1 Samuel 18:1-16
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Introduction
Introduction
As we go to Chapter 18 of 1 Samuel, let’s review and set some context
David was anointed by Samuel to be King over Israel in chapter 16
after the Lord told Saul that the kingdom was being torn from him because of his unfaithfulness and is being given to his neighbor, identifying him as a man after God’s own heart
but David’s identity as the Messiah, as the Lord’s Anointed King, is still unknown to Saul and to Israel
while Saul has been told by Samuel that the kingdom has been torn away, he still does not know who the new king is
and throughout the rest of chapters 16 and 17, we see David rise into the public eye
he becomes an armor bearer and musician in Saul’s court
playing the lyre for Saul to drive away a harmful spirit from God
Saul is said to love and favor David
and then we see David defeat Goliath in chapter 17
delivering not just Saul, but all of Israel from trouble
demonstrating his faith by acting out of an identity rooted in the Lord
knowing that God is mighty to save and capable of delivering Israel, no matter how troubling the oppressor might seem
And this action of delivering Israel, of inspiring Israel to victory over the Philistines
has brought David from a place of insignificance and obscurity
to prominence,
and while his identity as the Messiah is still not public, everyone knows who he is and what he has done
and now that David is important and significant in Israel, we have the aftermath, the reactions of those in power
So how will King Saul and his son, Jonathan, react to David’s deliverance?
starting in verse 1:
1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. 5 And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on. 10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. 11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. 15 And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.
Yesterday, some friends texted pictures of us with them from our first year of marriage
they had to physically take pictures of the old pictures from a physical album
and it was us being goofy kids in our early 20’s
I think of that first year or two of marriage, and I am thankful for grace from both God and Lindsey
because I didn’t know what I was doing
we were married, but the reality of marriage had not fully sunk in
I could no longer act like a selfish single college student that just kind of did what he wanted
because the reality was, we were married, and part of that was putting us before me
and the more the reality of marriage slowly sunk in, the more things changed
the more I had to make a choice to either embrace reality or run from it
Going to our passage, David’s actions have revealed who he is, and who he will become
so now we see reactions to that reality, reactions to the king
to give a general structure to our passage today
we see Jonathan introduced in verse 1
and Saul introduced in verse 2
then we get Jonathan’s reaction to David in verses 3-5
and Saul’s reaction in 6-16
by setting it up this way the author is telling us that these stories are parallel, contrasting them with each other
they happen at the same time, but are from 2 different perspectives
Why is this important? why does the author do this?
one of the big arguments of Samuel, is that the king of Judah is the true Messiah, the true king over all of God’s people,
and that king is David’s Son
what we’ll see in this book is that even after Saul dies and David is made king over Judah, it takes time before all of Israel acknowledges him as king
and then after Solomon, David’s son, the kingdom is divided into two kingdoms, northern Israel and southern Judah
where David’s descendants reign in Judah, an unbroken dynasty that will last close to 500 years
and different families take over northern Israel, never lasting more than 3 or 4 generations
so in the reactions of Jonathan and Saul, there is a call of:
who are you going to be?
God has taken the kingship away from Saul and the tribe of Benjamin
and now has given it to Judah, to David’s family
so a message of the book of Samuel is to northern Israel and more specifically to the tribe of Benjamin
saying: the kingship no longer belongs to you
past tense, you had your chance and you failed
the throne has been given to someone else
how will you react?
will you love and embrace the Messiah, like the righteous Jonathan?
or will you jealously try to hold onto what you have already lost?
will you reject the Messiah, like the unrighteous Saul?
there is a call in this book for Israel to turn back to the Messiah
to turn back to David’s son
and this points to: God has taken the kingship away from us
Adam failed in the garden and the kingdom has been taken away
it is no longer up to us, Adam was our best chance at being faithful and righteous
he and Eve were created in a state of immense blessing
given everything in the garden
a world without sin and death
a world where they could experience the relationship with God we were created to experience
we were created to be with God, to be known by him and to know him
where continued life, blessing, and relationship were promised by the Lord in exchange for perfect obedience
Adam was our best shot, and he failed
when presented with the opportunity to choose himself over the Lord
to try to replace God, he does it
leading to separation from God
and a world cursed by brokenness and death
so the kingdom has been taken away from us because of our ancestor Adam and we’re dealing with the consequences of his actions
and there is no way for us, as his descendants, to undo what has been done
Saul is just another example for us of how we fail to be faithful to the Lord when left to ourselves
so the kingdom has been given to someone else,
to David’s Son, to Jesus
who is not descended from Adam, who does not share in Adam’s guilt
God has to become man and do what Adam could not, and Saul could not, and we could not do
show perfect righteousness, show perfect faithfulness, live a life of perfect love and relationship with the Father
something he did for us
and then suffering the curse of death and separation, suffering the judgment we deserve in our place
and now he lives and reigns
our king has delivered us from death and brokenness
so that by loving the king like Jonathan, by turning to him
we are counted with him
and now we experience the life and blessing promised to Adam and Eve in the garden
the kingdom has been taken away
but the king, the Messiah, has come and delivered his people
he has brought us back into the kingdom, into his kingdom
How will we react?
