David: The Fugitive Years That Prepared a Man to Lead

Part One: The Anointing at Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16)

Read 1 Samuel 16 slowly. Samuel has been sent by the Lord to Bethlehem to anoint one of Jesse's sons. "Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD." (1 Samuel 16:2.) He arrives and the elders of the town tremble — Samuel has not come for a sacrifice; they read in his face he has come for a king. Jesse lines up seven of his sons before the prophet.

Eliab — the firstborn — walks in. He is tall. He is handsome. "When Samuel saw Eliab, he said, Surely the LORD's anointed is before him." (1 Samuel 16:6.) The prophet sees the height of the man and assumes the Lord is choosing the height of the man. But the Lord has not chosen the firstborn. "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7.)

Abinadab passes. Shammah passes. Seven sons of Jesse pass before the prophet. None of them is the one. "And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep." (1 Samuel 16:11.) The youngest. The one not in the lineup. The one out with the flock. "And Samuel said, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither."

And David comes in — ruddy, with beautiful eyes, the keeper of sheep. "And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he." (1 Samuel 16:12.) Samuel takes the horn of oil and anoints him in the midst of his brothers. And from that day forward, the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David. (1 Samuel 16:13.) The Hebrew word there is tsalach — to push forward, to break through, to prosper. The Spirit of the Lord did not just visit David. The Spirit of the Lord came upon David and broke forward through him.

Notice the timing. The anointing happens before the assignment. David has not killed Goliath yet. David has not yet ruled from Hebron. David has not yet brought the ark to Jerusalem. David has been a shepherd. And while Saul is still sitting on the throne, the Lord has already chosen the next king — and has already anointed him — and the Spirit has already broken forward through him. The man under the anointing is the man under the assignment he has not yet received.

Now — read 1 Samuel 17. The Philistines have gathered on the hill on one side; Israel on the hill on the other; the Valley of Elah between them. Goliath — six cubits and a span, more than nine feet tall — steps out every morning and evening and taunts the armies of the living God. "And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid." (1 Samuel 17:24.) For forty days no one in Israel answers the taunt.

David has been sent by his father to bring bread to his brothers and to check on them. "And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them." (1 Samuel 17:23.) David hears the taunt and asks the men around him, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine?

Saul hears about it and sends for the boy. "And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." (1 Samuel 17:33.) But David has already been anointed. "And David said unto Saul, Thy servant used to go with his father to feed the sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb from the flock: and I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him." (1 Samuel 17:34–35.)

The shepherd had been fighting all along. The anointing had been working all along. The bear had come. The lion had come. The lamb had been taken. And the boy who had been anointed had gone after the lion and caught him by the beard. That is the theology of preparation: the Lord anoints a man before the visible assignment — and the invisible assignments (the bear in the pasture) are the rehearsals for the public ones (the giant in the valley).

Part Two: Goliath and the Valley of Elah (1 Samuel 17)

David walks into the Valley of Elah. Goliath sees him and curses him by his gods. "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." (1 Samuel 17:45.)

Read that sentence again. David names the asymmetry. The Philistine brings a sword, a spear, and a shield. David brings the name of the Lord of hosts — the God of the armies of Israel — whom the Philistine has defied. The battle is not between a sword and a sling. The battle is between the name of the Lord and the defiance of the Philistine. The weapons are accessories. The asymmetry is theological.

Then David chooses five smooth stones from the brook. He puts one in his sling. "And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth." (1 Samuel 17:49.) One stone. One forehead. One giant on his face. The Philistine falls — and the Philistine army turns and flees.

The women of Israel come out to meet Saul — singing and dancing — and the song splits the kingdom. "And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?" (1 Samuel 18:7–8.)

That song is the hinge of the whole arc. Saul — who has been standing on the throne for forty years — hears the women give the credit for the victory to a teenager. Saul had not gone down to the Valley of Elah. Saul had been on the hill looking at the giant doing nothing. But Saul is jealous. Saul sees David's ten thousands next to his own thousands. Saul looks at the outward appearance. (Cf. 1 Samuel 16:7.) And from that day, Saul hunts David.

Here is the first lesson of this letter for a man rebuilding after incarceration. The Lord will use a victory to set up a war. The Lord will use the giant in the valley to set up the long hunt in the wilderness. The Lord will use the song of the women to set up the assignment that takes ten years to mature. And the man who has just killed the giant must not be surprised when the war begins the very next morning. The Lord used Goliath to make David. The Lord used Goliath to unmake Saul. The same victory produced two very different seasons: one man on the throne beginning to die inside, one man in the field beginning to be shaped for the throne.

