Back in ancient most kings kept some kind of journal,
memoirs or annals (a record of historical events), written by either king
himself or dictated by a scribe. Imagine King Saul wrote on these. Imagine he
wrote an entry right after the events of 1 Samuel 16 & 17. It might sound something like this…
Dear Journal,
Remember how I got a little worked up about Samuel
telling me that both God and himself were leaving my presence? Well I am happy
to tell you that I believe there’s nothing to worry about because I got a new
man to help me with all my problems! His name is David. He’s already done so
much for me now. His harp playing helps me get rid of the anxiety and
depression, as well as those chronic headaches. And when I was faced with a
giant enemy that I thought I could not defeat in battle, he steps up and wins
the battle for me. What a great guy! Everyone loves this guy and so do I. With
David around, I don’t need Samuel. Things can only get betterSaul
An entry like this would accurately represent King Saul’s
feelings for David at this point. King Saul loves him, and David makes him
happy. But we’re going to see that quickly change.
Shortly after meeting up with King Saul, David meets up with
Jonathan. At that point, the NIV says that David and Jonathan becomes “one in
spirit.” More literal Bible translations say the two were “knit at the soul.”
More paraphrased Bible translations simply say there had an instant bond
between the two. What I want to make clear is they were not gay and did not see
each other as gay lovers. It’s sad that in today’s world a man cannot show love
to another man without being accused of being gay (just go to any Lord of the
Rings fan fiction website and you’ll see how many fanfics tell stories a gay
Frodo and a gay Samwise in love with each other). Both of these men were
God-fearing men and neither of them would even think of such a thing. What we
do see hear is best friends, best friend so close they are almost like
brothers. In fact, that might be a very accurate description. The only other
time the Hebrew phrase the literal translations translate “knit at the soul” is
in Genesis 44:30 ,
where Jacob is described as being “knit at the soul” with Benjamin. 1 Samuel 18:2 further supports
this idea because at this point Saul has taken David into his own household. So
Jonathan makes him feel welcomed at his home by treating him like family, like
a brother. Jonathan loved David so much that Jonathan gave David his robe,
tunic, sword, bow and belt. This is more than just best friends swapping
clothes, like girls do. These articles of clothes most likely are royal
clothing given from the king to the prince. It’s not clear whether or not David
has yet confided to Jonathan that David has been anointed to be king, but the
symbolism remains the same: it’s another sign David is the next king.
After Saul saw David slay the Philistine champion, Goliath,
Saul must have figured that if David could defeat the Philistine champion, he
can defeat any Philistine soldier. So King Saul gives David a high rank in the
army to fight more Philistines. Everyone is pleased with this move, including
the king’s officers. In return, David continues giving Saul more wins and
victories.
After killing the Philistine champion and chasing the rest
of the Philistines back to their home, the Israelites begin the march to their
homes. As they approach their home, the women came out to form a make-shift
parade. Following the customs of the day, the women would greet their men back
from battle, and they would sing and dance to instruments in songs reflecting
the winning army’s success. Saul was probably very use to this from his
previous successful battles, and he looked forward to another success song. But
to his dismay, he hears a song he’s not use to. The women sing, “Saul has slain
his thousands and David his tens of thousands.” Now if you take a good look at
this song, this song technically is not meant to insult Saul, or anyone for
that matter. The song is probably meant to point out that Saul and David make a
great team, and together they accomplish great things. But Saul, buried in his
selfishness, cannot get passed the fact David has a higher kill rate than he
does. In the Hebrew Bible, the best translation of Saul’s reaction is probably
“displeasing in his eyes” (although some commentaries say “was evil in his
eyes). Most literal Bible translations follow suit, translating it “displeased
him.” I like word the 1984 edition of the NIV chose: galled. Merriam-Webster
says that “galled” is just a really fancy way of saying “irritated” or “vexed.”
A lot of paraphrases drop the phrase altogether, assuming the phrase parallel
each other synonymously. But galled brings Saul’s anger up to the next level.
Saul is angry, troubled, distressed and irritated. Saul rhetorically and
ironically asks, “What more can he get but the kingdom?” Saul already sees the
people are behind him, like he is the king. It’s another sign foreshadowing
what it yet to come.
The Bible tells us from that point on, Saul became jealous
of David. And jealousy is never a good thing. We all know what happened when
Cain got jealous in Genesis 4 .
The same process is going to flow through Saul. Saul’s jealousy leads to anger.
His anger leads to hate, his hate will lead to pain, suffering, and a few
attempts to kill.
In 1 Samuel
18:10 , the reader reads a situation very similar to the second
half of 1 Samuel 16 ,
but it’s slightly different. Once again, Saul is being tormented by an evil
spirit and David is in to play his harp. What’s the difference? Before, in 1 Samuel 16 , the only reason the
evil spirit goes to Saul is because the Holy Spirit left open a gap for it to
invade. Saul does not want the evil spirit; hence why David plays the harp for
Saul. Now, in 1 Samuel 18 ,
things changed. Saul’s jealousy, anger and hatred is now feeding this evil
spirit and welcoming it in. Thus, it is able to take Saul more forcibly this
time, take complete control, and even taking a shot at David’s life twice. But
David has a bigger and stronger spirit, the Holy Spirit, guarding him from all
danger. So don’t dare think that the evil spirit won this spiritual war. If the
spirit had, it would have killed David. The only reason the spirit comes on so
strong is because Saul invites it to. (Oh yeah, and if you’re wondering how a
demon-possessed man can prophesy, a better translation for the word
“prophesying” would be “raving,” as in “raving mad.”)
