Wed.’s Devo - The Betrayers

Read: 1 Samuel 22:1-23:29; John 10:1-21; Psalm 115:1-18; Proverbs 15:18-19 I was amazed to read about so many people who were willing to betray David to Saul. David had few people who were loyal to him with Jonathan being number one. David’s family supported him finally. His brothers joined his army of patriots and so did his extended family. Others who were dissatisfied with the way Saul was running the kingdom came and joined with David until he had a small army of 400 men. They hid in the caves in the land of Philistia. David took his parents to Moab to ask the king of Moab to hide them. The prophet, Gad, told David to go back to Judah but as soon as he got them Saul found out. Saul met with his men and told them all the things he had done for them and how David had no power to give them anything. He accused them of conspiring with David against him because none of them had told Saul about the pact Jonathan had made with David. Out of fear, Doeg then came forward with his information about what he had witnessed at Nob. Doeg means “fearful”. He lived out what fear will do to a person it controls. Saul called all the priests of Doeg to him and accused them of treason. They explained they knew nothing about David’s betrayal and had acted innocently. Saul condemned them to death but his own soldiers refused to kill the priests. He told Doeg to do it. Doeg killed 85 priests dressed in their holy garments then went to Nob and killed all their relatives and children and livestock. Fear leads to murder. Abiathar, one of the priests escaped and went to David to tell him what happened. David told him to stay with him and he would protect him. Abiathar had brought the ephod of God so they had the Ummin and the Thummin to ask God questions. David learned that the Israelite town of Keilah was being oppressed by the Philistines so he and his men attacked it and saved the people. Saul found out where David was and came to trap him. The priest asked God if the men of Keilah would betray David to Saul and the answer was “yes”, so they left. Saul found out they had left Keilah and went searching for him. Jonathan found David and encouraged him in the Lord. He told him that he knew David would be the next king and so did Saul. When David became king, Jonathan would serve beside him. They made another pact of friendship and Jonathan left. The men of Ziph betrayed David to Saul and told Saul where he was. Saul tracked him till he was on one side of the mountain and David was on the other side of the same mountain. God came through for David and sent word to Saul that the Philistines were attacking Israel. Saul and his men had to leave and go fight them. Phew! That was a close call! Jesus gave the people a parable about a sheepfold. Thieves and robbers tried to get in over the wall but the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gate keeper opens the gate for him and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. This parable explained the kingdom of God. The sheepfold was God’s kingdom. The thieves and robbers were the teachers of the law that perverted it and made themselves a god to the people. He was the shepherd who entered through the gate the right way. The true disciples would recognize his voice and follow him. That was exactly what was happening. The people were recognizing truth and following it. Jesus as the good shepherd would lay down his life for his sheep. A hireling would betray the sheep to the wolves to save their own hide like the betrayers in David’s life. No one would be able to take Jesus’ life, he would lay it down voluntarily for his sheep. Jesus told these controversial stories to weed out the good from the bad. The ones who couldn’t hear what he said were not his sheep. The ones who heard, even if they didn’t understand, and believed were his true sheep. Lord, help us to be faithful to You as You are always faithful to us.