Let us hear God's word from 1 Samuel 22, verse 6. When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered, now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah with a spear in his hand and all the servants standing about him. And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now you Benjamites. Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse. And there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as it is his day. Then answered Doag the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul and said, I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob to Himalek, the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nub. And they all came to the king. And Saul said, here now, son of Ahitub. He answered, here I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, that you have given him bread and sword and have inquired of God for him? that he should rise against me to lie in wait as it is this day. So Himlech answered the king and said, and who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, who goes at your bidding and is honorable in your house? Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me. Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to any in the house of my father, for your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much. And the king said, you shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house. And the king said to the guards who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me. The servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. The king said to Toeg, you turn and kill the priests. So Doug, the Edomite, turned and struck the priest and killed on that day 85 men who wore a linen ephod. Also Nob, the city of the priest, he struck with the edge of the sword both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep with the edge of the sword. Now one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests. So David said to Abiathar, I knew that day when Doug the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul, I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me, do not fear, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. But with me, you shall be safe. May God add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word. Amen. Well, as we begin here tonight, we come to, if you will, the council culture of Saul's rule. And we continue here the account of David fleeing from Saul, and we spoke of that, of course, last week in verses 1 to 5. Now, David did flee from Gath initially, but as he went to the cave of Adulam, obviously the main point is he is escaping from Saul. David's family came to him for their own protection, and then David took them to Moab, his ancestral home, through Ruth, his great-grandmother, and they were safe there apart from Saul. Now, secondly, then, we see God sending 400 men to David. Those who are in trouble with Saul as well, it seems. And so they join with him and then we leave them temporarily settled in the forest of Hereth. Now in it all, God's protecting David. God is providing for him, providing him companionship, help, and basically he's beginning to form his kingly cabinet that will rule with him someday. One of the key characters, if you will, and people in this cabinet is Gad. God sent him, likely, from Samuel, and so David now has a prophet who could give him divine guidance. Gad, possibly, maybe even likely, is the one who writes this second half of 1 Samuel. So we have some hope in the midst of all of this, some hopeful events for David. But now we return to the specific evil of Saul. So, verse six. When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered, now Saul was staying in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah with a spear in his hand and all his servants standing about him. Obviously we're stopping mid-sentence and we have this interjection in the middle of it. So we begin here with Saul hearing about David's location. They were informants loyal to the king. Now, let's just pause and reflect on that point here a moment. We are reading things after the fact. We have a divine interpretation of the events of the day. For those who are living in the midst of it, surely we're hearing all kinds of gossip and rumors and slanders about David that came from Saul and others who supported him. And so Saul surely was spreading lies about David. We're going to read one of them here in just a moment. Remember though that everyone loved David. He was beloved by all the servants of Saul. And so Saul now has to convince everyone that David is public enemy number one. Now, obviously he can't quote Romans 13, but the idea of saying, well, you know, everybody must obey the king. surely would have been part of his thinking. And maybe he even used Michael's lie when Michael said that David was threatening her. Surely he invented things. Again, we'll see that in a moment. He probably hired the propaganda machine at CNN, so to speak, saying David's a revolutionary or some white supremacist and racist or something like that. But we also need to remember that unbelievers are naturally opposed to true believers and will join together. As I said last time, those who try to say that the 400 men who gathered were David were just a bunch of outlaws and ruffians, I think really misses the point. Why would they join with someone who is a man after God's own heart? Now maybe some of them were unsavory characters, but most of them I think would not have been. In fact, it's the unbelievers who would have joined with Saul. And then of course, fear. is a great motivator. If men