I Samuel 24:16-22
In the Christian catacombs of Rome, the following story (retold in
Modern English) was found:
“A rich man named Proculus had hundreds of slaves. The
slave named Paulus was so trustworthy that Proculus
made him the steward over his whole household. One
day Proculus took Paulus with him to the slave market to
buy some new workers. Before the bargaining began,
they examined the men to see if they were strong and
healthy.
Among the slaves stood a weak, old man. Paulus urged
his owner to buy this slave.
Proculus answered, “But he is good for nothing.”
“Go ahead, buy him, ” Paulus insisted.
“He is cheap. And I promise that the work in your
household will get done even better than before.”
So Proculus agreed and purchased the elderly slave. And
Paulus made good on his word. The work went better
than ever. But Proculus observed that Paulus now worked
for two men. The old slave did no work at all, while
Paulus tended to him, gave him the best food, and made
him rest.
Proculus was curious, so he confronted Paulus,
“Who is this slave? You know I value you. I don’t mind your
protecting this old man. But tell me who he is.
Is he your father who has fallen into slavery?”
Paulus answered, “It is someone to whom I owe more
than to my father.”
“Your teacher, then?”
“No. Somebody to whom I owe even more.”
“Who then?”
“This is my enemy.”
“Your enemy!”
“Yes. He is the man who killed my father and sold us, the children, as slaves.” Proculus stood speechless. “As for me,” said Paulus, “I am a disciple of Christ, who has taught us to love our enemies and to reward evil with good.””
Today we are going to talk about loving our enemies.
Two weeks ago we studied the first 15 verses of I Samuel
24.
As a refresher, David was hiding from Saul in a cave at
Engedi.
Saul came in to relieve himself and David cut off a corner
of his robe. After Saul left the cave, David came out and
called after Saul to let him know what just happened. He
showed him kindness when he could have killed him.
Even though Saul has been trying to kill David for some
time, David didn’t respond in the same way when he had
the perfect opportunity to repay evil with evil.
Today we are going to see Saul’s response to David’s
kindness in the final verses of I Samuel 24.
It’s the longest recorded quote from Saul in Scripture.
I Samuel 24:16-19
Saul’s Remorse, not Repentance
After all this time of chasing after David, Saul almost
never used David’s name. He preferred to refer to him as
the son of Jesse.
But now after David has shared with him that he had the
chance to kill him and didn’t, Saul calls him by his name.
Saul even calls him “my son”. He is in fact his son in law.
Then the Scripture tells us that Saul wept.
These are not the tears of a man who has changed his
ways.
These are crocodile tears.
These are not tears of repentance.
We know this because I Samuel 26:2 tells us that Saul
went after David again.
Three Ways to Deal with Conflict.
Satan’s way – repay good with evil.
Man’s way – repay good with good; repay evil with evil.
God’s way – repay evil with good.
Paul wrote about this in Romans 12:20-21: “To the contrary,
‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him
something to drink; for by so doing you will heap
burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by
evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Peter also wrote about it in I Peter 3:9: “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for
reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
Jesus said in Matthew 5:44: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
Saul could see that David had repaid the evil he had
attempted against him with goodness and kindness.
Isn’t it incredible that through everything that happened
between Saul and David that David respected Saul as
king and never tried to get ahead of God?
He truly showed love for his enemy
Saul asks David a rhetorical question “For if a man finds
his enemy, will he let him go away safe?”
The obvious answer is of course not, who would do such
a thing? The world would never condone that.
The world says, get your revenge.
God says love your enemies.
Saul recalled how vulnerable he was in the cave and
David refused to lay a finger on him.
He realized that God gave him into David’s hand and
David loved his enemy.
Saul offers David a blessing because of the way he
treated him, but it is pretty hypocritical since we know
that Saul will continue chasing after David to kill him.
I Samuel 24:20-22
Saul’s Revelation and Requests
Saul’s Revelation
Saul realizes that David will succeed him as king of
Israel.
He admits it to David here, but back in I Samuel 23:17
Jonathan told David he was going to be the next king and
his father also knew it.
It’s likely because Saul remembered what Samuel had
told him on two other occasions.
I Samuel 13:14: “But now your kingdom shall not
continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his
own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be
prince over his people, because you have not kept
what the Lord commanded you.”
I Samuel 15:28: “And Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord
has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day
and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is
better than you.””
Saul realizes he is on the way out and David is on the
way in.
With that knowledge he begs David for two favors.
Saul’s Requests
1. Do not cut off my offspring
2. Do not destroy my family name
Saul is asking because he knows that when a new king
comes in it is standard operating procedure to kill off
everyone in the former king’s family.
Saul has seen a glimpse of David’s kindness, now he is
asking for more.
David is happy to honor Saul’s request because he had
made a covenant with Jonathan to do basically what Saul
is asking.
Most of Saul’s family is slain later on but David keeps his
word to Saul and Jonathan by bringing Jonathan’s son
Mephibosheth into his home and treating him as his own
son.
David is a man of his word.
He doesn’t trust that Saul has been truthful in his
response to David, so David goes back to the stronghold
when Saul went back to Gibbeah.
APPLICATION
Love Our Enemies
Because of man’s fallen nature it’s simply a matter of
time before someone hurts us or treats us harshly.
It’s natural to want revenge, but that is the response of
the flesh. But that is not what God wants from His
children.
God has given His children the Holy Spirit and His job is
to convict of sin, guide and lead along with many other
responsibilities.
Only through the power of the Holy Spirit will we be able
to love those who have hurt us.
When we want revenge, we need to seek God’s word and
turn to Him in prayer.
Rather than seeking to harm those who have wronged
us, we should seek to forgive them.