Sauls Guards and the Sin of Inaction
December 28, 2010
Dear Friends,
Then the king ordered the guards at his side: “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.” But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD. The king then ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests.” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. (1 Sam. 22:17,18 NIV)
This may be one of the most shameful events in the history of Israel. Who can conceive of a single Edomite murdering 85 priests including the high priest with armed men of Israel standing by and doing nothing to prevent it? It boggles the mind.
As we know from the story, Saul was searching for David in order to kill him. David had visited the priests at Nob where the high priest, Ahimelech, unaware of what was happening, had given David’s men food and the sword of Goliath. Doeg the Edomite was watching and, when the opportunity presented itself, had given this information to King Saul. Saul, seizing any opportunity he could find to capture and execute David, heads to Nob where this unbelievable scene occurs.
Why didn’t these men stop Doeg from his murderous activity and what can we learn from it?
Cowardice. When Saul’s guards are asked to kill the priests, they muster enough courage to refuse the king. Knowing a man of Saul’s unpredictable temperament and impressive fighting skills, this appears to be a conspicuous act of courage. Saul could have very easily put them to death for disobeying his command. Yet, when Saul commands the unscrupulous Doeg to kill the priests, these same guards show an appalling cowardice as they watch this Gentile massacre the Lord’s anointed.
In my experience, this is not uncommon. Men can often summon enough courage not to actively join a lynch mob, but few men can summon enough courage to do something to stop the lynch mob. The truth is that it takes little character to do nothing. It takes a significant amount of courage to actually do something; especially in the face of strong and dangerous opposition.
Lack of Personal Responsibility. I would further suggest to you that the reason most of us do not stand up for the oppressed and act like Saul’s guards is because the majority – the crowd – makes us question our position. Studies have shown that crowds diminish any sense of personal responsibility on the individual. This is known as the bystander effect.
In one of the most famous cases of the bystander effect, Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in Queens, NY over a period of a half an hour in which 38 witnesses watched the stabbings and failed to intervene. People assumed that someone else would do something about it. The “crowd of witnesses” in this case diffuses responsibility to the extent that people do nothing because they think someone else will do it. One of my favorite non-Biblical quotes is from the comedian Lily Tomlin when she said “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody.”
We see this kind of crowd mentality over and over in the Bible. We think to ourselves if all of these people are shouting “crucify him” maybe they know something I don’t. Maybe this Jesus is a bad guy. In the case of Saul’s guards, because there were a bunch of them, each one was thinking that someone else should act. Let me tell you, more times than not, the crowd is on the wrong side. Mobs seldom make righteous decisions.
Are we like Saul’s guards? Do we witness injustice and do nothing? Do we stand idly by and watch the righteous be destroyed with no fight at all? What would we have done at this event? What would we have done at the stoning of Stephen? What would we have done as the crowds cried “crucify him, crucify him?” I would suggest that we don’t have to speculate too much because we demonstrate exactly what the answer would be now in our actions in similar situations we face today. We either stand up for the oppressed, we do nothing or we are the oppressor — those are all of our options – and our choice will be self-evident.
I hope that we can find that strength of character in the appropriate times to not be counted among Saul’s guards.
Have a great week,
