David,
victor over the Philistines, accompanied by prophet and
priest
David, despised as he may
be, is the king and saviour of the people; he puts the
Philistines to flight with great slaughter. He finds
nothing but treachery in Israel, of which Saul makes use
in the hope of seizing David. But as the wisdom of the
prophet is with David, so has he also God's answer by the
ephod of the priest which is with him.
Saul's real
position before God
Let us observe in passing,
that Saul has greatly aggrandised himself to outward view.
He is no longer with his six hundred men who followed him
trembling; he can speak of his captains of thousands and
captains of hundreds; he can bestow fields and vineyards;
he has his Doeg, the head over his herdsmen. Before God,
inwardly, he makes frightful progress in evil; he is not
only forsaken of God, but he breaks through all the
restraints of conscience, and of the testimony and
ordinances of God. For the prophet Samuel and the priests
ought to have been a restraint to one who professed to be
identified with the interests of God's people.
Outward progress in
prosperity, joined to actual progress in evil inwardly,
is a very solemn thing. It is at once a snare to the
flesh and a trial to faith. David, on the contrary, is
apparently—and in fact, as to circumstances—driven
out from the people. He has neither home nor refuge. But
the testimony of God, in the person of the prophet Gad,
and communion with God by the priest's ephod, are his
portion in his exile. Cast out by man, he is where the
resources of God are realised according to the need of
His people.
David acting as
priest, a type of Christ
Remark also that David
himself acts as priest, to obtain the expression of God's
mind. He takes the ephod to seek counsel of God; he eats
the shewbread, a remarkable type of Christ teaching us
that, when all is ruined, blessing is made over to those
who by faith walk in obedience, understanding the duty of
the believer who discerns the moral place of faith, what
it owes to God, and how it may rely on Him.
David's
discernment of what pleases God
Remark, also, that that
which here distinguishes David is not shining deeds, the
fruit of the power of faith, but the instinct and
intelligence of that which is suitable to his position a
moral discernment of that which is pleasing to God, and
of the line of conduct which His servant should pursue as
the vessel of His spiritual energy, while the power which
belongs to him is in the hands of another. It is the walk
of one who has apprehended that which is suitable to this
difficult position, in all the circumstances it brings
him into; who respects that which God respects, and does
the work of God without fear when God calls him: a
remarkable type of Jesus in all this, and example for us.
Besides this spiritual
perception, these moral suitabilities; the greater part
of this history sets before us the way in which God makes
everything tend towards the accomplishment of His
purposes (in spite of all the motives and intentions of
men) in order to place David, through patience and the
energy of faith, in the position He had prepared for him.
God's intervention
and safeguard
Nevertheless David needs
the intervention and the safeguard of God. Having quitted
Keilah (chap. 23), in consequence of God's warning, he
goes into the wilderness. There he is surrounded by Saul's
men. But at the moment when Saul would have taken him,
the Philistines invade the land, and Saul is obliged to
return.
1 Samuel 23 Bible Commentary
John Darby’s Synopsis
David, despised as he may be, is the king and saviour of the people; he puts the Philistines to flight with great slaughter. He finds nothing but treachery in Israel, of which Saul makes use in the hope of seizing David. But as the wisdom of the prophet is with David, so has he also God's answer by the ephod of the priest which is with him.
Saul's real position before God
Let us observe in passing, that Saul has greatly aggrandised himself to outward view. He is no longer with his six hundred men who followed him trembling; he can speak of his captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; he can bestow fields and vineyards; he has his Doeg, the head over his herdsmen. Before God, inwardly, he makes frightful progress in evil; he is not only forsaken of God, but he breaks through all the restraints of conscience, and of the testimony and ordinances of God. For the prophet Samuel and the priests ought to have been a restraint to one who professed to be identified with the interests of God's people.
Outward progress in prosperity, joined to actual progress in evil inwardly, is a very solemn thing. It is at once a snare to the flesh and a trial to faith. David, on the contrary, is apparently—and in fact, as to circumstances—driven out from the people. He has neither home nor refuge. But the testimony of God, in the person of the prophet Gad, and communion with God by the priest's ephod, are his portion in his exile. Cast out by man, he is where the resources of God are realised according to the need of His people.
David acting as priest, a type of Christ
Remark also that David himself acts as priest, to obtain the expression of God's mind. He takes the ephod to seek counsel of God; he eats the shewbread, a remarkable type of Christ teaching us that, when all is ruined, blessing is made over to those who by faith walk in obedience, understanding the duty of the believer who discerns the moral place of faith, what it owes to God, and how it may rely on Him.
David's discernment of what pleases God
Remark, also, that that which here distinguishes David is not shining deeds, the fruit of the power of faith, but the instinct and intelligence of that which is suitable to his position a moral discernment of that which is pleasing to God, and of the line of conduct which His servant should pursue as the vessel of His spiritual energy, while the power which belongs to him is in the hands of another. It is the walk of one who has apprehended that which is suitable to this difficult position, in all the circumstances it brings him into; who respects that which God respects, and does the work of God without fear when God calls him: a remarkable type of Jesus in all this, and example for us.
Besides this spiritual perception, these moral suitabilities; the greater part of this history sets before us the way in which God makes everything tend towards the accomplishment of His purposes (in spite of all the motives and intentions of men) in order to place David, through patience and the energy of faith, in the position He had prepared for him.
God's intervention and safeguard
Nevertheless David needs the intervention and the safeguard of God. Having quitted Keilah (chap. 23), in consequence of God's warning, he goes into the wilderness. There he is surrounded by Saul's men. But at the moment when Saul would have taken him, the Philistines invade the land, and Saul is obliged to return.