1 Samuel 24:16 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Samuel 24:16

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Saul fully understands what has happened. David’s restraint has revealed his sin in its true colours, and he cannot pretend otherwise. David has pressed the point and his unflinching and yet deeply respectful address has found its mark and his boldness has been rewarded. Saul is a very emotional man, and this time his emotion is going to get him to acknowledge the evil he has done without cause to David. When David had finished with this accusation against Saul, Saul says, Is this thy voice, my son, David?’ We understand of course that Saul is in no doubt about David’s identity, and that David is not literally Saul's son. He has been his harpist, and later one of his generals, one of his young men, and Saul regards him as his protégé, and yet his enemy. ‘And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.’ This is astonishing. Saul is an immensely arrogant man, a proud man, and yet he is going to weep before his generals, and he is going to make a fool of himself, and allow himself to be publicly humiliated. He is going to weep in their presence, like a weakling. A proud, proud man! He has come out to destroy David, and the hatred and venom that he has for David is well known widely and publicly, and yet now he is going to be humiliated before its officers, before his troops, and he weeps and he makes this statement: ‘Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.’ Here is the great giveaway: ‘And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand’, and he submits and he accepts. Mind you, this is all a modified action; there is no word of repentance to God. He will acknowledge to David and presumably in the hearing of some of his officers that he has done wrong, and he has dealt unjustly with David, and he is not ashamed to weep in their presence, but there is still actually no repentance directed to Almighty God, and that's typical of Saul. And he acknowledges that David will be king, and he asks him to swear an oath that he won't destroy his issue, his children. And then he says: ‘And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king,’ – I will not succeed in overcoming you and killing you – ‘and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.’ What a change for this vindictive cruel Saul, to collapse in this way, and publicly! He is admitting before those who he has required to follow him in this vendetta, that he is completely in the wrong, and therefore they have no just cause to join with him and follow his command. ‘Sware now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou will not cut off my seed after me’, and David gives him that undertaking. And the very end of the chapter says, ‘Saul went home, but’ – there is this tremendous ‘but’ – ‘David and his men gat them up unto the hold.’ They went straight back into a stronghold; they didn't trust Saul for one moment. They knew this wouldn't last five minutes; they knew that in no time at all the pendulum would swing, and he would be for their death and their destruction. Now that is very helpful to us. Saul seems to repent. He seems to have a spasm of shame for what he has done. He seems to have real regret, and to have insight into what would happen in the future, and that David would one day be king. But what he didn't do was repent toward God. That is typical Saul! On every occasion when he gives way to this emotion and becomes another man, and he seems to go on his knees and regret everything; on each one of these occasions he never repents toward God. That is the vital missing thing.‘And David sware unto Saul’ – David responds in the right way, even though he does not trust Saul, or believe that this better spirit will last for a moment. We must be careful to do what is right when all around us ar doing eveil. We must never take our queue from the world. ‘Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good’ (Romans 12:21). ‘But David and his men gat them up into the hold.’ They went back to their original location, where they had made their adequate lookout points and defences. David wasn't impressed at all by Saul. He didn't believe a word of it. He knew perfectly well this wouldn't last five minutes.

Application

How do we account for Saul? Is this an act, or is it real? It is only going to be temporary, but for the time that it lasts, is he really filled with genuine contrition? He is a very emotional man – we have seen this before – and given to extremes of emotion. He is like a person who drinks heavily. He could be weeping one minute, and murderous the next. Or perhaps he is like a deeply sensual person. Many people who are deeply sensual are also known to have emotional extremes in their behaviour: up and down, touched, and then hardened. The evidence is emerging more and more that so too are people who allow themselves to be hammered constantly by stirring, loud music which is so fashionable today. Wherever they go, there it is in the car thumping away, wherever they work: crashing, thumping rhythms. It has a curious effect on many people, and it destabilises them emotionally, and they can have these swings of being very tearful and moved suddenly, and hard as nails another time. Mess about with altering states of consciousness, and it has this effect. The popular music of today, and the crashing chords and rhythms; people turn it up to deafening levels, and they can be absolutely carried away. But if you become subject to it, and suffer the altered states of consciousness that it can produce, and depend on it, it becomes for some people like being a hopeless inveterate drunkard. You can't live without it; you can't do without it, but it also has a profound effect upon your emotional stability. You can be angry as angry can be one minute, and deeply touched and weeping at things the next, just as with drink, and with drugs, and with a deeply sensual life.

When you call people to Christ, you appeal to the mind; you appeal in a reasoning way to the mind, showing them their need, and the love of Christ, and the price he has paid, and the way of redemption, and the terms of coming. You don't use sob stories. You don't work people up, so that they simply make emotional decisions. You don't approach the work of God with purely human, common-sense methods: ‘Attract them to church with pop music; don't worry about preaching. Go for drama and fiction; move people that way.’ No, the way of the Bible is an appeal to the reasoning mind, and that comes out here. Saul is suddenly moved; suddenly he appears to change. But it hasn't produced repentance. And that is what is happening with so many evangelists. There are producing decisions, but not repentance. There is nothing deep going on, and there are certainly no signs following. Neither were there signs following with Saul, because, straight after this, David returns to the stronghold, and Saul returns to the attack.

Why are we told so much in these historic books? Don't you think this interaction between Saul and David could have been wrapped up in two or three paragraphs? Well, it is not only the history of David. It is not only going to bring certain things to light that are very important in the record, but this is all a lesson in human personality for the people of God, down the ages. You and I have to be careful sometimes about supposed repentance. It is a great shame that there are evangelists these days, who make repentance so easy for people. This is the approach: ‘You come to Christ, believe the gospel; you will have a wonderful time; you will go to heaven; God will do everything for you. Oh, there is just a little snag: you have got to repent of your sins.’ Many of them are even leaving out this cut-down reference to repentance, but some will say, ‘You have got to repent of your sins. Just say a little prayer to God: Lord, forgive me my sins.’ They make it as easy and as light as possible. Well, that is not the sort of policy we learn from historical passages and events such as this. They teach us that people can be prepared to be openly put to shame in apparent contrition and regret, and weep. ‘Is this thy voice David my son’, and yet there is no real repentance. There is no real regret or remorse. There is no self-basement before God, true trusting in Christ Jesus alone, and yielding wholly to him. So we must emphasise always: repentance unto life. People must believe in Christ, believe the gospel, and at the same time they must repent of sin and mean it. Then there must be signs following – evidence and fruit – that there is a change in life, and that God has dealt with them, and given a new nature and a new beginning. But the policy of making it so easy just fills up the churches with wood, hay, and stubble, and in the end it is a disaster. Well David rejects the repentance of Saul.

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1 Samuel 24:16 Commentary and Bible Study