Bible Studies
Questioned Loyalties (1 Sam. 29:1-5)
Series: Studies in First SamuelIntroduction:
1. Have you ever had a friend question your loyalty? Have you ever questioned a friend’s loyalty because they had a relationship with someone you considered an enemy? 2. Loyalty is important in human relationships. It’s a matter of trust. If I believe you are loyal to my enemy I am certainly not going to trust you with my life. 3. Such was the case for the Philistines in 1 Sam. 29:1-5. 4. David has allied himself with the Philistines in an effective attempt to thwart Saul from assassinating him. 5. Now the Philistines are preparing for war with king Saul of Israel. David and his men are the bodyguard for the Philistine king Achish. 6. The other Philistine commanders are not so sure they want to go into battle with David and his 600 men in their midst. 7. Here in 1 Sam. chapters 29 and 30 there are four different events described that all have to do with the question of loyalty. We will address all four and try to identify relevant lessons for ourselves. David wisely acts to build the people’s confidence in him as he moves ever closer to being king of Israel.Discussion:
I. The Philistine commanders questioned David’s loyalty (1 Sam. 29:1-5, 6-11).A. They probably acted wisely in doing this.
1. Who knows, perhaps David would have been hesitant to attack Saul and his fellow Israelites.
2. He had had two previous occasions to kill Saul: in the cave in Engedi (24:6) and in the hill of Hachilah (26:8). Both times he had withheld his hand stating that no one could destroy the Lord’s anointed and remain guiltless. We are going to see a little later just how serious David took this matter of “destroying the Lord’s anointed” (2 Sam. 1:14).
3. Chap. 27 describes how he had raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amelekites and told Achish he had made raids against the Negev of Judah, the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites. All this to secure the trust of Achish (8-12).
B. While the Philistine commanders question David’s loyalty Achish seems to trust him implicitly, but sends him home, just the same.
1. Achish acts wisely to maintain the unity and the confidence of the Philistine commanders.
2. Even though he trusts David he is considerate and respectful to the fact that not everyone trusts David.
3. The N.T. teaches us that we are to do many things to maintain unity, trust and peace as we focus on our mission in the church.
a. We restrict our personal liberties. Paul said, “If eating meat causes my brother to stumble I will never eat meat again” (1 Cor. 8:13).
b. Although he had a right to take a living from the gospel, on at least one occasion, he did not use that right, lest it be a hindrance to the cause (1 Cor. 9:12).
c. “To the Jews I became a Jew. To those without law I became as one without law. To the weak I became weak” (1 Cor. 9:20-23). His objective to “save some.”
C. David Tsumura sees more in this episode than the use of good judgment by Achish. He says that in this episode “God providentially engineers the course of David’s life so that he does not have to fight against Saul” (NICOT, p. 637).
1. I think he is right.
2. But sometimes it is not always clear when God is building a hedge around us to protect us. Yet there is evidence that He does (Job 1:10).
3. Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). God may use various means to accomplish this deliverance.
II. David’s men sought to stone him after the Amalekites burned Ziklag and kidnapped everyone in it (30:1-6).A. I can hear David’s men now.
1. “If we had not been out there with the Philistines we would have been here to protect our families.”
2. “You led us out there. This is your fault.”
B. “But,” you object, “David’s wives were taken too.” Seems inconsistent that he could be blamed for knowingly leaving his own wives vulnerable? He is a victim here too. But when people are emotionally distraught rational thinking is often far from them.
C. When they spoke of stoning him they were questioning his loyalty.
D. The text says, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God” (v. 6).
1. How is probably identified in v. 7.
2. David inquired of the Lord (7-8).
3. It is a good thing to inquire of the Lord. Too many are not at all concerned about the Lord’s will. In doing this David established his loyalty to God.
4. And in his loyalty to God he established his loyalty to his men and their families.
III. David’s men, the wicked and worthless ones, would have been disloyal to those who stayed with the baggage, but David established his loyalty to them (30:11-25).A. David’s men found an Egyptian that had been abandoned in the field.
1. They gave him food and drink and inquired about who he was.
2. He was from the party that had raided Ziklag.
3. He was an Egyptian but he was a servant of an Amalekite.
4. He had gotten sick and the Amalekite had abandoned him. Talk about a lack of loyalty!
B. The David had been more loyal to him that the Amalekite had.
1. Asked him to bring them to the Amalekites.
2. The Egyptian agreed as long as David agreed to be loyal to him and not give him up to his Amalekite master (v. 15).
3. So with their new Egyptian guide they were brought to the Amalekites, whom they found eating and drinking and dancing (v. 16).
C. David slaughtered them and rescued everything they had taken (v. 17-20).
D. On the return trip David came to the brook Besor.
1. 200 men had been left here to guard their baggage. They had been too exhausted to continue the pursuit of the Amalekites.
2. The wicked and worthless men of the 600 would have been disloyal to the 200 and withheld their share of the spoils from them.
3. But David wisely acted, preserved unity and peace and proved himself loyal to all his men.
a. The spoils were divided between all the 600.
b. Those who had stayed with the baggage were not slighted.
E. The N. T. church acts similarly.
1. They function together as a body.
2. Each member contributing what he or she can.
3. Native Hebrews and Hellenists worked together to care for both Hebrew and Hellenistic widows (Acts 6:1-6). Jews preached the gospel to Gentiles (Acts 10). Gentile congregations contributed to the needs of Jewish congregations (Acts 11:27ff).
4. Loyalty is to characterize our relationships with one another. Where distrust and enmity is there is division and every evil thing.
IV. David was the champion of loyalty to both the people of the Philistine city of Ziklag andto the Judahite towns in the Negeb (30:26-31).A. David had rescued the wives, sons and daughters of Ziklag. He rescued all that the Amalekites had taken.
B. The Amalekites had not only raided Ziklag. They had raided Judah in the Negeb (14).
1. David sent spoil to the elders of Judah.
2. Verses 27-31 identifies more than 13+ cities in Judah that that David sent spoil to.
3. Had the Amalekites raided all these places too?
4. C. H. Gordon and G. A. Rendsburg, in their book The Bible and the Ancient Near East, remark, “The wisdom, diplomacy, and generosity of David are again shown in that he sent a share of the booty to the elders of Judah, his own tribe, for it was these elders that some day would make him king, before the other tribes of Israel would accept his sovereignty.”
C. David demonstrated loyalty through his generosity.
1. Loyalty in the church is demonstrated in caring for orphans and widows in their distress (James 1:27).
2. Loyalty in the church is demonstrated by not exalting the wealthy and diminishing the poor, but by being gracious and fair to all, that is, by loving your neighbor as yourself (James 2:1-9).
3. Loyalty in the church evidences itself in works not mere words (James 2:14ff).
Conclusion:
1. David proves himself to be a champion of loyalty. 2. He was loyal to God, Saul, to Jonathan, to the Philistines, to his 600 men, and to the tribe of Judah. 3. Such loyalty is congruent with God’s loyalty to us. He has sacrificed His son for our forgiveness. 4. Because of this loyalty we can entrust ourselves to Him. 5. “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” He said (Deut. 31:6, 8; Heb. 13:5). 6. Will you give your loyalty to Him?
