1 Samuel 22 – 2018-11-15
- Journal
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- Bible Text: 1 Samuel 22:1-5 (ESV) 1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5 Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
- Reflection & Application: 1 Samuel 22:1-5 We cannot read this notice in 1 Sam 22:2 about David’s attracting to himself the outcasts of the land without remembering that Jesus, the son of David, also attracted the outcasts of his time. There is a word about the nature of God’s kingdom as opposed to human kingdoms here. God’s kingdom does not find its membership in the usual patterns of power and influence. It is often “the least of these” who become significant, and the “last will become first.” David is clear in the midst of the mundane concerns of these verses that his kingdom will be a result of what “God will do for me.” It will not be of his own making.[1]
- What can I learn from the fact that it was “everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul” who gathered around David?
- Reflect on the things that David has to do during this time when he’s on the run (Chapter 21). How is God shaping David during this time as Israel’s future king? What perspective does this give me regarding times of personal difficulty and uncertainty?
- What can I learn about David’s faith in God during this uncertain time from the statements “till I know what God will do for me”?
• What must David have felt as a timely word of guidance from God through the prophet Gad?
[1] The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume II. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998). p.1145.
- Prayer