0:07

Welcome to the Naked Bible Podcast, episode 475.

0:29

I'm

0:31

the layman, Trey Strickland,

0:34

and he's the scholar, Dr. Matthew Haustad. Hey,

0:36

Matt, how you doing? Doing

0:38

great, Trey. How are you doing, sir? I'm

0:41

doing pretty good. I'm glad to have you back

0:43

for the second chapter that you're covering for

0:46

us. And

0:46

what's going on with you lately? You got anything

0:49

good to talk about? Yeah.

0:52

Yeah, my goodness, it's been so busy, actually.

0:55

I just sent off for the last time

0:58

my eschatology book. It's

1:00

called The End of the World as You Know It, and

1:03

what the Bible really says about

1:05

the end times and why that is

1:07

good news. So I'm excited about that. So

1:10

I'm not sure yet exactly when it'll

1:13

be ready for pre-order, but I'll be checking

1:15

Amazon and stuff. So I'm just super stoked

1:17

about that. So we finished that up, sent that off to

1:19

Lexham, and Lexham

1:22

has been such a joy to work with and been

1:24

a lot of fun getting that done.

1:27

And I'm excited about it. It's been a long process.

1:29

I think that book from start to finish

1:31

was like

1:32

two, three years, maybe. It's really

1:34

funny just how it all transpired. But

1:37

yeah, so I got that. I started a podcast

1:40

as well, The Bible Unmuted,

1:42

and that's going well. I'm enjoying that. It's

1:44

a lot of fun. But man, I

1:46

guess other than those two things and, of course,

1:48

just work and teaching and

1:50

the Eternity Bible College,

1:53

I'm actually in the process as well

1:56

as working on a class

1:59

for the.

1:59

Awakening School of Theology. So

2:02

my school, Eternity Bible College and Awakening

2:04

School of Theology, we have a partnership

2:07

and we are going to film

2:10

a class called The Jewish and

2:12

Greco-Roman Backgrounds of the New Testament. So

2:14

right now I'm in the thick of building that class

2:17

and writing up all the stuff and we'll

2:19

be shooting and filming that shortly.

2:22

So yeah, it's a full month, man. It's

2:25

been really busy. Awesome. Can

2:27

you give us a brief synopsis of your book that's

2:29

coming out? Yeah, no, that's

2:31

great. Yeah, so my book,

2:34

like I said, it's called The End of the World as You Know, and

2:37

it's a popular level book, so it's not like an academic

2:39

book.

2:40

I wrote it

2:42

to provide an

2:44

audience, just a general audience, just

2:48

an overview of questions about the end time.

2:50

So common questions such as,

2:52

is there going to be a rapture? How long is the

2:54

tribulation? Will there be a tribulation?

2:57

Can we know when Jesus will return? And are

3:00

we living in the end times? These are just very

3:02

common questions that people are asking.

3:04

I wanted to write a book, have

3:06

a resource that people could

3:09

just pick up and read. So it's

3:13

going to be a lot of fun, I think, to get

3:16

that book out. And I hope it's helpful to people.

3:19

Yeah, so just those common questions about

3:22

what Scripture actually says about the end times, because I think

3:25

there's a lot of confusion. I mean, there's just a ton of views out there,

3:27

and

3:28

some of them are not really that

3:30

credible of viewpoints. And many

3:34

of the views that are out there these days,

3:37

they scare people. And my goal

3:40

is to just write a book that shows

3:42

that biblical eschatology, when it's rightly understood,

3:45

actually brings us a lot of hope. So it's

3:47

been a fun project. Well, we're definitely

3:50

going to have to have you back on to cover

3:52

your own book, for

3:54

sure. Yeah, that'd be great. Yeah,

3:56

awesome. All right. Well, I'm ready for

3:59

chapter 29. time today, we're wrapping up,

4:01

getting close to wrapping up 1 Samuel,

4:04

and again, appreciate you coming on to

4:06

help us with that.

4:08

Absolutely. I'm excited.

4:10

Let's dive into it. We're going to be in 1

4:12

Samuel chapter 29. And I guess before I begin,

4:15

I want to just tell everybody, I've got

4:17

kind of a cold, so if I have to cough

4:19

or take a sip of water, just forgive me. I

4:21

think I'm okay, but we'll see how it goes.

4:24

Yeah, we're in 1 Samuel chapter 29.

4:27

And as we finish up the series,

4:29

I thought it might be

4:30

important to review a few things

4:32

from previous chapters.

4:34

And I think it's important because

4:36

chapter 29 is

4:39

a highly contextualized

4:41

section of Scripture, and it

4:43

relies upon the

4:45

previous chapters and the previous stories. So

4:47

we want to take a dive, just a cursory

4:49

review of what's come before.

4:51

And

4:52

I know we've already listened to

4:54

the previous episodes up till now, but it's good to today

4:57

just to kind of review some of that for the sake

4:59

of this text. We're

5:01

going to be looking at the way

5:03

and the reasons why the Philistines, particularly

5:05

King Aqish,

5:07

rejects David. That's the topic of 1 Samuel 29.

5:10

But as we'll see, there's a lot more going on there than just that.

5:12

So let's do a little quick historical

5:15

summary of the relationship between

5:17

David and this King

5:20

Aqish.

5:22

So the relationship between these two people,

5:24

between Aqish and David, it goes back quite

5:27

a bit. So for example, in 1 Samuel

5:29

chapter 21, David is said to have fled from

5:34

Saul to King Aqish.

5:37

But the servants of Aqish question

5:39

David's motives. And that actually

5:41

caused David to fear and

5:43

to worry about his life. So let me read

5:46

that section 1 Samuel 21 verses 10

5:48

through 15, just as a review.

