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1 Samuel
Chapter Twenty-six
1 Samuel 26
Chapter Contents
Saul goes after David, who again spares Saul's life.
(1-12) David exhorts Saul. (13-20) Saul acknowledges his sin. (21-25)
Commentary on 1 Samuel 26:1-12
(Read 1 Samuel 26:1-12)
How soon do unholy hearts lose the good impressions
convictions have made upon them! How helpless were Saul and all his men! All as
though disarmed and chained, yet nothing is done to them; they are only asleep.
How easily can God weaken the strongest, befool the wisest, and baffle the most
watchful! David still resolved to wait till God thought fit to avenge him on
Saul. He will by no means force his way to the promised crown by any wrong
methods. The temptation was very strong; but if he yielded, he would sin
against God, therefore he resisted the temptation, and trusted God with the
event.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 26:13-20
(Read 1 Samuel 26:13-20)
David reasoned seriously and affectionately with Saul.
Those who forbid our attendance on God's ordinances, do what they can to
estrange us from God, and to make us heathens. We are to reckon that which
exposes us to sin the greatest injury that can be done us. If the Lord stirred
thee up against me, either in displeasure to me, taking this way to punish me
for my sins against him, or in displeasure to thee, if it be the effect of that
evil spirit from the Lord which troubles thee; let Him accept an offering from
us both. Let us join in seeking peace, and to be reconciled with God by
sacrifice.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 26:21-25
(Read 1 Samuel 26:21-25)
Saul repeated his good words and good wishes. But he
showed no evidence of true repentance towards God. David and Saul parted to
meet no more. No reconciliation among men is firm, which is not founded in an
cemented by peace with God through Jesus Christ. In sinning against God, men
play the fool, and err exceedingly. Many obtain a passing view of these truths,
who hate and close their eyes against the light. Fair professions do not
entitle those to confidence who have long sinned against the light, yet the
confessions of obstinate sinners may satisfy us that we are in the right way,
and encourage us to persevere, expecting our recompence from the Lord alone.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Samuel》
1 Samuel 26
Verse 5
[5] And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had
pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner,
the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched
round about him.
The Ziphites - Probably Saul would have pursued David no
more, had not these wretches set him on.
Verse 6
[6] Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite,
and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down
with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
Zerujah — David's sister. His father is not named either because
he was now dead; or because he was an obscure person.
Verse 7
[7] So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and,
behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground
at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.
Came — That is, to Saul's host. It might seem a bold and
strange attempt; but it may be considered: 1. That David had a particular
assurance that God would preserve him to the kingdom. 2. That he had a special
instinct from God, to this work; and possibly God might inform him, that he had
cast them into a deep sleep, that he might have this second opportunity of
manifesting his innocency towards Saul.
Verse 9
[9] And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can
stretch forth his hand against the LORD's anointed, and be guiltless?
Destroy him not, … — Though Saul be a
tyrant, yet he is our Lord and king; and I, though designed king, as yet am his
subject; and therefore cannot kill him without sin, nor will I consent that
thou shouldst do it.
Verse 11
[11] The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand
against the LORD's anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is
at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.
Take the spear — Which will shew where we have
been, and what we could have done.
Verse 13
[13] Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the
top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them:
Afar off — That his person might be out of their reach, and yet
his voice might be heard; which in a clear air, and in the silence of the night
might be heard at a great distance.
Verse 14
[14] And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of
Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art
thou that criest to the king?
Cried to the people — It is probable this
was early in the morning.
Verse 19
[19] Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear
the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him
accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before
the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance
of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.
The Lord — If the Lord hath by the evil spirit which he hath
sent, or by his secret providence, directed thy rage against me for the
punishment of thine, or my sins.
An offering — Let us offer up a sacrifice to
God to appease his wrath against us.
Driven me — From the land which God hath
given to his people for their inheritance, and where he hath established his
presence and worship.
Go serve — This was the language of their actions. For by driving
him from God's land, and the place of his worship, into foreign and idolatrous
lands, they exposed him to the peril of being either ensnared by their
counsels, or examples; or forced by their power to worship idols.
Verse 20
[20] Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before
the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as
when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
Before the Lord — Remember, if thou dost it, God
the judge of all men seeth it, and will avenge it; though I will not avenge
myself.
Verse 21
[21] Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for
I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this
day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
My soul, … — This second instance of David's
tenderness wrought more upon Saul than the former. He owns himself melted and
quite overcome by David's kindness to him. My soul was precious in thine eyes,
which I thought had been odious. He acknowledges he had done very ill to
persecute him: I have acted against God's law, I have sinned: and against my
own interest, I have played the fool, in pursuing him as an enemy, who was
indeed one of my best friends. And herein I have erred exceedingly, have
wronged both thee and myself. Nothing can be more full and ingenuous than this
confession: God surely now touched his heart. And he promises to persecute him
no more: nor does it appear that he ever attempted it.