Part Three: The Cave of Adullam and the Fugitive Years (1 Samuel 18–30)

And now the long season begins. Fifteen years. David is on the run. Saul's army of 3,000 hunts one man. "And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David." (1 Samuel 19:1.) Jonathan — Saul's own son, David's covenant friend — warns David. "And Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee." (1 Samuel 19:2.)

David flees. He goes to Ramah, where Samuel is. He goes to Nob, where Ahimelech the priest hands him the showbread and the sword of Goliath. He goes to Gath — to Achish, the Philistine king — and feigns madness, scratching on the doors of the gate and letting his spittle fall on his beard. (1 Samuel 21:13.) The man anointed to be the next king of Israel is now acting insane in front of a Philistine court to keep his life.

Then he goes to the cave of Adullam. "And David departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men." (1 Samuel 22:1–2.)

Read that carefully. Four hundred. Every one that was in distress. Every one that was in debt. Every one that was discontented. The cave is not a retreat. The cave is the recruitment hall. The cave is where a future king builds the army that will one day be his. The outcasts, the indebted, the discontented — the men Saul's kingdom had no room for — gather themselves unto the man Saul's kingdom wants dead. That is the geometry of the kingdom of God inverted: the cave produces the army the palace cannot.

Now read 1 Samuel 23. "And they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors. Therefore David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah." (1 Samuel 23:1–2.) Even on the run, David asks the Lord and the Lord answers. The fugitive is still operating as a king.

Then Saul hunts David at Horesh. "And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand." (1 Samuel 23:14.) Every day. Saul seeks him every day. And God does not deliver him into Saul's hand. The Lord has a different schedule than Saul has a hunt. The Lord gives David — and the 600 men now with him — a window of safety even inside the pursuit.

Then the kindness at the cave of En-gedi. "And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi. Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the inner sides of the cave." (1 Samuel 24:1–3.)

Saul walks into the very cave where David is hiding. Saul goes in to relieve himself. David and his men are in the inner sides of the cave. David could kill him. David's men urge him to. "And David said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD's anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD." (1 Samuel 24:6.)

David cuts off a corner of Saul's robe. "And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt." (1 Samuel 24:5.) Even the symbolic harm — the corner of the robe — smote David's heart. David will not touch the Lord's anointed. David shows Saul the corner. Saul weeps. "And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil." (1 Samuel 24:16–17.)

Then the kindness at Carmel — Abigail meets David before he can shame himself with vengeance against Nabal. "And David's young men came, and they spake unto Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master." (1 Samuel 25:10.) The unkindness at Carmel produces Abigail — and Abigail produces another restraint in David.

Then the years among the Philistines. "And Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day." (1 Samuel 27:6.) Ziklag becomes David's own town. The Lord gives David — even in the exile of the Philistine court — a town that he will one day possess. The Lord had a provision for David in the very country he fled to.

Here is the second lesson of this letter for a man walking through reentry. The fugitive years are not lost time. The fugitive years are the years the Lord gives a man to build the army he will one day lead. The 400 distressed. The 600 that grow with them. The covenant friendship with Jonathan. The kindness at En-gedi. The restraint at Carmel. The town of Ziklag. The Lord was building something in the cave — and the Lord was building it through the patience of a man who would not strike Saul.

Read that sentence again. The Lord was building something in the cave — and the Lord was building it through the patience of a man who would not strike the Lord's anointed. The cave seasons of rebuilding are the seasons where the Lord gives a man the relationships he will lead from the throne.

Part Four: The Fall in the Palace (2 Samuel 11–12)

Then — after the long fugitive years — David sits on the throne. "And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to war, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah: but David tarried still at Jerusalem." (2 Samuel 11:1.)

David tarried still at Jerusalem. Read that sentence. The kings go forth to war. David stays at home. The soldiers are at the front. David is on the rooftop. The king who was faithful in the cave is now unsupervised in the palace.

"And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon." (2 Samuel 11:2.)

Bathsheba. Uriah's wife. Eliam's daughter. (Bathsheba's grandfather was Ahithophel — the counselor of David who would later join Absalom's rebellion. Read 2 Samuel 23:34; 2 Samuel 15:12.) The tragedy of 2 Samuel 11 has been waiting for years in the spiritual line of the king's household. The fall of the king begins not on the rooftop but in the long permissive season of unsupervised authority.

