Basic Training

Reflections on 1 Sam. 23:1-13

David had been a military leader in Saul’s army, and now he was the leader of a band of men who had been in distress or in debt (1 Sam. 22:2). This band now had officers, seasoned soldiers from the tribes of Gad, Benjamin, and Judah (1 Chron. 12:8-18). When David heard that the Philistines were harassing the people of Keilah, David began training his men to become the nucleus of the army that God would use to free the Israelites from their enemies.

DAVID’S TRUST. David’s training was not merely in the use of weapons or in winning strategies. He also trained his men to follow the will of God whether it was to trust his command to attack a formidable enemy or to withdraw from a seemingly safe position. On this occasion, David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” We don’t know how David inquired of God, but perhaps he asked Gad, the seer who had recently advised him to return to Judah from Moab (1 Sam. 22:5). God answered, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” David’s men were terrified. They said, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” When David heard this, he inquired of the Lord again, and God assured him of victory. David persuaded his men to trust God despite their fears, and God gave them victory. Instead of hiding in the wilderness, they now could live in the comfort and safety of a city.

SAUL’S WISHFUL THINKING. When Saul learned that David was residing more or less permanently in a walled city, he was ecstatic. He declared confidently, “God has given him into my hand.” Why was he so confident? It was because it appeared to him that God was helping him because David had “shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” Despite his own disobedience to God’s commands, despite his massacre of priests, Saul still saw God “speaking to him” in the circumstances of life and giving him hope. Instead of listening to the very words of God, Saul gave more attention to a message he erroneously imagined to be from God. So, Saul prepared to attack David in Keilah.

DAVID’S OBEDIENCE. When David heard that Saul was preparing to attack him in Keilah, he again inquired of the Lord. Abiathar, a priest who had escaped Saul’s wrath in Nob, had joined David in Keilah, and David asked him to bring the ephod, which contained the Urim and Thummim, devices by which priests could determine the will of God (Lev. 8:8; Num. 27:21). God revealed to David that Saul would indeed attack Keilah, and that the men of Keilah would surrender David to Saul. So David again taught his men an important lesson. Even when God had recently given them victory, and even though they were now enjoying the comforts of city life, they were to follow God’s leading and return to hiding in the wilderness. They might never understand why God had them save a town only to abandon it, but they would learn that doing God’s will would assure them of God’s favor and blessing.