I SAMUEL
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Please turn in your Bibles this evening to I Samuel chapter 26 as we continue our study through the Word of God. In our last study we saw David have the opportunity to kill Saul, but he spares Saul’s life and when David confronts him on this issue, it almost seems like Saul is broken over what he is doing. But, as we saw, Saul went home and David went to the strongholds, he continues to hide out from Saul. Why did David do that? Because I believe he knew that Saul had not changed his ways. It was just an emotional response outwardly but nothing had changed inwardly, he still wanted David dead.
Then the story shifted to a wealthy man who lived in
When Abigail tells her husband what she has done, saving his life, he is so angry with her that he either has a heart attack or stroke, which causes him to go into a coma for 10 days, and then he dies. He let this anger kill him. And once David hears of this, he praises the Lord and marries Abigail. That is where we will pick up our study this evening, in I Samuel chapter 26, starting in verse 1 and let’s see what the Lord has for us as we study through His Word.
VERSES 1-4
I thought Saul had repented of his sin against David and now he was his friend again. Remember what we read back in I Samuel 24:16-21, “So it was, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, ‘Is this your voice, my son David?’ And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David: ‘You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. And you have shown this day how you have dealt well with me; for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me. For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Therefore swear now to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name from my father's house.’”
It sounded legitimate and yet, it was not. As I have said it was just an emotional response, probably because he got caught in his sin, but there was no change in his heart as is evident by his actions now, he wants to kill David again. And these Ziphites are at it again. Back in I Samuel 23:19-23 they told king Saul where David was at and they are doing it again! And once Saul finds out the general location, he gathers his 3,000 men to go after David and his 600 men. But David is aware and he sends out spies to watch what Saul is doing so they can stay a step ahead of Saul and his army! David knows exactly where Saul is at but Saul has no idea where David is at, just a general location but Saul has not spotted David yet!
It is late in the night and David sees Saul fast asleep, surrounded by his 3,000 men with Abner, the commander of his army close by, as he was to protect his king. And David asks his men who will go with him inside the camp of Saul to confront Saul and Abishai said that he would go. Interestingly enough his mother’s name was Zeruiah and she was David’s sister according to I Chronicles 2:13-16, which made Abishai David’s nephew!
And as the army of Israel is asleep, they sneak into the camp and Abishai tells David that God has brought Saul into his hand and the spear that Saul used to try and kill David, Abishai wants to use it to kill Saul! In fact, Abishai says he only needs one shot to kill Saul, “Let me at him! I will make mince meat out of him!” is kind of what Abishai is saying!
Now how can this whole army be asleep and allow David and Abishai to go right up to the king of Israel? I will give you a hint and we will read of it in verse 12, the Lord put the camp of Israel, including Saul and Abner into a deep sleep. Okay, not really a hint, but that is what happened and that is why they could enter the camp unnoticed!
David could have let Abishai kill Saul and his hands would have been clean, but he didn’t allow it. David did not see it that way. He knew that the Lord would deal with Saul and in the end; Saul will die because of his rebellion against the Lord. But that did not give him the right to kill Saul or let one of his men kill Saul, for he would be just as responsible. It is as Poole wrote, “Though Saul be a cruel tyrant, and rejected by God, yet he is our sovereign lord and king; and I, though designed king, as yet am but a private person, and his subject; and therefore cannot kill him without sin, nor will I consent that you shouldst do it.”
I think for us, it is hard to wait for the Lord to act and revenge the wrong that was done unto us! But I think that is the wrong attitude. We should not be waiting for the Lord to destroy someone, but to restore the person who wronged us. We should desire the Lord to save a life and not destroy one. I know, the wrongs that have been done to you may be severe but think about what our Lord endured for us. Think about what He said as he was nailed to that cross and what was taking place by those around Him and He was able to say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34. May we have that same compassion and love for people, to see them restored and not destroyed!
