Plymothian

David had the ephod which meant that David could inquire about God’s will using the Urim and Thummim.  Here is what the Holman Concise Bible Dictionary has to say about Urim and Thummim:

Objects Israel, and especially the high priest, used to determine God’s will; kept by high priest in a ‘breastplate of judgment” (Ex. 28:15-30; see Num. 27:18-23; 1 Sam. 14:41-45). Later, Moses gave Levi special responsibility for their care (Deut. 33:8).  They apparently were two objects that served as sacred lots.  They were “given”, perhaps drawn or shaken from a bag.  ONe object gave one answer.  The other lot gave another answer.  Probably whichever lot came out first was understood to be God’s answer.  God could refuse to answer (1 Sam. 28:6-25).  Expectation continued that someday a priest would arise with Urim and Thummim (Ezra 2:63; Neh. 7:65).

Although to my skeptical mind this can look like consulting the magic eight ball, I must remember that God has control over all objects so that random ‘chance’ can be eliminated.

1 Samuel 23

 ¹ When David was told, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors,” ²he inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?”

   The LORD answered him, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

³But David’s men said to him, “Here in Judah we are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

⁴ Once again David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him, “Go down to Keilah, for I am going to give the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. ⁶(Now Abiathar son of Ahimelek had brought the ephod down with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)

Saul Pursues David

⁷ Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” ⁸And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

⁹ When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” ¹⁰ David said, “LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. ¹¹Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant.”

   And the LORD said, “He will.”

¹²Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?”

   And the LORD said, “They will.”

¹³So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

¹⁴David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands.

¹⁵ While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that^[a] Saul had come out to take his life. ¹⁶ And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. ¹⁷ “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” ¹⁸The two of them made a covenant before the LORD. Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.

¹⁹ The Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon? ²⁰Now, Your Majesty, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for giving him into your hands.”

²¹ Saul replied, “The LORD bless you for your concern for me. ²² Go and get more information. Find out where David usually goes and who has seen him there. They tell me he is very crafty. ²³Find out about all the hiding places he uses and come back to me with definite information. Then I will go with you; if he is in the area, I will track him down among all the clans of Judah.”

²⁴ So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. ²⁵Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David.

²⁶ Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side, hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his forces were closing in on David and his men to capture them, ²⁷ a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are raiding the land.” ²⁸ Then Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they call this place Sela Hammahlekoth.^{[b] 29} And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

Questions

1. Which significant person is now traveling with David?
2. How does this person discern God’s will?
3. How does knowledge of God’s will help David?
4. How do people discern God’s will in their lives today?
5. How has the Bible changed the direction of your life?

David’s band is on the run.  He has a loyal group of fighting men and they are trusting the Lord to provide for them.  When they get to Nob God provides a sympathetic priest who gives them bread that it is not lawful to eat.  This provision is so unusual that Jesus uses it as an example that the needs of people take precedence over the keeping of ceremonial laws.

Secondly David ends up in the land of his enemies and God provides for him there.  Wherever David goes God provides what is needed to fulfil his plan for the man after his heart.  This raises two questions for us.  Are we working out God’s plan for the world during our little appearance on earth?  Are we pursuing God: are we people after his own heart?

1 Samuel 21

^{1 [a]}David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

 ² David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. ³Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

 ⁴But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”

 ⁵ David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever^[b] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!” ⁶So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.

 ⁷Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.

 ⁸David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”

 ⁹The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.”

   David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

David at Gath

 ¹⁰ That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:

   “‘Saul has slain his thousands,
   and David his tens of thousands’?”

 ¹² David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

 ¹⁴ Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? ¹⁵ Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”

Questions

1. To which two locations did David flee?
2. How did God provide for David at each location?
3. How is God’s provision for David unusual?
4. Are you in danger emotionally or physically in any way?
5. How could God use the emotional or physical threat?

When I think of loyalty I think of pets.  In particular I think of a dog that faithfully collects his master’s slippers each night and lies by his feet by the fire.  I struggle with thinking that people are loyal.  I think that I have been let down enough in some friendships and see my own disloyalty and I am skeptical.  However, the story of David and Jonathan in the Bible highlights some genuine loyalty between  two close friends.

Jonathan had to be faithful to David to help him survive the attempts on his life by Saul.  Later we see that David was faithful to Jonathan by protecting the royal line.  It is a challenge to me to remain faithful to both friends and God.  Loyalty is a virtue that we should cultivate more intentionally in a world that scatters friends and family around the globe.

