Skip to content Mercy Before Revenge: David and the Anointed of the Lord in 1 Samuel 24-25 May 27 · 14 min ...more
Mercy Before Revenge: David and the Anointed of the Lord in 1 Samuel 24-25
May 27, 2026 · 14 min
David’s restraint at En Gedi models holiness: do not harm the Lord’s anointed. Let Scripture, not impulsive counsel, shape our response.
Series Stand on the Word - Video On Demand May 27, 2026 · 14 min · Stand on the Word - Video On Demand
David’s restraint at En Gedi models holiness: do not harm the Lord’s anointed. Let Scripture, not impulsive counsel, shape our response. ...more Show the full description Show less David’s restraint at En Gedi models holiness: do not harm the Lord’s anointed. Let Scripture, not impulsive counsel, shape our response.
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David Spares Saul: Trusting God Over Vengeance 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Thanks for joining me this morning as our journey takes us to first Samuel chapters 24 and 25. Who we listen to matters. Verse 33 of0:21 chapter 25. And blessed is your advice and blessed are you because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. So in chapter 24, we find0:33 David on the run as a fugitive. He is, he also has this growing group of of men who are in debt. They're distressed and discontented. I can only imagine the0:45 HR issues that David had to deal with. They're hiding in the, the rugged wilderness of En Gedi. I've actually been to the springs of En Gedi, and I've stood there, and it's probably where David and his men drank from.0:57 It's a beautiful place. So as Saul's in pursuit of David, he makes a a rest stop in a cave where David and his men are hiding in the recesses. So David's men tell him, hey, David. This is the moment.1:09 Kill him. And we're gonna see how David responds to that. Then in chapter 25, David and his men have an an an unpleasant encounter with a man named Nabal. His name means foolish and he certainly lives up1:21 to his name. So David is on his way to kill every man in Nabal's house, and Nabal's wife Abigail intercedes and talks to David and tells him not to1:32 shed blood without cause. And we're gonna see how that turns out as well. Let's begin chapter 24 verse 2. Then Saul took 3000 chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the1:44 wild goats. So he came to the sheepfolds by the road where there was a cave, and Saul went in to attend to his needs. David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave. Then the men of David said to him, this is1:56 the day which the Lord said to you, behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you. And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of2:08 Saul's robe. Now it happened afterward that David's heart troubled him because he had cut Saul's robe. And he said to his men, the lord forbid that I should do this2:19 thing to my master, the lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the lord. So David restrained his servants with these2:31 words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. Who we listen to matters. Fortunately, for David, he was not2:43 listening to his men because they were not listening to the lord. And they they said, this is your chance. This is your chance, David. The lord's delivered your enemy into your hand. Now that sounds godly,2:55 sounds sanctified, but David was doing the difficult thing of to the holy spirit that uses the word of God to speak to us in Exodus.3:08 In fact, remember David, writer of Psalms, thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. In Exodus chapter 22 verse 28, God said, you shall not revile God nor curse3:20 a ruler of your people. You're not if you're not to curse the leaders that the lord establishes, even though they may be bad, then you shouldn't kill them either. What we hear from the Holy3:31 Spirit, what we think we're hearing needs to be rooted in the word of God. Now as followers of Jesus Christ who have the Holy Spirit, we should not be asking3:43 for or frankly taking advice from Facebook or other social media platforms. You know, I see people putting out questions, seeking advice on parenting and and marriage, and it's fine to seek advice,3:55 but not on these platforms. Jesus said do not be deceived. There's a lot of deception out there. We need to be seeking advice from those who are anchored in the word of God. Listening4:07 to social media and getting advice from social media is like, well, like David's men. If we listen to them, if he would have listened to them, he would have gotten it all wrong. See,4:20 we have the word of God and we have the Holy Spirit. Alright? But we need to ensure that we are anchored in the word, which is how the Holy Spirit speaks to us. You4:31 know, God is not going to tell you something that is counter to his word. Alright? So we just need to know that. We need to know his word, And we need to be seeking advice from those who are anchored in the4:43 word as well. Now, let let me go back and kinda give an example of of, you know, people will say things that sound good, but it's not anchored in the word, and we need to know the word. Let's go back to4:55 the previous chapter, and we see what Saul says. Verse 7 of chapter 23. And Saul was told that David had gone down to Keilah. So Saul said,5:07 God has delivered him into my hands, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars. Now, this isn't the first time, it won't be the last, that we read of Saul claiming5:19 that God, Elohim, had delivered David into his hands. Let me think about that for a moment. Really? God is going to deliver an innocent man into the hands of an evil man, who,5:31 as we read before, killed the priest? Saul uses the Lord to justify his wicked plans, while David listens to the lord to restrain himself from5:43 evil. You know, how do we get to a place where we can justify, using, you know, this sanctified language like the lord has5:55 delivered him into my how do we get to that place to justify evil? Why? It's it's when we stop listening to the word of god. Remember what, Samuel told Saul in first Samuel chapter6:06 15? You have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you. When we when we stop listening to the Lord and obeying the Lord, and we we go down as we see with Saul a a6:18 very dark and destructive path. So let's go back to David at the rest stop. Verse 8, David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul saying,6:30 my lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. And David said to Saul, why do you listen to the words of men who say indeed David seeks your arms? And Saul6:42 was listening to those voices as well. Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave. And someone urged me to kill6:54 you, but my eyes spared you. And I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my Lord, for He is the Lord's anointed. Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on7:05 you, but my hand shall not be against you. Here's an important lesson. David, as difficult as it was, was trusting the Lord to avenge7:17 him against those who were seeking to do evil to him. Now we'll see in the next chapter that he almost blew it by avenging him avenging himself. But fortunately, in that case, he7:29 listened to a wise and industrious woman who leaps off the pages of scripture to save the day by giving advice, which is consistent with the word of god.7:41 Verse 16. So it was when David had finished speaking these words to to Saul that Saul said, it is is it your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. Then he said to David, you are more7:53 righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. So here is a a rare and passing moment of remorse and sanity for Saul,Confrontation and the Danger of False Counsel 8:05 where his hatred and his jealousy of David were, for a moment, eclipsed by the realization of his own mortality. Now there are some biblical scholars who suggest that Saul could have been suffering8:17 from some form of psychosis or mental illness, and and I mentioned that with caution because I don't want us to think somehow that rationalize or justifies his behavior. I actually think8:29 it shows that disobedience, envy, and fear can actually lead us down this dark path of destruction that Saul was on. Alright. On8:41 to chapter 25 verse 1. Then Samuel died, and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him and buried him at his home in Ramah. And David arose and went8:53 down to the wilderness of Paran. Alright. 1 verse on the death of Samuel and the fact that the nation mourned, and David, fearing that what littleAbigail's Wisdom Saves David from Vengeance 9:04 restraint Saul had while Samuel was alive would now, that restraint would be gone. He moves further into the wilderness. Now the rest of the chapter, of chapter 25, is about David and his9:16 men protecting the servants and the the flocks of a wealthy man that I mentioned before, Nabal, whose name literally means foolish. When David asked for a little remuneration9:28 for their efforts of protecting his servants and his flocks, Nabal rebuffs and and and and insults David and his men, and David does not respond well. Look at verse 13. Then9:40 David said to his men, every man gird on his sword. So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about 400 men went with David, and 200 stayed with the supplies.9:52 1 of Nabal's servants, however, in the meantime, went to his wife, Abigail, and told her what had happened, and how David's men had actually been very helpful to them in the field. Verse 15, but the men were very good to10:04 us, and we were not hurt, nor did we miss anything as long as we accompanied them when we were in the fields. They were a wall to us by night both by night and10:16 day, and all the time we were with them, keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what you will do, for harm is determined against our master and against all his household, for he is such a scoundrel10:28 that 1 cannot speak to him. Verse 18. Then Abigail made haste and took 200 loaves of bread, 2 skins of, 2 skins of wine,10:40 5 sheep already dressed, 5 sheaves of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisin, and 200 cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys. And she said to10:52 her servants, go on before me. See, I am coming after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. So Abigail gets all this stuff together. She's, she's,11:04 as I said, industrious. She's interceding. She goes and she encounters David on his way to avenge himself. Verse 26. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, since the11:16 Lord has held you back from coming to bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now then, let your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be as Nabal. And verse 30, and it shall come to pass when the11:28 Lord has done for my Lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my Lord,11:40 either that you have shed blood without cause or that my lord has avenged himself. But when the lord has dealt well with my lord, then remember your maidservant. So David she she appeals to David. Look, you11:52 don't want this on your conscience. You don't want this on your record. You don't want to avenge yourself. You don't wanna shed blood without cause. This would not look good. In fact, could be a12:03 stumbling block to the path that you're on. Verse 32. Then David said to Abigail, blessed is the lord god of Israel who sent you this day to meet me. Sometimes,12:16 there there are times when when god will just send that person to intervene and and keep us from making a very bad decision. And blessed is your advice, and blessed are you because you have kept me this12:28 day from coming to bloodshed and from avenging myself with my own hand. So David listens to advice from a source, Abigail, that spoke biblical12:39 truth. So question is, who we who are we listening to? Who are we listening to? Are we listening to those that speak biblical truth or speaking those things that we want to hear? Father, we12:51 thank you for your word, and, Lord, we thank you just just once again for the practical the practical application of your word. And we see this in in contrast13:03 between David and Saul that, you know, Saul, he he was not listening to you. He's not responding to you. But David was able to to 0 in on on that13:15 voice that would speak truth, biblical truth that would cut through even what he wanted to do. But, Lord, I pray that our hearts would be sensitive to hear the voice Lord of the Holy Spirit13:27 or the voice of 1 who is affirming truth. Lord, may we be surrounded by wise counsel that will speak truth to us, to keep us, Lord,13:39 from, from those things which would bring reproach upon your name. And, lord, hinder the work that you desire to do in our lives. So, father, we continue to ask the holy spirit to guide us on this journey, showing us how13:50 to apply these truths to our lives in the world in which we live. If we pray and ask this in Jesus name, amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning and until next time. Keep standing on the word.Listening to Biblical Truth and Prayer 14:02 Today's study comes from the stand on the word bible reading plan available for free at f r c dot o r g slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you14:14 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:00 David Spares Saul: Trusting God Over Vengeance8:00 Confrontation and the Danger of False Counsel9:00 Abigail's Wisdom Saves David from Vengeance14:00 Listening to Biblical Truth and Prayer
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