Telling is the exchange
between Saul and Ahimelech. Saul asks why the priest conspired with his sworn
enemy. Ahimelech protests. It’s true that he helped David, even inquiring of
the Lord for him, but as David was a much loved and respected member of Saul’s
court this is something he had always done. Ahimelech didn’t realize that Saul
had changed the rules. Good was now evil, and evil was now good. As a result,
Ahimelech, along with the priests at Nob, are executed. When David heard the
news he understood that it was his deception that had placed Ahimelech in danger.
There are a vast number of similar scenarios that were
generated by the unfathomable rule-changing abuse of power perpetrated upon
innumerable Davids in 1930s Germany. People were being placed in circumstances
in which they had to make decisions they could not have imagined they would
have to make. Some stood firm; most did not. I think the fateful decisions of
David and his German counterparts serve as a warning: impossible situations
make the unthinkable possible.
Peter’s denial of Christ
fits the pattern. The good news is that Jesus extended love and forgiveness to
Peter. This doesn’t justify Peter’s actions but it does teach that Jesus is the Lord
of impossible situations, drawing good out of evil and transforming weak men
into men of principled resolve who can say, “Judge
for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.”