1st Samuel Chapters 18-19 – John Karmelich

1. Let me open with a cliché’ I’ve used before: “To God, people are both the pawns and the prizes”.

a) We are the “prizes” in that God desires that we spend eternity with Him. He wants us to choose Him of our own free will. When we express that desire to live our lives for God, we become His “prizes for eternity.

b) We are also “pawns”. Whether we accept it or not, God “manipulates” us to do his will.

i) Moses told Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth at that time, “But I (God) have raised you (Pharaoh) up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16 NIV)

ii) When Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, Jesus said, “This (information) was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matt. 16:17b NIV)

iii) My point in both cases is God works “behind the scenes” of our lives.

iv) Does that mean we don’t have free will? No. It simply means that God is working to “manipulate life” for His glory.

c) A related cliché is ““Coincidence” is God working in the background”.

i) Not everything that is “God’s will” is spoken through a burnish bush. ☺ As we go through life, be aware that “things happen to us for a reason”. (See Romans 8:28) That includes horrible consequences as well as the positive things in life.

ii) In these chapters, we are going to read of King Saul trying to kill David. Despite the fact it is obvious that David is rising in power and Saul is losing power, Saul does everything in his power to try to stop God’s will from happening.

iii) At any given moment in our lives, especially when we are struggling, we have to ask ourselves, “Are we acting like King Saul at this moment?” Am I fighting against God’s will for my life? Saul never figured out that “If God said it, it is going to happen whether you like it or not.” Saul was told he was going to lose his kingdom and spent the remainder of 1^st Samuel trying to prevent that.

d) If you are confused by this introduction, hang in there. ☺ Hopefully, this concept will be clearer as we get through these two chapters. I’ll come back to it in the conclusion.

2. Chapter 18, Verse 1: After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. ² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father's house. ³ And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

a) Here we read of the friendship between Jonathan and David.

i) First, let me say this is not a homosexual relationship in anyway, shape or form.

ii) If you do a study of the Hebrew text, you cannot draw that inference.

iii) What we do read is of Jonathan respecting David over his father.

iv) In Verse 4, Jonathan gives David his robe, tunic, sword, bow and belt. This is a symbolic gesture of submission. It is the idea of submitting his will to David.

b) Remember that Jonathan was next in line to be the king.

i) He was the oldest son of King Saul, so he was next in line.

ii) Yet, he submits his will to David and not his father.

iii) Did Jonathan know that David was anointed to be king? The text does not say.

c) Next, let me give some parental advice:

i) Kids watch the parents’ actions far more than what they say. Jonathan was wise enough to see Saul’s fear of life and realize that David has more faith. All the lectures in the world that King Saul could have given “Prince Jonathan” on his future reign were meaningless since Saul didn’t “walk the walk and talk the talk”.

ii) Whenever I meet a pastor or a rabbi, I always like to ask if their father was also a pastor or a rabbi. In almost every case, the answer is yes. For those kids, despite growing up in a lifestyle without a lot of money, they see their father’s sincerity to do good in the world and have faith toward God. That usually influences the son to also go into the professional ministry. I’m not saying this is a requirement, just that parents whose actions speak louder than words influences the children.

d) Now, let’s discuss this from Jonathan’s perspective.

i) Give Jonathan some credit. He knew that to submit to David was to go against his father. We’re going to be reading of that action for the next bunch of chapters.

ii) It takes “guts” to stand up to your parents when their action is wrong. We’re assuming Jonathan is a grown man at this point. This doesn’t apply to children.

iii) I’m sure Jonathan still loved his father as a father, but somehow knew that David’s faith was far greater than his father, and it was David that Jonathan wanted to emulate and not his father.

iv) OK, and the lesson to us is? ☺ We are called to be followers of Jesus Christ. Sometimes, that following is at the expense of our parents or our siblings.

a) Jesus said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26 NIV)

b) Jesus is not talking about having a hatred of others. That would be a contradiction to “love one another”. This is about making Jesus a priority over all other relationships.

c) That is what Jonathan is doing. He is trusting in one who has faith in God over his own family. For Jonathan to “be one in spirit” with David is to forgo the rewards of being King Saul’s son.

e) These verses also give one of the best biblical models on friendship.

i) I have a close, lifelong friend who I think the world of. We used to jokingly say that the two of us are “twins joined at the common thought”. ☺ This is because we often thought alike in our personalities, humor and our values.

