1 Samuel 18-20: A Devoted Servant

GOD GAVE DAVID THE VICTORY OVER THE PHILISTINE GIANT GOLIATH AFTER THE GIANT CURSED DAVID IN THE NAME OF HIS OWN FALSE GODS.

IN THAT MOMENT THE BATTLE WAS ALREADY OVER AS GOLIATH CAME UNDER THE CURSE OF GOD AS HAD BEEN PROMISED IN GENESIS 12 IN WHICH GOD PROMISED TO CURSE THOSE WHO CURSE ISRAEL AND THAT OATH MEANT THAT THE BATTLE WAS THE LORD’S AND GOD GUIDED THE STONE OF DAVID INTO THE FOREHEAD OF THE GIANT.

THAT VICTORY ALTERED AT LEAST TWO PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS.

DAVID AND JONATHAN BECAME THE CLOSEST OF FRIENDS AND SAUL GREW EXTREMELY RESENTFUL OF DAVID.

EVEN THOUGH DAVID DISPLAYED NOTHING BUT LOYALTY TO SAUL, SAUL ENVIED DAVID AND THAT ENVY WOULD RESULT IN STRONGLY WICKED ACTIONS.

TIME AFTER TIME, SAUL WOULD ATTEMPT TO MURDER DAVID BUT GOD FAITHFULLY PROTECTED HIS NEXT KING OF ISRAEL.

WE MUST RECALL THAT FROM THE MOMENT DAVID HAD BEEN ANOINTED, GOD’S SPIRIT WAS REMOVED FROM SAUL AND AN EVIL SPIRIT WAS SENT BY GOD INTO SAUL TO TORMENT HIM.

WHILE SAUL TURNED ON DAVID, JONATHAN REMAINED TRUE TO HIS FRIEND.

IN 18:1-5 WE SEE THESE TWO MEN WERE SIMILAR EVEN THOUGH JONATHAN WAS OLDER (PERHAPS 15 YEARS OR MORE) AND BOTH DISPLAYED FAITH IN GOD.

JONATHAN WON REMARKABLE MILITARY VICTORIES AND THE TWO FORMED A COVENANT WITH EACH OTHER.

DAVID BECAME A LEADER IN ISRAEL IN THESE DAYS AS EVERY MISSION SAUL GAVE DAVID BECAME A SUCCESS.

IN 18:6-9 SAUL BEGAN HIS MOST INTENSE DISLIKE TOWARD DAVID WHEN HE HEARD THE WOMEN OF ISRAEL SINGING PRAISES FOR BOTH MEN BUT GIVING HIGHER PRAISE TO DAVID, SAYING SAUL HAD KILLED THOUSANDS BUT DAVID KILLED TEN THOUSANDS.

THE ENVY IN SAUL’S HEART GREW INTO A MURDEROUS LEVEL.

18:10-16

SAUL STOOPED SO LOW AS TO ATTEMPT TO KILL THE ONLY MAN IN ISRAEL WHO STOOD UP TO THE GIANT.

IN VERSE 12 WE SEE SAUL WAS AFRAID OF DAVID BECAUSE THE LORD WAS WITH DAVID AND HAD DEPARTED FROM SAUL.

DAVID HAD BEEN REASSIGNED TO BECOME A MILITARY CAPTAIN IN ISRAEL’S ARMY AND EVEN THOUGH DAVID WAS ONE OF THE YOUNGEST MEN IN THE ARMY, THE PEOPLE THERE BEGAN TO LOVE HIM AS HE SHOWED WISDOM BEYOND HIS YEARS.

18:17-19

SAUL HAD PROMISED THE HAND OF HIS DAUGHTER, MERAB, TO THE MAN WHO FOUGHT THE GIANT BUT THEN BETRAYED THE PROMISE AND GAVE THIS DAUGHTER TO ANOTHER MAN, ANOTHER EPISODE IN SAUL’S SINISTER PLOT OF WICKED WAYS.

18:20-27

SAUL DISCOVERED ANOTHER OF HIS DAUGHTERS, MICHAL, LOVED DAVID AND SAUL SAW A CHANCE TO RID HISELF OF DAVID OVER THIS LOVE.

