2024-02-18 - 1 Samuel 18:17-27

---------------David Marries Michal---------------

17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab (Mear-Ab; I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, “Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

Merab’s name literally means “compensation or substitution.”

Saul was trying to put David into harms way to see him slaughtered in the battles. He was trying to manipulate him.

Saul knew if he put David in battle, perhaps the Philistines would kill David and end Saul’s problem.

You know this would only put a band-aid on his problem, b/c the real problem wasn’t David, it was Saul's heart.

18 So David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”

David being a man of wisdom saw through this and rejected what Saul offered.

19 But it happened at the time when Merab (Mear-Ab), Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

The MacArthur Bible Commentary 1. The Anger and Fear of Saul toward David (18:1–30)

Adriel the Meholathite. Merab married this man and bore children, five of whom were sons later executed by David as punishment for Saul’s disregard of Joshua’s covenant with the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:8; cf. Josh. 9:20).

20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

Michael's name literally means “Who is like God.”

Some commentators believe the text may imply that Merab, by contrast, had no feelings for David.

21 So Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “You shall be my son-in-law today.”

Once again Saul was trying to put David in harms way. He had already won the right to marry the Saul's daughter but like I said last week, it was with strings attached.

22 And Saul commanded his servants, “Communicate with David secretly, and say, ‘Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

Knowing that Saul was a liar, why would we expect anything else from him when he asked his servants to lie to David for him.

23 So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?”

24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying, “In this manner David spoke.”

25 Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king does not desire any dowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

So we see here that Saul indeed was hoping to have David die in this battle. But when God is for us, who can be against us, not the king, not the enemy...

What Saul was asking for here was common in those days warfare. They would often behead their enemies and take the head to their country and party. This is what David had recently done when he decapitated Goliath.

26 So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the days had not expired;

David liked Michal so he was okay this time with becoming the son in law to the king.

David was not afraid of going to battle, he trusted God.

The phrase, “NOW THE DAYS HAD NOT EXPIRED.” This most likely refereed to Saul's offer for David to marry his daughter. There may have been a time stipulation involved with this, another string attached to it you could say.

27 therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.

Once again we see God working through David here. Saul asked for 100 but David brought him 200.

How angry Saul must have been to see David show back up let alone with double that of what he asked for.

It was like God said what you tried to do didn't work and it wont work...

Marriage present. Kings in the ancient world made alliances by marriage. Such alliances could be with international allies, wealthy countrymen, politically powerful families or with families of those that had significant benefits to offer the monarch (e.g., wisdom of an advisor or prowess of a military champion). Payment of a bride-price was common enough in the OT world, as it is still in some cultures today. It was the prerogative of the bride’s father to set the price, and Saul set it dangerously high at 100 Philistine foreskins. Body parts (heads, hands, etc.) often served as trophies of war, and Saul’s unusual choice was designed to assure that David actually killed Philistines— others among Israel’s neighbors would likely have been circumcised (see note on Judg 14.3). Merneptah’s Great Libyan War Inscription from Karnak repeatedly mentions that the “phalli with foreskins” were being collected from slain enemies. David met Saul’s challenge twice over, presenting 200 foreskins (1 Sam 18.27). This success was viewed by Saul as evidence that Yahweh was with David (v. 28), and his fear of him grew into full-blown enmity (v. 29). - Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (p. 1921). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

The Merneptah’s Great Libyan War Inscription from Karnak is: The Merneptah Stele, or as seen here is more formally known as the Great Libyan War Inscription of Merneptah. It is a significant historical document carved into the walls of the Karnak Temple Complex in Egypt. It dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Merneptah, who ruled during the 19th Dynasty (around 1200 BC).

28 Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him;

29 and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually.

And so sad to see that from here forward Saul became David's enemy, not once again or on and off but continually.

A warning must be heeded that when you attack the man or women of God, you are attacking Him.

Michal loved David as did Saul’s own son, Jonathan. There remained nothing else for Saul to contrive except open hatred toward David.

30 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.

Like mentioned last week at the end of our study, God used this in Davids life to set him up to be the new king.

1 Samuel 19 (NKJV)

1 Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David.

2 So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide.

3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you.”

So Jonathan let’s David know that he is going to go to try to reason with his father.

4 Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.

5 For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”

6 So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.”

Jonathan convinced his father by speaking the truth, he went to bat for His friend.

Notice that Jonathan called it out for what it was, SAUL if you kill him, it is unjustifiable and its flat out SIN.

Saul says, ok I won’t kill David.

7 Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

8 And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.

9 Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand.

Things seemingly are going along okay, Jonathan's conversation went well but then...

The distressing spirit from the Lord comes upon him and Saul is turned over again to his heart.

10 Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

11 Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”

12 So Michal let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped.

David had a good brother in law, Jonathan and a good wife who were looking out for Him.

13 And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes.

14 So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

It’s like the escape from Alcatraz.

Michal made something that looked like David was in the bed.

Michal told the messengers David is sick, you’ll have to come back.

They deliver the message to Saul.

15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”

What happened to Sauls promis back in vs. 6b “…and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.”

16 And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a cover of goats’ hair for his head.

17 Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’ ”

Saul was angry with his daughter

Michal then lies and says, he threatened to kill me if I didn’t do this.

18 So David fled and escaped, and went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

19 Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!”

So they figure out where David went and Saul was ready to pursue him. (Moby Dick)

20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

21 And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

22 Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.”

23 So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

24 And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

There is alot her in these last 5 verses.

When God’s men are doing what he instructs them to do, its not them, its God working.

Their obedience to God, protected David.

Even a powerful king couldn’t stop God.

This happens 3 times and on the fourth he comes himself.

Saul also prophecies.