The empowering of the Spirit

David enters Saul’s service

Explanation: The second half of chapter 16 deals with the circumstances of the next King of Israel entering the current King of Israel’s service. David had been anointed by Samuel as the next king, but the anointing had been performed in isolation; only a small group of individuals were aware of it. Those that knew weren’t about to broadcast the news because they were afraid of the consequences if Saul discovered what had taken place.

Though Saul was unaware, the anointing of David was a Divine Action that God used to indicate His choice of David. While choosing David, God also rejected Saul. This is made plain by the first part of v. 14, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul.”

Not only did the LORD remove His Spirit from Saul, God sent a “harmful spirit” to torment Saul (v. 14b). The torment and anguish that Saul suffered led to David’s entrance into the King’s service. Some of Saul’s servants suggested that the king would find relief through music, so Saul commanded his servants to find a skilled Lyre player to play for him. One of Saul’s servants had knowledge that the shepherd boy David was skilled with the lyre and he recommended him to Saul (v. 18). Saul went with the recommendation and ordered that David enter his service as a musician. Saul liked David so much, he even gave him the position of being the king’s armor-bearer. (v. 21).

David proved to be successful in granting relief to Saul. When the harmful spirit oppressed Saul, David would play the lyre. Through the playing of the lyre, Saul became “refreshed and was well.” (v. 23) The text is not clear if God supernaturally empowered David’s playing, or if the skillful playing was responsible for chasing away the harmful spirit. Either way, the playing had the desired effect.

The Necessity of the Empowering of the Holy Spirit

Explanation: The text itself deals with the beginning of the transition between Saul and David. The mental insecurity and lack of stability in Saul foreshadow the growing rift that will develop between these two.

The timeless Life Principle the text reveals is the importance of the Empowering of the Holy Spirit in an individual’s life. In the verse immediately prior to the beginning of our passage () we are told that “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.” Now, in v. 14 we read, “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul.”

Even though Saul was still king, the Spirit of the LORD had left him. Saul had previously been anointed with the Presence of the Spirit when he was first anointed King. When he was leaving Samuel’s presence the first time, “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him” (). Also at Saul’s first action as King against an enemy, “the Spirit of God rushed upon him” (1 Samuel 11:6).

Saul was not the only OT person who had received the presence of God’s Spirit only to have it taken away. Samson was empowered by the Spirit of God for his mighty strength (, ; ) and he accomplished incredible feats with that empowerment. Some of the saddest verses in the OT (in my opinion) are found with Samson. Samson had disrespected his vows and his honor as servant of God, and he had his power stripped from him through God’s presence leaving him (Judges 16:20).

While David enjoyed the presence of God in his life, he too was worried that the Spirit might leave him. After his sin with Bathsheba, and following his confession to God, he prayed “take not your Holy Spirit from me” ()

New Testament believers are marvelously graced in this area of spiritual life. In the economy of God, He decreed that His Holy Spirit would permanently indwell His people. Beginning at the Day of Pentecost and onward, the Holy Spirit of God enters a person’s life at the moment of regeneration (). That this filling is permanent for all believers, and not just those first disciples is shown in Ephesians. The Apostle Paul teaches that when a sinner believes, he or she is “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph 1:13-14)

Believers can be oppressed but not possessed.

Explanation: This next part of the text is troubling and difficult. Not only are we told that God departed from Saul, we are shocked to discover that “a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him” () In the KJV the term used is “evil spirit.” Now we are aware that evil spirits exist. The fallen angels (demons) are discussed throughout the Scriptures. The difficulty is with the evil spirit being sent from the LORD. That gives us pause, to say the least. The evil spirit that torments Saul is mentioned 4 more times (16:15; 16:23; 18:10; 19:9) and each time it includes words that signify it was from God.

Some commentators choose to interpret this as not a literal evil spirit, but as something akin to anxiety or depression or a mental illness. Others, and I agree with them, see this as a literal demonic spirit. This same type of language is used in the account of the prophet Micaiah when he tells King Ahab that the “LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all your prophets” ().

The problem we sense is that God is actively sending the evil spirit. This is not necessarily the case, and the text can be understood as God allowing it to come to pass.

CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 16

God may have intended the evil spirit as his instrument of judgment against the rebellious king. God is completely righteous, hates evil, and never does anything unjust, yet he makes use of demons (against their evil intention) to accomplish his good purposes (cp. Jb 1:6–12).

This can bring up the issue of mental affliction in modern times. Is it possible for people to be demon-possessed? Are some forms of evil the result of evil spirits rather than mental imbalance? Yes, it is very possible, and I personally believe many of these mass shooters are either possessed or heavily oppressed by demons.

The issue for believers is different. When a human life is indwelt by the presence of God Himself through the Holy Spirit, there is no ability for an evil spirit to reside in the the same life. Jesus taught this principle when the scribes accused Him of receiving His power to cast out demons from Satan (). Jesus teaches that satan can’t cast our satan and that a house divided can’t stand () Jesus then tells them that He is the One who is able to bind the strong man (satan) and plunder his possessions (Mark 3:227) Jesus is declaring that both satan and Christ cannot hold the same territory, and that He, Jesus, is the stronger One who takes His people away from and out of the dominion of satan. In short, a believer who has the Spirit of Jesus cannot be possessed by satan.

Believers, however, can be oppressed by evil. It is possible for us to open ourselves to oppression through sin. When we deliberately choose to disobey God through thoughts and actions (pornography, substance abuse, marital infidelity, gambling, etc.) we move away from God’s protective covering. While our eternal destiny is secure, we will suffer temporal consequences which may include harassment and/or oppression by evil spirits.

We may also suffer oppression from the evil ones through God’s allowance. Like Job of old, we may have the evil ones oppress us for a season. The comforting thought in this situation is that God is the One who allows it, and He is the One who will end it when His purposes are accomplished.