I SAMUEL 18
Listen to this study TH3105
Please turn in your Bibles this evening to I Samuel chapter
18 as we continue our study through the Word of God. As we completed
our last study David slew Goliath and the children of
After David gave his explanation to Saul about how he killed Goliath, we are told that Jonathan and David were kindred spirits. They were both men of faith. And I believe it was that faith they had in God that brought them together. They both believed and acted upon what God had said, by faith and it was this that knit their hearts together. You see, I believe Jonathan heard all that David said, and he heard of David’s great love for the Lord and as we have seen, Jonathan had that same kind of love for God. It is as Trapp wrote, “No doubt but David spake much more than is here expressed, abasing himself, and exalting God, as sole Author of the victory over Goliath.”
Paul, in Ephesians 2:14-16 makes this point as he tells us that it is God who draws us together. He wrote, “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in the ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.”
Isn’t it interesting when you look how we often choose
friends? It is not based upon a person’s relationship with
God, but often what they like and what they don’t like.
Those kinds of relationships won’t last because they
are not built upon a solid foundation for as feelings change,
as likes change, so do relationships. But if our relationships
are based in Christ, they will last. But why is that? Because
God has taken that deep-seated hatred, not only between Jews and
Gentiles, but also that hatred between us all and He has nailed
it to the cross of
Now there is another issue that needs to be dealt with here dealing with this relationship between Jonathan and David. Some liberal scholars and I use that term loosely, and others have come to the conclusion that Jonathan and David had a homosexual relationship with each other. Tom Horner in his book “Jonathan Loved David: Homosexuality In Biblical Times” feels this way. And the main problem with this is that the Hebrew text in no way supports this view. The Hebrew word for “love” that is used here is AHAB, (aw-hab’) or AHEB, (aw-habe’), and it is never used to express a homosexual desire or activity. It is a word that describes a love of a friend and thus, this was a brotherly love between these two men and not a physical love. In the Middle East and in Europe it is common to see men kiss each other on the cheek, but it is not a kiss of physical love, but of brotherly love. How sad when people try to exploit their own wrong ideas as fact, when the Scriptures don’t support it, and yet many believe. The Scriptures do not support homosexuality in the Old Testament or in the New Testament and that is the bottom line no matter what man may do to try to pervert the Scriptures.
Notice that David has moved from the fields watching over the sheep to the place next to Saul, he did not return home any more as he did previously. I believe that Saul saw God working in David, that he was able to do great things for the kingdom and at this point, he was an asset, but that will quickly change, as we will see.
What Jonathan does here is remarkable. Think of it like this as Baldwin remarks, “In our political world, where power plays such an important role, what would be thought of a prince who voluntarily renounced his throne in favour of a friend whose character and godly faith he admired?” You see, Jonathan was the next king in Israel, handed down from his father Saul, but Jonathan recognized that David was the next king. How did he know that? We don’t are not sure. But we do know that both Jonathan and David loved the Lord and their hearts were knit together. We do know that Samuel told Saul that his kingdom was to be given to another and maybe his son Jonathan knew that. Whatever the case Jonathan gives to David his royal robe and his armor and even his implements of war. How could Jonathan do that? Because Jonathan was more concerned about being in God’s will and not trying to get his own way. How about you, where do you stand, in the way of God or willing to lay down what you might feel is yours to allow someone else to be lifted up by God?
Now keep in mind that after Jonathan did this David did not say, “Let’s go get your dad and remove him from the throne!” Not at all because David left it in the hands of God and it would still be some 20 years or so before he was placed on the throne. Why so long? Because there are many lessons that God is going to teach David before he is king in Israel!
David was a man who was under the authority of king Saul and where Saul sent him David went. And David grew, he was placed in charge of the men of war and the people were recognizing that he was a leader. Now as king Saul and David were returning home from battle, some of the women were coming out, celebrating the victory and singing this song, “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” I Samuel 18:7. And this soon became a number one hit in Israel and it bothered king Saul because he was not the top dog, he did not get the recognition that he wanted. He wanted to be the focus and he wasn’t and that was going to lead Saul to become very jealous, angry, and resentful of David.
Remember that Samuel told Saul, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.”
