David Tells a Lie

When God gave Moses the law, he commanded them not to spread a false report, not to join their hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness, and not to do the evil of testifying in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice. The command not to spread a false report means not to lie for one’s own gain. For people can easily tell any lie at all to protect their own interests or their lives.

In Exodus 23:7, God says to keep far from a false charge, and not to kill the innocent and righteous. He is strongly declaring that he will judge those who, out of selfishness, kill a righteous person by lying.

Fleeing from Saul, David arrived in the land of Nob and met Ahimelech, who was serving there as priest. Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub and the grandson of Phinehas. That makes him the great-grandson of Eli the high priest. Ahimelech knew David was a valiant man, so he found it strange that David had suddenly come with only a few men, but he received him courteously. David caught Ahimelech’s reaction and lied, saying that he was on a secret mission from the king and would meet his other men later. He was in a position where he had nowhere left to go to escape the king, but when he saw Ahimelech flustered, he ended up lying that he was carrying out a mission. But when David asked for bread and weapons, Ahimelech would have realized that something had happened to him. The priest gave the hungry David the holy bread that only priests eat. This holy bread was the show bread that had been laid on the table in the holy place.

Leviticus 24:9 records that this bread shall be for Aaron and his sons, and that they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire, by a perpetual statute. The show bread was twelve loaves, laid on the table in two rows of six; it had to be replaced with fresh loaves every week, and the law laid down that the bread that came out of the temple could be eaten only by the priests. God commanded that the bread set before him be eaten only by the priests in the holy place so that the holy bread would not be made unclean. Such holy bread is what Ahimelech now gave to David. This event would look like Ahimelech breaking God’s word and committing high treason by defying King Saul’s command. So the one who saw this scene and told on Ahimelech to King Saul, saying that he had defied the command and helped David, was Doeg, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.

Through this event in which Ahimelech helped David, we ought to consider whether we will interpret the law literally, or grasp the will of God who gave the law and act in love and faith. Even when a constitution is written, laws are not made in order to turn people into criminals. Just as laws are made to protect righteous people, God, who made the law, had that same heart. Sometimes I am asked questions that sadden me: when I meet church members who ask whether it is all right to go to the market on the Lord’s Day, or to eat meat during Holy Week. They ask such questions because they have no understanding at all of the purpose for which God is completing salvation.

In Matthew 12, the Pharisees accused the disciples of breaking the Sabbath when they saw them, hungry, plucking heads of grain and eating them as they passed through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and Jesus answered them by citing this very event of David eating the show bread. He rebuked them, asking whether they had not read in the law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless. So he was saying that when Ahimelech gave David the bread, it was not breaking the law, as they thought, but showing mercy. He told them that one greater than the temple was here, and that if they had known what the words “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” mean, they would not have condemned the guiltless. He was saying that Ahimelech’s act of giving David the show bread was not a breach of the law but mercy shown according to God’s will.

Ahimelech, a man full of love, was killed together with eighty-five priests for having helped David. All he had done was show mercy, with the heart of God, to David, a man of God, but because Doeg told on him to Saul, he was killed. The world is a place ruled by wicked people like Saul and Doeg, so we must know that believers too can meet hardship, just as good people like David and Ahimelech suffer. To think that because I believe in God I ought to do well in the world, and that because I have devoted myself so zealously I will not suffer, is the faith of a little child.

In the world anyone can meet someone like Doeg and suffer. Even so, only by living with a good heart, like Ahimelech and David, who kept their faith, can we receive eternal life from God as our reward. That is why you must pray to God to protect you from wicked people and evil spirits.

In the eyes of the world, David clearly lied. Because he deceived Ahimelech, he drove eighty-five priests to their deaths, though he did not intend to. Then God ought to rebuke David. But Scripture is silent both when Jonathan lied to Saul for David and now when David lies to Ahimelech. Priests died because David lied, and yet God is silent; I want to look into why.

John 8:44

44You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.

Lying belongs to Satan. Satan was a murderer from the beginning, and because there is no truth in him, he does not stand in the truth. Lies are the very thing Satan, who has no truth, uses to make believers who live by the truth stumble. The quick thinking believers use in the moment to keep the word of truth is different from the lies of the world. For the lies God rebukes are those that hinder God’s work, put believers in trouble, and twist the truth for worldly gain.

Proverbs 30:6 tells you not to add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar. To lie is to fail to pass on the word of truth just as it is, adding human thoughts or the world’s morality, ethics and common sense to the Word until people abandon the truth. So you must discern and judge carefully between the Word and the world.

From the beginning Satan used a lie to make Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and with a lie he stirred up Cain’s heart to commit murder. The people who had waved palm branches to welcome Jesus were deceived by the greed and cravings Satan gave them and shouted the lie that Jesus was a sinner. Even now many people make up another gospel out of human thoughts and greed and deceive others, and those without discernment are falling into death. Satan was a murderer from the beginning; there was no truth in him, and he spoke lies on his own. That same Satan mixed lies into the truth and passed it on to souls who cannot discern spirits, in order to set up the abomination of desolation in the holy place. Because he knows that the Lord’s promise to come on the last day will be fulfilled, Satan will work all the harder to keep souls from being saved, and he will mix lies into the truth and pass it on in a form that looks much the same.

