1Samuel chapter 19 comments

 

1Samuel 19:1 ¶  And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. 2  But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself: 3  And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee. 4  And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good: 5  For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause? 6  And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain. 7  And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

 

The narcissist, King Saul demands of his son and of his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan told David to hide and then he convinced his father to accept David back into his good graces rehearsing the recent history of David’s conquest of Goliath. Saul is an example of a double-minded man.

 

James 1:8  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

 

But Saul’s paranoia cannot be so easily dismissed.

 

1Samuel 19:8 ¶  And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him. 9  And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand. 10  And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

 

Again, this very mentally unstable Saul tries to kill David, perhaps his greatest commander in the field, out of jealousy, envy, or just paranoia, traits typical of dictators and tyrants.

 

1Samuel 19:11 ¶  Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain. 12  So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped. 13  And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth. 14  And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. 15  And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. 16  And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster. 17  And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?

 

Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife, saves David from Saul’s assassins by trickery and then lies to her father saying she did it because David threatened to kill her. This is a terrible situation for a leader to have put himself into by allowing his demons to rule over him.

 

1Samuel 19:18 ¶  So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. 19  And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah. 20  And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21  And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. 22  Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah. 23  And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24  And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

 

This amazing little passage underscores God’s power over us even when we are intent on doing something wrong as Samuel protects David as Jonathan and Michal had before. Saul’s messengers and Saul himself have the Spirit of God come upon them as they prophesy for God. We will see next that this gives David time to escape yet again.