Verse 25
[25] Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David:
thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on
his way, and Saul returned to his place.
Blessed, … — So strong was his conviction now,
that he could not forbear blessing him, foretelling his success, applauding
David, and condemning himself, even in the hearing of his own soldiers. And
this, it seems, was their last interview. After this they saw each other no
more.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Samuel》
26 Chapter 26
Verses 1-25
Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah.
The reproach of the enemy
Dr. Maclaren is specially emphatic in connecting Psalms 7:1-17 with this part of David’s
history, and indicates its value in helping us to understand the rapid
vacillations is Saul’s behaviour.
1. It is headed Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord. That
is, it is an irregular ode; like a stream broken over a bed of rocks and
stones, expressing by its uneven measure and sudden changes the emotion of its
author. We have often to sing these Shiggaion metres; our songs are frequently
broken with sighs and groans.
Happy
are they who can find themes for singing to the Lord in every sad and bitter
experience!
2. The title proceeds, concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. Who
was this Cush? The word means black. It may possibly refer to the colour of the
skin and hair, and been given as a familiar designation to some swarthy
Benjamite. Some have supposed that it was David’s title for Saul. Others have
referred it to Shimei, the Benjamite, whose furious abuse of the king, in the
hour of his calamity, elicited such plaintive resignation from him, such
passionate resentment from Abishai. If the psalm be carefully examined, it will
be found to hear a close resemblance to the words spoken by David, when Saul
and he held the brief colloquy outside the cave at Engedi, and afterwards at
the hill Hachilah. On comparison of psalm and narrative it seems more than
likely that, Cush was one of Saul’s intimate friends and constant companions,
and that he was incessantly at work poisoning the king’s mind with malignant
and deliberate falsehoods about David.
I. Search your
heart to see if these slanders have foundation in fact. Perhaps those quick,
envious eyes have discerned weaknesses in your character, of which your closest
friends are aware, but they have shrunk from telling you.
II. If there is no
basis for them, rejoice! How thankful we should be that God has kept us from
being actually guilty of the things whereof we are accused! We might have clone
them, and worse.
III. Take shelter in
the righteous judgment of God. We are his servants, and if He is satisfied with
us, why should we break our hearts over what our fellow servants say? It is,
after all, but a small matter with us to be judged of man’s judgment.
IV. Abjure more
completely the carnal life. Why do we smart under these unkind and slanderous
words, which are as baseless as uncharitable? Is it not because we set too high
a value upon the favour and applause of men?
V. Leave God to
vindicate your good name. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verses 1-25
Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah.
The reproach of the enemy
Dr. Maclaren is specially emphatic in connecting Psalms 7:1-17 with this part of David’s
history, and indicates its value in helping us to understand the rapid
vacillations is Saul’s behaviour.
1. It is headed Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord. That
is, it is an irregular ode; like a stream broken over a bed of rocks and
stones, expressing by its uneven measure and sudden changes the emotion of its
author. We have often to sing these Shiggaion metres; our songs are frequently
broken with sighs and groans.
Happy
are they who can find themes for singing to the Lord in every sad and bitter
experience!
2. The title proceeds, concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. Who
was this Cush? The word means black. It may possibly refer to the colour of the
skin and hair, and been given as a familiar designation to some swarthy
Benjamite. Some have supposed that it was David’s title for Saul. Others have
referred it to Shimei, the Benjamite, whose furious abuse of the king, in the
hour of his calamity, elicited such plaintive resignation from him, such
passionate resentment from Abishai. If the psalm be carefully examined, it will
be found to hear a close resemblance to the words spoken by David, when Saul
and he held the brief colloquy outside the cave at Engedi, and afterwards at
the hill Hachilah. On comparison of psalm and narrative it seems more than
likely that, Cush was one of Saul’s intimate friends and constant companions,
and that he was incessantly at work poisoning the king’s mind with malignant
and deliberate falsehoods about David.
I. Search your
heart to see if these slanders have foundation in fact. Perhaps those quick,
envious eyes have discerned weaknesses in your character, of which your closest
friends are aware, but they have shrunk from telling you.
II. If there is no
basis for them, rejoice! How thankful we should be that God has kept us from
being actually guilty of the things whereof we are accused! We might have clone
them, and worse.
III. Take shelter in
the righteous judgment of God. We are his servants, and if He is satisfied with
us, why should we break our hearts over what our fellow servants say? It is,
after all, but a small matter with us to be judged of man’s judgment.
IV. Abjure more
completely the carnal life. Why do we smart under these unkind and slanderous
words, which are as baseless as uncharitable? Is it not because we set too high
a value upon the favour and applause of men?