That is why the apostle John gave this definition of lying: if we say that we know God and walk in the darkness, we lie; and anyone who says they know God and does not keep his commandments is a liar, because the truth is not in them. Foolish people like Doeg, who cannot discern spirits, will carry out that work.

When Joshua arrived to conquer the city of Jericho, he had no elite troops to attack with and no weapons, so by human common sense taking Jericho was almost impossible. But God, the King of Israel, had set Rahab, a person of faith, inside Jericho. The city would have been hard to bring down even by attack from outside, but because of Rahab, who held up the light of faith inside the city, Israel was able to win. The two spies Joshua sent into Jericho came to stay at the house of Rahab the prostitute. When soldiers heard that spies had come into Jericho, they came to Rahab’s house to arrest the two men. Hiding the Israelite spies could have meant death not only for Rahab but for her whole family, yet Rahab hid the spies on the roof of her house and even lied to the soldiers that the spies had left, and so she helped Israel. In this way, God does not rebuke someone who lies to the world to save God’s people. But there must be a purpose for the kingdom of God and the saving of souls.

Having gotten the bread and the sword Ahimelech gave him, David fled to Achish king of Gath. Gath was Goliath’s country, so for David, who had killed Goliath, fleeing there was as dangerous as meeting Saul; even so, he fled to Gath. It seems that David went to Goliath’s hometown perhaps to show that in this world there is no place for David or for believers to hide. When the servants of Achish saw David, they began to be wary of him, saying that the people of Israel had said that Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Hearing this, David did something unbelievable and absurd in front of people. Before King Achish he suddenly let his spittle fall down on his beard and pretended to be insane. People who read of this event in Scripture would probably wonder how badly David must have wanted to live, to go so far. They might think that for a man like David, boldly standing up to Saul would show far more faith than begging for his life before the king of Gath.

But God had a plan to send Christ through David, and David knew God’s purpose in anointing him and setting him up as king. All David could do now was wait for God’s time. Anything short of betraying God was open to David, so he decided to escape the crisis by pretending to be insane. Seeing David insane, King Achish grew angry and drove him out.

Though he is pretending to be insane now, later, when David by God’s grace became king of Israel, 1 Chronicles 18:1 records that he took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines. This tells us why David pretended to be insane. Until the time God allows, David is enduring years of hardship with faith and wisdom. It is not that he lacks the strength to attack Saul; he is waiting patiently until the time when God grants him the throne. You must learn the wisdom of David, who waited patiently for the time, until the moment God would work. If there is a purpose for the kingdom of God and the saving of souls, God will not rebuke David for pretending to be insane, as though he had failed to show faith.

Pretending to be insane to escape the grip of King Achish is not cowardice; you can see it as a believer enduring in the world. Because David pretended to be insane, he dropped out of King Achish’s notice. If Achish had told David to deny God, David would of course have kept his faith at the cost of his life. But David needed a place to stay and time, so he came up with the ruse of pretending to be insane, and so he could look forward to tomorrow. You, too, must endure as a believer, like David, and live a life full of the Holy Spirit. I hope you will pray to God to give you wisdom and understanding, and pray for a faith that endures. There is something you must discern carefully: suffering in waiting for God’s time must certainly be brought to God in earnest prayer until you receive an answer, but suffering that comes through your own mistakes or wrongdoing calls for repentance. Only by discerning this well as you live can you meet a bright future. If you think that what you suffer for your own wrongdoing is the world persecuting you, you will fail in life.

Believers must not compete with the world in cravings and greed. Believers gain nothing even if they defeat the world, so, as David did, in a moment of crisis it is also wisdom to show that they are no rival to the world. For being pushed out of the world’s notice is also a way of being protected. If David had flattered King Achish to win his favor, he would have had to go to war against Israel. In that case David would have saved his life by flattering Achish, but he would be fighting against God’s people, so it would not be God’s will. But when he bought time by pretending to be insane, David gained time to pray and built up the strength to face anyone. When believers are full of wisdom and have built up knowledge and ability, God does not put them to shame, so they can live a life of victory.

I hope you, too, will have the wisdom to know how to wait for the time, as David did. David suffered the humiliation of pretending to be insane, but he kept his precious life and built a united kingdom; like him, I hope you will have the endurance to carry the Lord’s cross even when the world mocks your faith. The reward for living out one’s faith is a blessing beyond anything the world can imagine. God will turn every lie you told to keep your faith into a reward. I hope you will have the wisdom to grow in faith until God works.

May you live a life of nothing but victory, like David, whose heart was always one with God. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 22:13-23

13Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?” 14Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, “Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house? 15Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me! Don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more.” 16The king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father’s house.” 17The king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn, and kill the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and didn’t disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king wouldn’t put out their hand to fall on the priests of Yahweh. 18The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod. 19He struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword. 20One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. 21Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh’s priests. 22David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. For you will be safe with me.”