11th November 2020

What a sad thing that power and paranoia seem to go hand in hand. King Saul had the first and suffered the second. The Book tells the story of a number of occasions when he was in deadly pursuit of David, paranoid that David was hurrying to take his crown, only to receive indisputable proof that David had no such intention of wresting the crown prematurely.

On one occasion, while Saul was resting in a cave, David crept up and cut a small corner off Saul’s robe, and then, once Saul was on his way, held up the piece of fabric in his hand as proof that he meant Saul no harm. On a second occasion, Saul was resting with his army, with his spear dug into the earth beside him. David crept into the camp and removed the spear, and then at a safe distance, held up the spear in his hand as proof that Saul was again mistaken.

Later in time, another and greater David held up proof in His hands that He meant this world no harm, but rather the very opposite. He held up not the corner of a robe, nor a soldier’s spear, but just His hands bearing scars where nails had pierced His flesh. In the earlier stories, Saul had no answer but to concede that he was shown great love by David, and in this later story, we are wise to abandon our suspicions and do the same.

DM 11^th November 2020