"And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" (2 Samuel 11:3.) He asks. He is told. And David sends for her. And he lies with her. And she conceives. And the king who would not touch Saul in the cave now touches Uriah's wife in the palace.

Then David calls Uriah back from the war — the war he had refused to lead himself — and David tries to cover the pregnancy by getting Uriah to go home and lie with his own wife. Uriah will not go home. "And Uriah said unto David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents; and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open fields; shall I then go into mine house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? as thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing." (2 Samuel 11:11.)

The Hittite honors the army. The Hittite — a convert to the ways of Israel, a soldier in David's army — will not go home while the ark and Israel and Judah are in tents. And the king of Israel — the man whose army had been gathered in the cave of Adullam — sends Uriah back to the front with a letter in Uriah's own hand that orders Uriah's death.

The letter is carried by Uriah himself. Uriah — the faithful Hittite — carries his own death warrant in his own hand and does not know it. And Joab places him in the forefront of the hottest battle. And Uriah dies. And David hears the news, and David takes Bathsheba to be his wife.

Then the Lord sends Nathan. "And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter." (2 Samuel 12:1–3.)

David's anger burns. "And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity." (2 Samuel 12:5–6.)

Then Nathan says: "Thou art the man." (2 Samuel 12:7.) Two words. The richest man in the parable is David. The poor man is Uriah. The little ewe lamb is Bathsheba. David — the king — has stolen the only lamb his neighbor had. And the king who pronounced the sentence is the king who committed the crime.

Read Psalm 51. "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." (Psalm 51:1–4.)

The confession is the recovery. David does not excuse. David does not minimize. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned. The king confesses before the Lord — and the Lord does not strip him of the throne. The Lord strips David of the illusion that the throne was ever his. The child born of the union dies. The sword does not depart from his house (2 Samuel 12:10). Absalom will rebel. The kingdom will break. But the throne is preserved. And the line through which the greater Son of David will come is preserved.

Here is the third lesson of this letter. The Lord does not strip David of the throne. The Lord strips David of the illusion that the throne was ever his. The restoration does not erase the consequences — the child dies, the sword does not depart — but the throne remains. The Lord does not restore the man to paradise. The Lord restores the man to the proper use of the office.

Part Five: Pursued, Restored, Pursued Again (2 Samuel 12–22)

And then — after the restoration of Psalm 51 — David is pursued again. Absalom. Amnon. The sons who would not follow the Lord. "And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David loved her." (2 Samuel 13:1.) Amnon's violence. Absalom's vengeance. The sword has not departed from David's house.

Then Absalom's heart. "And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when any man that had a controversy came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, thy matters are good and right; but there is no man deputed of the king to hear thee. Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him right!" (2 Samuel 15:2–4.)

Absalom steals the hearts of the men of Israel. And then the rebellion. "And it came to pass, that when David heard that Absalom and the men of Israel were come to Jerusalem, then the king said, Let me flee, and get me out of the city." (2 Samuel 16:15; 19:5.) David — the king — flees Jerusalem. The fugitive years of David have not ended. They have only changed costumes.

"And the king went forth, and all the people that were with him, and they halted in a place that was far off. And all his servants passed on beside him, and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men which came after him from Gath, passed on before the king." (2 Samuel 15:17–18.) Six hundred men from Gath. The Gittites — Ittai and his band — march out with the king. The foreigners who came to David in the cave of Adullam are now the foreigners who walk with David in the flight from Jerusalem. The fugitive retains his band — and the band is now also the army that will fight for his restoration.

Then Shimei on the hill. "And Shimi the son of Gera, of Bahurim, which was of the family of the house of Saul, came forth, and cursed as he came, and threw stones at David, and all the servants of king David: and all the mighty men, and all the warriors, were on his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimi when he cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial." (2 Samuel 16:5–7.)

Abishai wants to kill Shimei. "And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?" (2 Samuel 16:10.) David receives the curse as from the Lord. If the Lord has said, Curse David — let him curse. The fugitive who would not strike Saul in the cave now will not strike Shimei on the hill.

Then the brook Kidron. "And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him." (2 Samuel 15:25–26.) David sends the ark back. David will not use the ark as a talisman. David will let the Lord do what seems good to God. And then David writes Psalm 3 on the road up the Mount of Olives.