HE REQUIRED A DOWRY OF 100 PHILISTINE FORESKINS OF DAVID TO EARN HIS DAUGHTER’S HAND IN MARRIAGE, THINKING SURELY DAVID WOULD BE KILLED TRYING TO KILL THAT MANY PHILISTINES.

DAVID, HOWEVER, WENT OVER AND BEYOND SAUL’S REQUIREMENT BY KILLING 200 PHILISTINES AND HAND DELIVERING 200 FORESKINS TO SAUL PERSONALLY CAUSING SAUL TO BE FORCED TO KEEP HIS WORD AND DAVID AND MICHAL WERE MARRIED.

18:28-30

SAUL BECOMES DAVID’S FULL TIME ENEMY AND SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY THE TWO MEN WERE ENEMIES, BUT THAT SAUL WAS DAVID’S ENEMY.

SAUL TRIES TO KILL DAVID MULTIPLE TIMES IN MULTIPLE WAYS.

THROUGH ALL THOSE AWFUL TIMES, DAVID REMAINED HUMBLE, FAITHFUL, AND LOYAL.

VERSE 30 TELLS US DAVID’S NAME WAS HELD IN HIGH REGARD BUT EVEN SO, SAUL DID NOT STOP TRYING TO DO AWAY WITH HIS SON-IN-LAW AND HIS INTENTIONS BECAME MORE EVIL.

19:1-8

SAUL DROPS ALL PRETENSE OF HIS PERSONAL ATTEMPTS TO KILL IN SECRET PLOTS AND OPENLY TELLS JONATHAN AND ALL OF SAUL’S SERVANTS THAT DAVID MUST BE KILLED.

NOW THE PLOT MOVED BEYOND PERSONAL JEALOUSLY AND SAUL’S HATRED OF DAVID HAD GROWN TO A RIDICULOUS LEVEL AND WAS NOW PUBLIC.

JONATHAN WAS ABLE TO WARN DAVID, AND HE TOLD DAVID TO HIDE UNTIL HE COULD DISCOVER A WAY OUT OF THIS AWFUL PLAN.

HERE WE SEE AN IRONIC MOMENT. PEOPLE IN SAUL’S ARMY HAD STOOD AGAINST SAUL WHEN HE WANTED TO KILL JONATHAN AND NOW JONATHAN WAS QUIETLY STANDING AGAINST SAUL TO SAVE DAVID.

JONATHAN TOLD HIS FATHER THE TRUTH THAT DAVID HAD DONE NOTHING TO DESERVE DEATH AND THAT DAVID HAD SAVED ISRAEL FROM THE GIANT AND HE TOLD SAUL THAT TO KILL DAVID WOULD BE A SIN.

JONATHAN CONDUCTED HIMSELF IN THIS MOMENT IN A CALM, AND HUMBLE SPIRIT, A SPIRIT OF MEEKNESS.

SAUL RECOGNIZED THE STRENGTH OF HIS SON’S WORDS AND ISSUED AN VOW THAT DAVID WOULD NOT BE SLAIN.

DAVID WAS ABLE TO RECLAIM HIS POSITION IN SAUL’S ROYAL COURT AND HIS POSITION IN LEADING THE ARMY.

VERSE 8 MENTIONS ANOTHER GREAT MILITARY VICTORY DAVID ACHIEVED AGAINST THE PHILISTINES.

19:9-10

SAUL’S LIFE WAS SO TROUBLED BY THE TORMENT OF THE EVIL SPIRIT WITHIN HIM THAT HIS PARANOIA BECOMES UNBEARABLE AS SHOWN BY HIS CARRYING HIS SPEAR WITH HIM INSIDE HIS OWN HOUSE.

HIS ANGER BURSTED FORTH AND HE HURLED THE SPEAR AT DAVID, MISSING HIM BUT MAKING A HARSH STATEMENT ABOUT HIS OWN MENTAL STABILITY.