were not afraid yet, they surely will be by the end of this chapter. You often hear people say, oh, conspiracy theories, those can't happen, you know, and they're very implausible and so forth, and some of them surely are. On the other hand, it's not as difficult as people think. When you have fears, lies, propagandas and the inherent evil residing within people and the evil spiritual powers that make it happen, it can be quite possible. Just look at what's happened with the COVID policies in January 6 and cancel culture and we're seeing it happening all the time, one way or another. So someone, deceived by Saul, or maybe thinking they're doing the right thing. Someone learns that David is in the cave of Adullam, and either deliberately brings it to Saul, or maybe it happens through the grapevine. Somehow Saul hears. But a lot is going on behind the scenes, at least from what we see in the text. Now we are told here that Saul is home in Gibeah. So if you look at your map here just a moment, let's see where we are. You see where Adolam is, where David is in the cave. They're kind of right in the middle of the map. a little north of that, and then you see where Gibeah is, about 18 miles north and east of Adulam. And then it says he's by this tree in Ramah, which you see Ramah is just a couple miles north of Gibeah, so most likely what this means, it's on the northern edge of Gibeah on the way to Ramah. And he is under this tree. He's got a spear in his hand, and he's surrounded by his servants. Now some say that Saul is just sitting around, he's being lazy, he's brooding over the disloyalty, and maybe that's true. But the language here is also reminiscent of Judges 4, where we see Deborah sitting under a tree and judging. And so people brought their cases and she rendered judgment, and maybe that's what Saul is doing here. But what is clear is that Saul gathers his key leaders together after he hears this news about David. And we have this ominous description. He's got the spear in his hand. In one sense, that's kind of an everyday thing, right? Kings hold some sign of authority, a scepter, a spear, whatever. You know, we were waiting for a little Caesar's pizza after words yesterday, and Emma, was it you, Emma? You were asking about the spear of the pizza on the top. I said, well, hey, that's Caesar, you know, he's holding a spear like Saul. But you remember the other times we've seen Saul holding a spear. and ended up being tossed toward David and even Jonathan. What's gonna happen this time? So, let's continue then. Verse seven finishes our sentence. Then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, hear now you Benjamites, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? Do you hear Saul's propaganda? Do you really think that David is going to treat a Benjamite well? I mean, look at how Israel treated Benjamites, right? We're all descendants of this, you know, bizarre situation where all the Benjamites are killed except for some and the wives are stolen and, you know, remember all that. You think David's going to treat us any better? He's the son of Judah. Plus, of course, new kings kill off their rivals. You can imagine some of the things that Saul said beyond what is recorded here. You see how Saul is appealing to their greed. He is buying their loyalty, basically, and scaring them and manipulating thoughts about David all at the same time. Of course, this is nothing new. You see it throughout history. You see it today. Just go to Harrisburg or Washington and this kind of thing happens all the time. So notice then the next part here, verse eight, all of you have conspired against me and there is no one who reveals to me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse and there's not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as it is this day. Now do you hear Saul, do you see the inherent threat in these words? Do you hear the lies, right? He's just twisting everything to his own ends. And of course, sinful people, sinful leaders, no surprise here. You see his insecurity. All have conspired against me. Nobody has told me about my son and David entering into this covenant. So remember, right, chapter 18, chapter 20. He accuses everybody of disloyalty. He's got a spear in his hand. You know, what's going to happen, right? He's stirring up this fear. He characterizes David and Jonathan wrongly, especially his own son. In addition to David and their love for one another, their covenant with one another and all that, he treats as a conspiracy. Notice he doesn't call David by his name, son of Jesse. And where's Jonathan in all of this? Is he not there? Certainly he mischaracterizes Jonathan Jonathan is not obeying me. He's trying to kill me or something to that effect. But no, right, as we've seen, Jonathan is obeying God, which Saul will not do. And he's not trying to kill him. He's just not siding with his father and sin. Now, you wonder how Saul found out about this and so on. Did Jonathan tell people to keep quiet? Maybe just a few people know about his relationship with David. Somehow it comes to light, and Saul now knows about it, and you see how he twists everything. But again, where's Jonathan? Is he off to war? We don't know. Well, let's keep going then. Verse nine, Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was sent over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse going to Nod to Himalek, the son of Ahitub. Notice the description of Doeg again. We saw this back in chapter 21, verse 7. He's an Edomite. And we're going to see that description again in verses 18 and 22. The