IN 1 SAMUEL 22:6-23, the narrator shifts the focus briefly from David (1 Sam 21:1-22:5) to Saul, to show how his disobedience (1 Sam 13 and 15) culminates in his actively opposing the will of God.
20 Saul persisted in his selfish ambition and obsession with power. Now, this can happen to any Christian leader, especially when their status grows higher and their influence grows wider. An increase in spiritual alertness and honest self- awareness is critically necessary. Saul would do everything he could to stop David from becoming king, as symbolised by him “sitting…on the height with his spear in his hand” (v.6). Saul had used “his spear” to try to kill David (1 Sam 18:10-11; 19:9-10) and even his own son (1 Sam 20:33). He appealed to tribal allegiance by underling to his fellow “Benjamites” how he had given them more possessions and privileges than David the Judahite would give (v.7). In so doing, he was “threatening Israel’s unity”
21. Something like this can happen in the church (1 Cor 1:12). Saul was so chronically self- absorbed – “conspired against me…sorry for me” (v.8) – that his thinking became distorted, which made him paranoiac that Jonathan had conspired with David to “hide in ambush against me” (v.8, NET). What happened to Saul shows us that if we persist in sin, and are not willing to let go and repent, the effects of sin will not remain the same, but will grow and “will go from bad to worse” (2 Tim 3:13).
20 Robert B. Chisholm Jr., 149
21 Robert B. Chisholm Jr., 146