And again, the reason that David and Abishai could enter the camp unnoticed was that the Lord put the army of Israel, including Saul, into a “deep sleep.” It was not that they were lazy or did not want to protect their king. God was working and David must have recognized this because he took Saul’s spear and his jug of water as evidence that he could have killed Saul, but didn’t!
Why is David taunting Abner, saying that he must not be a man for he was sleeping when someone came into the camp and could have killed king Saul, the one he was to protect? I think David wanted Abner to know, and Saul that he could have killed Saul, but once again he didn’t. Thus, in looking at this David is saying that he cares more for Saul that Abner does, since he was sleeping on the job and because of that he deserved to be put to death!
Once again Saul speaks to David like a broken man, that he has repented, “Son, I am sorry, forgive me!” type of thinking and yet, his heart had not changed. He got caught and he is trying to make himself look good. If there was true repentance, there would have been a change in his behavior and there is none!
David, on the other hand, speaks from his heart and it is reflected in his actions. He appeals to Saul that he has done nothing wrong and he wants to come back home so he can worship in the tabernacle instead of being on the run and forced into other lands where they worship other gods! David sees himself as insignificant and says that Saul is coming after a flea! And that phrase, “as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains” was familiar to Saul. Clarke makes these remarks concerning this, “It is worthy of remark that the Arabs, observing that partridges, being put up several times, soon become so weary as not to be able to fly; they in this manner hunt them upon the mountains, till at last they can knock them down with their clubs. It was in this manner that Saul hunted David, coming hastily upon him, and putting him up from time to time, in hopes that he should at length, by frequent repetitions of it, be able to destroy him.” And David leaves this matter in the hands of God, that if he lives or dies, God’s will is going to be done!
Did Saul really repent here? I don’t believe that he did, his actions will show that he didn’t. They are empty words spoken because he was caught doing wrong and he is trying to make himself look better, but there is no change in his heart! Paul spoke of this kind of sorrow that is empty compared to a sorrow that takes place in the heart and overflows in action in II Corinthians 7:8-10, “For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” The Amplified Bible puts these verses like this, “For even though I did grieve you with my letter, I do not regret [it now], though I did regret it; for I see that that letter did pain you, though only for a little while; Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [and so turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us or harm for what we did. For godly grief and the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads and contributes to salvation and deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].”
Paul is saying that it is not just being sorry, but that the sorrow you have leads to repentance. It leads to a complete turning from your ways, it is active, seen in the things that you do and say. Just plain sorrow is meaningless in the eyes of God. In fact, worldly sorrow, a sorrow that does not bring about a godly change in your life, will lead to death. On the other hand, godly sorrow produces a change in your life. But that is not what we see with Saul, his sorrow was worldly and it will lead to his death!
Saul was destined for greatness in Israel, but he fell far short from attaining that. We are going to see that very shortly king Saul will be killed and his tombstone could easily read the words that came flowing from his mouth, “I have sinned . . . I have played the fool and erred exceedingly.” Saul tried to grab his greatness from men, and in doing so he lost it, not only before his fellow man, but also before God. You see, God could have made Saul a great king, he equipped him for the work, but Saul failed to DO the work, he failed to surrender his life to the Lord! How many people, as they come to the end of their life, as they appear before the Lord, will repeat the words of Saul, “I have sinned . . . I have played the fool and erred exceedingly”?
How come David doesn’t take the invitation of Saul and return home with him? Because David did not believe Saul and he is going to wait it out to see if the words Saul spoke were true or if they were just a lot of hot air. And for David, what he said back in
I Samuel 26:19, “ . . . for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’” is going to come to pass! And for Saul and David, they will never see each other again; this is their last encounter! Thus, Saul heads home and David remained on the run in the wilderness!
David has been on the run from Saul for many years and it is taking its toll on his life. He is both physically and emotionally drained and he is so discouraged that he feels one day Saul will kill him. Thus, the only solution is to flee to the enemy, into the land of the Philistines and at least he will be safe there. How can David feel this way? The same way we do, he took his eyes off the Lord and focused on the situation and he became discouraged and in despair, he just felt hopeless! And keep in mind it wasn’t that Saul drove him into the land of the Philistines, it was discouragement and despair and that will always lead us into the hands of the enemy and away from God!
