DAVID THE SHEPHERD KING #10 Sleeping With The Enemy – Part 2 1 Samuel 27-30

The Bible is full of verses discussing the danger of apostasy, and we are even given accounts of the lives of some who fell into apostasy –Men like Saul, Solomon, Jonah, and David. –David? Yes, there was a 16 month period in the life of David where he backslid. In our last we lesson we noted how that: –David became discouraged and lost faith in the Lord Saul sought his life every day (1 Sam. 23:14) Nothing he tried relieved his troubles –David abandoned the Lord and His people and crossed over to the enemy He lost hope in God’s promises and went over to the other side Sadly, he took others with him

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp –In order to fit in with the Philistines he would have to make some changes, perhaps do, or appear to do, some drastic things to prove his loyalty to the enemy – or rather, his disloyalty to the Israelites –This would cause David to stoop to one of the lowest points of his entire life – he began a life of deceit and violence

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp 1 Samuel 27:5 –Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol was not what he states here – He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I’ll show you why. –1 Samuel 27:6-8 So David and his men began to live in Ziklag So far this was nothing out of the ordinary for an Israelite soldier to do. All of these “ites” were enemies of Israel anyway. But the butchery and deceit that follows was something to which David had to stoop. 1 Sam 27:5 Then David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?" 1 Sam 27:6-8 So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. 8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp 1 Samuel 27:5 –Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol was not what he states here – He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I’ll show you why. –1 Samuel 27:6-8 –1 Samuel 27:9 Now this violence was beyond anything that David had done thus far He killed everyone in each village he raided. Why? 1 Sam 27:9 David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp 1 Samuel 27:5 –Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol was not what he states here – He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I’ll show you why. –1 Samuel 27:6-8 –1 Samuel 27:9 –1 Samuel 27:10...David claimed that he was raiding his own people – He wasn’t, but he wanted Achish to think that so he could stay with the Philistines. –1 Samuel 27:11 These years of massacres would come back to haunt David as he would be forbidden to build the temple because he was a man of blood shed The words of David in Psalm 5:6 are in striking contrast to this period of his life 1 Sam 27:10 Now Achish said, "Where have you made a raid today?" And David said, "Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites. 1 Sam 27:11 David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying, "Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, 'So has David done and so has been his practice all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'" Ps 5:6 You destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp 1 Samuel 27:5 –Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol was not what he states here – He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I’ll show you why. –1 Samuel 27:6-8 –1 Samuel 27:9 –1 Samuel 27:10...David claimed that he was raiding his own people – He wasn’t, but he wanted Achish to think that so he could stay with the Philistines. –1 Samuel 27:11 –1 Samuel 27:12 Achish had full trust in David at this time But when you are in the enemies camp, you must ultimately do the enemy’s bidding or get out – sooner or later, David would “really” have to fight his own … 1 Sam 27:12 So Achish believed David, saying, "He has surely made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore he will become my servant forever.

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp 1 Samuel 27:5 –Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol was not what he states here – He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I’ll show you why. –1 Samuel 27:6-8 –1 Samuel 27:9 –1 Samuel 27:10...David claimed that he was raiding his own people – He wasn’t, but he wanted Achish to think that so he could stay with the Philistines. –1 Samuel 27:11 –1 Samuel 27:12 –1 Samuel 28:1-2 - Is David actually planning to attack –1 Samuel 29:1-2 … I looks like David is actually going to attack his own countrymen! –1 Samuel 29:3-5 Achish’s men object to David being here Achish reluctantly sends David back to Ziklag 1 Sam 28:1-2 Now it came about in those days that the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men." 2 David said to Achish, "Very well, you shall know what your servant can do." So Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life." 1 Sam 29:1-2 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines were proceeding on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were proceeding on in the rear with Achish 1 Sam 29:3-5 Then the commanders of the Philistines said, "What are these Hebrews doing here?" And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him from the day he deserted to me to this day?" 4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, "Make the man go back, that he may return to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For with what could this man make himself acceptable to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men? 5 "Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands'?"

