David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war. It was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
As they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.
The women sang to one another as they played, and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have creditd David with ten thousands, and they have only credited me with thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?” Saul watched David from that day and forward. On the next day, an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; and Saul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice. Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and had departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him. When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them. Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh’s battles.” For Saul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.” David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, “You shall today be my son-in-law a second time.” Saul commanded his servants, “Talk with David secretly, and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore be the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and little known?”
The servants of Saul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.”
Saul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’ ” Now Saul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the deadline, David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him. Saul was even more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy continually. Then the princes of the Philistines went out; and as often as they went out, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 17, 19, 21, 23, 26, 27, 29, 30 That is, he prospered in all his doings.
That is, he prospered in all his doings.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–30 1Sa 18:5 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent…
1Sa 18:5 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
Ver. 5. And behaved himself wisely.] Or, Prospered, Virtute duce, comite fortuna. God will come, with a cornucopia in his hand, unto such as behave themselves wisely in a perfect way. {Psa 101:2}
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And Saul set him over the men of war.] Made him captain of his guard. Abner was general of the army.
And he was accepted in the sight of all the people.]. Virtue is very amiable and attractive. Aρετη quasi αιρετη: Aγαθον quasi αγαστον.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 David went out, upon military expeditions, of which that…
David went out, upon military expeditions, of which that word is oft used.
Set him over the men of war; gave him some considerable command in his army, though not the supreme.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv6, 12 Now begin David's troubles, and they not only tread…
Now begin David's troubles, and they not only tread on the heels of his triumphs, but take rise from them, such is the vanity of that in this world which seems greatest.
I. He was too much magnified by the common people. Some time after the victory Saul went a triumphant progress through the cities of Israel that lay next him, to receive the congratulations of the country. And, when he made his public entry into any place, the women were most forward to show him respect, as was usual then in public triumphs (Sa1 18:6), and they had got a song, it seems, which they sang in their dances (made by some poet or other, that was a great admirer of David's bravery, and was more just than wise, in giving his achievements in the late action the preference before Saul's), the burden of which was, Saul had slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Such a difference as this Moses made between the numbers of Ephraim and Manasseh, Deu 33:17.
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II. This mightily displeased Saul, and made him envy David, Sa1 18:8, Sa1 18:9. He ought to have considered that they referred only to this late action, and intended not to diminish any of Saul's former exploits; and that in the action now celebrated it was undeniably true that David, in killing Goliath, did in effect slay all the Philistines that were slain that day and defeated the whole army; so that they did but give David his due. It may be, he that composed the song only used a poetic liberty, and intended not any invidious comparison between Saul and David; or, if he did, it was below the great mind of a prince to take notice of such a reflection upon his personal honour, when it appeared that the glory of the public was sincerely intended. But Saul was very wroth, and presently suspected some treasonable design at the bottom of it: What can he have more but the kingdom? This made him eye David as one he was jealous of and sought advantages against (Sa1 18:9): his countenance was not towards him as it had been. Proud men cannot endure to hear any praised but themselves, and think all their honour lost that goes by themselves. It is a sign that the Spirit of God has departed from men if they be peevish in their resentment of affronts, envious and suspicious of all about them, and ill-natured in their conduct; for the wisdom from above makes us quite otherwise.
III. In his fury he aimed to kill David, Sa1 18:10, Sa1 18:11. Jealousy is the rage of a man; it made Saul outrageous against David and impatient to get him out of the way. 1. His fits of frenzy returned upon him. The very next day after he conceived malice against David the evil spirit from God, that had formerly haunted him, seized him again. Those that indulge themselves in envy and uncharitableness give place to the devil, and prepare for the re-entry of the unclean spirit, with seven others more wicked. Where envy is there is confusion. Saul pretended a religious ecstasy: He prophesied in the midst of the house, that is, he had the gestures and motions of a prophet, and humoured the thing well enough to decoy David into a snare, and that he might be fearless of any danger and off his guard; and perhaps designing, if he could but kill him, to impute it to a divine impulse and to charge it upon the spirit of prophecy with which he seemed to be animated: but really it was a hellish fury that actuated him. 2. David, though advanced to a much higher post of honour, disdained not, for his master's service, to return to his harp: He played with his hand as at other times. Let not the highest think any thing below them whereby they may do good and be serviceable to those they are obliged to. 3. He took this opportunity to aim at the death of David. A sword in a madman's hand is a dangerous thing, especially such a madman as Saul was, that was mad with malice. Yet he had a javelin or dart in his hand, which he projected, endeavouring thereby to slay David, not in a sudden passion, but deliberately: I will smite David to the wall with it, with such a desperate force did he throw it. Justly does David complain of his enemies that they hated him with a cruel hatred, Psa 25:19. No life is thought too precious to be sacrificed to malice. If a grateful sense of the great service David had done to the public could not assuage Saul's fury, yet one would think he should have allowed himself to consider the kindness David was now doing him, in relieving him, as no one else could, against the worst of troubles. Those are possessed with a devilish spirit indeed that render evil for good. Compare David, with his harp in his hand, aiming to serve Saul, and Saul, with his javelin in his hand, aiming to slay David; and observe the meekness and usefulness of God's persecuted people and the brutishness and barbarity of their persecutors. The bloodthirsty hate the upright, but the just seek his soul, Pro 29:10. 4. David happily avoided the blow twice (namely, now, and afterwards, Pro 19:10); he did not throw the javelin at Saul again, but withdrew, not fighting but flying for his own preservation; though he had both strength and courage enough, and colour of right, to make resistance and revenge the injury, yet he did no more than secure himself, by getting out of the way of it. David, no doubt, had a watchful eye upon Saul's hand, and the javelin in it, and did as bravely in running from it as he did lately in running upon Goliath. Yet his safety must be ascribed to the watchful eye of God's providence upon him, saving his servant from the hurtful sword; and by this narrow escape it seemed he was designed for something extraordinary.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him,.... About…
And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him,.... About any business whatsoever, especially about martial affairs, for which he was abundantly qualified:
and behaved himself wisely; in the management of them, using great prudence and discretion, and so failed not of success, and of recommending himself; the Targum renders it "prospering"; he was prosperous and successful in whatsoever he engaged, for the Lord was with him, and blessed him:
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and Saul set him over the men of war; that is, of some of them, gave him the command of a troop; for Abner was captain or general of the army, and continued so:
and he was accepted in the sight of all the people; of all the people in the land in general, of all that knew or heard of him; being looked upon as a wise, valiant, and successful commander, and which gained him the esteem and affection of the people:
and also in the sight of Saul's servants; which was very much, and a rare thing, for servants are too apt to envy such as are rising in their credit and reputation; though this must not be understood of all, without exception; but of the generality of them; nor is the word "all" used of them, as is of the people; for some of them took the part of Saul afterwards against David, and were secretly his enemies, see Sa1 18:22.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 26, 27, 30 Went - Upon military expeditions, of which that word…
Went - Upon military expeditions, of which that word is often used.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 21, 25, 27, 30 Verse 5. Set him over the men of war]…
Verse 5. Set him over the men of war] Made him generalissimo; or what we would call field marshal.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 25, 26, 28, 30 1Sa 18:5. David went out, &c. — Upon military…
1Sa 18:5. David went out, &c. — Upon military expeditions, of which that phrase is often used. And behaved himself wisely — Showed as much prudence in his conduct as he did courage. Saul set him over the men of war — Not over all, for Abner was general, as we speak, of all his forces; but he made him captain of his guard, or gave him some principal command in his army.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 8, 10, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 26 The Philistine - Rather as in the margin. The…
The Philistine - Rather as in the margin. The allusion is not to Goliath, but to one of the expeditions referred to in 1Sa 18:5.
