Lessons from David: How to Be a Giant Killer (11 page)

Before Absalom rebelled against David, there is no record in Scripture of him committing any sexual sin. As a matter of fact, he was quite offended by the rape of his sister Tamar, who was raped by their mutual half-brother Amnon. Absalom was so incensed over this that he took Tamar into his own house and raised her. He even had a daughter whom he named Tamar, apparently in honor of his sister. Ultimately, Absalom murdered Amnon for what he had done to Tamar. By the way Absalom responded to the sexual abuse of his sister, we can deduce that he certainly held high moral standards, at least in respect to treatment of his sister.

So out of these three kings—Saul, David, and Absalom—David is the only one recorded in Scripture as having committed adultery (though as part of Absalom’s rebellion against his father, he did commit adultery with David’s wives in public). David took another man’s wife and then had her husband killed. So in a sense, Saul and Absalom were more moral than David in many ways.

That’s a relative statement, however, because Saul killed all but one of the sons of a priest—eighty-five men in total (1 Samuel 22:11-21). That was out and out murder! These men were ministers. They were unarmed. Even though I disagree with his conclusion, Saul reasoned that they had committed treason. So you could look at Saul’s actions as the rightful execution of a group of people who were plotting treason. This was not the case in actuality, but in Saul’s deranged frame of mind brought on by his insecurities, I believe Saul justified it as such. What he did wasn’t right, but it wasn’t any worse than what David did when he had Uriah killed to try to cover up his sin with Bathsheba.

Absalom murdered his half-brother Amnon because he had raped his sister Tamar. Although this could be viewed as justice or revenge, it doesn’t justify what Absalom did.

As far as actions are concerned, David wasn’t any better than Saul or Absalom. Therefore, we can conclude that it’s not just our actions that reveal whether or not we have a heart after God. It must go deeper than that.

Consider the Heart

What really set David apart was the attitude of his heart. Integrity begins with an attitude. It doesn’t end with it, and that’s not all there is to it, but it has to go that deep. David had failures just the same as Saul and Absalom. In some ways, his failures were even worse. But the Word still calls him a man after God’s own heart.

Today we tend to judge people only by their actions without looking beyond to their heart. Actions are important, but people are more than just physical bodies who act. There are emotional and spiritual parts on the inside of us that drive us to do things. We have to take that into account as well.

I’ve had certain employees who just had a bad attitude. Their hearts, not just their actions, were wrong. Because of that, they didn’t give me a good day’s work. They talked about me behind my back and sowed discord among the other employees. When I see behavior such as that, I’ll consider their actions but I’ll also go beyond and look at their heart. I’ll ask, “Are they vindictive or malicious in doing this? Are they trying to hurt people, or is this just a mistake?” As a leader, I look at and deal with actions because the other employees are watching what’s going on, but I try to take into account the person’s heart.

I remember one employee in particular who was just as faithful as could be. Although I paid him for forty hours of work each week, he put in fifty or sixty hours and never charged me overtime. He was just a hard worker with a great attitude who for years was faithful, faithful, faithful.

Then he started doing some things that were wrong. At first I wondered what was going on, then after a while I had every right to go in and fire him, saying, “That’s it! You did this, this, and that and I’ve already talked to you about it. You’re fired!” But even though I had the right to do that, I knew his heart. I knew these actions were inconsistent with his past behavior and what I knew to be his heart.

“These Actions Are Inconsistent”

So instead of blasting him, I went in, sat down, and said, “You’ve done these things, but I know that’s not you. What’s going on? Why have you started doing these kinds of things? That’s inconsistent with what I know to be your heart.” Instead of reproving him, I complimented him and asked, “Is there something I can do to help you work through this? There must be something that’s causing you to act this way.”

He never did open up and tell me what was wrong, but he humbled himself and said, “You’re absolutely right. I am not treating you right as an employer. You will not have another problem!” Although he didn’t choose to open up and tell me what was going on, he repented and promised to straighten it out. He did, and I never had another problem from him! Later I found out he was having some serious problems at home that caused those actions. If another person had done the exact same things that he did, I might not have handled the situation the same way. If their heart was wrong and I knew it, I wouldn’t be able to show them as much latitude. If I made them submit in these areas, then the problem would just show up again somewhere else because their heart was wrong. The Word says:

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.

Proverbs 23:7

If the actions belie a heart problem, I would just terminate the employee right then. But for someone with a good heart who is doing the wrong things, I deal with them differently.

Develop His Heart!

We are human beings, not machines or human “doings.” We are more than just what we do. We’re people who make mistakes. There is more to us than just our actions. This is why we’re going to focus our attention on David’s heart attitudes. If you want to be a person after God’s own heart, you’re going to have to get beyond just behavior modification and trying to fulfill a set of rules and regulations. You need to get a heart like God’s. You need to develop characteristics in your heart that are like Him.

