Why didn’t God protect the infant Christ, Joseph and Mary with a miracle instead of sending them to Egypt? And likewise with David, who fled into the land of his enemies, the Philistines?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Problems of Becoming and Being a King’ (1990).

You have asked why God didn't protect the infant Christ and Joseph and Mary, and do a few miracles, instead of having Joseph and Mary take the infant child away from Herod's barbarous intentions, and take him down to Egypt; but God chose at that stage to shelter the infant Christ and his parents among the Gentiles.

I would like to add at that point that there would have been an alternative for David to stay in the land, but it wouldn't have involved God putting a hedge of miracle around him; it would have involved David in using his sword. Saul was so determined to slay him that there was no way that David could have stayed in the land without raising his army against Saul and slaughtering Saul. That was the alternative. David tried to argue the case: 'I am not against you! Why do you keep chasing me around the place like this?' The only alternative would be to stay in the land and fight it out with Saul. And the historian will tell you why David didn't take that course. David did not take that course because of respect for Saul.

Our Lord could have called, not for Goliath's sword, but for the swords of twelve legions of angels (see Matthew 26:53). He could have dealt with Caiaphas; he needn't have been on a cross. Why didn't he use that method? I want to say that David's escape to the Philistines when he could so easily have got into the palace and taken Saul's head off is worth noticing. After you've taken off the head of Goliath it isn't so difficult to take off Saul's head, you know. Why didn't he do it? I want to argue that his refraining from killing Saul when he had him in his palm and could have killed him many times, but took the alternative of getting out of Saul's way, was not weakness but tremendous respect and love. And if there is a true analogy I would want to ask, 'Why did our Lord not use his power as Messiah and bring his legions down, and deal like a king would with Caiaphas, the corrupt politician-priest, and Annas and all that crowd that were abusing their temple authority, and turning the very temple of God into a robber's den? Why didn't he use his sword? Well the answer to that is the Christian gospel.