Singing and dancing - Women used to dance to the sound of the timbrel, and to sing as they danced and played.
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(instruments of music The word means, an instrument like the triangle, or with three cords.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30 Prudently, or with success. (Calmet) --- Especially. Hebrew, "also,"…
Prudently, or with success. (Calmet) --- Especially. Hebrew, "also," which enhances his praise, as courtiers are but too apt to envy those who are taken from a low condition and set over them in the king’s favour. David must have displayed great wisdom and moderation. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv6, 9, 10, 13, 17, 20, 25, 26, 27, 29 SAUL ENVIES HIS PRAISE. (Sa1 18:5-9)
SAUL ENVIES HIS PRAISE. (Sa1 18:5-9)
the women came out of all cities of Israel--in the homeward march from the pursuit of the Philistines. This is a characteristic trait of Oriental manners. On the return of friends long absent, and particularly on the return of a victorious army, bands of women and children issue from the towns and villages, to form a triumphal procession, to celebrate the victory, and, as they go along, to gratify the soldiers with dancing, instrumental music, and extempore songs, in honor of the generals who have earned the highest distinction by feats of gallantry. The Hebrew women, therefore, were merely paying the customary gratulations to David as the deliverer of their country, but they committed a great indiscretion by praising a subject at the expense of their sovereign.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 DAVID’S HONOURS AND SAUL’S JEALOUSY, 1Sa_18:5-9.
DAVID’S HONOURS AND SAUL’S JEALOUSY, 1Sa_18:5-9.
After the battle, and after the covenant between Jonathan and David, the latter was advanced to great honour in the kingdom. The heart of the king, as well as that of the army, turned towards the heroic youth with one common feeling of gratitude and love. But the glories of this youthful warrior are soon to be clouded.
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5. Saul set him over the men of war — We have no data to determine the exact chronology of the events recorded in this verse. But his appointment over the men of war, and his going out in obedience to Saul’s orders, are probably identical with what is related in 1Sa_18:13-14. The writer seems to have inserted them here to show the immediate results of David’s victory and Jonathan’s friendship.
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Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, 30 5. David went out &c] David was appointed to…
5. David went out &c] David was appointed to some post of command, and “went out” upon military expeditions. In these “he behaved himself wisely”—the word combines the ideas of prudence and consequent success: and in spite of this sudden promotion, which might naturally have excited the jealousy of the courtiers, won their good-will. This verse anticipates, and describes summarily facts which are mentioned again in 1Sa_18:13-16 in their proper place.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30 (5) And he was accepted.—The historian here calls especial…
(5) And he was accepted.—The historian here calls especial attention to the strange power David was able to acquire over the hearts of men. It was not only over Saul and his great son that he rapidly won influence, but in the case of his colleagues at the Court and in the army, all of whom he was rapidly outstripping in the race for honour and distinction, he seems to have disarmed all jealousy. His rapid rise to high position was evidently looked upon with general favour. This is still farther enlarged upon in the next and following verses.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30 David went out. Ie. went on military expeditions (comp.…
David went out. Ie. went on military expeditions (comp. ver. 30). As the verb has thus a technical signification, it makes a complete sense, and the verse should be translated, "And David went forth (i.e. on warlike enterprises); whithersoever Saul sent him he prospered, and Saul set him over the men of war." These expeditions were not upon a very large scale; for it is not until ver. 13 that we read of David being made "captain over a thousand." Still, even while only a centurion in rank, yet, as being in constant attendance upon the king, he would often temporarily have the command of larger bodies of men, or would go on campaigns as one of the king"s officers. As it is mentioned that his promotion caused no envy because of his great merits, it follows that it was rapid enough to have given occasion to ill will under ordinary circumstances. Behaved himself wisely. This is the primary meaning of the verb; but as success is the result of wise conduct, it constantly signifies to prosper. This verse is a summary of events which may have occupied a very considerable space of time. It was only gradually that David"s fame became so great as to rouse all the worst feelings in Saul"s mind.
Vers. 5-11.
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Some dangers of persistent sin.
The facts are
1. David, behaving wisely in his public position, wins favour with thepeople, and in the welcome to him on his return from the battle the women ascribe to him, in their song, higher praise than to Saul.
2. The fact excites Saul"s envy henceforth.
3. In a fit of envious rage Saul seeks to smite David. The victory overGoliath brought Saul and David into a proximity highly favourable to the development of their respective characters. Their mutual influence acted powerfully on the main springs of life; and as these were so utterly different in moral quality, so the sequel reveals very diverse conduct, We have in this section an instance of
I MISINTERPRETED PROSPERITY. The decisive words of Samuel (1Sa_15:26) and his entire separation from Saul, (1Sa_15:34, 1Sa_15:35) as also the threatening attitude of the Philistines, were certainly enough to depress the spirit of the king; and his melancholy was but the outward sign to men of his painful secret. But the appearance of David, and the consequent defeat of the enemy, was an unlooked for gleam of light, and at once raised hopes which of late had been lost. He even set David over his men of war. The old prosperity was returning; the kingdom was saved; Saul was not dishonoured in battle. After all, with such helpers as David, might not the dreaded doom be avoided? Thus do we see a man, conscious of moral degeneracy, and sensible of being rejected, putting an interpretation on events according to his wishes, and not from a perception of their real bearing. The heart, when destitute of the spirit of true repentance, obstinately clings to unwarranted hope, and, by its own perverse ingenuity, obliterates or weakens the force of hard facts and moral. (1Sa_15:26-29) In the eye of God the recent victory was the public presentation of the "neighbour," as a preliminary to his supplanting Saul; in the eye of Saul it was the postponement, if not the rendering void, of the dreaded doom. The tendency thus to misinterpret facts is common to sinful men. An impenitent heart is unwilling to believe in the vindication of justice. Not being in moral sympathy with the purposes of God, it will not, if possible, see those purposes.in process of realisation. The very riches of goodness are perverted into an occasion for persistence in sin, (Rom_2:4) and the temporal prosperity of life, despite the voice of conscience and the clear word of God, is supposed to be a sign that the issue will not be so fearful as was anticipated. (Psa_10:6, Psa_10:11; Heb_2:3)
II THE SOUNDNESS AND the DEFECTS OF POPULAR INSTINCTS. The mass of the people were quick in recognising the fact that David was the hero of the day, and only expressed the real truth in ascribing to him his "ten thousands," and to Saul his "thousands." Their instincts led them to honour above the king the man who was proved to be better than the king. But while correct in their appreciation of fact, they had no adequate, if any, perception of the moral bearings of it. Samuel, probably Jesse, and a few other devout men, would trace in David"s exaltation of the "name of the Lord" (1Sa_17:45-47) a spiritual power and a spiritual man destined to work wonders for Israel. It is a good philosophy that trusts the popular mind in reference to the recognition of the broad facts of life. It is this faith which lies at the foundation of constitutional governments and the judicial administration of our own country. The common sense of mankind is a safe guide in ordinary matters of fact. But by reason of the low condition of man"s spiritual life, and his inveterate proneness to look at the "things that are seen," the mass of men do not recognise quickly the moral and spiritual bearings of facts. There is a moral and spiritual "intention," to use a logical term, in human facts; they carry with them qualities that determine the future; they exhibit to the spiritually enlightened powers that will germinate, and that, too, not always in the form desired by the populace. (Mat_16:3)
III THE LIABILITY OF MEN, WHEN WARRING AGAINST PROVIDENCE, TO FALL INTO NEW SINS. We have seen (1Sa_15:24-31) that Saul cherished impenitent feelings when told of his sin. As a consequence, he tried not to believe that the threatened disaster would come. One of the consequences of this mental condition was, that as soon as he heard the honest, popular approval of David"s prowess, he, dreading lest after all the decree might be fulfilled, eyed David as a rival, and fell into the grievous sin of ceaseless and cruel envy. The grievous character of this sin is seen if we notice its manifestation, and the main features are true of all envy.