a) Does that friend have priority over God? No. Over my wife and kids? No. But he is my friend and I love the guy. Given the opportunity, I would submit to his will as I know he would submit to mine. To have that type of friendship is something to be cherished and appreciated as gift from God.

ii) If you don’t have that in your life, pray for God to bring “godly people” who you can have a close intimate friendship with and share your life.

iii) For married people, I would strongly recommend that friend be of the same sex. A married Christian should never have an intimate friendship with anyone of the opposite sex other than his wife. There are issues that men best talk out with other men and women with other women. Such a friendship is a great asset in life.

iv) I think that is what Jonathan thought of David. Jonathan thought, “Here is a guy I can relate to. He is my hero. He has the kind of faith in God I want to have in my life. I want to submit to him, not as an idol, but as one I want to emulate.”

3. Verse 5: Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul's officers as well.

a) After David beat Goliath, David became part of Saul’s army.

i) Saul would send David on some mission, and David was successful.

ii) Saul would then promote David.

iii) Saul would then send David on a bigger mission, and David was successful.

iv) This was an “upward spiral”. Verse 5 also mentions how this pleased people as well as Saul’s officers. The point is we don’t read of any jealously.

b) You can’t help reading this story within the story and see the parallels to Joseph.

i) The last part of Genesis deals with the life of Joseph. Despite the fact that he was enslaved and then put in jail, he succeeds at whatever he did and got promoted to “head slave” when he was a slave and “head prisoner” when he was imprisoned.

ii) The point of both David’s and Joseph’s rise to power is that God was behind it.

a) Here’s the application. Every now and then we will see God raise somebody up in power. The question is, “Are we jealous because God picked “them” and not us?” Or, are we saying, “Hey, God is obviously using that person greatly. Let’s support them and do God’s will!”

4. Verse 6: When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. ⁷ As they danced, they sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."

a) Notice the word “Philistine” is singular. Therefore, it must refer to David killing Goliath.

b) Remember that after David killed Goliath, the Israelites went on to slaughter the Philistines and conquer them. This refers to the battle(s) right after that victory.

c) In Verse 6, the war is now over and the soldiers are returning home. The women, who stayed home from the battle, came out in the roads to sing some victory songs. The chorus of the song goes in effect, “Saul killed thousands and David tens of thousands”.

i) To paraphrase, “Thank God for Saul who was appointed our leader. Thank God even more so for David who defeated Goliath and inspired the Israelite army!”

ii) Give the women credit to have the guts to sing that song in front of Saul! ☺

iii) The point is word got around real fast just who was the real hero of the battle.

d) By the way, do you think David bragged about his victories? Do you think David kept tabs on how many Philistines he killed and how many Saul killed? I seriously doubt it.

i) The point is “success has a way of spreading all by itself”. You don’t have to brag about your accomplishments. Word will get around by itself.

5. Verse 8: Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. "They have credited David with tens of thousands," he thought, "but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?"
⁹ And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

a) A main point of this chapter is to see the contrast in lifestyle between Saul and Jonathan.

i) Jonathan saw David rise to power and submitted to David.

ii) Saul saw David rise to power and watched him jealously.

b) Whether the Israelites liked it or not, God was now working through David. The point is “are we submitting to God’s will and following who God has chosen, or are we “jealously watching” those who are rising to power?

i) Submitting to God’s will means accepting God’s will. Our big egos want God to use us, and us alone to do His will. Sometimes a great prayer in any situation is simply to say, “Lord, help me to submit to Your will for my life and not mine.” It usually takes the power of the Holy Spirit to get our egos off the throne of our hearts and let God rule.

