Sunday, July 11, 2004
(Tone 5)
Olga (Helen), Princess of Kiev
Kellia: 1 Samuel 22:6-23 Epistle: Romans 12:6-14 Gospel: St. Matthew 9:1-8
1 Samuel 22:6-23, especially vs. 8: "No one discloses to me when my son makes
a league with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against
me, to lie in wait, as at this day." The maniacal fear one detects in the paranoid clamoring of King Saul to his courtiers
expresses one small portion of the dark, terrified soul of a man whom "the Lord has rejected" (1 Sam. 15:26), from whom
"the Spirit of the Lord departed...and [whom] an evil spirit from the Lord tormented" (1 Sam. 16:14). Holy Scripture is not
loathe to reveal both the heights and depths of the human soul, for the spirit and virtues of David and Jonathan are thrown
into relief against the twisted image of the depraved King Saul and of those like Doeg the Edomite who served Saul's evil
will.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The First Circle likewise pulls back a curtain on the soul of another ruler, Joseph Stalin, who
indulged his impulses to murder. In describing the monthly interview between the "Absolute Ruler" and his Minister of
State Security, Victor Semyonovich Abakumov, Solzhenitsyn records Stalin's words and thoughts: "'One day soon I will
give you back capital punishment,' he said thoughtfully, looking outward, as if he were seeing years into the future. 'It will
be a good educational measure'..... 'Death' was the only reliable means of settling accounts in full....then from the bright
distance into which he had just been staring, Stalin shifted his eyes to Abakumov, and suddenly they narrowed craftily.
'Aren't you afraid you'll be the first one we shoot?'....But the word tore into Abakumov like a winter frost."
How do we understand such men whose place in history is drenched in blood? Let us see what God reveals about the lives
of divinely condemned and demented rulers such as Stalin and King Saul, men desperate to hold power by individual
murder or the massacre of communities.
Saul sat "spear in his hand, and all his servants...standing about him" (vs. 6). Intimidation is the constant of tyrants -
Israel's king with spear in hand or Stalin with his barbed joke. Solzhenitsyn adds Stalin's unspoken thought after he has
unnerved Abakumov: "Inevitably the moment would come when it would be necessary to throw Abakumov into the same
pit."
God reveals that tyrants rule through berating. King Saul battered his officials as they stood mute around him: "all of you
have conspired against me?" (vs. 8). Silence from all the king's advisers and courtiers. Abakumov could only listen and
receive the Great Man's words.
Not one of the courtiers answered Saul's question, only Doeg who was not even an Israelite but an alien from Edom. He
spoke, but not directly to the question. Instead, he reported what he had seen of David and the priests at Nob (vss. 9,10).
Lackeys such as Doeg, men ever lusting for approval from those in power, serve despots' eyes and ears to curry favor.
The trial of Ahimelech the High Priest that followed had the form of a reasonable judicial proceeding up to a point.
Charges were presented. The defendant had an opportunity to state his defense, which he did without guile. The king's
reply reveals yet another tactic of ruthlessly absolute rulers: the brushing aside of truth to assign guilt as a foregone
conclusion (vs. 16).
In tyrannical systems, there often is no delay between sentence and execution. Further, many innocents may be caught up
as the nets of oppression are thrown out widely. Such was the case with Saul, except that his own guards still were not
sufficiently cowed by his rage, and they refused (vs. 17), so the king turned to his henchman, Doeg the Edomite. Massacres
followed.
Still, God never leaves us without hope. The account ends with David's assurance of peace and safety to the one surviving
member of the High Priestly family, Abiathar (vss. 22,23).
O Christ Jesus, Thou Alone art our refuge and peace, help us and save us we pray Thee.