And notice that this is going on in David’s heart, he did not say these things out loud, but it was eating at him and what was going on inside of him will be manifested outwardly. David Guzik wrote, “If someone says in their heart, ‘God doesn’t care about me,’ it will make a difference in their life. If someone says in their heart, ‘I deserve better than this,’ it will make a difference in their life. If someone says in their heart, ‘I come before others,’ it will make a difference in their life. By the same principle, if someone says in their heart, ‘God loves me and I don’t have to earn His love,’ it will make a difference. If they say in their heart, ‘I am grateful for every blessing I have,’ it will make a difference. If someone says, ‘Others come first,’ it will make difference in their life. What we say in our heart has great power for good or evil, for blessing or cursing.”
How true that is! Don’t give up but trust in the Lord because you will not find peace, protection anywhere else except the Lord! Spurgeon put it like this, “Always be afraid of being afraid. Failing faith means failing strength. Do not regard despondency as merely a loss of joy, view it as draining away your spiritual life. Struggle against it, for it often happens that when faith ebbs sin comes to the flood. He who does not comfortably trust God will soon seek after comfort somewhere else.” What an important lesson for us to learn.
We tend to think that when things are going well, when the enemy leaves us alone, we are doing well. In reality, it is just the opposite. When the heat is turned up the enemy is trying to stop us from the work we are doing for the Lord and when things are going well, most of the time it means we are not walking with the Lord and the enemy doesn’t care what we do then. Think about David, Saul leaves him alone, but he is in the camp of the enemy, outside the land of Israel! It is as Morgan wrote, “It is impossible to see David taking refuge in Gath, without recognizing that he had lost for the time being the clear vision of God which made him strong against Goliath.” And David is not alone; he brings his family and his men with him. Our sin, our backsliding does affect those around us and not in a good way. He was their leader and yet he was leading them away from the Lord at this point.
Last time Achish kicked David out but this time, seeing the 600 men with him, he must have thought David would be a benefit to him and he gives David the boarder town of Ziklag, which was located in the foothills between Philistine and Simeonite territory according to Joshua 19:5. Thus, they are no longer on the run, they have a city to dwell in, a fortified city and yet, when you are outside God’s will you are never safe and you can be in the most dangerous place in the world and obeying the Lord, and it is the safest place to be. You see, that is where faith, where trust comes in. Are we willing to submit to Him or walk by sight and see the salvation we can bring to a situation, which is never good!
David understands that he is living where he shouldn’t be living and thus, I believe he is trying to justify this by attacking the enemies of Israel. In doing so he not only kills all the people but he robs them. And because there is no one left alive, no one could tell Achish what David was doing but that will not stop Achish from asking David what he has been up to. Let’s see how that situation plays out.
As Achish asks David what he has been up to David lies to him and tells him that he has been invading the land of Israel. Thus, Achish thinks he has a friend since David has now burned his bridges you might say with his people. But David has not done that and this sin of lying and murder will raise its ugly head again with David’s encounter with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband Uriah to cover his own sin! If the root of sin is not dealt with it will come back and even stronger! So David is not in a good situation and because of his lies, it is going to get him in trouble down the road.
Notice how the lies of David have caught up with him. Achish wants David to go out with him to fight against Israel! David had painted himself into a corner with no escape. Of this Clarke makes these remarks, “I undertake no defense of this conduct of David; it is all bad, all defenseless; God vindicates him not . . . it is false to say that, because these things are recorded, therefore they are approved.” Why did God allow this? Because He is molding and shaping David, He did not give up on him just as He does not give up on us!
After the death of Samuel there was a spiritual vacuum left in the land. And Saul did throw out the mediums and spiritists from the land, which was good. But what happens when things are not going well, what is Saul going to do? That is a great question for each of us to answer. You see, what will we trust in, who will we seek when the heat is turned up?
