The Cave is Not the Conclusion

The Cave is Not the Conclusion

1 Samuel 22

 

Illus. Retreat.

 

As we turn to 1 Samuel 22 this morning we pick up in the middle of a section in Scripture where David, the future king of Israel is on the run for his life from the king that was before him, king Saul. King Saul had put a hit out on David’s life, it had become clear to him that David was the one the Lord had set apart to replace him, and upon that realization, Saul told his son and all his servants to put David to death in chapter 19.

Saul’s son Jonathan pleaded for David, he told his dad that David had done nothing wrong and that David had served him well. After some back and forth on Saul’s part, it becomes clear that Saul is set on taking David’s life. 

As we started in on chapter 21 last week, I mentioned that from chapter 21 to the end of 1 Samuel in chapter 31, we will see various situations and circumstances centering around David running for his life as public enemy number one. He goes from place to place, city to city, cave to cave, in an attempt to get away. Whenever Saul’s men hear of David’s location, they will go after him, but through it all, we will see God protect David, help him, guide him, and ultimately lead him. Though David was a man after God’s own heart, we won’t find perfection from him as we look at the decisions he make and some of the places he finds himself in. We will however gain insights and understanding from the circumstances and situations he ends up in however, because we, like David are human.

 

Quote: J.C. Ryle, The best of men are only men at their very best. Patriarchs, prophets, and apostles—martyrs, fathers, reformers, Puritans—all are sinners, who need a Savior: holy, useful, honorable in their place—but sinners after all.”

 

As we study David’s story, we come to that realization as we look back on his life. But what I find powerful about David’s story is not just the insights I can draw from his story, but seeing David take detours, run into road block, go the wrong way but then turn to God to find the right way, run and hide in fear and realize fear is not the way and draw near to the Lord who again and again will draw near to him even on his darkest days.

Chapter 21 was a chapter in David’s life where he, while on the run for his life didn’t do what was right. We studied that chapter last week, seeing David running for his life from king Saul, and the first place he ran was the right place, to the tabernacle, to the house of the Lord, where he would meet with a priest named Ahimelech. David was all alone and Ahimelech began asking him questions about why he was there and why he was there alone. David was in the right place, but he responded the wrong way, he made up a story, that he was on a special mission from king Saul, that he had been commissioned for a secret matter, and he was to go to a secret place, and there were soldiers with him, but he left them in another place. For his mission, he told the priest he needed some bread, and the priest gave him bread. Then David saw one of Saul’s men was there, he was watching the entire situation unfold. Realizing this, David asked Ahimelech for a sword and was given the sword of Goliath.

After receiving the sword he immediately ran to try and find safety in the city of Gath. The reality was, Saul was not likely to search for David in Gath, but David was an enemy to the people in Gath because Gath was Goliath’s hometown. David ends up being captured there and upon being captured, David starts acting like an insane person. He scribbles on the gates, drools down his beard, and ultimately, the king of Gath releases David with the cited reason of, “I don’t need any more insane people.”

So David flees from Gath…

 

1 Samuel 22:1, So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam…

 

Upon his departure, we know that David wrote a Psalm, Psalm 34, and as we studied the Psalm we see David’s words there and have greater understanding into certain verses there, like verse 6 when he wrote, “This wretched man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” He knew it was the Lord who had saved him, it was the Lord who had rescued him. It was the Lord who met him with grace and kindness while in Gath, the place he likely never thought he would be, the place he went after living a lie, concerned he may die.

The Lord had saved him, rescued him, protected him, and heard him. Still, David is on the run for his life, and so he retreats to the cave of Adullam. David escaped to the cave as there was nowhere else he could go. He couldn’t go home, he couldn’t go to the palace, he couldn’t go to his family, couldn’t go to his friends, he couldn’t go to Gath, the place he went to find refuge was a dark and lonely cave. While we don’t know exactly how long he was there the name Adullam means refuge, but the conclusion we will see David come to through Psalms written while in the cave, company that comes to him in that cave, and a call from the Lord to him during those days is that the cave is not the conclusion, the Lord was his refuge and He had more for him.  

 

Illus. On the run.

 

Read: 1 Samuel 22:1-5

 

In verses 1 to 5, we see the Lord bring comfort to David through family, friends, and directing him in the way forward. But if we were reading a chronological Bible, we would read Psalm 34 once David escaped Gath, and then after verse 1, when he arrived to the cave of Adullam, when he was alone in the cave, with nowhere to go, he turns to the Lord as asks him for help…

 

Psalm 142:1-7, I cry out with my voice to the Lord; with my voice I implore the Lord for compassion. I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare my trouble before Him. When my spirit felt weak within me, You knew my path. In the way where I walk they have hidden a trap for me. Look to the right and see; for there is no one who regards me favorably; there is no escape for me; no one cares for my soul. I cried out to You, Lord; I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. “Give Your attention to my cry, for I have been brought very low; rescue me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me. “Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name; the righteous will surround me, for You will look after me.” 

