"David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and
when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down
thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one
that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered
themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were
with him about four hundred men."--1 SAM. xxii. 1, 2.
In every country, at some time or other, there have been evil days--days
of violence, tyranny, misrule, war, invasion, when men are too apt, for
want of settled law, to take the law into their own hands; and the land
is full of robbers, outlaws, bands of partizans and irregular
soldiers--wild times, in which wild things are done.
Of such times we here in England have had no experience, and we forget
how common they are; we forget that many great nations have been in this
state again and again. We forget that almost all Europe was in that wild
and lawless state in our fathers' times, and therefore we forget that the
Bible, which tells man his whole duty, must needs tell men about such
times as those, and how a man may do his duty, and save his soul therein.
For the Bible is every man's book, and has its lesson for every man. It
is meant not merely for comfortable English folk, who sit at home at
ease, under just laws and a good government. It is meant just as much
for the opprest, for the persecuted, for the man who is fighting for his
country, for the man who has been found fighting in vain, and is simply
waiting for God's help, and crying, "Lord, how long? how long ere Thou
avenge the blood that is shed?" It is meant as much for such as for you
and me; that every man, in whatever fearful times he may live, and
whatever fearful trials he may go through, and whatever fearful things he
may be tempted to do, and, indeed, may have to do, in self-defence, may
still be able to go to the Bible, there to find light for his feet, and a
lantern for his path, and so that he may steer through the worst of times
by Faith in the Living God.
Again, such lawless times are certain to raise up bold and adventurous
men, more or less like David. Men of blood--who are yet not altogether
bad men--who are forced to take the law into their own hands, to try and
keep their countrymen together, to put down tyrants and robbers, and to
drive out invaders. And men, too, suffering from deep and cruel wrongs,
who are forced for their lives' sake, and their honour's sake, to
escape--to flee to the mountains and the forests, and to foreign lands,
and there live as they can till times shall be better. There have been
such men in all wild times--outlaws, chiefs of armed bands, like our
Robin Hood, whose name was honoured in England for hundreds of years as
the protector of the poor and the opprest, and the punisher of the Norman
tyrants: a man made up of much good and much evil, whom we must not
judge, but when we think of him, only thank God that we do not live in
such times now, when no man's life or property, or the honour of his
family was safe.
Such men, too, in our fathers' days, were the Tyrolese heroes, Hofer and
the Good Monk who left, the one his farm and the other his cloister, to
lead their countrymen against the invading French; men of blood, who were
none the less men of God. And such is, in our own days, that famous
Garibaldi, whose portrait hangs in many an English cottage, for a proof
that though we, thank God, do not need such men in peaceful England, our
hearts bid us to love and honour them wherever they be. There have been
such men in all bad times, and there will be till the world's end, and
they will do great deeds, and their names will be famous, and often
honoured and adored by men.
Now, what does the Bible say of such men? Does it give any rule by which
we may judge them? any rule which they ought to obey? Can God's blessing
be on them? Can they obey God in that wild and dark and dangerous
station to which He seems to have called them--to which God certainly
called Hofer and the Good Monk?
I think if the Bible did not answer that question it would not be a
complete book--if it spoke only of peaceful folk, and peaceful times;
when, alas! from the beginning of the world, the earth has been but too
full of violence and misrule, war and desolation. But the Bible _does_
answer that question. A large portion of one whole book is actually
taken up with the history of a young outlaw--of David, the shepherd boy,
who rises through strange temptations and dangers to be a great king, the
first man who, since Moses, formed the Jews into one strong united
nation. It does not hide his faults, even his fearful sins, but it shows
us that he _had_ a right road to follow, though he often turned aside
from it. It shows us that he could be a good man if he chose, though he
was an outlaw at the head of a band of ruffians; and it shows us the
secret of his power and of his success--_Faith in the Living God_.
Therefore it is that after the Bible has shown us (in the Book of Ruth)
worthy Boaz standing among his reapers in the barley field, it goes on to
show us Boaz's great-grandson, David, a worthy man likewise, but of a
very different life, marked out by God from his youth for strange and
desperate deeds; killing, as a mere boy, a lion and a bear, overthrowing
the Philistine giant with a sling and a stone, captain of a band of
outlaws in the wilderness, fighting battles upon battles; and at last a
king, storming the mountain fortress of Jerusalem, and setting up upon
Mount Zion, which shall never be removed, the Throne of David. A strange
man, and born into a strange time. You all know the first part of
David's history--how Samuel secretly anoints David king over Israel, and
how the Spirit of the Lord comes from that day forward upon the young lad
(1 Samuel xvi. 12). How king Saul meanwhile fell into dark and bad
humours. How the Spirit of the Lord--of goodness and peace of mind--goes
from him, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubles him. Then how young
David is sent for to play to him on his harp (1 Samuel xvi.), and soothe
his distempered mind. Already we hear of David as a remarkable person;
we hear of his extraordinary beauty, his skill in music; we hear, too,
how he is already a man of war, and a mighty valiant man, and prudent in
matters, and the Lord is with him.
