1 Samuel 16 – (Verses 1 – 3) In the previous chapter, because of Saul’s outright defiance of God’s clear command (to utterly destroy the Amalekites, who had been a thorn in Israel’s side for hundreds of years, and, God knew, would continue be so), it was time to find and anoint a new king. Samuel is mourning (v. 1) for Saul when God’s word comes to him, either because of a personal attachment he felt towards Saul or because he felt as if he had failed to mentor him in some way. But God’s message is, “It’s time to move on, Samuel, for the sake of the people of Israel.”
God sent Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem, grandson of Ruth and Boaz. He came under the pretext of offering a sacrifice with the elders of the city and with Jesse and family. Some may suggest that giving the sacrifice as the reason for the visit was deceptive. However, it was simply prudent. It gave Samuel a reason for the trip, should anyone associated with Saul inquire, and a reason to have face time with Jesse and his family. It’s much like inviting a possible client to lunch. A business relationship is the goal; lunch is the occasion for making an initial connection.
(Verses 4 – 10) Apparently, the arrival of Samuel at one’s town didn’t always mean good news. Therefore, the town elders were trembling, until Samuel assured them he had come in peace. Perhaps Jesse was one of the town elders, for he and his sons were invited to the sacrifice along with the elders.
Apparently, Samuel had shared with Jesse the real reason for his visit, to a certain degree. Jesse has his sons file by Samuel, and as each one passed by, Samuel kept saying, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” Eliab was first to meet Samuel. He was tall and impressive. Samuel assumed, since Saul had been similar, that this might be the next king of Israel. Perhaps also because he was the first born, and therefore the rightful heir. The occasion gives God an opportunity to remind Samuel that God is not a man, but judges in a different way. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (v. 7)
(Verses 11 – 13) Finally, after all the sons had presented themselves to Samuel and God had chosen none of them, David is called to Samuel’s presence. David was out tending the sheep. Perhaps Jesse thought it would be impractical to call him in. Shepherds could be nomadic, wandering around the hills of Bethlehem. Who knows exactly where David would be? Besides, he was the youngest of 8 brothers. The likelihood of him being chosen as king was practically nil. I wonder also if David, being so full of song to the LORD, might have been a little eccentric compared to his brothers. Being different, he might have been shunned by them and their father to a certain degree. But when David arrived, described as being “ruddy, with a fine appearance and handsome features,” the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, he is the one.” Though God looks at the heart, it may be that the person whose heart God chooses may have a fine appearance on the outside as well. Such was the case with David, which could have contributed to jealousy and further shunning on the part of his brothers.
When David was anointed, the “Spirit of the LORD came upon David in power” from that day on. Contrast this to the very next verse; that the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul. It’s not unusual in the Bible that when we God’s Spirit on a certain person or group of people for a specific task, his Spirit is not with anyone else for the same purpose. For example, Jesus told his disciples that the comforter would not come upon them for the purpose of spreading the news of the kingdom unless He (Jesus) went away. When David was anointed, the Spirit of the LORD for the purpose of the leadership of his people departed from Saul and rested on David.
(Verses 14 – 23) The next phrase in verse 14 is troubling. “An evil spirit from the LORD tormented him (Saul). Paul’s attendants even recognized it. “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.” (v. 15) It’s called an evil spirit from God again in verse 16. It is common for Christians to say that since God is good, He never causes anything bad to happen. Yet, God is all powerful. We try to get around this by saying, “God allowed this bad thing to happen,” rather than caused it to happen. Our understanding of God needs to grow up. God is our Father. Accordingly, he disciplines us. So He will cause things to happen to us that initially feel bad, just as I will cause a punishment to happen to my children. But his ultimate purpose is good. This “evil spirit from the LORD” (the word evil is a general word for “bad” that could also be translated differently – an “injurious” spirit, for example) was designed to take the kingship away from Saul and put it into the hands of David for the ultimate good of the nation of Israel. We can also assume, as God wants all to be saved, that the evil spirit was also intended to move Saul to rely on God for help so that in losing the kingdom he would not also lose his soul.
Music was seen as a good remedy for Saul’s troubles, and God had made arrangements for one of Saul’s servants to have had contact with David – enough contact to know David as a musician, a brave man, a warrior, a fine-looking man, and that the LORD was with him. David was therefore brought into Saul’s service, and his music had the desired affect. In this way, God was introducing the court to David, making it possible for his ascent to king to take place.
1 Samuel 17 – (Verses 1 – 11) Meanwhile, those pesky Philistines were still around, and battle was going on between them and Israel. Apparently, there was a daily ritual of troops getting into battle formation, for the purpose of defense, apparently, because neither side was going on the attack. Goliath of Gath, apparently a descendant of the Anakites, was sent out as the Philistine’s champion. It was the Philistine’s hope that the battle could be decided by champions from each army meeting each other in battle. No one would be able to defeat their champion!
(Verses 12 – 25) Why would the Philistines have continued this little charade with Goliath for so long? We can only assume that they felt as if their situation was improving during that time. Perhaps Goliath’s intimidation was causing some soldiers from Israel to dessert. Meanwhile, David had been sent by Jesse to bring provisions to his three oldest brothers, who served in Saul’s army. Obviously, David didn’t spend 100% of his time in Saul’s court, but went there only when called upon. He would not be needed during this time of war when Saul was away.