5:50

So the text says that David rose

5:52

and fled that day from Saul.

5:55

He went to King Aqish of Gath.

5:58

The servants of Aqish said to him, Is

6:00

this not David the king of the land? Did

6:03

they not sing to one another of him in dances?

6:06

Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten

6:08

thousands. David took these words

6:10

to heart and was very much afraid of

6:12

King Akish of Gath. So

6:14

he changed his behavior before them. He

6:17

pretended to be mad when in their presence.

6:20

He scratched marks on the doors and the gate

6:22

and let his spittle run down his beard.

6:25

Akish said to his servants, Look,

6:28

you see the man is mad. Why then

6:30

have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen

6:32

that you have brought this fellow to play

6:35

the madman in my presence?

6:36

Shall this fellow come into my house?

6:39

So it's an interesting text here. But

6:41

anyway, I just want to draw our attention to that verse 12 that

6:43

David took those words to heart and he was

6:46

very much afraid of King Akish.

6:48

What ends up happening in the chapters

6:50

that follow is God protecting David.

6:54

David flees of course from that situation and God

6:56

protects him. David has a couple of

6:58

opportunities at this point

7:00

to kill Saul. But

7:04

David doesn't take advantage of those opportunities

7:06

because quite simply he doesn't

7:08

think it's his place to kill God's

7:10

anointed king.

7:12

So he shows incredible restraint even though Saul

7:14

is out to

7:15

kill David. David does not return the favor.

7:18

So

7:20

it's during this time that

7:22

God keeps David from sinning against

7:24

this person named Nabal or in Hebrew

7:26

it would be Nava. In

7:29

that whole situation, as you recall, to

7:32

me at least it reveals a lot about David's

7:34

own heart and perhaps his own

7:36

state of mind.

7:37

So as you know in chapter 25

7:39

David is mistreated badly by Nava.

7:43

What does David want to do in response?

7:46

Well he wants to murder him. But God

7:48

stops him and David recognizes

7:50

God's hand of protection over him.

7:53

Again you can read this in chapter 25.

7:55

My point is that in these chapters

7:58

you get a sense of God's hand.

7:59

God's protective presence over David.

8:02

And you also get the sense

8:04

that David recognizes God's protective

8:06

presence.

8:07

He is confident of God's protection over him

8:10

in many instances,

8:12

but not always. I mean, he sometimes

8:15

lacks faith, he sometimes worries, and doubt

8:17

stricken his heart to the point that he does some

8:19

things that

8:21

are less than honorable, I guess you could say. And

8:24

this is where things do get kind

8:26

of weird, namely around chapter 27. Something very

8:30

interesting happens, something odd happens.

8:32

David comes off of a high victory in chapter

8:36

26, and then even after coming off

8:38

that victory, he succumbs to

8:40

fear.

8:41

So in 1 Samuel chapter 27 verses 1

8:44

and 2, we read this.

8:45

David said in his heart,

8:47

I shall now perish one day by

8:50

the hand of Saul. There

8:51

is nothing better for me than to escape

8:54

to the land of the Philistines.

8:57

Then Saul will despair of seeking me any

8:59

longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall

9:01

escape out of his hand.

9:03

So David set out and went

9:06

over, he and the six hundred men

9:08

who were with him.

9:09

They went to King Achish, son of Maok

9:11

of Goth.

9:13

Okay, this is an interesting move

9:15

on David's part.

9:17

He's moving into the enemy's camp.

9:21

And it's a bold move when you think about

9:23

it,

9:24

because it gives us a sense of the fear

9:27

that invaded David's heart. I

9:29

mean, it was enough fear to cause him to flee

9:32

to the land of the Philistines, the very

9:35

land that he had fled

9:37

earlier. Remember when

9:39

he was in the presence of the king and he

9:41

left out of fear there? Well,

9:44

whatever's happening here, he's deeply afraid of Saul

9:46

to go back to Achish.

9:48

And there's a lot that can be said about that, I think.

9:51

I mean, where is David's

9:53

trust in God here?

9:56

Where is he? All of us? Oh, I'm sorry. Why

9:58

is he? Yeah,

9:58

why is he? all of a sudden afraid?

10:01

Why is he all of a sudden fearful?

10:03

Especially since he has seen God's hand

10:05

of protection before this

10:08

situation. And

10:09

quite frankly, I was just thinking about

10:11

this this morning.

10:13

Quite frankly, this is why I like the

10:15

Bible. I mean, someone

10:18

like King David

10:20

is prone to fear, and the Bible shows

10:22

us that.

10:23

I mean, David is not immune to

10:25

the anxieties of life.

10:28

Neither is he a stalwart against

10:30

doubt. You get the idea

10:32

that he is truly human through and through.

10:35

And remarkably, the text before us doesn't

10:38

seek to hide or withhold the weaknesses

10:40

or the sins of David.

10:43

And to the contrary, they are laid out for all of us

10:45

to see.

10:46

They are right there in front of us.

10:48

And again, this is why I like the Bible.

10:51

I

10:51

mean, it not only gives me a sense of

10:53

what truly happened in the story of Israel, but

10:56

it invites me to reflect upon my own life.

10:59

It summons me, if you will, to contemplate

11:02

my own frailty and my own weaknesses.

11:05

Because at the end of the day, I too

11:07

can act out of anxiety and fear.

11:10

I too am prone to

11:12

flee to gath when my doubts get the best

11:15

of me to run to a kish for

11:17

protection.