V. Leave God to
vindicate your good name. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Verse 7
Saul lay sleeping within the trench.
The danger of spiritual lethargy
The circumstances of Saul, and the manner in which he was treated
by David, may have a warning voice to unbelievers, careless, thoughtless, and
slumbering in their sins. The King of Israel was bound to David by every tie of
gratitude, as to the man who had saved his life and kingdom. Yet with all
unthankfulness the most flagrant did he aim if possible to destroy him. With
this unrighteous purpose, he had followed David into the wilderness of Ziph,
and every malignant feeling was arrayed against the man after God’s own heart.
And what is the unbeliever’s state in reference to God? Hath not the Most High
visited him with providential and spiritual mercies? Look how eternal love is
manifested, in that “Christ hath died for him, the just for the unjust, that He
might bring him to God.” What is the result? Hath this flow of goodness
softened and melted him into deep repentance, adoring gratitude, and holy
reconciliation? No; look how the offender is pursuing the Lord to dishonour
Him--mark how the carnal mind is enmity against God. The lips, to which God
hath given language, ere opened to blaspheme Him. The feet, to which He hath
given motion, walk in the way of scorners. In prosecution of his unrighteous
purpose, Saul had pitched in the hill of Hachilah, whither David and Abishai
his sister’s son followed him. And when they came, “behold Saul lay sleeping
within the trench, and the spear stuck in the ground at his bolster; but Abner,
the captain of his host, and the people lay round about him.” His army,
confident and well appointed, were at his bidding and hard at hand; he looked
for no resistance, but expected soon and safely to possess and destroy his
enemy, and he fell asleep in the fulness of security. In that warfare which the
rebellious sinner wages with his offended Maker, how often doth self-confidence
lull his soul to sleep in the trench! His heart is lulled to sleep by the
deceitfulness of sin. The very forbearance he hath received serves to deepen
his lethargy. Satan leads him blindfold into danger. Jonah slept in the storm;
Samson slept in the lap of Delilah, while the Philistines were upon him; Sisera
slept in the tent of Jael the Kenite; and thus doth the soul without Christ
sleep amidst the terrors of impending wrath. A deep sleep had fallen upon Saul
“from the Lord.” O tremble, lest, while ye are wrapped up in this
insensibility, an offended God should continue and deepen the spirit of slumber
upon you in judgment. Saul slept securely, but he was in the power of his
enemies. David had good reason to regard him as a foe; and how shall God regard
you who depart from him? Abishai said unto David, “God hath delivered thine
enemy into thy hand this day.” Is your spiritual slumber so deep that ye cannot
hear Satan express a similar desire? Doth he not long to put, forth his hand
for a first and final stroke against your lives? (R. P. Buddicom, M. A.)
Verse 9
Destroy him not.
Vengeance left with him to whom it belongs
Our attention has been called to the fact that the first great
victory achieved by David was over his own spirit. As we pursue his history, we
are glad to find that his first triumph of this noblest kind was not his last.
His cruel and implacable foe, who had come out with three thousand armed men
determined either to take him prisoner or to hunt him to death, was now
entirely in his hands. It was a golden opportunity, and David made a golden use
of it, for he refused to avenge himself, and suffered his deadly enemy to
depart in peace. For three years he had lived the life of a fugitive, and in many
ways and places had sought to shelter himself against the unrighteous and
pitiless wrath of Saul. There were many things to enkindle his resentment and
make forbearance towards Saul a most difficult virtue. Think of what be had
lost, and what he had suffered! How strangely things combined together to make
the worse appear the better course! The promise and the providence of God both
seemed on the side of instant and complete vengeance! But David was versed in
the Law of God: and in one of the earlier books of his incomplete, but
precious, priceless Bible, he had read these commandments: “Thou shalt not
avenge nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 12:1-8; Leviticus 13:1-59; Leviticus 14:1-57; Leviticus 15:1-33; Leviticus 16:1-34; Leviticus 17:1-16; Leviticus 18:1-30). David’s
generous forbearance touched the heart of Saul, disarmed him of his rage,
melted him into tears, and constrained him to become a suppliant at the feet of
the man for whose blood he had been thirsting. This second display of
magnanimity on David’s part was a greater triumph of saintly principle than the
first. All the former reasons in favour of avenging himself still existed, and
in greater force, because of the additional sufferings he had endured; and now
there was to be added another reason of almost irresistible power, he had cast
his pearl before swine which had turned again to rend him. His kindness had
been shamefully abused, and evil had been returned for his good. The King’s
life, which he had nobly spared, was consecrated afresh to the work of securing
his destruction. To spare it a second time was for David to sharpen the sword
by which he himself would be slain; and that surely would be charity
degenerating into fanaticism. It is evident that David’s faith in God was one
of the great roots out of which all these fruits of forbearance and patience
and compassion grew. He was confident that God would in His own way and in His
own time fulfil the promises which had been made; and, therefore, instead of
taking the matter into his own hands, he could rest in the Lord and wait
patiently for Him. They say that “Revenge is sweet.” There can be no doubt of
the truth of this, for perverted natures have perverted tastes, and loathe what
they ought to love, and banquet with delight on what they ought to abhor. David
had feelings in his heart which would have been intensely gratified if he had
taken vengeance on his enemy; but would not his revenge have been like the book
the seer did eat in the Apocalypse, sweet in the mouth, but bitterness in the
belly? Patience and meekness and forgiveness are often very hard to exercise,
but when they become matters of memory, are they not things of beauty, and a
joy forever? The poet tells of one who sat by the grave of the friend from whom
he had parted in anger, and wept at the remembrance of his former
harshness:--“Cruel, cruel the words I said! Cruelly come they back today.”
