Our Helper He
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If you have your Bibles (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Samuel 23. Keep your Bibles open here as we work our way through the chapter this morning.
In some ways, not much has changed in the last few chapters of 1 Samuel. The main setting is the same. David is running from Saul. Saul is hunting David.
1 Samuel 23 is more of the same. Ideally, we could read these chapters all together (our time would not be wasted if we simply read these chapters in God’s Word.
There is so much in these chapters for God’s people today.
Now, we aren’t David. We aren’t being chased by Saul. We can’t really insert ourselves into the story. Putting ourselves in David’s sandals isn’t quite the point.
What’s here in God’s Word for God’s people (us) today is much to be learned about the God we serve—He who was, who is, and who is to come.
He is the Almighty, the Faithful One, the One who is present in the details of our life. Our Helper He.
What David receives from the Lord, we, too receive from the Lord, albeit in different measure. Thankfully, what’s true about the Lord Yahweh then is true about the Lord Yahweh now.
>David is on the run. David has escaped Saul and, by the grace of God, stayed one step ahead of him (or several steps ahead, but you know what I mean).
Saul is ordering that people who have helped David be killed. His paid informant, Doeg, just killed 85 priests and their families—the entire city of Nob.
One of the priests escaped the killing and made his way to David.
1 Samuel 23 picks up at that point.
1 When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” 2 he inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
3 But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”
4 Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” 5 So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. 6 (Now Abiathar son of Ahimelek had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)
7 Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” 8 And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
9 When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” 10 David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. 11 Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.”
And the Lord said, “He will.”
12 Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?”
And the Lord said, “They will.”
13 So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.
David, on the run for his life, is still seeking the Lord. And the Lord is still helping David.
Our Helper is Guiding and Assuring
Our Helper is Guiding and Assuring
A town about 3 miles from where David is located is in trouble.
And someone told David about the trouble.
Someone is always telling David something. Someone is always telling Saul something. Both men must have had effective intelligence networks, something, I imagine like the gossipy old men at the cafe every morning. The beauty shop has nothing on them.
David’s and Saul’s intelligence networks might be more sophisticated than that, but every bit as informed.
The trouble at Keilah was at the hands of the Philistines, the common enemy of all the people in that time and region. It’s always the Philistines, it seems.
The Philistines are robbing the Keilahites of their grain. This is frustrating and life-threatening. No grain = no bread. No bread = hungry.
When David’s told of the trouble, instead of rushing into action, he inquired of the Lord. He seeks direction from the Lord. That’s a really good idea, a good practice.
It’s no small thing that the Lord answered him. We read this throughout the Bible and might get used to it or numb to it. We might even come to expect it.
Let’s not miss the miracle, the wonder of this. The LORD—the Almighty Creator of all things—hears and answers! How amazing is that?
I’m convinced this is all David needs. He’s heard about the trouble, he’s inquired of the Lord, the Lord has answered him. “Let’s do this; let’s kick this pig!”
But the men with David hesitate. They’ve been afraid of much less, certainly they’re afraid of this.
So David turns to the One who helps—who guides and assures.
1 Samuel 23:4-5 “Once again David inquired of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.”
For the sake of his men, David asks the Lord again. It’s assurance they were after, and a gracious assurance they were given. It was more than the direction the Lord gave in verse 2; it was guidance and assurance.
You probably noticed the parentheses around verse 6; it’s an explanatory note detailing how David could get such clear guidance.
Abiathar came to David and brought the ephod down with him.
Verse 6 is the hinge of the entire section, parenthetical or not. Verse 6 explains how the town of Keilah was saved and how David and his men were saved.
9 When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”
Through Abiathar’s ephod (the special garment worn by the priest when inquiring of God), the Lord guided David both to go to Keilah and then to get out of Keilah.
The guidance the Lord gives in verses 10-12 is probably as close a look at how the ephod works that we’ll see.
David asks the Lord two specific questions and received two affirmative answers.
In contrast to Saul, David has access to the Lord and the Lord’s guidance through the appointed priest.
Saul, on the other hand, has to do without. The Lord isn’t guiding him. What’s more, Saul has had all the priests of the Lord murdered.
In verses 22-23, verses we haven’t read yet, Saul is inquiring of all his human sources. David has God as helper; Saul has to ask the Ziphites for more information. He has to demand definite information.
David has all the information he needs, and his is from the Almighty Himself.
We need to remember that we don’t receive the kind of precise, direct guidance the David did. And that’s okay. We don’t need it. I’m not the chosen king. It’s not essential for me to hear from the Lord in this way.
But in principle, there is no difference between David and us.
How was the Lord’s guidance given to David? Was it not access to God through the appointed priest, Abiathar?
Isn’t this the privilege you and I enjoy? Through a Priest greater than Abiathar?
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We have a Helper who will help us in our time of need. It doesn’t get any better than that. Jesus is our Helper, guiding and assuring us in ways no one else could.
14 David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.
15 While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. 16 And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 17 “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” 18 The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.
These few verses are a summary of sorts and a sweet story between friends.
[MAP]
David’s hiding out in the wilderness strongholds in the desert hills of Ziph (about 4 miles east of Hebron). David is pretty deep in the territory of Judah, but he never escapes the shelter of the Most High.
Hertzberg comments:
“David knows that Saul is constantly on his tracks. Hence the remark in verse 14 that God did not give David into [Saul’s] hands is an important one. It gives a title to the whole section. Saul may pursue David and and David maybe pursued, but it is firmly fixed in the divine plan that David will remain safe. No man can alter anything in this long-arranged course of events.”
The Lord is protecting David, helping David in ways we can’t begin to fathom. The Lord even offers to David some much-needed encouragement.
It’s no small thing that Saul can’t find David, but Saul’s son Jonathan can. The Lord works stuff out rather humorously like that.
Saul’s son Jonathan goes to David and helped him find strength in God.
Our Helper is Encouraging
Our Helper is Encouraging
This is how the Lord God often encourages His people—through others.
Jonathan helped David find strength in God. “He put David’s hand, as it were, into God’s hand.”
Jonathan encourages David by what he says: “Don’t be afraid. My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel…Even my father Saul knows this.”
Jonathan simply reaffirms God’s promise to David. Jonathan’s presence is encouraging, sure. But it doesn’t have the lasting encouragement that God’s Word does.
Dale Ralph Davis is spot-on: “Encouragement from God for the people of God comes from the Word of God.”
This is not to diminish the helpfulness or the comfort of Jonathan’s presence for David. God uses the presence of His people in ways we can’t understand.
At the lowest points in my life, God has seen fit to encourage me through the presence of His people.
When I resigned my first ministry position, Josh and Rachael and the other Josh were there. So were Ben and Kacy. They listened and encouraged.
When I was at my lowest, Derek and Richard and Cory showed up to comfort and confront.
When Dad died, Seth and Ericka, Landon and Luke, Tom and Tish and Kimberly, Joe and Patricia, Cliff and Wanda—my family—gathered around Meghann and me, to mourn and console us.
In a thousand different ways, God’s people are His way of encouraging us.
But long after His people return home (like Jonathan does), God’s Word abides. It sinks into the heart. It’s etched on my mind forever—the truths and promises from God’s Word that God’s people spoke to me in those moments.
God always times His encouragement as He does everything else: perfectly.
In the middle of the Keilahites surrendering David to Saul and the Ziphites selling him out, the Lord sends to David a friend—encouragement in the form of a friend. Someone to help David find strength in God.
Jonathan, of course, is a mere shadow of Christ, our true and never-failing Friend. Jesus will never leave us or forsake us. He’s with us, always, through the worst and darkest moments of our lives. When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there He is by our side.
When others left him, Paul relied on Christ:
2 Timothy 4:16–17 (NIV)
16 At my first defense, no one came to my support, everyone deserted me...But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength…
The Lord, our Helper, makes sure to encourage His people. This moment between Jonathan and David is special, and it’s solemn, though neither of them could know how so.
This was the last time they ever saw each other. But what better way for Jonathan to leave David than to help Him find strength in God.
What encouragement from our Helper!
19 The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? 20 Now, Your Majesty, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for giving him into your hands.”
21 Saul replied, “The Lord bless you for your concern for me. 22 Go and get more information. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. 23 Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.”
David is hard-pressed. The Ziphites give him up, sharing with Saul where David is hiding. They want to butter-up Saul, earn some of his affection, some kudos from the king.
Saul wants more information, definitive, certain information. But Saul, with the help of those around him, seems to be closing in on David.
It doesn’t sound good for David. But remember what Jonathan just told David: "My father Saul will never lay a hand on you. Don’t be afraid!”
Still, it’s tense scene and it’s about to get more tense still:
24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. 25 Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.
26 Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them,
It’s a high-stakes game of ring-around-the-mountain. Saul’s forces, no doubt, have the upper hand, militarily speaking.
But the Lord is providentially in-charge of this (and all things) and His timing is perfect:
27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” 28 Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth. 29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
Our Helper Upholds
Our Helper Upholds
At just the right time, a messenger comes to Saul and takes his attention off David.
As David and his men are hurrying to escape Saul, and Saul and his men are closing in on David and his men to seize them…and a messenger pops up.
Now, this might just be a nice coincidence. A well-time happenstance. David should thank his lucky stars.
This might be coincidence or maybe it’s providence.
“Providence is the unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.” - J.I. Packer
I’m gonna go with this being providence. I’m going to exult in the endless variety of ways in which the Lord delivers His servants, laughing at the humor of it (the Philistines are the ones who get David out of a scrape). I’m going to marvel at the Lord’s timing and rejoice that even the Philistines can be pressed into the Lord’s service.
I’m going to giggle at the irony of the way our Providential Helper works.
At the start of the chapter, the Philistines are the enemies of the Keilahites. And David comes to the rescue.
Here at the end of the chapter, David is in trouble, and the Philistines unknowingly are the unexpected- and saving-interruption in the narrative.
The Lord’s providence—our Helper’s upholding hand—often comes with a strange twist.
David’s Helper, let me remind you, is our Helper. The One who providentially upholds David, providentially upholds us. Sometimes in ways we could not expect.
Don’t some of you have some stories to tell about God’s strange and startling timing? Stories about an odd set of circumstances or unexpected group of people God has used to help you?
This is what I know: Our Helper is upholding, encouraging, guiding, and assuring His people. Always. Unceasingly.
If we have any doubt, we look to Jesus—the Crucified and Risen Savior who, through His death, brought His people to life.
Jesus upholds. Jesus is our encouragement. Jesus is our guide. He’s our assurance.
Our Helper He.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.