11:18

As it turns out, I too am human through

11:21

and through. But what's

11:23

interesting is that this part of David's story

11:25

is far more than a stage upon which

11:28

the life of David is put on

11:30

full display.

11:31

What I mean by that is if you think this

11:34

is a story about

11:35

David, you're

11:36

wrong. Okay.

11:39

Because it's

11:40

true, yes, that David has a

11:42

leading role in the story,

11:44

but he does not have the starring role in

11:47

the story. The main character,

11:49

the one which the spotlight

11:51

shines most, is Yahweh.

11:55

It's his patience and his willingness

11:57

to bear up the frailty of humanity.

12:00

that captures our attention in this story. If

12:05

the best of all the kings of Israel, and

12:07

the best of all the followers of God is King David,

12:10

then we humans are in a pretty

12:12

pitiful state, I would think.

12:14

David is propped up in

12:17

the church, and through

12:19

history as just a great follower of God. Even

12:22

he is shown to be full

12:24

of not just sins, but just weaknesses, and

12:26

fears, and anxiety. And we see this in this story

12:29

here. And

12:31

yet, that reminds

12:34

me of God's own patience

12:36

with David, and his willingness to work through

12:39

David, even though David is so incredibly weak.

12:42

And it all captures the essence of the situation.

12:44

David is a man after God's own heart,

12:47

and yet he is still quite apparently

12:49

at least, a son of Adam at the same time.

12:52

His strength, like all of us,

12:55

it's at the end of the day, his strength is finite.

12:59

But

12:59

God's patience, and God's mercy,

13:01

and God's strength,

13:03

it's infinite. And you see this in this

13:05

story with David. David

13:07

is waffling sometimes back and forth between

13:09

faith and doubt, confidence

13:12

and discouragement.

13:14

And yet God stays the same.

13:15

That's a great story there. Again, God's the true starring

13:18

role of the story.

13:19

David is a leading role, but God is the

13:21

starring role.

13:23

God's mercy knows no boundary.

13:25

And what we get here in these

13:27

stories is

13:29

a glimpse of how there is not a depth

13:31

of despair or a valley of death, which

13:34

God cannot spread before us a table

13:36

of feasting in the presence of our enemies.

13:38

And this is something that David will come to learn in due time.

13:41

And I think if we have ears to hear, we

13:44

can learn something here too. So again,

13:46

that's why I like the Bible.

13:47

That's why I kind of just go off on that lengthy footnote

13:50

there is because the

13:51

Bible creates no illusion about its human

13:53

heroes. It depicts them in their fears

13:55

just as much as it depicts them in their courage.

13:58

And I think in doing so.

14:00

Scripture, once again, points us to the true hero.

14:03

It points us to a better David,

14:04

a stronger king, someone that we can rely

14:07

upon in every situation.

14:09

So, here's another thing to consider. From

14:13

a historical, critical perspective,

14:16

there's also another interesting thing to reflect

14:18

upon with respect to David's

14:21

fleeing to the enemy of Israel for protection.

14:24

Like,

14:24

that whole scene of David going to Akish,

14:26

you know, there's something there that's pretty interesting.

14:29

The fact that this is included

14:31

in the text

14:33

is fascinating not only to me, but to another

14:35

scholar. If you're not familiar

14:38

with Robert Alter,

14:39

I encourage you to go check out his

14:41

translation of the Hebrew Bible,

14:43

because it's an interesting translation

14:46

on a number of levels. My own

14:48

students use it for the

14:50

Torah class that I teach and the prophets class that

14:52

I teach. And so, I recommend

14:55

you get a copy. I

14:57

think there's probably an E version online, too. But

15:00

anyway, you'll definitely want to check it out. It's got great

15:02

commentaries

15:03

in it that are really challenging and provoking.

15:07

Yeah, Alter just kind of has his own signature

15:09

way of dealing with the text. It's pretty interesting.

15:12

But anyway, Robert Alter, he's a noted Hebraist. He's

15:14

a literary critic as well.

15:16

And he sums up this whole

15:19

situation quite well in his commentary

15:21

about David fleeing to, you

15:25

know, King Akish, to the enemy

15:27

of Israel. And

15:28

he talks about why that's

15:31

an important piece just

15:33

simply by the fact that it's included in the text. So

15:35

let me just read from his commentary. That's pretty interesting.

15:37

Here goes.

15:39

David Alter says, quote, I'm sorry, Robert

15:42

Alter says, quote,

15:43

for those scholars who have argued that

15:45

David is no more a historical figure

15:48

than King Arthur,

15:49

this whole episode constitutes a problem.

15:53

Why would a much later legendary

15:56

and supposedly glorifying tradition

15:58

attribute this act of nazis?

15:59

truchery to David.

16:02

It would be rather like the invention of a story

16:04

that Winston Churchill spent 1914 through 1918

16:07

in Berlin, currying the favor

16:09

of the Kaiser.

16:11

The compelling inference is that the writer

16:13

had authentic knowledge of a period

16:16

when David collaborated with

16:18

the Philistines. He was unwilling

16:20

to omit this uncomfortable information,

16:23

though he did try to mitigate it, Alter says.

16:26

Now,

16:26

I think this is an interesting point to make.

16:30

The story we are reading does

16:32

not have the markings of legend

16:34

or hagiography. To

16:38

the contrary, this whole episode of David

16:40

going to the enemy of Israel for refuge,

16:43

this whole episode reeks of embarrassment

16:46

and really brutal honesty with respect

16:49

to the downcast, fearful nature of David's

16:51

own heart. In one sense,

16:53

I think Robert Alter is correct.

16:56

What we are reading here is the account

16:58

from a writer who had some sort of knowledge of an

17:00

actual event.

