1 Samuel 19 - Printer Friendly

What does 1 Samuel 19 mean?

Chapter Commentary:

After David killed Goliath, Saul brought David home to Gibeah. As they marched in the victory parade, Saul realized this was a political mistake. The women praised David more than the king. Saul grew increasingly angry and fearful that David would take the kingdom from him. Saul eventually attempted to use his daughters in plots to kill his greatest warrior.

Saul moves from wanting David dead to actively using his power as head of the state of Israel. He begins by finally making it official, ordering his son Jonathan and his servants to kill the young war hero. While this seems to have been a private command, it was still an attempt to legally execute David as an enemy (1 Samuel 19:1).

Jonathan, though, loves David. He immediately tells David about Saul's plan. Jonathan meets his father and makes the case for David, telling the king that to kill an innocent man without cause would be a sin. He reminds Saul that David risked his life to take on Goliath, and the Lord brought about Israel's salvation through David. Saul listens, swears that David will not be put to death, and welcomes David back into his service (1 Samuel 19:2–7).

Saul's pledge doesn't hold for long. Following a great victory by David over the Philistines, a harmful spirit returns to torment Saul. Saul tries to kill David with his spear while David is playing the lyre to soothe him. David runs for his life (1 Samuel 19:8–10).

Saul sends assassins to David's house. But David's wife, Michal, Saul's daughter, convinces David to escape. Michal lowers David from an upper-story window and creates a decoy in the bed from an idol and a goat-hair pillow. When the messengers come for David, she tells them he's sick (1 Samuel 19:11–14).

Saul demands that the messengers return to David's house and bring him on his bed, if necessary, so that he can kill him. At David's house, they discover Michal's deception—and that David is gone. The messengers bring her to the king, instead, where she tells Saul that David threatened to kill her if she didn't let him go (1 Samuel 19:15–17).

David runs the two or three miles from Gibeah to Ramah, where the prophet Samuel lives. He describes to Samuel everything Saul has done to him. Samuel takes David to Naioth to live with him among a company of prophets (1 Samuel 19:18).

Saul soon learns where David is and sends a group of servants to arrest him. When those messengers arrive, however, they are overcome by God's Spirit and start prophesying with Samuel and the other prophets. The messengers are unable or unwilling either to arrest David or leave. The same happens to the second and third groups Saul sends to apprehend David. Finally, Saul decides to go himself (1 Samuel 19:19–21).

As Saul approaches the place, he too is overcome by God's Spirit and begins to prophesy. Unable or unwilling to stop himself, he strips off his garments and lies down on the ground, where he continues to prophesy all day and all night long (1 Samuel 19:22–24).

David and Saul return to Gibeah separately, David and Jonathan hatch a plan to fully uncover King Saul's intentions. Soon, both men realize there's nothing David can do to convince Saul he's not a threat (1 Samuel 20). So, David leaves, gathers an army of misfits, and defends Israel on his own.

First Samuel 19:1–7 records how Jonathan convinced Saul that David isn't a threat. The king's fear of and anger toward David had been growing since they returned from the battle with Goliath (1 Samuel 18). When Saul orders his servants to kill David, Jonathan reminds him of David's loyalty. The King agrees he has no legal reason to kill David, and David returns to his service. The truce doesn't last long. Saul again tries to kill David with a spear and then sends assassins to David's house. David's wife, Saul's daughter, helps David escape (1 Samuel 19:8–17).

First Samuel 19:8–10 shows that logic has no power over an evil spirit. Jonathan has convinced Saul to allow David back into his service, but the evil spirit returns to torment Saul. This time, David's soothing music doesn't help. Saul, again (1 Samuel 19:9–10), throws a spear at David, and David flees. Saul sends spies to David's house, but David escapes with the help of Michal, David's wife and Saul's daughter (1 Samuel 19:11–17).

In 1 Samuel 19:11–17, David says goodbye to his home in Gibeah. Part of Saul knows David isn't a threat to him, but the evil spirit that torments the king is stronger than logic. Saul has tried to kill David with a spear, his servants, and the Philistines. He tries again with "messengers" who are to watch over the house and bring David to Saul for execution. Michal helps David escape to Samuel in Ramah. When Saul comes after him, both the king and his servants start prophesying uncontrollably (1 Samuel 19:18–24).

First Samuel 19:18–24 describes how God protected David in a most unusual way. Saul's threats against David escalated, and David fled his home and wife in Gibeah (1 Samuel 19:9–17). David runs to Samuel and his company of prophets. Saul sends three groups of messengers to arrest David, but they all start prophesying. Saul follows and does the same. Later, David will go to Jonathan, and the two will finally accept there is no way to convince Saul that David is a friend. David leaves the service of the king and fights for Israel on his own (1 Samuel 20).

Chapter Summary:

In 1 Samuel 19, the war between Saul and David grows stronger. Saul orders his servants to kill David. Jonathan confronts him about this injustice, and the king swears not to put David to death. But when a harmful spirit from the Lord comes upon Saul, Saul tries to kill David with a spear. With Michal's help, David escapes Samuel in Ramah and the company of prophets. Three groups of Saul's servants and then Saul himself come to arrest David, but they're all overcome by God's Spirit and begin prophesying uncontrollably.

Chapter Context:

When David killed Goliath, Saul brought him in as an army commander. The more battles David won, the more the people loved him. Saul increasingly saw his warrior as a threat (1 Samuel 16:14—18:30). David finally understands he can't reconcile his relationship with the king. He flees with the help of Saul's daughter and son, who are David's wife and best friend (1 Samuel 19—20). Stil loyal to King Saul and Israel, David builds his own army. He will continue to fight Israel's enemies, and run from Saul, until Saul's death.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.

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