1. It blinded him to actual facts. It was true that David had slain "his ten thousands," as compared with Saul"s "thousands;" but to the envious eye this was as though it were not. Its reality must not be tolerated. The Pharisees in like manner were wilfully blind to the fact that Christ had opened the eyes of the blind.
2. It led to the imputation of base motives. He at once charged David with readiness for treasonous designs on the kingdom. The pure man was deemed impure. This is the common practice of narrow and base men, as appeared in the instance of Joseph, (Gen_37:8, Gen_37:11) and of Christ. (Joh_7:20)
1. It made himself perfectly wretched. His life lost all joy and hope, and suspicion and fear entered in. And whoever falls into this sin finds that it slayeth him, (Job_5:2) and is as rottenness to the bones. (Pro_14:30)
2. It impelled to deeds of blood. The thrust of the javelin was virtual murder. The same process wrought in the heart of Cain, of the scribes and Pharisees (Mat_27:18; Mar_15:10) and is active in many who are guilty of no overt act. (1Jn_3:15) The dark thoughts, the unspoken intents of envious minds; who shall declare them? How true it is that he who hardeneth his heart, not bowing in true penitence, submissive to all God"s judgments, falleth into mischief (Pro_28:14) again and again, till at last he is destroyed suddenly and without remedy (Pro_29:1; cf. 1Sa_31:3, 1Sa_31:4)
General lessons:
1. All human judgments on the course of Providence are to be discounted in so far as sin is cherished in the life.
2. The key to the future of the individual and national life is to be sought inmoral conditions
3. It is important that the popular mind should be trained to estimate thingsin their moral relations.
4 . Christians should strive to be entirely free from the spirit of envy, both inrelation to worldly prosperity and to position in the Church of God (Psa_37:1; 1Co_13:4; 1Pe_2:1)
5 . In so far as we indulge in any envy we lay ourselves open to temptationsto further sins.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 18, 21, 29 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
1Sa_18:9-30
And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
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Davids enemy-Saul
It is the enmity of Saul which we are to consider--its beginning, its rapid growth, its deadly purpose. The excitement of the war being over, the king has time to think of himself, and he is filled with thoughts of his dethronement; and the envy of David eats into his heart so greedily that his old frenzy is brought on again. On the very next day his heart grew malicious toward David; the evil spirit seized him once more. Whether this was a diabolical possession or a mere mental malady the learned are not agreed. It seems to have partaken of both. There is too much of apparent nature in it to permit us to believe it was all spiritual, and there was too much of apparent spiritual in it to suffer us to believe it was all natural. This we know from the plain record: The Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. So that, negatively and positively, the hand of the Lord was in it. And yet he was eating the fruit of his own doings--given over, as Paul says, to a reprobate mind. But Sauls hate has not abated with the passage of the frenzy. The direct assault has failed, but there are surer methods in reserve. Men are cheap now to the king, who sees his crown in danger, and ten thousand slain or captured will not be missed if David but goes down with them. Yet again he fails. David can wield a thousand men as skilfully as he can swing his sling, and the king grows bitterer still. Saul learns that his other daughter loves this brilliant young captain, and it is surmised that her passion was returned, else the spirited soldier had not submitted so tamely to his twice winning and twice losing Merab. Not to gratify the heart of either does Saul give his consent now; he hopes that Michal may be a snare to him and the hand of the Philistine may be against him. He slyly mentions a dower--not directly, but through his courtiers--such as a poor man, skilled in fight, might give to a king, the procuring of which he surely thought would bring him his death. And his heart must have been filled with malignant joy as he heard that he and his men (his two or three attendants, not his ten hundred) bad sallied forth to slay one hundred men. But before the days were expired back be comes, bringing the designated trophies in double tale. But why pursue the disgraceful story further? Each defeat but fans the flame to greater fury, and Saul soon throws off the thin disguise with which he has marked his deadly purpose, and openly spake to Jonathan, his sons and to all his servants that they should kill David (1Sa_19:1.) At length the sad end came. The life that bad begun in such brilliant promise was closed by self-destruction. His enmity was fruitless, except in bitterness to himself and trouble to Israel. It could not set aside the plans of the Almighty: His counsel shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure. These are the practical lessons which the unrelenting enmity of Saul suggests.
(1) Beware of jealousy. Let the misery Saul brought upon himself remind us what a magazine of self-torture every human spirit contains; and no single disposition of the soul is more likely to touch off the magazine, and make of the heart a hell of wildest disorder and ever-dripping woe, than the disposition of envy, jealousy, and revenge. Jealousy may lead any man who listens to its suggestions into hatred as fierce, and opposition as malignant, and thoughts as deadly, and at last defiance of God as blasphemous, as Saul manifested.
(2) We are reminded by Sauls conduct how natural it is for a man to throw over on some other the blame of his own hurtful blunders or wilful misdeeds. Rarely, very rarely, do men go down by blunders all their own or wickedness springing from their own hearts. But for some other or others they bad been standing yet.
(3) Sauls case may warn us of the great danger of becoming embittered and revengeful when going down in prosperity and losing influence and honour. Men rarely stay long at the top. There is an established system of rotation in the universe as regards the tenure of its high places. Men may come down when at the height of their powers and opportunity, or they may stay up till waning powers tell them another must take the place. A blunder may give the start, or the scheming of others may do the work. But whatever causes it, let the declining man crucify his selfishness, curb his tongue from bitter words, and go down gracefully, sweetly, clothed in the kingly garments of dignified self-respect.
(4) As Saul warns of what may take men down, David teaches how to rise in the face of opposition that it would seem should stop our progress. He who fears God will have the favour of the Lord.
(5) We may see in Sauls fall and Davids rise that God cannot be thwarted in His purposes. In spite of Sauls javelin, in spite of Sauls wily scheming, in spite of his pursuing warriors, in spite of the fierceness of the Philistines, he was chosen of the Lord and must take the crown. Now, therefore, kings, be wise; be taught, ye judges of the earth; The Lord reigneth; He puts down one, and sets another up. (T. H. Hanna, D. D.)
The wicked jealous of the good
The incident teaches three things respecting good and bad men.
I. The wicked are often jealous of a good mans popularity. And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him. Sauls behaviour to David reveals the progress of jealousy in four stages.
1. There is anger. He was wroth.
2. There is envy. And Saul eyed him from that day.
3. There is madness. The evil spirit from God came upon him.
4. There is murder. And Saul east the javelin: for he said, I will smite David even to the wall.
It is a sure sign that the Spirit of God has left a man when he is jealous of his benefactor. Jealousy is a foolish passion, and inflicts self-injury. Jealousy is a wicked passion, and displeasing to God. Jealousy is a dangerous passion, and leads to the most fatal issues. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand against envy?
II. The wicked are often terrified by a good mans security. And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. Sin makes a man a coward. Tis doing wrong creates such fears as these, renders us jealous, and destroys our peace. Sauls fear led to the adoption of the most desperate measures to ruin David.
1. Saul resolves to dismiss David. Therefore Saul removed David from him, and made him his captain over a thousand. Saul wished to prevent David from gaining the affections of the courtiers, and also to excite against him the envy of his subordinates. In both intentions he was disappointed; for all Israel loved David.
2. Saul endeavours to provoke David. Sauls change of purpose in giving his daughter to Adriel was designed to wound Davids honour, and excite his resentment. David had just cause of complaint, but he did not utter a word of reproach against the glaring injustice.
3. Saul determines to kill David. Jealousy extorts the most costly sacrifices--gratitude, honour, affection. A bad man will barter away his own child to accomplish his ends. Under the promise of preferment there may lurk the most deadly designs. Fair words may proceed from a foul heart. The face may beam with the light of heaven, while the heart is inflamed with the passions of hell.
III. The wicked are often defeated by a good mans valour.
1. In this encounter David fulfils the kings stipulation.
2. In this encounter David thwarts the kings purpose.
3. In this encounter David wins the kings daughter. God can make the impediments that are thrown in the way of His children aids to their progress. The subtle and deadly designs of our enemies are among the ordained purposes of God. (J. T. Woodhouse.)
Sauls evil eye
I. Sauls envy. Selfishness, that root of bitterness filled him. And from it there sprang the baleful poison-breathing blossom, envy. What a sin is this! Men enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, but no pleasure in this--of all sins the most hateful. It is vexed at anothers good. It sickens to hear another praised. Base, it
Withers at anothers joy,
And hates the excellence it cannot reach.
Envy hath no holidays. Where it enters it poisons life. It is a very hell above ground. Let us beware. Let us not in this thing give place to the devil, but resist him. This Book has solemn warnings enough against this abominable sin. The first death in our world was brought about by it, when Cain, the devils patriarch, as an old wrier calls him, laid his cruel club on the innocent head of his brother Abel. It was the sin of Josephs brethren. The patriarchs, says St. Stephen, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt. It was the sin of Korah, who envied Moses, and of Ahab, who envied Naboth. And the crowning crime of history is put to its account, for the Pharisees for envy delivered our Lord to death.
II. Michaels deception. There was no need for the deception. It showed her distrust of God. It was wrong, and it led to a lie against the very man she loved. Better to die than to lie. You might as well steal from the rich to help the poor, as to seek by lies to help another. Trust in God and do the right and speak the right. Men may extenuate their falsehoods and call them white lies and grey fibs. But God frowns away the epithets. He will not acknowledge them. He bids us speak truth one to another. He declares that lying lips are an abomination to Him; that a lying tongue is but for a moment; that all liars will be excluded from the Heavenly and Eternal City of Truth and Glory.
III. Davids preservation.
1. From bodily peril he was preserved. As captain of a thousand guarding the frontier--a dangerous service; as proving his worthiness, by deeds of valour, of the hand of Merab. As escaping again and again and again, the hurled javelin that sought to pin him in death to the wall. As watched for by Sauls assassins; how imperilled, how preserved was David! Not by miracle. Human friendship helped him. Beautiful, magnanimous the pleading of Jonathan with Saul on his behalf. There was a true friend who worked for him with the patience and meekness of wisdom. And who, with word in season, shamed the king from his murderous purpose. So far did Jonathans oratory and Davids innocency together triumph in Sauls conscience. Thus, for a little while, a debtor to friendship and its successful plea, David had peace. Wifely love helped him. Michal refused to be, as Saul had hoped, a snare to her husband. She warned him of the men of blood that lay in wait for him. She let him down through a window, and he escaped.
4. His own valour helped him. Great had been his victory over Goliath. But more than this was needed. His alert and constant watchfulness helped him. When he struck his harp he was never so absorbed in the song as to be heedless of the king. On that javelin sceptre his eye indeed needed to be fixed!
6. Yet the Lord preserved him. For these were but the means by which worked for him the Almighty Preserver of men; the God who had set His love upon him.
7. He was preserved from spiritual peril. He was unharmed by prosperity. With much to flatter him into forgetfulness of his lowly origin, to tempt him into the airs and assumptions of pride, he walked humbly because he walked with God. (G. T. Coster.)
The discipline of an anointed man
Keep in mind the undoubted anointing of David, and then see what untoward and heartbreaking experiences may befall men whom God has sealed as the special objects of His favour and the high ministers of His empire. Given, a man called of God to a great work, and qualified for its execution, to find the providences which will distinguish his course. A child might answer the easy problem: His career will be brilliant--his path will be lined with choice flowers--he will be courted, blessed, honoured on every hand. Look at the history of David for a contradiction of this answer. We shall find persecution, hatred, difficulty, hunger, cold, loneliness, danger upon danger; yet he who endures them all is an anointed man--a favourite of heaven. The history, so far as we shall be able to trace it, shows four things respecting the discipline of an anointed man:--
I. That great honours are often followed by great trials. These trials not to be looked at in themselves, but in their relation to the honours which went before. Imagine a garden discussing the year as if it were all winter. Look at the temptation assailing David, in the fact that he alone had slain the enemy of Israel. Something was needed on the other side to chasten his feeling. Men must be taught their weakness as well as their power.
II. That great trials generally bring unexpected alleviations. The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. The love of one true soul may keep us from despair. Love is fertile and energetic in device, See what Jonathan did. Love is more than a match for mere power. Love is most valued under such circumstances as Davids. There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
III. That no outward trials can compare in severity with the self-torment of wicked men. We are apt to think that Saul did all the mischief, and David suffered it. That is an incomplete view of the case, Saul was himself the victim of the cruellest torment.
IV. That great trials, though calling for self-scrutiny, may not call for self-accusation. This is a point which should be put with great delicacy, because we are too apt to exempt ourselves from self-reproach. The question which the tried man generally asks himself is, What have I done? Days of misery have been spent in brooding ever that inquiry. The question is only good so far as it goes. It should be succeeded by another--What is God doing? Imagine the silver in the refining fire asking, What have I done?--not knowing that it is being prepared to adorn the table of a king! Imagine the field asking, What have I done, that the plough should cut me up? We are strong only so far as we see a Divine purpose in the discipline of our life. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. Let patience have her perfect work. We are polished by sharp friction. We are refined by Divine fire. Sorrow gives the deepest, and sweetest tone to our sympathy. We should be driven mad by uninterrupted, ever-augmenting prosperity. Over every jealous soul the hand of the Lord is omnipotent. Look at Saul, and the case of David is hopeless: look beyond him, and see how by a way that he knew not the shepherd was being trained to be mighty among kings, and chief of all who sing the praises of God. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The great persecution
The king of Israel has fairly entered on a course of stern hostility to David. With the history of this ruling purpose his whole subsequent career is darkened.
1. The deadly nature of Sauls enmity. A less thorough tyrant would at the most have deemed confinement retribution stern enough for the crimes of personal bravery, prudent conduct, a happy successfulness given by God, and a high popularity with the people. But Sauls enmity, once kindled, could be quenched only by blood. Jealousy is cruel as the grave. With Saul, as with all tyrants in whom conscience is not quite dead, and fear is keenly alive, it was felt as a desperate necessity that he should proceed to extremities. And so he sought the life of David. Nothing lower would content him. And from that inner hall where the jealous monarch nursed his wrath, the password went that David be destroyed. The persevering obstinacy of it. The proofs of this are mournfully abundant. It may be measured by the plans it contrived, the time during which it lasted, and the obstacles which it overcame.
2. The plans which it contrived. A device to make him fall by the sword of the Philistines. But how sad is the picture of an unnatural father sacrificing the domestic affections at the shrine of his kingly jealousy! Making a daughters love the vehicle of vengeance on its object! A state alliance for mere political purposes is bad enough; but to make holiest feelings the slaves, not of public interest, but of private resentment, is immeasurably worse. He assails him again with his own hand, and sends secret agents to his house to slay him. He escaped to Samuel. Two companies of messengers were despatched in pursuit. Yes, from the very horns of the altar the relentless king would drag his victim. But a mighty interposition came from the invisible to shield the innocent.