1 Samuel 20

¹Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”

 ²“Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”

 ³But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”

 ⁴Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”

 ⁵ So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ ⁷ If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. ⁸As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the LORD. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”

 ⁹“Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”

 ¹⁰David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

 ¹¹“Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.

 ¹² Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the LORD, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? ¹³ But if my father intends to harm you, may the LORD deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father. ¹⁴ But show me unfailing kindness like the LORD’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, ¹⁵and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

 ¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD call David’s enemies to account.” ¹⁷And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.

 ¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the LORD lives, you are safe; there is no danger. ²² But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the LORD has sent you away. ²³And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the LORD is witness between you and me forever.”

 ²⁴ So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. ²⁵ He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,^[a] and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” ²⁷But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”

 ²⁸ Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

 ³⁰ Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? ³¹As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”

 ³² “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. ³³But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.

 ³⁴Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.

 ³⁵ In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, ³⁶ and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸ Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. ³⁹ (The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) ⁴⁰Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”

 ⁴¹After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.

 ⁴² Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

Questions

1. In what ways was David threatened?
2. Why do you think that Saul kept his son in the dark?
3. How was David a real threat to Jonathan?
4. When has your loyalty been tested?
5. How could you develop more loyal relationships?

I have struggled allowing myself to have a friend.  I do not trust people easily and I am an only child.  I see some people who have close friends who they can tell everything through and whom they see regularly and I have envied them.  My parents didn’t live in the pockets of any neighbours, my father in particular kept himself to himself.  So when I read of David and Jonathan’s friends in the Bible I am envious and wish that I had spent more time making friends like that.

Jonathan was loyal to the truth and to his friend.  When it was shown to Jonathan that his own father wanted to kill David, he cut with the ties of blood and stayed faithful to his friend.  David’s wife broke with her father in the same way.  When the Bible states, “There is a friend who is closer than a brother,” it is the friendship of Jonathan and David that comes to mind.

The best way to make a friend is to be a friend.  I know that I must do the following to develop a God-centered frindship:

• Keep regular contact
• Be open about my failings and my successes
• Withhold judgement
• Ask questions from a position of genuine interest
• Talk openly about God and my genuine spiritual struggles
• Help out in times of need
• Look for kind acts to do for that person
• Do things without expecting or desiring anything in return

If I do these things I will have a friend.  In recent years I have found that my friendships are becoming richer because of some of these principles.

1 Samuel 19

¹ Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David ² and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. ³I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”

 ⁴ Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly. ⁵He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”

 ⁶Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”

 ⁷So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.

 ⁸Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.

 ⁹ But an evil^[a] spirit from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the lyre, ¹⁰Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.

 ¹¹ Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.” ¹² So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. ¹³Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.

 ¹⁴When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”

 ¹⁵ Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.” ¹⁶But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.

 ¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?”

   Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?’”

 ¹⁸ When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. ¹⁹ Word came to Saul: “David is in Naioth at Ramah”; ²⁰ so he sent men to capture him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men, and they also prophesied. ²¹ Saul was told about it, and he sent more men, and they prophesied too. Saul sent men a third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Finally, he himself left for Ramah and went to the great cistern at Seku. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

   “Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.

 ²³ So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God came even on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth. ²⁴ He stripped off his garments, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Questions

1. How does Saul’s desire for control come through?
2. What personal issues do you think Saul is solving for?
3. What do you think God is developing in David?
4. How are loyalties with friends sometimes to take a higher role than family?
5. How has God enabled compassionate friends to heal you in times of difficulty and stress?  How have you been a healing friend?

Mental health issues get a lot of attention these days.  We rightly seek to diagnose what ailments a person is wrestling with and then we treat them appropriately.  I have a lot of sympathy with people who struggle with their mind.  My father was paranoid to some degree.  He would check and double check things to keep himself safe.  I think that he feared repercussions and to him the world was only really a hostile place.  It is not surprising that he was paranoid really, when you knew his volatile mother.  However, although the paranoia and obsessive compulsive behaviour could be explained it had spiritual connotations aswell.  My father needed to be in control as much as possible because he did not know God.

God healed my mother of post-partum depression when she found faith in Jesus.  However, there is no gaurantee that God will act in this way on our behalf.  God can do as he chooses, but he is powerful enough to address mental illness and its spiritual aspects that often go unaddressed. 

