You Missed

1 Samuel 19 CSB

1 Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much, 2 so he told him, “My father, Saul, intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there. 3 I’ll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are and talk to him about you. When I see what he says, I’ll tell you.” 4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father, Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David. He hasn’t sinned against you; in fact, his actions have been a great advantage to you. 5 He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?” 6 Saul listened to Jonathan’s advice and swore an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.” 7 So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he did before.

On our last episode our hero, David, was in a predicament. Saul’s jealousy and paranoia has reached epic proportions and the person he once loved he now fears more than any other.

Saul’s process to this point is a tale of how sin takes root and grows - it started with an emotion, fear - fear led to a thought, “I’ll pin David to the wall [with this spear]” - that thought led to an action, her threw the spear, missed and tried again (all of which was hidden from the public)- what was once in private now becomes a larger plan involving lies and a small circle of people (including servants and a daughter) - the circle widened when his efforts failed…

Saul isn’t hiding his intentions any more - the king orders his son and all his servants to kill David.

Jonathan is facing an internal conflict - he deeply cares for David but he also cares for his father and I would imagine like all sons, he had a desire to please his father.

We talked last time about David and Jonathan’s relationship - their deep connection drives their relationship for the rest of Jonathan’s life - I will note there is an age difference between David and Jonathan of anywhere from 10 - 20 years. It is the connection that drives this encounter as well.

Jonathan is no stranger to his father’s poorly conceived commands. Remember when Saul came up with the idea that no one would eat until the battles was over - this almost cost them the fight except that Jonathan had not heard the command and ate so he had the strength to finish the fight.

Jonathan has also experienced people standing up for him to his father and demanding mercy in the face of his father’s edict to kill whoever disobeyed his command not to eat even if it was his own son.

Now Jonathan has the opportunity to do the same - You never know how standing up for someone will affect others in the future.

Jonathan first warns David of his father’s plan to kill him and apparently the timetable for when it would happen because he told David to be on guard and hide in the morning.

Jonathan hatched a 2 prong plan - first he would stay with Saul and have a conversation with him about David - by doing this he would learn more about his father’s plan so he could tell David the plans and he would say nice things about David hopefully to change his father’s mind.

Jonathan spoke to his father and presented him with 3 reasons not to harm David: 1. David hasn’t done anything against the crown that required death; 2. David was a great help to Saul by killing a dreaded enemy; 3. Finally, it is just wrong and Saul would be committing a sin by shedding innocent blood.

Jonathan’s reasoning worked, at least for the time being.

Saul makes an oath that he will not kill David - the oath is serious because he brought the Lord into it - “as surely as the Lord lives” or “by the life of Yahweh”.

Jonathan relays the message to David and brings him back into the royal household - and things went back to normal, or at least as normal as they were before.

1 Samuel 19 CSB

8 When war broke out again, David went out and fought against the Philistines. He defeated them with such great force that they fled from him.

This was a common occurence in the 11th century BC.

Israel and the Philistines fought for control of the southern coastal plain of Palestine. This area is part of the promised land and is still very much a source of friction even today - you may have heard of the Gaza strip.

David, as commander, went out and fought against the Philistines - apparently he hit them so hard that they ran away from the battle.

1 Samuel 19 CSB

9 Now an evil spirit sent from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his palace holding a spear. David was playing the lyre, 10 and Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. As the spear struck the wall, David eluded Saul, ran away, and escaped that night.

This narrative goes to show you that Saul was not in his right mind from time to time. He made a vow to not kill David and when he did he was most likely not under the influence of this tormenting spirit.

Now the spirit is back - we have talked about this spirit each time - the question has been our definition of evil - we have biblical evidence in the book of Job that Satan presented himself before God and his actions could only occur if God gave the ok. The same is true here - the only time this spirit comes to torment Saul is when God allows it. The reason is that Saul has chosen rebellion and disobedience so God is allowing judgement and a secondary reason is that it can bring about repentance.

Saul is again sitting and holding his spear in the palace, the safest place in Israel so there was no need for Saul to be armed except for paranoia - this would be like the president sitting in the Oval Office holding a rifle…

David was still doing his job trying to calm the king by playing music. I would imagine after the previous experience and Saul’s most recent threat that David was paying very close attention to Saul.

Saul missed again and this time David did not hang around - he got out of there and went home.

1 Samuel 19 CSB

11 Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!” 12 So she lowered David from the window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took the household idol and put it on the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment. 14 When Saul sent agents to seize David, Michal said, “He’s sick.” 15 Saul sent the agents back to see David and said, “Bring him on his bed so I can kill him.” 16 When the agents arrived, to their surprise, the household idol was on the bed with some goat hair on its head. 17 Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!” She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’ ”

Saul doubled down and sent men to David’s house - they were to keep an eye out and kill him when he would leave the house in the morning.

Michal somehow knew her father’s plan so she warned David - not only did she warn him be she helped him escape out of a window so he could get away.

Michal took an idol called a teraphim and placed it in the bed - we’ve all seen a movie or TV show where a kid wanted to leave after curfew so they put pillows in the bed and made it look like there were still there - instead of pillows Michal used this idol.

