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“Clearing The Path Back” • 9.6.15
• Calvary Christian Fellowship Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- On the one
hand, it’s difficult to imagine a more shameful circumstance for a man of war.
David and his 600 hundred fighting men have been dismissed from a battle scene
before it began!
- As they were
walking away from the Philistine cohort, back toward Philistia, they could hear
the derisive whispers and see the hatred in the eyes of the men they would have
helped.
- But that's
just the thing: David should never have been there! He was on the cusp of
betraying Israel by lining up with the hated Philistines, potentially voiding
his chance to be their King!
- David, as a
man caught between the World and the Lord, is a man of compromise, who is
neither good to the enemy or to God! But God is not through with him yet by a
long shot.
- God is
gracious enough to let us choose our own foolishness for a time, but He is too
good to allow us to remain there! Chapter 30 and 31 detail God's work in clear
David's path back. Verse 1.
Text
• I Samuel 30:1-5 : "Now
it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the
Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with
fire, and
had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they
did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his
men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives,
their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the
people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no
more power to weep. And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the
Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken
captive." : David's men are
traveling south from Aphek to Ziklag, a journey encompassing a distance between
60 to 80 miles, depending on who you read.
- The men are
carrying their heavy weaponry and what provisions they have stored, covering an
amazing 20 miles per day to reach Ziklag in three days!
- At the same
time that David had been rudely excused from duty in the North, the Amalekites
had been taking advantage of their absence, carrying on an invasion in the
South!
- By the third
day, Ziklag was visible and black smoke rose from it's location! The author
lets us know that the Amalekites burned the city and took captives, leading
them away.
- David and his
men are not aware of that information! All that they see is the smoldering
remnant of a city and a ruined hope, as all that they loved and owned had gone
up in flames!
- When they
arrived at the city, every thing and every one was gone! What little emotional
stability had been left to them was gone! These grown men, these mighty
warriors, wept like babies!
- They wept
until they had nothing left. They were emotionally exhausted and the extent of
the loss reached all the way to David himself, whose wives had also been
carried away captive!
- He had moved
his entire fighting force into this walled city, primarily to keep his wives
safe, to provide a better future away from Saul's threats for all of them.
- His failure
to trust God with his and his wive's future led to this conclusion: His loved
ones are in captivity, not free as he had supposed! Add to that the same fate
of 600 hundred others!
- Let this
serve as a reminder that trusting God is often hard, but following our own path
is harder! Unfortunately, the slide continued. Look at verse 6.
• I Samuel 30:6 : "Now
David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the
soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters.
But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." : David was now in a narrow place, walking on
a tightrope without a net, because his friends, these mighty warriors are
openly suggesting that their leader be stoned!
- David was
responsible for this moment. The grief and soul bitterness of his men retched
them in anguish as they thought of their kids that to their minds, were lost
forever!
- I don't mean
to belabor this, but if this is where the path of self-sufficiency and
self-trust leads, it's best not to ever take it! David is now an inch away from
being executed.
- It's in that
space between the period and the word "but" that something came alive
in David. He has no city, no home, no family and no friends. He falls back on all
that he has left: God!
- David
encouraged himself, he again became firm in his trust in the Lord his God! How
does this happen? Perhaps it's an issue of desperation. There was nothing left
for David to cling to!
- But the Lord
was his God. They had a relationship and David drew upon that knowledge!
- Perhaps David
was beginning to recognize the sovereign connections that were now adding up.
Three days ago he was fired and started home. Had he not been dismissed, he'd
be away now!
- But God had
brought him home and seemingly, just in time to actually do something about the
situation. Certainly this was God's doing! "He's at work! I have promises.
He has annointed me!"
- The very things
David was willing to let go of are now the pillars that are holding him up! In
an instant, in a moment, David turns himself to the Lord.
- A year and a
half have passed in sin, but a repentant second allows David to turn to Him!
• I Samuel
30:7,8 : "Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, 'Please
bring the ephod here to me.' And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I pursue this
troop? Shall I overtake them?' And He answered him, 'Pursue, for you shall
surely overtake them and without fail recover all.'" : Abiathar has been with David this entire time, but for the
first time in a long time, David is seeking the Ephod!
-
After wiping the dust from it, Abiathar puts it on and David asks his
questions. He knows now that there is a troop and he knows that he has to go
out after them.
-
You and I need to stop here and consider the contrast. Saul had inquired of the
Lord and received no answer, predominantly because he would not have acted on
God's command.
-
David has been living the exact same way for a year and a half, yet, God
answers him and not the way that we think! We believe God should have toyed
with David first!
-
"Oh, so now you're in trouble eh!? Why don't you call out to the
Philistine militia? Why don't you ask your Ziklaggian walls to protect you?
Haven't you been trusting them lately?"
-
God is not like that! His ways are not our ways! He is not waiting to be
vindictive as we would! He's waiting to dispense favor! He waits to give
goodness and wisdom to those who would turn!
