The Skilfulness of a Godly Man Text: 1 Samuel 18:30
Introduction: Two Kingdoms in Collision
In the narrative of Scripture, we are frequently shown that God's kingdom and the kingdom of man do not run on parallel tracks that never meet. Rather, they are on a collision course. They operate on entirely different principles, they are energized by entirely different spirits, and they are headed for entirely different destinies. In the life of David, and particularly in this chapter of 1 Samuel, we see this collision in sharp relief. On the one hand, we have the kingdom of Saul, which was the people's choice. It was a kingdom established in fear, maintained by jealousy, and characterized by a frantic, fleshly grasping for power. On the other hand, we have the kingdom God was building through David, a kingdom established in faith, marked by covenantal wisdom, and characterized by the quiet, inexorable blessing of the Lord.
This chapter is a case study in the antithesis. Saul, from whom the Spirit of the Lord had departed, sees David's success and is consumed by a black, murderous envy. He hurls spears. He schemes. He tries to use his own daughters as bait to trap David. Saul is a picture of impotent, worldly rage. He is fighting against a man, but he is actually fighting against God, and that is a war you cannot win. Every scheme Saul concocts to destroy David's reputation is the very thing God uses to enhance it. Saul wants to make David's name a byword, and God makes his name "highly esteemed."
The world thinks that success comes from sharp elbows, from self-promotion, from tearing others down. But God's economy is different. In His kingdom, the way up is down. The one who is faithful in little is made ruler over much. The one who trusts in the Lord is the one who is established. David is not trying to build his own brand. He is simply serving God and serving his king, Saul, with integrity. And the result is that God Himself promotes him. The verse we are considering today is the capstone of this entire chapter. It summarizes the recurring pattern: the world attacks, and the godly man, through Spirit-given wisdom, not only endures but thrives. This is not a story about David's impressive resume; it is a story about the faithfulness of God to His anointed.
The Text
Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David behaved himself more insightfully than all the servants of Saul. So his name was highly esteemed.
(1 Samuel 18:30 LSB)
The Unending Conflict
The verse begins with what seems like a simple historical observation, but it is the drumbeat of our lives as Christians.
"Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it happened as often as they went out..." (1 Samuel 18:30a)
The Philistines are the standing enemies of God's people. They are a constant, nagging, persistent threat. Notice the phrasing: "as often as they went out." This was not a one-time skirmish. This was the rhythm of their lives. The enemy is never content to leave God's people alone. There will always be another battle, another sortie, another challenge. We must not be naive about this. The Christian life is not a peacetime cruise; it is a long wartime campaign. The world, the flesh, and the devil will continually "go out to battle."
For David, the threat was external and military. The Philistines came with swords and spears. For us, the commanders of the Philistines might be cultural pressures, temptations, intellectual attacks on the faith, or conflicts within our own hearts. But the principle is the same. The battle is constant. We are not called to a life of ease, but to a life of faithful conflict. And just as the Philistines' constant attacks provided the context for David's victories, so also God uses the persistent opposition we face to train us, to strengthen our faith, and to display His power through us.
The Nature of True Wisdom
The central clause of this verse describes how David met this constant opposition. This is the heart of the matter.
"...that David behaved himself more insightfully than all the servants of Saul." (1 Samuel 18:30b)
The key phrase here is "behaved himself more insightfully" or, as other translations have it, "more wisely" or "had more success." The Hebrew word, sakal, is a rich one. It doesn't just mean clever or tactically brilliant, though it includes that. It means to be skillful, prudent, and prosperous because of that skill. It is the word used in Joshua 1:8, where God tells Joshua that if he meditates on the law day and night, he will "make his way prosperous" and have "good success." This is not worldly wisdom. This is covenantal wisdom. It is the skill of living life in accordance with God's created order.
