Three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam, when the army of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. And David said longingly, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” Then the three mighty men broke through the camp 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 David would not drink it. He poured it out to the Lordand said, “Far be it from me before my God that I should do this. Shall I drink the lifeblood of these men? For at the risk of their lives they brought it.” Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men.
1 Chronicles 11:15-19 (ESV)
In the Bible in one year reading program that my wife and I follow, this text came around a couple of days ago and it continues to stick in my mind. The context is that David has just been anointed king and yet the city of David, Jerusalem, is not in his hands.
The Philistines have been oppressing the people for a long time, and they are occupying key territory, and David and his hand-picked mighty men go and fight to retake what is their land. They are very close to succeeding, but not quite there. David knows that there is a stream of water in a certain place, on land that is being held by enemy troops.
He then makes an offhand comment that it would be so amazing to drink water from that place. It’s a way of practically expressing his thirst I’m sure, but also a way to symbolically declare his intent to one day possess that land that belongs to him God’s People.
As he wonders out loud about the water, three of his mightiest warriors manage to fight their way in can collect some water and bring it David. Can you imagine the sort of devotion those men head to David? They would conduct a dangerous military operation just to bring their commander in chief, a cool drink of water? This is also a model of the kind of camaraderie that we should strive for as Christians in the church of Christ.
Moved by their sacrifice, their gesture, David surprises everyone though by taking the water and pouring it out on the ground. He explains that it would be wrong for him to drink this, while his men remain without access to that water. I’m sure the water itself was rather ordinary. But It represented something special to the people of God, and to David’s new reign as king.
And while it sounds a bit off-the-wall, his gesture, is sacrifice, makes perfect sense if you understand the nature of sacrifice. In the old testament world, a sacrifice was something that was offered up to God and simultaneously made useless, or unavailable to anyone else. A sacrifice is truly a no strings attached gift.
This is concept helps make sacrificial giving, a Christian concept, make more sense. The offering, normally a piece of meat, or some produce of the land is burned by fire and transformed into heat and ash that goes up to “Heaven” making it unavailable to the person who gave the gift. There is a release that comes from this. There is freedom that comes from this mentality of generosity.
A true gift is not given with strings attached. And a sacrifice to God or to anyone else, for that matter is an act of true giving. What is given away is never laid claim to again by the giver. This gives us a model of what Christian giving looks like. This gives us an image of what generosity in general looks like. If I give someone a birthday gift and they use it in a way that I don’t appreciate that’s my problem not theirs. I’ve given it away. I’ve sacrificed it. I’ve made it unavailable to myself and given it wholly to another.
There’s something profound in this gesture where David takes fresh water and pours it on the ground. He sees the value of not drinking this freshwater in front of his men. They don’t have any for themselves. He also honors the sacrifice that his men made to retrieve that water, by declaring it an offering for Lord.
I cannot tell you whether or not the men understood his gesture, but the bigger picture of how God works, specifically how God works through his people, paints a beautiful picture of what sacrificial giving looks like; no strings attached, holy unconcerned about what the other does with the gift, totally releasing any ownership or control.
This is what true giving looks like. This is what it means to give oneself to the Lord. To make ourselves a living sacrifice. To turn to the Lord, and say ‘here I am use me as you will.’ Here I Lord, I am yours.
But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
Paul, Philippians 2:7
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