Probably there are men now sleeping in the dust who in their lifetime wronged
and injured you. If you forgave them, and prayed for them, and sought to bless
them, does the memory of that Christ-likeness on your part ever give you a
moment’s sorrow? Yes, revenge may be sweet, but, like all the pleasures of sin,
it is but for a season. Mercy is God’s delight. He who receives it through
Jesus secures his passport to the skies. He who learns to imitate it, lays up
treasure for himself in heaven. Happy he who by the grace of God so carries
himself toward them that curse him and despitefully use him, that he does not
invoke his own condemnation, when, in his daily prayer, he cries, “Forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.” (C. Vince.)
Who can stretch forth his
hand against the Lord and be guiltless?--
David’s magnanimity
I. The persons
here concerned are Saul and David and the state in which the text shews us
these two was that of enmity. Consider, therefore, that the prince that was his
captive now, and at his mercy had somewhile since descended so below himself,
as to become the envier and detractor from his praise, was poorly jealous of
the honours he had purchased, and tried to blast the laurels he had gathered,
at the expense oil so much painful boil and hazard; and ‘tis no little share of
grace and goodness that can restrain a young aspiring hero from taking
vengeance on the maligners of his praise, and from removing all impediments in
his pursuit of fame and glory. When men’s lives are so apparently sought after,
they usually lay all respects aside, and listen to the dictates of unruly
Nature. He was a false, perfidious prince. Nothing affects a generous mind so
sensibly as being cheated under shew of friendship; and treachery is never
viler than when ‘tis covered with the mask of godliness. But further, be was
perjured. He had but lately taken a solemn oath before the Lord and Jonathan,
David should not be slain. And when a prince has thus abandoned common honesty,
broken the sacred cords that knit societies, and keep up governments and mutual
correspondences, he is justly delivered into the hands of those whose innocence
and good credulity he had imposed on, and abused almost to their destruction.
Oh, what a mighty measure of God’s grace must fill the heart of him that then
could say, “The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the
Lord’s anointed.” There are some things besides our lives and persons, in
which, if we are touched, we think ourselves extremely injured; and they are
specially our friends, our fortunes and religion; and David was in every one of
these affected more or less by Saul’s implacable pursuit, and hunting after
him. But notwithstanding all this, great as he was in court, great as he was in
camp, and greater yet in favour of the people, he would not venture on the
impious fact, still it was, “The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my
hand against the Lord’s anointed.” ‘Tis surely with ambition, as with other
passions, the imaginary joys are greater than the experienced and substantial
ones: The hopes and expectations far exceed the pleasures of possession.
Whatever cares belong to crowns, they lie concealed within their circles, and
are more seldom seen than felt. But this temptation found no place with David,
young, and gay, and vigorous as he was and even so near the crown, Ahab by
conniving at Abishai’s blow, he might have been in full and sure possession of
it; yet he suffered not himself to be transported beyond the bounds of rigid
honesty and loyalty, and still cries out, “The Lord forbid.” Now, to conclude,
and to complete this character, and lastly, to these great advantages of being
son-in-law, a mighty man of valour, and accepted in the sight of all the
people, of knowing Saul rejected, and himself designed for successor, the
greatest yet of all advantages, and that is opportunity; that without which all
others signify but little; and that with which alone men serve their turns, and
make up the defects of all the rest; that pander to all sin, and fatal snare of
virtue! That has ruined many thousand souls and betrayed them into most
detestable commissions. Opportunity, that few have virtue, few have strength
sufficient; to withstand, and of all opportunities, none are so strong, and
work so powerfully upon the minds of men as those that look providential ones,
and seem to come from God. Yet this was David’s opportunity, and yet withstood.
