Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. – 1 Samuel 24:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 9, 2016): 1 Samuel 24

Sir William Atte Wode was the captain of the king’s guard at the Palace of Westminster in the early 14^th Century under King Edward III. It was at this time that the Palace of Westminster was just beginning to be understood as a key location for English, and later British, politics. The Palace of Westminster was the primary home of the king until it was destroyed by fire in 1512, and it has been the meeting place for the House of Commons since 1295 and the House of Lords since its creation during the reign of Edward III. King Edward III and his son Edward the Black Prince have been a subject of my own historical fascination for a while. I love the stories of the Black Prince, a person who has attracted very little serious historical research and yet remains a character in many popular stories about that time period, even making an appearance in the movie “A Knight’s Tale” as the unlikely savior of the movies hero William Thatcher. The historical Edward, the Black Prince, died a year before his father, making him the first Prince of Wales not to inherit the throne of England.

My fascination over the Black Prince and the reign of Edward III took a bit of a turn when I was recently examining my own family history and realized that I am a descendent of Sir William Atte Wode, the captain of the King’s guard – and possibly a relative of the king (of which we just can’t be sure.) But as a knight and the captain of the King’s guard, William Atte Wode’s life would have been laid forfeit at the feet of the king. We are not sure exactly when and how Atte Wode became a knight, but the ceremony has not changed for centuries. At some point, William Atte Wode would have knelt before the king, likely either Edward III or his father Edward II, and the king would have placed his sword on Atte Wode’s shoulder. At this point, the king was a choice. He could either swing his sword killing the defenseless man kneeling in front of him, or he could gently tap one shoulder and then the other making him a Knight of the Realm. But either way, from this moment forward the man’s life would no longer belong to him – it is the property of the king. 

Saul doesn’t know it, but he has just had a close encounter with David, the one that he has been seeking, but not finding. And David has a choice. Wisdom would have probably advised that David simply stay where he was hiding in the cave until Saul and his company of soldiers had left. But David decides to take a different path. Trusting that God would keep him safe, he follows Saul out of cave. Then he addresses Saul as king and bows before him. The only thing that really carries the emotion of the moment in modern society is the giving of a standing ovation. What David did was to give ultimate honor to the king. He refuses to address Saul as an equal (both men had been anointed King of Israel by Samuel.) Instead he honors Saul as the reigning king and pledges his own life as a servant of the king.

And as David bowed and prostrated himself before Saul, Saul had a chance to rid himself once and for all of this upstart named David. But David trusted that if he was acting in accordance to the will of God, then, even in this moment, God would keep him safe.

And God did exactly that.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 25