I Samuel 15:28. And so Saul is suspicious of David, “Maybe he is the one who is going to take my kingdom away from me.” In fact, prophetically speaking, Saul said in verse 8, “Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” Exactly, and there is nothing that Saul is going to be able to do except surrender to the will of God, but he is not a man of God and he is going to try to hold onto that which is no longer his! Trapp makes these interesting remarks regarding this incident, “He gave way to that devilish vice of envy, which was henceforth as a fire in his bosom, as a worm continually gnawing upon his entrails . . . He looked upon him with an evil eye: prying into all his actions, and making the worst of everything.” That is what jealousy looks like and it is not pretty as Meyer tells us, “Among the most terrible of human sins is jealousy - the parent of the darkest and blackest crimes that have disgraced the annals of our race.”
For David, he just needed to walk with God and for that matter, so did Saul but he refused and as the ancient Indian tribes of the north said, “The hated one looks upon the hatter and watches him destroy himself.” That was the path of Saul, he looked upon David with suspicion in everything he did and said, that was the road Saul was traveling on and he was headed for destruction. Don’t go down that path, it never leads to a good place!
Notice how quickly this suspicious attitude towards David turned to an attempt to murder David, one day! Saul was so overwhelmed with this that a distressing spirit came upon him, was fueling those fires of jealousy and hatred towards David. And please understand that when it says that Saul was prophesying here it does not mean he was speaking for the Lord. The Hebrew grammar here indicates that it is just the ramblings and babbling of a man not in his right mind. What a sad state he is in and yet, here is David, playing music to calm the savage beast you might say, to calm Saul’s troubled spirit. David’s heart was humble before the Lord and because of that the Lord used his hands to play beautiful music and to slay Goliath. For Saul, his hands would be used for destruction and rebellion against the Lord because he was not willing to surrender his heart to the Lord.
Notice the demented and demonic state that Saul is in. He attempts to kill David twice, but both times David escaped. Remember what I said before, jealousy is very destructive. It is just like a cancer that will grow and gradually invade and take over your entire body, and will ultimately destroy you. It is amazing to me, but we see over and over again, that if you let jealousy continue to grow, it can manifest itself in murder. That is what we are seeing here with Saul, although his attempts at killing David have failed, not once but twice! It wasn’t that Saul misfired his spear and just missed David, he reloaded you might say!
And don’t miss that point. Saul tried to get David twice, which means that David went back to play for Saul again after he threw that first spear! Some may say that he was foolish, but I don’t see it that way. You see, how many of us, when we get speared by someone you might say, and then you just turn away. “I submitted to God on this and this is the thanks I get. I am out of here. I don’t need this any longer. Getting speared twice by obeying the Lord is just stupid!” Folk’s, it is easy to serve the Lord in good times, when it is easy, but when things are flying at you, all kinds of insults, does it cause you to drop out, to stop what you are doing? If so, check your heart and see the reason you were doing it in the first place! Jesus was crucified for fulfilling the Father’s will, how about you?
Now did this distressing spirit make Saul do this? Absolutely not, it was Saul choice. Yes, this demonic spirit could have influenced him but Saul went through with it. He could have come to the Lord but instead he tried to kill the servant of the Lord, David! And folk’s, the Devil did not make us do it either. He can influence us but it is our choice!
How did David’s popularity grow? Did he have a good public relations person who was putting up signs, making announcements, and-so-on? No, David served the king as well as the King of kings and Lord of lords and the Lord blessed David and even Saul recognized this fact, that the hand of the Lord was upon David. And Saul places David in battles, hoping that he would be killed but again, knowing that God was with him and not with Saul!
Poor David, he was a victim! That is how many of us would see this or maybe that is how many of us feel in life, that we are victims. David was not a victim, he did not live his life that way but he “behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.” I Samuel 18:14. You see, David’s fate was not in the hands of Saul or anyone else. His fate was in the hands of God and that is why David could rest, he could have peace in the midst of this mess! How about you?
Remember what Saul had promised earlier, that anyone who kills Goliath would not only be rich, not only would he and his family not have to pay taxes, but he would have the kings daughter in marriage. Now as far as we can tell, Saul fails in all 3 of these promises and the daughter he promised to give to David, Merab is given to Adriel. And maybe David felt that Saul is easing up on this plot to kill him now, he is letting bygones by bygones but as we see, that was not the case. Now Saul also feels that it would be a much better public relation’s move for him if he had the Philistines kill David, than if he killed David, for the people loved David very much. That is what an evil heart will do, keep plotting and plotting till the evil plan is carried out but keep in mind that God is with David and nothing is going to stop him from becoming king in Israel!
