All who were down on their luck came around—losers and vagrants and misfits of all sorts
1 Samuel 22:23
“Stay here with me. Don’t be afraid. The one out to kill you is out to kill me, too. Stick with me. I’ll protect you.”
David says these words to a young man who has just escaped a massacre carried out by one of King Saul’s henchmen. The young man’s father, a priest named Ahimelech, helped David at a critical moment while he was fleeing Saul. The priest was unaware that Saul considered David an outlaw, so when Saul demands to know why Ahimelech helped David, the priest speaks truth to authority in a way that still seems astonishing for its courage and faithfulness.
He tells Saul, “There’s not an official in your administration as true to you as David, your own son-in-law and captain of your bodyguard. None more honorable either. Do you think that was the first time I prayed with him for God’s guidance. Hardly! But don’t accuse me of any wrongdoing, me or my family. I have no idea what you're trying to get at with this ‘outlaw’ talk” (1 Samuel 22:14-15, The Message).
For that speech, Ahimelech loses his life, and his family is murdered as well.
Thousands of years later, speaking truth to power still carries risks. It seems to be an aspect of our human condition that doesn’t change. And yet every day, people find the courage to do it. They listen to their hearts and the heart’s knowledge of what is true and just.
David is deeply grieved when he learns that it’s because of him that this young man’s family was murdered. David’s brothers and their associates have joined him in his flight from Saul. In verse two of this same chapter, it says, “Not only that, but all who were down on their luck came around—losers and vagrants and misfits of all sorts. David became their leader. There were about four hundred in all.”
It is no small thing that this is the group that eludes Saul’s grasp. No matter how many times Saul goes after David and his followers in the chapters to follow, he never succeeds.
I found myself imagining what became of this young man after the unthinkable happened to him. What did he have left to live for? I imagine him being welcomed into this ragtag bunch of losers and misfits, people with no home, those the rest of society shunned. I suspect like him, they had suffered greatly. Perhaps suffering broke their hearts open and made them compassionate witnesses to the incredible grief this man carried. Perhaps they formed deep lasting friendships and became a chosen family for each other. Perhaps it was this that carried them through.
faith + community :))