Saul’s fear and jealousy of David
18
📚And it came about, when he had finished speaking with Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan 📖 loved him as his own soul. 2 📚And Saul took him that day, and would no longer let him go home to his father’s house. 3 📚Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 18:3 Jonathan’s love caused him to make a covenant (1 Sam 19:1; 1 Sam 20:8, 13-16, 41, 42; 1 Sam 23:18); to give David prized possessions (v 4); to do anything possible to help him (1 Sam 20:4); to risk his own life for David (1 Sam 20:30-35; 1 Sam 23:16); and to willingly take second place to David (1 Sam 23:17-18). Jonathan was more than a great warrior – he was a true friend, absolutely loyal to the end. The friendship of these two men of God is an example of what true, sanctified friendship can be in God’s service. And Jonathan’s attitude to David is a picture of what ours should be for the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our love for Him should cause us to give everything we have to Him and to gladly do anything possible in His service.⚜
4 📚And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe he had on and gave it to David, and his tunic, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.
5 📚And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and conducted himself wisely 📖. And Saul appointed him over the warriors, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
18:5 God was training David for his future position as king. A person who is going to be in authority should first learn to be under authority.⚜
6 📚And it so happened when David was returning from killing the Philistine, as they were coming, the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 📚And the women responded to each other as they played, and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands”.
8 📚And Saul became very angry, for the saying displeased him, and he said, “They have given credit to David for tens of thousands, and to me they have given credit for only thousands. And what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 📚And Saul kept an eye on David from that day on.
18:8-9 Saul adds to his other sins the destructive sin of envy. On envy see Prov 14:30; 27:4; Dan 6:3-4; Matt 27:18; Acts 7:9; 13:45; 17:5; Jam 3:16; Rom 13:13-14.⚜
10 📚And it so happened on the next day that the evil 📖 spirit from God 📖 came on Saul, and he prophesied 📖 inside the house. And David was playing the harp with his hand, as at other times, and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand. 11 📚And Saul threw the javelin, for he said to himself, “I will strike David to the wall with it”. And David escaped from his presence twice.
18:11 1 Sam 19:10; 1 Sam 20:33. Since Saul was acting under the control of the evil spirit this was doubtless an attempt by Satan to thwart God’s plan for David and the future of Israel. But God enabled David to escape.⚜
12 📚And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and had departed from Saul. 13 📚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.
18:13 The ungodly always want to get rid of the godly by some means or other. Saul hoped David would be killed in battle (vs 17,21,25).⚜
14 📚And David conducted himself wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with him. 15 📚Therefore, when Saul saw that he conducted himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16 📚But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
18:14-16 Saul’s plan resulted in the complete opposite of what he had hoped, for it resulted in even further success and popularity for David. Compare Ps 33:10-11; 37:12-13. Note at Gen 50:20.⚜
Saul hopes for David’s death
17 📚And Saul said to David, “See my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife. Only serve me bravely, and fight the LORD’s battles”. For Saul said to himself, “Let not my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him”.
18:17 See Saul’s promise at 1 Sam 17:23. He had not fulfilled it. But breaking his word was nothing to a man like Saul.⚜
18 📚And David said to Saul, “Who am I? And what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law of the king?”
19 📚But it came about at the time when Saul’s daughter Merab should have been given to David, that she was given as a wife to Adriel the Meholathite.
20 📚And Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 📚And Saul said, “I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him”. Therefore Saul said to David a second time, “Today you will become my son-in-law”.
22 📚And Saul commanded his servants, saying, “Speak with David secretly and say, ‘Look, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
23 📚And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem a light thing to you to be a king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man 📖 and lightly esteemed?”
24 And Saul’s servants told him, saying, “This is the way David spoke”.
25 📚And Saul said, “You shall tell David this: ‘The king does not want any dowry except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
26 📚And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the days had expired,
David marries Saul’s daughter Michal
27 📚David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, so that he could become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal as his wife.
18:27 The Philistines were enemies of God’s people and had no right to be in the land with Israel (Josh 1:4; 13:1-2; 23:4-5). Israel was not to treat the idolatrous nations of Canaan with any respect or pity, but rather to destroy them (Deut 7:16). See note at 1 Sam 15:2.⚜
28 📚And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Saul’s daughter Michal loved him. 29 📚And Saul was even more afraid of David, and Saul became David’s permanent enemy.
30 📚Then the leaders of the Philistines came out to battle, and after they came out, it happened that David conducted himself more wisely 📖 than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly honoured.