Day 28: 1 Samuel 22:1–10

Every man who was desperate, in debt, or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader (v. 2).

We now begin to consider a vital season that provided painful preparation for the throne God had promised. David responded to life on the run as he fled a wildly jealous king. Can you imagine the devastation David must have experienced having all his hopes dashed to pieces? He probably had never been away from home before he was summoned to Saul’s service. Filled with dreams and wonderful expectations, young David was met by a nightmare. He had not only left his home, now he’d run from his “home away from home.” He was separated from his new wife and his best friend, and forced to beg bread from the priest of Nob.

Verse 1 tells us that “David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.” The cave of Adullam, a word meaning “sealed off place,” was about twenty miles southwest of Jerusalem.12 David had traveled approximately ten miles by foot from Gath to this place of strange refuge he found in the crevice of a mountain.

Cave-pierced mountains are prevalent in the area of Palestine where David’s exile took place. Evidence exists that many continued to find refuge in these caves up until the time of Roman rule, when they were common hideaways for Jews fleeing Roman persecution. I wonder how many of those Jews found solace in knowing their beloved King David had also escaped persecution in a similar refuge centuries earlier.

Obviously, David’s brothers were at least beginning to change their tunes about their younger sibling, because his brothers and his father’s household joined him in the cave. David asked the king of Moab if his parents could stay with him awhile. No doubt David feared for the lives of his parents when Saul found that his brothers had joined him.

Don’t forget that this was David’s first taste of independent leadership! What could be less appealing than leading a group made up of the three D’s: the distressed, the debtors, and the discontented? Ultimately, David would rise to the throne as the forerunner of the King of kings. His kingdom would be known throughout the world. He would be favored by the living Lord as His chosen, His anointed. God had to bring David down to a lowly position before He could raise him up to stand on solid ground.