David:The Shepherd King, #9
Sleeping With The Enemy
1 Samuel 27-30
By Dave Redick
Hwy 20 Church of Christ, Sweet Home, OR
The list of Biblical backsliders includes names like, Saul, Solomon, Amon, Rehoboam, Asa, Amaziah, Jonah, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Phygellus, Hermogenes, Demas, David..... David? Was David a backslider? Did he ever fall away from God?
Introduction
The Bible has a lot to say about the subject of apostasy, that is, falling away from God. Let me read to you a few representative verses:
Hebrews 3:12 - "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God..."
Matthew 24:9-10 - "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up one another and hate one another."
II Peter 3:17 - "You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall away from your own steadfastness..."
Isaiah 1:28 - "But transgressors and sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end."
Jeremiah 17:5 - Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the lord."
I Timothy 4:1 - "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons..."
II Peter 2:15 - "forsaking the right way they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam..."
John 6:66 - "As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore."
Proverbs 14:14 - "The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways."
Not only is the Bible full of verses that warn us about falling away from God, but we also have accounts of the lives of actual people who did it, some of whom returned and some who didn't.
The list of Biblical backsliders includes names like, Saul, Solomon, Amon, Rehoboam, Asa, Amaziah, Jonah, Hymenaeus, Alexander, Phygellus, Hermogenes, Demas, David..... David? Was David a backslider? Did he ever fall away from God?
Most of us probably don't think of the "man after God's own heart" as having been a backslider, yet, during one particular 16 month period of his life, prior to his becoming king of Israel, David actually got so discouraged with the way things were going in his life that it appears he abandoned the Lord and the Lord's people and went and lived with the enemy. It is the Bible's account of that period of David's life that I want to consider with you in this message. We will be reading from I Samuel, chapters 27-30.
Since the warnings about backsliding or falling away are given by the Bible to all of God's people, as we look into this portion of Scripture, I want to encourage you to make the application of it as personal possible. We will look at those things about David's apostasy that might be common to us at times.
For the sake of quicker understanding I have divided this time that David was away from the Lord and His people into FIVE PERIODS, each of which is common ground to many instances of backsliding today.
In the first phase, we see where
I. David Became Discouraged and Lost Faith in the Lord.
(Read I Samuel 27:1)
What we are hearing in this verse are the words of a very weary man. The mad pursuit of David by Saul had not let up. I Samuel 23:14 says, "And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hands."
If you have been a child of God very long you can probably relate to being weary at times. The road seems long and hard. The Galatian writer said, "for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary." Perhaps there have been some times when you were so weary you actually considered giving it up. That is where David was at this point.
Several things contributed to David's discouragement, and they are things that can discourage us as well. First, he sought relief from his difficult situation and his effort failed. I refer to the incidents of David risking his life to spare Saul, once in the cave and again in the camp of the Israelite pursuers. When you've done all you know to do in human strength and a situation doesn't get any better, or maybe even gets worse, it is easy to get discouraged. Some of you know what it is like to seem to be locked into a circumstance that defies a natural resolution.
A second thing that probably contributed to David's discouragement was this: it seemed like God had forgotten his promise made so long ago through Samuel the prophet. Samuel died, probably of old age, without ever seeing David become the new king. That bygone day when David, as a teenager, was chosen out of the obscurity of his father's sheep pens over his seven brothers and anointed by Samuel must have seemed to David by now a lifetime away. Yes, God had promised him the throne through Samuel, but that wasn't what had happened. Instead, David had lost nearly everything he held dear. And now Samuel was dead.
Adversity for a time is hard enough, but day after day, month after month, year after year with no apparent earthly hope. It can seem like God has forgotten you.
Actually, the first hint of David's discouragement is found back in 26:19. This is right after the second sparing of Saul's life. David is speaking to Saul, trying to convince him to stop pursuing him.
(Read it)
In essence, what David is saying here is, "Saul, you and your men are pushing me over the edge. You're forcing me out of Israel to go serve other gods." Now I don't know if David meant that or was just saying it for it's dramatic effect, but the idea that David would even refer to serving other gods shows that he had slipped some. We need to be careful in even mentioning what we "might" do when we're down. Verbalizing such things in time of despondency is not good. To say such things as "I'm going to quit," or "I'm leaving" at a time of despondency can seem to relieve frustration, but I believe that talking about it can sometimes put us a step closer to doing it.
The third thing contributing to David's despondency was that he had resorted to fully horizontal thinking by this time. That is a response common to man, too. From this verse all the way over to 30:6, there is no mention of David consulting God. As best we know, he wrote no Psalms during this time of his life. David had given up on God's promise. Listen to his words: "There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines..." Now, the Philistines were the enemy! Goliath the Giant had been a Philistine! Nothing better to do? Indeed! What about waiting on the Lord? What about trusting Him? But David had lost sight of those things. He was thinking horizontally now.
