Through the Bible Day by Day - 1 Samuel 26:1 - 26:1

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Through the Bible Day by Day - 1 Samuel 26:1 - 26:1


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

Sparing His Enemy’s Life

1Sa 26:1-12

The Ziphites’ treachery served as a foil to the intrinsic nobility of David’s character. God made the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrained the remainder, Psa 76:10, so that His servant escaped as a bird out of the fowler’s snare. Read here, Psa 54:1-7.

It was a bold act for David and Abishai to thread their way between watch-fires and sentries, and talk in whispers over the prostrate body of the sleeping monarch. As David says in one of the Psalms, “By thee I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.” The special share attributed here to God is the deep sleep which had fallen on the camp, 1Sa 26:12. The Lord who put the resolve into David’s mind, cooperated in its execution. We are sometimes led by a divine impulse, and God will set His seal on our act; but we should not throw ourselves into peril unless the occasion plainly requires it. We are not at liberty to cast ourselves down from the mountain, unless it is clearly God’s will. In David’s case, there was sufficient reason for this adventure; first, that Saul might be warned once more; and second, that the integrity of the young outlaw might be established.