CHAPTER 19

(1062 B.C.)

JONATHANS FRIENDSHIP WITH DAVID

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. (As we have repeatedly said, the flesh must always persecute the Spirit. This is a spiritual war that began at the very outset [Cain and Abel], and will not cease until the Trump of God sounds. The biggest enemy to the Work of God is religion, which is a product of the flesh. Thats where Satan does his best and most destructive work. [Religion is a concoction of man, designed to reach God, or to better ones self in someway. In any form it is unacceptable to God.])

²But Jonathan Sauls son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you: now therefore, I pray you, take heed to yourself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide yourself:

³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will commune with my father of you; and what I see, that I will tell you.

⁴And Jonathan spoke good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been to you-ward very good:

⁵For he did put his life in his hand, and killed the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: you saw it, and did rejoice: wherefore then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?

⁶And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed.

⁷And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

SAUL AGAIN TRIES TO KILL DAVID

⁸And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.

⁹And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played (the harp) with his hand.

¹⁰And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Sauls presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

¹¹Saul also sent messengers unto Davids house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning: and Michal Davids wife told him, saying, If you save not your life tonight, tomorrow you shall be slain. (Williams says, Saul presents here a sad and terrible picture! One moment generous and kind; the next, murderous and cruel! One moment controlled by the Spirit of God; the next, by the spirit of the demon! A useless ruined vessel, his life was wrecked because he hated David. Apart from that hatred, little is recorded to lead to the belief that his public or private conduct was unworthy of a man and a king; and men would have little known that there were such depths of malignity in his character had David never appeared. Davids person and victories made manifest Sauls true character.

So was it with man when the Greater than David appeared. His apparition immediately made manifest fallen mans true nature; just as light makes manifest darkness.)

¹²So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.

¹³And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.

¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

¹⁵And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.

¹⁶And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats hair for his bolster.

¹⁷And Saul said unto Michal, Why have you deceived me so, and sent away my enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill you? (Michal pretends that David had told her not to force him to kill her by refusing to give aid in his escape.)

SAMUEL

¹⁸So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

¹⁹And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah (a school for Prophets).

²⁰And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the Prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied (which turned them away from their murderous mission).

²¹And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

²²Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

²³And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah (this records the last attempt by God to salvage Saul; as would be obvious, this prophesy was from the Spirit of God and not evil spirits).

²⁴And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets? (It does not mean that Saul stripped off his clothing. It means that he stripped off his armor and kingly robes. In other words, he was naked of these items, but not naked as we think of nakedness.

As stated, this was Gods last attempt to bring Saul back to the right way. After this, Saul would go even deeper into spiritual oblivion.)