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to deliver the innocent. "Now even in the cave I will not put forth mine hand against my God, for he is the Lord annointed, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and kill thee not, there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand." I would to God that all that say they are his annointed, possessed such a spirit and disposition in this day to pray for ther enemies instead of rejoicing at their downfall, and then the christian warfare would go right and God himself would be glorified.
David, I believe, had a thought to kill Saul, his enemy, on the first attempt, and on the second he reflected that he was an annointed of God; this thought to kill him was a suggestion to which he did not consent to; the meaning is, that he referred his whole cause to God to judge, and punish according to his justice; yet so as to keep himself in the meantime in due bounds from all personal hatred to Saul, or desire of gratifying his own passion, by seeking revenge; so far from it, that when Saul was afterwards slain, we find that, instead of rejoicing at his death, he mourned most bitterly for him. Previous to the death of Saul he said to David, "thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil." And now we see that David was a man of another spirit. David said, "behold! how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity; it is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments as the dew of heaven, and as the dew that descended upon the mountain of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore." Yet the Lord blessed him in all his proceedings and he praised God on the occasion, not out of joy for the death of Saul or of Nabal, which would have argued a rancour of heart, but because he saw that his divine majesty had so visibly taken his cause in hand in punishing the injury done to him, whilst by a merciful providence he kept him from revenging himself. There were a great many people in those days that were enemies of the people of God, and some, if not all of them, were of the number of those whom God had ordered to be destroyed, justified David's proceedings in their regard: though it is to be observed here, that we are not under an