Then follows the famous story of his killing Goliath the Philistine (1
Samuel xvii.). Poor, distempered Saul, it seems, had forgotten him,
though David had cured his melancholy with his harp-playing, and had
actually been for a while his armour-bearer, for when he comes back with
the giant's head, Saul has to ask Abner who he is; but after that he will
let him go no more home to his father.
Then follows the beautiful story of Jonathan, Saul's gallant son (1
Samuel xviii.), and his love for David. Then of Saul's envy of David,
and how, in a sudden fit of hatred, he casts his javelin at him. Then
how he grows afraid of him, and makes him captain of a thousand men, and
gives him his daughter, on condition of David's killing him two hundred
Philistines. And how he goes on, capriciously, honouring David one day
and trying to kill him the next. While David rises always, and all
Israel and Judah love him, and he behaves himself more wisely than all
the servants of Saul. At last comes the open rupture. Saul, after
trying to murder David, sends assassins to his house, and David flees for
his life once and for all. He has served his master Saul loyally and
faithfully. There is no word of his having opposed Saul, set himself up
against him, boasted of himself, or in any way brought his anger down
upon him. Saul is his king, and David has been loyal and true to him.
But Saul's envy has grown to hatred, and that to murder. He murders the
priests, with all their wives and children, for having given bread and
shelter to David. And now David must flee into the wilderness and set up
for himself, and he flees to the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel xxii.); and
there you see the Bible does not try to hide what David's position was,
and what sort of men he had about him--his brethren and his father's
house, who were afraid that Saul would kill them instead of him, after
the barbarous Eastern fashion, and among them the three sons of Zeruiah,
his sister; and everyone who was discontented, and everyone who was in
debt, all the most desperate and needy--one can conceive what sort of men
they must have been. The Bible tells us afterwards of the wicked men and
men of Belial who were among them--wild men, with weapons in their hands,
and nothing to prevent their becoming a band of brutal robbers, if they
had not had over them a man in whom, in spite of all his faults, was the
Spirit of God.
We must remember, meanwhile, that David had his temptations. He had been
grievously wronged. Saul had returned him evil for good. All David's
services and loyalty to Saul had been repaid with ingratitude and
accusations of conspiracy against him. What terrible struggles of rage
and indignation must have passed through David's heart! What a longing
to revenge himself! He knew, too, for Samuel the prophet had told him,
that he should be king one day. What a temptation, then, to make himself
king at once! It was no secret either. The people knew of it. Jonathan,
Saul's son, knew of it, and, in his noble, self-sacrificing way, makes no
secret of it (1 Samuel xx.). What a temptation to follow the fashion
which is too common in the East to this day, and strike down his tyrant
at one blow, as many a man has done since, and to proclaim himself king
of the Jews. Yes, David had heavy temptations--temptations which he
could only conquer by faith in the Living God. And, because he masters
himself, and remains patient and loyal to his king under every insult and
wrong, he is able to master that wild and desperate band of men, and set
them an example of patience and chivalry, loyalty and justice; to train
them to be, not a terror and a scourge to the yeomen and peasants round,
but a protection and a guard against the Philistines and Amalekites, and,
in due time, his trusty bodyguard of warriors--men who have grown grey
beside him through a hundred battles, who are to be the foundation of his
national army, and help him to make the Jews one strong and united
prosperous kingdom.
All this the shepherd lad has to do, and he does it, by faith in the
Living God, and so makes himself for all ages to come the pattern of
perfect loyalty. And now, let us take home this one lesson--That the
secret of David's success is not his beauty, his courage, his eloquence,
his genius; other men have had gifts from God as great as David's, and
have misused them to their own ruin, and to the misery of their fellow-
men. No; the secret of David's success is his faith in the Living God;
and that will be the secret of our success. _Without_ faith in God, the
most splendid talents may lead a man to be a curse to himself and to his
neighbours. _With_ faith in God, a very common-place person, without any
special cleverness, may do great things, and make himself useful and
honoured in his generation.