DAVID ADAPTED TO LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD Remember, David was a Hebrew – one of God’s people. Because of that he would be suspect in the enemy camp 1 Samuel 27:5 –Now the reason David had for locating in the country and away from the capitol was not what he states here – He actually wanted to avoid detection. Stick with me and I’ll show you why. –1 Samuel 27:6-8 –1 Samuel 27:9 –1 Samuel 27:10...David claimed that he was raiding his own people – He wasn’t, but he wanted Achish to think that so he could stay with the Philistines. –1 Samuel 27:11 –1 Samuel 27:12 –1 Samuel 28:1-2 - Is David actually planning to attack© –1 Samuel 29:1-2 … I looks like David is actually going to attack his own countrymen! –1 Samuel 29:3-5 –1 Samuel 29:8 David was objecting to being sent back! David was at this point ready to do something he never dreamed he would do – go to war against God’s people. A person in apostasy will find himself doing things they never though they were capable of. The human heart can be twisted and corrupted. David is now being taken down a notch at a time – the bottom was certainly in sight at this time 1 Sam 29:8 David said to Achish, " But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day when I came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

DAVID REAPED THE RESULTS OF LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:1-4 –Talk about hitting the bottom! All of a sudden the effects of life in the enemy camp came crashing home –Remember, David left the land of Israel thinking that he would find some relief from the pressure –At first it seemed that was the case. Then, in a relatively short period of time, he is rejected by the Philistine lords, he loses his way of life, home, and family, and has yet one more blow coming 1 Sam 30:1-4 Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; 2 and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone, and carried them off and went their way. 3 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep

DAVID REAPED THE RESULTS OF LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:1-4 1 Samuel 30:5-6b –Now even David’s men were against him – they were speaking of stoning him! –David finds out, and we need to realize that lasting relief from adversity does not comes in the enemy’s camp. 1 Sam 30:5-6 Now David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters

DAVID REAPED THE RESULTS OF LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:1-4 1 Samuel 30:5-6b When you begin to think that life with the Lord and His people is too tough, and you are convinced that it would be easier in Satan’s camp – remember this picture of David crying his eyes out over the smoldering ruins of Ziklag. Someone has well said, “Satan promises the best and pays the worst. He is a liar from the beginning. The foolish are deceived by him.. The promised crown becomes a halter; the promised comfort a torment; the promised honor, shame; and the promised heaven a hell.” Remember when Satan finally stripped off the wraps of his deceptive promises to the prodigal son – that son found himself in the pigpen. –When Satan stripped off the wraps of his deception with David – He found himself broken, rejected, and, for all he knew widowed and without family. –If Satan is promising you great things if you will just leave the Lord – don’t listen! He is a liar! He really wants to destroy you!

DAVID REAPED THE RESULTS OF LIFE WITHOUT THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:1-4 1 Samuel 30:5-6b When you begin to think that life with the Lord and His people is too tough, and you are convinced that it would be easier in Satan’s camp – remember this picture of David crying his eyes out over the smoldering ruins of Ziklag. Someone has well said, “Satan promises the best and pays the worst. He is a liar from the beginning. The foolish are deceived by him.. The promised crown becomes a halter; the promised comfort a torment; the promised honor, shame; and the promised heaven a hell.” Remember when Satan finally stripped off the wraps of his deceptive promises to the prodigal son – that son found himself in the pigpen. Was this end for David? No – he learned his lesson …

DAVID FINALLY CAME TO HIS SENSES AND RETURNED TO THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:6c –It’s about time! David finally turns back to God! –Turning back to God is repentance, and that is what every backslider needs to do. 1 Sam 30:6 But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God

DAVID FINALLY CAME TO HIS SENSES AND RETURNED TO THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:6c Let’s imagine that we could take 1 Samuel 30:6c and move it to the end of 1 Samuel 27:1 –Think how things would have changed for David – setback can be avoided if we will “strengthen ourselves in the Lord” –Don’t give up! Get help! 1 Sam 30:6 But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God 1 Sam 27:1 Then David said to himself

DAVID FINALLY CAME TO HIS SENSES AND RETURNED TO THE LORD 1 Samuel 30:6c Let’s imagine that we could take 1 Samuel 30:6c and move it to the end of 1 Samuel 27:1 1 Samuel 30:7 - David begins to once again inquire of the Lord for direction – something he had missed for 16 months 1 Sam 30:7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David

There are several lessons to be learned from this account of David’s life: –When you are discouraged and despondent and feel like giving up – get help! –Don’t fall for the lie that life out of the Lord’s camp is easier.