"But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter of mine head. The Lord is the lifter of his head. Even when the head is bowed down on the road out of Jerusalem, the Lord is the lifter. Then 2 Samuel 22 — David's final song — the same song he sang when the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies and out of the hand of Saul. "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence." (2 Samuel 22:2–3.)

Now draw the line to Christ. Matthew 1:1 opens with: "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham." Jesus is the son of David. Not only biologically — through Mary of the line of Nathan — but theologically and royally. He is the greater Son of David. And the greater Son of David walked the same arc — only without the fall.

Matthew 2 — Joseph is warned in a dream. "And being warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way." (Matthew 2:12.) The Son of David flees to Egypt the moment He comes out of Bethlehem. The infant king is already a fugitive. The greater Son of David is hunted, like His father.

Gethsemane. "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26.) The Son of David — walking through the cave of Gethsemane — prays, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39.) The greater David will not strike the Lord's anointed — even when the Lord's anointed is striking Him.

Calvary. "And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross." (Mark 15:29–30.) Shimei on the hill was a rehearsal. The passers-by at Calvary are the chorus. The Son of David does not descend from the throne-by-another-name. The throne-by-another-name is the cross itself.

And Hebrews 4:15 closes the loophole. "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." The greater Son of David was tempted in all points like as we are — fugitive in Egypt, pursued by Herod, rejected at Nazareth, betrayed in Gethsemane, abandoned at Calvary — yet without sin. David fell in the palace. Christ did not.

And the throne of Christ is Psalm 110:1. "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." The Son of David — after the fugitive years, after the betrayals, after the cross — is seated at the Father's right hand. The fugitive is on the throne. And the throne is permanent.

Part Six: What This Letter Means for a Man Rebuilding After Incarceration

If you have ever walked out of a long season — prison, halfway house, the wilderness of waiting — and wondered whether the Lord will give you a second assignment, this letter is for you. David walked out of a cave and onto a throne. The Lord gives second assignments. But the Lord gives them at the Lord's pace — and the Lord does not skip the cave.

The first lesson is this: the anointing arrives before the assignment. David was anointed while Saul was still sitting on the throne. The Spirit came mightily upon him from that day forward. But David did not take the throne for fifteen years. If you have been marked by the Lord — if the Spirit has come upon you from that day forward — the Lord is not late with the assignment. The Lord is filling the board with the people He intends for you to lead once the assignment lands.

The second lesson is this: the cave is not wasted time. Four hundred distressed. Six hundred men. The covenant friendship with Jonathan. The restraint at En-gedi. The kindness of Abigail. The town of Ziklag. All of it happens in the wilderness — and all of it becomes the foundation of the throne room. What looks like a wilderness is the schoolroom. The men Saul's kingdom had no room for became the men David led from the throne.

The third lesson is this: the restraint in the cave is what proves the kingship. David would not touch Saul. The fugitive proves his kingship by his restraint. If the cave cannot grow restraint in you, the throne will grow tyranny in you. Be careful of the man who came out of prison and immediately needs to lead. The cave is where the Lord grows the patience that the palace will require.

The fourth lesson is this: the fall does not have to end the line. David fell in the palace. The Lord sent Nathan. The Lord did not strip him of the throne. The Lord stripped him of the illusion that the throne was ever his. For the men who have fallen — for the men rebuilding after incarceration who know what they have done — Psalm 51 is not the end of the line. Psalm 51 is the restoration that brings the man back into the proper use of the office.

The fifth lesson is this: the Lord pursues, restores, and pursues again. David was pursued by Saul. David was pursued by Absalom. David was pursued by Shimei. The pursuit did not end with the throne. The pursuit is the curriculum. The Lord pursues the man He intends to lead until the man has learned to be pursued. And the man who has learned to be pursued can hear the still small voice in a season of turmoil — and walk out of it still standing.

The last lesson is this: the line of David pointed past itself to Christ. Matthew 1:1. The king from Bethlehem. The fugitive to Egypt. The resistance at Calvary. The seated Son at the right hand of the Father in Psalm 110:1. The greater Son of David walked the same arc — fugitive years, betrayal, pursuit, throne-by-another-name — yet without sin.

And the same Son is the One who is walking beside you during the long season of the cave. He is not absent from the wilderness. He is the wilderness's quiet Companion. And when the wilderness has done its work — when the man is ready to lead — the Son will say, as He said to the fishermen on the shore of the lake, Follow me — and I will make you fishers of men. The throne is coming. But the throne is not the next stop. The next stop is the cave. And the cave is sacred ground.