Last time, I mentioned how I was seeing in Proverbs the concept of God the Father as Knowledge, God the Son as Understanding ( or mercy), and God the Spirit as Wisdom- and I don't want to leave that just lay there, because the English meanings don't convey enough the point. David, though, had a firm grasp of it, I think, at all times, which is what made him "a man after God's own heart". I want to try and flesh that out- as well as finish out the first part of David's story.
I have heard it said before that Knowledge of God is a deep intimacy- an intimacy that is intended to be conveyed in the famous scriptural pattern, "And so and so KNEW his wife, and they begat..." When you DON'T look at that phrase as, "they had sex", but as, "The two became one", THAT is the intimacy that David aimed at with God. This is why, if you read the early Psalms of David, so many times it begins in his lament- but as he gives it to God, it drifts into all-out prophecy (for example, Psalm 22) before coming back to David-to-God. This knowledge gave David an insight that none of the other Psalmists can match. Let me show you one I just stumbled on. Psalm 68 was a long read for my first-thing-in-the-morning reading, and the second day I tried to understand it, I decided to read first the beginning two verses, then the last, back and forth. And see what I saw:
Psa 68:1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. A Song.
Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; also let those who hate Him flee before Him.
Psa 68:2 As smoke is driven away, You drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish in the presence of God.
Psa 68:3 But the righteous are glad; they rejoice before God. Yes, let them exceedingly rejoice.
Psa 68:4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name; praise Him who rides on the heavens by His name JEHOVAH, and rejoice before Him.
Psa 68:32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises to the Lord. Selah.
Psa 68:33 To Him who rides on the heavens of heavens of old; lo, He sends out His voice, a mighty voice.
Psa 68:34 Give strength to God over Israel; His majesty and His strength in the skies.
Psa 68:35 O God, You are overwhelming out of Your holy places; the God of Israel is He who gives strength and powers to the people. Blessed is God.
This, in turn was the insight that kept David TWICE from killing Saul when the chance lay before him (1 Samuel chapters 24 and 26), because he KNEW God's intentions...
1Sa 24:6 And he said to his men, Far be it from me, by Jehovah, if I will do this thing to my lord, Jehovah's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, since he is the anointed of Jehovah.
1Sa 26:9 And David said to Abishai, Do not destroy him. For who can stretch forth his hand against Jehovah's anointed and be guiltless?
In fact, he would respect this intention to the point that, when it finally came to pass that God took Saul's life, and a young soldier thought glory was his if he took credit for it:
2Sa 1:13 And David said to the young man who told him, "Where do you come from?" And he answered, "I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite."
2Sa 1:14 David said to him, "How is it you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?"
2Sa 1:15 Then David called one of the young men and said, "Go, execute him." And he struck him down so that he died.
2Sa 1:16 And David said to him, "Your blood be on your head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD's anointed.'"
Now this may cause you to question that Understanding that I mentioned. But once again, go deeper. Look here at Proverbs again:
Pro 8:6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
Pro 8:7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is hateful to my lips.
Pro 8:8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; nothing twisted or perverse is in them.
Pro 8:9 They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
Understanding here is making the connection between God's will and YOU. David was a master at that, but even he struggled at times. But, because of his intimacy with God, God helped him out at times. Tucked between the 2 opportunities to kill Saul was a less-well known incident, that began with a man who didn't make that connection...
1Sa 25:4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
1Sa 25:5 And David sent out ten young men. And David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.
1Sa 25:6 And you shall say this, Long life and peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.
1Sa 25:7 And now I have heard that you have shearers. And we did not hurt your shepherds who were with us; neither was there anything missing to them all the while they were in Carmel.
1Sa 25:8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. And let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come in a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.
1Sa 25:9 And David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David, and stopped.
1Sa 25:10 And Nabal answered David's servants and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? The servants who have broken away, each man from his master, have multiplied.
1Sa 25:11 Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men about whom I know not where they come from?
David had shown a kindness to Nabal (whose name literally means, 'fool'), and in return, Nabal told him to get lost. David got incensed, not surprisingly, and intended to 'pull a Saul' on Nabal:
1Sa 25:21 And David had said, Surely in vain I have kept all that belongs to this fellow in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that was his. And he has requited me evil for good.
1Sa 25:22 So and more also may God do to the enemies of David, if I leave to the light of the morning any that is his of one who urinates against the wall.
