1 Samuel 16:14-23

Introduction

Good morning, so last week we talked through David’s anointing

that following the rejection of Saul as king for his faithlessness

for his failure to follow the Lord

the Lord has chosen David to be King over his people

and that the author of Samuel spends time contrasting Saul and David through the stories of how they’re anointed

while Saul is an obvious choice for king based on all the external boxes being checked

he’s from a wealthy family, he looks the part

David is portrayed as unimportant in his family, the least likely choice externally

but the Lord does not see as man sees, he doesn’t have to draw conclusions based on external signs, he sees the heart

And an important point to remember in all of this is the fate of God’s people is tied to their king

so a faithless king will only mean disaster for God’s people

Saul is shown as the king the people want, but he is leading the people towards ruin

So David is chosen by God as the king the people need

the one who follows the Lord and will lead the people to follow him

ultimately, both Saul and David fail to be who the people truly need

but David’s faithfulness points us forward to his son, Jesus

who is the perfectly righteous king who reigns now and forever

who, because he leads us, brings life and peace

the wholeness of relationship we were created to have not just with God, but with each other

So the last verse from our passage last week showed another contrast between Saul and David, looking at verse 13

1 Samuel 16:13 ESV

13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

the Spirit of the Lord remains with David, it is never taken away

the Spirit is the source of David’s ability to lead

it is how the Lord empowers and equips him

it marks him as the Messiah, as the Lord’s Anointed

well, what happens with Saul, what does this mean for him?

Let’s go to our passage, beginning at verse 14:

1 Samuel 16:14–23 ESV

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” 19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. 22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

A guilty pleasure of mine is sports talk radio

it’s an escape, it’s entertaining to me to listen to people passionately discussing or arguing about sports, which itself is an entertainment

but I’ve found they’ll also often veer into discussing what’s going on in the world and their own lives

I was listening this past week, and the hosts were discussing a lot of what’s going on in the world

injustice, protests, division, the Coronavirus

and one of them said I don’t understand how people who don’t have faith can get through this

and then he said, any faith, some belief in a higher power that will get us past all that’s going on

I’ve said similar things, as far as I’m not sure how people who don’t know Jesus are able to handle what’s going on

but he was almost talking about using faith as some coping mechanism only for the hard times

when times are good, you can kind of put it down until you need it again

there’s that old poem, footprints in the sand

about someone who dreams of walking with Jesus on the beach

as a metaphor for their life

and he notices that sometimes there are two sets of footprints, but during the hard times there is only one set

and so he asks Jesus about it and the answer he gets is

"My precious child, I love you and will never leave you Never, ever, during your trials and testings. When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you."

Is this the right way to view things?

Going to our passage, this describes the way that Saul uses David

when he is troubled, David plays for him

he leans on David and is better until he hits another hard time

and that serves to reveal Saul’s heart

he is relying on himself and only leans on another when it serves him

it’s a faith of convenience that he abandons as soon as it’s not convenient

That’s not who we’re called to be

going to the beach metaphor, the picture that the Bible gives us is closer to

we are dead on the beach, and Jesus brings us back to life

and we realize we can’t walk, that we can do nothing for ourselves and that we need him to carry us the whole way, and we give ourselves to him

and then he does it, because as the poem rightly says, he loves us and will never leave us

so on the beach you would see the print from our dead body

and then a single set of footprints the whole way

there’s no time when we don’t need Jesus to carry us

because our good times and bad times on this earth are relative

our world is not the way it’s supposed to be

there is always brokenness around us, always sin within us

so in the relatively good times, we need Christ

even though we can forget that

and in the hard times, we need Christ

his Spirit is always with us, empowering us to be who we are as his people

helping us to know he loves us and will never leave

Going to our passage, we don’t need David only playing when we feel bad, we need him playing always

we don’t need the temporary fixes that the world might provide through any faith

any random set of beliefs that helps us to cope or comfort us now

we need the constant and eternal fix that’s only available in Christ

Let’s go to our passage today and explore that truth

Starting in verse 14:

1 Samuel 16:14 ESV

14 Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.