 

1. Recognize God’s Unfailing Compassions

 

• In the cave of Adullam, David cried out to the Lord…

 

Psalm 142:1, I cry out with my voice to the Lord; with my voice I implore the Lord for compassion.

 

• When David said, “I cry out,” it is a word that means to “call out, to cry out in need, to call for help,” and the root word is to make a shriek, or to announce something aloud.

 

• In other words, it was not a silent plea, he was alone in hiding and in a place he would not have wanted anyone to see or hear him, yet, he cries aloud, with his voice, he begged the Lord for compassion.

 

Psalm 56:1(a), Be gracious to me, God…

 

• It is a “go to” word for David, it is a word that will be found consistently throughout his writings and his story. It is a word that is found 32 times throughout the Psalms, 23 of those come from David’s pen personally.

 

• It is what David will later ask the Lord for after one of his most famous sins with Bathsheba.

 

Psalm 51:1, Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings.

• Be gracious, be compassionate, have mercy on me…

 

Psalm 51:1, Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. (NIV)

 

• When David wrote, “be gracious to me,” “have mercy on me,” the word for “be gracious” and “have mercy” is a word that means to have pity on, to bring relief to, to bend or stoop toward in kindness, to be gracious.

 

• The word mercy is defined as compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone when it is within one’s power to punish them.

 

• David knows his wrong and he is pleading for mercy, according to God’s mercy, according to the multitude of His mercies.

 

• We know where David had been, what he had done, he had lied, made up a story, continued the story, pretended to be what he was not and who he was not, he tried to plot a plan or escape.

 

• And while his plan was not exactly working, he was set free physically, yet he knew there was something he needed more deeply than a release from his physical prison.

 

Psalm 142:7, Bring my soul out of prison, so that I may give thanks to Your name; the righteous will surround me, for You will look after me.”

 

• David knew he needed not simply to be set free from Gath, he needed his soul to be set free…and he knew that the only way for this to happen, was for the Lord to bring compassion.

 

• When he asked God to be gracious, the word there tells us that he is asking the Lord for compassion, to bend or stoop in kindness, to be merciful to him, to have grace upon him.

 

• Grace is often defined as God’s favor toward the unworthy. And God, in His grace, is willing to forgive us and bless us, even though we do not deserve it.

 

• Again, it is a word that we come to see repeatedly throughout David story, day after day, situation after situation, David knows that he has a need for God’s compassion, mercy, and grace.

 

• That said, it is not just a word that we should identify only with David story, with David’s trouble, and his need. It is a word that represents a reality we must recognize personally.

 

Ephesians 2:1-9, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (NASB 95’)

 

• Paul wrote about God’s grace and mercy offering to people like David, given to people like you and me, that we were dead in transgressions, but then we were made alive in Christ, and God’s forgiveness to the undeserved, shows the riches of His grace in the ages to come…

 

• Since the days of David, it has been “ages,” yet David’s story, shows us the abundance of God’s mercy to a man who clearly deserved differently.

 

Lamentations 3:21-23, This I recall to my mind; therefore, I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. (NASB 95’)

 

• I love that we are given the plural version of compassion and told that God’s compassions, plural, never fail, telling us that there are many. That there is compassion available for every person, situation, story, or circumstance.

 

• And David, will come back to the Lord, with a plea, crying out to God and asking Him for compassion, grace and mercy!

 

• In reference to Jesus, we read the following in the book of Hebrews….

 

Hebrews 4:15, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let’s approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need.

 

Charles Spurgeon Commentary – “Men are greatly terrified at the multitude of their sins, but here is a comfort – our God hath multitude of mercies. If our sins be in number as the hairs of our head, God’s mercies are as the stars of heaven.”

 

• While this all is not seen in chapter 22 specifically, I think it is important for us to see because we are going to see David’s situation change. He will be surrounded by family and friends, the Lord will call him forward. But there is a situation happening inside David, there is something happening in his soul.

Psalm 34:6, This wretched man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

1 Samuel 22:1-2, So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard about it, they went down there to him.

• While David was alone in the cave, somehow, someway, his family found out about it and went to join him.

 

• It is interesting here that his brothers came to be with him because the last scene we saw from them was their persecution of him when he went to the battlefield to fight Goliath.

 

• Not only his brothers, but all of his father’s household. David was no longer alone in the cave.

 

1 Samuel 22:2, Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.

 

• It seems that others begin to learn about David’s location, and three specific groups make their way to him, everyone who was in distress, in debt, and discontented.

 

• It seems that everyone in the area who was in distress, debt, or discontentment were now in the cave with David.

 

• There were 400 of them in total, imagine what that cave might have been like.

 

Matthew 11:28, Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

 

It is the ones who know they are weary, burdened, poor in spirit that turn to him..There is the kingdom of heaven.

 

• David, weary and burdened, recognized God’s compassion, and found rest in the compassion, family and friends God had given him.