This won’t guarantee that you’ll never do anything wrong. David certainly did some things wrong. However, having this kind of heart will minimize the things you do wrong. And when God reproves you, having a heart like God’s will cause you to quickly repent. You’ll be able to regain your position and your effectiveness and go on, whereas other people who do not have a heart like God’s will be destroyed by their wrong actions.

Chapter 12
“It’s My Fault!”

David had a relationship with God on a heart level. There were qualities, characteristics, and attitudes in his heart that set him apart from Saul and Absalom.

In 1 Samuel 15, God told Saul through Samuel to execute judgment upon the Amalekites. These people had attacked and shown no mercy to the Israelites while they were wandering in the wilderness. Due to this, the Lord had determined their absolute destruction. Many years after this transgression, God through Samuel sent Saul on a mission to utterly destroy everything of the Amalekites including their men, women, children, cattle, sheep, oxen, everything they possessed. This wasn’t a battle to get spoils or a conquest where they could acquire property; this was a battle to exact God’s vengeance and punishment. Therefore God commanded Saul, “Wipe out everything that breathes!”

However, Saul didn’t do that. He claimed to have obeyed God, but he didn’t. He saved Agag, king of the Amalekites, and brought all of the best sheep, oxen, and cattle back with him. Samuel went to see Saul after this mission.

And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD. And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

The command included killing
all
of the animals. Yet Samuel could hear both sheep and oxen. Saul had not fully obeyed the command.

Sacrifice?

And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Saul claimed that he had performed everything the Lord had told him to do, but Samuel reproved him by saying, “No, you didn’t. These animals are still alive.” Then Saul answered, “The people spared the best.”

Picture this! Saul was the king. He had been given a command to kill everything that breathed. Yet here he was, saying, “the people” spared these. Who was the king? Who was in the position of authority? Saul was. So the people couldn’t have done this if Saul had not allowed it. At the very least, Saul had to give his approval. More likely, he was the instigator of it. However, Saul wasn’t accepting responsibility for what he had done. Instead, he pushed responsibility off onto the people.

Saul placed the blame on somebody else and then tried to whitewash it by saying, “Well, we might not have killed them the way you told us to, but we brought them back here so we could slaughter them as sacrifices. Instead of just killing them and letting their death be in vain, we wanted to bring them back and offer them to the Lord.”

If—and that’s a big “if”—what Saul was saying was truly what they meant to do, then they were planning to offer a sacrifice to the Lord that cost them nothing. Maybe they said, “Let’s bring back some of the enemy’s herds and offer them to God. Then we won’t suffer a depletion of our own herds when we celebrate this victory. Besides, we’re just going to kill them anyway.” This is totally an ungodly way of doing things. David shows us why.

No Positive Spin

Later in life, David came to Araunah’s threshing floor to offer a sacrifice to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:18-25). When David spoke to him about securing the location for sacrifice and animals to offer, Araunah said, “Here, take my oxen. Take my yokes and use them for fire. Take all of these things—I give them to you!”

But David answered, “No, I’m going to pay you for it.”

Araunah continued, “No, I want to give them to you!”

And the king [David] said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing.

2 Samuel 24:24; brackets mine

What a great attitude! You can’t take your neighbor’s sheep and offer it as a sacrifice to God. If you aren’t giving of yourself, of your own substance, if what you are offering isn’t costing you anything, it really isn’t a sacrifice.

If this was truly what motivated them to bring back the Amalekites’ oxen and sheep, then they were trying to find a cheap way of fulfilling their duty to offer sacrifices to the Lord for His protection in battle. “Let’s not offer our animals, but theirs for the sacrifice!” Even if this was what they truly intended to do, there was no way to whitewash their disobedience and put a positive spin on it.

The First Career Politician

Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed.

Saul acknowledged that he understood the command was to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all they possessed, and yet he didn’t do it. So this wasn’t a deception; it was a lie. He was putting his spin on things. Saul was the first real career politician. You could ask him a question, but the answer he gave always depended on which side of his mouth he spoke from. (Now that’s not true of every politician, but certainly a large number of them.)

But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

The prophet reproved Saul for his disobedience.

“I’m Responsible!”

David also disobeyed the Lord. He committed adultery, murdered the woman’s husband, and then took her as his wife in an attempt to cover up the adultery and make it look like the child that had been conceived was actually legally his by marriage. What David did was terribly wrong, but once he was reproved, he repented in sackcloth and ashes. He didn’t point the finger at anyone else. David accepted the blame and took responsibility for his actions.

You can’t commit adultery with just one person. Although Bathsheba was involved in this too, David never said anything like, “She enticed me. It’s her fault. Bathsheba shouldn’t have been washing herself up on the roof without her clothes on. She’s the one who exposed herself to me!” Neither did he say, “Joab helped me kill Uriah.” You don’t find any of that in the Bible.

David wrote Psalm 51, a psalm of repentance for all he had done in this instance. The subscript to the psalm reads: