First Samuel 19:1-24
Proverbs 14:35, “A king delights in a wise servant, but a shameful servant incurs his wrath.”
- “wise” is same word used in 1 Samuel 18 to describe David –“wise and skilled”
- Saul has twisted this verse around since he is instead a “shameful king”
- So Saul’s version of this verse would be:
“A wise servant incurs the wrath of a shameful king.”
1 Samuel 19 has counterparts in the book of Psalms that David wrote during this time:
·
Psalm 59 – “For
the director of music. To the tune of ‘Do Not Destroy.’ Of David. A miltam. When Saul had sent men to watch David’s house
in order to kill him.”
- Psalm
11 – 11:1, “In the Lord I take refuge.
How then can you say to me:
“Flee
like a bird to your mountain. . . When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is
on his heavenly throne.”
- Psalm
25:1-22 – “To you, O Lord, I lift up my
soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do
not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. . .show me
your ways, . . teach me your paths. . . My eyes
are ever on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare. . .
The troubles of my heart have
multiplied; free me from my anguish. . . See how my enemies have increased
and how fiercely they hate me!
Guard my life and rescue me; let
me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me
because my hope is in you. Redeem
- Psalm 7 – when David was delivered from Cush, the Benjamite
19:1 Saul had started with envy of David. This developed as Saul sent David into dangerous situations and now openly talks to his men and even Jonathan about how important it is that David be killed. Saul had justified in his mind that David was a traitor and now begins to spread his delusion which is based only on envy
Saul will try to use:
- David’s best friend, Jonathan, against David
- David’s loving wife, Michal, to turn David in
Jonathan and Michal are both going to tell David to Flee as in Psalm 11
Jonathan logically worked Saul into the right frame of mind
1) Removed David
2) Explained the Lord’s work and gives the Lord credit for the success
3) Recalled for Saul his success through the hand of David
4) Restores David to Saul’s court
5) Result is more victories (19:8)
. . .but. . .
6) Saul apparently becomes jealous again
7) Evil spirit prevents any further success or logic from Saul
The evil spirit keeps Saul and David at odds
Evil spirit destroys Saul
Evil spirit tests David for advancement in God’s plan
David provides Saul with military victory and harp therapy.
Psalm 25:21, “May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.”
- David is not trying to get God to do something for him or trying to earn God favor
- David knows that integrity and righteousness protect him and keep him in God’s plan
- David’s reason for doing right is because of his hope in God.
- So, David does right because he has faith and believes that God is working.
- David is not doing right in order to make God work
19:10 - David
flees to his house which is ultimately his entering into a life of a fugitive and
an outlaw in
19:11 “Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it
and to kill him in the morning.”
Psalm 59 is about this night in David’s life.
David writes in Psalm 59:16,
“I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.”
This is the last time David sees Michal until he is king.
David’s house is under surveillance
“image” is teraphim and means “household gods”, also in Genesis 31:19 when Rachel stole her father’s (Laban) teraphim. Teraphim where small images not life size idols. Michal would have used several.
Four attacks on David in this chapter:
1) Saul’s spear
2) Men sent to his house at night
3) Three groups of soldiers are sent to kill him in Ramah
4) Saul himself goes to kill him in Ramah
19:18
David goes to Samuel in Ramah
Saul palace was in Gibeah. David flees from Gibeah to Ramah. It is a one hour walk.
“Naioth” means “habitations”, or “dwellings”. Naioth was a residential district in Ramah where Samuel’s prophets stayed. It was like a suburb with apartments and homes. David used this area of the city for safety because of the large number of people to blend in and hide among. Some places this is translated “house of study” which would mean Naioth was the campus of the prophets school and had dormitories. Samuel had dedicated himself to training spiritual leaders.
We see the lone prophet Samuel was surrounded by other people and many prophets.
This is similar to Elijah and Elisha who led their school of the prophets in the same general area.
The Spirit of God Protects David from:
1) Three groups of soldier
2) Saul himself
The Spirit of God came upon them and caused them to have an ecstatic experience to prevent them from killing David.
Ecstatic experience could include a trance, a vision, uncontrolled speaking that was empowered by the Holy Spirit, a state of being beyond reason and self control.
19:23-24
The Spirit that had anointed Saul now attacks him:
- Saul became confused in a very familiar area
- For 24 hours Saul lay on the ground, with no robes, no clothes, unconscious and prophesying.
- Removal of royal robes showed he had been striped of his royalty
- Removal of clothes exposed and disgraced the king
“Is Saul among the prophets?”
1) In 10:11-12 the answer was “yes”! He is the anointed king.
2) Here in 19:24 the answer is “obviously not”! He is disabled and hindered from acting by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit of God would empower the prophets to do their jobs.
But, the Spirit of God was working against Saul and preventing him from accomplishing his plan
The prophets could move and perform under the anointing of the Spirit.
Saul was so unfamiliar with the Holy Spirit that he collapsed and could not operate in the presence of God.
A
comparison of Samuel/Prophets with King Saul
|
Samuel and
the Prophets |
King Saul
and his men |
|
Spirit empowered them |
Spirit disabled them |
|
Spirit worked with them |
Spirit worked against them |
|
Accomplished their jobs |
Failed to accomplish their mission |
|
Familiar with Holy Spirit’s presence |
Spirit’s presence was foreign to them |
|
Functioned in the presence of God |
Could not function in God’s presence |
|
God honored them before people |
God disgraced them before people |
|
God’s presence confirmed them |
God’s presence showed they were rejected |