17:02

In this particular text, in other

17:04

words, seems to be the stuff of religious

17:06

memory, not invented legend. It's

17:08

not made up. It's too embarrassing to be

17:10

made up. If you were making stuff up,

17:12

you wouldn't insert something

17:14

like this as embarrassing as

17:16

this would be.

17:18

You wouldn't put this in the text unless it actually

17:20

happened, unless it actually represents a memory

17:22

of an event.

17:24

Let me just say, I'm not trying to play the

17:26

role of a zealous apologist, per se.

17:29

I don't really even consider myself a Christian

17:31

apologist in the popular sense of the word. I'm

17:33

simply a hermeneutics guy who likes

17:35

to ask questions. As such,

17:38

I just want to let the chips fall where they may. I want

17:40

the data to speak

17:41

for itself. In this case, I

17:44

agree with Robert Alter. This text has

17:46

all the markings of a report of an actual

17:48

historical event for

17:49

the reasons I just gave. For

17:51

those of you who are interested in historical

17:53

critical questions about the

17:55

Hebrew Bible, I think this is perhaps

17:57

something to consider. As a confessional

18:00

scholar, a Christian myself,

18:02

I find that to be a fascinating observation.

18:04

So I just wanted to pass that along there.

18:06

Again, if you guys have any questions about that,

18:08

feel free to email me, reach out, I'd be happy to elaborate

18:11

further. But

18:11

okay, let's move on from that.

18:14

So what we have here, David runs to Akish,

18:16

and King Akish accepts David. He welcomes

18:18

him

18:19

to his land.

18:20

And he even gives David the town of Ziklag to

18:22

live in. And

18:24

David lived there for about a

18:27

year and a half or so.

18:28

And during that time, David made it his practice

18:31

to make violent raids

18:33

through the settlements of the Gesheurites, the Gerzeits,

18:36

and the Amalekites. And you read about this in chapter 27.

18:39

And according to the text,

18:40

David and his men slaughtered everyone leaving

18:43

nobody alive.

18:45

And when Akish asks David

18:47

where he has been raiding, David, well, he lies

18:50

about it. He tells the king that he's

18:52

been raiding his own people. But in reality,

18:55

that's actually not the truth. But

18:57

nonetheless, Akish believes him. The

19:00

truth is he's been raiding locals. And

19:02

when King Akish decides to launch a war

19:04

against Israel, he summons David

19:06

to help him out.

19:08

A proposition to which David agrees.

19:11

And interestingly, it does seem like Akish

19:13

isn't quite sure that David will

19:15

fight against his people. And

19:17

if you read in the new Revised Standard Version,

19:20

you kind of capture that hesitancy

19:23

in the way that

19:25

the translation translates

19:27

the Hebrew there.

19:29

So for example,

19:31

the king Akish, he says to David,

19:33

quote,

19:34

you know, of course, that you and your men are

19:36

to go out with me in the army. So

19:38

this is chapter 28, verse one.

19:41

And you kind of get the sense there

19:43

that the king is like, you know, you're

19:45

going to go out with me, you're going to fight with me, right?

19:48

David responds and he says very well,

19:50

you shall know that you shall know what your servant

19:52

can do. That's 28 chapter 28, verse

19:54

two.

19:56

And again, you can sense the hesitancy, perhaps

19:58

in the king. And But

20:00

as we'll see in a moment, the situation here is probably

20:02

a bit more complex.

20:04

I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, to be honest with you, but

20:06

anyway, we'll talk about that in a bit.

20:08

But the part I want to focus on

20:11

is the battle that's about

20:13

to kick off between the Philistines,

20:16

King Aqish and David with him, and

20:18

on the other side of the sword, it would be Israel

20:22

and Saul.

20:23

And it's this battle that's

20:25

about to get kicked off that

20:27

leads Saul to fear

20:29

and terror. And it's a fear

20:32

and terror that

20:33

wedges itself into the heart of

20:35

Saul that leads him to seek God's

20:37

guidance. But God doesn't respond to Saul.

20:41

And you know why he doesn't respond to Saul? God has

20:43

rejected him as king. Saul has proven

20:45

himself to be very

20:47

insincere.

20:49

He's a very duplicitous person.

20:52

So God is essentially releasing

20:54

Saul to his own devices.

20:57

He's just let Saul be Saul. And

21:00

the thing is, if Saul wanted a life on his own terms,

21:02

well,

21:03

God's going to give it to him.

21:05

And here we see God do this very thing. Saul

21:08

has rejected God, and God is just letting

21:10

Saul get what he wants.

21:11

So when Saul sees that God won't answer

21:14

him,

21:14

you're quite familiar, of course, with what Saul

21:17

does next. Saul goes and seeks

21:19

out the medium

21:21

at Endor.

21:22

And the medium at Endor summons

21:25

the deceased Samuel to come up from the realm

21:27

of the dead.

21:28

And you know that story, and I

21:30

won't rehash it all here.

21:32

But this does bring us all the way up to

21:34

chapter 29.

21:36

And that's the passage we're really wanting to

21:38

focus on today.

21:39

It's here where King Akish's commanders

21:42

tell the king that

21:44

they don't want David to fight with them.

21:47

Why not? Well, they're

21:49

concerned.

21:50

Their primary concern is that when

21:52

push comes to shove, that David's loyalty

21:54

will be with his own people.

21:56

And as a result, David and his men will

21:58

turn on the Philistine.

21:59

Okay, so what I want to do

22:02

is take a look at that conversation between

22:04

King Akish and his lords,

22:06

and I'm going to start reading at verse 2 and I'll

22:09

go through verse 5. So 1 Samuel 29 verses 2 through 5.

