Read 1 Samuel Chapter 22
David has been scuttling from one place to another because Saul is jealous of him and wants to destroy him. David had even been so desperate that he crossed into enemy territory in the land of the Philistines. This was no safer than anywhere else and David is on the run again. This time he takes refuge in a cave at a place called Adullam which was halfway between Gath (the town of Goliath) and Bethlehem (the hometown of David himself). This area had limestone cliffs which provided ample places to shelter and to be hidden from Saul's soldiers scouring the countryside looking for the king's 'enemy.'
David is not far from his own family and we have an interesting reference to them. Remember that his father had failed to tell Samuel that he had another son when the prophet had arrived to anoint a replacement king for the rejected Saul [See Day Share David: Left Outside 02/03/2021]. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, David is sent to take food and supplies to his older brothers who are fighting the Philistines. Eliab is very sarcastic with David and suggests that he is too young and inexperienced to be anywhere near a battlefield. [See 1 Samuel 17: 28-30] But things have moved on and perhaps David's family are being persecuted by Saul. Saul was prepared to stoop to any level to attack David and it is very likely that he would have sent his henchmen to check that David was not taking refuge in his home in Bethlehem. We can well imagine the arrival of soldiers to check out whether David was hiding somewhere in the house. They would have probably searched the house thoroughly and they may well have threatened David's father (and mother, though she is never mentioned) and his seven brothers. So David's family hear news that David is in hiding in a cave at Adullam and they pay him a visit. This was not a pleasant family reunion. There would be real anxiety and distress as the family recount the recent events. All the members of the family are in danger and, probably Jesse and David's mother are elderly and vulnerable. In fact, it is not safe for David's family to remain in the cave and David has to escort them or maybe because it was not a suitable lodging for his elder parents, David has to take them to a place called Mizpeh in Moab. You will remember that Ruth came from Moab and she was David's great grandmother. So David has to make a very difficult journey with his family all the way down to the Dead Sea which was a descent of 3,000 feet (914 metres) and then they would have to climb almost as much again to the plateau of Moab.
There are others who join with David in this cave. There is a sad list of those who joined David.
Everyone who was in distress or was suffering hardship
Everyone who was in debt
Everyone who was bitter in soul or who was discontented
In other words, these are the social outcasts who take sides with David, the traitor and enemy of the King. Those who had nothing to lose from their association with a despised man made the decision to throw in their lot with David. The socially respectable prefer to side with the reigning monarch - King Saul. And yet David is able to turn these disaffected people into a powerful army of 400 men who would take on the Philistines as described in chapter 23. David must have had leadership qualities to inspire such loyalty in his followers. He became their captain and they accepted his orders. When we looked at Luke's Gospel we saw that this gospel was the gospel of the social outcast. [See Day Share entitled Luke's Gospel - Key Themes 04/01/2020] It is a sad reflection on human nature that it takes hard times for people to see things from a true perspective.
I find it interesting to reflect on this incident. Firstly, it is not a huge number who make up this group of outcasts. I would have expected a larger number of people to have been suffering hardship and I would have expected a larger number to have been discontented with Saul's rule. Is it possible that there were many others who came into at least one of the categories of the Adullam cave team but they did not join with David. That would take courage and loyalty. It was an act of faith. They were siding with the enemy of the state. As Christians, we are taking side with the Lord Jesus the Messiah who is rejected by the world today. We are not following the popular course of action. We are going against the rule of Satan. We are challenging his authority on the basis of the work of Christ when he defeated Satan by His death and resurrection.
Secondly, I agree with A.W. Pink when he says that this was a great opportunity for David to reflect on his situation and to get right with God. He had times of seclusion and isolation. The cave was probably a large underground cavern with plenty of small places to be alone with God and to meditate on God's word. David's life had been hectic and now God was saying to him that he needed to rest and recharge his spiritual batteries. Here is a quotation from this writer of a past generation:
"If David prayed as much in his palace as he did in his cave, he would never have fallen into the act which brought such misery upon his latter days." Pink is referring to the terrible sin which David committed when he lusted for another man's wife and then had a child by her. He then had Bathsheba's husband killed to silence him and to allow him to marry her." [A.W. Pink: The Life of David Kindle Edition]
But that is in much later in the story of David. In this chapter, Saul is still on the throne and David is in hiding.
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