6. Verse 10: The next day an evil spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand ¹¹ and he hurled it, saying to himself, "I'll pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice.

a) Back in Chapter 16, before David and Goliath was the story of how a “distressing spirit” would bother Saul. The only remedy that got this distressing spirit to go away was to call David in and play a harp for him.

b) Here we read again of the distressing spirit and David playing the harp for him.

i) Notice David submitting to Saul’s will. There is no hint of David saying, “Excuse me oh soon-to-be-ex-king, I’m the guy everyone’s singing about. Go play your own harp.” ☺

ii) Notice in Verse 11 the word “twice”. That means that Saul was so angry with David that twice Saul threw a spear at David trying to kill him. The text doesn’t explicitly say so, but obviously Saul missed. No wonder David killed more Philistines than Saul. Saul’s a lousy shot! ☺

a) What I wanted to point out here is that David continued to play the harp for Saul after the first time Saul threw the spear! Now that’s submission! David probably thought, “Look, God anointed me to be king one day. The timing is God’s problem. In the meantime, I will submit to Saul’s will as he is the one appointed by God at this moment.”

c) Let’s compare the “distressing spirit” of Chapter 16 and the “distressing spirit” here and one here in Chapter 18.

i) In Chapter 16, when David played, it went away. Now we read of Saul trying to kill David. Did the “distressing spirit” play a part in that? Don’t know. Was it just Saul’s personal jealously that was now overwhelming Saul? Probably!

ii) The point is that sin can “consume” you. It doesn’t have to be a distressing spirit that causes you to sin. We are more than capable of all sorts of sin without any demonic influence.

iii) In Revelation Chapter 20, there is a 1,000-year period of time coming after Jesus’ Second Coming. During that period Satan is bound in chains.

a) I believe a purpose of that 1,000-year period is to show just how sinful mankind can be without Satan’s influence. It is to show mankind that we can’t use the excuse of “the devil made me do it” when it was our own sinful nature.

d) Another interesting thing to get out of this verse is that Saul was “prophesying” when David was playing!

i) Does that mean “words were coming out of Saul’s mouth” that he never intended to say without the spirit of God working in him?

ii) The text doesn’t say what Saul was prophesying. I’ll discuss prophesying in a few pages. Know for now that it doesn’t necessarily mean he was predicting the future. That term also can include praising God and expounding upon God’s word.

7. Verse 12: Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul. ¹³ So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. ¹⁴ In everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. ¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.

a) The first thing to notice is that Saul knew God was with David.

i) Remember that the prophet Samuel told Saul personally that he would no longer be king and “someone else” would rise to power. Saul figured it out.

b) The next thing is that we read of Saul sending out David to lead the troops. What is implied is that Saul was hoping David would get killed in the battles.

c) The success of David had two different reactions:

i) Saul became afraid of David.

ii) All of Israel and Judah (the tribe that David was a part of) loved David.

d) Some commentators argue that 1^st and 2^nd Samuel were not “put together” until the days after Israel was split into two kingdoms. The names of the two separate kingdoms were “Israel and Judah”. Therefore, for the benefit of the reader, the Nation of Israel was described as “Israel and Judah” so the reader knew it covered both territories.

e) I’d like to stop and discuss a of “big picture” idea. Remember that the Messiah is a direct descendant of David. One of the titles of the Messiah to come is the “Son of David”.

i) When you study the Old Testament, there are very few direct references to the idea of “There will be a great king one day, called the Messiah, who will rule the earth”. Much of what is taught about the Messiah in the Old Testament comes from word-pictures and subtleties in the text.

ii) There are passages about a “ruling Messiah” that will rule over the world. The rise to power by David is often considered one of the passages that teach of a ruling Messiah.

iii) There are other passages that teach of a “suffering Messiah” that suffers of the sins of mankind (e.g., Isaiah Chapter 53 and Psalm 22).

iv) So either there are two Messiah’s as some Orthodox Jews argue (one to suffer for our sins, another to reign over the earth) or the same Messiah comes twice as Christians obviously argue.

v) The joke is when the Messiah comes to Israel, the first question religious Jews will ask is, “Is this your first visit, or your second?” ☺

8. Verse 17: Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the LORD." For Saul said to himself, "I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!"

a) Notice Saul’s intent. He is scheming here by telling David in effect, “I’ll give you my wife in exchange for leading the battles”. Saul was hoping the Philistines would kill David.

b) Let’s get back to my word-picture as Saul as a model of our old human nature.

i) Don’t expect our human nature to “give in easily” to God’s will. If anything, it will scheme, lie, connive and do anything and everything to get control back!

ii) Just as Saul schemed to keep power, so our “flesh” schemes to keep power!

iii) When I wrote my introduction of 1^st Samuel, I stated that one should see the contrast between King Saul and (future) King David.

a) Saul represents our human nature that wants to do “our will” and not “God’s will”. David is often a word picture of one who submits to “God’ will” over and above his own will.

