25 DAVID
Courage Guided by Conscience
A FUGITIVE! David had once been Saul’s beloved armor-bearer and then his trusted general. Now David was on the run for his life. God had promised to make David king, yet he was hiding in the wilderness, trying to keep himself and his 600 men alive.
Saul had turned into a wicked king. He had allowed his jealousy of David to drive him to extremes, even dangerous fits of rage. David had once spared the king’s life, but Saul kept on hunting him. The men of a city named Ziph betrayed David. For the second time, they revealed his hiding place. Saul led his army in pursuit.
What would David do? First, he sent some men to verify where Saul was. Though Saul’s army numbered 3,000 men, David did not panic. In fact, it was about this time that he wrote: “Look! God is my helper; Jehovah is with those supporting me.” (Ps. 54:4; superscription) So David decided to go right into Saul’s camp at night. He asked for a volunteer to accompany him.
Abishai volunteered. He was David’s nephew and a fearless yet sometimes ruthless warrior. As David and Abishai crept into Saul’s camp, they saw that everyone was sleeping. In fact, Jehovah had caused all those men to slumber deeply. And there was King Saul! He too was fast asleep, unguarded, with his spear stuck into the earth near his head.
What would David do? It would be so easy to kill Saul! Might David be freed at last from Saul’s harassment and perhaps even become king? Abishai could not imagine why David would even hesitate. He whispered: “Today God has surrendered your enemy into your hand. And now, please, let me pin him to the ground with the spear just once, and I will not need to do it twice.”
David remembered well the last time he was in a similar situation. In the wilderness of En-gedi, he had found himself near Saul in a cave. Unseen, David could easily have put his enemy to death. But he held back; he only cut off a small piece of Saul’s garment. Even that, though, had troubled David’s conscience. He was disappointed in himself for treating Jehovah’s anointed king with disrespect.
On this night, it could not have been easy for David to turn down Abishai. He too was living as a fugitive. All of David’s men surely longed for an end to Saul’s persecution. Still, David refused to seek revenge. He corrected his eager companion and urged him to be patient. David assured Abishai: “Jehovah himself will strike [Saul] down, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and perish.” Then he added, firmly: “It is unthinkable from Jehovah’s standpoint for me to lift my hand against the anointed of Jehovah!”
When David faced pressure to do away with a powerful enemy, what would he do?
David knew that Jehovah would address Saul’s wickedness—at the right time. In the psalm mentioned earlier, he wrote of Jehovah: “He will repay my foes with their own evil.” (Ps. 54:5) So David and Abishai left Saul’s camp and went to a high spot nearby. David called out to Saul and his soldiers. He scolded those men for failing to guard their king, and he rebuked Saul for wasting his time pursuing him, for David said about himself that he was like “a single flea” and no threat to the king. Saul was deeply ashamed. He admitted: “I have acted foolishly and have made a terrible mistake.”
Did Saul then change his ways? David knew better than to count on such a thing. But he never regretted that he had shown courage by listening to his God-given conscience. And in time, Jehovah blessed his brave and loyal servant in more ways than David could ever have imagined.
Read the Bible account:
For discussion:
In what ways did David show courage during this period in his life?
Dig Deeper
1. Although Abishai tended to be ruthless and impulsive, how did he courageously defend Jehovah’s people and support David? (it “Abishai” ¶3-5)
2. Why did David compare himself to “a partridge on the mountains”? (1 Sam. 26:20; it “Partridge” ¶4) A
Ekaterina Kolomeets/stock.adobe.com
Picture A
3. Why did David need patience? (w17.08 6 ¶14-15)
4. How did David continue to act modestly decades after the events in this account? (w21.09 10 ¶8) B
Picture B
Reflect on the Lessons
Although Saul made many mistakes, David respected his authority. How might we imitate David in the way we view . . .
our parents? C
Picture C
governmental authorities? D
Picture D
congregation elders? E
Picture E
David courageously listened to his God-given conscience. In what situations may we need courage to follow our conscience?
In what other ways might you imitate the courage shown by David in this account?
Meditate on the Bigger Picture
What does this account teach me about Jehovah?
How does the account tie in with Jehovah’s purposes?
In the resurrection, what would I like to ask David about this part of his life?
Learn More
See the events of this account come to life.
What can children learn from Saul, who began humble and modest but ended up arrogant?