After Saul’s initial rejection as king in Chapter 13, we saw that the Lord continued to work through him

that Saul was successful whenever he went out to fight and that Israel was increasing in unity, power and stability

but after his second rejection in Chapter 15 and the anointing of David

now the Spirit of the Lord has departed

as a result of Saul’s faithlessness, the Lord will no longer empower and equip him as king

our verse here comes immediately after the anointing of David and the Spirit rushing on him

so now his reign as king over God’s people is effectively over

he will continue to sit on the throne and rule Israel for many more years

but those years serve as an epilogue for his reign while David rises as the King

but things don’t stop there

Saul is not left in a neutral place now concerning the Lord

as a further act of rejection and judgment, the Lord sends a harmful or troubling spirit to torment Saul

this is a hard thing to hear

the author makes it clear not just that the Lord allowed this

or that this was something beyond God’s control

No, that is not the picture of God in this passage, in the last passage, or throughout the entire Bible

the author makes it clear that the Lord is behind this

that he sent the spirit to torment Saul

God is in control

there is nothing that happens apart from his will

including unpleasant things

including tragedy, including natural disaster, including the Coronavirus

I was talking to a dear friend who is a believer a few weeks ago

and he was talking about some of the good things that have come as a result of the pandemic, acknowledging God’s work in it

but he qualified it by saying, now there is no part of me that believes God caused this

is that our view of God? that he’s not responsible for bad things?

I f we say God is not in control, is that just us trying to let God off the hook?

because it’s not what the Bible says

When we think these things, when we ask how could a good God allow bad things?

this is again an us problem rather than a God problem

Do we have the right view and expectations of the world?

Do we have a right view of what is good and what is evil?

God’s Word orients us to the truth, it tells us what to expect

and it makes it clear that the world is cursed, it is broken because of our sin

because of our rebellion against God

the penalty for Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden was death

they were entitled to nothing good after rebelling

after trying to make themselves like God by eating the fruit

but God does not immediately kill them

first, he promises restoration, that the offspring of the woman will come and undo what has just happened

and then they are allowed to live and still enjoy many of the good things of creation

but like Saul, the blessing and life they experienced before their disobedience is over

and since that time, the world is not the way it was originally created to be

it is cursed and our expectation should be hardship, futility, disease, death

and God uses the brokenness of the world to tell us that we need restoration

that we need the offspring, that we need Jesus

that’s the world we live in

and just the way that the world is cursed and we are cursed because of our sin

Saul is cursed in this passage

Israel, as God’s people, has been given the promise of life and blessing for following the Lord

and ruin and curse for failing to follow the Lord

and the king is now the chief representative to God for Israel

So Saul is experiencing the curse, he is experiencing judgment for his faithlessness as God’s people’s representative

That’s the reality of the world

another way God’s word orients is by helping us to understand what is good

What is good for God? why was the world created?

for his glory

so the good thing for any of us to do is to glorify God

and all of us do it, whether we want to or not

as Paul says in Romans 9

Romans 9:22–23 ESV

22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

the picture we get here is that all of us are glorifying and will glorify God

either through being objects of God’s wrath and judgment

which is what all of us deserve

or by being objects of mercy

being objects of God’s undeserved grace, favor and love

So from our perspective, what is good?

being objects of grace

grace that only comes through Christ

through experiencing the relationship with God that is only available through Jesus, the King, through the restoration promised by the Lord in the Garden

all who turn to Christ, believe in him, and rest in what he has done and is doing

and this offer is freely available to anyone who wants it

as Paul says in Romans 10, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved

so what is bad for us?

not being objects of grace

notice that none of this actually involves personal happiness or comfort on earth

and as Jesus demonstrated throughout his life and earthly ministry

our expectation as his followers should be to follow him

follow him in his suffering, in his persecution

So Saul as the faithless king, is experiencing judgment for his faithlessness

Saul is getting some kind of preview of life in eternity apart from the Lord

do we know exactly what that looked like?

no

but it was apparently bad enough that those around him noticed

verses 15-16:

1 Samuel 16:15–16 ESV

15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”

the servants acknowledge what the author has already stated

God is responsible for Saul’s torment

and Saul has not been able to deal with it, or has chosen not to deal with it

so the servants suggest to find someone to play the lyre for Saul to soothe him

or to somehow battle what the spirit is doing

this idea doesn’t come out of nowhere

In Chapter 10, when the Spirit of the Lord first rushes on Saul

it happens when he meets a group of prophets playing music

here are the verses in Chapter 10:

1 Samuel 10:5–6 ESV

5 After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

so there is a close association in Israel with music and prophesy

there are also references in Kings and Chronicles connecting prophetic power with the playing of music

and we don’t need to forget that there are more than a dozen Psalms that speak of praising the Lord with the lyre

using instruments in worship

back to our passage:

1 Samuel 16:15–16 ESV

15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it, and you will be well.”