For Saul, it was the Philistines again and from his location on Mount Gilboa, just south of the Sea of Galilee, he could watch the movement of the Philistines and he realized he was in trouble! Thus, he tries to seek guidance from the Lord but the Lord is silent, He is not answering Saul. Now some may feel that this is not fair, but think about it. Saul did not listen to Samuel. He killed the 85 priests of Nob, murdered them. And now he wants to seek the Lord, God was speaking and he refused to listen and thus, God is now silent, which is troubling Saul even more! What will he do now? Let’s read on and see!
Why did Saul have to ask his men where to find a medium? Because Saul had kicked these mediums and spiritists out of the land and now he is looking for them. And notice that his men don’t try to discourage him from going through with this, which tells me they have succumbed to the way of Saul. Remember when Saul asked them to kill Jonathan and then the priests of Nob and they refused. Now it seems they have gone to the dark side you might say! And En Dor was only a short distance away, that is where this medium lived, close to where the Philistines were located.
Now if Saul wasn’t doing anything wrong, why did he disguise himself? You see, he knew he was doing wrong, as Leviticus 20:6 tells us, “And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.” But you can’t hide from God, He sees what is going on and He knows Saul’s heart!
Also notice that Saul has a specific person in mind that he wants brought back from the dead so he can inquire what to do and that person will be Samuel. Which again is funny when you think about it because Saul didn’t listen to Samuel when he was alive, why would he listen to him now! But Saul knew that Samuel was a man of God and his back was up against the wall and he did the only thing in his mind that might work, speak to the dead. Folks, why speak to the dead when we can speak to the living God! It is as we are told in Isaiah 8:19-20, “And when they say to you, ‘Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,’ should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
I can’t understand Christians who go to tarot card readers, or seek guidance from horoscopes or ouija boards, or channelers and-so-on. That is foolish and it is wrong. We have a living God and we have His Word and if you won’t listen to that, you have a bigger problem! Let me just share this with you, it is from God Channel and you will see what I mean. We are told from this web site:
Welcome to GodChannel. We’re a group of people working on healing into wholeness. The group has evolved since February of 1997 when three channelers first put up the site. Since then new channelers have joined and some no longer participate. Four of us have worked on the original channeling and all of us proofread and edit. Two channelers focus on channeling Spirit, Body, Grandfather and the Folks. Another two, along several important contributors, have focused on channeling the Mother.
Since our extended vacation ending in October 2005, most site activities are now being carried out by two of the three original channelers.
We each have direct experience in channeling Deity through writing. We discovered this ability in our own inner searching for God and some of us in using processes such as “Inner Dialogue” and “Womb of Wisdom” and the exercise “Morning Pages”.
This kind of channeling is remarkably easy to do once you get the hang of it, and the channeling class explains the way we do it. We had been channeling privately for several years when we began work on the site in February of 1997. This is the first time we’ve shared our channeling publicly.
Our Sources have indicated preference for us to keep the site simple and functional. What we have been given as Spirit’s or the Mother’s words are always enclosed in quotes to distinguish them from our notes and readers’ questions and comments.
- godchannel.com
How sad and in the end, they will find out that they were communicating with demons and their desire is to destroy lives, not save them. May we not go to the dead for advice, but to the Lord, the living God!
This woman, this medium thinks that this is some kind of government sting operation and as soon as she conjures up a dead person, she will be arrested and put to death! And Saul assures her that no harm will come to her and he swore by the LORD! You know what that tells me? It tells me you can use all the spiritual jargon you want and it is totally meaningless if you are not walking with the Lord and if your words are not of the Lord! It would be like robbing a bank but having a prayer meeting before you rob the bank so that the Lord would give you success in your venture! That truly was Saul here!
