The way out of playing the victim (1 Samuel 22)

I was working on reception duty at a Christian youth hostel in Haifa, Israel, when three tourists walked in. ‘Don’t tell her we have any money’, muttered one to the other in Hungarian. They missed their cruise ship and had to wait days to be picked up again. Being stranded is not pleasant, but they never stopped complaining. First, they acted as pitiful victims and did not want to pay for the accommodation, but the game was up, of course, because I understood their conversation as they walked in. Then the women complained about the dormitory arrangement, so the manager allowed them to use one of the private rooms at the dormitory rate. For the next three days, they moped around the hostel never venturing out and resentful that we did not do more for them.

Saul plays the victim

Saul likewise plays the victim in our reading and blames others for his troubles. He accuses his servants of siding with David and complains that no one tells him anything (1 Sam 22:7-8). His accusation that Jonathan stirred up David against Saul is manifest nonsense, but the king is too self-absorbed to notice how he deceives himself. The fact that so many of those in debt and distress join David in hiding (1 Sam 22:2) also suggests that Saul, in his obsession to catch David, has likely neglected his royal duties (protecting the weak, administering justice). The king sits there, spear in hand (1 Sam 22:6), which is normally a symbol of authority but, increasingly in his story, a sign of his murderous intent (cf. 1 Sam 18:11; 19:9-10; 20:32-33).

Murderous intention and the abuse of power

Revealingly, none of the servants respond to his diatribe with information, only the foreigner, Doeg, does so by disclosing the meeting between Ahimelech and David (1 Sam 22:9-10). Saul’s accusation to the priest is effectively a charge of treason (1 Sam 22:13). By helping the fugitive, Ahimelech is party to David’s intention to kill the king. Once again, such an allegation is nonsense. At no time has David tried to destroy the king; on the contrary, it was Saul who made several attempts to eliminate his rival. In his crazed jealousy then, Saul attributes to David the very thing he, the king, is doing! Ahimelech rejects Saul’s accusation (1 Sam 22:15), but to no avail. The king, the ultimate judge of all the land, has no respect for law and justice and wants not only Ahimelech but the whole priestly community at Nob dead (1 Sam 22:16). At the evidence of one witness and a flimsy argument, the king calls for execution. Again, revealingly, his servants refuse to be party to such a massacre and only the Edomite Doeg obliges (1 Sam 22:18-19).

The way out of complaining and finger pointing

The picture revealed here of Saul is a damning one. Through his litany of complaints, accusations, self-pity and ruthless abuse of power, there is no self-searching, no recognition of guilt or repentance where the king would acknowledge his part in losing his kingdom in all but name. Neither is there any mention of God nor a seeking of His will in anything Saul says. As so often, Scripture gives us a dramatic example because it is often easier to see the dynamics clearly in someone else’s story, especially when it is such an intense and extreme case as Saul’s. We may not go as far down the track as Saul, but when we catch ourselves in a stream of complaints where someone else is always at fault for what is happening to us, it is time to take a closer look at our attitude. To be sure, there are situations where we are genuinely victims of what others have done to us, but even then, there is a different way of responding possible (we shall see this in David who was a genuine victim of persecution). In fact, I will explore in my next post David’s attitude as revealed in this chapter. Even if we are more like Saul in our complaints though, there is hope because we have a loving God who saved us for a different way of life, one of godliness and maturity. He is willing to forgive when we acknowledge our finger-pointing, complaining attitude and teaches us new, redeemed ways of living.

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