Journey Through the Old Testament Lesson #51 Saul Turns Against David For Wednesday, November 9, 2016 -- Read 1 Samuel 18-26 King Saul and David, the man who would be the next king, had their stories bound together, but unfortunately not in a good way. Right in the middle of their story is God who has rejected Saul, but watches over David s life and works behind the scenes, allowing him to endure some hard times while rescuing him from great dangers. Saul s Suspicion of David. At first, David found favor in the eyes of Saul. David and Saul s son, Jonathan, had become close friends. Saul appointed David to go on special missions for him, and David always acted in a brave and wise way. Saul had also put David over some of Israel s soldiers. All the people seemed to be impressed with the young man that David was. There was no time that David behaved in a bad or underhanded way toward King Saul. But Saul s attitude changed when David was returning from a battle with the Philistines, and some women danced and sang, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands (1 Samuel 18:7). This hurt Saul's pride because they seemed to be saying that David was a better soldier than Saul. Saul worried that David could take the kingdom away from him. "Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on" (1 Samuel 18:9). David had done nothing wrong toward Saul, but Saul looked at David more and more like he was an enemy. Saul Tries to Kill David. The very next day after the women had sung their praises of David, Saul made an attempt on David s life. Saul once again had a distressing spirit and David had come to play the harp for him. Saul had a spear in his hand and he said, "I will pin David to the wall!" But the Scripture tells us that David was able to escape. Saul would try to put David to death many times over the next few years, but none of his attempts would succeed because the Lord was protecting David. King Saul would at times become more reasonable and understand that all this was his own fault, not David s. Rather than have David around him, he promoted him to be a captain over 1,000 soldiers. David continued to live very wisely. He lived right, he treated King Saul with respect, and he was a good example of courage to others. All of God s people came to love David which only made Saul even more jealous. David Marries Saul s Daughter. Saul told David that he would give him his daughter to marry if David would keep fighting battles. David showed such a humble attitude, saying, Who am I, and what is my life or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? But Saul really was doing this against David. Saul gave his daughter Michal to David, hoping she would be a snare or trap that David would get caught in. In other words, Saul hoped that this would be the way he could get rid of David, because if David went out often enough into war against the Philistines, surely he would sooner or later die in battle. But God was with David and he continued winning battles and became even more popular with the people. Now Saul began to think of David as his enemy all the time.
King Saul Wants to Kill David Even More. When King Saul s plan to see David die in battle did not succeed, he began plotting other ways to kill David. He told his son Jonathan and his servants to put David to death, but because Jonathan was friends with David, he told David what his father was trying to do. Then Jonathan went back and reminded his father that David had killed Goliath and had been a faithful servant to King Saul. David had done nothing against him. King Saul listened to his son and promised not to try to kill him. Jonathan brought David back to the palace and things seemed to be alright. David would play for Saul once again, and when there were battles to fight, David would go and win against the Philistines. But once again Saul s anger went out of control and he tried to kill David with a spear. When David fled, Saul sent men to his house to kill him. But Michal (David s wife and Saul s daughter) protected him and let him out through a window. She fixed the bed to look like David was in it, and claimed David was sick. When Saul realized he had fooled, he was furious at Michal, but she claimed that David had threatened her. David ran to Samuel the prophet and told him what had happened, and stayed there with Samuel for awhile. David Meets With Jonathan. David and Jonathan met to try to figure out what to do next. Was King Saul just in a temporary rage as he had been before? Would he get over it and take David back? Jonathan told David that he would send him a certain signal to let David know King Saul s attitude. When Jonathan went to meet with his father, King Saul was enraged and called Jonathan names. He hated David and wanted him dead. What has David done wrong?, Jonathan wanted to know; but this time Saul became so angry that he threw the spear at Jonathan. Jonathan was very upset and left to warn David. When the two finally met, they were very sad. David would have to run away. David Flees to the Wilderness. David s break with King Saul was complete. David would never be welcomed back, and Saul would continue to be hunting for him to kill him. For the next several years of David s life, he would have no more help no Jonathan, no Michal, no Samuel. He will be on his own, just depending on the Lord. o David stops at Nob where he is fed by the priests. The sword of Goliath is there and he takes it with him as he leaves. Later Saul would find out that David had been there and would kill 85 of the priestly family. o Next David goes to Gath. Gath was not an Israelite city, but a Philistine city. David wants to get as far away from King Saul as he can. But they recognize who David is and bring him before the king. David is afraid of being found out, so when he goes before the king he pretends to be insane. o From there David went to hide out in the Cave of Adullam, which is about 18 miles from Jerusalem. His family members came down to be with him, and other people who were not to happy with Saul king started to show up there. About 400 stayed with David there at the cave.
