In this read-through I found something particularly intriguing to me as I compare David and Saul. Has anyone else noticed that Saul does the same thing to David that David does to Uriah the Hittite?
While devising how to dispose of David, Saul instructs him to procure 100 Philistine foreskins as a bride price (1 Samuel 18). Likewise, while devising how to dispose of Uriah, David instructs Joab to put Uriah in the place of the worst fighting (2 Samuel 11).
What are your thoughts on this? Why is David exonerated, while Saul is condemned?
It doesn't seem that Saul was condemned for taking a hit out on David; he was condemned because of his general attitude toward and disobedience of God. Somewhere along the line, the Saul-man stopped being a God-man. This was, indeed, reflected in his increasingly depraved behavior, but also in the withdrawing of God's Spirit. Whatever the true nature of the God/Saul fallout, one thing is certain - they never reconciled. David, on the other hand, perpetrated depraved behavior - for which he and his family were irreversibly cursed, right? But because of some fairly mysterious aspect of David's relationship with God, God confronted the man and he responded with remorse and repentance. Was David "exonerated"? He still paid the price of his sin, as did Uriah, Bathsheba, and his whole household, especially with that whole rampant sex scene when his kid kicked him out of the kingdom. *shiver* But David had the opportunity to repent and he took it. Did Saul? The text is vague and does seem only to indicate a variety of evils that were not unique to him. Perhaps he got the opportunity. Perhaps not. The "moral" I take away is: It is a sign of God's favor to be confronted in my sin and given the opportunity for repentance and reconciliation (Ps 94:12-13, Pr 3:11-12, 5:23, 10:17, 12:1 etc etc). Without this, I am lost.
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