3. The time during which it lasted. The usual calculations make it eight or nine years. This surely is too brief a period to admit of occurrences so important, numerous, and varied as the history contains. But assuming the accuracy of the estimate, how tenacious must have been the life of a resentment which reigned so long! Time, the great soother of strife, lost here its mellowing charm. The dark passion seems to have wrapped his soul in perpetual gloom, and to have become to him a second nature.
4. The obstacles it surmounted. The monitions of his own conscience; the high character and deserved popularity of David; the immense and ceaseless trouble, and the neglect of grave public duties, involved in pursuing the fugitive. How stern and settled that resentment which so quickly quenched all soft emotion, and craved still for the blood of the brave, forbearing, and generous youth. We shudder at a passion, so fierce, sullen, and enduring. We cannot help discerning in it the malevolent working of hellish inspiration. Sauls forfeiture of the kingdom was absolute and irreparable. It was emphatically pronounced, more than once, by Him who cannot lie. And yet this poor worm of the dust dares to plant himself in the way, dares to conceive deliberately the design of arresting that series of events, thereby to defeat the purpose of Him who is great in counsel and mighty in work, and throw upon the majesty of heaven the ignominy of a conspicuous failure. Amazing fact! Language cannot express the enormity. By what name shall we call it? Infatuation? Madness? Impiety? It is all three in one. To attempt plucking the stars from their seats, or stopping the tidal flow, were not greater madness than to strike at him who is shielded by omnipotence. To blaspheme in words the sacred name of God. Were not more daring impiety than to offer proud and obstinate resistance to His will. To profane and prostitute thus the time, faculties, and privileges He has given is to make life one great oath. (P. Richardson. B. A.)
Looking for the black side
And Saul eyed David--that is to say, cast an askance vision at him; thought mean things of him; was sure there was a black side in him, and steadily looked for it. Saul allowed this looking for the black side in David to become a settled habit of his life. How sad the habit! And the seat of it was a mean, miserable envy. Remember those wise words which the wise Lord Bacon said of envy: Envy is the worst of all passions, and feedeth upon the spirits, and they again upon the body; and so much more because it is perpetual, and, as it is said, keepeth no holidays. And this looking upon the black side is not an altogether ancient failing. Some people steadily look for the black side in other people. This, as we have just been saying, became Sauls way. Saul therefore perpetually misinterpreted David. One is pretty apt to see what one is bound to see. I have been in India for many a year, and I never saw a native Christian the whole time. So spoke a colonel on board a steamer going to Bombay. Some days afterward the same colonel was telling of his bunting experience, and said that thirty tigers had fallen to his rifle. Did I understand you to say thirty, colonel? asked a missionary at the table. Yes, sir, thirty, replied the officer. Because, pursued the missionary, I thought perhaps you meant three. No, sir, thirty. Well, now, that is strange; I have been in India twenty-five years and I never saw a wild live tiger all the while. Very likely not, sir, said the colonel, but that is because you did not look for them. Perhaps it is so, admitted the missionary; but was not that the reason you never saw a native convert? So it is, one sees pretty generally what one is bound to see, tigers or Christians; and if one is bound to see a tiger, even though there may be no tigers in his country, he can imagine one easily enough, and that, so far as be is concerned, amounts to the same thing. (W. Hoyt, D. D.)
Pride of rivalry
Ciceros natural place was at Caesars side; but to Caesar alone of his contemporaries be was conscious of an inferiority which was intolerable to him. In his own eyes he was always the first person. He had been made unhappy by the thought that posterity might rate Pompey above himself. Closer acquaintance had reassured him about Pompey, but in Caesar he was conscious of a higher presence, and he rebelled against the humiliating acknowledgment. (Froudes Caesar.)
Jealousy denies justice to others
Napoleon the First absolutely detracted from the merits of his bravest marshals, and was as jealous of fame as a woman or a poet; whilst Oliver Goldsmith used to fume and fret, nay, would ridiculously interrupt the company when he found the praises and attention lavished on his friend, Dr. Johnson, were too strong for his jealous heart. (H. O. Mackay.)
Cruelty of envy
Dionysius the tyrant, out, of envy, punished Philoxinius the musician because he could sing, and Plato, the philosopher, because he could dispute better than himself. (Plutarch.)
Tyranny of self
The friendly biographer of the artist Gustave Dore says of him: He never heard of any other artists success without brooding over it jealously and unhappily. He was ever on the qui vive of envious excitement, and lived with the constant fear gnawing his vitals that any day someone might come to the front and eclipse him. So the sin of selfishness always in the end punishes the soul that indulges it. It comes like Herodias, a dazzling creature, yet intent on blood. There is no cruelty like the cruelty of sin even to the sinner himself. (H. O. Mackay.)
Envy the parent of crime
Cambyses, king of Persia, slew his brother because the latter could draw a stronger bow than himself; and Caligula, the Roman emperor, put his brother to death because he was specially handsome.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v5 1Sa_18:5. “David went out.” “That this refers to war…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_18:5. “David went out.” “That this refers to war and not to general business is plain, not only from the following account, which mentions not only military undertakings for Saul, but also from the statement of the position of general which he received in consequence of his success.” (Erdmann).
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1Sa_18:6. “When David was returned.” “The as they came refers to the return of the whole army from the happily-ended war (comp. 1Sa_17:53); at the same time is mentioned David’s return, with especial reference to this victory over Goliath, which had determined the successful issue of the war, in order to bring into its proper historical connection the honour which then accrued to him. This return of David, therefore (along with the whole army), is not synchronous with his return to Saul in 1Sa_17:57 immediately after the killing of the giant, but occurred after the victory over the whole Philistine army was completed.… There is, therefore, no contradiction between the statement that Saul kept David by him and gave him a military command, and the following statement that in consequence of the honour shown David he conceived a lasting hatred against him” (Erdmann). “The women came out.” “This is a characteristic trait of Oriental manners. On the return of friends long absent, and particularly on the return of a victorious army, bands of women and children issue from the towns and villages to form a triumphal procession to celebrate the victory, and as they go along, gratify the soldiers with dancing, instrumental music, and extempore songs, in honour of the generals who have earned the highest distinction” (Jamieson). “Tabrets, or timbrels.” “Musical instruments resembling the modern tambourine.” “Joy.” “This word, standing between two instruments of music, must denote the joyful cry which accompanied the beating of the tabrets” (Erdmann). “Instruments of music,” rather “triangles.”
1Sa_18:9. “Eyed him.” “Looked askance at him.” (Kiel.)
1Sa_18:10. “He prophesied.” Rather, “he raved” (so Keil and Erdmann). “Saul’s condition is neither that of simple madness nor that of true prophecy. He is under the control of a power higher than himself, but it is an evil power. For the precise expression of this supernaturally-determined condition of mind and soul, in which the whole spiritual energy of the man moves freely, yet in a sphere into which it is supernaturally brought, becoming for the time one with the spirit, the Hebrew has no other word than naba, and the English no other word than prophecy.” (Translator of Lange’s Commentary.)
1Sa_18:11. “Saul cast the javelin.” “David’s eluding him twice presupposes that Saul hurled the javelin twice, that is to say, he probably swung it twice without letting it go out of his hand—a supposition which is raised into certainty by the fact that it is not stated here that the javelin entered the wall, as in 1Sa_19:10.” (Keil.) “If Saul actually threw the spear, we could not understand David’s twice retiring. Saul held the spear in his hand, and David stood so near him that he could save himself only by withdrawing.” (Bunsen.)
1Sa_18:13. “Captain over a thousand.” This is a different military position from that mentioned in 1Sa_18:5; whether it was a promotion cannot be determined.