22:13

Again, reading from the New Revised Standard Version. Here's what

22:15

it says. "'As the lords of

22:17

the Philistines were passing on by hundreds

22:19

and by thousands,

22:21

and David and his men were passing on

22:23

in the rear with Akish,

22:25

the commanders of the Philistines said, "'What

22:28

are these Hebrews doing here?'

22:30

Akish said to the commanders of the Philistines,

22:32

"'Is

22:33

this not David, the servant of King Saul

22:36

of Israel, who has been with me

22:38

now for days and years?

22:40

Since he deserted to me, I have found no

22:42

fault in him to this day.'

22:44

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with

22:46

him, and the commanders of the Philistines said

22:48

to him, "'Send the man

22:51

back, so that he may return

22:53

to the place that you have assigned him.

22:56

For he shall not go down with us to battle, or else

22:58

he may become an adversary to us in the battle.

23:01

For how could this fellow reconcile himself to

23:03

his lord?

23:05

Would it not be with the heads of the men here?

23:07

Is this not David, of whom they sing

23:09

to one another in dances? Saul has killed

23:12

his thousands, and David is ten thousands.'"

23:15

Okay, so in that sense, you

23:17

get the sentiment of the

23:19

Philistine lords

23:21

and the commanders. They do not want David

23:23

around them, because

23:25

again, when push comes to shove, they're

23:28

afraid

23:29

that David will fight against them.

23:32

Maybe when David starts seeing his own people get

23:35

beat up, he won't be able to take it,

23:37

and he'll switch allegiances

23:39

or something. The

23:42

King Akish here doesn't

23:44

agree. He wants David to remain with

23:46

him, but because this

23:48

is the ancient world, right?

23:50

Things have their

23:52

lords, and their lords help

23:54

govern, right?

23:57

King Akish is going to acquiesce to

23:59

the request of his lord.

23:59

And in

24:02

the next section here of scripture, which

24:04

I'll read in a moment, it's here

24:06

where the King Akish, he talks

24:08

to David and tells him the news that he's going to actually

24:11

have to leave the battle.

24:12

Okay, so let me read that, verses 6 through 11.

24:15

Then Akish called David and said to him,

24:18

As the Lord lives,

24:20

you have been honest,

24:22

and to me it seems right that you should march out

24:25

and end with me in the campaign, for I have

24:27

found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming

24:29

to me until today.

24:31

Nevertheless, the Lords do not approve of

24:33

you.

24:34

So go back now and go peaceably.

24:37

Do nothing to displease the Lords of the Philistines.

24:40

David said to Akish, But what have

24:42

I done? What have you found in your

24:44

servant from the day I entered your service until

24:47

now,

24:48

that I should not go and fight

24:50

against the enemies of my Lord the King?

24:52

Akish replied to David,

24:55

I know that you are as blameless in my sight

24:57

as an angel of God.

25:00

Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have

25:02

said, He shall not go up with us to the

25:04

battle.

25:05

Now then, rise early in the morning,

25:08

you and the servants of your Lord who came with you, and

25:10

go to the place that I appointed for you.

25:13

As for the evil report, do not take it

25:15

to heart, for you have done well before me.

25:18

Start early in the morning and leave as soon as you have

25:20

light.

25:21

So David set out with his men early in

25:23

the morning to return to the land

25:25

of the Philistines.

25:26

But the Philistines

25:28

went up to Jezreel.

25:29

Okay, so there are two things I want to say about this passage.

25:33

The first thing is this.

25:35

If it is the case that King Akish has serious

25:37

doubts about David, something I hinted at

25:39

above,

25:40

well, then he is using his Lord's advice

25:42

as an excuse for getting David out of the way.

25:45

But

25:46

I'm not entirely sure that's the best way to understand

25:48

the situation. I mean, after

25:50

all, when the Lords approached the King about

25:52

David and approached him with their concerns

25:55

about David, the King initially

25:57

defends David.

25:59

But the Lords are angry.

25:59

about the situation and they don't seem

26:02

willing to compromise at all on

26:04

this point.

26:05

The king's acquiescence

26:08

to their demand seems to be rather forced in my

26:10

opinion, like he doesn't quite want to go along with it.

26:12

But he does because that's, I mean, at the

26:15

end of the day he's a politician, right? And so he's gonna he's

26:17

gonna have to go with what everybody wants him

26:19

to.

26:20

So at most I think

26:22

what we can say is that Akish might

26:25

have had some doubts about David. And

26:27

again we see this in the words of that

26:30

with in the words that we read chapter 28 verses 1-2.

26:32

I mean Akish does,

26:35

you know, he's not quite sure if David's gonna want

26:37

to go fight with him. But anyway he might

26:39

have had some doubts about David. I don't know. I'm gonna leave

26:41

that with you guys and you know just do some thinking

26:44

about it and go back and read it and

26:45

I'm gonna do the same.

26:47

But

26:48

nonetheless for me I think Akish here

26:51

might have had doubts about David but they weren't solidified.

26:53

You

26:54

know, perhaps the king acquiesced

26:56

to the lords because he found their argument

26:59

convincing. I'm not sure of that either. But when

27:01

the king talks to David he seems

27:04

to think genuinely that all the gossip

27:06

about David is baseless.

27:08

Whatever the case, David is sent back

27:10

home away from the fight.

27:12

And listen, that's very important.

27:14

I'll tell you why in a moment. But he's sent away

27:17

home

27:18

away from the fight. He's not allowed to fight.

27:20

And this leads me actually to my second point.

