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DAVID ON THE RUN WITH GOD. I SAMUEL 22:1-5. 6/14/20. #69.
I Samuel 22:1-5 [New King James Version (NKJV)]
1 David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was [a]discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. 3 Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” 4 So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5 Now the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
- Family affairs
- David leaves Gath after feigning madness
- He ends up in a cave at Adullam (13 miles SW of Bethlehem)
- Adullam is in the forested rolling hills of Shephelah (like the Appalachian foothills)
- Many limestone caves in the hills
- Due to David’s status, his family is threatened
- His family flees to stay with David in cave
- No mention of how his family knew that David was in Adullam or if they had received direct threats to their lives
- What impacts one member of a family impacts the entire family (Aachen, Jn. 9 blind man)
- David desires to move family out of harm’s way
- He goes to Moab and asks the king to give his family sanctuary
- David’s great grandma Ruth was Moabite
- The king didn’t mind a civil war in Israel
- David and his family + men built a stronghold there
- Later, David attacks Moab in king’s son’s reign
- David leaves Gath after feigning madness
- David’s disgruntled men
- 400 disgruntled men gathered around David
- God was providing David a force
- The men were discontent (“bitter of soul”)
- The men who gathered around David
- They were discontent with the system (cheated, over taxed, violated, stifled…)
- Men who had some kind of grievance
- Like Jephthah, David is leader of rogue raiders
- The number of men will swell to 600
- God is establishing David as the future leader of Israel
- 400 disgruntled men gathered around David
- Shifting sands
- David stays in his stronghold to await events
- David’s wife, Mical, is still in Gibeah
- The prophet Gad comes to David
- An indication of God beginning to promote David over Saul
- Samuel no longer visits Saul
- Gad tells David to leave his stronghold and return to Judah
- David now becomes an irritation to Saul in Judah
- Saul is never able to catch David
- David’s reputation and strength grow
- Being moved by God
- David does not control any of the events in life
- God moves David around and sends aid
- David’s plans are controlled by God
- Often we try to engineer our own destiny
- Exodus 4, it is God who promotes one person over another and brings the mighty down
- God moves in his timing and way
- When we rest in the Lord, allowing him to lead and fight our battles, we experience peace and power
- Focus on praise and holiness, he triumphs
- Job, Joseph, Daniel = obeyed and He did rest
- David does not control any of the events in life