Monday, July 12, 2004
Martyrs Proklos and Hilarion of Ancyra
Kellia: 1 Samuel 23:7-18 Epistle: 1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11 Gospel: St. Matthew 13:54-58
1 Samuel 23:7-18, especially vs.17: "And he said to him, 'Fear not; for the
hand of Saul my father shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; Saul my father also
knows this.'" "The will of God," says Olivier Clement, "is not a judicial imperative, it is an influx of life, it bestows
existence and renews it when it goes astray." This passage reveals that those who submit themselves to the will of God
allow His light to shine through their hearts and, thereby, receive life, renewal, and the discovery of the right way. The
reading also discloses that the converse is true. Joshua's challenge to the People of God applies: "choose this day whom
you will serve." Indeed, may the present passage arouse us to say with him, "but as for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord" ( Jos. 24:15).
There is lodged, in the verse quoted at the beginning of this meditation, the clear evidence that Saul and Jonathan, as well
as David, knew that it was God's will for David to "be king over Israel." Notice that Jonathan declared, "Saul my father
also knows this" (1 Sam. 23:17), and David knew it as well, from the time that Samuel anointed him (1 Sam. 16:13). This
known will of God illumines the action described in this reading: Saul's fruitless efforts to find and capture David, David's
decisions - to leave Keilah, to remain in the strongholds of the Wilderness, and to covenant with Jonathan - and Jonathan's
coming to David to strengthen his hand in God.
Consider first the determined efforts of King Saul to seize David. The fortified city of Keilah was well south of the
territory of Benjamin, the center of Saul's power, yet when the king learned that David was there, he mobilized his forces to
surround and catch him confined inside the town with it "gates and bars" (1 Sam. 23:7,8). He was confident: "God has
given him into my hand" (vs. 7). Did he believe that? It was a delusion, for he was outside the will of God in seeking to
kill David. He was bound to go astray. Since he knew that David was to be king after him, his every effort to find and kill
the son of Jesse was sheer contempt for God's will. Saul was enslaved to his passions, a lost, confused soul, seeking to
write history himself.
On the other hand, observe in David a man submitted to the will of God and striving in all matters to keep himself in that
will. Knowing that Saul was actively seeking his life and remembering only too well the ruin that befell Ahimelech, the
other priests and their families at Nob (1 Sam. 22:18,19), David was righteous in considering the danger he posed to the
people of Keilah. Although the city was armed, walled, and defensible, what should David do? Notice: he sought the will
of God in the matter. "Will Saul come down?" (1 Sam. 23:11), he asked God to confirm reports he had heard. If Saul
should come, he asks further, "will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men?" (vs. 12). David's first concern was that
the people of Keilah not be caught between Saul's wrath and his own presence, and suffer the fate of the people at Nob.
When God in His omniscience revealed what would happen if he remained in Keilah, David and his men "went wherever
they could go" (vs. 13), wisely entering into strongholds afforded by the wilderness conditions - into the rugged hill country
around Ziph (14). By submitting to the will of God, David and his men continued safely under the Lord's protection, and
even though "Saul sought him every day...God did not give him into his hand" (vs. 14).
Jonathan, like David, was a man submitted to the will of God, comfortable to serve alongside God's anointed as we might
say, "at his own expense." Because David and Jonathan were submitted to God, it was natural for them also to "covenant
before the Lord" (vs. 18).
Asking that all our days may be perfect, holy, peaceful, and sinless, let us commend ourselves and each other all our life
unto Christ our God. To Thee, O Lord!
