What ingratitude! David was still on the run from Saul, the King of Israel. But, when he heard about the Philistine attack on Keilah, a Judean town about 20 miles southwest of Jerusalem, he took action. Instead of waiting for Saul to do his job and protect the city, David took the initiative, asking God if he himself should get involved. And once God gave him the green light, David obeyed, even though attacking the Philistines would doubtless put him and his men at risk of capture by Saul’s soldiers.

But even though David stuck his neck out to save the people of Keilah, and even though he did in fact defeat the Philistines, delivering the town from starvation and ruin, the people he had protected were more than willing to turn on him. In fact, God told David that Saul had in fact discovered his location, and that the men of Keilah intended to deliver him into the hands of Saul when he arrived. As a result, David and all his followers had to flee so quickly that his little army was hopelessly scattered (23:13).

So, David had tried to do a good deed. He had done what a king should do, the job that Saul was neglecting in his mania to kill David. But the people he saved were ungrateful for his help, and he ended up in worse shape than when he started.

Sounds a lot like what the Son of David did, doesn’t it? For Jesus left all the comforts and joys and safety of Heaven in order to do His job as our King, defeating our worst enemies – sin and death. But His people denied His royal authority, selling Him out to the Romans. At the end, even his friends abandoned Him. In spite of all His great love for us and His loyalty to His Father, He died alone.

Of course, we know that David would eventually become king anyway. And we know that Jesus would rise from the dead, assuming all the royal authority His people had sought to deny Him. But until Christ returns in glory, we should not be surprised if we Christians face the same sort of rejection and the same sort of ingratitude both David and the Son of David experienced. For all too often, we are called to love one another and serve the Lord in spite of the risk, and regardless of whether those we try to help will love us in return. For that’s really what it means to take up our cross and follow Jesus.

I Samuel 23:1-14 (NASB)

Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are plundering the threshing floors.”
2 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and deliver Keilah.”
3 But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?”
4 Then David inquired of the LORD once more. And the LORD answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”
5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.
6 Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
7 When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.”
8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
9 Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
10 Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel, Thy servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.
11 “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Thy servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Thy servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”
12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”
13 Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.
14 And David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.