-
David's questions are direct and he is answered specifically and emphatically.
In Hebrew, the word "pursue" appears alone, while
"overtake" and "recover" are repeated.
-
It's as if God barked out the orders through Abiathar! It could not have been
more clear! David is given the word and that is all he needs.
•
I Samuel 30:9-14 : "So David went, he and the six
hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, where those stayed
who were left behind. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred
stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor. Then they found an Egyptian in the
field, and brought him to David; and they gave him bread and he ate, and they
let him drink water. And they gave him a
piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. So when he had eaten, his
strength came back to him; for he had eaten no bread nor drunk water for three
days and three nights. Then David said to
him, 'To whom do you belong, and where are you from?' And he said, 'I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an
Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion of the southern area of the
Cherethites, in the territory which belongs to Judah, and of the southern area
of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.'" : Given the urgency of the matter,
understand that these men re-supplied themselves minimally and began their
trek.
-
Six hundred men who have already traversed twenty miles that day and have
already wept to the point of exhaustion, reached the Brook Besor, another 20
miles from Ziklag later that same day!
-
At that point, two hundred men proved themselves to be too exhausted to
continue. Four hundred men continued, but are somewhat unlikely to know for
sure which way the enemy had gone.
-
I submit that the sun is setting, bringing some difficulty to their tracking
ability. Here is where providence and human response correspond.
-
David's 400 come across this emaciated, dehydrated Egyptian slave who has been
left for dead! Upon investigation, the young man turns out to be a servant of
an Amalekite!
-
"Really!?" David says! And it just so happens that this Amalekite has
come from a recent raid. "You don't say!?" David says. "In fact,
we just burned Ziklag." That's when David's stare intensifies.
•
I Samuel 30:15-17 : " And David said to him, 'Can you take me down to this troop?' So he said, 'Swear to me by God that
you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will
take you down to this troop.' And when he had
brought him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and
drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from
the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening
of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who
rode on camels and fled." : David had the guide he
needed, who was willing to give up the Amalekites who had given him up for
dead!
-
David made his promise and the Egyptian made good on his promise as the men were
soon looking down upon the Amalekites from the darkness.
-
They were numerous, as the Bible tells us that they were spread out all over
the land and they were careless, as they were celebrating, completely unaware
that anyone was following them!
-
They are playing with all of their plunder, perhaps even something that David
recognized!
-
In their minds, the Philistines and David's men were fighting far up north!
They have nothing to worry about, except to concern themselves with their next
alcoholic beverage!
-
The next phrase tells us that David attacked from twilight. In our way of
thinking, that time frame corresponds to our dusk. The Hebrew can also refer to
pre-dawn conditions, which are similar.
-
I believe that it makes more sense that David and his men slept for a few hours
and that the Amalekites partied until the pre-dawn when David's men arose.
-
Full of alcohol and barely asleep, David took advantage and routed the enemy
thoroughly, though 400 young men, a testimony to the Amalekite's complement,
escaped!
•
I Samuel 30:18-20 : "So David recovered all that the
Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking,
either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken
from them; David recovered all. Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before
those other livestock, and said, 'This is David’s spoil.'" : Notice the repetition of the concept. David recovered all.
Nothing was lacking. David recovered all!
-
Just as God had promised, David, now walking in the power of God's Word, saw a
complete victory. Everything the enemy had stolen, God had returned!
-
Every family member, every possession, was back in their hands! Even beyond
that, the flocks and herds that had belonged to the Amalekites, were now
David's spoil!
-
That's above and beyond what David had before leaving Ziklag! What wonderful
grace that the Lord has?
-
Your life may be scarred beyond repair, but if it will be restored, God alone
has the power to reverse what the enemy has affected!
•
I Samuel 30:21-25 : "Now David came to the two hundred
men who had been so weary that they could not follow David, whom they also had
made to stay at the Brook Besor. So they went out to meet David and to meet the
people who were with him. And when David came near the people, he greeted them.
Then all
the wicked and worthless men of those who went with David answered
and said, 'Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the
spoil that we have recovered, except for every man’s wife and children, that
they may lead them away and depart.' But David said, 'My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us, who has preserved us
and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us. For who will heed you in this
matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be
who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike.' So it was, from that day forward;
he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day." : Can you imagine what it was like for the men who had remained
at Besor? How worried were they for their families and their comrades?
-
When they saw David on the horizon, the quickly rose to meet them and all that
were with him. Were their wives and children among the people with David? How
about their friends?
-
For David's part, there is a warm greeting, but some of David's men, wicked and
sons of Belial, didn't quite agree with David's demeanor.
-
"They didn't go, so they can take their families and go!" Theirs is
truth without love, justice without mercy. David, walking in full step with
God, rebukes their thinking immediately.
-
He does so based on two certainties. First, their victory wasn't dependant upon
their numbers, whether they had the full contingent or the partial contingent.
-
God had supplied the victory! He had preserved, kept watch over them as they
went. "Where do you guys think you got the energy?"