(Verses 26 – 39) David began inquiring so earnestly about what would be done for the man who defeated Goliath that people (if not his brothers) began to take him seriously, and reported it to Saul. Saul also didn’t take David seriously, saying, “You are only a boy.” We don’t have to take this to mean that David was very young. Often Bible story books depict David as being not even a teenager. We can assume that David was perhaps 18 years of age or older. “Only a boy” referred to the fact that he had not yet reached the age of respect among Israelites (30) and that he had no formal experience as a soldier, unlike Goliath, who had been fighting since youth.
More evidence for this point of view is Saul’s attempt to put his armor on David. Such a thing would have been ludicrous if David was much smaller than Saul. David chose not to use them, but we are not told that they were too big, but simply that he was not used to them. Also, if David was not yet even a teenager, Saul would have never agreed to his plan to go fight Goliath.
(Verses 41 – 54) Goliath reacted to David the same way Saul did. He was unimpressed, both with his age and his apparent lack of military skill. But David came with the LORD’s power, and with a certain level of experience fighting lions and bears. You have to be impressed by David’s faith: “The battle is the LORD’S, and He will give all of you into our hands.” (v. 47) Without a sword, David was able to defeat Goliath, using only a sling, then killing Goliath with his own sword, which lead to a great victory for all Israel. The shocking nature of such a young fighter with apparently no battle experience defeating their champion must have had a great affect on the Philistines.
(Verses 55 – 58) After the battle, the end of the chapter leaves us with a few oddities that deserve explanation. In verse 55, Saul asks his military commander, Abner, “Whose son is that young man?” Abner doesn’t know. Why wouldn’t Saul or Abner know of David’s family when he, we assume, spent some time at Saul’s palace? Simply because David’s role in Saul’s palace was a servant and a comforter for Saul, and although Saul liked his music very much (and liked David as well), there’s no reason to believe he would have inquired about David’s family, and no reason to believe that David and Abner would have ever met, each serving the king in such different roles. And though it was known among the court that David was the son of Jesse (see verse 16:18), we can’t expect that Saul, in his distress due to the troubling spirit, would have taken note of it.
1 Samuel 18 – (Verses 1 – 4) David now enters into a more intimate relationship with Saul and his whole household, becoming a full time attendant and military captain for Saul, entering into an intimate friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan, and eventually becoming Saul’s son-in-law. It is not hard to understand why Jonathan “became one in spirit with David, and loved him as himself.” Jonathan and David were cut from the same cloth: both willing to be bold and take risks while trusting in their God.
Some have suggested that Jonathan’s and David’s was a homosexual relationship, but nowhere is the Hebrew verb for “love” used to express homosexual desire or activity, neither is the Hebrew euphemism for sex – to “know” – used to describe their relationship. The closest parallel is Jacob’s love for his youngest son Benjamin, described as “spirit closely bound up with spirit.” That David is heterosexual later becomes very clear; in his marriage to Saul’s daughter Michal and his later failings with Bathsheba.
(Verses 5 – 16) Jealousy soon soured the relationship between David and Saul, as women famously danced and sang, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” The very next day, Saul made his first two attempts on David’s life. The Hebrew word “prophesying” apparently can refer to a variety of altered states of consciousness, sometimes accompanied by revelations from God, but at other times (as is the case with Saul here) accompanied by bizarre behavior.
When Saul was more lucid, he began to realize that killing David himself would be a very bad political move because David was gaining greatly in popularity. So Saul decided that it would be best to push David into more frequent and dangerous military service, hoping David would fall in battle, but the Lord was with David.
(Verses 17 – 30) Twice Saul tried to arrange marriages for his daughters with David, thinking that in exchange David would give him military duty. It worked with his younger daughter Michal, who was in love with David. The bride price for her was to be 100 Philistine foreskins. This seems rather vulgar to us, but it was a practical way to ensure that the 100 Philistines had been killed. 100 heads, for example, would be cumbersome to carry, and foreskins would not be found on Israelites – only on their enemies. David agreed to the bride price, but far from falling in battle as Saul hoped, he brought 200 foreskins instead. Saul became afraid of David as God continued to give him success.
1 Samuel 19 – (Verses 1 – 6) Saul must have been exasperated that David kept not only surviving battles but continued to have success, so as a desperate act he tried to enlist his attendants and Jonathan to kill David, possibly on the battlefield to be made to look like an accident. But Jonathan, with David in hiding, tried to reason with his father. Saul took an oath, saying that David would not be put to death.
(Verses 7 – 10) When David’s prowess in battle continued to increase, Saul’s jealousy increased along with it. After another attempt on his life, David fled Saul’s household. It is important once again to realize that David was a grown man and a capable military leader and warrior. We often picture him as a young boy when Saul made these attempts to kill him. In reality, David probably could have killed Saul if he had wanted to, but he chose not to.
