Reflections: 1 Samuel 26

In this passage, God caused a deep sleep to fall on Saul’s army, such that David had a perfect opportunity to assassinate the man who sought his life. But this providential state of affairs didn’t mean that killing Saul was sanctioned by God. This was Abishai’s mistake: “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” (v. 8). Abishai’s premise was correct, as God had indeed worked this miraculous circumstance (v. 12); but Abishai’s conclusion was wrong. David, on the other hand, rightly recognized that even though God had given him the opportunity to slay Saul, it would be a crime to put his hand out against the Lord’s anointed. Rather than acting on slippery human interpretations of divine providence, David relied on wisdom and God’s objective moral standard. Not every door that God opens is meant to be taken, at least not in the way we might initially think.