1 Samuel 18 records the beginning of King Saul’s official “fear” of David. The people of Israel recognized God was with David, and gave him greater acclamation for his victories in battle than they gave Saul. Saul became both jealous and fearful of David. That is never a good combination. As we read through the chapter, we find several times the actions of David–all positive actions in service to King Saul, resulted in Saul fearing David more and more.
We also read in this chapter of Jonathan’s friendship with David. In our current culture, many in the LGBTQ culture grab onto this relationship, seeing it as a biblical example of a homosexual relationship. Nothing could be farther from the truth. One of the saddest distortions in the current discussions about sexuality is that all same-sex relationships are immediately seen as sexual. I have had the same accountability partner for more than twenty-five years. I have shared things with him over the years, that I have not shared with anyone else. What do you call that? You call it a healthy accountability relationship–”iron sharpening iron” as King Solomon called it in the Book of Proverbs. In any case, Jonathan’s love for David was so great he yielded his right to follow his father as king. He does it symbolically in this chapter, and will do it in fact, later in this book. Such friendship is rare, and is a great blessing when we experience it.
1 Samuel 19-20 offers us a couple of examples of how much Jonathan sided with David, and how committed King Saul was to kill David. While Jonathan promised David that his father intended no harm to him, David was sure Saul wanted to end David’s life. Saul set a trap for David and his house, but Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife saved him. We see the family of Saul was on board with David becoming the king, but Saul’s desire to be the king and to pass the monarchy to his son, blinded him to God’s plan for Israel’s future. While Saul is an extreme example of what happens when we put our plans before the LORD’s plans, we are all tempted daily to seek first our will rather than God’s kingdom and righteousness. Let’s remember Saul’s radical disobedience to following God’s will, and commit ourselves to the path of obedience to the LORD!
1 Samuel 21 David escapes from serving Saul. He goes to the Ahimelech the priest and asks for food for him and his men. (David’s men were those assigned to him by Saul, yet they were loyal to David, which tells us again the difference between David and Saul. David was a man of valor and character, who was worthy of being followed. Saul was neither.) While Ahimelech told David he only had bread for the priests, he also told David he could have it if his men were ceremonially clean. They were. David received the food and Goliath’s sword which had been stored there. David noticed one of Saul’s servants was there: Doeg the Edomite. This will play an important role in the near future, so keep it in mind. Finally, David decides to go to the Philistines to serve them. At least there, he would be free from Saul. The problem was the Philistines knew David was a nemesis to them, so David pretended to be insane, so the king of Gath wouldn’t kill him. The plan worked, and David was safe…for the moment.
As we return to Mark 4, we read the first section with extended teach from Jesus. We read The Parable of the Sower and its interpretation, The Parable of the Lamp on the Stand, The Parable of the Growing Seed, and the Parable of the Mustard Seed. In each of the parables Jesus was illustrating what the Kingdom of God was “like.” It is impossible for us to understand fully what the Kingdom of God is like until we experience it in its fullness, but Jesus’ parable help us to see it is not ordinary, and it is not what we would expect. We also see it is bigger and more than we would expect. Mark closes the chapter with the record of Jesus calming a storm, which saved the disciples from drowning, because they were on a boat during the storm. After the act, Jesus asked the disciples why they had such little faith? Their response was terror, because they had never experienced power and authority as Jesus demonstrated it. This time the object of Jesus’ power and authority was nature itself. Let’s remember whatever we face in life, Jesus has the power and authority to get us through it!