Crazy David
Gtcotr/ws111407
Won’t you turn in your bibles to 1 Samuel 21.
When Joshua led the Children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the
However, when Joshua completed his military campaigns he had not yet conquered all of the people in the
The names of these five Philistine cities were:
Askelon
Ekron
Approximately 400 years after the death of Joshua, after all thirteen Judges had served in their seasons of deliverance the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as King over all
The sons of Anak called the Anakims still lived in the cities of
1 Samuel 17:4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from
1 Samuel 17 tells the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was a descendent of Anak and lived in the city of
If you know the story … David, just a young boy, met Goliath alone on the battle field and with a sling and a rock slew him and won a great victory for all
1 Samuel 18 NKJV
7 So the women sang as they danced, and said: "Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands."
8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?"
The continuing story of David’s life unfolds as King Saul becomes very jealous of David’s popularity. Saul attempts to kill David forcing David to run for his life. By this time David is very well known for his bravery and his military victories against not only Goliath but against tens of thousands of Philistines which he had killed.
When David begins his escape from King Saul’s attempts to kill him, he runs to a city called Nob where the priest Ahimelech resides along with 80 other priests. When asked by Ahimelech why David is alone he answers the priest with a lie. David says that he is on a special secret mission for the King and needs food and weapons for himself and his men who will join him at an undisclosed location later.
The priest has no reason to doubt David, the Captain of the Armies of Israel, so he complies with David’s requests. Ahimelech gives David the Holy Bread which had been taken from the table of God that day along with the only weapon in the place --- the sword of Goliath, the giant Philistine warrior from
In David’s fearful moment he takes this giant sword, the loaves of holy bread and runs away in the night. Let’s read the story from here:
1 Samuel 21 NKJV
6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8 And David said to Ahimelech, "Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste."
9 So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the
10 Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of
11 And the servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?"
12 Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of
13 So he changed his behavior before them, feigned madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?
15 "Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?"
So basically, after running scared for his life, David lies to the priest and gathers as many loaves of holy bread as he can carry under his arm, takes this very recognizable giant sword of Goliath and drags it right into the enemy’s stronghold where he is very well known as one who has killed tens of thousands of their soldiers.
I would say that definitely: David was not thinking too straight! David’s gone crazy …
Later in David’s life he wrote a Psalm about this rather stupid act and his deliverance from certain death. Let’s look at that Psalm,
Psalms 34
Psalms 34 is an alphabetical Psalm. It has 22 verses, each one beginning with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. This Psalms is also a Psalm of deliverance. David continually speaks to God’s goodness despite our circumstances or faults in the trouble we face. Let’s begin our look with a few verses in particular:
Psalms 34 KJV
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Now back to the beginning of this Psalm:
1 --A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.-- I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Verse 4 begins with the letter Dalet(d) which is the picture of a door. It is accepted that when we seek the Lord, He hears us and makes a way or a door of escape for our deliverance.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Now, I love this verse. It begins with the seventh letter, Zayin which stands for the number 7, representing completion or perfection. Zayin is a picture of projection and means spear, weapon, or arrow in the sense of being thrown, ejected or going out beyond limits.
This verse begins with the thought that God, the perfect God, is going to go out beyond limits to complete or accomplish something. What is God going to accomplish? Deliverance for one of His children … David in this instance.
What is so beyond the limits … way out there? David is!
The Hebrew word in this verse translated delivereth has a basic meaning of being rescued. Allow me to put this picture in perspective for us.
Here in this Psalm David is describing some stupid things he did once as a young man. David ran from his enemies in fear, lied to the priests of God, then took holy bread and a giant recognizable sword and walked straight into his greatest enemy’s camp.
When David came to his senses that he was recognized and was most likely going to be killed by the Philistines, he decided the best thing to do was to act crazy. So David began to spit on himself, drool on his beard, eat dirt, scratch on the gates, throw sand on his head and mumble like a crazy person, all the while acting the idiot.
Hey, but it worked! But why did it work? Were all of these people more stupid than David? No! God got involved.
You see, God encamps around those who fear Him and He rescues them from trouble, going beyond the limits to preserve His perfect plan, even when they (we) act like an idiot and do some really crazy things.
So, what can we conclude from this?
There is still hope for you!
Fear the Lord and know that there is nothing so terrible that is done to you or that you do to yourself that God is not willing to make a door of escape and go way beyond the limits to rescue you, even if you go crazy and act like an idiot!
Crazy David
Gtcotr/ws111407
Won’t you turn in your bibles to 1 Samuel 21.