author here, Gad, or again, possibly Nathan, he's very intent on saying this is a non-Israelite. Now in chapter 21, verse 7, we are told that he was the chief shepherd. Here it just says he's over the servants. Does that mean he's been elevated? Is he now of a new position? Well, he certainly does at this point. After all of these things, Saul likes him a lot. But whatever the case, he tells Saul about seeing David at Nob. And in verse 10, he says, he inquired of the Lord for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. So these three things, remember, we talked about there in chapter 21. Remember, only two are described there. The inquiring of the Lord is not described there, but obviously we see it here. And so David came and Ahimelech gave him the divine guidance, gave him food, and the sword of Goliath he gave to him. It's in the emphatic position here in the Hebrew, which is no surprise. And so Saul now is jumping to conclusions, okay, against Ahimelech and, of course, with David. You notice how Doeg does not say anything about Ahimelech questioning David. The hesitations that he had, Doeg doesn't say anything about that. So you see how the stage now is set for the rest of the chapter. We have this transition from verses 1 to 5 here to verse 11 with all of this here with Saul. And, simply, I thought about doing this actually, just spending the rest of our time looking at these verses. This is what evil leaders do. Do you see all these little clues in here about how evil Saul is? The lies, the twisting, the propaganda, the fear, and so forth. This is nothing that should be surprising when you have an evil leader in a position of power. And we have many of them in our own country now doing the same kinds of things. So, let's keep going though. Verse 11, So the king sent to call Himalek the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and they all came to the king. Saul summons the priests. Maybe they're told why, maybe not. You look at your map here again. You'll see Nob in relation to Gibeah, right, just two to three miles south and east of Saul's hometown. Since it's so close, maybe all this happened on the same day. Surely Saul would insist on it happening quickly. If not, it was probably the next day. We're not told specifically, but then verse 12, Saul said, here now, son of Ahitub, he answered, here I am, my lord. So Saul then, after having everybody come, and maybe they're lined up, maybe they're sitting in a big circle, you know, whatever, he now calls forth Ahimelech, who responds, I think we should say, rather innocently, based on what he goes on to say. Doesn't seem like he's aware of his danger. So verse 13. Then Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, and that you have given him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him that he should rise against me to lie and wait as it is this day? So here is Saul accusing Himilek of basically treason. Why did you help David? You see his paranoia. He is assuming the worst through it all. And you see that he doesn't just simply ask questions, he jumps to conclusions in his questions. There's no fair trial or innocent unto proven guilty here for Saul. There's no two or more witnesses. He has one witness, right? Doeg. You see how Saul is not following the law. And we haven't even gotten to the slaughter of the priest yet. So verse 14, so Ahimelech answered the king and said, and who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, who goes at your bidding and is honorable in your house? All right, if you take a moment here, as I put mine over here, and look at the outline that I have for us tonight. And briefly, on the second side here of the page, I want to point out two things here just briefly. First of all, and primarily, look at verses 14 and 15. These are the central verses in this section, verses 6 to 23. So you have the same number of verses before and after and so on. And you see how the Apology of David theme is rising to the forefront. David is the one we want as king. David is not the problem, Saul was the problem. This theme keeps coming up over and over again. And so we have these words of Ahimelech that highlight the innocence of David and really then the guilt of Saul. And then just briefly, if you look at the bottom after that, you'll see verses six to 16 go together. And then verses 17 to 23, go together. Another way of looking at this, and you see how they are parallel, basically, go together. So I encourage you to look over that and seek to understand the arrangement of this chapter better. But back to our main point, Either Ahimelech is totally surprised by what Saul says in verse 13, which I'm inclined to think is the case, or possibly had a heads up. But either way, do you see how he responds? Saul is responding with lies, with deception, with fear. Ahimelech responds with clear evidence and facts. First he says, David is faithful. In fact, no other servant is as faithful as David. Okay, so let's turn back here just a moment, refresh our memory in these ways. Chapter 16, after David is anointed and the spirit comes upon Saul, you remember these words, chapter 16, verse 21, so David came to Saul and stood before him and he loved him greatly and he became his armor bearer. And Saul said to Jesse, sorry, sent to Jesse, saying, Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight. And so it was, whenever the Spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp, play it with his hand, and Saul would become refreshed, and, well, the distressing Spirit would depart from him. Do you see the faithfulness of David