1 Samuel 19--Saul Tries to Kill David

1 Samuel 19
English Standard Version

Saul Tries to Kill David
19 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. 2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” 4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.

8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. 9 Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

​11 Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’”
18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

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We saw last time that it was Saul's intent to get David killed in battle with the Philistines.  When that plan didn't work, Saul instead tried the direct approach and tried to get his son Jonathan who was close to David as well as all of his servants to kill David.  Since Jonathan loved David like a brother, he refused these orders and went and told David of the assassination plot.  Jonathan also went and stood next to his father to make intercession on behalf of David and to say all the good things that he remembered about David so that Saul's heart might be inclined to not murder David.  He also stood there so that he would hear of any news that was passed back and forth between the king and his messengers and he could pass that information along to David.

Jonathan specifically tells Saul that he should not kill David because David has not sinned against him and it is because of the blessings being poured out on David that Saul has been so blessed.  Jonathan reminds Saul of how David struck down the Philistine (Goliath) and how the LORD used David to bring a great salvation to all the people, and how Saul was able to celebrate this victory at that time, even though it was accomplished by way of David (because no one else, not even the king himself, had faith that the LORD could be successful in battle against the giant Goliath).  After hearing all of Jonathan's arguments for why David shouldn't be put to death, Saul makes a vow before the LORD that he will not kill David, so Jonathan called for David and told him all these things and Jonathan brought David into the presence of Saul as before.

This peace only lasted for a little while though because war broke out again between the Israelites and the Philistines, and David once again went out to battle with his men and the LORD gave him great success yet again.  We see again that a harmful spirit came upon Saul and once again David tried to play the lyre for Saul to clam his heart, soul and mind, but instead Saul once again tries to throw a spear at David to pin him to the wall, but he missed again as he had before, and David was able to escape.

Saul sent his men to David's house to kill him when he came out in the morning, but David's wife Michal, remember that she is the daughter of Saul and knows her father well, warns David that she is sure if he doesn't escape under the cover of darkness that night that he won't be alive in the morning.  So, Michal let David down through a window and he escaped.  Michal then made a decoy and laid it in the bed where David would have been sleeping, and laid it on a pillow and covered it with clothes so that it looked enough like David, especially if Saul's men came while it was still dark or at first light.

Saul sent his messengers to the house to arrest David, and Michal answered them to say that he was sick and in bed and could not come out to them.  This was reported back to Saul and Saul insisted that they go up to his bed and should kill him there.  They discovered the decoy that Michal had made and then Saul interrogated his daughter asking why she had deceived him and let his enemy escape.  Michal lies and says that David gave her a choice to either help him escape or that he would kill her, and that he said that he didn't want to have to kill her (this is not at all how it happened as David was long gone before Michal planned any of this deception on her own, so she is simply piling lies on top of lies).

David fled and escaped, and he went to Ramah to the house of Samuel and told Samuel all that Saul had done to him.  Samuel got up and left Ramah (for perhaps Saul was going to come after him next), and went to a place called Naioth in the region of Ramah, and took David with him.  Samuel's movements were closely tracked by the people at that time so it was reported back to Saul where Samuel had gone and that David was with him.

Now Saul sent a group of men to go to the house of Samuel and to kill David there.  Samuel was with a group of prophets all prophesying with Samuel standing at the head of all of them, and when the "messengers" that came to take David (and probably kill him) saw all the prophets of the LORD prophesying, the Spirit of the LORD came upon all of them and they too began to prophesy.  Saul then sent other "messengers" and the Spirt of the LORD came upon them as well and they too started to prophesy.

Saul then finally goes to Ramah himself and he gets to the great well in Secu.  He asked where Samuel and David were, and the people reply that they are still in Naioth, where Saul had sent his messengers, so Saul went up to Naioth and the Spirit of the LORD once again came upon Saul so that he prophesied the entire way up to Naioth.  When he got there, he stripped off his clothes (probably his royal robes) and prophesied before Samuel and the Spirit of the LORD caused Saul to lay there all day and all night.  So once again Saul prophesied when the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, just like he had before he become king so that the people once again asked, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"  We know the answer to that is "No."  The first time it was to establish to the people that the LORD had chosen him as king.  This time, the LORD chose to rush upon Saul so that David's life might be saved, for it is David that the LORD has now chosen and David will be counted among the prophets when the LORD uses some of the Palms of David to speak prophetically about the coming of the Messiah--even to speak clearly of the crucifixion of Christ many years before crucifixion even existed.

Even this act of God will not deter Saul from seeking David's life and we'll see next time that David knows that he says, "There is but a step between me and death."  David has already had to leave his wife and next time we'll see that David will have to leave his best friend behind too.