Years ago my son and his friend hung a swing in our backyard from a high tree branch. My grandson loves riding that swing. Recently we were swinging, my grandson sitting on my lap. As we were swinging, we started spinning. My grandson thought it was fun, and he started laughing. I love it when he laughs, so I leaned to spin us even more. My grandson was giggling, but within seconds I was regretting my decision. Why? Heat rushed through my body, and I felt like I was going to vomit. As I’ve aged, I simply cannot handle spinning like I used to when I was younger.
You ever had one of those moments when you make a choice, and maybe you know it is a bit risky, but you still think, “It will be fine,” and about ten seconds after you made the choice, you realize, “This was a horrible choice!” In today’s post, that seems to happen to David.
In the previous post, we observed that though he has been a fugitive for days, David now has food and protection. But he is still one man, a single fugitive on the run, in a nation crawling with spies who might want to report his whereabouts to the king and get on the king’s good side. Where can David go to find safety?
In 1st Samuel chapter 21 verse 10, we read that David makes a shocking choice. He goes to a Philistine city, the town of Gath. Why is this shocking?
First, Israel and Philistia were enemies. Second, do you remember who was from the Philistine city of Gath? Goliath! David is fleeing to the hometown of the man that David is most famous for killing, and as we learned in the previous post he is bringing Goliath’s sword with him. Maybe once he got Goliath’s sword, he thought he could return it to Goliath’s people as a peace offering? We don’t know. When David is in Gath, the writer of 1st Samuel never mentions the sword.
What the writer does mention, however, is that David seems to realize rather quickly once he is in Gath, that he made a terrible mistake going there. In verse 12 we learn that David was afraid of the king of Gath. So David decides to pretend to be out of his mind. The Philistines think David’s bizarre act is real, and it does make sense, as who goes to try to find protection from their mortal enemy? It’s crazy. David must be insane, they think.
The king of Gath’s response to David in verse 15 is priceless, “Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me?” Sounds like the King of Gath has had a rough go of leadership lately. David’s fake ploy of insanity works, and in the beginning of chapter 22, we read that David heads back to Israel to a cave.
David has hit rock bottom. Literally. He is living with rocks in a cave.
Imagine the heights from which David has fallen. First he was anointed as the next king, and then he lived in the king’s house, married the king’s daughter, and became best friends with the prince. David went on to become the most famous and victorious military commander in the land. But now? David is alone, on the run from the law, hiding in a cave. Have you ever had a situation in life where you had to face the reality of loss, of broken relationships, of life turning out really, really poorly? If so, you know something of the dark state of heart and mind David is experiencing.
In fact, we know exactly how David was feeling at that moment. He wrote Psalms in which he shares his feelings about being in Gath and about being in the cave! Psalms 34, 56, 57, 142. All three of those psalms say nearly the same thing. David cries out to the Lord for help. Here is Psalm 142:
I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy.
I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble.
When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way.
In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me.
Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me.
I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.
I cry to you, Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need;
rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me.
Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name.
Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
I mention those last lines of Psalm 142, because in those lines David says, “the righteous will gather about me,” which is exactly what happened. We don’t know how long he was in the cave alone. But it doesn’t seem he was alone too terribly long.
We read, continuing in verse 1 of 1st Samuel chapter 22, that David’s family comes to see him. Then little by little other people in distressed circumstances, just like David, gather around him, and he becomes their leader. They develop into a revolutionary army numbering 400. But 400 men, even very motivated men, are no match for the royal army which numbered in the thousands.
King Saul commanded that army, and he really wants to get to David, but he doesn’t know where David is hiding. If you were Saul, what strategy might you use to flush David out into the open? There is a classic method that you see in numerous films and books. The evil bad guy captures the wife and kids, or other family members, of the good guy. The bad guy holds them hostage, hoping to draw out the good guy.
Knowing his family are sitting ducks and suspecting Saul will eventually try to hold his parents hostage, David arranges for his parents to relocate to the neighboring nation of Moab. Why Moab? Do you remember David’s significant connection to Moab? David’s grandmother was a Moabite, Ruth, which the book of the Bible Ruth is all about. David figures King Saul will not be able to get to his parents in Moab.
Next in 1st Samuel 22, verse 5, we learn that a prophet visits David. The prophet, Gad, instructs David to leave the cave, aka The Stronghold, and move into the forests of Judah. Though the text doesn’t say this, because Gad is a prophet it is likely that the he was communicating the word of the Lord. David obeys.
Though David is still in a precarious position, notice how David’s situation has improved. He has 400 men in a good hideout, his parents are safe, God is communicating with David, and most importantly of all, David obeys. All very good signs for David. David is still a fugitive, though.
So far in our study of 1st Samuel 21 & 22, we haven’t heard anything about the man trailing David, King Saul. In the next post we learn what Saul has been up to in his hunt for David, and it is very, very dark.
Engaging Scripture 
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