1Sa_18:19. “Adriel the Meholathite.” Nothing is known of this man.
1Sa_18:21. “In the one of the twain.” Literally, in two. Some commentators therefore understand that Saul offers his two daughters to David, purposing to take Merab from Adriel, and so lead David to make a double marriage. But the words may be rendered “a second time,” and Kiel renders it “In a second way thou mayest become my son-in-law.”
1Sa_18:22. “Saul commanded his servants.” David evidently paid no attention to Saul’s second proposal, having so recently proved his fickleness with regard to Merab. Saul is therefore obliged to employ some of his courtiers to persuade David.
1Sa_18:25. “Desireth not any dowry.” “In Eastern countries the husband purchases his wife either by gifts or service. As neither David nor his family were in circumstances to give a suitable dowry for a princess, the king intimated that he would be graciously pleased to accept some gallant deed in the public service.” (Jamieson.) “Foreskins.” Why not heads? Here is a sign of Saul’s suspicious and malignant spirit; he, judging from himself, impiously suspected that David would go forth and destroy some of the Israelites, Saul’s own subjects, as he himself desired to destroy David, his own deliverer; and the foreskins were required as a proof that they who were killed were not Israelites. This passage, and 2Sa_1:20, where the Philistines are styled “the uncircumcised,” seems directly at variance with a well-known statement by Herodotus of the fact that circumcision was practised, not only by the Egyptians and Ethiopians, but by the Syrians of Palestine and the Phœnicians. But the two statements, though apparently conflicting, are capable of becoming adjusted. Subsequently to the time of Saul a great change took place in the population of the Philistine cities, and a considerable Egyptian element practising circumcision had probably been introduced.” (Jamieson.)
1Sa_18:26. “The days were not expired;” that is, “the time to the marriage, or the time set by Saul for the performance of the warlike deed.” (Erdmann.)
1Sa_18:30. “The princes of the Philistines went forth” “To battle, in order to avenge David’s act, and perhaps supposing (as the Rabbis suggest) that according to the Hebrew law he would claim exemption from warfare for a year after his marriage.” (Wordsworth.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Sa_18:5-30
DAVID’S ADVANCEMENT AND SAUL’S DECLINE
I. The method of David’s external elevation. It may be regarded as a general social law, that men who possess gifts which fit them for prominent and powerful positions amongst their fellow men, find their way sooner or later to those positions. And, although we recognise the operation of an overruling and Divine Providence in this fact, in relation to all men, yet it is not accomplished by any special interposition of the hand of God, but is the outcome of a natural law. The generality of men can discern, and are willing to acknowledge real greatness in their fellow creatures, and a man who is worthy of honour will, as a rule, be honoured. And if his social position has been an obscure one, he will soon be called to fill one which is more prominent. But the first step in his elevation will be in the hearts and consciences of his fellow men, and the other will follow as a necessary consequence. David’s exaltation in the estimation of the people must have begun immediately after his victory over Goliath, and therefore, before Saul conferred any distinction upon him. He was elevated by the homage of his fellow-subjects before he was set over them by the king, and it is not unlikely the known sentiment of the nation had some influence upon Saul’s treatment of him. For at this period the external honours bestowed by the monarch seem to have kept pace with the growing esteem of the people, and to have been the seal of their regard. Even the courtiers, who were the most likely to be displeased with this new favourite of the king and people, “accepted” the youthful shepherd boy, and veteran warriors yielded to him their willing obedience. The whole narrative is a lesson on the only effectual means of obtaining elevation in life, namely, to seek to deserve it.
II. The method of Saul’s internal downfall. Although this chapter leaves Saul where it finds him as to external position, yet it gives in detail some of the steps by which he descended from one moral platform of character to others lower and lower still. As David grew more and more fitted for the position he was to fill, so Saul, by the deterioration of his character, became more and more disqualified to be king of Israel. He reveals himself first as a jealous man. It became more and more apparent to him that David’s popularity was increasing, and the inevitable consequence of allowing his mind to dwell upon this fact was the awakening within him of, perhaps, the most tormenting passion that can dwell in a human soul. It is not an easy thing for a man to feel no bitterness of spirit when he finds that another is gradually displacing him from a position of influence and honour which was once exclusively his own, and that the esteem and love which have hitherto been accorded to him are now being transferred to a successor. It requires great self-abnegation, and much unselfish love, to enable anyone in such circumstances to say without a pang, “He must increase, but I must decrease,” and the task is difficult in proportion as the man who is being supplanted feels that he deserves to be so. Saul must have felt that it was his own lack of faith and obedience that had alienated the confidence of Israel, but he was only mortified, not humbled, by the consciousness. In such a state of mind he could not see David’s rise without that painful sense of his own loss which constitutes jealousy. The step from jealousy to envy is soon taken. When impatience of rivalry developes into hatred of the rival the more deadly demon of envy has taken hold of the man, and when he yields himself to its sway no crime is too great for him to commit. A man may invite into his home a visitor of questionable character, and offer him a seat at his board and at his fireside, and feel confident that no harm will come of it. But he may one day find that he has been entertaining his murderer. It behoves us to beware whom we admit into our house, but it is far more important that we should beware what feelings we harbour in our minds, and many a man who has at first only admitted jealousy as a passing guest has found to his cost that he has by so doing given place to a devil that has murdered his happiness, and perhaps ruined his character entirely. It was so with Saul. He had already taken more than one downward step, and now, by yielding to jealousy and envy, he descends lower still. For envy soon transforms him into a murderer in intention, though not in action, and henceforward gives him no rest, but hurries him on from one desperate act to another, until he becomes his own murderer on the mountains of Gilboa. Probably no human life whose history has been recorded reads to us so plainly as Saul’s the terribly fatal consequences that may be involved in the first departure from the path of right. The man who, in his early public life, revealed a noble indifference to personal wrongs (chaps. 1Sa_10:27; 1Sa_11:13), became in after years a miserable slave to envy, and allowed this passion so to rule him that the one aim of his life became the murder of an innocent man and of one whom he knew was especially honoured and approved by God.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
In the character-pictures which it represents to us (as is clear in the history of Saul and David), Holy Scripture never exhibits a pause in religious-moral life, but always holds up the mighty “Either.” … “Or,” which man has to decide,—either forward on the way in which man walks at the hand of God with giving up of his own will and humble obedience to the will of God, or backwards with uncheckable step, when man puts God’s guidance from him, and, following his own will, suffers not God’s will to be accomplished in, on, and through himself.—Lange’s Commentary.
We can scarcely conceive of a single trying situation in life in which David, at some period of his earthly course, did not find himself placed. Even for his own sake, that he might not be too much elevated by the abundant favours that were heaped upon him, he stood in need of being continually reminded of his dependence on Him who dwells in the high and holy place, and with those who are of broken and contrite spirit. Besides this, however, David was to become, even for thousands of years, a beloved and comforting companion to the oppressed and the miserable of every kind, and therefore from him must no cup of affliction pass untasted. Through what depths of affliction might not his way have led him? But into every darkness which cast its shadow around him the light of the opened heavens penetrated; and after every storm which raged against him there followed the gentle breathings of Divine consolation, that all his followers on their pathway of sorrow might thereby be encouraged. Thus is he qualified for being the harper for all afflicted and oppressed souls, just as he once was for the king of Israel; and to this day it is true, that wherever the melody of his psalms sounds and echoes in the heart, there the shadows of sorrow and sadness are scattered, and courage, and peace, and joy return and take possession of the soul.—Krummacher.
We may gather up some lessons for our modern life from this ancient chapter of sacred history.