 

• David would become captain over these men, and these men would see David after seeking compassion from the Lord, recommitted to the call of the Lord, his Captain.

 

1. Recommit to the Call of Your Captain

 

1 Samuel 22:3-4, David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

 

• Surrounded by family and friend in the cave, David goes from there to Moab. Specifically to the king of Moab and asks that he let David’s parents stay with him.

 

Illus. Why Moab?

 

• David wanted his parents in a safe place because he was not sure what was coming next.

 

• While he was not sure what was coming next, it is clear that he was not going to move until the Lord gave him direction.

 

• Verse 3, please let them stay “until I know what God will do for me…”

 

• David didn’t know what was next, but he was not going to move until he heard the call of God, his Captain.

 

• This is the posture we should find ourselves consistently in. To wait until we know what the Lord will do for us.

 

• The statement itself included a posture of faith! David didn’t say, until I know if God will do anything for me, but until I know what God will do for me.

Romans 8:28, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Philippians 1:6, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (ESV)

 

Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future…” (NIV)

 

• We can see God give these wonderful words to His people, and when in the unknowns of this life, we can cling to them…We may not know how, we may not know when, but we know Who…It is him!

 

• David is waiting on the Lord for direction, and this shows a commitment to the call of his Captain. He will stay in the place he is until he hears from Him…Until he knows what God desires to do.

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man regarding us in this manner, as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found faithful.

 

• David says, this is the way things will be, until I know what God will do for me.

 

Psalm 27:13-14, I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!

Illus. Where do I go now.

 

John 14:1-5, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

• David waited for what God would do, and in verse 5, he gets direction from a prophet of the Lord.

 

1 Samuel 22:5, But Gad the prophet said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

 

• We don’t know much about Gad the prophet, but we know that at that time, he gave a word to David from the Lord.

 

• David was to leave the stronghold he was hiding in, and heads to Judah, specifically the forest of Hereth.

 

• Leaving the stronghold, the cave where he and his men were, would put him at risk as he went on the move. But it was the call of the Captain, so he went to the land of Judah, thought that would put him back in closer proximity to Saul.

 

• When leaving the stronghold geographically, Saul knew he had a stronghold that was far more mighty covering him personally.

 

Psalm 27:1, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

 

III.  Remain Confident in Him as You Carry On

 

• As we close this morning, I want you to see what happens through the rest of 1 Samuel 22. What we can see is that when David commits to the direction God gives him, he is still in a very serious situation.

 

1 Samuel 22:6-23

 

• The scene shifts to Saul in Gibeah, he learns that David and his men were out there somewhere, but had been discovered, and he is shown sitting under a tree, with his sword in hand (verse 6).

 

1 Samuel 22:7-8, Saul said to his servants who were standing in front of him, “Hear now, you Benjaminites! Will the son of Jesse really give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who informs me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who cares about me (or feels sorry for me – NKJV) or informs me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.”

 

• It is there that Doeg, the man who saw David in the tabernacle speaks up and tells Saul he saw David in the tabernacle talking with Ahimilech. And Saul responded… “What’s up doeg?!?”

 

• Doeg tells Saul that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord on David’s behalf and gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath.

 

• Doeg implies that Ahimelech was in on it all, like he is working together with David in going against the king, but Ahimelech really knows nothing.

 

• Doeg is stirring things up, asserting things that aren’t true regarding the priest.

 

• Saul then sends messengers to Ahimilech and he comes in. Saul then questions him, “Why have you and David conspired against me? Why did you give him bread and a sword? Why did you inquire of God for him?

 

1 Samuel 22:14-19

 

• Doeg attacked Ahimelech, and all the priests, but one sons of Ahimelech name Abiathar escaped, and he fled to David.

 

1 Samuel 22:22-23, Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. I myself have turned against every person in your father’s household. Stay with me; do not be afraid, even though he who is seeking my life is seeking your life. For you are safe with me.”

 

• Hearing the news, David declared that he had done wrong. Saul sent the order for the men to be murdered, but David knew that it was his sin that set off the situation.

 

• David took part of the blame, he knew there was trouble, he knew Doeg would tell Saul and what he did was wrong.

 

• And here he had to find the way forward. He tells Abiathar to stay with him. That he would protect him, that Saul was seeking both of their lives…He would be safe with him.

 

• There was nothing David could do about what had already happened, but he confessed his sin, sought forgiveness from the Lord, and declared that he would do the best he could do in serving and keeping the surviving son of Ahimelech safe.

 

• Great damage had been done. A tragic ending, a terrible outcome in that season, sin that had consequences, sin with the wages of death and destruction.

 

• And in that moment, David could clearly see the posture of his enemy. That anyone who helped him, prayed for him, spoke well of him, were put to death, they and their family.

 

• Where would David go in response to this? What would he do? Would he go back to the cave? Find another way? No, he knew the Lord was the only way, and he would declare it that day.

Psalm 52:1-7

 

Illus. Stronghold…

 

1 Samuel 22