So how exactly do we take this?

music is seen, at least by Saul’s servants, as a means of spiritual therapy

as a way to potentially invoke the Spirit of God to help him

they’re saying to Saul: you are being troubled spiritually

let’s counteract it with music, perhaps music like what you heard when you prophesied

when there was evidence of the Spirit of the Lord empowering you

and you will feel better

I’m sure that most of us have experienced times where music helps us to feel better

this is something most people in the world would testify to, whether they know Jesus or not

so I don’t want to deny that music is a beautiful common grace gift from God that everyone can benefit from

it is a powerful thing

and as we know it can be used in the world for good or bad

but the servants are not talking about using music in a worldly way to help him feel better

this harmful spirit is tormenting you, so let’s play some music to take your mind off of it

or to get you in a better frame of mind to deal with it

they are talking about using it as a means of spiritual battle

they’re not thinking of music as a way to build Saul up internally so he can fend off the spirit

they’re thinking of it as an external spiritual method, that God will work through it to relieve Saul

God’s the one judging you through this spirit, he’s the only one who can really do something about it

so how does Saul respond?

1 Samuel 16:17 ESV

17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.”

Saul takes the advice

let’s find someone who can do this

who can help battle this spirit in an external way

in this situation, we really get a firm picture of Saul’s heart

Saul does not deny that he is being tormented by the Lord

that the Lord has done this

and he knows why the Lord has done this

he has been told plainly by Samuel that he has failed as Israel’s King

but rather than recognizing his need for repentance, his need to turn from himself

and turn towards the Lord

he’s trying to find ways to keep going in his faithlessness

just using this as a tool

When we go through hardship, or suffering

our relationship with God rarely stays the same

God can use the exact same difficulty in two different lives

and they function in two different ways

for those who don’t know Christ, it might be an act of judgment that pushes them further away

leading to greater judgment, which is what we see here with Saul

for those who belong to Christ, the exact same hardship might function as an act of discipline, of love

remember, in Christ we are never experiencing God’s judgment, because Jesus took all of that on himself

being under grace means that we are not under wrath, ever

so what we experience serves to push us closer to Christ, conforming us more to his image

teaching us greater reliance on him,

or it might push us to express faith for the first time

God can use it to wake us up and turn us to him for the first time

But for Saul, we see this as judgment, hardening Saul in his faithlessness

leading to greater judgment because of what God does next

Verse 18:

1 Samuel 16:18 ESV

18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.”

immediately someone answers saying, I know a guy:

and we hear about David

and then he offers a description

because the young man doesn’t just say

I know someone, he’s a really good player

no, he goes on about who he is

giving us a picture of someone who is more than a harp player

he’s a man of valor, a warrior

he’s a man of strength, power, competence

He speaks well, he’s articulate, he’s attractive

And the Lord is with Him

the list ends with David’s most important trait

this is a phrase used to describe only one other person in this book: Samuel

so it’s not just, he’s a follower of the Lord in some external sense

it’s not us saying, he’s a good guy, goes to church, teaches Sunday school

it is known that David’s relationship with the Lord is real

that David truly knows the Lord, that his faith is real and known

that God is with David

that he is blessing him, that he is working in and through him

for Saul, the Lord has rejected him and Samuel is gone

and now he is being tormented and judged by the Lord

but this man might be able to help undo this

the hope becomes that because the Lord is with David

God would use the music to help Saul

and this would be based not on Saul’s faith, but David’s

Our healing, our hope is based not on our faith, but on Jesus’ faithfulness

our faith is only a response to him, a response to God’s work

true healing only happens through him, he is the source of our faith

Faith doesn’t matter if it has the wrong object

and false objects are found everywhere

in the church, people can place their faith in a pastor or other leader

people can place their ultimate faith in their country

or their career

or their spouse, or their children, or some other relationship

but all of these things fail, they might offer some temporary relief, but none of them help in any constant and eternal sense

we need the right source, the only true source of life, the one who lives now and will never die again

verse 19:

1 Samuel 16:19 ESV

19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”

God is using his judgment on Saul to bring David into Saul’s court

It’s an interesting statement to describe David

who is with your sheep

emphasizing that David is coming from nowhere

that he has a low place, even in his family

It’s like Saul is saying, send your son to me, he’s not that important to you, but he might be of use to me

God is using this situation to bring David out of the fields with the sheep

to serve the king

He has orchestrated this introduction of the two kings

that David starts out serving the one he eventually replaces

a big point of tension until Saul’s death is:

will David continue to serve the king?

will he continue to demonstrate his faithfulness to the Lord

by acting righteously towards Saul, the Lord’s Anointed King

the first Messiah of Israel

even when Saul’s jealousy drives him to turn on him and try to kill him, repeatedly

this, of course, points us forward to Christ

who came not to be served, but to serve

and when those in power felt threatened by the servant king

they turn on him, they execute him

quick reminder: who is responsible for Christ’s death?