On one hand it is great that she took her husbands side and helped save his life from her father - on the other hand the presence and use of the idol gives us a glimpse into the spiritual nature of Michal.

The suggestion is that Michal was as much a spiritual rebel as her father. It is evident that the worship practices of the parent affect the worship practices of the child.

The use of the idol is a foreshadowing the outcome of Michal’s like as that of the feminine counterpart to Saul’s. Because of Saul’s rebellion against God he lost his opportunity to establish a dynasty and in 2 Samuel we will see that Michal lost her opportunity to establish a family.

If you look at Psalm 59 - David speaks about this encounter and calls on God for his rescue now compare this with Michal’s action - Michal trusted a teraphim/idol to save David, David trusted God.

This story also ties Michal and David together with other OT “heroes” - Jacob was saved by a woman who had possession of teraphim/idols and deceived her father during a desperate search - Moses was also saved through the efforts of the daughter of a wicked ruler - David’s escape echoed that of the spies saved by Rahab, who were let down through a window at night by a woman who lied to a king.

In both instances of David’s escapes, it was Saul’s own family who took the lead in scheming to protect David’s life. With both Jonathan and Michal, David is portrayed as the passive participant in the attempts to undermine Saul’s will - it was both Jonathan and Michal who initiated and executed the plans on David’s behalf.

This reinforces the claim that David did not usurp the throne from Saul - leading members of Saul’s own family loved and supported David throughout his rise to power and even played leading roles in his ascent to the throne.

Morning came and once the men didn’t see David leave the house they went in to get him. Michal refuse to allow them in, making the excuse that David was sick. The men were in a sticky situation, the king gave them an order but it was the king’s daughter who was refusing to let them in so they returned to the king empty handed.

Saul didn’t care - he commanded them to go back and basically said, “If he’s too sick to walk then carry him here on his bed.”

Well they didn’t find David, they found the idol - it doesn’t say if they immediately took Michal or if they reported the incident again and the king called her - my guess, after failing once and returning to the king they would not have gone back empty handed a second time so they most likely took Michal with them.

Saul demanded and answer - Michal basically tells her father she had no choice because David threatened to kill her. No one could question her because there were no witnesses and it was also useful for Saul to accept her claim because if David had threatened a member of the royal household, he would be doubly worthy of death. This is a little ironic since David, by marriage, is also a member of the royal family and someone is trying to kill him.

1 Samuel 19 CSB

18 So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel left and stayed at Naioth. 19 When it was reported to Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20 he sent agents to seize David. However, when they saw the group of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s agents, and they also started prophesying. 21 When they reported to Saul, he sent other agents, and they also began prophesying. So Saul tried again and sent a third group of agents, and even they began prophesying. 22 Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He came to the large cistern at Secu and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “At Naioth in Ramah,” someone said. 23 So he went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God also came on him, and as he walked along, he prophesied until he entered Naioth in Ramah. 24 Saul then removed his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel; he collapsed and lay naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

This is an interesting narrative to say the least.

David left his home because it was not safe and he couldn’t be sure who to trust. He went to the right place, Samuel. Good reminder - when trouble comes, go to God.

Samuel is not only the one who received the revelation of David’s selection as Israel’s next king but he has also faced the possibility of death at the hands of Saul.

Samuel and David left Samuel’s house and went to Naioth (naw-VEETH) - Naioth literally means “dwellings/habitations” and may refer to a religious compound within Ramah maybe the one mentioned in chapter 9.

Apparently Saul had people keeping an eye out for David and maybe even still watching Samuel because it was reported to him that David was at Naioth.

Still intent on killing David, Saul once again sent ment to get David but when they arrived something amazing happened…

The Spirit of God was so prevalent that even the men intent on evil began to prophesy or speak the words of God.

This either freaked the men out or what God was saying through them sent the back to Saul. So Saul sent another group to get David.

Once again they ran into God and returned to Saul.

Saul sent a third group into this mismatched clash between flesh and Spirit and the results were the same - those who entered Naioth under the influence of the ruler of Israel now found themselves under the infinitely greater influence of the Ruler of the universe… How awesome would it be to experience the presence of God so powerfully that even those “unbelievers” who were in our presence became agents of the Holy Spirit as well? Our faithfulness to God can have an effect on those around us.

Three strikes so Saul goes to take care of the problem himself, or so he thought.

In a climactic tour de force, the Spirit of God made a mockery of the most ardent efforts of David’s opponent. The “agents” Saul sent did not begin prophesying until they arrived at Naioth but God met Saul some distance from Naioth and Saul began to prophesy.

Saul took off his clothes which seems strange but his loss of royal attire in the presence of God’s Spirit presented a powerful image confirming the prophetic judgments Samuel made earlier. God had rejected Saul as king, so in God’s presence Saul would not be permitted to wear the clothing of royalty. Saul had even rejected the word of the Lord so not in an ironic twist he would be condemned to be a mouthpiece for that word.

Saul remained naked the rest of that day and that night - nakedness is seen as shameful in the ancient Near East.

As crazy as all this is - we can see God’s level of mercy in action. Coming into the presence of God so powerfully, especially with evil intent, could and maybe should have resulted in the death of Saul and those he sent but God spared him - Saul was humbled and judged but remained as king… for now.