In 1 samuel 18 God uses the mental and spiritual illness of Saul to move along his plans for Israel.  I feel sympathy for Saul, but I understand that Saul is wed to his paranoia and shows little concern about his mood swings.  God has confirmed Saul in his own choices.

1 Samuel 18

 ¹ After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. ² From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. ³ And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. ⁴Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.

 ⁵Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.

 ⁶ When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. ⁷As they danced, they sang:

   “Saul has slain his thousands,
   and David his tens of thousands.”

 ⁸ Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” ⁹And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.

 ¹⁰ The next day an evil^[a] spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand ¹¹and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

 ¹² Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul. ¹³ So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. ¹⁴ In everything he did he had great success, because the LORD was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. ¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.

 ¹⁷Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the LORD.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”

 ¹⁸ But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” ¹⁹ So^[b]when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

 ²⁰ Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. ²¹“I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

 ²²Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’”

 ²³They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”

 ²⁴ When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, ²⁵Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.

 ²⁶ When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, ²⁷David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

 ²⁸ When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, ²⁹Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.

 ³⁰ The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.

Questions

1. How would you describe Saul’s decline?
2. How would you describe the change in David’s fortunes?
3. What does God show about himself in managing this change?
4. How can mental health and spiritual health be integrated?
5. What mental health and spiritual health issues have you had to address in your family, friends, and personal life?
   

The interior of Israel is rugged and hilly.  The Philistines thought that their gods were the gods of the plains, but that Israel’s gods were the gods of the mountains.  The story of David and Goliath is a story that shows Jehovah is God of the hills and the valleys.  This is why Goliath comes out onto the plains and issues a challenge to Israel to come out and face him where his god will give him the advantage.  On the plains his size, his armour, and his god will make him invincible.

The act of challenging an opponent to single combat was probably foreign to the Israelites.  This concept of a champion was known to the Sea Peoples of the Aegean but not to the hill people of Israel.

David has courage that his God is the only God and in that strength he defeats a man who has superior strength, superior military technology, and a home field advantage.  God shows that he is the only true God of everywhere, everyone, and everything.

1 Samuel 17

¹ Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled at Sokoh in Judah. They pitched camp at Ephes Dammim, between Sokoh and Azekah. ² Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah and drew up their battle line to meet the Philistines. ³The Philistines occupied one hill and the Israelites another, with the valley between them.

 ⁴ A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span.^{[a] 5} He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels^[b]; ⁶ on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. ⁷ His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.^[c]His shield bearer went ahead of him.

 ⁸ Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. ⁹ If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” ¹⁰ Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” ¹¹On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

 ¹² Now David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and in Saul’s time he was very old. ¹³ Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war: The firstborn was Eliab; the second, Abinadab; and the third, Shammah. ¹⁴ David was the youngest. The three oldest followed Saul, ¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

 ¹⁶For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening and took his stand.

 ¹⁷ Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah^[d] of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance^[e] from them. ¹⁹They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

 ²⁰ Early in the morning David left the flock in the care of a shepherd, loaded up and set out, as Jesse had directed. He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry. ²¹ Israel and the Philistines were drawing up their lines facing each other. ²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies, ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

 ²⁵Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes in Israel.”

 ²⁶David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

 ²⁷They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

 ²⁸When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

 ²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

 ³²David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

 ³³Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

 ³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

   Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”

 ³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

   “I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

 ⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. ⁴³ He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴“Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”

 ⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

 ⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

 ⁵⁰So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

 ⁵¹David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

   When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath^[f] and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

 ⁵⁴David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

 ⁵⁵As Saul watched David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is that young man?”

   Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

 ⁵⁶The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

 ⁵⁷As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

 ⁵⁸“Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.

   David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

Questions

1. What problem presents itself to teh Israelites?
2. What does God reveal about himself in this story?
3. How is David’s cause moved forward?
4. Are you facing geographical, technological or interpersonal issues?  What are they?
5. How could God show himself to be the one God over all your obstacles?

In 1 Samuel 16 Saul has an ‘evil spirit from God’.  This phrase has caused interpreters a lot of problems, but it just acknowledges that all things, whether good or bad, find their origins in God.  Saul has chosen to distance himself from God the king-maker and so God orchestrates the next phase in the plan.  The evil spirit is soothed by music (this shows it is probably an emotional moodiness from God, not necessarily a demon).  David plays the harp and so David, who has been anointed king, has an opportunity to move from shepherd to king’s musician.

