The Kingdom in the Cave
Introduction: God's Mighty Misfits
When God decides to build a kingdom, He does not begin the way men would. Men start with a capital city, a treasury, a standing army, and a public relations department. They look for the polished, the powerful, and the presentable. God, on the other hand, delights in starting His glorious works in the most unlikely of places, with the most unlikely of people. He begins with mustard seeds. He calls fishermen. He is born in a stable. And in our text today, He begins to assemble the armies of the true king of Israel in a cave, with a ragtag collection of society's rejects.
We find David, the Lord's anointed, on the run. The established king, Saul, is hunting him like a dog. From a worldly perspective, Saul has everything: the throne, the army, the legitimacy. David has nothing but a promise from God and a price on his head. He is a fugitive, hiding in a hole in the ground. But we must learn to see with the eyes of faith. Saul's kingdom is a hollow shell, a Potemkin village of rebellion against God. David's fledgling kingdom, this pathetic-looking gathering in a cave, is the seed of the kingdom that will produce the Messiah. This is a story about two kingdoms, two kings, and two kinds of followers. And the choice between them is the fundamental choice that every human being must make.
The cave of Adullam is a glorious picture of the church of Jesus Christ. It is a refuge for the broken, a gathering of the outcasts, and the headquarters of the true King in exile. What happens here is a pattern for how God builds His kingdom throughout all of history. He does not call the qualified; He qualifies the called. He gathers to Himself those who know they have nothing to offer, so that when the victory is won, He alone gets the glory.
The Text
So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it and went down there to him. Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter of soul, gathered to him; and he became a commander over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him.
And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the fortress. And the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the fortress; go, and enter into the land of Judah.” So David went and entered into the forest of Hereth.
(1 Samuel 22:1-5 LSB)
The Fugitive King and His Family (v. 1)
The story begins with the rightful king in hiding.
"So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it and went down there to him." (1 Samuel 22:1)
A cave is not a palace. It is a place of refuge, of hiding, of weakness. This is the kingdom in its embryonic state. David is not on the throne in Jerusalem; he is in a hole in the rock. This is a deliberate humiliation. God is teaching His anointed king, and all of us, that His kingdom is not established by worldly pomp and power. It is established in humility and dependence.
But he is not alone for long. His family comes to him. This is significant. In a time of civil strife, family loyalties are tested. David's own brothers, who had once looked down on him (1 Samuel 17:28), now recognize him as their head and protector. They cast their lot with the fugitive, not the sitting king. This tells us that God's kingdom is built upon covenant loyalty, beginning with the household. By joining David, they make themselves outlaws in Saul's kingdom. They are choosing sides. They are counting the cost and declaring their allegiance to God's anointed.
The King's Men (v. 2)
Next, the ranks of this fledgling kingdom begin to swell, but not with the kind of men you would recruit for a special forces unit.
"Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter of soul, gathered to him; and he became a commander over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him." (1 Samuel 22:2)
Look at this roster. This is God's army, Adullam's army. Who are they? The distressed, the indebted, and the discontented. These are the men who had been chewed up and spit out by Saul's corrupt and failing administration. They were the ones squeezed by high taxes, the ones who had lost their land, the ones who had no hope. They were failures. They were misfits. They were the down-and-out.
And this is a perfect picture of the gospel. Who does Jesus call? "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). The kingdom of God is for the spiritually distressed, for those who know they are in a sin-debt they can never repay, for those who are bitter of soul because they have tasted the poison of the world and found it wanting. The church is not a museum for saints; it is a hospital for sinners. It is a cave for outcasts who have found their true Commander.
And notice the result: "he became a commander over them." David did not coerce them. They gathered to him. True leadership, godly leadership, is an attractive force. David's character, his anointing, his courage, drew these broken men to himself. And in his presence, under his command, these misfits would be forged into the mighty men of Israel, the very warriors who would later establish his throne. This is what Christ does for us. He takes us in our distress, debt, and bitterness, and He makes us soldiers. He makes us more than conquerors.
The King's Piety and Patience (v. 3-4)
In the midst of this danger and uncertainty, David demonstrates the character of a true king through his care for his parents.
"And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, 'Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.'" (1 Samuel 22:3)
This is not a minor detail. David is a warrior and a fugitive, but he is also a son. He honors the fifth commandment. He understands that his duty to God includes his duty to his parents. He risks his own safety to travel to a foreign land to ensure theirs. His great-grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabitess, so he is calling on old family ties. This shows a man whose heart is governed by God's law, even under extreme pressure.
Furthermore, look at his posture before God: "until I know what God will do for me." David is living in a state of active, patient trust. He does not know the next step. He is in the fortress, waiting for his orders from the high command. He is not running ahead of God, nor is he panicking. He is waiting. This is the opposite of Saul, who was characterized by rash, impatient disobedience. Faith is not knowing the whole plan; faith is trusting the Planner and waiting for the next command.
The King's Orders (v. 5)
And that command comes, not through a strategic calculation, but through the mouth of a prophet.
"And the prophet Gad said to David, 'Do not stay in the fortress; go, and enter into the land of Judah.' So David went and entered into the forest of Hereth." (1 Samuel 22:5)
The Word of the Lord comes to David in his exile. And the command is, frankly, terrifying. "Do not stay in the fortress." Leave the place of relative safety. "Go, and enter into the land of Judah." Go back into the heart of enemy territory, where Saul is king and where his spies are everywhere. From a human perspective, this is tactical suicide. Moab is safe. Judah is the kill zone.
But David understands that true safety is not found in a fortress, but in the center of God's will. Obedience is our only security. The modern church is often tempted to adopt a Moab mentality. We want to retreat into our Christian subcultures, our safe fortresses, and wait out the storm. But God's command to us, as it was to David, is to "enter the land of Judah." We are called to engage the culture, to live out our faith in the public square, to be salt and light in the very places where the darkness is thickest. Our calling is not to comfort, but to conquest. Not our conquest, but Christ's conquest through us.
And David's response is immediate and unquestioning: "So David went." This is living faith. Faith hears the Word of God and acts on it, even when it seems illogical, even when it is dangerous. David and his 400 misfits break camp and march straight back into the heart of the conflict, because their Commander has given the order.
The Gospel in the Cave
This whole episode is a beautiful portrait of our salvation and our life in Christ. We are the men of Adullam. We were in distress, slaves to sin. We were in debt, with a moral account so overdrawn that only bankruptcy was possible. We were bitter of soul, alienated from God and at war with Him.
And then we heard of the true King, the greater David, Jesus Christ. We heard that this rejected King was gathering an army of outcasts. And so we fled to Him. We escaped the collapsing kingdom of Saul, the kingdom of this world, and we found refuge with Jesus. He became our Commander.
He did not despise us for our weakness or our failures. He received us. And now He is forging us into His mighty men. In His kingdom, the weak are made strong, the debtors are forgiven, and the bitter are given a new song. He is our fortress and our refuge.
But He does not call us to stay in the fortress forever. Through His Word, He gives us our marching orders. Go. Go into Judah. Go into your workplace, your neighborhood, your city, and live as citizens of my kingdom. Do not hide. Do not retreat. Do not seek the safety of Moab when the glorious battle is raging in Judah. Our King has already won the decisive victory on the cross. He has been raised from the dead and seated on the throne. And He is building His kingdom, not with the powerful and the proud, but with the weak and the foolish, a band of brothers from the cave of Adullam, so that the whole world will know that the victory belongs to God alone.