The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 395

most perilous, and of very doubtful character, and which involved farther recourse- to a most humiliating expedient. I. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN Goo's SERVANTS ARE APPARENTLY LEFT TO THEIR OWN USE OF PREVIOUS TEACHING, which they find difficult to apply to new and dangerous circumstances. David was placed in great peril, with no other guidance than what his own spirit might gather from a consideration of his calling by Samuel, and the general signs of God's past favour. There is, as a rule, a difficulty to the inexperienced in apply_ing gene:al p_ri!1ciple~ to novel ~onditions; and under the physical and mentaL exha~st1011; of tlus cr1s1s David found 1t l_iard to e:i:tract from the past sufficient light to gmde his present steps. He walked m comparative darkness. "Thou hast laid me in_ the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps" (Ps. lxxxviii. 6). The suppositi<YflJ that it i,s reserved only to the deliberately wu:ked to walk iii darkness is not correct. The present life of the righteous in a sinful world is one of discipline, in which they both reap some of the fruits of former imperfections and become trained to higher service. Our Christian course is a campaign in which dark nights of watching and groping and trembling are to be expected as well as bright days of onslaught andl victery. The dt1g,-ee of clearness in which the pillar of fire and cloud may stand before us may be affected by our disordered vision-the result of imperfect health, or distraction, or sheer exhaUBtion. The disciples of Christ, during those dark and dreadful hours of his passion and death, were left to the guidance and cheer of such of the truths as he had taught them in the days of prosperity as their judgment might deem appropriate to their present need. To the young man from home, tossed and tom by the adversities of life, unable to find means of sustenance, and destitute of friends, there is left the lessons of his childhood and such truth o.s may have been gathered from a brief experience of life. In hie agitation he sees no clear light. A '' horror of great darkness " comes over the soul, and the servant of God asks why his God is so "far from helping'' him (Ps. xxii. 1 ). II. THE SERVANTS OF GoD, ACTING ON THEIR OWN JUDGMENT AT SUCH TIMES, MAY COMMIT THEMSELVES TO INCREASING DANGERS AND HUMILIATING DEVICES. Exercising his judgment both on his present circumstances and his past experience of God'& dealings with him, David thought he saw amidst the gloom a hand pointing to Gath as a place of refuge. No voice from heaven said, "Go not thither,' and no light led elsewhere. Men would say he did the best under the circumstances, and in all sin- cerity of purpose. Nevertheless, the step was a false one, apart from. his motive, both in itself and in its results. For it was shocking for a pious Hebrew-the assertor of the "name of the Lord" (eh. xvii. 45), and the victor of Elah-to enter the abode and seek the service of the " uncircumcised Philistine," and the event proved that safety was not secured, but was so imperilled as to suggest the adoption of a most humiliating expedient. Oh, the bitter anguish of those who, having· lived in the light of God's countenance, find themselves sinking deeper and deeper into- helplessness and sorrow I Thus may it be with us all in our "dark and cloudy day." Every new step we take only makes our path more painful, and taxes more severely our ingenuity. Peter's "following afar off" led him amidst scoffing men and women, and their words (eh. xxi. 11; cf. Matt. xxvi. 58, 69-75) made a demand on his ingenuity more serious in its success than David's feigned madness. And this has been the experience of multitudes. There are two great dangers of the "hour of darkness" which David's experience indicates. 1. The danger of causing- scandal arrwng the enemies of religion. If the servants of Achish suspected David of the low cunning (ver. 11) which seeks to slay by stealth, then his bravd, chival- rous character as a defender of the honour of Jehovah's name (eh. xvii. 46) is gone; and if they regard him as a fugitive fleeing from his king and country, then ~e re,·eals to the "uncircumcised " the woes and troubles of the people of God. It 1s a sacred duty in all our times of adversity to avoid whatever would cause irreligious !nen to think that we can do their base deeds, and not to expose to the eye of th8 unsympathetic the internal sorrows of the Church of God. 2. The danger of a_p- pearing to be what we are not. It may have been a harmless and successful device to simulate madness; but self-respect was gone, and a" more. excellent way" ?f escape might Lave been sought of_ God. This _is the g~eat p~nl of us al\ bot~ m prosoerity and adversity. The gmse under which the s1mulat1on appears 1s vaned.  ou. xx1. 1-lb.J THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 401