Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. – 1 Samuel 24:5

Today's Scripture Reading (April 25, 2022):  1 Samuel 24

Sometimes, we seem to believe that it doesn't matter what we do if we pursue what is right. We think we are allowed to bend the rules as long as the goal is right. We lie if it gets us closer to the truth. But we are wrong. We need to understand that the path we take is as important as the goal. Or maybe more important, if God wants us to accomplish something, he will allow us to get there without doing anything that might be considered, even marginally, to be sin.

David and his men were in a cave when they came upon Saul. Israel's King was in a vulnerable position, relieving himself in the cave while his men waited outside. David's men saw this as God delivering Saul into David's hands. Soon, there would no longer be a need to run and hide. With one short battle, they could take care of Saul right here and now. And then, what God had promised to David would come true. David would be King, and his men would rise to places of importance in the Davidic kingdom. All they had to do now was kill Saul now.

And so, they suggest a course of action to David. At first, David seems to be on board with the plan. But David falters at the last minute. Wouldn't killing the God-ordained King of Israel be considered a sin? And David seems to return to an idea that he had always held. If God wanted him to be King, he would remove Saul. God wouldn't ask David to kill Saul. There had to be another way. And so, instead of killing Saul, he cuts a corner off of the King's cloak.

Biblical scholars have wondered how David could have gotten close enough to Saul to cut his robe without being noticed. And the easiest solution to the problem is that Saul took off his cloak as he entered the cave and then went further into the cave to do his business. Therefore, David did not have to be next to Saul to cut a corner off the robe. The robe and Saul were in two different places.

But later, David has another attack of conscience. He hadn't killed Saul, but maybe he had gone too far by even cutting off a corner of his robe. Saul's robe was an important symbol of Saul's authority as King, and David had defaced it. David knows that it was likely his pride that had prompted him to cut the robe; once again, David was trying to prove that he was smarter than Saul. But that could not be the basis for his reign. It was the easy path, but not the right one. David did not want to have anything to do with the demise of Saul. When the time came, he wanted Saul's demise to be completely an act of God, an act of which David had been completely innocent.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 25