1 Samuel 19
19
David Protected from Saul
1Now Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David, but Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. 2So he told David, “Saul my father is seeking to kill you. Now then, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3As for me, I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you, and if I learn anything, then I will tell you.” 4Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you. 5For he took his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without a cause?” 6Saul listened to Jonathan and swore [an oath], “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was #19:7 Lit before his face. This is often used as an idiom meaning “to serve in a special capacity.”in his presence [serving him] as previously.
8Then there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. 9Then an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence, so that Saul only stuck the spear into the wall. Then David fled and escaped that night.
11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch for him, so that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled and escaped. 13And Michal took the #19:13 Exactly what this was is not known, but the Hebrew word (teraphim) is the usual one to refer to household idols. It could have been an image bequeathed by Saul to Michal, perhaps indicative of Saul’s lapse from God, or just a spoil of war with no meaning for the Israelites. In any case, it appears to have been an image or idol about the size of a man, since Michal is able to use it as a ruse to trick Saul’s messengers (v 14).household idol and laid it on the bed, put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes. 14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15Then Saul sent the messengers [again] to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed [if necessary], so that I may kill him.” 16When the messengers came in, there was the #19:16 See note v 13.household idol on the bed with a quilt of goats’ hair at its head. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’ ”
18So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him everything that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. 19Saul was told, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20Then Saul sent messengers to take David; but when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied. 21When Saul was informed, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again, the third time, and they prophesied as well. 22Then Saul went to Ramah himself and came to the great well that is in Secu; and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And he was told, “They are at Naioth [with the prophets] in Ramah.” 23So he went on to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him too, and he went along continually prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24He also took off his [royal] robes [and armor] and prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and night. So they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” [1 Sam 10:10]
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1 Samuel 19
19
1Then Saul instructed his son Jonathan and all his officials to kill David. But Jonathan really liked David, 2so he warned him, “My father Saul is trying to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning—find a place to hide and stay hidden. 3I'll go out with my father and stand in the field near to where you are hiding. I'll talk to him about you and see what I can find out, then I'll let you know.”
4Then Jonathan spoke positively about David to his father Saul, and told him, “The king should not do anything bad to his servant David because he's not done anything bad to you—he has always served you well. 5He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about great salvation for the whole of Israel. You saw it and you were delighted, so why would you sin and spill innocent blood by killing David without having any reason?”
6Saul accepted what Jonathan had to say, and promised with an oath: “I swear on the life of the Lord, he won't be put to death.”
7Later Jonathan called David and told him all that had been said. Then he took him to Saul, and David worked for Saul as he had before.
8War broke out once again, and David went to fight the Philistines. He attacked them so forcefully that they ran away in defeat.
9A while later an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. As David played the lyre, 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. David managed to dodge the spear which embedded itself in the wall. Then David escaped and ran away into the night.
11Saul sent some messengers to David's house to keep watch and kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, “If you don't get away tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed.”
12Michal lowered David down from a window, and he ran off, managing to escape. 13Then she took a home idol#19:13. “Home idol”: the Hebrew word used here is teraphim and they are first mentioned in Genesis 31. They were cult objects that were used to determine the “god's” will, see Ezekiel 21:21; Zechariah 10:2. That such idols would be there in David's house shows the degree to which “pure religion” had been corrupted over time. and laid it in the bed, put a goat hair wig on its head, and covered it with bedclothes.
14When Saul sent the messengers to arrest David, Michal told them, “He's sick.”
15Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him to me in the bed so I can kill him.” 16But when the messengers went into the bedroom, there was the idol in the bed with the goat hair wig on its head.
17“Why did you trick me like this—helping my enemy get away so he could escape?” Saul asked Michal.
“He told me, ‘Get out of my way! I don't want to have to kill you!’” Michal replied.
18This is how David got away and escaped. He went to Samuel at Ramah and explained to him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in Naioth. 19When Saul got to hear that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20he sent messengers to arrest him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading out, the Spirit of God came on Saul's messengers and they started prophesying too. 21Saul was told what had happened, so he sent more messengers, and they started prophesying as well. 22For the third time Saul sent messengers, and they also started prophesying. 23In the end Saul went himself to Ramah and arrived at the large cistern at Secu. “Where are Samuel and David?” he asked.
“At Naioth in Ramah,” someone told him.
So Saul went on to Naioth at Ramah, but the Spirit of God even came on him, and he was prophesying as he walked along until he arrived in Naioth. 24Then Saul also took off his clothes and he too prophesied in Samuel's presence. Then he fell down and lay there naked all that day and all that night. That's why it is said, “Is Saul one of the prophets too?”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com