I think that our technological age, in part, has made it so that we feel like we should be able to solve problems with great efficiency.  Solutions to our problems—obesity (GLP-1s), lack of energy (energy drinks), financial insecurity (gambling and prediction markets)—seem as convenient as ever. But sometimes efficient solutions can sometimes be deceiving. Of course, sometimes these solutions can provide real help, but sometimes they can exacerbate our issues by tricking us with an illusion of a solution—like a mirage of an oasis in the desert. 

My Bible reading plan had me in 1 Samuel 26 yesterday. Saul is in pursuit of David and, appropriately, David feels under constant threat of death as he travels from place to place, trying to keep is location hidden. Some Ziphites, who don’t particularly like David (see 1 Sam 23:19), report David’s location to Saul—they’re hoping Saul will deal with their David-shaped problem. They know of his hunt.

David decides that instead of turning tail and outright fleeing Saul again—it clearly isn’t going particularly well so far—he will invade his camp. He asks who will go with him, and a man named Abishai volunteers. Abishai is one of David’s nephews.

David and His Saul Problem

The men get to Saul’s camp. Saul and his commander-in-chief (and cousin) Abner are asleep, vulnerable, and in range of attack. Then we read in 1 Samuel 26:8-10:

Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” And David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.

Saul is guilty of murder in his heart. He is everything you could ever want in a terrible king. He wants nothing more than to kill David to eliminate the threat he knows David is to his throne, and his constant pursuit of David dominates David’s life every single day. 

And here, David has yet another opportunity to kill Saul and take care of this problem once and for all. Abishai pushes him to do it. He even says that God is the one who has given Saul over to David—implying that God is not only blessing, but perhaps even orchestrating this murder that he should totally commit.

Abishai wants David to take matters into his own hands and solve his problem—in fact, Abishai says, it seems that God wants you to take matters into your own hands and solve the Saul problem.

But David says he won’t do it. 

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