Now this is a very controversial section and I will tell you what I think is going on here. First of all, as this medium, we call her the witch of En Dor, but the reality is she was a medium that contacted the dead, and all of a sudden here comes Samuel and she is terrified. Why is she terrified if she does this for a living? Maybe she never had visible contact with the dead before, maybe it was only voices she heard. She also now knows that it is king Saul who is inquiring of this and she is again afraid that he might do something to her.
But Saul tells her not to fear and he wants to know what this man she is seeing looks like. That tells me that Saul never saw this person only this medium did and as she described him he came to the conclusion that it was Samuel! We are going to read on and then I will tell you if this is really Samuel or just a demon pretending to be Samuel!
Now did Samuel really come back from the dead to speak to Saul? I use to think he did but that would go against Scripture. You see, if God did bring Samuel up from the dead, why? In other words, God could have spoken to Saul or He could have sent a prophet to Saul. Also, in I Chronicles 10:13-14 we are told, “So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.” You see, if it was truly Samuel then Samuel would be speaking for the Lord and yet, here in I Chronicles it says that Saul did not inquire of the Lord!
Folk’s, Paul reminds us in II Corinthians 11:14, “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” Do you see the deception that is out there and the only way to know the truth is to know God’s Word for it will set you free from the lies, the deception that is out there!
Now what about the information that Samuel gave to Saul, it is accurate. Yes, but again, most of it was already known, the only part that wasn’t was the death of Saul and his sons. But what is interesting is that this demon tells Saul, “Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.” I Samuel 28:19. I don’t believe this is entirely correct. You see, I do believe that Saul and most of his sons will be with this demon but Jonathan will not. Yes, he will be killed in battle, but he was a believer, a man of faith while his father Saul was not!
J. Vernon McGee makes these interesting comments on these verses. He tells us:
It is interesting to note that nothing new is added. Saul does not get any new information. Samuel, before his death, had already pronounced the death, the destruction, and the rejection of Saul. Certainly Saul did not gain any comfort, any direction, or any new information from his excursion into the spirit world.
This reminds me of an account related by one of the friends of Job. By the way he introduces it, you would think that he had been given some tremendous revelation. Listen to him: “Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?” (Job 4:12–17). After this man had this tremendous experience and went through these gyrations, what came out of it that was new? Nothing! “Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?” That is a self–evident truth. The spirit revealed nothing new!
It is obvious from the account of the witch of En–dor that God was not in it. To begin with, God would not call Samuel up—Saul makes it clear that God was no longer speaking to him. Was Satan able to call up Samuel? That, of course, is the question.
In Scripture we need to understand that only Christ ever communicated with the dead. He alone can speak to the dead. This man Saul had been abandoned by God. As far as he is concerned, heaven is silent. And so Saul turns to hell.
- J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible, Vol. II, pp. 179-180
So I don’t believe that this was Samuel, I believe it was a demon impersonating Samuel.
When Saul heard the news, he was devastated. He refused to eat and he became totally drained of strength. But also note there is no remorse, no repenting of his sins. That is one of the reasons I believe Saul was not saved.
Isn’t it interesting that this medium, this witch convinces him to eat, and he did. It is just like Satan to get our eyes off of sin and eat, drink and forget about our sins. He wants us to be comfortable in them. That was Saul here! What the Lord had spoken to Saul over the years His Words fell on deaf ears and now, within 24 hours he will be dead! It is as Baldwin wrote, “The additional information, that within twenty-four hours he and his sons would be dead, was no help at all to his morale. Indeed he would have been better without it. He did himself no good by doing what he had decreed to be unlawful. God’s word stood and could not be altered. He should have believed it instead of thinking that by further consultation he could reverse its judgment. The Lord did not answer him, because there was no more to be said.” You see, the heart of the problem for Saul was the problem of the heart!
Where are you at this evening? Are you listening to the voice of the Lord or are you hardening your heart to Him? If you are listening you need to take it a step further and obey. If you are not listening, why is that? You see, God loves us so much and He desires fellowship with us and that fellowship can only be found through His Son Jesus Christ! God has spoken, are we listening and will we obey?