Which, besides being a colorful way to distinguish men from women, was an oath as foolish as the one that Saul made that nearly got Jonathan killed. But God protected David from the consequences in the form of Nabal's wife Abigail- a woman used to having to do the thinking in the family. When Nabal's more intelligent servants explained to her how good David had been to them, and how stupid Nabal was in return, she gathered a bunch of gifts and went to David:
1Sa 25:24 And she fell at his feet and said, On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be. And please let your handmaid speak in your ears, and hear the words of your handmaid.
1Sa 25:25 Please do not let my lord regard this man of worthlessness, Nabal. For as his name is, so he is. Nabal is his name, and foolishness is with him. And I, your handmaid, did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.
And David stopped and considered her plea:
1Sa 25:32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me.
1Sa 25:33 And blessed is your advice, and blessed are you who have kept me from coming to shed blood today, and from delivering myself with my own hand.
1Sa 25:34 And truly, as Jehovah, the God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from doing evil to you, for unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been left to Nabal by the morning light one who urinates against the wall.
If David hadn't got the connection before, he sure did now, not only seeing that God sent her, but that God kept him from acting against His will. Here you need to see the difference between what David did to the lying messenger and what he didn't do to Nabal. The messenger had sinned against God; Nabal had sinned against David. David was right in addressing the sin against God; but to address Nabal's would have been vengeance, and he knew well what God had said to Moses so long ago:
Deu 32:35 Vengeance and retribution belong to Me. Their foot shall slide in time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come on them make haste.
And slide it did; when Nabal found out how Abigail had saved him (after waking up from a drinking binge the night before):
1Sa 25:37 And it happened in the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal and his wife had told him these things, his heart died within him and he became like a stone.
1Sa 25:38 And it happened about ten days afterward Jehovah struck Nabal so that he died.
But what about Wisdom? Wisdom is personified throughout Proverbs, because Wisdom IS the Holy Spirit. Consider...
Pro 8:12 I, wisdom, dwell with sense, and find out knowledge of discretions.
Pro 8:13 The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil; I hate pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the wicked mouth.
Pro 8:14 Counsel and sound wisdom are mine; I am understanding; I have strength.
Pro 8:15 By me kings reign and princes decree justice.
Pro 8:16 Princes rule by me, and nobles, all the judges of the earth.
Pro 8:17 I love those who love me; and those who seek me early shall find me.
And the difference between David and Saul is that David listened, and Saul did not. Consider the difference between the two men in Saul's last days. When the forces of Saul closed around David, what did he do?
1Sa 23:9 And David knew that Saul secretly planned evil against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring the ephod here.
1Sa 23:10 And David said, O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
1Sa 23:11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as Your servant has heard? O Jehovah, the God of Israel, I beg of You, tell Your servant. And Jehovah said, He will come down.
1Sa 23:12 And David said, Will the men of Keilah shut up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And Jehovah said, They will shut you up.
David sought the Word of the Lord. And because he had that intimacy with God, and knew the connection between God's will and his actions, he received God's answer. Saul, though, had never received that intimacy with God- his intimacy went no further than Samuel, who had recently died. So, when Saul asked for the Word from on high...
1Sa 28:5 And Saul saw the army of the Philistines, and he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.
1Sa 28:6 And when Saul inquired of Jehovah, Jehovah did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
Saul could only see one solution- he had to speak to Samuel. So even though he had cast out all the diviners from the land, he goes out of town to find one. It did not go well, for just this once God allowed a sooth-sayer to actually bring up a righteous spirit rather than a demon:
1Sa 28:14 And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, An old man comes up, and he is covered with a cloak. And Saul saw that it was Samuel, and he bowed his face to the ground, and prostrated himself.
1Sa 28:15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am grievously distressed, for the Philistines are warring against me. And God has left me and does not answer me any more, neither by prophets nor by dreams. And I have called you so that you may make known to me what I should do.
1Sa 28:16 And Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, since Jehovah has left you and has become your enemy?
1Sa 28:17 And Jehovah has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For Jehovah has torn the kingdom out of your hand and is giving it to your neighbor, to David.
1Sa 28:18 Because you did not obey the voice of Jehovah, nor execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore Jehovah has done this thing to you now.
1Sa 28:19 And, Jehovah will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. Jehovah also shall deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
And so it happened the very next day. David was blessed, because he started with and sought out that intimacy with God- and that is our takeaway from the times of Saul and David. That intimacy leads to making the connection between God's will and your actions, and will lead you in true wisdom, IF you listen.
