1 Samuel 19

July 23, 2008

Good Evening Brothers and Sisters,

I'm going to pick up the pace just a bit...

1 Samuel 19 (NASB95)
¹ Now Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants to put David to death. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. ² So Jonathan told David saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. Now therefore, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. ³ “I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you; if I find out anything, then I will tell you.” ⁴ Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you. ⁵ “For he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?” ⁶ Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷ Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as formerly. ⁸ When there was war again, David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with great slaughter, so that they fled before him. ⁹ Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. ¹⁰ Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, so that he stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. ¹¹ Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.” ¹² So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. ¹³ Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵ Then Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed, that I may put him to death.” ¹⁶ When the messengers entered, behold, the household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head. ¹⁷ So Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I put you to death?’ ” ¹⁸ Now David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹ It was told Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰ Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied. ²¹ When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah and came as far as the large well that is in Secu; and he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” ²³ He proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴ He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”^[1]

The last chapter ended sounding like Saul had reached a point where he would reward David even though it was begrudgingly.  He allowed David to marry Michal, settle down and everything looked as if it was in order.  Yet, Saul gave the order for David to be executed.  We have a bit of a mixed message here.  David accomplished the goal that he set out for and in the end stood to be executed by Saul.  It's rather puzzling when you think about it.  Saul didn't react to anyone else in this way.

Jonathan went to bat for David pleading his case before Saul.  Apparently he was able to patch up the problem and David was allowed to be in his presence.  The interesting point here is that David wanted to be in the presence of Saul.  We don't read in the text in any way that David desired revenge for Saul's treatment of him.  As a matter of fact, David resumed his role as a musician. 

Once again, Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear just as in the previous chapter.  I can't help but wonder why he kept throwing his spear.  Think about this, once a spear has been thrown and the target missed, it can easily be picked up and thrown back.  By throwing a spear, Saul opened himself up for being killed by David.  It almost seems as if Saul wanted David to kill him, and it goaded Saul when David would not fight back.  David was constantly proving himself in battle, but refused to fight Saul in what would have been a justified fight.  God had already given David the kingdom to rule, and David simply refused to take out the current king in order to begin his reign. 

Saul positioned spies around David's house in order to both watch him and to execute him the following morning.  If Saul was so intent on killing David, wouldn't it have been better just to order his death and once located kill him on the spot?  Saul opened the door to allow David to escape.  I find it interesting that Michal turned to deception in order to both foil those who would kill her husband and then to lie about how that David had threatened her life.  It was her idea to pull off the scheme in the first place.  Another thing that is puzzling is that David allowed household idols in his home.  Our storybook idea of David is one of a righteous knight fighting for the Lord, yet here we have a clear indication that David did not have his ducks in a row.

Verses 19-24:  God had a little fun with Saul.  Samuel was with the prophets and apparently was harboring David.  When the messengers came to arrest David, they began to join the prophets in prophesying before the Lord.  This happened three times, and then Saul decided to go himself to arrest David with the same result.  Just a couple of thoughts on this:  First, God the Holy Spirit came upon unrighteous men who were on an unrighteous mission to prophecy before the Lord.  These men were following unrighteous orders therefore demonstrated no malice.  It would be interesting to know what they said because in all three cases none of the messengers completed arresting David.  None of them were disciplined for failing to follow orders either.  Second, Saul prophesied just like the messengers did.  Again, we do not know the message.  This was not Saul's first time of being overwhelmed by the Spirit.  Saul prophesied previously when he was commissioned as king (1 Samuel 10:10).  It seems that in this case God distracted Saul in such a way that he was not able to carry out his plan to execute David. 

In closing, we see a story that is laced with double messages.  Saul intended to kill David, befriended him, then, opened the door for him to escape only to try to hunt him down again.  God stepped in and covered for David even though both Saul and David were living lives which did not glorify God.  In the end, the point seems to be that God set up Saul as king, and removed him from being King.  God still controlled Saul's destiny and demonstrated this through the prophesying.  David was the new appointed king and nothing that Saul attempted would change God's plan.  God's call is never defeated; God's will shall come to pass.  It's worth thinking about.  It's easy to get discouraged when life deals us tough cards.  Just like David we manipulate and wiggle to get out of the tough situations through our own clever devices.  God stays in charge even if we stop believing His message.  Why is it that we like to go the long way around the block rather than moving with God toward His call for our lives?  I would wager that most of us will try every way possible to do things in our own strength rather than to rely on Him in life. 

Father, as we consider the story today, draw us to consider Your calling in each of our lives.  Then give us the will to listen to Your leading.

In Him,

Joe Turner.