These are the words of a man who has either forgotten or given up on God's promises. That is a major cause of apostasy: losing sight of or hope in the promises of God. We need desperately to be reminded and encouraged from time to time. Listen to what the Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 3:12-13 - "Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called 'Today'..." David was discouraged and desperately needed some encouragement. All of us get that way sometimes, too, and it is the responsibility of all of us to encourage one another regularly. Sometimes a timely word of encouragement can be the only thing standing between us and apostasy. Let's be sure that we are encouraging one another!
The first phase of David's apostasy, then, was that he lost faith in the lord. It wasn't that he was dabbling some gross in sin. He just lost the will to go on.
The second phase of his apostasy followed very closely once he lost hope.
II. He Abandoned the Lord and His People and Crossed Over to the Enemy.
(Read v. 2)
In other words, David finally gave in. He was weary of the opposition. He would go to the one place where Saul wouldn't pursue him: the enemy camp.
(Read v. 3-4)
Notice, the opposition stopped when David crossed over! Saul gave up the search. At last David had what seemed like peace - at least for the moment.
Often that is what happens in the early stages of apostasy. When a person finally gives up and gives in, crossing over the line and abandoning hope in the Lord, there is sometimes what seems to be relief. It is momentarily like having been swimming upstream against a swift current and then suddenly letting go and going along with the flow. It seems much easier.
On occasion I have talked to people who have left the Lord and heard them say, "Things are so much easier now. No more hassle." That is probably because there is no more satanic opposition. Satan doesn't fight for what he already has. But don't be fooled! That relief is only temporary. We'll see it in this account. The person who lets go and goes with the flow of the current will be at the mercy of that flow, surely to be crushed in the rapids below at some later time. "Those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end..." (Isaiah 1:28).
By the way, did you notice the effect that David's going over to the enemy on his men? They went with him! David was a leader. Men followed him. He shared the grave responsibility that all leaders have and need to be reminded of from time to time: the direction of your life will have a pronounced effect on the lives of others. You cannot fall away without results in the lives of others. The husband will effect his wife, the wife her husband. The parents will effect the children and the children, their friends. The teacher will effect his students. If you right now are close to the place of giving up and you just cannot think of one good reason why you should keep up the fight, then think of the effect your apostasy would have on those around you who depend upon your faithfulness. That is reason enough to hang on until you can get some help or God comes through!
David abandoned the lord and the lord's people and crossed over to the enemy.
The third phase of David's apostasy was a bit more drawn out in duration.
III. David Adapted to Life Without the Lord.
Remember, David was a Jew, one of God's people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp. In order to fit in with the Philistines he would have to make some changes, perhaps do or appear to do some drastic things to prove his loyalty to the enemy - or rather, his disloyalty to the Israelites. This would cause David to stoop to one of the lowest points in his entire life - perhaps even lower than his later sin with Bathsheba. He began to live a life of deceit and violence.
(Read v. 5)
Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol city was not what he states here. He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I'll show you why.
(Read v. 6) So David and his men began living in Ziklag.
Read v. 7) Sixteen months in the enemy camp!
(Read v. 8)
So far this is nothing out of the ordinary for an Israelite soldier to do. All of these "ites" were enemies of Israel anyway. But the butchery and deceit that follows was something to which David had to stoop.
(Read v. 9)
Now this violence was beyond anything we read David to have done up to this point. He killed everyone in each village he raided. Why?
(Read v. 10)
The "Negev of Judah" means literally, the "south country of Judah." David claimed that he was raiding his own people! That wasn't actually what he was doing, but he had to make Achish believe that to stay with the Philistines.
(Read v. 11)
Years later these massacres would come back to haunt David as he would be forbidden to build God's temple because he was a man of bloodshed. The words of the fifth Psalm, written by David himself, are striking in their contrast to this period of David's life: The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit..." (Psalm 5:6). I'm not sure if that Psalm was written before or after this time, but both bloodshed and deceit became an increasingly common part of David's life during his time in the enemy camp.
(Read v. 12)
Achish recognized David's talent for leadership and wanted to make use of it. He was fully taken in and for awhile David was able to carry on this way without actually harming God's people. But when you live in the enemy camp, you must ultimately do the enemy's bidding or get out, and it wouldn't be long before David would be faced with the prospect of fighting God's own people. It was bound to happen sooner or later.
(Read 28:1-2) Achish has full trust in David at this time.
Now is David actually planning to go out and fight God's people? It sure looks like it. I have found nothing that indicates otherwise.
(Read 29:1-2)
It looks like David is actually going to attack his Jewish countrymen.
(Read v. 3-5)
Though Achish now trusted that David's defection was genuine, the Philistine commanders did not. In the next verses, they demanded that David be sent back to his camp in Ziklag. Achish reluctantly consented and ordered David and his men to return to Philistia. David's response is surprising to me.
(Read v. 8)
Is he objecting to being sent back? It certainly appears to be so. David was, at this point, ready to do something he had never dreamed he might do - go to war against God's people. A person in apostasy will find himself/herself doing things they never thought they were capable of. The human heart is wicked by nature and can be twisted and corrupted. Here Satan is taking David down a notch at a time on the way to the bottom. And the bottom was certainly in sight at this point. For what we see next is