If we are faithful to God he will move the pieces in our lives to bring about the kind of spiritual growth that he requires.  We must have ‘luck’ which Bob Kraft once explained to me is a combination of readiness with opportunity.  Are you keeping yourself ready for the opportunities God will bring your way?

1 Samuel 16: 14-23

¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil^[a]spirit from the LORD tormented him.

¹⁵ Saul’s attendants said to him, “See, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶Let our lord command his servants here to search for someone who can play the lyre. He will play when the evil spirit from God comes on you, and you will feel better.”

¹⁷So Saul said to his attendants, “Find someone who plays well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸One of the servants answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him.”

¹⁹ Then Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” ²⁰So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.

²¹ David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much, and David became one of his armor-bearers. ²²Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Allow David to remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.”

²³ Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

Questions

1. How are two spirits contrasted in the opening verses of this section?
2. How do David’s fortunes change?
3. Why does God bring David into a potentially dangerous situation like this?
4. How have your fortunes changed?
5. What changes do you hope that God will bring in your future?

Bill T. Arnold writes:

The man after God’s own heart turned out to be an unassuming boy!  Looks can be so deceiving that we actually miss the very thing that we are looking for.  God sends Samuel to find a new king.  But he would have missed David entirely because David does not look the part.  Just as David as a new messianic ruler is easy to overlook, so the Messiah was overlooked because he did not appear as people were expecting.

But this text is especially concerned with the type of person God seeks.  When you and I consider the qualities of the people around us, we are inevitablt and inescapably influenced by what we see with our eyes.  But God sees things we miss.  Because he has superior vision, we may often be surprised by the people he chooses to accomplish his purposes.  In ancient Israel, it was often the surprising choice of the youngest son instead of the expected oldest.  At various times in church history, believers have been surprised (or disturbed!) when God has called a woman to serve him in a role usually filled by a man.  Such times may cahllenge the church’s dogma and require us revisiting our beliefs about such roles.  God can also sue an unassuming childto teach important lessons needed for a given time.  He has used the uneducated, the poor and the disenfranchised.  The fact that you and I simply cannot see the human heart the way God does, thus, we may often be surprised by what God sees in others.

1 Samuel 16:1-13

¹The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

²But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

   The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ ³Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

⁴Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

⁵Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

⁷But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” ⁹ Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.” ¹⁰ Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” ¹¹So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

   “There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

   Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

¹²So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

   Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

¹³ So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

Questions

1. Why didn’t Samuel want to go to Bethlehem?
2. What did Samuel look for in a king?
3. What was God looking for in a king?
4. What do you look for in a friend or a spouse?
5. What kind of character is God looking for in you?

Samuel tells Saul that he is rejected.  He is rejected because of his half-hearted following of God.  God wants someone to take control of the nation of Israel who will be fully devoted to him, but Saul is not that man.  He allows the troops to take forbidden plunder and he allows himself to make excuses.

Samuel is emotionally distraught about the whole affair, but he does pronounce God’s righteous judgement.  ‘Obedience is better than sacrifice.’  Saul may have done some of the right religious functions, but he falls short and his reign is a failure.

1 Samuel 15

 ¹ Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. ² This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. ³ Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy^[a]all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. ⁵ Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. ⁶Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. ⁸ He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. ⁹ But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves^[b]and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

¹⁰ Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: ¹¹“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.

¹²Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

¹³When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.”

¹⁴But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

¹⁵Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

¹⁶“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”

   “Tell me,” Saul replied.

¹⁷ Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸ And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ ¹⁹Why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD?”

²⁰ “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. ²¹The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”

²²But Samuel replied:

   “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
   as much as in obeying the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
   and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
²³ For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
   and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
   he has rejected you as king.”

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the LORD’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. ²⁵Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD.”

²⁶But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel!”

²⁷ As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸ Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. ²⁹He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

³⁰ Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.” ³¹So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

³²Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”

   Agag came to him in chains.^[c]And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

³³But Samuel said,

   “As your sword has made women childless,
   so will your mother be childless among women.”

   And Samuel put Agag to death before the LORD at Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵ Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Questions

1. What does Samuel direct Saul to do about Agag?
2. What does Samuel do?
3. How is Haman described in the book of Esther?  How are Israel’s troubles in Esther related to Saul’s disobedience here?
4. What has God asked you to be obedient in?
5. How would you rate your obedience?