from the beginning? Then, obviously, at chapter 17, and what David does to kill Goliath, and then in chapter 18, verse 5, so David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved wisely. And Saul sent him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. I'd have to check, Eric, if that's the word for wise or prudent, but certainly that idea. And then in verses 13 and following, it says, this is now where Saul is jealous, right? So Saul removed him from his presence and made him the captain over a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them." Now, the next thing that Himelech says is that David is the son-in-law. And, of course, here in chapter 18, verses 17 and following, we see David's faithfulness in killing the Philistines in order to marry Michael. In chapter 19, when Saul outwardly calls for David's death, Jonathan comes and basically talks his father out of it. Remember what he says in verse 4. Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul's father and said to him, let not the king sin against his servant against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine. And the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You sought and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood to kill David without a cause? And Saul at that point relents. We could point to a few other verses, but do you see how Ahimelech is referring to actual things? Saul is not. Saul is speculating. Saul is deceiving. Saul is twisting. Again, you see a good leader versus an evil leader. And so here's Ahimelech saying these things about David, good things, right? He is honorable, faithful. And then in verse 15, he says, did I then begin to inquire of God for him, far be it for me, let not the king impute anything to a servant or to any in the house of my father, for your servant knew nothing of all this little or much. All right, well, obviously, Himalaya is beginning to see the serious threat of Saul, and so now he appeals to Saul. This first line is difficult in the Hebrew, and so your translations will probably say something different than we just saw here in the New King James. Most likely, the main idea is something like this. I did not seek God's will for David in order to undermine you as king. I think that'd be a fair paraphrase of what he is communicating here, though the actual words are a bit difficult. Simply don't jump to the wrong conclusion, Saul. I had no idea. So not only does he defend David, verse 14, he's defending himself and all the other priests too. Now maybe Ahimelech elaborates on the events of chapter 21, and it's not recorded here. Maybe he even brings up some of the questions that he asked David. Again, it's possible, it's just not given to us. But simply he says, I am innocent. I helped him, but without trying to undermine you, Saul. Again, he didn't know that he was undermining Saul when he did it. All right, well now verse 16. And the king said, you shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house. Here it is again, Rex Lex. Not Lex Rex, law is king, right? That's the way it was supposed to be, right? Remember in chapter eight and following when they transitioned to a king leading Israel, right? They had the law there. Remember, they wrote it down. They put it in this special place and so forth. But no, Saul is living by Rex Lex. The king is law. Whatever he says goes. Doesn't matter. There's no trial here. There's no two or more witnesses, okay? Just the accusation in verse 13, and now the judgment. It's possible that Saul blurts this out, maybe even interrupting Himelech. And notice that he's sounding a bit like God here. You shall surely die. That's the same language as Genesis 2 verse 17, that repetition of the word die, you shall die, die. And note how extreme this is. He is not just going to kill a Himalaya, but all the priests. Now the biblical terminology here is an eye for an eye. And even many Christians say, oh, that's such a terrible standard of justice. That's because they have no idea what they're talking about. The eye-for-an-eye principle is not an evil principle. What it means is the punishment must fit the crime. That is a foundational aspect of our jurisprudence today because it's based on this biblical theme. But Saul's not doing that. It's not an eye for an eye. I mean, possibly, I don't think you can, but maybe you can try to make the case that it was right for a Himelech to die for what happened, but not all the rest of the priests. There is no indication that they knew anything about it when all of this was happening. I suppose maybe you can argue that they don't then inform Saul after the fact, but Again, this is not an eye for an eye. This is a whole head for an eye or something like that. But this is what evil leaders do. It's happening in our country. I hope you're paying attention to this. We do not have punishments fitting the crime. Either the punishments are not enough or they're too much. Just think about cancel culture. Just think about what's happened in the shutdowns. So verse 17, then the king said to the guards who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of the Lord because their hand also is with David and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me. Do you see how Saul's jumping to conclusions? There's no indication the other priests knew anything about this, at least certainly not at the moment it happened. And you see his conclusions here. He is more or less ignoring Ahimelech's words. He is saying Ahimelech is lying. He is treasonous. And so he gives this order to kill them all. But do you see