Saul Tries to Kill David

Continuing a chronological Bible study after a brief interlude of psalms:

(1 Samuel 19:1) And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David.

When we last left Saul in chapter 18, he had become so jealous of David that he hated him and wanted him to die.  He kept putting him out front in battles with the Philistines, hoping they would kill him.  He even tried once to kill him himself, but the more he tried, the more the Lord protected David, and the more the people grew to love David.  David had now married Saul's daughter Michal and as son-in-law to the king, he was next in line for Saul's throne, which of course, the Lord had already given him, but Saul didn't know that part yet, though he suspected it would eventually happen.  After so many failed attempts at trying to kill David, Saul now told his son and his servants to kill him.

(2) But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David, and Jonathan told David, saying, "Saul my father seeks to kill you; now therefore, I pray you, take heed to yourself until the morning, and abide in a secret place and hide yourself."

However, Saul did not realize how much even his son Jonathan loved David, and Jonathan told David Saul's plan to kill him.  He pleaded with David to be on guard and hide in a secret place until the morning.

(3) "And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you, and what I see, that I will tell you."

Jonathan continued talking to David.  He said that the next day he would stand with his father near the place David was, and he would talk to his father about David and then report back to him what Saul had to say.

(4) And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you and because his works toward you are very good. (5) For he did put his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and did rejoice. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?"

Jonathan did speak to his father about David.  He reminded him of how David put his life on the line to kill Goliath, and the Lord had brought a great victory and deliverance for Israel.  He reminded his father how he himself had rejoiced.  He urged him not to sin against David who had done nothing wrong to him, and not to spill innocent blood, killing David without a cause.

(6) And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, "As the Lord lives, he shall not be slain."

Saul listened to Jonathan and seemed to be affected by the truth of what he had to say and was convicted, at least at the present time, that he was wrong in seeking the life of David, and he would stop trying to kill him.

(7) And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.

Jonathan told David all that Saul had said and brought him back into the palace to Saul where he had been formerly.

(8) And there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him.

Then there was war again with the Philistines, and David went out and fought against them, striking them with a mighty blow and great slaughter that they fled from him.

(9) And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand.

The evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul again.  David played the harp with his hands to sooth Saul's spirit.  Saul had his javelin in his hand.

(10) And Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck the javelin into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night.

Forgetting his vow in verse 6 not to harm David, again Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his javelin, but David slipped away and fled, escaping that night.

(11) Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning, and Michal David's wife told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you shall be slain."

Saul sent his messengers to David's house, which surely was very near or even a part of the palace as David had married the king's daughter, to watch him and to kill him in the morning.  Michal, David's wife, warned him to do something to save his life that night or else he would be killed the next day.

(12) So Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped.

Michal let David down through a window, probably on a cord or some such makeshift cord, and David was able to escape in the night without Saul's messengers' knowledge.

(13) And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster and covered it with a cloth. (14) And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."

Michal took an "image," not merely a picture, but something with substance like a statue, and laid it in David's bed.  She put a pillow of goats' hair under it and covered it with a cloth.  Then when Saul's messengers came into their house in the morning looking for David, she told them he was sick in bed.

(15) And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him."

Saul sent his messengers back to David's house and told them to bring him back to him, bed and all, if he wasn't able to rise, so that Saul could kill him.

(16) And when the messengers had come in, behold, an image in the bed with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster.

When the messengers went into David's house, they found that all that lay in the bed was a statue with a pillow of goats' hair propping it up.

(17) And Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me so? And sent away my enemy that he has escaped?" And Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go; why should I kill you?'"

Saul asked his daughter why she had deceived him and let his enemy escape, as if she owed more to the wicked passion of her father than she did for her beloved husband.  But rather than telling him that she couldn't allow her husband to be killed, she lied and told her father that David had threatened her if she did not let him go.

(18) So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel, to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

David fled to Samuel in Ramah, Samuel being the one who had anointed him king.  He told Samuel all that Saul had done to him, and David and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth, a place within Ramah, Samuel's home.

(19) And it was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah." (20) And Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

It was told to Saul that David was in Naioth, so he sent messengers to take David.  However, when they came to David and Samuel, they saw a whole company of prophets prophesying by inspiration of God with Samuel standing over them.  The Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul's messengers, and they, too, began prophesying, forgetting their mission.  "Prophesying" does not always mean foretelling the future; it most often meant telling the Lord's truths, but sometimes those meant telling the future outcome.  In this case, all the prophets and Saul's messengers also, were probably praising God and declaring His truths.

(21) And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

When that was told to Saul, he sent more messengers to take David, but they wound up prophesying also, forgetting their mission.  Saul sent messengers a third time, and they, too, wound up prophesying and not bringing David back to Saul.

(22) Then he also went to Ramah and came to a great well in Sechu, and he asked and said, "Where are Samuel and David?" And one said, "Behold, at Naioth in Ramah."

Therefore, Saul went himself to find David but evidently did not know exactly where to go.  He stopped at a well and enquired about the whereabouts of David and Samuel and was told they were at Naioth.

(23) And he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

So Saul went toward Naioth, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, too, and he went onward, prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

(24) And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

When he came to Samuel, Saul stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel.  He may not have been completely naked, but enough so to be completely humbled before the Lord.  He lay there like that all day and all night.  That "proverb" that came about in 1 Samuel 10:12, when Saul prophesied in a company of prophets, was revived, as people wondered again if Saul was a prophet.

There is no doubt now, that Saul was David's enemy, not because of anything David had done, but because of Saul's jealousy.  The Lord continued to protect David through his loved ones, Jonathan and Michal, and even by His own arm as he turned all David's enemies into prophets, possibly even prophesying that David would become king!