27:23

Okay, now everything I'm about to say from here

27:25

on out is super important. I

27:27

think it's important to the story. I think it's important to

27:29

the narrative.

27:30

It's important to what the author wants us to

27:33

understand. Okay?

27:35

So yeah, just listen really closely here.

27:38

This battle is shaping

27:40

up to be a decisive struggle

27:43

between the Philistines

27:45

and Israel. The

27:45

narrative

27:48

is weaved ingeniously

27:50

such that the reader is left anticipating

27:53

that something big is going to happen.

27:55

I mean, the story is constructed

27:57

in a way that brings two worrying

27:59

people. peoples together at one location.

28:02

And the writer of the story

28:04

is leading the reader to think that

28:06

the back-and-forth drama between Saul

28:09

and David is quite literally about to come

28:11

head-to-head in this scene.

28:13

Instead of David fleeing from Saul

28:15

again, the scenario,

28:17

the story that the author has weaved has

28:20

them now, both Saul and David, meeting on the

28:23

battlefield

28:24

on opposite sides of the sword. And

28:26

I love the tension

28:28

that is built here. It's

28:29

like the beginning of the end of a movie.

28:32

The battle lines are drawn, the protagonist

28:34

is on one side, the antagonist is on the other,

28:36

and they appear to be preparing themselves

28:39

to face off in a dramatic,

28:41

epic duel.

28:44

But just when you think there will

28:46

be a battle against these

28:48

two anointed kings between David and Saul,

28:51

at just the last minute David is sent home

28:53

against his will.

28:55

And the scene unfolds in such a way that our expectations

28:58

are subverted.

29:01

It's all anticlimactic.

29:04

And as it turns out,

29:05

there will be no final battle between David and

29:07

Saul.

29:08

Again, I'm a hermeneutics guy,

29:11

and so I want to just

29:13

simply ask questions. And I want to ask questions

29:15

like this. Why did the story unfold

29:18

this way?

29:19

Why were my expectations built up only

29:21

to be subverted at the last minute?

29:24

I mean, this doesn't seem to be the way the story should be told,

29:26

so what's up with that? And

29:30

I think, perhaps, that the answer lies somewhere

29:32

in the question itself. Perhaps

29:35

the subversive element of the story is

29:38

itself the door through which the reader is

29:40

invited to walk,

29:41

to walk through. Okay, in other

29:43

words, it's like this. Maybe the fact that the

29:46

story subverts our expectations

29:48

is due to the fact that we've been expecting the wrong

29:50

thing.

29:51

Perhaps we're being led to look for something

29:53

much more profound and

29:55

something much more meaningful. Okay,

29:58

to see how this works. We need to notice

30:01

important literary features that have been embedded

30:03

into the story itself.

30:05

We probably didn't even notice them.

30:07

And that's part of the reason why I wanted to review

30:10

the previous chapters at the beginning of this episode,

30:12

because we needed to build the storied context

30:14

of the chapter we're looking at today. We wanted

30:17

to build the storied context of chapter 29.

30:20

Without that storied context, it's going to be hard

30:22

to,

30:23

you know, make much sense of chapter 29.

30:27

Okay, now some of the literary features

30:29

that I think we should attend to are

30:33

these motifs that

30:35

are easily missed, but very much there, I think.

30:38

Okay, it's the contrasting motifs

30:41

of light and darkness

30:42

with respect to David and Saul. So,

30:45

for example,

30:46

if you go back to chapter 28,

30:48

you will see Saul approaching the medium

30:50

of Indore by night,

30:53

under the cover of darkness.

30:55

He's full of fear and full of terror at the report

30:57

that Samuel gives him there.

30:59

So Saul leaves the meeting with the medium.

31:04

He leaves under the cover of the same darkness.

31:06

Okay. And

31:09

Saul realizes, finally, that

31:12

yes, sadly, he will have to face judgment by means

31:14

of a battle with the Philistines.

31:17

Robert Alter observes in his commentary

31:20

how this is a, quote, symbolic darkness

31:22

for him. Okay,

31:23

I think that's interesting.

31:24

The darkness, the

31:26

motif there is a symbolic darkness. It's meant

31:29

to,

31:29

perhaps, symbolize something,

31:31

say, the state of his heart, the state of his situation.

31:35

But the conflict itself

31:38

is not something that David's going to have to

31:40

experience.

31:42

David, as we just read, is allowed to escape

31:44

at the morning's first delight.

31:46

Chapter 2910 says that.

31:48

And if you're attentive to the narrative flow, these

31:51

literary features, these are the things you can't miss.

31:54

The motifs here, I think, are subtle,

31:57

but are very loud.

31:59

they're cryptic, but clear.

32:03

And I think if you're interested in that narrative

32:05

movement and the light and darkness motif,

32:08

I highly recommend checking out Robert Alter's Hebrew

32:10

Bible. You can find his commentaries

32:12

on this. It's pretty interesting. At

32:15

the very least, it

32:16

puts, as somebody once said, a pebble

32:19

in your shoe to cause you a little discomfort and maybe

32:21

make you think, ah, I wonder if there's something there.

32:23

And let me just say a little bit more about that.

32:26

Let me say a little bit more about the importance of paying

32:29

attention to the Bible's narrative features,

32:31

such as the light darkness motif that

32:34

I mentioned above.

32:35

I remember N.T. Wright, the well-known

32:37

New Testament scholar, I remember him saying

32:40

a long time ago that, yes, we

32:42

want to be careful about reading too much into

32:44

the text.