we are, his people, he died for us, and he had to die for us to bring us to God

so in many ways, we are Saul in this story

we are the ones who feel threatened by the king and turn on him

but Jesus, the King, is still faithful to the Father

he still acts righteously towards us

giving himself for us, giving his life as a ransom for many

so his faithfulness, his righteousness can be counted to us

and our faithlessness, our unrighteousness is counted to him on the cross

the one who has given us his Spirit, who will never leave us

not because of us, because of him

We trust in the servant king who loves us enough to die for us

verse 20:

1 Samuel 16:20–21 ESV

20 And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.

so we have Jesse responding to the king’s request by sending his son to serve

and as part of that he sends him with a few provisions

And David immediately is favored by Saul

and he becomes his armor bearer

Saul recognizes the appeal of David

and embraces him as his servant

It’s not until Saul sees David as a threat to his power that he turns on him

Do we do this with Jesus?

we celebrate his death on the Cross

he died for our sins

he came to serve

we love him

but if Jesus was raised from the dead

if he reigns, then that means we do not

if all authority has been given to him, then that means we have none, except what he has given us

you can’t have the Cross without the resurrection

Paul tells us that Christ’s death is meaningless apart from the resurrection

we are called to follow the king

to trust in the living Christ for salvation

for life

the church has often truncated that into only believing Jesus died for your sins

Saul fails to realize that he has no power apart from the Lord

we don’t need to make that same mistake

let’s love Jesus, not just as a servant, but as our King

as the perfectly loving, faithful and righteous king

verse 22:

1 Samuel 16:22 ESV

22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.”

so Saul has such favor for David, that he wants him to remain with him

so in the greek translation of the Old Testament, the word for favor is the word translated in the New Testament as grace, charis

remember, the New testament writers used that greek translation, that’s primarily what they quote in their writings

so it’s helpful to take the baggage of the greek old testament to help us understand what they’re saying in the New Testament

So Saul is actually helping us understand grace here

and its relational nature

Saul sees David as an object of favor, delight and love

so he wants him to be with him

now as we’ll see this is conditional

Saul favors David as long as it serves him to favor David

In Christ, we are objects of grace

God does not just like us when we’re good

or tolerate us in spite of our sin

His favor is unconditional

because Jesus does everything to make us right before God

God doesn’t see our sin, he sees Jesus

and he wants to be with us, he wants us to be with him

and nothing can separate us form his grace

because the Father’s love for us is a response to Jesus’ love for him

Verse 23:

1 Samuel 16:23 ESV

23 And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

So David becomes the remedy for Saul

Saul’s servants are right and when David plays the lyre, the harmful spirit departs

While Saul has found a temporary fix, it’s unclear how much he realizes what’s happening

The Spirit of the Lord, resting on David as the Lord’s Anointed

as the new Messiah works through David

showing Saul that his only source of relief from judgment, from torment

is found in the Lord

and found through the true King

For Saul, this relief is temporary

because as he recognizes who David is and who he will be

he rejects the King, he tries to kill David more than once as David is trying to help him

David’s service to Saul convicts him and judges him further

For us, we need to recognize that this story serves as a warning and a picture of our relationship with Christ

but Jesus’ work in us is much deeper than what Saul experiences with David

because Saul’s relief is temporary, our healing in Christ is eternal

apart from Christ, we are tormented by the brokenness of the world

a result of God’s curse on the world that is the result of Adam and Eve’s sin

and while Saul is just looking for a temporary fix for what troubles him, so he can continue in his faithlessness

Jesus changes our heart to turn us towards him

to bring us to true repentance

to turn us from our faithlessness,

to trust and follow him

And while our old self is gone, while we now have a new heart

sin is still there, tormenting us from the inside

and we are still surrounded by a world that is broken and falling apart

So Christ, via the Holy Spirit is working in us, providing relief

he’s like David playing the lyre

but the music never stops, his Spirit stays with us

Christ’s work for us is constant, carrying us not just through the bad times

but through all times, into eternity

we are united to Him via the Holy Spirit

to help us, to heal us

He continues to serve us even as he reigns as our King

he refreshes us, he makes us well

he builds up our faith, he builds up our hope

the knowledge that Jesus will finish what he has started

that he will make all things new

he enables us to respond to his faithfulness with faith

he empowers us to act righteously when the world turns on us

he helps us to follow him, to imitate him

to show him to the world around us

he pulls us more from the role of Saul in this story to the role of David

we show the Spirit of Christ to others, and Christ uses it to heal and refresh others

remember, it is his work, we can’t take any credit

he is carrying us the whole way

apart from him, we are still subject to finding relief in things that are temporary

in things that will eventually fail

Let’s turn to him, embrace him as our help, and embrace him as our king