Even though this lesson is on our relationship with God the idea of iniquities involves what we do against our fellow man. Wrong behavior can push people to take wrong sides. We should be a refuge for the hurting. Mercy to the anointed. No mercy to fools.

— Siding with the Enemy?

When David first meets Ahimelech, Ahimelech was sore afraid. David was supposed to be on mission for Saul but Saul had created a spirit of fear and intimidation for many.

1 Sam. 21:10:: David rose and fled (bāraḥ) that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.

1 Sam. 21:12-13:: David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.

Psalm 34:1:: David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out (gāraš), and he went away. Remember Abimelech means my father is king so it is more of a title than a name, David actually fled to Achish, King of Gath but originally after feigning insanity he then fled (yālaḵ) to the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:1).

It is possible that Psalm 34 has an error and it should have read Achish but that does not change one idea here. Remember, Abimeleh could also be a title. David originally fled (bāraḥ) Saul to Achish, king of Gath, and then was driven out (gāraš) of his presence after feigning madness. The Psalmist says Achish drove him out (made him to leave).

gaw-rash’ (gaw-rash’) to drive out, expell, cast out which is what Ahish (or Abimelech) apparently did to David. I imagine that Abimelech did the same thing to Abraham and Sarah upon learning of the sister deception. Even Isaac spoke the same lie to Abimelech (or his son) when he visited Gerar.

We will again see David returning to Achish in another 6 chapters. But we must be cautious about who we side with. Achish at this point seemed preferrable to King Saul. As leaders we must not push our people to dispair and press them to make unwise choices. Gath, home to both Goliath and Achish, means winepress. It was probably the pressure of Saul’s assaults that pushed David to side with the enemy. The whole Psalm 34 reference probably points more to David being pressured to uproot and leave places.

The enemy, Philistines, seem to have caused much contention for David and even the Patriarchs. Today it is not much different. The modern Philistines (the Philisteanun or Palestinians) are causing much contention for the children of Judah. Gerar is said to be close to Khan Yunis, which you might recognize as being in the Gaza Strip. Israel was driven out of Gaza in 2005-2006, as part of the land for peace initiative imposed upon Israel by the UN. It is sad to me that the Palestinians do not know what role they play in fulfillment of bible prophesy.

— Giving refuge to those under threat or persecution

1 Sam. 22:2:: 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.

David created a refuge which again Yeshua becomes toward us. However, in chapter 23 we see David’s men being afraid of the Phillistines at Keilah. It is likely David wrote Psalm 46 which states:
Ps. 46:1b:: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Being afraid or having those around us fearful does not mean anything. We are human and need a place of refuge, even a city of refuge. We are normally most apt to minister to those around us for that thing for which we have also experienced. Do you think Yeshua was ever afraid? He was only human! God does not give us a spirit of fear yet we must be overcomers.

Ahimelek, the priest at Nob gave David and his men bread to eat. It was no ordinary bread but the shewbread which had be used at the temple. Afterwards Saul summoned the priest and his household.

1 Sam. 22:11:: the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king.

Notice it is Ahimelek, not Abimelek. Ahimelek means my brother is king or melek is my brother. Saul, in his madness and anger had all of Ahimelek’s family killed except one son.

One of the sons of Ahimelech the priest named Abiathar was given refuge by David who said ‘stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping’ (1 Sam. 22:23)

When we first hear of Ahimelech he was much afraid, trembling (1 Sam. 21:1). We also hear that David was much fearful when he first met Achish, King of Gath (1 Sam. 21:12). I must conclude that Saul had created an atmosphere of suspicious, fear, and intimidation after David fearlessly defeated the giant Goliath. David created a place of refuge for those fearful and under threat.

— David shows mercy to King Saul

What King David did was to respect King Saul, God’s anointed… despite obvious flaws. He spared Saul’s life in the cave going toward En Gedi and later on at the hill of Hachilah (1 Sam. 24 & 26).

Touch not my anointed and do the prophets no harm (Ps. 105:15)

We read David was in the rocks near to En-gedi which means “fount of the kid”. David was by the rocks of the wild or mountain goats (yāʿēl). These are two hebrew words: one meaning a baby goat (kid) and the out a full grown goat (yāʿēl).