II. Consider the
reason David gave for his refusal of Abishai’s and the soldiers’ proffer, “It
is the Lord’s anointed.” The laws of God did certainly secure the lives of
kings as well as other men’s, if it did no more. The Lord shall smite him, or
his day shall come, or he shall perish in the battle, that is, I leave him to
God’s disposal; let God, the Judge of all the earth, do with him as he pleases.
And though we think the leaving wicked kings to God is the lightest and the
kindest expression of nothing in the world that can be; yet we would quickly
alter our opinions and be of David’s mind, if we would give ourselves leave to consider:
1. That he hates injustice more.
2. That he is much more ready.
3. Much more able to punish it than we can be. (W.
Fleetwood.)
Verse 21
I have played the fool.
Playing the fool
The greatest and most difficult problem which the Church of God
has had to face in all ages, and has had to try and solve is this--how to
prevent men and women playing the fool. Thank God all down history there have
been those who were bold enough to put out a protest, who, in spite of
tremendous difficulties, were bold enough to call upon the fools not to deal so
foolishly, and to the wicked not to set up their horn. And, believe me, the
protest is stiff required. In spite of all our advance, in spite of our free
education, there is still a vast number of those who walk in the ways of folly.
Education is not enough to prevent a man playing the fool. You find men
gambling away fortunes honest men have made, and you find men who try to drown
their sorrows in what is called the sparkling cup--forgetting all the time that
they are drowning their souls in perdition. You have no right to charge at
God’s door the things that you ought to charge at the door of your own folly.
It is always being done--the Lord this, and the Lord that; it is you.
1. The folly of banishing God from life. Well, now; I find in God’s
Word that, there are three very special forms of folly which He there points
out. I don’t know whether you have observed that Psalms 14:1-7 and Psalms 53:1-6 are word for word the same;
and in both there is this statement: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is
no God.” Literally in the Hebrew that is not just the idea of the writer. It
is, “The fool hath said in his heart, No God”--that is, “No God for me.” The
folly here spoken of is a much more common folly--I mean the folly of the man that
says, “I do not want God in my life, I do not want God in my home, I do not
want God to rule and control in my heart.”
2. The envious fool. Furthermore, you find another description of a
foolish person in Psalms 73:1-28 --the foolishness that is
envious at the prosperity of the wicked. It is an old problem.
3. The money-grubbing fool. Another definition of a fool that I must
not omit tonight comes in connection with our Blessed Lord’s ministry, and that
is Luke 12:1-59 --“Thou fool!” What does it
mean? Oh, it means that to put much emphasis on temporal things, and to neglect
eternal things, and to set much value on things that pass away, and neglect the
things that do not pass away, is the act of a fool.
4. The self-important fool. We dwell upon the special foolishness
which attached to Saul, King of Israel. His foolishness lay in this, that he
had an overweening estimate of his own importance. Saul was head and shoulders
above his people, a pity for him, because it turned his head. Oh, it is a
dreadful thing to be over-conscious of your own importance. God can do nothing
with a man like that till He has brought him down, down, down, down. “He
bringeth down the mighty from their seats, He exalteth the humble and meek.”
Then there was another great mistake Saul made, he fought against David. He
knew that David was indeed the Lord’s anointed; he knew that David ought to
have the throne; he knew that David had been infinitely kind to him. But Saul
determined, in the pride of his heart, to have David’s life; there was a
confederacy against him, the Lord’s chosen.
5. God’s remedy for folly. It would be sorry work to talk about the
follies of men and women if one could not tell of a remedy. The fool requires
two things. He requires a revelation of wisdom, to meet his folly; and he
requires a revelation of power, to overcome his weakness. Is there such a
revelation? Yes, here, and nowhere else than in that book. (Marcus
Rainsford.)
Playing the fool
Now, if Saul’s folly mainly consisted in yielding to the impulses
of passion, and obeying the dictates not of duty but of a selfish heart, with
no regard to the consequences, certainly he has no lack of successors. A few
choice specimens have come under my personal notice. My album has some rare
portraits: and the first I shall name is
I. The idler. If
the world contains a genuine fool, it is the young man who wastes his time. Some
things God gives often, others only once. Youth belongs to the latter category,
and if it be thrown away is beyond recovery. Idleness is always demoralising.
Almost all the moral havoc that is wrought amongst young men is effected after
the office door is closed. Few men go wrong when they are busy at work. Tell me
how a youth spends his evenings and his half-holidays, and I shall have a good
idea of his character. The worst thing you can do of an evening is to do
nothing. You may easily predict a man’s future when you know how he spends his
hours of leisure. The next portrait I have to present, is
II. The buffoon.
There are many who seem incapable of a serious thought. They jest at
everything. They live in an atmosphere of hilarity. They treat life as if it
were a great joke. There is scarcely a trace of gravity or good sense in them.