Now you would think that David would be afraid of Saul at
this point, but the Bible tells us quite the opposite. Instead, Saul is afraid
of David. So he makes David a commander of a thousand troops and sends them off
to battle. Perhaps Saul thought it was a fluke that David won all those
previous battles. Maybe Saul was hoping that David would lose a battle or a lot
of men, proving he wasn’t that great of a guy. But that’s not what happens.
David has the same success in the battlefield as he does in pasture tending
sheep or in the royal court playing the harp. He has win after win, victory
after victory. How does David do this? As 1 Samuel 17 put, the battle is the Lord’s, and the Lord
gives David victory. All this winning makes the people of Israel and Judah
Saul’s still banking on David losing in battle, so he sets up
a scenario. As Saul promised in 1
Samuel 17 , he will give David one of his daughters in marriage.
But there’s a catch. David has to continue to serve as the leader over a
thousand troops. Saul has a reason behind this. His plan is to keep putting
David in battle with the Philistines. Eventually, he’ll get tired, slip up, and
the Philistines will kill David, so Saul won’t have to. But this doesn’t work
out. David refuses the marriage. It’s not really clear why. It may be Merab
wasn’t in love with David (compare with verse 20), and David did not want a
loveless marriage. Maybe it was because David did not believe he could pay the
marriage price for Merab, which will talk about in the next paragraph. In
ancient times, nobility only married nobility. Perhaps David did not feel noble
enough or upper class enough to marry a princess. Or perhaps Saul simply
married Merab to someone else on an impulse while David was taking his good
time. Any option works, but I like the second and third option because they
appear in the next paragraph.
Saul gets another chance to execute his plan. He discovers
that his second daughter, Michal is madly in love with David. So Saul makes
sure David feels comfortable marring Michal. Saul sends his house attendants to
David to coax him into marrying Michal, convincing him that everyone is Saul’s
house, including Saul, like David so much they would be more than happy to see
David and Michal wed. It almost works, but David reminds himself about the one
thing that gets in the way: the dowry. The dowry was a price the husband had to
pay for the bride, in either goods or services. Before you get in a fit about
how sexist this is, let me make a comparison. In today’s culture, before
marriage, there is engagement, and the engagement is marked as started with an
engagement ring. These rings can cost anywhere from the hundreds to thousands,
depending on the stones. Now a lot of women want these to be expensive for two
reasons. First, they want it to be the most expensive thing they ever wear because
of the significance. But second, and most important, is signifies that the
husband-to-be has invested a lot of money into this relationship and into the
future. The dowry was to signify the same thing. When a man paid a dowry to the
woman’s family, he was making a statement to the father and mother that the
daughter would not be taken lightly, but be taken care of with the greatest
care.
Going back to the story, David pretty much says to Saul’s
attendants, “I’d love to marry Michal, but I’m poor, and there’s no way I can
pay the dowry price for a princess.” Saul sends back word to David that all he
needs to pay for Michal was 100 Philistine foreskins. As disgusting as this
might sound, it does have significance. Saul was forcing David to engage in
another battle. The foreskins served as mere proof that these men were dead.
Now courting Michal, Saul was really hoping Michal was becoming a snare to
David, taking his head mentally out of the battle. It does no such thing. David
doubles up Saul’s offer. In the same amount of time David had to kill 100
Philistines and get their foreskins, David kill 200 Philistines and retrieves
200 foreskins. Now Saul really has to fulfill his promise and he hands over
Michal to David. The plan that Saul constructed to make him feel better is only
making things worse. Saul is now more afraid of David, so afraid that Saul
makes David his enemy for the rest of his life.
The chapter ends with a generic statement, yet an important
one. It simply mentions the Philistines continued to challenge David in battle,
and every time David had success and won. The important word here is success.
Now that we’re at the end of the chapter, go back over the entire chapter and
count every time the word “success” or a form of the word appears. I counted 4
times: “successfully” in verse 5, “success” in verse 14, “successful” in verse
15, and “success” in verse 30. The chapter is definitely trying to get a
message across to us. David is successful man. Verse 14 explains why: “Because
the Lord was with him.” All this talk about success reminds me of the
patriarchal fathers: Abraham, Isaach, Jacob, and even Joseph, all found in
Genesis. No matter what did these guys did, they always did whatever they were
doing successfully, and it brought them blessing. This success is part of the
blessings God gives Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant. When God renews that
covenant with Isaac and Jacob, they get the same blessings, which mean the same
success. I believe the author is trying to draw on that. David is getting the
same success and the patriarchal fathers is getting. It foreshadows that God
will make a covenant with David similar to the one God made with Abraham,
another successful and blessed man. What made both Abraham and David successful
men was that they trusted in God and followed. The author invites the reader to
do the same. If we want success, we must follow God. These days any person can
walk into a library or a bookstore and find an array of books to make you
successful and whatever you want, from cooking to sports to business. Yet not
everyone will find the success the book sells. The book of 1 Samuel has only
one tip to find success: obey God. God knows what He’s doing and He knows the
right path to get you there. So trust in God, let him show you the way, and you
too might find success. And if you don’t find success in a certain area, maybe
that’s not where God wants to be successful. He might want to be successful
somewhere else, so pay close attention for it!
While David is successful in life, Saul is not so much. He
seems to be deteriorating every day. Now that we’ve come to the close of 1 Samuel 18 , let’s see what Saul
has to say now.
Dear Journal,
I hate David! At first, I was happy to work with him because he made my life so much better. But now all he does is bring me misery. First, he takes my firstborn by becoming best friends with him. Next, he takes my daughter’s hand marriage and she becomes his wife. Then, he wins over all the people of
Saul
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