Title: The righteous / 1 Samuel 24:9-22
Contents <1 Samuel 24:9-22> "The righteous"
To be a valuable human being in this world, you must have at least some talent or something to show off your talents. Without knowledge or the power of power, you have to be wealthy, even materially, in order to live out loud. From this point of view, each person is scored. However, there are people who need it and people who don't need it in the sight of God, and the criteria for that are not strength or talent, but only the difference between those who show the image of God and those who don't.
A person who shows the image of God is called a righteous person in the Bible. It refers to a person who is in a relationship with God. These people always appear as victims. From the point of view of this world, such a person is a symbol of the damned. However, in the sight of God, it is never the image of a cursed person, but the evidence of becoming a child of God.
From this point of view, obviously there are victims and people who attack such people. A person who attacks is referred to in the Bible as a wicked person. Why are you evil? It is so immoral that it causes victims to become victims because it targets anyone to attack by any means possible in order to defend only their own kingdom and the world to which they belong, and not the wicked. Even if the opponent is God, you will attack.
From this point of view, King Saul appears as the attacker and David as the victim. Why is David being attacked by King Saul? It is because David does not have his own world. Therefore, he only looks to God. Judgment and revenge of the enemy are also expected of God Himself. This is the difference between useful and useless people before God.
The pursuit of King Saul continued, and David was being pursued. Also in today's text, David was hiding in a cave while being surrounded by 3,000 David's soldiers, and at that time Saul entered the cave alone to cover his feet. To cover your feet here is an euphemism for 'excreting'. This situation was a golden opportunity for David to avenge his enemies. So David's followers also told him to kill him because this is an opportunity God has given him. But David does not use that opportunity. David did this because he knew that God would judge him (verses 12, 15). "The LORD will judge between me and the king, and I will retaliate against the king for my sake, but I will not harm the king by my hand...Therefore the LORD is the judge and judges between me and the king." It was also to instill in the people the legitimacy that King Saul was anointed with oil.
Abiathar, the son of Abimelech the priest, who was killed for helping David, came to David with the priest's ephod (1 Samuel 23:6). This marks the beginning of a real reign by David in Israel. Last time we looked at the people who gathered around David. Most of the people were powerless, poor, and people who were always living with injustice. In fact, by the standards of this world, only those people who are useless have gathered. When David also confessed to Saul, he referred to himself as “like a dead dog or a flea” (1 Samuel 24:14). Nevertheless, Saul is trying to kill David. This shows King Saul's ruthlessness and wickedness more and more, while David's pity toward Saul further highlights God's mercy. David was able to act like this because he knew what he was like before God.
Therefore, it is the fact that God's people, the 'righteous', do not appear righteous in this world by living a peaceful life or boasting about success or strength, but rather as vaguely sacrificed. By not understanding suffering, we misunderstand the life of our faith. The mark of a believer is never success, advancement, or peace in the world. “If children, then heirs, also heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, for we must also suffer with him in order that we may be glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). is.
Even though David had a golden opportunity to kill Saul, it was because of God's mercy that he only ripped off the hem of his robe and let him live. Knowing this, Saul's confession seemed plausible. “My son David, is this your voice?” He cried out loudly and said to David, “I oppress you, but you are good to me, and you are more righteous than me” (verses 16-17). was not at peace or not threatened with death. They had to be chased over and over again and tried to kill them whenever there was a chance.
Here, one of Saul's confessions that draws our attention is 'You are more righteous than I am'. This does not mean that Saul is also righteous, but David is more righteous than I am. We compare the righteousness of David with the evil of Saul. As the saying goes, 'Evil comes from the wicked,' Saul is a man of evil. These two events can be understood in the same context, as in Genesis 38, Judah's self-confessions of Tamar, the pride of Judah, said that he was more righteous than me. One side is a victim, Tamar is sacrificing herself as a prostitute for the sake of a family, while David appears as a victim for a nation, not for Saul's kingdom, but for God's kingdom. is going to do it.
In the process of repenting to David, we see that Saul puts up his own shield until the end. “If a man meets his enemy, will he let him go in peace? May the Lord repay you with good for what you have done to me today. Behold, I know that you will surely become king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. Now swear to me by the LORD that I will not cut off offspring, nor destroy my name in my father's house." (19-21) At this point, he should say to David, 'I am cheap even if I die.' You can see them struggling to build their own world while discussing them. Remember that the true righteous person appears in the form of a victim for the fulfillment of God's Word, and if the image of God is revealed through the insignificant me, you can live contentedly with that.