They are to society only what bells are to horses, making plenty of jingle, but
not assisting to draw. It is a poor ambition this; the habitual jester is an
empty fribble. Such men have no reverence in their nature. They have not a
conception of the dignity of manhood. They have scarcely respect even for
religion, and some profane quotation from Holy Writ is enough to set them in a
roar. Let all such characters awaken within you a feeling of revulsion. Do not
associate with them. Admissible they might be in a menagerie, but life is too
serious to tolerate them. The next page of my album introduces to us:
III. The worldling.
The next on my list is:
IV. The sensualist.
I mean the man who is a slave to his baser passions and wallows in the mire of
bestiality. The pure shrink from his touch; his breath blights every innocent
thing.
V. The persistent
unbelieverse (J. Thain Davidson, D. D.)
Playing the fool
I. Saul’s history
justifies this expression, inasmuch as his public life was marked by a
continued attempt at thorough independence of God. Here is discoverable the
great secret of Saul’s downfall. This was his folly, here he erred. He made the
attempt to get on without God.
1. This was folly--first, because it was subversive of all that
reason and wisdom suggested. For the very being of a God is of itself a fact
sufficiently indicative of the place which the creatures of that God should
occupy. It was attempting to alter the relative positions of the Universal
Sovereign and of His subjects--the relative position of the Great Proprietor of
all and of those who are entirely at His disposal. The laws of nature, in
regard to matter, allow no interference with them which would subvert the
relative conditions of strength and weakness, independence and dependence,
without such results as expose the folly of the attempt. Let the lighter
materials, of which the superstructure may be safely built, be employed for the
foundation, and let the heavy blocks--the solid masses--of which the foundation
should consist, be used for the superstructure, and the builder will soon have
to say, “I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” Attempt to frame
a raft of some substance whose specific gravity is greater than that of water,
and the moment you launch it on the waves it will sink, and imminent peril will
ensue, and you will just have been “playing the fool.” Or come to nature’s laws
as regards moral beings--indulge a course of Action which subverts these. Let
the rule be that the child’s will shall take precedence of the parent’s, the
servant’s of the master’s, that superior and inferior should change places, and
would not the results in families and households soon prove that all this was but
“erring exceedingly?” And shall there be any success where man, dependent man,
thus takes or attempts to take the place of independence? Can he rid himself of
God, when, at the utmost stretch of self-will, he is asking, “Who is Lord over
me?”
2. Besides, if it be against all reason to put our own will into the
place of God’s, it is not less against our interest to do so. Saul, indeed,
attempted to do as well without God as with Him; but did he succeed? Did he get
on as well without God as with Him? And did ever the history of a single
individual justify the supposition that this was possible? It is only “the
blessing of the Lord” which “maketh rich, and he added no sorrow with it.”
II. Applicable as
the sentence was to the whole retrospect of his history, it was preeminently
appropriate to this portion of it. In many respects he had thus erred; in one
respect most especially and distressingly so. He was now addressing David, a
man whom on every ground, he ought to have loved, for he was lovely in himself,
and he had done Saul good service; and, moreover, he stood in very near
relationship to him--the husband of his daughter, the bosom friend of his son.
It is not difficult to gather the reasons of this verdict pronounced upon
himself; and they demand our attention, because they expose to our view points
of possible error in our own conduct. His folly and error consisted in treating
a man as his enemy who was, in reality, his best friend. Have you ever, like
Saul in reference to David, felt the risings of dislike to your friend,
because, in some form or another, he seemed to stand in the way of your
cherished plans and self-gratifying projects? Beware how you listen to the
suggestions of the evil spirit. Saul’s folly consisted, not simply in treating
as an enemy the man who was really his best friend, but in attempting, by this
very conduct towards David, to fly in the face of those Divine arrangements to
which, however humiliating their character, he was bound, in meekness, to have
submitted. God had assigned the kingdom to David: Saul was determined to keep
it for himself and his family. It was the one purpose of Saul’s life to defeat
God’s arrangement; and nothing promised so readily and directly to accomplish
his object as the death of David, and this became, therefore, the one great
point at which he aimed. Yet never does a man commit himself to a harder, and
at the same time more fruitless, enterprise than when he fights against God’s
providential arrangements--when, for instance, God is evidently calling on him
to give up some plan of his own--when God is requiring him to take a humbler
level, and he will grasp tightly and hold tenaciously the position which
everything combines to tell him is not for himself nor his family, but for
another. “Their folly shall be made manifest to all men;” and not less shall it
be felt by themselves. Submission, which they would not render voluntarily to
One who has a just right to claim it, will be wrung out of them reluctantly by
One against whom “none ever hardened himself and prospered.” Saul, alas!
admitted his error, but took no steps to turn his confession to practical
advantage. Let us be careful against such a neglect. Let us proceed at once, by
God’s blessing, to act out our convictions. (J. A. Miller.)