iv) My point here is notice how Saul refuses to “give up”. Saul was afraid of David, but Saul refused to let go of power.

v) That is the way our human nature is. We constantly “fight” against God’s will because our old human nature still wants to be in charge.

a) Paul said, “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” (Galatians 5:17 NKJV)

9. Verse 18: But David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel, that I should become the king's son-in-law?" ¹⁹ So when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

a) David responded to the king’s offer to marry his daughter with humbleness. He realizes to marry this girl would make David a prince and inline for the throne.

b) Notice what David did not say: “Yeah, your right I’ll marry her. You did promise that before Goliath. Besides, I’ll be king one day anyway. I may as well practice now!” ☺

i) My point is that David is still submitting to God’s timing and God’s will. Even if Saul went back on His word, God is still faithful to His promises for us.

c) Verse 19 then states that when it was time for Merab to be given in marriage, Saul gave her away to someone else instead, a man named Adriel of Meholah.

i) Remember before David fought Goliath, Saul offered his oldest daughter Merab to whoever killed Goliath. Saul went back on his word to give this girl to David.

ii) There are lots of questions as to the details that we don’t know. Did this girl not want to marry David? How did the king know it was “time” to marry her off? The point is to focus on the story that is told and not worry about the details that are not part of the story at hand.

10. Verse 20: Now Saul's daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. ²¹ "I will give her to him," he thought, "so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law."

a) So now we have Saul’s second daughter Michal who wanted to marry David.

i) Notice Verse 21 says, “She may be a snare to him”.

a) That phrase speaks volumes. Lots of fathers are chuckling at that verse. ☺ Apparently, Michal was the kind of girl who rebelled against her father and her father was happy to pass her on to David.

b) My view of Michal is a little different. I see her, like Jonathan being more loyal to David than to her father. Michal, like her brother Jonathan saw how God was favoring David and wanted to join “the right team”.

b) Notice how Saul is using every opportunity to kill David other than killing him himself.

i) Saul figured that Michal would be a distraction.

ii) Remember that in Jewish custom, a groom must pay the father of the bride a large sum of money called a “dowry”. This is done to help prevent divorce. If a man divorced his wife, she would have to go back to her parents. To pay for the rest of her life, the groom provides this dowry as a type of a savings account.

a) If you remember in Genesis, Jacob worked 14 years for his two wives. That was supposed to be the dowry money to Jacob’s father in law.

b) Saul figured that since David’s family didn’t have any significant money to pay a dowry, Saul could require David’s service as a soldier for a dowry.

iii) The word-picture is “never underestimate the power of our human nature to fight God’s will”. Our old human nature will lie, scheme, trick, “anything” to get back in power. Saul is a picture of this type of action.

11. Verse 22: Then Saul ordered his attendants: "Speak to David privately and say, `Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.' " <sup>23</sup> They repeated these words to David. But David said, "Do you think it is a small matter to become the king's son-in-law? I'm only a poor man and little known." <sup>24</sup> When Saul's servants told him what David had said, <sup>25</sup> Saul replied, "Say to David, `The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.' " Saul's plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.

a) Verses 22-25 describe the actions of Saul in order to get David killed.

i) Saul announced that David would be his son in law by marrying Micah.

ii) David stating he didn’t have any dowry money.

iii) Saul stating that he wants David to kill 100 Philistines as a dowry price.

iv) Saul wanted David to bring back 100 Philistine foreskins. Without getting into a lot of details and bad jokes, let’s just say the Philistines would not cooperate. ☺

b) If you have any doubt I’m reading too much into these verse, look at the last line of Verse 25. It says, “Saul's plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.”

i) In that sense, the rest of the text is just the details.

ii) Saul is so obsessed with killing David he’s willing to offer his own daughter’s hand in marriage to get rid of David. No wonder Michal and Jonathan saw through their father. It goes back to what I stated how a parents actions speak louder than words.

iii) On a different note, what should you say to your children when you mess up?

a) Tell them your sorry! Kids don’t expect parents to be perfect, just honest.

12. Verse 26: When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king's son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, ²⁷ David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

a) Remember David knew he was going to be king one day. Verse 26 says David was “pleased with these things”. Personally, I think David was pleased that the “only” cost to be the king’s son in law was to kill one hundred Philistines. I could just hear David think, “Is that all he wants?” No problem! Instead of bringing back 100, he brought back 200!

i) David knew that Samuel anointed him to be the king and therefore, David knew he couldn’t lose the battle against the Philistines.

