1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. 5 He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.
9 But an evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, 10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” 16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?”
Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?’”
18 When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19 Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”;20 so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.
23 So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. 24 He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Points of Interest
- ‘Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David’--with none of his clever plans working, Saul dispenses with the subterfuge and simply orders a hit.
- ‘As surely as the LORD lives’--has Jonathan genuinely persuaded Saul, or has Saul simply learned he needs to keep his true intentions hidden from Jonathan? I can’t tell. At the very least, it buys some time. Saul doesn’t immediately assassinate David.
- 'Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear’--it’s gotten to the point that Saul takes victory in war as bad news. He’d rather lose to the Philistines than see David continue to succeed.
- ‘David made good his escape’--I guess even David can only tolerate so many spears thrust in his direction.
- ‘But Michal, David’s wife, warned him’--Saul is really on his own. Even his own son and daughter are on David’s side.
- ‘Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed’--we get an interesting glimpse into ancient Israelite home life. God had in no uncertain terms prohibited the Israelites from making idols, even as physical representations of himself. God wanted it to be clear that they were in an actual relationship with an actual living God; there was no need for imitations made of wood, metal, or stone. This was the first and most important of the Ten Commandments, the foundation of God’s alliance with the Israelites. Yet, it seems that in real, everyday life, things weren’t so clear. Even David and Michal have a life-sized idol in their home. Granted, they don’t seem too serious about it, since they’re willing to dress it up with goat’s hair and use it as a dummy.
- ‘he went to Samuel’--it’s Samuel who started this mess, after all. I don’t know whether David is going to Samuel for protection or guidance or both.
- 'the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men’--this is an unexpected form of defense. Saul and his men are so overcome by an impulse to speak God’s words that they can’t arrest David. I wonder what they are saying.
Taking it home
- For you: You have to wonder if hearing suddenly that he might be killed was a little panic-provoking for David, sending him into flustered crisis mode. In the end it proved to be a false alarm as God turned the terrible situation around. What have been the situations lately that have been sending you into panic mode? Ask God to take to any feelings of panic and despair away, and to turn whatever emergency situations you encounter this week around.
- For your six: Who do your six turn to when they are desperate or in trouble? Ask God to be their refuge in these times and to give them lots of people like Samuel to whom they can turn, and who will help point them toward God.
- For our church: Pray that God’s spirit would show up and follow our church around. Saul’s men weren’t exactly the good guys in this story. However, God doesn't seem to mind. Even as they actively tried to kill his chosen servants, they are still able to experience God’s presence. Pray that people who often find themselves hostile toward and on the outskirts of faith would find themselves suddenly experiencing God in tangible ways through our church like Saul’s men did. Pray that our church would be a place where everyone feels welcome and is able to connect with God.
- For families: Sometimes we have days when it feels like nothing is going right and everyone is against us. Can you remember a time like this? Spend some time sharing about tough days like this. How can we invite God into times like this? Have you ever done that? How did it turn out? Read Psalm 40:1-3 together to hear how David talks about this.
Psalm 40
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
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