VERSES
20-25
Saul’s daughter, Michal loved David but not because their hearts were knit to the Lord, but because he was famous, people loved him and thus, she would be part of that. Also, Saul loved this because Michal would “be a snare to him” which is not a great thing to say about your daughter, but he did know her! The only one of the three that had a right heart was David. He was humble; he knew that a poor man like David had no right to marry the king’s daughter. How could he pay the dowry for Michal? Well, the servants of Saul, under his direction, wanted 100 foreskins of the Philistines and in trying to obtain this, Saul was sure David would be killed and his problem buried! Obviously the Philistines were not just going to give this up, they would have to be killed before they would allow this to happen and what a great plan that Saul had. But that was the problem, it was Saul’s plan and not God’s and thus, he would not succeed!
Talk about being your over-achiever! David does not bring Saul 100 foreskins of the Philistines, but 200 of them! I would have loved to see the expression on Saul’s face as David came walking in and dumped them on the floor before him! As we serve the Lord there will be those who try to take advantage of us, even try to destroy the work we are doing. Can we bless them in spite of what they do to us and please, do not dump 200 foreskins at their feet, that is not what I am saying. But bless those that curse you, pray for those that spitefully use you, show the love of Christ to them. That is what David was doing and yes, he was simple, he obeyed the request of the king and the Lord honored that.
Saul’s plan failed and he became even madder at David, wanting him dead and yet, Saul knew that the Lord was with David. Isn’t that interesting, Saul is fighting against the Lord and he knows it and yet it is not stopping him, at least not yet. God will finally put an end to his rebellion but the Lord does give Saul many opportunities to change his ways and to turn to the Lord, but he will keep on hardening his heart to the Lord and in the end, he will have played the fool!
Notice what verse 30 says, “Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.” That is what we see in Jesus as Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” This is the heart of God, this is the heart of Jesus that was in David and the Lord wants in each of us!
Again, Saul knew that the Lord was with David and yet, he wants to kill him. So far he tried to kill him with his spear twice and failed. He tried to put David in a position where the Philistines would kill him as he tried to obtain the dowry that Saul requested for his daughters hand in marriage and that failed. And it still did not stop Saul. Now he gets his son Jonathan and all his servants to go and kill David but they will not because they too knew the Lord was with David and they did not want to lay a hand on him!
Here we see Jonathan disobey his father, something that the Bible says we should not do. Thus, how can he get away with it? Because what Saul, his father wanted him to do was in direct opposition to what God desired and Jonathan knew it. Not only that, but the command not to murder was there. David did nothing wrong to be put to death. Folk’s, we too are to obey our parents and those in authority over us unless what they are telling us to do is in direct opposition to what God’s Word has to say. In Acts chapter 5 we see the apostles arrested for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and an angel of the Lord frees them from prison and they go right back preaching. And they were arrested again and brought before the council and they told these apostles, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” Acts 5:28.
Cool, filling Jerusalem with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! And listen to how they responded to what these men said to them, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29. In some of your Bibles, like mine, it says “ . . . ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’” But the Greek word for “ought” is DEI and it means, “must,” they had to do these things, why? Because their faith was real and nothing was going to stop them from speaking forth the truth. Jeremiah, as he went through some tough times, no one listened to him, no one was saved through his ministry, and he was frustrated, tired of the persecution.
In Jeremiah 20:7-9 we are told of what took place, “LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out; I shouted, ‘Violence and plunder!’ Because the word of the LORD was made to me A reproach and a derision daily. Then I said, ‘I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.’ But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.” If your faith is real, you won’t be able to hold back!
Yes, it may be against the law to speak of Christ in some parts of this world but should that stop people from sharing their faith? Absolutely not and folk’s, it is not against the law to speak forth the Gospel in this country, at least not yet. May we not miss the opportunities we have and it is not only speaking of the Gospel message. Anything that goes contrary to God’s Word, we are to obey God rather than man!
Jonathan comes up with this plan that he will check out his father and see if he still wants to kill David and then he will let David know what is happening. He loved David and I think that their love for each other was so deep because it was based in the Lord; He knit their hearts together!
Notice how bold Jonathan is. He tells his dad, “Look dad, David is a good man. He has not sinned against you. In fact, all that David has done has been a blessing to you. He risked his life by killing Goliath and because of that God brought about a great victory against the Philistines! In fact you even rejoiced over this. Why then do you want to see David dead, you have no cause to do this sin!” And Jonathan calls what Saul is doing a sin, he does not try to soft step it but calls it what it is! Why did Saul feel this way towards David? Because Saul saw what David was doing was not for him but for David himself, it was to place him in the position as king and that was not at all what David was doing. He served the king and yet, because of what Samuel told Saul and what he sees happening, he wants to remain king no matter the cost! Now let’s see how Saul responds to what Jonathan tells him.