32:46

But he went on to add that

32:47

he fears that the problem isn't

32:50

that we are prone to read too much into the text

32:52

as much as it is that

32:54

we don't read enough out of it.

32:56

And I think he's right. The problem

32:58

is not that we notice too much. The problem

33:01

is that we don't observe enough. I

33:03

for one, I find the

33:06

Hebrew Bible full

33:08

of such literary features.

33:10

And as modern readers, we are often blinded

33:13

to the beauty of the text, chiastic

33:15

structures to its rhythmic lines

33:18

and the plethora of illustrative images

33:21

all embedded

33:22

in the text and all of which add depth

33:24

to the meanings that we were intended to discover.

33:26

But we don't often notice

33:29

them.

33:29

And as a result, our readings live

33:32

in a poverty of imagination. And

33:35

as a hermeneutics guy, I want to recapture

33:37

the Bible's literary enchantment.

33:39

I want to find all the nuggets embedded

33:42

in these places that I think add

33:44

a little bit of depth

33:45

to the text and to the text

33:47

meaning.

33:49

And so, for example,

33:50

consider once again the narrative flow of the text.

33:52

The story thus far seems to have been building

33:55

toward a final climactic battle

33:57

between Saul and David only till at the last minute

34:00

withdraw David from the battle and thus

34:02

subvert the reader's expectations.

34:05

Why is that important? Why is that literary

34:07

feature important?

34:09

I think it's important because as I mentioned earlier such literary

34:11

features serve to highlight important

34:13

theological points.

34:15

And in this case the point is that in the history of

34:17

Israel God is pivoting Israel's

34:19

trajectory toward a new king.

34:21

That is toward David. And

34:24

by building so much tension throughout the chapters

34:26

between David and Saul the reader is forced

34:28

to hone in his or her focus on both David and

34:30

Saul. But

34:33

when David is suddenly and surprisingly

34:35

withdrawn from the scene of the battle

34:37

the reader is left with just one focus.

34:40

We're left to observe only Saul and

34:43

his sad demise.

34:45

And by telling the story this way the

34:47

biblical writer sucks the air out of the room

34:50

and he causes readers to gasp as

34:52

they behold the end of Saul's would-be yet

34:55

failed dynasty.

34:57

And we'll get to the death of Saul in

34:59

the next episode but it's important to anticipate

35:02

that even now

35:03

it's important to anticipate Saul's death even

35:05

now because it helps us get the full scope

35:08

and context of the situation.

35:10

And by telling the story in this way

35:13

it's interesting because

35:15

the writer

35:16

is revealing something important about God and

35:19

the way God deals with humans.

35:20

Before David could be king

35:23

there obviously needed to be a vacancy of the throne.

35:26

In other words Saul needs to be removed.

35:30

And of course there are many ways to do this. I mean David

35:32

himself had plenty of opportunities to

35:34

remove Saul swiftly

35:36

and with relative ease

35:38

and yet David never dared to touch

35:40

Saul in a violent way. You know that very

35:42

well. All the instances

35:44

David could take out Saul he refused.

35:46

And the story as

35:48

we'll see is such that David will

35:50

be crowned king another way.

35:52

He doesn't need to do anything at all actually.

35:55

He simply needs to resign the situation.

35:58

Even when he is on the run

35:59

scared for his life, David relinquishes

36:02

control of the situation into God's hands.

36:05

He lets God take care of it.

36:07

And perhaps the author here is showing us how

36:10

David

36:12

has nothing to do with Saul's death. I mean, David

36:14

is removed at the last minute from the battle.

36:17

Okay.

36:18

And I think that's an important piece to observe

36:20

here. Okay,

36:21

so you have to understand that

36:24

before I became

36:27

a full-time professor, I was a

36:29

full-time pastor. And

36:30

I think most of you guys know me as Dr. Halstead or

36:32

Professor Halstead, but if I may,

36:34

let me bring out Pastor Matt for just a moment here. And

36:37

I think there's

36:39

a pastoral and devotional

36:42

truth that I think we can learn from all this. Because

36:45

as human beings, we all have the luxury

36:47

of living in a strange world. Okay.

36:50

This is a world where we all

36:53

at times like David find ourselves on the run. It

36:55

seems that like wherever we turn, we

36:57

have our own souls chasing us down,

37:00

trying to beat us up, or worse, destroy us

37:02

altogether.

37:03

And sometimes we find ourselves in tough circumstances

37:05

and situations. We find ourselves

37:08

neck deep in a mudslide that's falling

37:10

toward darkness. I guess what I'm

37:12

saying is that life can be tough. And

37:15

if there's one thing we can learn from the life of David,

37:18

it's this. God can

37:20

take care of us and we can trust that He'll take care of us.

37:23

I mean, David was far from a saint. David

37:26

did a lot of things that weren't right.

37:28

Some of them pretty despicable.

37:31

But fortunately, David is not the star of the

37:33

show, as I said earlier.

37:35

First and Second Samuel is not about David. It's about

37:37

God. And it's about God weaving His

37:39

will through the lives of messy and at times

37:41

evil people.

37:43

And as a human being, breathing

37:45

the air of this strange

37:47

world, it gives me a

37:49

lot of hope

37:50

that no matter how many hard times I go through, no

37:52

matter how thick the darkness and fearful

37:54

the situation, I

37:56

know that one day God will protect

37:58

me until the very end.

37:59

where I, just like you and all of

38:02

our brothers and sisters in Christ,

38:04

will be given the authority of ruling and reigning with Jesus.

38:06

That's the day we look forward to.

38:09

And even today we are sons and daughters of God,

38:12

and one day that truth will be revealed

38:14

in the glory of the resurrection.