13. Verse 28: When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, ²⁹ Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.

a) Saul did not say, “You know, God is with David and Samuel told me I would lose my kingship. So since it is God’s will for David to be king, maybe I should accept the fact and get on with my life.“ ☺ That didn’t happen.

i) Even when his son Jonathan “figured it out” and his daughter Michal “figured it out”, Saul refused to budge.

ii) Again, the word-picture is our human nature refuses to give in to God’s will.

b) Notice Saul was afraid of David. If you asked me the first word that popped in my head if you said “Saul”, I would say “fear”.

i) Fear is the opposite of faith. Fear causes you to trust your wits and your own intellect as opposed to God’s will for your life. That is Saul in a nutshell.

ii) The fact that Saul hated David the rest of his life is a “natural output” of his fear.

14. Verse 30: The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul's officers, and his name became well known.

a) Here were the Philistines battling the Israelites, and the Philistines kept losing.

i) On a different note, what sin did the Philistines commit to get this punishment?

ii) Remember that God wanted to show the surrounding nations that the God of Israel is the true God of the world. Losing a few battles “helped”. ☺

iii) Second, God judges individuals fairly for salvation. I’m comfortable believing that God is perfect, and therefore, he will judge all individuals perfectly.

b) God’s plan through all of this was to show David’s rise to power and the Nation of Israel to be aware of David’s success.

i) Remember that Saul became king by God saying, “Saul is now your king and watch what will happen”.

ii) David will be king by God saying in effect, “Watch what I do with David and he will become your king”.

iii) This teaches us a lot about discerning God’s will. The mistake Christians make is we tell God, “OK, God here is my plan, now bless it”. What God wants us to do is follow. What we need to do is look how God is working and follow. That is the idea behind the rise of David to power.

15. Chap. 19, Vs. 1: Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan was very fond of David ² and warned him, "My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. ³ I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I'll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out."

a) Stop and think about that first sentence for a moment: Saul told everyone around him, including his son to kill David.

i) Before, Saul wanted to kill him, but he wanted to do it in a subtle way. Saul kept sending David off into battle hoping the enemy would do it for him.

ii) Since David kept winning, this wasn’t happening.

iii) Now Saul is telling everyone around him to kill David.

iv) By the middle of this chapter, Saul will try to do it himself.

b) This gets back to one of the major themes of the “war of the flesh and the spirit”.

i) The “flesh”, which refers to our old human nature, wants control of our lives.

ii) The “flesh” is saying in effect, “Will somebody please kill off this godly influence over here? I tried to do it subtly, now I’m asking for help. Eventually I have to take matters into my own hands”.

c) Verse 2 and 3 is about Saul’s son Jonathan defending David in the presence of his father.

i) Notice Jonathan does not say, “Well, he is my dad, and the king and all. After all, the bible does teach me to honor my father and mother (Exodus 20:12) as well as to obey all of those in authority (Hebrews 13:17). If I want to live to see tomorrow, I better obey my father”.

ii) Jonathan’s response is essentially the same as Peter’s in Acts: “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29b NIV)

iii) There are situations in life where the principal of “Higher Authority” comes into play. Yes God does call us to honor the wishes of our parents and obey those in authority. The only times we can violate those principals is when they are violating direct commands of God. Saul is asking his son to murder an innocent man. That is an example of obeying God over man.

a) One has to be careful not “Higher Authority” too far. For example, some might argue it is ok to not pay taxes because the U.S. government funds abortions. As wrong as that is, that is not an excuse to avoid taxes.

b) The issue of “Higher Authority” is about specific direct commands given to you personally that violate other biblical commands. It is not a “blanket policy” for us to rebel against all of those in authority. If that were the case, we could find excuses never to submit to anyone for anything.

iv) Give Jonathan credit. He was risking his life to “do the right thing”. His father could have had him killed for his questioning his orders.

d) Notice David cooperated with this plan.

i) David must have been thinking, “What did I do to deserve this? After all, I’ve done whatever the king asked me to do, I’ve played the harp for him, I’ve won victories over his enemies, I’m his son-in-law for goodness sakes!