19:11-18

SAUL’S DAUGHTER, NOW DAVID’S WIFE COVERED UP THE FACT THAT DAVID HAD LEFT THE HOME BY USING ONE OF HER FALSE IDOLS IN DAVID’S BED TO APPEAR DAVID WAS SICK AND IN BED RECOVERING.

SAUL SENT HIS PEOPLE TO SEIZE DAVID, BUT THOUGHT HE WAS SICK IN BED WHEN HE ACTUALLY HAD LEFT THE HOME.

SAUL WAS FURIOUS WITH HIS OWN DAUGHTER, BUT DAVID WAS INDEED GONE.

IN VERSE 18 DAVID FLED TO SAMUEL FOR REFUGE IN RAMAH, SAMUEL’S HOME TOWN, WHERE SAMUEL HAD APPARENTLY FOUNDED A SCHOOL FOR TRAINING THOSE OF FAITH, MUCH LIKE OUR SEMINARIES IN MODERN TIMES.

DAVID WRITES ABOUT THIS MOMENT IN PSALM 59 SAYING:

“I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.”

WHILE DAVID WAS IN RAMAH, GOD WOULD DELIVER HIM ONCE AGAIN BUT IN A MORE EXPLICIT WAY.

19:19-24

WE ARE NOT TOLD HOW LONG DAVID TOOK REFUGE WITH SAMUEL, BUT SAUL HEARD WHERE HE WAS AND SENT MEN TO ARREST DAVID.

BUT INSTEAD OF ARRESTING DAVID, THE LORD TURNED THE TABLES ON THESE MEN ARRESTING THEM BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF THE LORD.

GOD PROTECTED DAVID AND SAMUEL, NOT BY SENDING AN ARMY, BUT BY SENDING THE HOLY SPIRIT TO TURN WARRIORS INTO WORSHIPERS.

SAUL SENT A SECOND GROUP OF MEN TO ARREST DAVID, AND THE SAME RESULT HAPPENED BUT INSTEAD OF REPENTING, SAUL SENT A THIRD GROUP TO ARREST DAVID AND THEY TOO WERE TURNED INTO WORSHIPERS OF THE LORD.

SO SAUL, STILL NOT REPENTANT, WENT HIMSELF TO RAMAH TO ARREST DAVID, AND HE ALSO WAS HUMBLED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD, BEGINNING TO PROPHECY AND REMOVING ALL HIS CLOTHING AND LAYING NAKED ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT.

20:1-3

CHAPTER 20 BRINGS US TO THE END OF THE LOVING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DAVID AND JONATHAN.

SINCE SAUL NOW WAS AWARE OF DAVID’S LOCATION, DAVID LEFT RAMAH, THE HOME OF SAMUEL, AND SOUGHT OUT JONATHAN, ASKING HIM WHY SAUL WAS SO ANGRY WITH HIM.

THE LAST TIME THIS MATTER HAD BEEN MENTIONED BETWEEN JONATHAN AND SAUL, SAUL HAD PROMISED HE WOULD MAKE NO MORE ATTEMPTS AGAINST DAVID.

DAVID WAS UNWILLING TO TRUST IN SAUL’S PROMISE AND HE TOLD JONATHAN HE WOULD NOT ATTEND THE UPCOMING FEAST.

HE ASKED JONATHAN TO EXPLAIN TO SAUL THAT HE HAD GONE TO BETHLEHEM TO BE WITH FAMILY. IF SAUL SEEMED CALM ABOUT HIS ABSENCE, ALL MIGHT BE WELL. IF SAUL WAS FURTHER ANGRY, ALL WAS NOT WELL.

JONATHAN AGAIN EXPRESSED HIS LOYALTY AND FRIENDSHIP WITH DAVID AND THE TWO MEN REAFFIRMED THEIR PERSONAL COVENANT.

A SIGNAL WAS GIVEN BETWEEN THEM FOR JONATHAN TO SEND A MESSAGE AT A PRE-ARRANGED FIELD WHERE DAVID WOULD MEET HIM AND BY JONATHAN’S WORDS DAVID WOULD KNOW THE ANSWER. THEIR MEETING WOULD BE AT THE THIRD DAY OF THE PLANNED FEAST.

