“Then the king ordered the guards at his side: ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.’ But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.” (1 Samuel 22:17)
‘All Scripture is God-breathed and useful…’ (2 Timothy 3:16) and so I continue to plough through 1 Samuel in my daily reading, though it is hard-going at times. There are episodes of sheer brutality and indiscriminate violence that are so easily envisaged from news coverage of Ukraine and Gaza and Yemen. Saul’s murderous hatred against David has grown. He orders the death of the priest Ahimelech and his family and all the priests for having innocently given David help.
Saul’s own men refuse to carry out the order, but Doeg the Edomite steps forward and kills them all. He then carries the slaughter to the hometown of the priests and kills their wives and children too. It is never enough that good people passively refuse to follow orders to do evil. They must go further and actively resist and fight such things. Passivity is complicity.
Lord, give us discernment and courage for navigating the world we now live in.