with love and faithfulness, living in reaction to what he has done for us
or will we jealously try to be our own king, will we reject the Messiah?
will we be Saul? will we try to stand against the Lord and his Messiah even after we’ve seen deliverance?
after witnessing that even Goliath could not stand against him?
Going to verse 1:
1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
So Jonathan, Saul’s son, is introduced and we get the first of two reactions to deliverance in Saul’s house
When Jonathan hears David
he loves him
David and Jonathan’s relationship is a beautiful example of close friendship
their lives were knit, bound together
Jonathan loves David as himself, this is a sacrificial love
he loves David, not just because of the deliverance he has brought for Israel
not because of what he gets out of it
he is more than a fan
he loves who David is
to this point in the book, Jonathan has been shown to be both wise and righteous
much more so than his father
when Saul’s faithlessness and fear of the Philistines led to his unlawful sacrifice and rejection as king in Chapter 13
Jonathan is the one whose actions lead Israel to victory
like David, he has demonstrated a love for the Lord that has led him to victory for God’s people
Jonathan is the heir apparent to Saul’s throne and has just seen an act of deliverance through someone else
the normal reaction would be to recognize David as a rival, even an enemy
but instead, we get selfless love
This is the kind of love we are called to have for our king
we fail at this all the time, but praise God, that this is the kind of love our king has for us
and that through the work of Jesus in our lives, our love for the Lord Jesus
begins to reflect more and more his love for us
verse 2:
2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.
Jonathan’s love for David will stand in contrast to Saul
who in chapter 16 was also said to love David
but we see that for Saul, his love for David is based only on personal benefit
he has loved David as an insignificant member of his court who plays music for him
he loves David because it serves him to love David
We’ve talked about all that David has been doing
that because of his insignificance to both Saul and his own family
he’s playing the lyre and serving as an armor bearer for Saul
but then he has to run home and watch the sheep for his father
and then he’s also been an errand boy for his father to his brothers who are in battle
but now we see that David is no longer insignificant to Saul and Israel
he is now a national hero after defeating Goliath
so it now serves Saul to have David around all the time
he is part of Saul’s court permanently
he’s too important to watch his father’s sheep
what David has done, mean’s that he must be viewed and treated differently
verse 3:
3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan’s love for David, his relationship with David leads to a covenant
a covenant is a relationship with blessings and obligations
mostly when we talk about covenants in the Bible, the focus is on God’s covenant with his people
when God made the world, when he made people, he was under no obligation to deal with us in any way
but he condescends to us by voluntarily entering into a relationship with his people
where the Lord, as the greater, enters into a covenant with us as the lesser
saying I will be your God and you will be my people
here’s what the relationship looks like
but covenants also occur throughout scripture between people who are closer to being on equal footing
another example of this is when Jacob enters into a covenant with his uncle Laban in Genesis
Jonathan and David’s love for each other led them to a voluntary pledge of covenant faithfulness
a relationship declaring what their obligations are to one another
Jonathan is actually entering into the covenant as the greater, as the prince
and we don’t have the exact details of the covenant written out here, but Jonathan’s actions in the next verse speak to it:
verse 4:
4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.