The folly of man
This is not the kind of thing a man would say if he gave himself
time to think. It is not a statement made after preparation. Men do not speak
in this wise after thought and preparation, and that fact makes the utterance
the more valuable, for it is under such stress of circumstances that men often
reveal the ever present, but habitually hidden, consciousness. It was so with
Saul on this occasion.
1. This man was a man of good family and position in life. His father
was Kish, “a mighty man of valour,” and the marginal reading most strikingly
catches the thought of the original word--“a mighty man of substance; a wealthy
man.”
2. Notice, also, that he was a man of splendid physique--a choice man
is the word, a goodly man, a man standing head and shoulders above his fellows,
handsome and strong. Let no man ever put any false value upon incompetency in
the physical realm. Saul started with the magnificent capital of a strong
physique.
3. Again, he was a man of simple life, living at home, interested in
his father’s affairs, by no means a prodigal.
4. He was, moreover, a man of modest disposition.
5. And then, once again, he was a man of courage, not the courage
that vaunts itself, which is of the very essence of cowardice, not the courage
that talks, but the courage that farms until his nation is insulted, and then
strikes. Now, this is the man that says in the words of my text, “I have played
the fool!”
Notice Saul’s opportunities.
1. He is the chosen of God; the choice is Divinely, definitely
stated. He had opened before him a door, passing through which he should find
the life--simple, and modest, and strong, and beautiful, that had been
preparing in the past--put into a place of activity and of service, of which he
had never dreamed. What scope for his powers in the kingly office! What chances
to bless his fellow men! This was his opportunity.
2. Then notice another fact proving how great that opportunity was.
He had the friendship of Samuel, a man of God, a seer, the leader of the
people.
3. Then remember this also, in speaking of his opportunity. It is
said of him that “there went with him a band of men whose hearts God had
touched.” This man with such glorious opportunities is the one who, coming near
the end of life, surprised in a crisis, cries out, “I have played the fool!”
This is not the story of a man who made final shipwreck in the
early years of his life, or the story of a man who had no chance in life, who
inherited forces that damned him, but the story of a man who seems to have had
everything in his favour at the beginning--his own person and character were
magnificent, his surroundings highly favoured and privileged, and yet this man
came at last to say that he had played the fool.
1. I find the first point of that failure on the day when Samuel had
come with the hosts of the people for the crowning of the man whom God had
chosen to be king. Where was he? Hiding away. A man has no business to be
modest when. God has anointed him for work. There is a modesty that is
blasphemous. It is of the very essence of a self-centred life, and if God has
anointed a man to be king, that man sins when he allows modesty to hold him
back from the kingly office. What was it? Failure to follow God at all costs
and against all inclinations. Here is the beginning of all the trouble that
wrecked this man’s character and life, that spoiled his opportunities, that
drew from him that which was at once an awful confession and a wail of anguish.
“Behold! I have played the fool!”
2. From that day pass over the years, and come to the day of
impatient waiting at Gilgal. Samuel did not come, as he was expected, and Saul
arrogated to himself the right to offer a sacrifice, an act that was not lawful
to him. Underlying that act is the spirit of rebellion, the rebellion of a
self-centred life.
3. Follow him still further, and notice the degeneration of
character. The man who began by hiding away, and then became self-dependent,
and then fell into disobedience and lying, now becomes rash, and takes an oath
upon him which jeopardises the life of the fairest man in his kingdom, his own
con Jonathan.
4. Mark the process still further, and see him at last. In the early
years he was himself among the prophets, speaking by the inspiration of the
wind of God that passed across his soul. See him now creeping in the darkness
of the night to the witch of Endor, asking for some occult subtle revelation of
secrets because the light of day is blotted from his life. And the--What then?
Suicide! You may call it anything you like, but if I ask a man to slay me, and
because he refuses I fall upon my sword, what is it, if not suicide? What are
the causes? First, as we have said, lack of loyalty to God. Life makes
shipwreck of itself except when the hand of God is upon the helm; no matter how
fair and glorious and beautiful the promise of morning, night will bring
disaster and defeat, unless there is the loyal handing over of the will of man
to the will of God. But mark how this works out in life; see how the man, when
once his life is taken out of the Divine government and control, neglects his
beat friends, Samuel, David, Jonathan; mark how he fails to understand the
opportunity of his kingship. A man who seems only to have seen in kingship an
opportunity for fighting and victory and possession, forgets the greater fact,
that the king is to be shepherd also, to provide for his people, protecting
them from harm, feeding and leading them like a flock.
Let us in a few closing words gather up what seem to be the
lessons of that life.