o David s parents were evidently not safe from Saul, so David took them to Moab and asked the king there to allow his parents to stay. We remember that David s greatgrandmother Ruth had come from Moab and it may be that David had some connections there. David, however, was warned by the prophet Gad to go back to Judah. So David went and hid in the forest of Hereth. o When the Philistines attacked the Israelite city of Keilah, David (with the Lord s blessing) went to rescue the people. But when Saul heard that he was there he sent men to attack David, and David left. o David stayed in the Wilderness of Ziph. Jonathan came to meet David there to warn him about Saul. This would be the last time David and Jonathan would ever see each other. David Meets Saul in the Cave. David and his men were hiding in a cave at En-gedi when Saul happened to have stopped there and gone in to the cave. David s men were excited and told David that he could kill Saul. David did not want to do that. Instead he crept near to Saul and cut off a little bit of his garment. David did this to prove to Saul that he did not want to do anything against him, even though he was close enough to have killed him. But being tender hearted, David was later ashamed to have done even that much to someone the Lord had anointed as king. As King Saul left the cave, David called out to him, My lord the king, why do you listen to those who say that David wants to harm you? Look at your cloak and see where I cut it. You can see that I don t want to harm you. I have done you no evil, and will not raise my hand against you. Saul began to weep and admitted to David, You are more righteous than I am. I would have done you evil, but you have done right toward me. Saul knew that he was acting wicked, but this doesn t mean he changed his ways. Samuel Dies. During this time that David was still on the run, the prophet who had anointed both him and King Saul died. Samuel was mourned by all of Israel, who seemed to have great respect for this important man in their history. David Marries Abigail. After Samuel s death, David and his men moved into the wilderness of Paran just a few miles from the city of Carmel. David asked a man named Nabal for help feeding his men, but Nabal was very rude toward David. Nabal s name meant fool and he acted very mean and foolish. David was angry and ready to take Nabal s life, but Nabal s wife, Abigail, prepared a large amount of food and took it to where David s men were camped. She apologized for her husband s rudeness and said that she knew one day David would be ruler of Israel. Her kindness helped David realize how wrong he had been for having wanted to kill Nabal. David thanked God and thanked Abigail for having stopped him from taking Nabal s life. When Abigail later told Nabal what had happened, his heart stopped. He was stricken by God and died. When David heard about it, he asked Abigail to marry him. David seemed to appreciate her very much and thought of her as a very wise woman. The Scripture tells us that David s wife, Michal (Saul s daughter), had been given to another man. David s Last Meeting With Saul. Once again David came face to face with Saul. Some men had told Saul that David was hiding out in the Wilderness of Ziph, and the king brought 3,000 men with him to search for
David. One night while Saul s army was asleep, David and another man slipped in to where Saul was sleeping. The other man wanted to kill Saul, but David would not let him. Instead David took Saul s spear and water pitcher that were by him. When they got to the top of hill some distance away, David shouted down to Abner (who was the general of the Israelite army), Abner, why aren t you keeping watch over your king? Where is his spear and water jar? Saul woke up and heard what David was saying: Is that the voice of my son David? David answered, It is my voice, O lord, my king. Why are you still pursuing me? The king of Israel has come out pursing nothing more than one flea. So the king answered back to David, I have done wrong and acted like a fool. David said, I treated your life as precious to me today, so please treat my life as precious in the sight of the Lord. And Saul said, Blessed are you, my son David. I know that you will do great things and will prevail. Both men escaped and went away. The New Testament Teaches Us David Let God Have the Revenge. We see over and over again that David refused to do wrong to King Saul. He believed that Saul was mistreating him, but he also believed it was wrong for him to do harm to Saul. He wanted God to take care of it. Romans 12:17-21 teaches us, Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. How Jealousy Can Destroy Us. King Saul is an important example of how jealousy can corrupt us. Romans 1:29 lists those who are full of envy right beside those who would murder. That was certainly true of Saul as his jealous moved him to do many hateful things against David, including trying to kill him. In the end jealousy ruined Saul s life and made him a very unhappy man. Bible Quiz 1. What was the name of David s good friend? (I Sam. 18:1)
2. What happened that caused Saul to feel jealous of David? (I Sam. 18:7-9) 3. Why did Saul want David to marry his daughter? (I Sam. 18:21) 4. What did Saul throw at David two different times? (I Sam. 18:11; 19:10) 5. Who helped David escape from Saul by putting an image in a bed? (I Sam. 19:11-14) 6. What other person did Saul throw a spear at? (I Sam. 20:30-33) 7. What did David do to escape from the King of Gath? (I Sam. 21:10-14) 8. In I Samuel 22:17-18 who did Saul have killed because they had helped David? 9. In I Samuel 24:4,11 what did David do to Saul to show that he meant him no harm? In I Samuel 26:12 what did David take from Saul to show he meant him no harm?