1 Samuel 22: The Growth and Consequences of Sin

1 Samuel 22 is a chapter all about how Saul destroyed an entire city, namely the priestly city of Nob. Saul destroyed the city and all of its inhabitants because he was thoroughly convinced that one of the priests (Ahimelech) conspired with David in order to bring a murder plot upon Saul, which certainly wasn't the case. Nevertheless, Saul's jealousy of David ultimately led him to murder 85 priests, along with their wives, children, and cattle. It surely is a sad story, yet through it we can see both the growth and the consequences of sin, and thus live accordingly.

The first thing we see in this chapter is through the life of Saul, that being the growth of sin. As we've mentioned before, Saul was jealous of David, as David was a mightier warrior than Saul and the next rightful heir of kingship. Saul wanted all the power for himself, so he desired to kill David that David might not take his power and fame. In short, Saul was jealous. However, this jealous heart of Saul quickly turned him into a man that no one would desire to be around. Out of his jealousy, as stated above, he destroyed an entire city because of a supposed murder plot that wasn't even true. Although his original sin was being jealous of David in his heart, this sin quickly turned into murder of hundreds of people. Sin surely grows quickly.

The second thing we see in this chapter is through the life of David, that being the consequences of sin. Remember our last devotional from 1 Samuel, about how David lied and deceived the priest Ahimelech and took matters into his own hands? Well, this chapter shows us what happened because of that. Because David went to the city of the priests and deceived them into helping him, Saul was angry with the priests for helping David (and supposedly conspiring to kill him, though it wasn't true) and therefore swept away their whole city. Though the murdering of hundreds was certainly Saul's doing, it was David's fault, as he confessed in verse 22. If David had not gone to the priests and deceived them, Saul would have no desire to kill them. Yet, because of one simple lie of David, 85 priests and their families were murdered. Sin surely brings consequences.

So, in light of this chapter of scripture, we must surely seek to cut out the sin in our own lives as soon as we possibly can. J. C. Ryle, in his book Thoughts for Young Men, writes that Christians ought to "resolve at once, by God's help, to break off every sin, however small." He goes on to speak of how sin is like a small leak that will sink a great ship or a small spark that will light a great fire. Sin is dangerous. It both grows quickly and brings consequences, and thus we must avoid it and cut it off at all costs. "For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell" (Matthew 5:29). Amen.