WHEN JONATHAN APPROACHED SAUL AND MADE THE EXCUSE FOR DAVID, SAUL FLEW INTO A FIT OF RAGE.

HE BERATED HIS OWN SON, WHO WAS A GROWN MAN AND A BRAVE WARRIOR IN HIS OWN RIGHT. NOW SAUL ACTUALLY TRIED TO MURDER HIS OWN SON WITH THE SAME SPEAR HE HAD HURLED AT DAVID EARLIER.

JONATHAN LEFT IN SHAME AND GRIEF.

THE MEETING WAS HELD AND SEEMED TO BE A GOOD BYE MOMENT BETWEEN THE TWO CLOSE FRIENDS.

KING SAUL’S DOWNWARD SLIDE WAS IN FULL EFFECT.

THIRTY YEARS HAD PASSED SINCE SAMUEL HAD ANOINTED HIM AND IN THAT TIME HE HAD BECOME DISOBEDIENT, TORMENTED, ENVIOUS, AND NOW MURDEROUS.

ALL OF THESE ISSUES WERE AS A DIRECT RESULT OF HIS UNWILLINGNESS TO CONFESS HIMSELF IN CONTRITION TO THE LORD AND TO REPENT OF HIS LIFE IN REJECTION OF GOD.

IN THIS CHAPTER WE ARE ALLOWED TO SEE THE CONTRAST FROM SAUL TO HIS SON.

JONATHAN WAS A TRULY NOBLE MAN WHO LOVED DAVID AND LOVED THE LORD, AND WAS A COURAGEOUS WARRIOR WHO RISKED HIS OWN LIFE AGAINST THE PHILISTINES IN BATTLE.

JONATHAN LOVED GOD MORE THAN HE LOVED SAUL.

IT WAS SAUL WHO WAS WRONG AND JONATHAN WAS NOT WILLING TO TEMPER HIS LOVE FOR GOD TO PLACATE HIS RAVING FATHER WHO WAS SINKING DEEPER INTO MADNESS BUT WAS STILL KING.

WE MUST CONSIDER WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED SO FAR ABOUT DAVID.

HE WAS A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART AND HE HAD ALREADY FOUGHT A LION, A BEAR, AND A MONSTROUS GIANT WITH ONLY HIS SLING, AS WELL AS A RAVING MADMAN WHO SOUGHT TO KILL HIM.

NONE OF THESE TRIALS WERE AS A RESULT OF ANY SIN DAVID CARRIED.

DAVID REVEALS HE KNEW THIS FACT WHEN HE WROTE PSALM 59:

“Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from bloody men. For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; the mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgressions, nor for my sin, O Lord….”

WHAT ARE WE SEEING AS TO THE PLAN OF THE LORD TO PROTECT HIS CHOSEN KING?

GOD USED DAVID’S HUMILITY, THE HOLY SPIRIT, TWO MEMBERS OF SAUL’S OWN FAMILY, AND EVEN A HOUSEHOLD IDOL TO DELIVER AND PROTECT DAVID.

THROUGH IT ALL, GOD USED THESE TRIALS TO GROW DAVID, PROVE HIMSELF TO DAVID, AND PREPARE DAVID TO BE THE BEST KING HE COULD POSSIBLY BE.

DAVID TRUSTED GOD WITH HIS OWN LIFE.

DAVID HAD FULL CONFIDENCE THAT GOD WOULD DELIVER THE GIANT, GOLIATH, INTO HIS HAND, AND HE DID.

THE PLAN OF GOD’S SOVEREIGN WILL TO USE ALL HIS POWER TO ENABLE DAVID TO BECOME WHAT GOD INTENDED IS CLEAR IN THESE LAST THREE CHAPTERS.

IN OUR NEXT STUDY STOP, WE WILL CONSIDER THAT EVEN AFTER ALL THAT SAUL HAD DONE, DAVID WILL HONOR HIM STRICTLY BECAUSE HE WAS GOD’S ANOINTED ONE.