Drooling Options

Drooling Options
Words of Faith 11-19-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

1 Samuel 21:10-22:1
[10] That day, David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. [11] But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: "'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" [12] David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. [13] So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard. [14] Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? [15] Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?" [22:1] David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

David fled from Nob probably because he knew he had been spotted by Saul's spy, Doeg the Edomite. Taking Goliath's sword, which had been kept by the priests at Nob, David fled for his life. Throwing all caution to the winds, he ran to Gath, the hometown of the dead Philistine hero Goliath. The problem with being a "rock-star warrior" who slew Goliath was that people quickly recognized David. Things were getting dangerous.
Like something out of a scene from a spy movie, David ingeniously took on the persona of a "madman," complete with the random destruction of property and drooling saliva down his beard. (If he had only had some Alka-Seltzer to pop in his mouth, the scene would have been much easier!)
David was hauled in before the Achish king of Gath, and the ruse was still successful. The king had no time for this sort of nonsense. He said: Am I so short of madmen that you must bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?
So David escaped. His subterfuge saved his life. The clandestine ruse worked. While David was not the first Israeli "operative," he was highly important. We must remember that there were spies sent into Jericho by Joshua, and he did recon himself the night before the battle. Deception and misdirection were part of the spies' escape. The spies were aided by Rahab, the harlot who later joined the children of Israel and the bloodline of David and later Jesus. Espionage was not a new thing. It was in David's blood.
So here is a question… How much should or could a person engage in deception if it is necessary to complete a mission or protect national security? You may recall Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives in Egypt. They were instructed by Pharaoh to kill Israelite baby boys, but they refused. When asked, they replied that the Hebrew women were strong and rigorous in delivering their babies before the midwife could arrive (Ex. 1:16-19). They lied. God did not frown upon this practice; in fact, He rewarded it. Of course, this was also before the giving of the Law.
Interestingly, the modern Israeli Intelligence agency Mossad for many years, used Proverbs 24:6 as its motto-- "For waging war you need guidance and for victory many advisers." The Hebrew phrase "guidance" can be translated as cunning, trickery, or deception. Cunning, trickery, and deception are the stock and trade of espionage. Modern Israelis argue that espionage and deception are required for the survival of the nation. The new motto used by Mossad is from Proverbs 11:14-- For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure. The "advisors" are gatherers of intelligence. Still, it is doubtful that cunning, trickery, and deception are not at least sometimes involved.
David's act helped him avoid being captured plainly and simply. It kept him out of trouble. Did this show a lack of faith on his part? Did he fail to trust in the Lord to protect him? We have no reason to believe that he was not led to put on this act. We cannot always follow David's actions as an example, such as in the episode with Bathsheba. But we have no reason to believe that the Lord did not participate in this escape by confusing the king and his court so that they fell for the ruse.
So, are we called to drool or vandalize doors to escape from an enemy? Hopefully not. But one thing we see in David is a burning desire to survive and fulfill the anointing from God that was upon him. He was not driven by pride; he was driven by his destiny.

Father God, in a complicated world, help me trust absolutely in You. Help me see that You are at work around me, and are available to protect me. Help me to sense the call that You have upon my life and to pursue that call with passion. Help me with the difficult ethical decisions that I may need to make. Help me, in all that I do, to love You with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength and to love my neighbor as myself. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< ><> <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2024 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.