God is with Us: 1 Samuel 23:19-29

We can rely upon God to be with us when the world isn’t.  The world has its best interests at heart, not ours.  The world will be our friend while we are useful, but once we lose usefulness the world will lose interest.  God never stops caring.

The Ziphites are afraid of Saul and would prefer to avoid his wrath.  When David comes close to them, they believe they need to be proactive in demonstrating to Saul they want nothing to do with rebellion against him.  They tell Saul where David is hiding.

The Ziphites aren’t necessary pro-Saul.  The Ziphites are anti-wrath.  By this point in Saul’s reign, everyone knows about Saul’s instability.  Everyone also knows about his tendency to turn on his people when he believes they aren’t satisfying his desires fast enough.  As an example, in the prior chapter, Saul reams his commanders out because he believed they weren’t gathering intel to share with him about David’s location.

When the Ziphites realize David is close, they do not want to be dragged before Saul and accused of hiding the information.  They are proactive about avoiding Saul’s wrath.  They don’t want to get caught up in the instability of the king.

On one hand, this is shrewd.  The Ziphites do what they can to stay out of the target.  They save themselves the hassle of dealing with Saul’s wrath because they know Saul’s wrath frequently leads to people dying senseless deaths.

On the other hand, they openly betray David to save themselves.  They are willing to lay David down as a sacrifice in place of themselves.  David is an innocent man who has never attempted to do harm to the king.  The Ziphites betray an innocent man to an unrighteous judge to save their own skin.

It is easy to be righteous when the world is in your favor.  We don’t see the core of a person’s character when their life is going well.  We see a person’s character when life comes against them and a difficult decision needs to be made.  We see a person’s character when they must potentially put themselves at risk to do the right thing.  Unlike Jonathan, who supported David instead of his own father, the Ziphites choose their safety instead of supporting God’s anointed.

Fortunately, God brings a more urgent need to Saul’s attention.  The Philistines attack, and Saul must turn away from his pursuit of David.  Saul knows if he chooses to pursue David, the Philistines will take over his land.  Saul’s kingdom will shrink and he will lose favor in the eyes of the people.  Saul could capture David, but it might well cost him the kingdom.

God saves David when the Ziphites set him up.  God will protect us.  He will deliver us and bring us through whatever opposes us.  We can rely upon God to be with us when the world isn’t.