(Verses 11 – 17) David’s wife (and Saul’s daughter) deceived Saul to help David escape, as Saul sent men to David’s house to try to kill him. She used household gods or idols to help in the rouse. We can see that Saul’s household was not entirely free from idolatry, though they regarded Yahweh as the greatest of the “gods.”
(Verses 18 – 24) When Saul found out that David had escaped to Samuel, he sent his men there. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul’s men and they all “prophesied,” or went into that altered state of consciousness I described earlier, making them pretty useless for trying to track down a fugitive. When Saul himself came, he “prophesied” too, even stripping nearly naked in Samuel’s presence. The saying that developed as a result of that event – “Is Saul also among the prophets?” – was perhaps meant sarcastically. The obvious answer was, “Of course not.”
1 Samuel 20 – (Whole chapter) Saul, knowing the close friendship between Jonathan and David, had been keeping his latest murderous intentions against David to himself – not sharing them with Jonathan. When David purposely failed to show up for the New Moon festival, as expected, Saul flew into a rage, to the point where he tried to kill his own son, Jonathan. After this incident, we have perhaps the biggest understatement in the whole Old Testament. “Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.” After that, David and Jonathan said a tearful goodbye to each other. David promised that, no matter what, he would be kind to Jonathan’s family, a promise he later kept with Jonathan’s lame son Mephibosheth (see 2 Samuel 4).
1 Samuel 21 – (Verses 1 – 9) It was a tumultuous time, during the reign of Saul. News of his madness had spread around the kingdom. When David arrived at Nob to see Ahimelech the priest by himself, the priest realized something was wrong. Either David was fleeing for his life from Saul again, or Ahimelech himself had incurred the wrath of king Saul and David had been dispatched to kill him, which would explain why David was alone – no witnesses.
David was not there to harm Ahimelech, however. He made up a story, most likely to keep Ahimelech from being accused of being David’s accomplice. He asked for provisions, but nothing was there except the consecrated bread, which was lawful only for the priests to eat. Yet Ahimelech gave David the bread. How could he do that in good conscience? Jesus used this example (see Matthew 12:1 – 8) to make a point – human need was more important than keeping ceremonial law, just as it was allowable for the disciples to pick the heads of grain to assuage their hunger on the Sabbath, it was allowable for David and his men to have the consecrated bread to sustain them.
While Ahimelech was helping David in this way, including giving him the sword of Goliath which had been kept there for some reason, Doeg the Edomite, one of Saul’s servants was watching all of this.
(Verses 10 – 15) It’s mysterious as to why David would think going to Gath would be a good move. We can only assume that, when in battle, David would have had battle armor on and not be very easily recognized. He was probably hoping to go to Gath incognito. When he was found out, he resourcefully pretended to be insane.
1 Samuel 22 – (Verses 1 – 4) At this point, David is on the run from Saul. After escaping from Gath, he began to gather around him a rag-tag group of apparently good and noble men who had fallen on hard times – perhaps due to the oppressiveness of Saul’s reign. It was not unusual for a king to surround himself with those closest to him. Those of Saul’s tribe of Benjamin were privileged during his rule (see verse 7), and, we can assume, much of the rest of Israel was not.
Israel had mostly good relations with Moab, descendents of Abraham’s nephew Lot, so David made arrangements with their king for his family to stay there where they wouldn’t be vulnerable to any actions by Saul.
(Verses 5 – 19) Saul, meanwhile was looking for David, and accusing just about everyone of conspiring with him. Doeg, the Edomite who saw Ahimelech help David, informed Saul of Ahimelech’s help. Saul called Ahimelech and the whole company of priests and questioned them. Ahimelech was rightly indignant, pointing out that he had done nothing he did not ordinarily do. Saul ordered his attendants to murder all the priests, but they would not do it, unwilling to raise their hands against the LORD’s priests, but Doeg, an Edomite, had no such scruples, killing 83 priests that day in a horrific slaughter.
(Verses 20 – 23) Abiathar, son of Ahimelech escaped to join David, which could explain why, when Jesus referred to the incident of Ahimelech’s help given to David in Mark 2:26 as being “in the days of Abiathar the high priest.” Abiathar was the most prominent historical figure of the priesthood of those days. If Jesus said, “In the days of Ahimelech,” some of his hearers may not have known who he was talking about. Abiathar was known to David – perhaps even present when David requested help from his father Ahimelech.
1 Samuel 23 – (Verses 1 – 14) In spite of the fact that David was a fugitive, as future king, he still desired to help his people, as he did the town of Keilah from Philistine raiders. His efforts gained him some cattle and other provisions taken as plunder, but it gained him little in thanks. Through the ephod (the way of casting lots given to the people by the LORD) he was able to determine that Saul would come and attack Keilah and that its people would hand David over to him, so he fled, escaping to the desert, a region dotted with literally thousands of caves. Saul was unable to find him.
(Verses 15 – 29) The people of the area of Ziph, perhaps in a misguided attempt to be loyal to the king, attempted to turn David over to Saul. As was hiding there, you can imagine him writing one of his many Psalms about his enemies closing in around him. And when the LORD delivered him by calling Saul away because of a Philistine attack, it’s not hard to imagine him praising God for his deliverance. |
