On Not Becoming the Enemy

I like watching movies, especially certain action adventure movies. One of my favorites is Star Wars. There was this great scene in Episode two “The Attack of the Clones” where Yoda was fighting this horrid bad guy named Count Dooku. If you have never seen it, it was quite impressive to see that little green fellow get around like he did. Anyway, during the scene, Count Dooku was clearly outmatched by Yoda and he knew it. So instead of giving his best shot at Yoda, he caused a large piece of metal to fall on another Jedi who had already been wounded. This may seem like a strange move, but Dooku knew that Yoda, being a good guy would sooner protect someone else from getting hurt, than take the opportunity to finish off Dooku. Of course, Yoda did the right thing, prevented further injury to the wounded Jedi allowing Count Dooku to get away. Meanwhile I’m shouting, “That’s not fair!” It’s not fair that the bad guys know the good guys will put themselves in danger to protect somebody else. The good guys take the high road, that’s what makes them good guys. But the bad guys are always out for themselves, for their own agendas. And they don’t care who they have to hurt to accomplish it.

The real danger in this however, is that sometimes we think the bad guy has an upper hand so maybe we should use his tactics to level out the playing field. It kind of goes back to the most popular misquotation of the golden rule, “do unto others as they do unto you.” “After all,” we think, “that is only fair.” If they hurt me, I’ll hurt them right back. If they slander my name, I’ll slander theirs. If they offend me, I’ll offend them. However it usually goes a step further. It is usually not an eye for an eye, but much worse. Instead of taking a tooth for a tooth, we would rather take a full set of choppers to replace the one we lost. We like to up the ante. However, utilizing the same tactics or worse than the bad guys does not make our actions justified, it only makes us bad guys too. And in most cases, we are worse because we have turned our back on doing things the right way.
The Bible does have something to say about this. Of course Jesus makes these points crystal clear in the Sermon on the Mount. But I think it is important for us to realize that what Jesus says is not just pie in the sky, but is practical and possible advice. So we will look at an actual example of someone who showed it is possible to put these words into actions, David.

Now, Saul had been chasing David for some time, and David had taken drastic measures to avoid him. He even hid out for a while in the Philistine city of Gath, the town that Goliath was from. He went from place to place to avoid Saul, yet when he heard of trouble in Israel, he came running to help. And just like a Star Wars episode, Saul tried to take advantage of it by trying to capture David in the city he was helping, yet David escaped. David was not afraid of battle, he was not afraid to fight, yet something was different with Saul. Of course Saul destroyed any and everyone that had been cordial with David, for he was ruthless. Yet I need to point out that for David, Saul was not an enemy against God’s people, but he was a personal enemy. He was not an outside force, for David would not have hesitated to destroy an outside enemy, but this was an enemy within the “house of God” if you will. And that is what sets this apart quite drastically.

We pick up the story in 1 Samuel 24 where Saul is tipped off as to David’s whereabouts and continues to chase him into the caves of Engedi. As Saul and his men search for David, Saul has to… how does the Bible say this… relieve himself. So he goes into the cave for some privacy. Yet unbeknownst to him, David and his men are hiding in this cave system and they see Saul in a compromised position. David’s men are convinced this is the opportunity they have been waiting for. Saul is alone with no support and no weapons. David could easily kill him and they encourage him to do so, thinking that this must be God’s will. Now I’ll admit that God’s will can be a hard thing to figure out and oftentimes we use circumstances to confirm God’s will. It would appear that circumstance had brought Saul right into David’s hand. Most of us would probably agree that God would want David to destroy this enemy that had been chasing him. Right? So what does David do?

He sneaks up on Saul, he has a sword or a knife at the ready, and he cuts off a piece of Saul’s garment. And if that wasn’t anticlimactic enough, he regretted doing that much! Look at what he says in verse six.

[6] He said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord's anointed." [7] So David scolded his men severely and did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and went on his way.

Did you hear what I heard? David had the chance to kill his enemy that had been tracking him down like a dog, and he let him go. He just let him go! Why? He said, “The Lord forbid” that I should come against Saul, “for he is the Lord’s anointed.” Now wait a minute David, you are the Lord’s anointed. You were there. Remember when Samuel came and anointed you at Bethlehem? Remember when you faced the giant Goliath? Remember how Jonathon conceded his throne to you? Remember? You are the Lord’s anointed.

But you see we stand in a different place than David in a couple of ways. First off, we know some things that David didn’t necessarily know. Saul was anointed King in front of the whole nation, yet there was no un-anointing. There was no de-throning of Saul. God, through Samuel had told Saul that he had withdrawn his spirit, but it was not a public event. In fact, Samuel allowed Saul to be at a public worship event with him, even after the withdrawal. So in the eyes of David, Saul was still God’s anointed.

