The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 401

. Vers. 10-15. (GATH.)-Tli.efearofman. '.'And David laid up these words in his J1eart., and was sore afraid" (ver. 12). The fear of man is not always sinful. As in C'ertain cases, and within certain limits, the approbation of others is a natural and :proper object of desire, so the disapprobation of others is a like object of dread ; and 1t often restrains from temptation and impels to virtuous conduct. But it is sinful when it exists where it ought not, or in an undue measure; when it hinders us from · doing right lest we should incur their displeasure, or incites us to do wrong in order to ayoid it. Such fear has often possessed the servants of God (Gen. xii. 12; Exod. :xxx. 11, 22; 1 Sam. xvi. 2; Matt. xxvi. 72). It was felt by David when he fled from Saul; and still more when recognised by the servants of Achish, king of Gath, and brought before him. To avoid what appeared to him inevitable death he feigned madness, and his dissimulation (though no more reprehensible tha~ the stratagems which many others haYe devised in great straits) was unworthy of his liigh character. Notice- 1. !Ts Pll!NCIPAL CAUSES. 1. Distrust of Divine protectioii, which he had already . exhibited. If he had not, to some extent, "cast away his confidence," he would hardly ha,e come to Gath at all; for God could assuredly protect him in his own land. And now, dcpriYed of "the shield of faith," he became victim to a fear as great as the courage he had formerly displayed. 2. The failure of worldly pol-icy, which, through lack of faith, he had adopted. Like Peter, he went whither he was not called to go ; and when his folly and presumption were suddenly revealed he was 0Yend1elmed with dismay. His failure was, in its ultimate result, good; for, although he bad no intention of turning his sword against his people, it prevented further entanglements arising out of his relation with his enemies, humbled him, and constrained Lim to cry to God for deliverance. It is better for a good man to be driven forth from the wicked in contempt than to be retained among·st them in honour. 3. The presence of personal danger; doubtless great, but exaggerated, as it always is, by fear. "He that seeketh his life shall lose it." How common is the fear of man, arising from similar causes, in social, political, and religious life I II. 1TB INJURIOUS INFLUENCE (ver. 13). The intercourse of David with Saul may possibly Lave suggested the device; which, moreover, was not an inappropriate expression of his inward agitation and misery. Fear-I. Fills the mind with dis- tracting anxiety and distress. He whose faith fails is no long·er himself. He is driven hither and thither, like a ship upon the open sea (Luke xii. 29). 2. Incites to the adoption of deceitful ~xpedi~n~s. "The fear of man bringe!h a snare_" (Proy. x:xix. 25). 3. Exposes to ignominious contempt (ver. 15). "S1gnall1 g1d Da:"1d show on this occasion that he possessed two of the powers most essential to gemus -powers without which he could never have become the great poet he was-tl1e power of observation and the power of imitation. He must previously hav:e noticed with artistic accuracy all the disgusting details of madness; and now he 1s able to reproduce them with a startling fidelity. And in the possession of these powers we may, I think, find not an excuse for, but certainly an explanation of, that tendency to deceit which otherwise it would be hard to account for in so holy a person. When a ~an finds it an easy and pleasurable exercise of ability to throw himself jr1to existences alien to his own, he is tempted to a course of unreality and conse- quent untruthfulness which can hardly be conceived by a more self-bound. nature. But if genius has its greater temptations, it also has greater strengt~ ~o _resist the~. And the more godlike a genius is, the more unworthy and ~um1ha~mg are its -lapses. What more debasing sig·ht can be imagined than that which David presented CH. XXI, 1-15.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL. 407