Scripture Daily

Context No. 1076 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

Context · Reflection

2 Samuel 23:13-17: in context

13Three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam; and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. 14David was then in the stronghold; and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” 16The three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and took it and brought it to David; but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD. 17He said, “Be it far from me, LORD, that I should do this! Isn’t this the blood of the men who risked their lives to go?” Therefore he would not drink it. The three mighty men did these things.

This is one of the loveliest stories among David's mighty men. David is holed up in the cave of Adullam, the Philistines garrisoned in his hometown Bethlehem, and he says aloud, almost to himself, a longing: oh, that someone would give me water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate. It was a wish, not a command. But three of his warriors overhear it, break through the Philistine army, draw water from that very well, and carry it back to David. And David, when he receives it, will not drink it. He pours it out on the ground as an offering to the LORD, saying, far be it from me; is this not the blood of the men who risked their lives to get it?

David's response to the water is the whole point. Three men risked death to satisfy his passing wish, and when he sees what their loyalty cost, he cannot bring himself to simply drink it and enjoy it. This is too precious, too costly, to consume for his own comfort; it was bought with the near-blood of men who loved him, and the only fitting thing to do with something that valuable is to give it to God. So he pours it out, an offering, treating the water won at such risk as too sacred for himself. There is a beautiful instinct in that. Some gifts come at such a cost that the right response is not to use them up on ourselves but to return them to God in worship. And there may be a deeper echo here: a devotion so costly that the one who receives it lifts it up to God rather than keeping it. David would not cheapen his men's sacrifice by drinking it for pleasure; he made it holy by pouring it out before the LORD.

When I receive something that cost others dearly, do I simply consume it for my own comfort, or does its costliness move me, like David, to lift it up to God?

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