-
God had kept them and He delivered them right into their hands! They would not
have even found their way had it not been for the sovereignly placed Egyptian
slave!
-
Every victory, every moment of triumph in the Kingdom of God belongs to God and
can never be accounted to your own power! Never take that attitude which leads
to pride!
-
The second principle regarded the valuable service that the 200 men were able
to render. They had stayed with the supplies, lightening each of the soldiers
as they ran ahead!
-
"You guys didn't have to worry about your 30 extra pounds of 'stuff' did
you?" The 200 provided a great service, though it was not glorious!
-
Consequently, they would share alike, a Kingdom principle that endures to this
day! You may not be able to go, but you may be in the position to give!
-
David realizes that God looks at one job as being as important as the other in
the Kingdom! That's truth AND love. That's justice AND mercy! That grace AND
truth!
•
I Samuel 30:26-31 : "Now when David came to Ziklag, he
sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, 'Here is
a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord'—to those who were in Bethel, those
who were in Ramoth of the South, those who were in Jattir, those who were in Aroer, those who
were in Siphmoth, those who were in Eshtemoa, those who were in Rachal, those who
were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, those who were in the cities of the
Kenites, those who
were in Hormah, those who were in Chorashan, those who were in Athach, those who were in Hebron, and to
all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to rove." : In all the time that David roamed through the south, he was
hardly ever in the place to repay the kindness that he was shown.
-
Now, the first people to benefit are those who took him in and helped him.
These 13 cities of the south received spoil from David's victory as a token of
his appreciation.
-
David is in his right mind, pursuing God's course again. There remains yet one
obstacle which he has no control over. Little does he know that this is God's
hour to deal with David's enemy.
• I Samuel
31:1-6 : "Now the Philistines
fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines,
and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. Then the Philistines
followed hard after Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan,
Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons. The battle became fierce
against Saul. The archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armorbearer, 'Draw
your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised men come
and thrust me through and abuse me.' But his armorbearer would not, for he was
greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell on it. And when his armorbearer saw that
Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword, and died with him. So Saul, his three sons, his
armorbearer, and all his men died together that same day." : Israel's King is surrounded on Mt. Gilboa. His entire guard has
fallen and he and his sons, including the crown prince, were left alone.
- Saul watched as the Philistines killed each
of his sons. Now, all of their energy was expended against Saul and soon he was
severely wounded by the archers.
- The words refer to writhing in pain. Saul
knew that he was a dead man but he didn't want to be defiled man, so he asked
his armorbearer to kill him in mercy.
- His armor bearer refused and Saul proceeded
to kill himself. Notice that the armorbearer witnessed his death and he killed
himself! Saul's oldest sons and heirs all died on the same day.
• I Samuel
31:7-10 : "And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the
valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that the men of
Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities
and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. So it happened the next day, when
the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three
sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent
word throughout the land of the Philistines, to proclaim it in the temple of
their idols and among the people. Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and
they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan." : Saul's death led to Israel abandoning their positions and lands
to the Philistines.
- In idolatrous glee, the Philistines discovered
Saul's dead body and desecrated it, decapitating he and his sons, stripping
them of their armor and making Saul's torso a wall ornament!
- To you and I, this is hardly worth
mentioning, but to the Hebrew mind, this was a fate worse than death!
• I Samuel
31:11-13 : "Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the
Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and traveled all night, and took the
body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they
came to Jabesh and burned them there. Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree
at Jabesh, and fasted seven days." : Jabesh
Gilead heard what had happened to Saul and they made a stealth trip deep into
Philistine territory.
- Why? Because Saul had saved them from Nahash
the Ammonite. (I Sam. 11)
- Nahash had offered to remove their eyes and Saul,
incensed, rose to their defense. Out of loyalty, these men made this daring
move and succeeded!
- They retrieved their bodies and burned them
in Jabesh. They laid their bones under a tamarisk tree, a perfect place since
that was where Saul was often found!
- They mourned in fasting for 7 days,
signifying a true sadness at the loss of their King.
Conclusion
- David sought
something more secure than God's hand. He bought into his own wisdom and moved
into the enemy's land. Eventually, he was ineffective for God and for man.
- Note please
that the path of self-trust begins with joy and comfort, but ends with loss and
certain travail. God can restore, but there will be pain in the process. Be
warned. Trust the Lord!
- As we close
this book, I pray that you have been stirred to trust Him more, certainly as
the greater David, Jesus Christ, never flinched from following God's will.
- The Enemy of
our souls had taken us captive, leaving our lives in shambles and hopes dashed
in helplessness. At the perfect time, Jesus Christ lead an offensive which
routed the enemy!
- David risked
his life to save all of his people. Jesus Christ gave His life to save all of
His!
- Like David, Jesus
led captivity captive and gave gifts to men! And as with Saul, God will soon
fully and finally crush Satan and our King Jesus will reign, not for decades,
but forever and ever!
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