David, Saul, and Us

The Philistine curses David by his gods, and David replies that he comes in the name of the Lord God of hosts, who does not save by sword and spear, but in his own way.

After 47 verses of build-up, the battle itself is over in 2 short verses.

David claimed nothing for himself in his speech and gave the honor to the Lord God.

All he did was use the skill that he had honed by years of caring for his father's flock by driving off the wild beasts that would try to kill the sheep.

The death of the giant was just what the army of Saul needed and they began chasing the Philistines out of the hill country all the way back to their own cities in the plain.

Saul should rejoice that this young man turned the tide of battle on behalf of his country... and he did...sort of...for a while.

He brought him into his own household and his own son Jonathan became best friends with him.

And now we come to the portion we heard read today, how it all turned sour.

Our story-teller does not give any indication that David said or did anything that way contrary to the national interest at this point.

But Saul did not see things that way.

He thought that so many of the things David did were calculated to win himself approval in the eyes of the crowd, and eventually to be able to seize the throne.

So little seeds of jealousy were planted and sprouted and grew wildly.

Scripture gives no justification for that growth, but nevertheless, it overtook Saul's mind.

Some anonymous poet came up with a little song about “Saul slaying thousands and David slaying tens of thousands”,

not meaning it as a pejorative comparison between the two military men, just a poetic turn of phrase,

but in Saul's twisted mind, it became evidence of David's plot against him.

So every time the crowds went singing the song down the street, Saul became more and more angry.

“Saul has slain his thousands and David has slain his tens of thousands”

“Oh, he has, has he? We'll see about slaying one more...” and Saul heaves his battle spear at David who is nimble enough to escape it's point, on two occasions.

What was supposed to be a song of joy became instead a song of slithering suspicion.

Since David could not soothe Saul anymore with his harp, Saul sent him out to do battle, in hopes that he would be killed.

But this plan did not work, either.

The irony is that David's fame only increased, and still more songs were sung in his honor, increasing Saul's rage.

What was the first step in the destructive pattern we set at the outset?

--not adopting the same goals.

Saul had lost sight of the twin primary goals of his job as king of Israel which were: (1) pulling the tribes together, and (2) doing so under the worship of the Lord God.

He had let misunderstanding of personal ambition get its nose in his tent, which quickly turned into suspicion and jealousy.

When one has the power of king-ship, it is very easy for jealousy to turn into murderous and unrestrained rage and violence.

Sadly, the problem is not only an ancient one.

If we looked closely at some of the rampages over the past few years, I suppose we could find some of the violent incidents around the country that match the pattern.

But now let's bring it closer;

let's think about the pattern and apply it to ourselves.

Are there places in our lives where we need to back up and do some examination and re-directing so that we do not fall into Saul's self-destructive cycle?

The more he plotted and schemed, the less congruent his plans were with the will of God!

Are there places in our lives like that?

Each year in the Lenten season we have that bucket and broom and dustpan sitting over there on the south table.

Some think that Lou has forgotten to put something away.

Not so.

They are there to remind us all that Lent is a great time for spiritual house-cleaning.

Where have we fallen into some routines that are old and familiar but which have misunderstandings which trigger suspicions and so on right down the sorry list of the pattern we've already explored with Saul.

That happens when the very first step is missed...when we do not make our best effort to align our goals with those of the Lord God.

Without listening there first, any of our efforts are sure to be wrong-headed, and jealousy, anger, worry, and all the rest will think they can win.

Bernadette came across a recent story of a pastor who got it right.

Someone ran in and interrupted a worship service by saying that the pastor's house was on fire.

They paused, and the pastor dashed out and determined that his family was all safe,

and then he returned and said to the congregation, “We'll continue with the service; we'll finish this job of prayer and praise right now.”

And so they did, even as the fire-fighters were busy with their job outside of caring for properties, and then the folks went out to support them with refreshments and whatever else they needed.

These are congruent goals, not filled with competition or jealousy or nosiness; they fit together, work together to a common end, to the glory of God and the care of his people.

May the tragedy of Saul not befall us.

May the nerve of David inspire us.

May the love of God forgive us and hold us close. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.