the virtue of his servants? Basically, they say no. This is unjust. This is not an eye for an eye. Maybe even some of them are thinking, you know, David is faithful. I agree with Ahimelech. And so they don't do it. Plus, these are priests. These aren't Philistines or even an average Israelite. These are priests. Now you remember back in chapter 14 when Saul gave his foolish oath about not eating until they killed the Philistines and Jonathan ate and Saul's ready to kill Jonathan. You remember the people refused to do it there. Verse 45. Remember in chapter 19, and I just referenced this here a moment ago, verses one to six, Jonathan refuses to allow this to happen. He tells David to run and hide, and then he talks Saul out of it. Well, now here, these servants of Saul are trying basically to do the same thing. Good for them. Saul is doing what is wrong. You need to stand up against it. You can't just submit, right? You need to stand up for righteousness. in the midst of these things. Unfortunately, we have a different end here. Verse 18, and the king said to Doeg, you turn and kill the priests. So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests and killed on that day 85 men who wore linen ephod. Saul's emphatic. You can imagine he's ranting and raving here by this time. You, you do it, Doeg. Maybe he's thinking, okay, an Israelite doesn't want to kill the priests, and an un-Israelite won't have a problem doing so. Maybe it's just simply, well, Doeg's on my side, all right, verse nine. Maybe that's all that was going through his mind. But whatever the case, he tells Doeg to kill them all, and he does. Do you see the description again? He is an Edomite, and he kills 85 priests. Imagine the horror. You know, I'm sure enough of us have watched movies with, you know, some kind of slaughter. I mean, just imagine this. It's just, it's horrible, the carnage, the evil. Remember back in chapter 14, verse three, that Ahijah is also described as a priest that ministered to Saul. Presumably he is killed too. No one is safe when Saul is king. So then verse 19 says, also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkey and sheep with the edge of the sword. The evil doesn't stop with the 85 and now proceeds to many more. Doeg went the few miles to Nob, killed everyone, everything. Remember chapter 15, Saul was supposed to put the Amalekites under the ban and he didn't do it? But he'll do it for the priesthood. Maybe this happened on the same day, maybe it was the next day or whatever, but they're all killed. Maybe Doeg did it alone, maybe he had people help him, we don't know. The Septuagint actually tells us that 305 priests were killed, and Josephus says 385. I'm inclined to think that what this means is that there were about 300 people in Nob that were killed, and add then the 85 priests. I don't know what the population of Harrisville is, but it's a significant percentage of the whole town wiped out. Remember we saw in chapter four, the Philistines taking the Ark. And I told you that this also, though not elaborated upon, is an indication that they destroyed Shiloh. Well, here now is Saul with an Edomite destroying Nob. God's house was destroyed in Shiloh. Now God's house is destroyed in Nob. Who's gonna minister now? Saul is wiping out the very thing that he needs. And that is a place of atonement, a place to worship God. They're all gone now. So verse 20, now one of the sons of Himalek, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. Well, it wasn't quite all of them, and in fact, there's another line of Levi that still survives, but this line is wiped out except for this one man, Abiathar. Note the key words here, fleeing and escaping and such here. And so in verse 21, and Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests. So you see how Abiathar comes to David Cave of Adullam, maybe? Well, no, actually, look at chapter 23, verse six. They meet up in Calah. So we'll talk about that more next week, Lord willing. So maybe it's a few days in between or something like that. But he tells David, and so David in verse 22 says to Abiathar, I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would surely tell Saul, I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. Obviously David is upset by all of this and he knew that Doag there was a really bad omen and he would inform Saul and so on. So David's attempts to protect Himalek by not telling him everything didn't work. And so he apologizes, basically. And in verse 23, stay with me, do not fear, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. But with me you shall be safe. So here's David offering Abiathar refuge with him, along with whatever of his family is with him, and the rest in Moab, and the 400 men, and so on. And so Abiathar accepts this and does so. Now, let me make a couple brief points here in this way. It seems a bit odd to me, for those who insist that David did so wrongly in chapter 21 by not telling the whole truth, it seems a bit odd that Abiathar would run to David. Once he learned about all of what really was happening with David, I mean, if that were me, I wouldn't trust David. But here's Abiathar running to David. And I don't think that's his only choice. He could have gone to Samuel, but instead he runs to David. So I think this is a clue to reinforce the position I've been giving to you in regard to David only telling them part of the truth. Furthermore, we just saw a Himelech defend David before the king. If David did so wrongly to a Himelech, why would Himelech say that David is a faithful servant? So just a couple other clues in that