1 Samuel 30:7-10 (ESV)
And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
The context for the above paragraph is the story of David and his men pursuing those who raided their city and captured their wives and children and took all their belongings. David’s men began to turn on him because of this. Up to this point, David has walked a fine line between godliness and worldliness. He has, at times, sided with the enemies of God and acted in their manner (by raiding and killing the innocent). And, at times he has acted as a man of God (by not killing Saul when he had two chances). Now he is confronted with someone who raided his home. God will use this time to bring David back into relationship with Him. David turns to God. This is the first occurrence of this manner of life since he ran from Saul over a year or more earlier. Note what one commentary says about this coming to God for wisdom and counsel:
“The situation was bad but possibly not irreversible. Using the ephod was probably more for the men’s sake than for David’s. It turned their attention away from their loss, away from their perceptions of David’s guilt, and toward God. The message given through the ephod convinced them in a way that David’s own words were unlikely to have done that God was still with them and that there was hope that their families would be restored to them. It gave them the renewed confidence that was vital if any success.” (Understanding the Bible Commentary)
When David’s men began to rebel against him (because David’s leadership had put their families in a bad situation), David finally turns back to God. To make sure his men know that things will be okay, David does a visual act of worship before them. They now know that David is pursuing God’s will, not his. They are able to see that David’s is bending to God’s will, not theirs. Leadership needs to be visual with where their motivations and decisions come from. In the past chapter King Saul turned to mediums to find wisdom for battle. In this chapter David turns to God for wisdom for battle. That is the difference between good leaders and bad leaders.
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