1 Samuel 24:8 Commentary and Bible Study

David comes out of the cave after Saul has left, to make plain what has just happened. This took great courage. His certainty that the Lord was with him and that he was speaking the truth gave him this courage. It was an act of faith that relied upon the Lord, and he was sure that what had just taken place was due to the providence of God and was to be taken advantage of. He knew Saul and his murderous ways. ‘David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave and cried after Saul saying, My Lord the king’, and he shows him due and proper subjection. David's faith is remarkable in all this, and his courage is amazing. Saul could have commanded his party to take him instantly, but David, at this point, shows great faith in God. ‘I have been anointed king’, he says to himself, ‘by Samuel the prophet. God has confirmed that to me. He has been with me throughout life until now. He has been with me in everything I have undertaken to do for him, and so I know my life will not be taken.’ He won't always have this amount of faith, but right now he has it, and so he goes out, even risking his life. Yes, some people think, ‘Oh the party of Saul had gone way, way ahead, leaving Saul an awful long way behind, so David was safe in revealing his presence.’ But that sounds very unlikely. Security was bad enough to let him go into a cave without checking it out first, but to actually leave the king miles behind on his own: no, this is David's great courage to reveal himself to Saul and to take issue with him. ‘And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?’, and there is his long statement and he is very bold. He explains what he has done, and what he hasn't done, that he is innocent of offences against the king. But he is also very bold to state the king’s sin. Look at the way he goes about it. Both David and Saul know, of course, that Saul's courtiers only reflect Saul himself. It is Saul who has initiated this murderous campaign against David. The people around him say to him, ‘Let's get on with it; we have heard he is here or there, or somewhere else; let's get after him.’ But how tactfully David makes the point; he knows that Saul will take these words to his own heart. And then David opens up the situation and demonstrates his innocence, and he explains to Saul what happened in the cave, and how his companions said, ‘Take his life’, but he wouldn't. He holds up and shows the skirt of the robe in his hand, and he makes this further speech in verse 11: ‘See that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand,’ – I have no plans for a palace coup, no plan to murder you, Saul, ‘and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it. ¹² The LORD judge between me and thee,’ – he will say this again – ‘and the LORD avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.’ He is not going to excuse Saul; he is quite ready to awaken Saul’s conscience about what he is doing. He is not afraid to paint Saul’s sin in the starkest colours, but he will take no part in revenge. Then he quotes an ancient proverb – and that too is interesting. ‘As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked.’ Evil deeds come from the inner state of the person. The person who is murderous will, of course, do murderous things, but I am not a wicked man, he insists. ‘But mine hand shall not be upon thee’ – David is goverened by the fear of the Lord, and no amount of provocation is going to make him abandon God’s standards. This self control is going to be a powerful witness to his godly character, a witness which will convince the people that he can be trusted.He repeats this in verses 14 and 15, and particularly in verse 15. He very solemnly invokes the help of God against Saul, and calls upon God to judge between them, to plead his cause, and to deliver him. But he is no threat to Saul; let not Saul believe anything to the contrary. Yes, it is true that many other more ambitious men would have taken advantage of the situation to plot against Saul, but David is a man of faith and he can be trusted to stick to his word. He speaks with the utmost humility, and this is not fake humility. He genuinely feels that he is unworthy of the position that God has promised him, and he sees this time of testing, in which he has to wait patiently for the Lord to act, as a period of training. He will not use Samuel’s prophecy as an excuse for taking matters into his own hands and trying to accelerate his accession.