Restraining Mercy

 

“Woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!”

-Ecclesiastes 4:10b

            The author of I Samuel takes great pains to compare the character and leadership style of Saul with that of David.  Saul is head and shoulders above everyone else.  His stature is a special talent that is useful to the community, but he never fits in to that community.  His individualism and his autonomy plague both his public and private lives.  He moves against David as a powerful, unaccountable tyrant.  Even when he apologizes to David and promises “I will no more do you harm” (I Samuel 26:21),  David is not convinced:  “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul” (I Samuel 27:1).

            Saul’s connection to the community he serves hangs by a single thread:  Samuel.  When Samuel dies, there is no longer a voice to compete with the selfish jealousy of Saul’s heart.  In his final days, Saul will plead with the witch of Endor.  He begs for direction he trusts only Samuel to give.

            The pericope of David and Nabal exhibits a desire by the narrator to show that David is tempted to view his leadership in the same autonomous way, but he is willing to listen to the voice of one in the community without standing but with desperation in her voice.  David is confronted with his own selfish motives, but he listens.  He listens not just to the voice of a prophet, but to the voice of a mediating woman.  By this the narrator causes the reader to hope for better things during the reign of David.

 The Impact of Restraining Mercy on David

            The success of Abigail’s intervention is largely the result of her skills at mediation.  However, the character of a godly king is also in view.  He shows himself to be one who can be approached, confronted, and corrected.  He is even one who will then bless the restraining mercy of God.

            The reader can imagine the frustration in the mind of David as he flees Saul, refuses to take vengeance on him, and then to have a non-anointed, pompous herdsman insult his honor before his loyal men.  The dam of emotion was breached and the swell of passion overwhelmed him.  The personal desire for vengeance, just once to make things “right,” was the temptation to power, to autocracy, to tyranny.

            If we were honest with ourselves, we have all seen glimpses of the deeper darkness inside of us.   If external restraints were for a moment removed, who would we be?  What decisions would we make?  What consequences would result that we might never fully escape?  When Abigail speaks, David is confronted with the true nature of those emotions.  He suddenly sees the Saul impulse in himself.

            Here David does an amazing thing.  He blesses God!  He could have merely turned away from his course and that would have been good.  He could have blessed Abigail for her wisdom and left it there.  But he goes on to see the hand of God behind the whole affair.  The Sovereign God has sent Abigail to save him from sin.  It is the climax of the whole narrative.

            The voice of David undergoes a change in this passage.  In the throes of passion, he shouts the call to arms of a warrior:  “Every man strap on his sword” (I Samuel 25:13).  Later, when David recognizes the wisdom in Abigail’s restraint, he blesses God and returns to the voice of a king: “Go in peace to your house.  See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your petition” (I Samuel 25:35).  Willingness to listen to Abigail has made the difference.  The reader understands that David will not be a leader so disconnected from his people and from God that he cannot hear. 

 The Biblical Ministry of Intervention

            Abigail wasn’t the only person to risk speaking to David as mediator.  A leader must be willing to surround himself with people who can speak the truth to power with compassion.  Nathan spoke to David about his sin.  For a year, David had walked in private guilt over his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, her husband and one of David’s mighty men.  Nathan obeyed the call of God to approach the king and David repented.

            Nathan can be compared with David’s general, Joab.  Joab was complicit in the cover-up of David’s sin and the murder of Uriah.  Instead of confronting David, he went with the plan of David.  What fallout that decision had on David, his family, and the kingdom!  What if Joab had offered restraining mercy to David?

            Wisdom discusses the value of the stern rebuke. A scoffer like Nabal does not listen to rebuke (Proverbs 13:1).  Those who are wise, however, will find correction in a stern rebuke.  “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise than to hear the song of fools” (Ecc. 7:5).  The wise man cultivates a character that listens and fully responds:  “A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool” (Proverbs 17:10).

            Only Jesus could play mediator for an event yet to come and provide a fitting rebuke to Peter.  Jesus predicts Peter’s denial.  He knows the guilt and shame that Peter will wrestle with as a result.  So, before Peter ever denies Christ, Jesus speaks with both rebuke and encouragement.  Peter will deny him three times, but Jesus will not set his ministry aside.  Christ will pray for him and Satan’s sifting will be thwarted: “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32).

            Jude reminds us that intervention must be done with mercy mixed with fear.  The mediator comes not only with mercy but with fear (cp. Jude 23).  The rescuer walks circumspectly, conscious of his own sin and vulnerability.  James writes of the reward.  Restraining mercy prevents a multitude of sins, eventual consequences along the path of sin:  “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

            The ministry of intervention and restraining mercy is a community gift.  David is blessed for his association with Abigail and Nathan.  It is a credit to his own nature that he listens.  When the internal checks of wisdom and conscience have proved insufficient for the temptation, a compassionate external check is necessary.  Everyone has a responsibility to watch over his brother.        

The Effect of Mercy

            What is Mercy?  It is a part of the character of God.  It is the attribute that offers pardon for sins committed rather than strict justice for sins committed.  It is a sovereign impulse- never deserved or demanded.  “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” (Exodus 33:19).  Mercy is rescue and it has an element of urgency to it.  A common description of mercy by the prophets is “a stick snatched from the fire” (cp. Amos 4:11; Zechariah 3:2).  God moves to rescue us as we reach the point of destruction.  Only he, ultimately and finally, can keep us from stumbling and bring us faultless before His throne.  Such rescue brings Him glory and great joy (Jude 24-25).

            How great it is to join Christ in His work of mercy!  When Jude warns the church of the dangers of wandering in the face of false teaching, he gives us a three-fold charge:  Protect yourselves by wallowing in the love of God for you.  Have mercy on others while waiting for your full experience of mercy at His coming.  Move in ministry to save others with an urgency drawn from the jealous heart of God Himself.      

The Celebration of Rescue

            David exhibits real joy in his response to the intervention of Abigail.  Listen to the quick 3-fold blessing that bursts from his lips:

·         “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me” (I Samuel 25:32).  David see behind her actions the gracious work of God in stopping his anger from destroying an Israelite family.

·         “Blessed be your discretion” honors the wisdom she has shown.  Wisdom is seeing the present and the future from God’s perspective and then knowing what to do.  Abigail has shown great skill be recognizing the danger in the testimony of the servant, quickly assembling a gift, and measuring her words as she speaks to the king.  She affirms David’s right to the throne of Israel and rejoices in seeing its day.  She stops David from causing David from fighting against an Israelite.

·         “Blessed be you” is David’s recognition of her character and beauty in a more general sense.  He rejoices in the person who has made herself an instrument in the hands of God, willing to risk her life to save her family and the reputation of David among his own people.

There is nothing in David’s response that is defensive or critical.  He is self-forgetful in the display of restraining mercy he has experienced.  In his hindsight, he is grateful for being confronted with such grace that he is able to hear Abigail above the voices of his own anger and desire for revenge.

            I believe it is here that we see the “man after God’s own heart” (I Samuel 16:7).  In his blessing of God and Abigail he freely admits his weakness.  The destruction of Nabal’s home would have been a blight on his rulership.  God and Abigail have intervened to save him from the consequences he couldn’t see.

            How mature will be the church when it can one day openly celebrate the ministry of restraining mercy!  May God give us leaders with the same degree of self-forgetfulness.  May we all rejoice in the ministry of intervention in our lives.