Episode Details

Love Your Enemies

1 Samuel 24, Remsen Bible Fellowship, 03/28/2021

Introduction

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

These are the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48. Do you find them uncomfortable? I do. Jesus doesn’t say tolerate your enemies, hate your enemies, be understanding of your enemies, or fight your enemies. Jesus says: love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. I grew up primarily reading the New King James which translates that phrase pray for those who spitefully use you. This is emphatically not the message of a culture obsessed with self-care. We think of ways to cut people off, to not have to deal with them, and in darker moments, we look for ways to get even and assert our power over our enemies. 

As with all sinful inclinations, this is not a new part of the human condition. David faced the same temptation, the temptation to take vengeance into his own hands and to literally cut off his enemies, not once, but at least three times. This theme of vengeance withheld, of David refusing to take the life of his enemies and to instead entrust his situation to the Lord, is the theme which binds together chapters 24-26. We will come back and dwell on that more specifically in future studies, but this morning I want to begin with the positive side of that negative statement: if David doesn’t seek vengeance, what is he doing instead? Loving his enemies.

Patience. Loving your enemies means trusting God’s timing. v1-7

When Saul returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Wildgoats’ Rocks. 3 And he came to the sheepfolds by the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 And the men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’ ” Then David arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the LORD’s anointed.” 7 So David persuaded his men with these words and did not permit them to attack Saul. And Saul rose up and left the cave and went on his way. 

The tension in this scene is palpable. Verse one opens with Saul returning from his dealings with the Philistines, and we sense a shift in the focus of the author, as he doesn’t even tell us how that went. The Philistines have been an ever-present menace in the book of 1 Samuel, yet here as we enter this story all we know is that Saul left to chase them (1 Samuel 23:28), and now he has returned to his real business: chasing David. 

And Saul comes out in full force. He takes his “chosen men” the three-thousand who have shone themselves truly worthy in battle, and marches into the wilderness of En-Gedi outnumbering David’s forces 5 to 1. This wilderness of En-Gedi is just that: wilderness. The spring of En-Gedi was an oasis in the midst of some oth