20240421

a cave conversation

1 Samuel 24:9-22 (JDV)

1 Samuel 24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Notice, David intends to harm you’?
1 Samuel 24:10 Notice, you can see with your own eyes that Yahveh handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is Yahveh’s anointed.
1 Samuel 24:11 Notice, my father! Notice at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Recognize that I’ve committed no crime or rebellion. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my throat.
1 Samuel 24:12 “May Yahveh judge between me and you, and may Yahveh take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you.
1 Samuel 24:13 As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people.’ My hand will never be against you.
1 Samuel 24:14 Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A single flea?
1 Samuel 24:15 May Yahveh be judge and decide between you and me. May he take notice and plead my case and deliver me from you.”
1 Samuel 24:16 When David finished saying these things to him, Saul replied, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud
1 Samuel 24:17 and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have done what is good to me though I have done what is evil to you.
1 Samuel 24:18 You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when Yahveh handed me over to you, you didn’t kill me.
1 Samuel 24:19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go unharmed? May Yahveh repay you with good for what you’ve done for me today.
1 Samuel 24:20 “Now notice you will be king, and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.
1 Samuel 24:21 Therefore swear to me by Yahveh that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”
1 Samuel 24:22 So David swore to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to the stronghold.

a cave conversation

For David, getting the kingdom would have been very easy. All he had to do was take the opportunity fate provided. But David was learning to trust God and not his own devices. He would allow God to decide when to keep his promises.

Saul was also keenly aware — during this time — that God would prevail and David would be king. He desperately sought to preserve his family, knowing that they all would be an obstacle to David’s dynasty.

What decisions will you make today? Who will bear the consequences of those decisions? Will you trust God or conspire to rule your own destiny?