Saul versus David

Why does this matter for you and for me? Because we can see that Jesus provides all that we need. He is the Lord of provision and the Lord of care. He gives food to the hungry and presence to the lonely. In Him we meet God face-to-face. Jesus is the bread of the Presence.

The narrative has been building the tension between Saul and David to contrast the place of the kings in God’s plan. Saul rejected God and so God rejected Saul. But David committed himself to the Lord, and we can see that the Lord committed to David. The difference between Saul and David can be seen in terrible relief in chapter 22, where Saul retaliates against Ahimelech and the priests at Nob because of their kindness to David.

Saul is in Gibeah with a group of his followers and warriors, and he angrily stews over David’s successes and the love and favor he receives. He laments his own son’s fidelity to David (22:8). He thinks he is all alone and vulnerable. And, in fact, he is because he has stationed himself against the Lord’s anointed, the Lord’s plan, and the Lord’s purposes. Essentially, Saul is looking for any intelligence that will give him David.

Up stands a man named Doeg. This man is an Edomite, from the region just south and east of the region of Judah. Edomites have a contentious relationship with the people of Israel. They betrayed Israel on the trek to the promised land. They would betray the nation of Judah when the Babylonians came through and conquered the people of God in 586 BC (see Obadiah). So they have a bad reputation in the Bible, and deservedly so. The fact that Doeg is an Edomite actually casts a negative light on him as a character. It is this man who informs Saul that David was in Nob with his men. He knows this because he was there (21:7). Saul immediately receives this intelligence and summons Ahimelech and the priests of Nob to Saul’s place in Gibeah.

When Ahimelech and the priests arrive, Saul questions them about their loyalties. Fearlessly, Ahimelech commits himself to David and swears allegiance to David (22:14-15). Ahimelech makes a choice to follow God’s ways and God’s plan with the messiah though it may cost him much.

And it did. Saul immediately ordered Ahimelech and the priests to be put to death. None of Saul’s servants would lift a finger against these priests, for who on earth would murder a priest? Saul would! When he saw that none of his army would kill the priests at his command, he ordered Doeg the Edomite to commit mass murder (22:18). The text records that Doeg killed 85 priests for Saul. Moreover, under Saul’s command, Doeg destroyed the city of Nob, and he murdered everything that moved: “both men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep” (22:19).

Saul ordered unholy war. This is an act of genocide from a horrific leader. In many ways he has positioned himself as the anti-messiah. Instead of providing life and blessing to his people, as God’s messiah would do, he brings death and destruction. Saul’s inside qualities came out that day. The entirety of Israel would know that Saul was a terror. This narrative reminds us that the Scriptures don’t present the best world or the ideal world but rather the real world. Because of jealousy, fear, anger, and deep-seated sin, Saul committed murder. In this case there is no statement of an “evil spirit” from the Lord overtaking Saul. No. This is all him.

We may think we are above Saul, more moral than him, but in reality the text serves as a mirror for our false morality. The text of Scripture only presents one true hero: the Lord and His Messiah. Pretty soon we will understand that God’s Messiah is not found in David but will come in the true David—Jesus.

In contrast to Saul, David is the messiah who provides blessing and safety. One priest escapes the slaughter at Nob—Abiathar. Where does he run? He runs to David the messiah, the only hope he has. David says to Abiathar, “Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life. You will be safe with me” (22:23). David is a life giver while Saul is a life taker.

This verse reveals that blessing, protection, and salvation come from God’s messiah, David. Those who place their hope in him and what God is going to do through him will find the salvation they need. Saul is the antimessiah, at cross purposes with God and God’s true savior.

We must remember that there are plenty of false saviors in the world today. Saul was a broken savior. Following him led to death and destruction. Broken saviors promise the world but leave us empty and hollow. As we have served churches in North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, Asia, and the United Kingdom, we have seen that people tend to embrace the following broken saviors:

Of course there are other broken saviors in life. And readers of this volume will no doubt think of others we have missed! However, the point is to show that broken saviors are all too present with us. But these second-rate saviors are like Saul: they cannot, and will not, save us.

We must understand that the only way we will experience blessing and salvation is to run to the Messiah, Jesus. Abiathar ran to David when he was in trouble. His action is instructive for us. We must learn to run to Jesus, the true Savior. In Jesus, we have the salvation and protection that only a true Savior can provide. So the encouragement is from the text.

David’s words to Abiathar could be Jesus’ words to us: “Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life. You will be safe with me” (22:23). But no one can take Jesus’ life. He has already given it up in death on the cross and gotten it back through the power of the resurrection. And He who has defeated death will protect you and me in life and in death. Jesus is the true Savior because blessing and salvation come through Him.