In the first place we may see the evil of centring our thoughts and plans entirely on ourselves. This was the root of Saul’s misery. He was one of the most ardent selfists that ever lived. He had made self his god. He looked only and always at his own interests. “How will this affect me?” was his constant question as each new event transpired; and whensoever he imagined that he was to be injured by any other man’s elevation or advancement, he was stirred up to seek his ruin. Thus he was ever moody and unhappy. He hugged himself to his heart, and as a punishment God left him to himself, and no companionship could have been more miserable.
We may see here, in the second place, that the servant of God may expect to encounter adversity in an early stage of his career. David was not to be cradled for his future work in the lap of luxury. He was “to learn in suffering what he taught in song.” He was not to be like “a bird on a bough, singing forth free and offhand, never knowing the troubles of other men;” but, led through trials of his own, he was stimulated and inspired to sing of them in strains which, because they came “from the heart of man, speak to all men’s hearts.”
Lastly, we may learn here that the wisest course in time of danger is to do faithfully our daily duty, and leave our case with God. David went about his work, behaved himself wisely, and let God take care of him. On other occasions, as we shall see, he had sometimes recourse to questionable expedients and sinful practices, for self-protection; but in the present instance he walked steadily on in the right path.—Dr. W. M. Taylor.
1Sa_18:6. A patriotic celebration of the victory in Israel was certainly now in every respect appropriate; but it ought to have been of another altogether different and more worthy sort than that now celebrated by the people. The songs of praise ought to have ascended before all to the Lord, who, for this end, made use of the humble, unarmed shepherd boy as his instrument, that he might so much the more make it distinctly appear that it was his arm of almighty power which had saved Israel. The people mistook this, and they idolised the instrument. But is not this very error, which lamentably proves a deep estrangement from God, a conspicuous feature of the present generation, which has invented the expression, “hero-worship,” and among whom we not seldom see this deification of men rise up even to madness? Well and good: let men celebrate their heroes, immortalise their memory in monuments, weave laurel crowns for all who have made themselves serviceable to the common weal, or who have extended the empire of elevating and salutory ideas by the power of their creative mental endowments,—only let them not forget first to give praise to the Father of Spirits for all that is great and noble and rich in blessing, which the children of men accomplish; for from him cometh down every good and every perfect gift; and, above all others, let them render to him, in prostrate humility, the homage which is his due; let them keep in moderation the rendering of praise to mortal men.—Krummacher.
1Sa_18:9. For every great and good work a man must expect to be envied by his neighbour; no distinction or pre-eminence can be so unexceptionally obtained, but it will expose the possessor to slander or malice, and perhaps to the most fatal consequences. But such trials are very useful to those who love God; they serve as a counterpoise to the honour put upon them, and check the growth of pride and attachment to the world; they exercise them to faith, patience, meekness, and communion with God; they give them a fair opportunity of exemplifying the amiable nature of true godliness, by acting with wisdom and propriety in the most difficult circumstances; they make way for increasing experience of the Lord’s faithfulness, in restraining their enemies, raising them up friends, and affording them His gracious protection.—Scott.
1Sa_18:10. “Saul,” says the history, “betook himself to prophesying; i.e., there appeared in him the dark image of that agitation under which the prophets poured forth their discourses and sayings when overpowered by the might of the Holy Spirit, which for the moment raised them, if not above their own consciousness, at least above their understanding. Saul wandered and raged about his palace like one bereft of reason, and saw in his unbelieving imagination, full of suspicious, visions which at one time made him tremble and shudder, and at another hurried him on to madness and wild outbreaks of passion.
Were it granted us, in our own immediate circles of society, to look everywhere behind the curtain, how often would such-like scenes meet our view—scenes of wild overflowings of a wounded sense of honour, or of unbridled anger because of some loss sustained, or of burning and heart-consuming envy, so that we could not forbear to use the expression “demoniacal” as fittingly designating such paroxysms.—Krummacher.
1Sa_18:12. One would have thought rather, that David should have been afraid of Saul, because the devil was so strong with him, than that Saul should be afraid of David, because the Lord was with him; yet we find all the fear in Saul of David, none in David of Saul. Hatred and fear are ordinary companions. David had wisdom and faith to dispel his fears; Saul had nothing but infidelity, and dejected, self-condemned, distempered thoughts, which must needs nourish them; yet Saul could not fear any hurt from David, whom he found so loyal and serviceable; he fears only too much good unto David; and the envious fear is much more than the distrustful.—Bp. Hall.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v5 1 Samuel
1 Samuel
A SOUL’S TRAGEDY
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1Sa 18:5 - 1Sa 18:16.
1Sa 18:5 anticipates 1Sa 18:13 - 1Sa 18:16. It is the last verse of a section which interrupts the even flow of the story, and which is absent from the Septuagint. 1Sa 18:6 follows immediately on 1Sa 17:54 in that version. Taking that verse as our starting-point, we have three stages in Saul’s growing hatred and awe of the young champion, and of David’s growing influence and reputation. It is deeply tragic to watch the gradual darkening of the once bright light, side by side with the irresistible increase in brilliance of the new star. ‘He must increase, but I must decrease,’ became Saul’s bitter conviction; but instead of meekly accepting the necessity, his gloomy spirit struggled against it, like stormy waves against a breakwater, and, like them, was shivered into foam in the vain effort.
I. The first stage was Saul’s jealousy of David’s fame as a warrior. The returning victorious army was met, in Oriental fashion, by a triumphal chorus of women, with their shrill songs, accompanied by the dissonant noises which do duty for music to Eastern ears. The words of their chant were startlingly and ominously plain-spoken, and became more emphatic and insulting in Saul’s ears, because they were sung by two answering bands, one of which rang out, ‘Saul hath slain his thousands,’ while the other overtopped them by pealing out still more loudly and exultantly, ‘And David his ten thousands.’ To be brought into comparison with this unknown stripling was bitter enough, but to be used as a foil to set off his superiority was too much to be borne. There are few men, holding high places in any walk of life, who could have stood such a comparison without wincing. Suppose a great soldier in our day, coming home from a successful campaign, and having his prowess dimmed in every newspaper by the praises lavished on a young lieutenant who had done some brave feat that caught the public fancy- would he be likely to be in a very amiable mood towards either the singers or the object of their triumphal songs? Do great authors rejoice in the rising of young reputations that dim theirs? or do great orators smile when some ‘boy’ takes the public ear more than they do? Poor Saul had to drink the bitter cup, which all who love the sweet draught of popular applause have sooner or later to taste; and we need not think him a monster of badness because he found it bitter.
It will be more to the purpose that we take care lest we do the very same thing in our little lives and humble spheres; for envy and jealousy of those who threaten to out-shine, or in any way to out-do, us is not confined to people in high places or with great reputations. The roots of them are in us all, and the only way to keep them from growing up rank is to think less of our reputation and more of our duty, to count it a very small matter what men think of us, and the all-important matter what God thinks.
Saul was moved, too, by the consciousness that he had been really deposed by Jehovah, and was only a phantom king, and, as his angry soliloquy shows, what troubled him most in the women’s song was that it pointed to David as likely to come in and rob him, not only of glory, but of the kingdom. Ever since Samuel had pronounced his rejection, his uneasy eyes had been furtively scanning men for his possible supplanter, and no wonder that his gloomy suspicions focussed themselves on the gallant youth, who conquered men’s hearts and made women’s tongues eloquent in his praise. Stormy and dark as Saul’s nature had become, and grave as had been his failure to be worthy of the monarchy, one cannot but feel the infinite pathos and pity of his life.
