uses the prophet Gad, certainly coming from out-of-the-blue in this story to protect David and his men.
I like how Woodhouse reminds us that we might say, who would want to be a Christian in our day-and-age? Yet he asks, who would want to join David in his day-and-age, during the days of Saul? See, what this ragtag crowd knew was that though Saul was in power, they had no confidence that there was any benefit in following Saul. And that is not unlike our plight today, that we would see that there is no benefit in following the course of this world, and therefore, we need to be willing to follow along with the down-and-out who follow Christ. It can be exciting when someone famous becomes a Christian. I remember as a young boy it was always a great encouragement when some great athlete was a believer. But that is not going to be the norm, as those who truly follow Christ are more likely described as the not many noble, not many wise.
Well, it would be nice if the story took a shift, and those who followed David would be rewarded instantly for there commitment, after all, we can feel that at times, Lord, we have left all to follow you. What about us? Well, here in 1 Samuel 22, the chapter shifts from the account of David and his men in the forest of Hereth somewhere in Judah, to Saul and his men. We sometimes forget in our Christian walk, that while we may be struggling to live our lives for Christ, that our enemy too is walking around like a roaring lion. And we find out (vs 6) that Saul has heard about the whereabouts of David. So, though David was likely relieved for the safety of his family, and grateful for the warning of the prophet Gad, he did not realize that more trouble was brewing. And notice (vs 6) that while David is in hiding, the one who is following the Lord, Saul, the one who dishonours the Lord, is standing out in the open unafraid. This reminds us of the words of Job, why are all those who trust You Lord seem to be in distress, while those who curse You are thriving and prospering. Which crew would you rather be with? The in-crowd with Saul or the out-crowd with David? Young people, who would rather be with? Who would you rather identify with. The in-crowd at school or the out-crowd at church. I mean where else young people, would you get to hang around with guys like Larry and me? The trained army with Saul doing what they want or the rag taggers with David running amuck.
Yet, you know, if we dig a little deeper, we always will find that the in-crowd is not always what it looks like. I worked in the secular world for many years with a lot of people and those outside of Christ have many cracks, you know that. And if you want to see one of the biggest whiners in the Bible, you don’t need to look any further than Saul.
“And Saul said to his servants who were standing around him, ‘Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who reveals in my ear when my son cuts a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me or reveals in my ear that my son has caused my servant to rise up against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.’”
1 Sam 22:7-8 (LSB)
Come on Saul, talk about sounding like a five-year-old, boo-who! In one of my classes for school right now, there is a young man who is working in one of the secular universities in the United States. And he works in a ministry that provides encouragement for the Christian students in the school. And part of that ministry teaches them to be able to defend their faith against the onslaught of secular teaching at the school, and also, be able to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in them. He said that so many secular students that have such a strong outward appearance struggle greatly with insecurities realizing that they have no answers to their own sin and condition. He wrote, “It is my contention that if the Christian college students want to be effective missionaries for Jesus, they need to be able to … promote and defend the Christian story of reality against the secular narratives that dominate the culture … [if they do this, they will] be prepared to give an answer for their hopeful faith to their secular peers who often struggle with hopelessness.”
Don’t kid yourself. The unbeliever has a conscience—though seared—and though they may appear to be thriving and doing well, things are not going as well as they might show and let on. And if they are outside of Christ, there will be a hopelessness within them, whether they want to admit that or not. Saul is the king with all his security around him, and yet, his own insecurities scream in his words to his men. I am going to guess that the popular employee who thrives at your workplace, who is the top salesman, or the head of the department is desperately concerned about maybe his marriage, children, health, financial security, and where this world is going. He is probably concerned about the wars, a weather disaster, and maybe even that his son may come home and say he is gay, whether he wants to admit all that or not, as there will always be issues and insecurities once you scratch the surface. Yes, we see the insecurities of their leader Saul, but we also see another great problem in their ranks.
“Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, said, ‘I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he asked of Yahweh for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.’”
1 Sam 22:9-10 (LSB)
Remember last time that when David first came to Ahimelech the priest, David told him that he was on a mission for Saul, David lied. And everything Doeg says here is true. But it not what he says that is the problem, it is what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t tell Saul that David lied. Now there is so much going on here. It would be hard to know if Ahimelech even knew that David was running from Saul whether he would have helped David or not, he may have. But it is just the fact that Doeg does not mention this, that the priest helped David with the knowledge that David was still serving the king. Well, if you have read the story, you know the gory details, Ahimelech is summoned, this poor priest likely knows nothing of the trouble that this meeting will bring to him. Yet Saul questions why he would conspire against him, to which Ahimelech responds:
“Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, ‘And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king’s son-in-law, who is captain over your guard, and is honored in your house? Did I just begin to ask of God on his behalf today? Far be it from me! Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing small or great of this whole affair.’ But the king said, ‘You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!’”
1 Sam 22:14-16 (LSB)
This response by Ahimelech may remind you of a time when you were confronted with something and you had nothing to do with it. You can imagine the priest’s response. What? This justice is similar to the justice at the cross. In other words, it is sort of a mock trial as Saul is the madman who wants to get his way. And because the king’s servants have enough sense not to strike down the Lord’s priests, Doeg is the eager gunman, strikes down eighty-five priests and while he was at it:
“So he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, infants and nursing babies; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.”