Some feel that Saul is sincere in what he is saying here, I don’t see it that way. Saul was unstable and he wanted David dead and then he didn’t and then he did and then he didn’t! There is no rest for the wicked as the Bible tells us and this is just a temporary fix you might say, until there is a more opportune time.
As Saul tells his son that David will not be killed, Jonathan goes and tells David and there is this reunion you might say between Saul and David and things seemed to be like they were in the past. But on the inside of Saul, things are still boiling and churning and they will explode outwardly once again!
Again we see God empower David and the Philistines are once again defeated. And in David’s victory, Saul’s jealousy continues to grow and once again a distressing spirit comes upon him. As David is fighting, Saul is sulking and thinking about David and what he is accomplishing and Saul let that jealousy build inside of him once again till it caused him to take that spear and thrust it at David, but David slipped away. And you think that maybe now David should have taken that spear and thrust Saul through with it, but he didn’t. He just slipped away. Imagine if you were in a situation like that, what would you do? David was innocent and he had every right to kill Saul, but instead he put his trust in God, that He would take care of him and the situation that he was in and God has and He will take care of David. He will fulfill what He has promised to David just as He will fulfill what He has promised to you. “Do you believe?” is the question!
Saul not only threw a spear at David to kill him after he said that he would let David live, but now he is sending some of his men to David’s home to kill him! I told you, he was not sincere in what he said and here is the proof! And Michal, David’s wife, warns him of these hit men that are coming to kill him and he heeds the voice of his wife and flees. As these men are watching she let David down through a window, down by the city wall and he escaped.
David must have been mad. He must have been furious at not only Saul but also the Lord for allowing this to happen to him. No, during the night as David was alone with the Lord, he wrote this Psalm, Psalm 59. And listen to the introduction of what this Psalm was born out of, “To the Chief Musician. Set to ‘Do Not Destroy.’ A Michtam [poem] of David when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him.” And this is what David wrote as he was alone with the Lord in this difficult situation, “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Defend me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from bloodthirsty men. For look, they lie in wait for my life; The mighty gather against me, Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord. They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine. Awake to help me, and behold! You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, Awake to punish all the nations; Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. At evening they return, They growl like a dog, And go all around the city.
Indeed, they belch with their mouth; Swords are in their lips; For they say, ‘Who hears?’ But You, O Lord, shall laugh at them; You shall have all the nations in derision. I will wait for You, O You his Strength; For God is my defense. My God of mercy shall come to meet me; God shall let me see my desire on my enemies. Do not slay them, lest my people forget; Scatter them by Your power, And bring them down, O Lord our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, Let them even be taken in their pride, And for the cursing and lying which they speak. Consume them in wrath, consume them, That they may not be; And let them know that God rules in Jacob To the ends of the earth. And at evening they return, They growl like a dog, And go all around the city. They wander up and down for food, And howl if they are not satisfied. But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; For God is my defense, My God of mercy.” Psalm 59.
Would you be singing unto the Lord at a time like this? David did and you know, his petition is to the Lord for help and there is nothing wrong with that. David cried out to the Lord to help him and his faith was in the Lord that He would be able to defeat those that are coming against him! May we have faith like that, a faith that is able to sing unto the Lord in the midst of a storm. You see, as you do, as you read the Psalms, it takes your focus off of you and your situation and places it where it needs to be, the LORD!
David’s wife, Michal has a plan, she made the bed look like David was lying there and for his hair, she put some goats hair! I am not sure how bad David’s hair was, but if you have goat-head hair, that can’t be good!
Now in the English we might miss what is going on here. You see, what Michal did was place this image in the bed to look like David and this may have been one of the ways that Saul thought his daughter Michal may be a snare to David, she had idols in her home, TERAPHIM. It is the same word that was used in Genesis 31:19 where Rachel had stolen her father Laban’s household idols. Saul knew God’s command that no other god’s should come before them, and if David turned to these idols, maybe God would no longer look favorably upon him and protect him. Remember Saul said that she would be a snare to David and I think this is one of the ways! Maybe this is the way Saul could assure that his kingdom would not be taken away, especially by David. Saul was not a godly man, but only interested in his will being done and he would even murder to get his way!
As these men of Saul enter David’s house, Michal basically tells them, “Look at how sick he is, he has goat head hair! Do you really want to touch him?” And they leave and go and tell Saul and he is not satisfied with that and tells his men to just grab his bed and carry him bed and all to me so that I may kill him! And as they go back they realize that they were fooled and when Saul confronts his daughter, she tells him that she had to lie because David threatened to kill her! Was that true? No, but she was not a woman of faith and only interested in her own way, her own popularity and she was not going to put herself in danger over David who is now on the run!