II. The second stage was the attempt on David’s life. 1Sa 18:10 - 1Sa 18:11, which record it, are not in the Septuagint, and the narrative does run more smoothly without them. But if they are retained, they show how the moody suspicion with which Saul ‘eyed David’ came to a swift, murderous climax. He stands as a terrible example of how suspicion and jealousy, working in a nature utterly without self-control, transport it into the wildest excesses. In the strange phraseology of 1Sa 18:9, ‘an evil spirit from God’ laid hold of him, dominating his personality. The writer of this book felt that God was the ultimate cause of all things, and that all beings were under His control; and his devout recognition of that fact led him to the apparent paradox of tracing an ‘evil spirit’ to God. But we must not be so startled as to overlook the truth that Saul had prepared the fit abode for that evil spirit by his own indulgence in a whirl of sinful passions and acts, and that these were punished by their ‘natural’ consequence. Any man who lets his own baser nature have full fling invites the devil. Saul had what would now be called a paroxysm of insanity. But perhaps the modern medical phrase is not to be preferred to the old scriptural one. The former is innocent of any explanation of the fact which it designates, and it may possibly be that insanity is sometimes, even now, ‘possession.’ At all events, since science gives no explanation of it, and a great dim region of consciousness is now being recognised,-’subliminal,’ to speak in the new phraseology,-he is a bold man who ventures to deny that possibility.
But be that as it may, what a striking picture is given of Saul, worn with passion and swept away by ungovernable impulses, ‘prophesying’ or ‘raving’ with wild gestures and uttering wilder sounds; and of David, young, calm, giving forth melodies on his harp and songs from his lips, that sought to soothe the paroxysms of fury. Browning has drawn the picture in immortal words, which all who can should read. It has been suggested that Saul did not ‘cast’ his spear, but only brandished it in his fierce threat to pin David to the wall. But the youthful harper would scarcely have ‘avoided out of his presence’ for a mere threat and the flourish of a lance; and a man, raging mad and madly hostile, would not be likely to waste breath in mere threats. The attempt was more probably a serious one, and the spear, flung by an arm made stronger than ever by insane hatred, quivered in the wall very near the lithe athlete who had agilely escaped it. Envy, allowed to have its way, becomes murderous. Let us suppress its beginning. A tiger pup can be held in and its claws cut, but a full-grown tiger cannot.
III. The third stage is Saul’s getting rid of David. The growing awe of him is marked in verses 1Sa 18:12 and 1Sa 18:15, and the word in the latter verse is stronger than that in the former. It is a pathetic picture of the gradual creeping over a strong man of a nameless terror. Ever-thickening folds of cold dread, like a wet mist, wrap a soul once bright and energetic. And the reason is twofold: first, that God had left that tempestuous, rebellious soul because it had left Him; and second, that, in its desolate solitude, in which there was no trace of softening or penitence, that lightning-riven soul knew that the sunshine, which it had repelled, was now pouring on David. Saul’s suspicions were hardened into certainties. He was sure now that what his jealousy had whispered, when the women chanted their chorus, was grim fact. And he could but helplessly watch his supplanter’s steady advance in favour with men and God. The two processes of growing darkness and growing light go on side by side in the two men, and each makes the other more striking by contrast. Twice is it repeated that Saul was in awe of David. Twice is it repeated that Jehovah was with David, and that he ‘behaved himself wisely,’ which last statement includes in the Hebrew word both the idea of prudence and that of success. So, on the one hand, there is a steady growth in all good, godly, and happy qualities and experiences; and on the other, a tragical increase of darkness and gloom, godlessness and despair. And yet Saul had begun so well! And Saul might have been what David was,- companioned by God, prosperous, and the idol of his people. Two souls stand side by side for a moment on the same platform, with the same divine goodness and love encircling them, and the one steadily rises, while the other steadily sinks. How awful are the endless possibilities of progress in either direction that lie open for every soul of man!
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v17 Saul Plans to have David Removed
Saul Plans to have David Removed
v. 17. And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife, in fufilling the promise which was well known to all the soldiers of the army, 1Sa 17:25; only be thou valiant for me, distinguished for courage, and fight the Lord’s battles. This was not a condition, but an obligation laid upon David, Saul taking this opportunity to impress the younger man with his zeal for the people of God and with the necessity of thwarting the evil intentions of the heathen neighbors. "But behind this proper language of Canaan was hid Saul’s cunning and wickedness towards David. " (Lange. ) For Saul said, namely, within himself, this was the thought which urged him on, Let not mine hand be upon him, it would have been a dangerous matter for him to take the life of David outright, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him; Saul hoped that David would at some time fall in battle, and that the desired end would thus be obtained.
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v. 18. And David said unto Saul, in true modesty, without the least suspicion of Saul’s guile, Who am I? and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king? David implied that neither his own person nor his position in life, nor his family connections made him worthy of the honor offered him by the king.
v. 19. But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David that she was given unto Adriel, the Meholathite, to wife. It was simply a whim of Saul’s which caused him to break his promise to David, for he grew more capricious as the years went by.
v. 20. And Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him, this turn of affairs promised to fit well with his plans.
v. 21. And Saul said, I will give him her that she may be a snare to him, serve as a bait or lure to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him; he had a scheme in mind which would surely be successful. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in the one of the twain, literally, "The second time thou shalt become my son-in-law," namely, first by the betrothal to Merab, the second time by the actual marriage to Michal.
v. 22. And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, as if they did it without the king’s knowledge, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee; now, therefore, be the king’s son-in-law. The offer was pure hypocrisy, and all the more revolting since it was a part of the king’s scheme to destroy David through Michal’s love.
v. 23. And Saul’s servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David, remembering his first experience with Saul, said, Seemeth it to you a light thing, a small matter, to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed? His experience in the matter of Merab had impressed upon him once more the great distance between his station and the honored position for which he was supposed to strive, and being a poor man, it was hardly possible for him to pay the dowry or morning gift expected of a suitor.
v. 24. And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David, stating the objections advanced by David.
v. 25. And Saul said, still with the same anxiety to attain his object, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, taken, of course, from their dead bodies, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines; he was sure that this scheme to put David out of the way could not fail.
v. 26. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law, especially since he was to win Michal by a heroic achievement; and the days were not expired, that is, the period set by Saul for obtaining the morning-gift.
v. 27. Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, the thousand of whom he was commander, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, counted them out in full number, not only those required, but the hundred extra ones as a free gift, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, to wife. His hostile schemes being thwarted once more, he was obliged to fulfil his promise.
v. 28. And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, it was so obvious that he could not close his eyes against the fact, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; even the fact of her love for David was a thorn in the king’s side.
v. 29. And Saul was yet the more afraid of David, for it was evident that God shielded the young man against his wicked designs; and Saul became David’s enemy continually, all the days of his life.
v. 30. Then the princes of the Philistines went forth, in campaigns to overthrow the power of Israel; and it came to pass, after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, he always exercised prudent judgment and thus had success in his undertakings, so that his name was much set by, he was highly thought of by all the people. All the upright in heart honor and love the faithful servants of God and acknowledge the blessings which the Lord gives to His people through them.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 6, 8, 10, 13, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 30 he succeeded
he succeeded
"he prospered"
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This was pleasing in the eyes of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants
The phrases "in the eyes of" and "in the sight of" mean the same thing. The opinion of the people is spoken of as something that they view as either good or bad. AT: "This was pleasing in the opinions of all the people and of Saul's servants" or "This pleased all the people and Saul's servants" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
send
people group
servant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 29 18:7 thousands . . . ten thousands: This dramatic…
18:7 thousands . . . ten thousands: This dramatic increase in number between two lines of Hebrew poetry was a way of intensifying the statement (cp. Deut 32:30; Ps 91:7). Because of his great military victories, David was beginning to eclipse Saul (1 Sam 18:16, 30; 21:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.