Part of the covenant is Jonathan being faithful to the new king
in the view of Israel, by worldly standards, he is greater, but what Jonathan is acknowledging is that David is actually greater in the eyes of the Lord
by giving him his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow and his belt
he is saying, these belong to Israel’s next king, they belong to you
he is acknowledging that David is the Messiah, that David is the king the Lord has chosen
and by saying that, he is saying I am not the king
A reminder that Jonathan is portrayed in an overwhelmingly positive light throughout the book
he has acted more kingly and more wisely than Saul in leading and delivering Israel
he is shown to be faithful in following the Lord
but he acknowledges that because of his father’s faithlessness, he will not be king
there is nothing he can do to earn the kingdom back
Jonathan’s fate as part of God’s people is now tied to the true king, to David
This is helpful for us
As descendants of Adam, it really doesn’t matter how righteous we might look
Adam’s faithlessness has cost us any chance of being righteous on our own merit
on top of that, all of us also act like Adam
left to ourselves, we follow him in his faithlessness
all of us have sinned, all of us have failed to love God perfectly
but even on a theoretical level, we cannot earn the favor that Adam lost
he was our representative, he was our head, so we share in his guilt and the penalty for his guilt no matter what we do
our only hope, is in acknowledging the true king, acknowledging Jesus
who is not a descendant of Adam, that’s why the virgin birth is important
Jesus is a second Adam, who did not inherit the first Adam’s guilt like us
we’re all born wearing the robe, the armor, and the weapons of a prince
the world tells us, and we tell ourselves, that we can still be king
that we can be good enough
part of trusting in Christ, of looking to him is taking all of that off
of saying, these do not belong to me, they belong to Jesus
I belong to Jesus
all of me
that’s what faith looks like, it is a response to the faithfulness and love of Jesus
looking at the deliverance we are given in him
turning to him and saying, my fate is tied to you as the king
these belong to you
and then responding to his love by loving him back
by following the king
verse 5:
5 And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
So David and Jonathan make this covenant
and now we are told of David’s successes in going out and fighting for Israel
David is growing in responsibility and popularity in Israel
everyone likes him, even Saul’s servants
so from this side of it, everything is great
Jonathan is shown to be wise to enter into this relationship with David
because David is acting more and more as the future king
and because they are in this covenant relationship
it is good for David and it is good for Jonathan
Jonathan’s love for David means that David’s success is a source of joy for Jonathan
Do we take joy in the success of our King?
Jesus lives and reigns now, that should be a source of encouragement and joy for us
even when we’re faced with the brokenness of the world
we don’t have to worry about being exalted or our own glory
we don’t need to worry about overcoming our enemies
because Jesus is successful for us
and nothing can separate us from him
we are part of God’s covenant people
we belong to Jesus
he has bought us out of death
and nothing separate us from his love
verse 6:
6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
Now we’re going back to the beginning of the scene to get perspective number 2,
to get Saul’s reaction
so immediately after David takes down Goliath
they’re now all returning from battle, celebrating this great victory
and so this feels kind of like a parade, a procession
there’s music being played by the women as the men are coming home
For Saul this is a great victory
David’s success means that Saul is successful and it means that all of Israel can celebrate success
so things are great, then the next three verses:
7 And the women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on.
the women sing this little couplet in response to what has happened
a play on words which celebrates David, while kind of putting down Saul by comparison
and this couplet apparently catches on throughout the land of Israel because it’s referenced 2 more times in the book
Saul has had military success to this point
when the Lord was with him Israel grew in power, unity and influence
but defeating Goliath and inspiring Israel to this great victory over the Philistines has turned David into a national hero overnight
David is a living folk hero
and when Saul hears what the people are singing
it angers him
verse 8 literally says not that it just displeased Saul
but that this was evil in his eyes
to Saul, to someone who is trusting in himself, this is an assault on him
Saul’s definition of what is good and what is evil is Saul-centered, it has to do with his own glory, not God’s glory
Are we operating out of an us-centered standard of good and evil, or a God centered standard?
when the standard has to do with our own glory, or our own ideas of what the standard should be
then that can lead us to call evil good and good evil
so the couplet makes Saul angry, it’s evil to him because it does not exalt Saul
and he makes this statement saying what more can he have but the kingdom?
Saul now recognizes David for who David is
Like Jonathan, he recognizes that David is the Messiah
that when Samuel told him, the Lord has torn away the kingdom from you and given it to your neighbor
that that neighbor is David
he knows where this is headed
Saul has a choice here, to submit to what the Lord has done, to love and embrace David as King
or to try to defy the Lord
Saul’s struggle from here on out is not just against David, it is against God himself
trying to fight God’s will
he’s been told that he has been rejected, that the kingdom has been torn from him,
but he doesn’t want to let it go,
it’s not his, he has no right to it, but he wants it
so he eyes David, jealously
he will now turn on the Messiah, because it no longer serves his own interests
Saul will now look for opportunities to sin against David
In reacting to the gospel, to the news of the Messiah
to who Jesus is, to what he has done, and to the fact that he lives and reigns now
there are two outcomes: acceptance or rejection
I’m not talking necessarily about the reaction right when the gospel is shared
I’m talking about when the gospel sinks in
there’s that statistic that the average new convert hears the gospel 7 times before coming to faith
before it really sinks in and takes root
so when it sinks in, when the reality of who Jesus is comes front and center
it must be dealt with
we either embrace the Messiah, embrace and love Jesus for who he is
turning to him and responding in faith
or we reject him as King
Saul has been great with experiencing the benefits of David to this point
but when he really sees David for who he is, when he says
David is king, so that means I’m not
then deliverance doesn’t matter
what matters is power and control
for us, at the center of salvation is our king, and if Jesus is King, then we are not
verse 10-11:
10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. 11 And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.
