It is easy to draw a political lesson from today’s passage: it is undoubtedly dangerous for any one man to hold absolute, unchecked power. Saul’s followers had no real ability to put the brakes on his paranoiac vengeance, whether he was raging at his own son Jonathan, his son-in-law David (verse 8), or anyone he thought might be giving David any assistance at all. Even when Saul wanted all the priests of the Lord killed, his followers may not have been willing to participate in the slaughter, but were ultimately unable to stop him. No, it’s no wonder that the framers of the United States Constitution insisted that power be divided into executive, legislative and judicial branches, and further separated into state and federal areas of authority.

We can also draw some negative lessons from this passage about how to wield power. Instead of promising to stand by his followers (as David does in verse 23), Saul is willing to sacrifice even the members of his own family in order to maintain his own grip on the throne. He tries to buy the loyalty of his followers with “fields and vineyards,” as well as with important positions in his army (verse 7). And of course, he falls back on fear as his primary means of motivation, murdering all the Lord’s priests as a warning to anyone else who might be willing to help David. But at the same time, Saul is too cowardly to commit the crime himself, having to rely on an unbeliever to do his dirty work.

But perhaps the most important thing we can learn from today’s passage is this: even the most debased and corrupt of kings is unable to do anything that is outside the will of God. For what did the Lord’s prophet clearly tell Eli way back in I Samuel 2? “Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house” (2:31). Because of the sin of Eli’s sons and because of Eli’s unwillingness to discipline them, God promised He would wipe out most of Eli’s descendants. And that’s exactly what Saul did in today’s passage. Even while he was actively trying to resist God’s plan to give the kingdom to David, Saul was only able to carry out the prophecy of the Lord.

So as we see modern strongmen commit atrocities by invading their peaceful neighbors, and as we cringe at the brutality of tyrannical regimes who slaughter those who protest their wicked oppressions, we need to remember this: no matter how much power we human beings may concentrate in our own hands, none of us is a match for God. And just as God brought down the corrupt houses of Eli and Saul, God is able to bring justice to all those who resist His might and majesty today. Come, Lord Jesus!

I Samuel 22:6-23 (NASB)

6 Then Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him.
7 And Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?
8 “For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.”
9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing by the servants of Saul, answered and said, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
10 “And he inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11 Then the king sent someone to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob; and all of them came to the king.
12 And Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
13 Saul then said to him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise up against me by lying in ambush as it is this day?”
14 Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king’s son-in-law, who is captain over your guard, and is honored in your house?
15 “Did I just begin to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing at all of this whole affair.”
16 But the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!”
17 And the king said to the guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the LORD to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it to me.” But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and attacked the priests, and he killed that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.
19 And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he struck with the edge of the sword.
20 But one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.
22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household.
23 “Stay with me, do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life; for you are safe with me.”