The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 404

Vera. 8-15.-The hero unheroic. I. A WEAPON WAS GIVEN TO DAVID AT NoB THAT SHOULD HAVE 8TIRRED ALL THE HEROIC ELEMENT IN HIM AND RESTORED HIS FALTERING FAITH. Had he forgotten that the sword of Goliath was in custody of the priests? Or did he remember it, and was it for a sight and a grasp of this mighty weapon that he longed? Who can tell? The priest reminded him of the day when, with that very sword, he beheaded the prostrate giant in the valley of Elah. The words must have sent a thrill through David's heart, and touched some chord of shame. Why was he now so much afraid? Why could he not trust the Lord who had saved him in that dreadful combat to protect him now? He was all eagerness to have the sword in his hand again-" There is none like it; give it me." It may have been too ponderous for a man of ordinary size and strength to wield with any freedom, but its associations a11d memories made it more to David than many weapons of war. He ought to have been of good cheer when in one day he got both bread and sword out of the sanctuary. Is not this suggestive of a way of help and encouragement for all who know the Lord? In new emergencies let them recall past deliverances. As Matthew Henry says, "experiences are great encouragements."· The God who helped us in some past time of need is able to help us again. The grace which gained one victory is strong enough to gain another. But- II. RECOLLECTION WITHOUT ACTIVE FAITH AVAILS LITTLE. The courage which must have leaped up in David's breast at the sight and touch of Goliath's sword soon ebbed away. His mood of despondency returned as he neared the frontier, and he- relapsed into shifts unworthy both of his past and of his future. It must be owned that his position was very critical._ To cross the western frontier was to expose him- self to suspicion and obloquy in Israel, and to run great risk of his life among the- Philistines. He was between two fires : enraged Saul behind him, and before him the king of Gath, who might very probably avenge upon him the humiliation and death of the great champion of Gath, Goliath. When the latter of these risks actually threatened him, David, always quick to scent danger, perceived his extreme predicament; and, equally quick in suggestion and resource, fell on an ingenious plan to save his life. It was not dignified-it was not worthy of a devout and upright man ; but it was cleYer and successful. David had often seen Saul in his frenzy, a11tl knew how to counterfeit the symptoms. So be feigned insanity, and was allowed to leave the Philistine town unmolested, and to escape to his native !D.nd. (lllustrate- from tho stories of Ulysses and of Lucius Junius Brutus.) What may puss without censure in heathen Greeks and Romans may not so pass in a Hebrew like David, "·ho knew the trne God ; and though we should not judge severely the action of a man under imminent mort,11 peril, we are disappointed to see the son of Jesse betake himself to stratagem and deceit. We are vexed to find the hero uuheroic, the saint unsaintly. But- 111. ALL THE WHILE THERE WAS A DEEP VEIN OF DEVOUT FEELING IN DAvrn';; MIND. Two of his psalms are said to refer to this time of trouble at Gath. The first of these is the thirty-fourth. It makes no definite allusion to the events related nere, but we see no reason to disregard the old tradition embodied in its title, which refers its origin to the time of David's narrow escape from the Philistines. Not that he composed it on the spur of the J]loment, for the elaborate acrostic structure of the ode forbids that supposition. But the sweet singer, recalling his escape, recalled the devout feeling which it awakened. He did not introduce into his song any of the actual incidents at Gath, for he must have felt that, so far as his own behaviour was concerned, the incidents were not worthy of celebration ; but he recorded his experi~ ence of Divine succour for the consolation of others in their extremity, ending with "Jehovah redeemeth the soul of hie servants: and none of them !hat trust in him ahall be desolate." The other psalm to which we allude is the fifty-sixth. This.. too, is ascribed to "David when the Philistines laid hold on him in Gath." It vividly describes his condition and his alarm, and tells where his hope of deliverance. really lay. God knew his wanderings and regarded his tears; and thoughts of God wer<->  41() THE FIRST IlOOK OF SAMUEL. [en. XXII. l-23. - ----------------------- i~ DaYirl's heart <'1·en when he was playing the part of a maniac to delude the Philis- tme8. "In Gori I put my trust: I am not afraid: what can man do unto me?" We do not palliate anyihin?· in Davi_<l's conduct Rt Nob or at Gttt~1 that was unbecoming a sernmt of Gori. "e must go to the great Son of David to learn II faultless morality, S? that no _guile may proceed out ?f our mouths, and we may. use no pre- texts to gam our obJects, but count the keeprng of a g·ood conscience superior to all <)OJi:siderations of comfort and even of life, and have no fear of them who can kill the bo~y, "but_ are no~ a_ble _to kill the soul." B1;1t th~ Psalms come in well to prevent our domg David any mJnStice. All through this painful passage of his life-in his flight, his grief, his mortal peril-his heart was crying out for God. So he was saved out of the hands of enemies. Goliath could not hurt him nor Saul nor .Achish either. Not that God sanctioned any shift or subterfuge• b~t God he;rd him and -saved him out of all his distresses.-F. ' '