God sends the harmful spirit to Saul again
and when it says raving, the word literally is prophesying
Saul is tormented and prophesying in a way that exposes his heart, it exposes Saul as truly a false prophet
he is out of his mind
and so David comes in and plays for him
coming to serve Saul, trying to help Saul, trying to offer deliverance
but rather than being refreshed, rather than looking to the Lord to work through David like he had before
he tries to kill him
and although he is raving, there is a very clear heart motivation behind his actions
Saul is ready to throw away all the benefits of David
even with David trying to help him right now
because he will not give up his power
and what does David do?
he is still faithful to Saul
Saul doesn’t just throw the spear once
he tries to kill David twice
Saul threw the spear while he was playing, and David dodges it
and David doesn’t leave, he stays there and keeps playing, he keeps serving
he is still trying to help, and Saul tries to kill him again
Remember, our king is still faithful, even when we act like Saul
even when we try to be king
he is still there, serving us,
loving us as the servant king who came to deliver us
We get the picture here of the faithful king, who will only act righteously towards his people
even now that Saul has turned on him, now that Saul wants him dead
he will remain faithful
again, going back to David’s worldview
God is over all
just as he delivered David from Goliath
he is trusting the Lord to deliver him from Saul
and he is trusting that God’s promises to him are true
David’s call is just to be faithful to the Lord and trust him
that’s our call, no matter our vocation
our king reigns, so we serve the king, we’re faithful to the king
that’s what Christ has done for us
he was faithful when the world rejected him, when the world killed him
and we are called to live not in reaction to the world’s hate
but in reaction to the Lord’s love and faithfulness
verse 12:
12 Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul.
Saul has come to the conclusion that there really is nothing he can do
the Lord has rejected him and is with David
Saul has experienced what it means for the Lord to be with him
he had success that can only be attributed to God’s work
that’s gone, all of that has been given to David
but rather than letting that break him and bring him to repentance
turning to the new king
it leads to fear
he knows how this is going to turn out, he knows that David will prevail
but his heart does not change
he just tries new tactics
verses 13-14:
13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. 14 And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.
the new tactic: Saul removes David from his court and promotes him
he gives a military command to him
for Saul this is a win-win situation at the beginning
Because there are two possible outcomes
David has great military success, helping to build Saul’s kingdom
or David dies and Saul’s problem is taken care of
But the Lord is with David, so David has success in everything he does
only building David’s appeal to the people
the Lord will accomplish his purposes through David
and he’s using Saul’s new tactic to do it
what Saul means for evil, God means for good
Do we recognize how good that news is?
God always accomplishes his purposes
and we get to be part of that
because the Lord is with us
because of our King, because of his love for us, we have been given his Spirit
there is nothing the world can do to stand in the way of the Lord
now, it’s important to remember that God will accomplish his purposes, his plans
that doesn’t mean we always have worldly success in our plans
and it doesn’t mean we don’t have difficult times
Verses 15-16:
we hear about what Saul does in sending him out and setting him over the men of war
and David having success and it’s good in the sight of the people, including Saul’s servants
here, we get things from Saul’s perspective
as David has success and grows in popularity
it leads to fearful awe
he is despairing as he looks at David
Saul does not know what to do
this new tactic has backfired, it’s just made it more apparent that David should be the king
that he is the one to lead God’s people
that he is going out before them
it’s not just Judah that is behind David, it’s not just David’s tribe
it is all of God’s people, all of Israel loves David
all of Israel is looking more like Jonathan in responding to the king, and less like Saul
So after going through both of these: who are we? what’s our reaction to the reality of Jesus?
Do we fall in the trap of acting like Saul? are we in despair because Jesus reigns and we don’t?
we need to remember that Jesus reigning, Jesus making all things new
that nothing can keep that from happening
and that’s a good thing
or are we like Jonathan? do we love the king who has delivered us?
do we embrace him? do we take off any pretense we have of being king and hand it to him
knowing that he loves us, that he is faithful to his people
and that he will finish what he started
I feel like both at times
it’s interesting how you can hear the same story from two different perspectives, even come to the same conclusion, and have completely different reactions?
which reaction is ours?
let’s pray