CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1 Samuel 24:8. The closeness of the precipitous rocks and the depth of the ravines or wadies between them, together with the remarkable purity of the air, made it quite easy for David thus to converse with Saul at a distance sufficient to ensure his own safety. “My lord the King.” “This address indicates the double point of view whence David, in what follows, declares by deed and by word his relation and attitude to Saul. He recognises and honours Saul as his lord to whom he is bound to be subject; in calling him lord he declares himself guiltless of insurrection against him. In the king he sees the anointed of the Lord, the bearer of the holy theocratic office, in which character he was inviolable.” (Erdmann.)
1 Samuel 24:13. “As saith the proverb,” etc. “The meaning is, only a wicked man would wish to avenge himself, I do not.” (Keil.) “A prophetic speech. Thy death will not be from me, who have no such thoughts, but from the wicked. And so it was. Saul perished by his own wicked hand.” (Wordsworth.)
1 Samuel 24:14. “A flea.” Literally, a single flea. “By these similes David meant to describe himself as a perfectly harmless and insignificant man, of whom Saul had no occasion to be afraid, and whom it was beneath his dignity to pursue.” (Keil.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 24:8-15
DAVID’S VINDICATION OF HIMSELF TO SAUL
I. This vindication of David reveals that he still considered himself a subject of the king of Israel. The best and wisest men are always the least ready to rebel against those in authority, and their obedience will stand a much more severe test than that of men who are their inferiors in character and ability. A son who is far above his father in excellence and wisdom will be far more loyal to his weak and erring parent than one who is like him in character, and a subject who is morally and intellectually superior to his ruler will bear more before he renounces his allegiance than one who is less intelligent and godly. Noble and good men in all ages have been tried both in their public and private relationships by the incapacity and wickedness of those in authority over them, and it has sometimes become their duty to disown such authority and renounce their allegiance to such rule, but this is a step that is taken with the most reluctance by the men who seem to have the most right to take it. It seems to us, when we read this history, that of all the men in Israel at this time, David was the least bound to acknowledge Saul as his lord and king. No man in the kingdom had deserved Saul’s gratitude so much and none had received such ingratitude and cruelty at his hand. Yet David’s mode of address here shows him still acknowledging himself Saul’s subject, and reveals that he had only taken arms in self-defence, and not in defiance. The spirit of this Old Testament servant of God was the same as that which animated the apostles and martyrs of the Christian Church (Romans 13:1; Titus 3:1), and had its root in the same recognition of God as the Supreme Ruler and Judge of all men.
II. His conduct shows that he considered Saul’s position worthy of outward tokens of respect. When it is impossible to respect a man for what he is, we may sometimes feel bound to honour him for what he has been, or for what he now represents. A heap of ruined stones may have nothing in their present appearance to awaken interest, but if they are the remains of a city once famous for its beauty, thinking men cannot look at them without emotion. Or a building which has never had any pretensions to architectural beauty may awaken a feeling almost of reverence because it represents something of far more value and dignity than itself. So when David bowed himself before Saul it could hardly have been in token of respect for any moral excellence now found in him, but must have rather been in honour of what he once was and of what he even now represented. He was still the Lord’s anointed—the man whom God had Himself appointed to rule over His people Israel, and there had been a time when he had seemed not unworthy of the honour thus put upon him. And David, like every other godly man, was ever ready to render honour wherever it was due, whether to place or person, whether to individual excellence or to “powers ordained of God” (Romans 13:1.)
III. Yet David’s vindication contains an appeal to Saul’s reason and to God’s justice. Reverence for Saul as a king, and a sense of his own duty as a subject, did not degenerate into that servility which seems to ignore the fact that the higher the position the greater the obligation, and to forget that there is a Judge before whose bar all human distinctions fade away. David did not think it incompatible with his acknowledgment of Saul as his lord to remonstrate with him on his foolishness, and to remind him that there was a King to whom both the persecutor and the persecuted would have to render an account, and whose judgment would certainly be according to truth. The most genuine loyalty is always found associated with self-respect and with faith in God, and they are the most faithful servants of kings who do not fear to show them wherein they err, and who can with confidence commit their cause to Him who will one day certainly render every man according to his works. For neither of the two causes, one or the other of which sometimes operates in the decisions of a human judge and leads him to pronounce an unjust sentence, can ever have any place in the Divine administration. A man may condemn the innocent or justify the guilty through ignorance, or from wickedness. He may not be acquainted with all the facts of the case, or some selfish or other evil motive may lead him to pronounce a false verdict. But it is the joy of every lover of truth and righteousness to know that this can never be the case with God. He who searches and knows everyone of His creatures can never be mistaken in His judgment, and He who is infinitely above them, both in nature and in character, can have no motive or desire to wrong anyone of them in the smallest degree. Hence the assurance with which men in all ages have turned to Him when they have been wronged by their fellow-creatures, and have said, with David, “The Lord, therefore, be judge, and see, and plead my cause.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 24:10. It by no means follows that all kings are God’s lieutenants in the sense in which Saul was, or lie under the same sacred charm of divine anointing. God does not stand in the same special relation to other nations as he did to the Jews. Magistracy is still the ordinance of God, but it is left to communities to choose both the form of government and the individuals who are to exercise it. Nations have power to choose their governors, and, unless there be a special arrangement to the contrary, they have power to discontinue them.… Thus viewed, the consideration that influenced David resolves itself into a principle of wider application. It was the fruit of that profound reverence for God’s will, and that thorough confidence in God’s providential government, and in the holy principles on which it is conducted, that characterised David in all his better periods and that will ever characterise the humble and consistent Christian.—Blaikie.