Saul Tries to Kill David
Review:
The birth of Samuel.
– Samuel’s parents were Elkanah and Hannah.
Samuel given to the Lord by Hannah, his mother.
– Samuel became an apprentice in the temple under the supervision of Eli the priest.
Eli the priest and his worthless sons.
The Lord calls Samuel.
– Samuel was a priest, prophet, and judge.
Samuel was God’s spokesman for all of Israel.
The Philistines capture the Ark of God.
The Philistines return the ark of God.
Samuel, as the Judge of Israel, leads the Israelites to victory over the Philistines.
Israel requests a king.
Samuel privately anoints Saul as king.
Initially Saul was a good king.
Continued war with the Philistines.
Jonathan was Saul’s son.
– Jonathan most likely would have made a good king, but that was not God’s plan for Israel.
The Lord rejects Saul. Saul’s kingship was a failure.
Samuel privately anoints David as king.
David kills Goliath.
The conclusion of the previous lesson.
1 Samuel 18:27-30
… So Saul gave his daughter Michal to David to be his wife.
28 When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and how much his daughter Michal loved him, 29 Saul became even more afraid of him, and he remained David’s enemy for the rest of his life.
30 Every time the commanders of the Philistines attacked, David was more successful against them than all the rest of Saul’s officers. So David’s name became very famous.
There was a time when Saul loved David.
1 Samuel 16:21-22 NLT
21 So David went to Saul and began serving him. Saul loved David very much, and David became his armor bearer.
22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse asking, “Please let David remain in my service, for I am very pleased with him.”
- Saul was afraid of David, and he remained David’s enemy for the rest of his life.
- David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lordwas with him.
1 Samuel 19:1-10 NLT
Saul Tries to Kill David
19:1 Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David. But Jonathan, because of his strong affection for David, 2 told him what his father was planning. “Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields. 3 I’ll ask my father to go out there with me, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll tell you everything I can find out.”
4 The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him. “The king must not sin against his servant David,” Jonathan said. “He’s never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could. 5 Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great victory to all Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at all!”
6 So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.”
7 Afterward Jonathan called David and told him what had happened. Then he brought David to Saul, and David served in the court as before.
8 War broke out again after that, and David led his troops against the Philistines. He attacked them with such fury that they all ran away.
9 But one day when Saul was sitting at home, with spear in hand, the tormenting spirit from the Lord suddenly came upon him again. As David played his harp, 10 Saul hurled his spear at David. But David dodged out of the way, and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped into the night.
Examine the Scriptures
1 Samuel 19:1-10 NLT
Saul Tries to Kill David
19:1 Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David.
David’s success against Israel’s enemy, the Philistines, caused Saul to act irrationally.
Prior to this, Saul was hoping that David would be killed by the Philistines.
1 Samuel 18:12-16 NLT
12 Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul. 13 Finally, Saul sent him away and appointed him commander over 1,000 men, and David faithfully led his troops into battle.
14 David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul recognized this, he became even more afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was so successful at leading his troops into battle.
- Saul’s urged his servants and his son, Jonathan, to kill David.
Saul wants David completely out of his life.
But Jonathan, because of his strong affection for David,
Previous chapter
18:1 After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king’s son. There was an immediate bond between them, for Jonathan loved David.
- When David met Jonathan, there was an immediate bond between the two young men.
Where did this affection come from? (Clearly this was a result of God’s intervention.)
1 Thessalonians 4:9 NLT
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 NLT
12 And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.
1 John 4:7 NLT
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.
1 John 3:16 NLT
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Proverbs 17:17 NLT
17 A friend is always loyal,
and a brother is born to help in time of need.
- Jonathan was a true friend and true friends are faithful in times of adversity.
Jonathan continues to be David’s best friend, even when he knows David, not him, will be the next king of Israel.
1 Samuel 23:17 NLT
17 “Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware.”
Back to 1 Samuel 19:
2 told him what his father was planning.
19:1 Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David.
- God, in His infinite mercy, used Saul’s son Jonathan to inform David of Saul’s evil intensions.
“Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields.
3 I’ll ask my father to go out there with me, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll tell you everything I can find out.”
- Jonathan was truly concerned about David’s welfare.
4 The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him. “The king must not sin against his servant David,” Jonathan said. “He’s never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could. 5 Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great victory to all Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at all!”
Jonathan stood up for David.
- Jonathan reminded his father, Saul, that David had done nothing to deserve death.
Jonathan appealed to his father to do the right thing.
6 So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.”
- Jonathan temporarily convinced his father that it would be wrong for him to kill David.
7 Afterward Jonathan called David and told him what had happened. Then he brought David to Saul, and David served in the court as before.
8 War broke out again after that, and David led his troops against the Philistines. He attacked them with such fury that they all ran away.
9 But one day when Saul was sitting at home, with spear in hand, the tormenting spirit from the Lord suddenly came upon him again. As David played his harp,
- The Lord had turned away from Saul. (1 Samuel 18:12)
The Lord sent a tormenting spirit. This was a tormenting spirit, not the Lord Himself.
Evil spirits are subject to God’s control.
Saul was mentally unbalanced.
Saul’s behaviors are predictable.
Galatians 5:19-21 NLT
19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
10 Saul hurled his spear at David. But David dodged out of the way, and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped into the night.
Saul:
- Jealousy, rage, and anger once again dominated Saul and he attempted to kill David.
1 Samuel 18:10 NLT (the previous chapter)
10 The very next day a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave in his house like a madman.
Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
and desperately wicked.
Who really knows how bad it is?
David:
- The Lord was with David.
18:12 Saul was then afraid of David, for the Lord was with David and had turned away from Saul.
18:14 David continued to succeed in everything he did, for the Lord was with him.
Psalm 18:1-3 NLTA psalm of David, the servant of the Lord. He sang this song to the Lord on the day the Lord rescued him from all his enemies and from Saul. He sang:
1 I love you, Lord;
you are my strength (defender).
2 The Lord is my rock (protector), my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
3 I called on the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and he saved me from my enemies.
Psalm 145:20 NLT
20 The Lord protects all those who love him,
but he destroys the wicked.
- The Lord protects all those who love him.
Encouragement for us.
1 John 4:9-15 NLT
9 God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God.
- All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. (1 John 4:15)