discussion. We are told in 1 Chronicles chapter 24 verse 6 that Abiathar had a family. Possibly he brings his wife and children with him at this point. Maybe he got married later, we don't know. We know that he is priest even after David died, so he's a young man too. If David is 25 or something like that, so too is Aviathar, maybe he's not married yet, we don't know some of those details, but do you see the point? This remnant is preserved. Okay, so let's now step back and try to put together some of the things that we've seen. And I've been hinting at things along the way, primarily the evil wickedness of Saul, but let me say a little bit more about that. Here is Saul, a king like the nations, just like Israel wanted. They wanted a king like this. Samuel warned them. They didn't listen. And so, as I've said, Rex Lex is the order of the day here for Saul. The king is law, and whatever he says goes. No trial, no law, no justice, whatever the king says. Isn't that what some of our governors are doing right now during the shutdowns? Let me read a moment here from Dr. Davis, who develops this point, and he says it this way. The Antichrist's characteristic passion is to crush and destroy God's people. Saul proves himself a scale model Antichrist here. He vents his fury on the priests of Yahweh, Yahweh's designated servants and representatives of his people. He annihilates a village of Israel as though it were one of Yahweh's enemies. This is open war against the servants of the Lord and therefore against the Lord himself. True, Saul does not destroy all Israel, only 85 priests and their families. Saul does not wipe out all cities of Israel, but only one town. But Antichrists are not measured by statistics. The text is clear enough. Here is Saul, the destroyer of Israel. Saul joins an infamous company. He stands among the ranks of the Antichrist Pharaoh, who instituted the government's postnatal care policy for Hebrew babies. He becomes colleague to Antichrist Balak and Balaam, who, by curse and counsel, respectively plotted the destruction of Abraham's seed. He stands with the Antichristess Jezebel, who tried to purge the prophets of Yahweh, and with Athaliah, who wiped out Welnai, the whole Davidic seed. Saul may seem a far cry from the Antichrist Haman and from the Antichrist Antiochus Epiphanes, but the difference is one of degree rather than of kind. Saul becomes one of a legion of Antichrist who have always vented their spleen on the Lord's servants. Whether we think of the edicts of Diocletian, the dragoons imposed on the Huguenots under Louis XIV, Charles II in the killing time in Scotland, or the atrocities of Idi Amin in Uganda, All these are but fragments lifted from the larger continuous and ongoing Antichrist tradition. We should not be surprised, but neither should we forget. Even now, many Antichrists have come. As I say to you regularly, these aren't just history lessons. Learn from this. Almost every place of leadership in our country, not necessarily every individual, but every place of leadership in our country has antichrists who are wanting to oppose God in some way. Our country is on the brink of total collapse because we have Saul's ruling over us. They're antichrists, not someone from the wrong political party. They're anti-Christ, not just somebody who has a crazy idea. Well, another point here for us to see is this. Note the omission here, first of all, of Saul's servants. They refuse to do what the king said, and this is a good thing. We cannot use Romans 13 to justify sin. The king must serve God, and if he doesn't do that, we have the responsibility to tell him he is wrong. We've seen this in Psalm 2. We saw this in 1 Samuel 8. Here it is again. The servants omit to submit to their king. That's good. But note also their omission in this way. They did not stop Doeg. They should have. These servants of Saul should have stopped this non-Israelite, not only from killing the priests, but also the people in Nob. It was right for them to stop the injustice and evil by Saul, but not just stand there and let Doeg do the rest of their dirty work. And it's just some good and definitely some bad. Now, as for the omission of David, let me call our attention again back to chapter 21, and those who say that verse 22 is an indication that David did wrongly, and he admits to that. But as I argued in chapter 21, so I say here again, David, I think, was in the right by not sharing everything. He was trying to protect Ahimelech. By not forcing him to choose sides in some of these kinds of things, unfortunately, it didn't work. The fault is not with David. The fault is with Saul. David's efforts to preserve life, like we read this morning in the sixth commandment, he's trying to preserve the loss of life. But sometimes doing the right thing doesn't result in the right goal that you wanted. Sometimes it still results in evil. And so David's omission unfortunately led to an evil result. But again, I don't think it was his fault. Now thirdly, let's turn back to chapter two. We need to have God's perspective on this and certainly about implying principles here from God's word in this way. But remember this in chapter two, the prophet came to Eli and beginning in verse 30, remember these words. Therefore, the Lord God of Israel says, I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever. But now the Lord says, far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so there will not be an old man in your house. And you will see an enemy in my dwelling place, Think of Nob here, despite all the good which God does for Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. Many of your men whom I do not cut off from my altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your hearts, and the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons on Hophni and Phinehas, and one day they shall die, both of them. Then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest. I shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before my anointed forever. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread and say, please put me in one of the priestly positions and I may eat a piece of bread. All right, you see the main point. God's word is now fulfilled. Not only does Eli die, not only do his sons die, but now his house is wiped out, except for Abiathar. So God's word is fulfilled. Eli's sin, by not stopping his sons, and then his sons doing all those evil things that we talked about in chapter two, God promised that they would face judgment. And now, 60, 70 years later or something like that, this promise against Eli and his house is fulfilled. God used the half-truth of David. God used the wickedness of Saul. God used an Edomite to fulfill this curse. Now Saul and Doeg faced their own judgment for their sin. Again, I think David is innocent of wrongdoing, but all of this is God upholding his honor. And so as we talked about back in chapter two, when we sin as leaders of God's people in God's house, God will judge accordingly. It may not happen right away, maybe years later. but at some point it will happen. Certainly this is true for pastors, elders, deacons, but even others of us who lead in different ways, teaching or whatever it is. And so chapter 22, I was surprised how some commentators didn't even really make reference to this. This is a fulfillment of God's promise. Now, as for God raising up a faithful servant to minister before his anointed, in one sense, yeah, this does apply to Abiathar. He does minister to David. But remember, Solomon replaces him in 1 Kings 2. And that is a different line. That is a different line of Levi. And so therefore, Abiathar ceases being priest and his line more or less dies out there as priests. So notice then how Saul uses Doeg to cancel Ahimelech, the priests, and those in Nob. but God is using Saul and Doeg to cancel Eli's house. Saul's doing it for selfish, sinful reasons and so on, but God is using it to uphold his honor and to punish the wicked. Think of how God used Judas. Can you say to accomplish our salvation? God uses sin in these ways in other portions of scripture. All right, now, if we were alive in the days of Saul and all of this happened, I think we'd be a bit afraid of him, wouldn't we? Will Saul cancel me too? Saul is ruthless. What Israel asked for, they got. A king like the nations. Kings take. This king is surely taking. Our leaders are doing the same things. Right now, they are canceling people's jobs, their name, their social media accounts. But it's not that big a step to then start canceling people altogether. There are all kinds of rumors of sudden heart attacks that have happened over the last 50 years. I'm not sure that that line hasn't been crossed yet. But again, don't be surprised by this. This is what wicked leaders do. And we have plenty of them. And it leads to fear. How many people who see their colleague canceled then keep their mouth shut? We're going to see in the next chapter, the citizens of Kela responding in fear. But let me end on a positive note here tonight. We've been at a lot of negative things today, unfortunately, but that's part of God's providence here. You see how David has his family with him, at least portions of them with him in the forest. He's got 400 men, he's got a prophet, and now he has a priest. And this priest serves David until he dies. God is protecting David. God is providing for David. The new king is being established. On the other hand, Saul really has nothing. He has no true prophet. The priests are now dead. And increasingly, he is more isolated. He, the king of Israel, is destroying Israel and destroying himself, really. But as the seed of the serpent, we would expect nothing different. So a few thoughts here tonight. We'll look at the next section, Lord willing, next week. Let's pray together. Our Father in God, we thank you again for your word. And we thank you that you have given us this account that we might learn about the wickedness of leaders Lord, we pray that you would give us wisdom as we seek to navigate the evil rulers that are over us. We pray for strength and insight. We are thankful too, Lord, though, that you keep your word, that you keep your promises. We see that you keep your promise to judge the wicked. Here, Eli's house, And we are thankful, Lord, that though we have evil rulers ruling over us and trying to silence us and destroy us and cancel us and all these things, we know that someday you will hold them to account, and this gives us great encouragement. And we are thankful, too, as I ended with a word of hope, we see you keeping your promises to your people by blessing them, by encouraging them, In the midst of hardship, here you're providing for David, and we are thankful, Lord, that you do the same for your people today. Though we may not be a king or a type of Christ, we know we have the same promises that you give to your people, and so we thank you for this. May we remember this in the midst of those who try to cancel, knowing that you will cancel them, and that you will give us life eternal. And so for this, Lord, we give you praise and thanksgiving, and we pray these things then in Christ's name, amen.