Now you and I might say, how could David even think that after seeing and hearing about all the horrible things that Saul had done. That is a good question. But we need to be careful about posing such a question, because we may really be wondering if the fact of sin in someone’ s life disqualifies him/her from being God’s anointed? I sure hope not, for if it did, we would all be in jeopardy. For none of us can claim to be sinless. Even David himself would have lost his anointing a few years down the line if this were the case.

“But,” you might say, “look at the things Saul has done; he crossed the line!” Perhaps you are right; perhaps he did cross the line, for as we know, Saul was not following God at this point, Saul was following his own agenda. He was not looking out for the greater good, but for his own good. Yet the point is David realized he was not in a position to judge. He left that up to God. If you look back in the last several chapters we can see David continually inquiring of the Lord. David had a relationship with God and talked to God regularly, so when this opportunity happened David was in a place to know whether or not this was God’s way of giving Saul into his hands. Although David’s men thought so, David knew that God had not told him to do such a thing. He was not going to follow the will of mankind if God had not given him permission and God did no such thing.

You see it is easy for us to judge someone else’s sin. It is easy for us to say, they shouldn’t have done that, or you better stop because that is wrong. It is even easy for us to say, “Because you have done those things, you deserve this in return.” But our judgment can be wrong. Perhaps that’s why Jesus tells us to “judge not.” Usually those who are quick to spot a speck of sand in their neighbor’s eye can’t see the plank in their own eye. David was not going to be caught in this trap. So he spared Saul’s life.

After Saul had exited the cave, David came out, bowed before the king and pleaded his case before Saul. He said, "Why do you listen to the words of those who say, 'David seeks to do you harm'? [10] This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave; and some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, 'I will not raise my hand against my lord; for he is the Lord's anointed.' It was not because of David’s great love for Saul or because he didn’t care about the things Saul had done. It was not because he wasn’t concerned about his own life, but because his concern was for the Lord. Something within him, no matter what the circumstance, even at risk of his own life, would not let him harm someone who represented God. We could use more of this type of thinking in our society. The type of thinking that recognizes that those who are called by God and set apart by him are not to be attacked or slandered or maligned. David said “I will not raise my hand against …the Lord’s anointed!” I will not do it!

He goes on to show how he had the opportunity by holding up the piece of Saul’s garment and revealing that he had no malice or sin of any kind against this man who was trying to hunt him down. This is counter-cultural stuff. This is the kind of stuff that people don’t believe, that after all that Saul had done, David could walk away. But he declares to Saul the reason he is able to spare him, he trusted God to take care of it.

[12] May the Lord judge between me and you! May the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand shall not be against you. God will avenge me, but I will not be the instrument of your demise. He knew that God would take care of it. He was counting on God to take care of it. But the reason why David refused to be the instrument of Saul’s demise isn’t actually clear until the next verse.

[13] As the ancient proverb says, 'Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness'; but my hand shall not be against you. He knew that if he struck out against Saul that would not make him righteous, but wicked. He would become the enemy, something he was unwilling to do. He would rather spend all of his days running, and depending on God than to become evil and wicked by taking matters into his own hands. He could not do as Saul did, for then he would be no better than Saul.

Perhaps the most interesting thing in this case is Saul’s response to David’s lack of action. He wept. He realized, at least for a moment how unfair and wicked he had been to David. He even says, "You are more righteous than I; for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.” He recognizes that David is the good guy. David is the righteous one. Not because he took vengeance when he had the opportunity, but because he showed mercy when he had the opportunity. Remember Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful” but he never said, “Blessed are the vengeful.” Not only did Saul admit that David was the good guy, but he actually admitted that He should be king of Israel.

[20] Now I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. He realized that the task of establishing Israel as a kingdom was one that belonged to a good guy, and not to a selfish, fearful bad guy. Of course, as we will learn in a few weeks, David did succeed in becoming king and establishing Israel. He succeeded because he took the high road, and did not succumb to becoming the enemy. Instead he was content with being the good guy, no matter how difficult a road that would be.

If the story of Saul and David would have ended there it would have made the perfect background for the Star Wars story. For Saul, like Anakin Skywalker, was a good guy who decided to do things for his own selfish reasons. This is what made him the bad guy, like Darth Vader. And David, like Luke Skywalker, had the opportunity to do the same thing, to look out only for himself, yet he didn’t. And in the end, Darth Vader and Saul both realized the error of their ways. Becoming the enemy is an easy thing to do; it is almost the natural thing to do. But we, like David, have God with us to help us to do the unnatural thing, the Holy Spirit to help us to do the counter-cultural stuff, to take the high road and let God take care of the enemy within.