From Cave Dwellers to Kingdom Builders

In 1 Samuel 22, David is on the run. He's not yet king. He's not even leading an army. He's hiding in a cave, unsure of his future. And yet, people start to gather around him. But they aren't military elites or trusted officials. They're described as people in distress, in debt, and discontented.

Not Exactly a Dream Team

It’s an unusual group. Historically, individuals in these kinds of situations—socially outcast, economically burdened—often had little choice but to align themselves with someone outside the established system. In this case, that person is David. It raises questions: What did they see in him? Why follow someone who’s clearly out of favor with the current regime? And what made David accept them?

At this point, David has no formal power. He’s not offering wealth or safety. Aligning with him actually seems dangerous. So maybe this early moment in the cave offers a look at how leadership can form around something other than status. Maybe it forms around shared experience, or even shared vulnerability.

Leadership Lessons in the Dark

The text doesn’t give us a lot of detail about how David interacts with this group at first. But we do know he becomes their leader. Over time, many of these same individuals will be called his "mighty men." That progression—from a group of discontented followers to a unified band—is interesting to think about. What changes in them? What changes in him?

Loyalty: The Original Survival Strategy

There’s also a historical pattern here. Throughout ancient history, leaders in exile or rebellion often attracted the disaffected. Loyalty, in those settings, was a kind of survival strategy. If you were cut off from the dominant power structures, aligning with an outsider could be a way to carve out a place for yourself. But that loyalty had to go both ways. A leader couldn’t afford to discard those who came to him.

David doesn’t. In fact, shortly after this, he makes arrangements to keep his aging parents safe in Moab. It seems like he’s thinking not just about himself, but about the people around him. That kind of decision might say something about the kind of leader he was trying—or learning—to be.

Kingdoms Don’t Always Start with Crowns

It’s easy to think of kingship as something that begins with a coronation. But here, it begins in a cave, with a group of people who didn’t seem to belong anywhere else. There’s something quietly significant about that. It’s not a declaration of power. It’s a moment of connection. And maybe that’s what makes it worth paying attention to.

Still Wondering...

There are still questions. Would these people have followed David if he had failed to become king? Did they see potential in him, or were they just out of options? What did leadership mean in a space like this—removed from institutions, out of sight from the structures of power?

This part of the story doesn’t answer everything. But it offers a chance to notice how communities can begin in unexpected places, and how loyalty and leadership might be shaped less by authority and more by shared experience.