1. First, advantages do not ensure success. The fact of your family,
the fact of your disposition, the fact of your physical power, the fact of your
courage, all these things are to be valued, but none of them will ensure
success. I pray you, do not undervalue the fact that your father believed in
God and your mother prayed. The young man that undervalues such facts is
already playing the fool, and unless he learns ere it be too late the infinite
value of that possession, he will do so to the end of time. Your parents gave
you no capital to start in life with, do I hear you tell your friend? It is not
true; your father gave you an example of cleanness and honour, your mother of
devotion and prayer, and the man who wants any other capital than that should
go to the workhouse and stay there! Where would some of us be if God had not
barred the way for us by a mother’s prayer and a father’s godly life? A man may
have all these, and play the fool at the end. Your disposition may be in your
favour--you are the very man that will make shipwreck if you do not mind. It is
not the cold, cynical man that is in danger of making shipwreck so much as the
man of laughter and life, the man who is the centre of every social circle.
That is the man the devil is after, because he is the man that God loves.
2. Again let me remind you that opportunities do not crown men. God
may have called you to a great opportunity in life, and you may even enter upon
the opportunity and yet miss it. How, then, says one man, can I live so as not
to play the fool? Hear this. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Surrender to God, loyalty, obedience; these are the things that ensure a man
against folly and against failure. You can never achieve the possibilities that
slumber in your personality until you have exercised the kingship of your
being, by putting the crown of your manhood upon the brow of the Man of
Nazareth. Find your way in humility and loneliness to the Cross, and looking
into the face of the world’s God and King say, “Oh, Nazarene! Thou hast conquered;”
then you will begin to live. No man can make shipwreck if Christ he King. No
man can be lost in the swelling flood if the Pilot with the pierced hand is at
the helm. Yield to Him, man, tonight. Yield to Him who alone is able to realise
the possibilities of your being, and bring them at last to God’s consummation.
(G. Campbell Morgan, D. D.)
.
Verses 21-25
Then said Saul, I have sinned.
Saul’s second reconciliation
When a man like Saul has wept, and spoken words so morally noble,
it is but fair to credit him with sincerity and permanence. At the time of his
reconciliation he meant every word he said. Yet in a brief period we find Saul
going down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men to seek
David, who had been reported as hiding himself in the hill of Hachilah. Then
came the gush of emotion upon the part of Saul. The weapon which conquered him
in the first instance conquered him also in the second. Forbearance was
mightier than weapons of war. The sword has slain its countless thousands, but
love holds the universe in sweet and glad captivity.
I. It is proved
that the deepest and sincerest emotion may be transient in its moral effects.
We left Saul reconciled; we find him again in arms. There are two things which
are often mistaken for Christian feeling.
1. Selfish gratitude for unexpected preservation.
2. Admiration of moral nobleness in others. See bow this is
applicable to hearers of the Gospel. Men hear of Jesus Christ’s sympathy, love,
beneficence, etc. Feeling may be exhausted. “Past feeling.”
II. It is shown
that self-control is in proportion to the estimate formed of the Divine element
that is in man. How was it that David withheld his hand when Saul was delivered
over to him as lawful prey? Human nature said, Strike; another voice said,
Forbear! Twice David might have slain Saul, and twice he spared his life. We
want to know the secret of this marvellous self-control. We find it pithily stated
in the interview between Abishai and David. Abishai said, “Thine enemy.” David
said, “The Lord’s anointed.” Two different views of the same man! The one
narrow, selfish, superficial; the other profound and true. So it is with every
man: he is not to be measured merely by his personal relations to ourselves.
Pray to see the highest and divinest aspect of every man’s character. We shall
thus be enabled:
1. To hope something even of the worst; and
2. to do something in the negative work of sparing, even where we
cannot do anything in the positive work of reclaiming.
Paul had respect even for a weak man, not because he was weak, but
because Christ died for him. By taking the highest view of man, he was enabled
to do many things for the sake of the Christ that was in him. “But when ye so
sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against
Christ.”
III. It is shown how
much better it is to trust our interests to the working out of Divine laws than
to care for them with narrowness of spirit. “As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall
smite him,” etc. Why fight with thy own poor weak fist? etc. Why prefer murder
to Divine retribution? Why narrow down bureau life to a paltry duel? etc. The
battle is not yours, but God’s. Shall not God avenge His own elect which cry
day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?
IV. It is clearly
shown that flight from danger is perfectly compatible with the highest courage.
David was never chargeable with cowardice, yet he escaped like an affrighted
man. “If they persecute you in one city,” etc. There is a time to fight
(Goliath); there is a time to fly (Saul). The one was an uncircumcised
Philistine, the other was the Lord’s anointed. Understand that there are
differences of conquest. David conquered Saul as surely as he conquered
Goliath. God sees His own image in us. To recover it he sent His Son. (J.
Parker, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》