Folk’s, lying is never of God and the reason I can say that is because the Devil is the father of lies and thus, all lies are of the Devil. I realize that is a hard concept because what if you are trying to protect someone, can’t you lie then? How big is your God? You see, God is more than able if we will only trust in Him. We will see a lack of faith on David, as he will pretend to be mad before the Philistines! Not a pretty picture of a man of God as he lets spit drip down from his mouth and he is banging himself against the wall! The world is looking at us and may we shine the light of Christ to them, trusting that if we are faithful, if we are truthful, He will see us through!
Now listen to the words of Saul, for they are truly sad. He said of David, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?” Was David his enemy? No, but Saul saw it that way. David loved Saul and served him faithfully but Saul did not see it that way. Maybe you have experienced this in your own life, that a friend has shared something with you and because of what they said, you see them as your enemy because you don’t like what they are saying. I have experienced that over the years and as a pastor, I am truly saddened over it. Yes, I am not perfect, never will be but my desire is to see people grow and when I have to confront them on an issue, they turn against me and see me as their enemy. Sorry, that is not true and that is what we see here with Saul!
Ramah was only a few miles away from Jerusalem and Gibeah, which was Saul’s headquarters. And David runs to Samuel, a friend, and someone who would be able to comfort him. What a lesson for us as we go through tough times to get together with another man or woman of God!
Now Naioth I don’t believe is a city, but it is associated with Ramah and is believed to be a school for the prophets, which was taught by Samuel. Please note that Samuel did not train them to be prophets, God gave them that gift. Samuel only taught them in the things of God.
When Saul finds out that David is at Naioth in Ramah or at this school of the prophets, he sends his men to go and kill David. And as they arrive during a worship service, they are caught up and they too begin speaking forth the Words of God, not necessarily speaking of future things, but just speaking forth God’s Word! And when they go back to Saul he sends a second group and they begin prophesying and then a third group this happens to. What in the world is going on here if these men were not of God?
First of all this was a distraction to keep David safe. Maybe that is what the Holy Spirit is doing here. Secondly it was a warning to Saul and his men that David is a man of God and not to touch him but they did not get that message, they kept coming after David three different times! Think about it, three times the Holy Spirit was warning Saul, “David is My man, leave him alone. You will not win on this one, you will not battle against Me and My servant David and win!” And Saul did not heed that warning, as we will see.
Now when I went through this study the last time, I had a hard time with this one. I said:
This is one of those sections that I fall back on Deuteronomy 29:29 which says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God. . . .” There are some things that I don’t understand and this is one of them. Saul is lying on the ground, naked all day and night prophesying. This, for me, is one of those things I will have to file away until I get further information on. The one thing that may be happening here is that God placed Saul into a trance-like state so that David could escape. It is hard for me to believe that this was the normal way the prophets acted, and thus we see the question regarding Saul, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Upon further study it would seem that Saul was not completely naked but the Hebrew word for “naked” can mean that he was just stripped down to his undergarments. He probably took off his royal robes. And this phrase, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” is basically saying, “Has Saul got religion?” to put it in our vernacular. They were surprised to see Saul acting like this.
Now, as David flees from Saul he will now be on the run from Saul for another 20 years or so until Saul is killed and then David will return to be king in Israel. David trusted in the Lord and he walked by faith and David is going to learn many lessons over the years, lessons we don’t really want to learn because they are learned as we live out our faith and that is not always easy but it is what is best for us! And think about this, was this fair for David? From a human perspective it does not seem fair but God sees the beginning from the end and He knows what David needed and He knows what we need. It is like Joseph said, “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” Genesis 50:20. Saul may have meant this for evil but God was going to use this for good and there may be people in your life like Saul, but remember, God is working and He will use the things that happen to you for good, for His plan and purpose, to work in you and to save many! I like that when I read it but it is much harder as you are going through it, may we learn the lesson and grow!
As I close let me leave you with this to think about. When David went to Samuel he was probably very frustrated, worried that Saul would catch up with him. David may have been looking for a sword and Samuel may have told him, “David, what you really need to do is worship the Lord and see what salvation He will bring to this situation. Let’s have a prayer meeting!” And as these messengers came and as Saul came it gave David time to flee as we are told in the first verse of chapter 20, “Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah.” That is where we will pick up our study next time as David is going to learn lessons of faith before God exalts him to the throne!