1 Sam 22:19 (LSB)
Good to be reminded here of something, that while this is a wicked King Saul, this act by Doeg is not outside of the Lord’s sovereign purposes, as this evil has been allowed by God. Though we see Ahimelech as a good servant and priest of the Lord, and he was, his actions displayed this in his desire to inquire of the Lord, his protection of David, and he rightfully explains his innocence before Saul. Yet remember when we first started this study, Eli had two wicked sons, and God determined that this line of priesthood would end. And back in chapter two, the Lord said that He, the Lord would cut off the descendants of Eli, and therefore, this prophecy is fulfilled through these actions of Doeg, as all these priests of God are descendants of Eli. And secondly, this teaches us also that there are the gutless. Those who know it is wrong to kill the priests, the servants of Saul. True, they will not do the act itself, but they will stand around and watch. I wonder how the life of Doeg the Edomite ended. We have no more accounts of him other then David’s last mention of him at the end of our chapter.
“But one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh. Then David said to Abiathar, ‘I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. It is I who have turned against every person in your father’s household. Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life, for you are safe with me.’”
1 Sam 22:20-23 (LSB)
If you are wondering about this Abiathar who escapes, who is still attached to this priestly line that the Lord said He would cut off. Yet Abiathar is faithful to David. In fact, when David’s son Absolom tried to take the throne away from his father, again, Abiathar was loyal to David. So, though the Lord had prophesied that the priestly line of Eli would end, it continues because of the devotion and goodness of Abiathar. But not so, as years later when David is old and Adonijah sets himself up king instead of Solomon, Abiathar attaches himself to Adonijah and not to Solomon, God’s chosen. And we read in 1 Kings, that when Solomon does come to the throne, he confronts Abiathar.
“Then to Abiathar the priest the king said, ‘Go to Anathoth to your own field, for you deserve to die; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of Lord Yahweh before my father David, and because you were afflicted in everything with which my father was afflicted.’ So Solomon drove Abiathar away from being priest to Yahweh, in order to fulfill the word of Yahweh, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.”
1 Kings 2:26-27 (LSB)
See, God’s Word shall not be mocked, as every word in which the Lord declares shall come to pass. I wish to leave you with a few short statements from this story. First, thinking here of David:
- We must realize that we are part of those who appear foolish to the world.
Do not think that being a Christian will gain you any “Brownie Points” in the world. For claiming the name of Christ is not something that generally will be honoured in our culture. We are part of the down-and-outs. So, let’s not try to seek applause from the world or expect it. Secondly:
- We may feel like no one cares.
Certainly, David could have felt like this. Yes, he is deceitful at times along the way, but he never opposed Saul and yet he finds himself as a fugitive for no reason. And there may be times when you feel like this, that you find yourself in a situation with no seeming way out through no fault of your own, and you feel all alone with no one to care. Thirdly:
- Lying will have its consequences.
Hard to think about the mental turmoil that went on in the mind of David as he must have understood that part of all this killing was connected to his deception, though we do see some remorse here for David when he hears of what happened, as he laments, I am responsible for the death of your whole family. No lie, no deceit, no coverup will ever solve anything, and the consequences may not come out until much later. Fourthly, thinking here of Ahimelech:
- We may be wrongly accused.
There may be times in our lives when a statement of accusation comes our way that is completely false. But we also know that when that happens, though we might clear ourselves, it may leave enough doubt in the minds of people that we still feel wrongly condemned. And I do not know how we would respond to this outside of what the priest did, as he states his innocence, though this may not clear us of the actions of the accuser. In fact, we see in the actions of Jesus at His trial, as He did not even answer His accusers. Fifthly:
- There will always be Doeg’s in our lives.
There will always be someone like Doeg who can gain from your defeat, and therefore, may do whatever it takes to slander you or lie about you. Sixthly:
- Immediate circumstances do not always reveal the truth that God is sovereign.
If you read many of the Psalms while David is lamenting his fugitive status, there is a faith in the heart of David that realizes that God is in absolute control. That though he felt like no one cared, that His friend Ahimelech was falsely accused, that Doeg was his hated enemy, and that he himself, David, knew that yes, he too had sinned at times; yet he was still convinced of the sovereignty of God, and believed by faith that God would deliver him at some point. David expresses these words:
“My soul is among lions;
I am lying down among those who breathe forth fire,
Sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows
And their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.
They have set a net for my steps;
My soul is bowed down;
They dug a pit before me;
They themselves have fallen into the midst of it. Selah.
My heart is set, O God, my heart is set;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises!
Awake, my glory!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens
And Your truth to the skies.
Be exalted above the heavens, O God;
Let Your glory be above all the earth.”
Psalm 57:4-11 (LSB)
David did not see his deliverance in his immediate circumstances, yet he believed that God would deliver him. Finally:
- God’s ways are not our ways.
There is a great mystery to the plans and purposes of God, as He will always fulfill His Word. And this is part of what some have described as a paradox in the Bible, or the mystery of the Scriptures. For here David lies to the priest and then the priest is summoned and falsely by an evil and wicked man named King Saul. And then a maniac and murderer like Doeg kills eighty-five priests of God, and God’s perfect Word is fulfilled. A commentator once said, “We are given an unearthing insight into the mysterious intricate ways of divine judgment.” And this is no different than when Jesus was condemned to die for you and me. For in Acts 2:23, Peter condemns the ones who killed Jesus. He says, you nailed the Christ to a cross, you men who were lawless and you put Jesus to death. Why? To fulfill the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.
How do we even respond to such glory and wisdom and power that is in the hands of our sovereign and great God. We respond as Paul did, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?”
So, we learn from this that yes, we will not likely get accolades from the world for our Christianity. We may receive some admiration for our love and wisdom, but likely not for our allegiance to Christ. And sometimes we will feel like no one cares, and we may at time be wrongly accused, and someone may be out to get us. But God is always sovereign and is working out His perfect plan. So, we can never lose sight of that through the challenges, And His ways of working out His purposes that will ultimately be for our good, though they may not always be what we would have thought. So, even when the way is unclear, we need to trust Him. Let’s pray. Father, for what we know not, teach us. For what we have not spiritually, give us. And for what we are not, make us. And all God’s people said, amen.