David's wisdom was not simply that he was a better general than Saul's other commanders. His wisdom was rooted in the fact that "the Lord was with him" (1 Sam. 18:12, 14, 28). This is repeated three times in this chapter. The contrast is stark. The Spirit of God had departed from Saul, and he was left with his own fleshly cunning, which manifested as paranoia and rage. David, on the other hand, was operating in the power and wisdom of God. He was not just a skillful warrior; he was a skillful man of God. His insight on the battlefield was a direct result of his fellowship with God off the battlefield.
This is a profound lesson for us. True wisdom, true skilfulness in any area of life, is not a secular commodity. It is a fruit of faithfulness. The man who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways, who delights in His law, is the man who will have true insight. The world has its experts, its consultants, its "servants of Saul." They have their strategies and their five-year plans. But the man who walks with God has an insight they cannot touch. He sees the world as it really is. He understands the times. He knows what Israel ought to do. David's success was a theological statement. It demonstrated the superiority of God's way over man's way.
The Unintended Consequence
The verse concludes with the result of David's wise conduct. It is the very thing Saul feared and was trying to prevent.
"So his name was highly esteemed." (1 Samuel 18:30c)
Saul's whole project in this chapter was the degradation of David. He wanted to see him humiliated and killed by the Philistines. He wanted his name blotted out. But God is the great ironist. He loves to take the schemes of wicked men and turn them on their heads. The platform Saul provided for David's destruction became the stage for his exaltation. Every time the Philistines came out, it was another opportunity for everyone to see the contrast: the frantic, failing servants of Saul, and the calm, successful servant of the Lord.
The word for "highly esteemed" means precious, or weighty. David's reputation gained substance. It wasn't hype. It wasn't empty celebrity. It was a name that carried weight because it was backed by character and competence, both of which were gifts from God. This was not something David sought for himself. He was not out there building his personal brand. He was simply being faithful, and God was the one who established his name.
This is the pattern of the kingdom. "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 23:12). Saul was all about exalting himself, and his name was rotting even while he still sat on the throne. David was humbling himself, serving a paranoid king faithfully, and God was exalting him before the eyes of all the people. Your reputation is what God says it is. Our task is not to manage our reputation, but to pursue faithfulness. We are to behave ourselves wisely, insightfully, in all our dealings, and leave the esteem of our name in the hands of God. He is more than capable of managing it.
Christ, the Wiser David
As with all Old Testament narratives, we must see how this points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. David is the anointed one, the king in waiting, who is opposed by the established, corrupt ruler. He operates in the wisdom and power of the Spirit, and his name is exalted. But he is just a shadow, a type, of the true King.
Jesus Christ is the ultimate wise man, the one who behaved Himself more insightfully than all the servants of the old order. The Scribes and Pharisees, the Herods and the Pilates, these were the "servants of Saul" in His day. They came at Him with their worldly wisdom, their traps, their accusations, and their schemes. They sent out their "commanders" to battle Him. And in every encounter, He behaved with a wisdom that confounded and silenced them.
Their ultimate plot, their grandest scheme, was to have Him killed. They thought that by putting Him on a cross, they could destroy His name forever. They sought to humiliate Him, to make Him a curse. And yet, in the glorious irony of God, that cross, the instrument of His intended shame, became the instrument of His ultimate exaltation. God took their greatest act of malice and turned it into the means of salvation for the world.
Because Jesus humbled Himself, even to the point of death on a cross, God has "highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). His name is not just highly esteemed; it is the only name under heaven by which we must be saved. He is the wiser David, whose victory over our great Philistine, over sin and death, was total and complete.
And because we are united to Him by faith, His story becomes our story. We are called to walk in this same covenantal wisdom. We will face opposition. The commanders of the Philistines will come out against us. But we are not left to our own devices. The same Spirit that was with David, the same Spirit that empowered Christ, is now with us. Our calling is to behave ourselves insightfully, to live skillfully as citizens of heaven, trusting that as we are faithful, God will vindicate His own name in us and through us, for His own great glory.