Sometimes God sends encouragement just at the right time. A shot in the arm, so to speak, before we face another trouble. Words of encouragement that build us up, when doubts have started creeping in. Timed so well, because they allow us to look to God and his provision in the difficulties that then come.
For David, Jonathan’s words of encouragement had just that effect. Because as soon as Jonathan left, trouble descended upon David once again. Yet despite that, God’s providential hand continued to watch over David, rescuing him again. While locals sought to betray David to Saul, God sent the Philistines against Israel to divert Saul once more. The location of David’s salvation, the Rock of Escape, reminds us of our own escape through God’s provision of Jesus, our deliverer.
We do not know how close David was to despair. After saving the inhabitants of Keilah from the Philistines, he was forced to flee because they would have betrayed him to Saul. At the right time, Jonathan’s visit encouraged him to put his trust in God, and the plans that God had laid out before David.
Just as well, because it was not just the residents of Keilah who could not be trusted. Even some of his own kinsmen, living in the area, saw an opportunity to get themselves on-side with Saul. Whereas Keilah could at least be excused for acting out of fear, there was no threat hanging over Ziph. Only the main chance.
A group of Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, telling Saul that his Public Enemy #1 was hiding in the area (v.19). They promised that if Saul came down, they would betray David into his hand (v.20).
Understandably, Saul was happy at the news. Speaking with the twisted spirituality which by now was quite a common part of Saul’s speech, like a shonky televangelist with a mansion and personal jet, Saul commended and blessed these Ziphites. “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me” (v.21). Saul saw increased gain for himself, so thought God ought to bless these men for looking out for the Real #1.
Drawing them into the plot, Saul encouraged the Ziphites to make enquiries as to David’s precise location, marking out all his hiding spots (vv.22-3). Once they had this intelligence, Saul would come down and pounce (v.24).
David’s own spies brought news of Saul’s coming, so David went once more into hiding (vv.24-5). Saul heard he was hiding in the wilderness of Maon, so pursued him there (v.25). A game of cat and mouse.
The tension builds. Saul went to one side of the mountain, David to the other. David and his men tried to get away, Saul and his men started to close in (v.26). Would David finally fall prey?
Just as the net seemed to be closing, news from the West! “A messenger came to Saul, saying, ‘Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid against the land’” (v.27). Foiled again!
Ironically, where Philistines were the enemy in the beginning of chapter 23, they unwittingly (except in God’s eyes) became the rescuers at the end. Saul was forced to leave the pursuit, and head cross-country to defend against the Philistine attack (v.28). That place became the Rock of Escape.
God provided once more. David escaped Saul’s hands, and moved to the wilderness of Engedi (v.29). In God’s providence, he led David through another time of trial, another time of difficulty and reliance on God, to the other side.
Once again, despite the efforts of men – of Saul, who sought his death, and of the Ziphites, who sought to feather their nests – God preserved his anointed king, David.
Yet David was not the only anointed king betrayed by kinsmen and those close to him. Jesus also was betrayed into his enemies’ hands by one of his disciples, Judas.
Unlike David, in God’s wisdom and providence, Jesus did not escape the wrath of his enemies. Their hatred for Jesus, and ultimately for God, was poured out on Jesus when they sentenced him to death. Yet in the mystery of God’s providence, that same event saw the wrath of God against our sins poured out on Jesus instead of us.
Jesus suffered the penalty for sin, being given over into the hands of the Jewish leadership, let alone the hands of death and the devil, that we might instead escape its hand falling upon us.
Much like the irony of the Philistines being David’s saviour, there is plenty of irony that the triumph of the Jewish leadership and the Devil over Jesus, our anointed king, was also the moment of their decisive defeat.
As we go through the troubles and difficulties of life, this is a truth that we can hold onto and also share with each other as an encouragement. Jesus has suffered on our behalf, so that we are delivered into God’s presence, by God’s providence.
Jesus is, in a sense, our very own Rock of Escape.