When Joshua led the Children of Israel across the Jordan River and into the
However, when Joshua completed his military campaigns he had not yet conquered all of the people in the
The names of these five Philistine cities were:
Askelon
Ekron
Approximately 400 years after the death of Joshua, after all thirteen Judges had served in their seasons of deliverance the prophet Samuel anointed Saul as King over all
The sons of Anak called the Anakims still lived in the cities of
1 Samuel 17:4 And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from
1 Samuel 17 tells the story of David and Goliath. Goliath was a descendent of Anak and lived in the city of
If you know the story … David, just a young boy, met Goliath alone on the battle field and with a sling and a rock slew him and won a great victory for all
1 Samuel 18 NKJV
7 So the women sang as they danced, and said: "Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands."
8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?"
The continuing story of David’s life unfolds as King Saul becomes very jealous of David’s popularity. Saul attempts to kill David forcing David to run for his life. By this time David is very well known for his bravery and his military victories against not only Goliath but against tens of thousands of Philistines which he had killed.
When David begins his escape from King Saul’s attempts to kill him, he runs to a city called Nob where the priest Ahimelech resides along with 80 other priests. When asked by Ahimelech why David is alone he answers the priest with a lie. David says that he is on a special secret mission for the King and needs food and weapons for himself and his men who will join him at an undisclosed location later.
The priest has no reason to doubt David, the Captain of the Armies of Israel, so he complies with David’s requests. Ahimelech gives David the Holy Bread which had been taken from the table of God that day along with the only weapon in the place --- the sword of Goliath, the giant Philistine warrior from
In David’s fearful moment he takes this giant sword, the loaves of holy bread and runs away in the night. Let’s read the story from here:
1 Samuel 21 NKJV
6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8 And David said to Ahimelech, "Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste."
9 So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the
10 Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of
11 And the servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?"
12 Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of
13 So he changed his behavior before them, feigned madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?
15 "Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?"
So basically, after running scared for his life, David lies to the priest and gathers as many loaves of holy bread as he can carry under his arm, takes this very recognizable giant sword of Goliath and drags it right into the enemy’s stronghold where he is very well known as one who has killed tens of thousands of their soldiers.
I would say that definitely: David was not thinking too straight! David’s gone crazy …
Later in David’s life he wrote a Psalm about this rather stupid act and his deliverance from certain death. Let’s look at that Psalm,
Psalms 34
Psalms 34 is an alphabetical Psalm. It has 22 verses, each one beginning with the succeeding letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. This Psalms is also a Psalm of deliverance. David continually speaks to God’s goodness despite our circumstances or faults in the trouble we face. Let’s begin our look with a few verses in particular:
Psalms 34 KJV
17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18 The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
Now back to the beginning of this Psalm:
1 --A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed.-- I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Verse 4 begins with the letter Dalet(d) which is the picture of a door. It is accepted that when we seek the Lord, He hears us and makes a way or a door of escape for our deliverance.
5 They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
Now, I love this verse. It begins with the seventh letter, Zayin which stands for the number 7, representing completion or perfection. Zayin is a picture of projection and means spear, weapon, or arrow in the sense of being thrown, ejected or going out beyond limits.
This verse begins with the thought that God, the perfect God, is going to go out beyond limits to complete or accomplish something. What is God going to accomplish? Deliverance for one of His children … David in this instance.
What is so beyond the limits … way out there? David is!
The Hebrew word in this verse translated delivereth has a basic meaning of being rescued. Allow me to put this picture in perspective for us.
Here in this Psalm David is describing some stupid things he did once as a young man. David ran from his enemies in fear, lied to the priests of God, then took holy bread and a giant recognizable sword and walked straight into his greatest enemy’s camp.
When David came to his senses that he was recognized and was most likely going to be killed by the Philistines, he decided the best thing to do was to act crazy. So David began to spit on himself, drool on his beard, eat dirt, scratch on the gates, throw sand on his head and mumble like a crazy person, all the while acting the idiot.
Hey, but it worked! But why did it work? Were all of these people more stupid than David? No! God got involved.
You see, God encamps around those who fear Him and He rescues them from trouble, going beyond the limits to preserve His perfect plan, even when they (we) act like an idiot and do some really crazy things.
So, what can we conclude from this?
There is still hope for you!
Fear the Lord and know that there is nothing so terrible that is done to you or that you do to yourself that God is not willing to make a door of escape and go way beyond the limits to rescue you, even if you go crazy and act like an idiot!