38:16

And what all this means is that no matter what the enemy

38:18

throws your way today,

38:20

you can have confidence to trust God and let Him

38:23

bring you safely into the kingdom.

38:25

You can trust God to bring

38:27

you safely into that day

38:30

when you will share in the rule and reign

38:32

with Christ. He did it

38:34

with David, and he'll do it for us.

38:36

And so I just want to encourage you to take heart, friends,

38:39

because, well, your God

38:41

has overcome the world. Let

38:43

me make another observation about this text.

38:46

I want to talk briefly about the way God's judgment

38:48

works.

38:49

Because I think this text, you know, the removal

38:51

of David and

38:53

Saul's unfortunate demise, you know, that

38:55

whole scene, I think it illustrates the way

38:57

God's judgment works. Okay.

39:00

What's interesting is how the tech... Well,

39:02

let me say this. What's interesting is how the battle,

39:05

how the battle itself will become the

39:07

means by which Saul is dethroned, and

39:10

at the same time, the means by which David

39:12

will be enthroned.

39:13

Let me repeat that.

39:15

What's interesting is how the battle itself

39:17

will become the means by which Saul is dethroned,

39:20

and at the same time, a means by which

39:22

David will be enthroned.

39:25

And I think this is a good illustration for how to think

39:27

about divine judgment. See, judgment

39:30

cuts both ways.

39:31

For those who choose to align themselves with that which

39:34

is good,

39:35

that is to say, with God,

39:37

then they will reap what they sow. They will reap

39:39

that which is good.

39:41

But for those who choose to align themselves with

39:43

that which is not good, that is, with the forces

39:45

of evil,

39:46

then they will sadly reap what they sow.

39:49

They will reap that which is not good.

39:51

I don't want to travel too far down into that rabbit

39:53

hole, but I think this is a way the

39:55

concept of judgment functions

39:57

theologically in Scripture.

39:59

See, given God's ontological status as

40:02

the supreme good, the true, the beautiful, anything

40:04

that chooses not to

40:06

align itself with Him will by consequence

40:08

experience that which is not good, that

40:10

which is not true, and that which is not beautiful.

40:13

In other words, it's not because God is mean

40:15

that He brings judgment upon Saul.

40:17

Judgment is simply what you get when you experience

40:19

God. And

40:22

if the candle, think of it this way, if candle

40:24

wax and clay rock comes into contact with

40:27

light and heat,

40:28

there will be consequences.

40:30

And the consequences

40:32

will vary depending upon

40:34

their respective constitutions. So for

40:36

example, wax melts in the presence of

40:38

light and heat because it's wax.

40:40

Clay, however, hardens in the presence

40:43

of light and heat

40:44

because its constitution is clay.

40:46

It doesn't harden because the light or the heat

40:49

is being mean to it.

40:50

No, it just hardens by virtue of the stuff

40:52

it's made of.

40:54

And in the sad case of Saul, which

40:56

we'll continue to outline in like a future episode,

40:59

much of the same can be said.

41:01

See, Saul simply put is not a

41:03

man after God's own heart.

41:05

I mean, he looks the part, he's handsome, right?

41:07

But the constitution of his

41:09

heart is not conducive for a thriving

41:11

life with God. Saul is a man who

41:15

has his own agenda. He's got his own desires. He's

41:17

got his own thing. Okay. And

41:19

when it comes right down to it, God's just going to give

41:21

him what he wants. And that's not

41:23

a good thing. But

41:25

for

41:26

those who do align themselves with God,

41:29

then experiencing God's judgment will be

41:32

a blissful thing.

41:33

It'll be a blissful experience.

41:35

The only question is what do you choose? I mean, what sort

41:37

of life will you lead?

41:40

And I'm reminded just in closing, I'll

41:42

say this, I'm reminded about something our late brother

41:44

Dr. Heiser always asked.

41:47

He always asked this question.

41:49

What does God want? Well

41:51

he wants a family.

41:53

And the only question you and I need to answer is, do

41:56

we want to be part of the family that God is building?

41:59

Can that question settle in deep?

42:01

Muse on that question.

42:04

Think about David as a man after God's own

42:06

heart. Think about Saul who was a

42:08

man after his own agenda,

42:10

and look at the consequences that both

42:12

of them experienced

42:13

in the judgment of God.

42:16

I think there's something there that's worth considering.

42:19

Okay, well with that, let's call

42:21

it a day. And when we return next time,

42:24

we're gonna look at chapter 30 and chapter 31,

42:27

and I hope today's tour through the text

42:30

has been helpful for your understanding of Scripture.

42:32

And I hope it's been encouraging to your faith, and

42:35

it's been encouraging to your walk with Christ. I

42:37

think the takeaway here today is

42:40

follow after God and give Him all

42:42

of your heart, and be a person after

42:45

God's own heart.

42:46

Thanks again, friends.

42:49

Okay, Matt, you did a fantastic job

42:51

wearing the different hats. I like Pastor

42:53

Matt. I like, that

42:56

might be my favorite.

42:57

Oh, cool, okay, good. Well,

43:00

you mentioned it. We are gonna

43:02

close first Samuel next

43:04

week with chapter 30 and 31. We

43:06

appreciate you doing that, and we

43:09

appreciate Dr. Halstead for coming on,

43:11

and I wanna thank everybody else for listening to the Naked

43:13

Bible Podcast. God bless. Thanks

43:15

for listening to the

43:18

Naked Bible Podcast. To

43:21

support this podcast, visit www.nakedbibleblog.com

43:26

to learn more about Dr. Heizer's other websites

43:28

and blogs, go to www.ermsh.com.