Saul’s desire to kill David becomes more direct – (v1) he tells Jonathan, his son, and all his servants that they should kill David. What a position they were all in. Jonathan had a bond with David, they were best friends, the servants also loved David. Saul clearly told them to kill David. What were they to do? There was always the possibility that one person would weaken and give in to Saul, and even obtain a reward.
Jonathan pleads for David – Jonathan warned David to be on his guard (v2) They make a pact that Jonathan will keep David fully informed. He promised to inform David of his father’s plans. Not only that, but he spoke well of David to his father (v4). He reminded Saul that David fought Goliath and thus The Lord saved Israel – describes it as “a great salvation.” (v5) He reminded his father that David had not sinned against him, and if Saul succeeded in his plans to kill David, he would be shedding innocent blood. It clearly took a lot of courage for Jonathan to show his support for David to his father, Saul. He was taking his own life into his hands, which shows his great affection for David, even to the sacrifice of his own life. We have seen already how unpredictable and ruthless Saul could be, so he was treading on thin ice. It shows that he was indeed a true friend and a very courageous man. He was placing himself in the middle of a dangerous situation.
Isn’t that what true friends are for?
He reminded his father that he had rejoiced when David killed Goliath, and had only sought to do his father good, so what had changed, why should Saul now want to kill David? I guess it was jealousy, and he had conjured up in his own mind and convinced himself that David was doing it all for his own ends, gaining popularity to take his position as king, but nothing was further from the truth (v6). We can convince ourselves of lots of things when we put God out of the equation and seek our own ends, and we think and even do, irrational things.
Saul relented and Jonathan took David back into the palace as before (v7 He even promised before God, that David would not be killed, which seemed to cancel his order given to Jonathan and the servants, but we shall see that it didn’t last very long.
We can all speak pious words, even before the Lord, but have they changed our hearts?
There was war again (v8) and David went out to fight the Philistines and had a great victory. On return, David reverted to playing his music as Saul was in distress again. Amazing that after such a great victory Saul should be attacked by the distressing spirit again. No doubt that Saul was filled with jealousy again, particularly as he had put David in charge of an army with the intention that he would be killed, but once again his plan was foiled. How often the devil will try to attack us immediately after a spiritual victory.
Saul sat, spear in hand (v9) which showed how distressed he was and once again threw it and tried to pin David to the wall (v10). His aim was poor, and he missed yet again, David fled, and Saul again ordered his servants to kill him. So much for his oath before God. From further reading, it appears that David did not return to the palace until he was made king many years later.
Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch and kill him and Michal warned her husband David of the danger and smuggled him out via a window (v11,12) and put ‘a dummy’ in his bed and told her father that David was sick. The messengers of Saul were initially fooled by the dummy and informed Saul that David was in bed, sick.
Saul was having none of it and told the messengers to go back and bring David in his bed so that he could kill him. He was determined to get rid of David whatever his condition. On taking a closer look the messengers realized that they had been duped. Saul was not pleased with Michal and asked for her for an explanation (v13-17). She lied that David had asked her to let him go for her own safety, else he might kill her. This shows some of Michal’s character, very much like her father. David had no intention of killing her or her father as we have seen and shall see later. Saul described David as his enemy, but nothing was further from the truth. David was no enemy of Saul, but it showed Saul’s hatred of David.
David escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah. He could have gone to many places but the best place to go was to the man who was in closest touch with God. He went to the right place, to Samuel the prophet, the man of God. Samuel had anointed him to be king, but things were not seeming to go that way. He needed reassurance. He must have asked Samuel why all this happening to him, did The LORD really want him dead. Even though one could say he often appeared to be mad, Saul showed no signs of dying or abdicating. “David told Samuel all that Saul had done to him” (v18). David and Samuel went together for “a retreat” in Naioth. No doubt they talked and prayed together.
News got back to Saul as to where David was, and he sent messengers to take David, but when they saw Samuel leading his group of prophets, prophesying. This is thought to mean that they were praising and worshiping God, rather than foretelling the future, as we might think ‘prophesying’ meant. This happened three times, Saul getting the message and sending more messengers, and the same thing happening. It is thought that this was a special outpouring of The Spirit of God to protect David from Saul taking him (v19-21).
Having failed with three sets of messengers, Saul went himself, and he too, found the Spirit of God came upon him and he also joined in (v22-24). I have to admit that I am puzzled as to what this means apart from the power of God, but Saul stripped off his clothes and lay naked all day and night as he ‘prophesied’. It may have been a sign of humility in that he removed his royal outer garments. As we have seen, Saul had the potential to be a changed man, he had earlier visitations from the Spirit of God, but it didn’t last. He was emotionally unstable. The message got around, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
It didn’t last, and it didn’t do him much good. I don’t know why this was recorded for us – maybe it is to show that not all prophesying means that “the prophet” is reliable or a changed man. The Hebrew word for “prophesy” in this context can indicate uncontrolled ecstatic behaviour and not all prophesying was of The Holy Spirit – as in 1 Kings 18 when the prophets of Baal were so engaged without success.
One writer has said that a person can be affected by the power of God, but not surrendering to the power of God which resulted in a changed life. Saul was not a godly man, but when the power of God came upon him, he could be changed whilst that power was upon him. We also see this in Samson in the book of Judges.
Again, we see that a person can have religious experiences and still have no change in character. Such things do not prove that a person has been born again.
