I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 21-24.

    Reading between the lines of this passage gives us insight into what type of ruler Saul was. The first thing we note is that when David, known as Saul’s reliable right-hand man and son-in-law, came to Ahimelech the priest, Ahimelech trembled in fear. Ahimelech’s comment suggest that what most frightened him was that David was alone. This suggests that Saul sent men to kill those whom he believed had wronged him. Then later when Saul learned that Ahimelech had aided David, he assumed that Ahimelech had conspired with David against him. Further Saul had Ahimelech, all of his family, and all of the families of the priests living in Nod (the village where David met with Ahimelech) killed. The passage suggests that Saul’s style of ruling resembled that of modern dictators such as Saddam Hussein, or the rulers of North Korea.

    Saul acted the way he did because he was convinced that people were conspiring against him. Throughout his reign Saul suffered from bouts of rage and paranoia, angered and convinced that people were out to get him (note the rant Saul went on against his own senior officers). David, on the other hand, did not seek revenge against those who clearly were out to get him. Even when he had the opportunity to kill Saul and end the threat to himself and his family David held his hand and allowed Saul to get away.