Saul choose 3000 men of Israel to set out and capture David. After Saul entered a cave to go to the bathroom David snuck in after and was able to cut off a corner of Saul’s garment. David even felt guilty about that and had to restrain his servants who wanted to harm King Saul. After David revealed to Saul about the opportunity to kill him, Saul became very humble and repentant, even saying that David will be king one day.

At Hachilah David took Saul’s spear and a jug of water (1 Sam. 26:11). Now remember the spear is a carnal weapon, not like the shephard’s staff which David used.

Hacilah is a hill and it’s meaning is darkness. It is next to the wilderness of Ziph near to a place called Jeshimon which means waste, wilderness, desert, or desolate place. Saul also had 3000 men with him. Now David stayed in the wilderness of Ziph. We also read that David sent out spies just as Moses commanded from the wilderness.

Do you not get the prophetic picture here? They are both in the wilderness but Saul was also in a place of darkness, next to a waste place, something very desolate. There were 3000 of Saul’s men with him.

Death came to the children of Isael by the hands of the Levites.

Ex. 32:27-28:: Then he (Moses) said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

Yet on the Day of Pentecost about 3000 souls got saved. We see here in the mercy of King David no evil befell the 3000 soldiers with Saul. It is possible all 3000 could have died if King David had vengeance or even justice in his heart. For David respected what came before him and sought no harm to the Prophet Saul. It was an impossible decision to kill your brothers and sisters in the faith.

As best I can estimate David had about 600 men (1 Sam. 23:13) so Saul had about 5 times the men. Still, with God’s help a battle could go in either direction. This is being between ‘a rock and a hard place’. Why would David want to hurt Saul or his men? It is a quagmire, at best. Maybe that is apropos. Saul was beside an actual quagmire.

That brings up a question. What do we do when facing almost impossible circumstances as I see also very recently.

Be still, and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10) comes to mind.

Yeshua spoke this years later…
Matt. 5:7:: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Such is the case later in sitations involving Bathsheba and even later on in his life.

— Strange interlude between Saul chasing David

Between the two oppourtunities to harm King Saul, there is a very interesting story of Nabal and his wife Abigail. The Holy Spirit sometimes sandwiches in an unrelated story between to things where He is trying to teach us something very important. In this case we read that Nabal had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. The sheep count corresponds to King Saul’s fighting men. The sheep had been led to a slaughter by a mad King, twice. Actually, if David had indeed killed Saul I highly doubt he would have to go after the 3000 soldiers, for sure even Jonathan might have interviened if around. The 1000 goats of Nabal is a bit tougher to interpret. We read that Nabal was shearing his sheep in Carmel. It is quite possible that the goats were in or around En Gedi. Just speculation on my part, but it does fit in with the narrative. The idea in 1 Sam. 24 calling it sheepfolds is a bit misleadig because that is really a wall or hedge and has been used to describe holding cattle (Num. 32:26), or in this case, goats. Additionally, Nabal was from Moan, he only had his business at Carmel (not current Mount Carmel). Moan is much south of Hebron
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I say all of this to try to get to the spiritual lesson of King David and Nabal. We hear that Nabal lived in prosperity, in the coastal strip.

Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master (1 Sam. 25:10). Even his wife, Abagail realized her husband reviled David and his young servants. There is a note that none of Nabal’s things were missing while David’s men were with the shephards in Carmel. I am thinking this was months earlier since David seems to be in the wilderness during these chapters and the sheep were near to Carmel. Anyway, Nabal has come to mean fool for David and 400 of his met set out with swords to kill Nabal and his entire family. Nabal was not an anointed man and David had no regard for him or his family.

Outside of grace for the anointed, fools get no mercy. It is a wonderful that that Christ means the anointed one. Without Christ we cannot receive an anointing nor grace. It is true ‘Christ died for all’ but that should not be construed as universal grace for fools and sinners.

To the rich young farmer God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you’ (Luke 12:20). Beware of covetousness. Nabal was a fool too. Abigail mean my father is joy and is also the name of David’s sister. Soon this Abigail was to be David’s wife because even though she stopped David’s pursuit of Nabal, he died 10 days later, being ‘struck’ from the Lord. King Herod in the book of Acts was also struck from the Lord and eaten by worms. We likewise can be ‘struck’ from the Lord like having a heart attack or stroke.

Remember Luke 12:15:: Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses

Life is relational, both with God and with our fellow human beings. Let us remember God’s goodness and mercy.

Sources:
https://overviewbible.com/david/
https://www.gotquestions.org/Ziklag-in-the-Bible.html