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The solution to Saul's bad precedent, part 10

Although Saul attempted to kill David on more than one occasion, David remained in Saul’s service as the captain of the army. In fact, it appears that Saul wanted to distance himself from David, so he appointed him as the military commander. 1 Samuel 18:12, 13 says,

¹² Now Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. ¹³ Therefore Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

Perhaps Saul thought that David might be killed in battle, thereby ridding him of the problem. However, “David was prospering in all his ways” (1 Samuel 18:14), and “when Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him” (1 Samuel 18:15). Saul’s dilemma was that the people loved David (1 Samuel 18:16), so he could not execute him.

Saul then conceived a plan. First he gave his daughter to David as a wife to give the appearance of favoring him. David refused (diplomatically) to take Saul’s daughter, Merab, as his wife, saying, “Who am I… that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” David’s real motive, I believe, was that he was not attracted to Merab. Yet he married Michal, another daughter who loved David (1 Samuel 18:20).

David’s Dowry

David was a poor man in those days and did not have a suitable dowry to give Saul. A normal dowry, when required by law, was 50 shekels of silver (Deuteronomy 22:28, 29), or 100 days of common labor. However, the dowry could be anything that was agreeable to both parties. In many countries today, the dowry is paid by the bride’s father, but in Scripture the dowry is paid by the groom or his father.

In this case, Saul required 100 foreskins of the Philistines (1 Samuel 18:23), for he hoped that the Philistines would kill David in battle. Essentially, Saul sent David to fight the Philistines, saying, “My hand shall not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him” (1 Samuel 18:17). David agreed to these terms and provided the foreskins to Saul (1 Samuel 18:27).

Saul’s plan backfired when David was successful. 1 Samuel 18:29 says,

²⁹ Then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.

The prophetic application of this under the New Covenant is seen in Jesus’ treatment of the uncircumcised foreigners (Greeks, Romans, etc.). Having a heart of love toward them, He led them into a covenant relationship with God, not by outward circumcision but by that of the heart (Romans 2:28, 29). The believers, having heart circumcision, became Father God’s dowry to obtain the bride of Christ. These are “those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28) and “predestined to become conformed in the image of His son” (Romans 8:29).

David himself lived in Old Covenant times, often characterized by the physical sword, Jesus was the Mediator of the New Covenant, which functioned by the spiritual sword—the word of God (Hebrews 4:12). Hence, what is death in the Old Covenant is life in the New. This life requires the death of the “old man” (Romans 6:6 KJV), but it is a legal death, not a physical death.

Jonathan’s Friendship

Jonathan then warned David that Saul was “seeking to put you to death” (1 Samuel 19:2). Jonathan then confronted his father, reminding him that David had delivered Israel from the power of the Philistines. “Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?” (1 Samuel 19:5).

Saul relented and swore (“As the Lord lives”) not to execute David. So David was restored to favor and allowed to be in Saul’s presence—at least for a while. But war again broke out with the Philistines, and David again defeated them. This renewed all of Saul’s fears, and so he again tried to pin David against the wall with his spear (1 Samuel 19:9, 10).

David’s Escape

David escaped once again, and this time he went to Ramah to talk to Samuel (1 Samuel 19:18). Saul soon heard where David had gone and sent soldiers to arrest him. 1 Samuel 19:20, 21 says,

²⁰ Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied. ²¹ When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.

Saul was totally frustrated at this divine intervention, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. He went to Ramah and to nearby Naioth, where David was staying. 1 Samuel 19:23, 24 says,

²³ He proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴ He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Remarkably, the Holy Spirit overrode the evil spirit that had been inspiring Saul to kill David. This shows us that in the church today, even if a Pentecostal has been afflicted with an evil spirit from God, he can also prophesy by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Many may find this hard to believe, but Saul is an example of this. (I too have seen such things in my experience.)

Believers can be both demonic and Spirit-filled as the occasion may arise. Those who observe such things are required to have a spirit of discernment to know which spirit is speaking at any given time.

Appealing to the Divine Court

Saul was aware of the friendship between his son Jonathan and David. So when he went to Naioth to arrest and execute David, he did not tell Jonathan of his intentions. Jonathan believed that his father shared everything that he was doing, so he did not suspect that Saul would break his vow to stop trying to kill David.

But when Saul was paralyzed by prophecy under the power of the Holy Spirit at Naioth, David escaped and returned to Saul’s house in Gibeah. (Both Saul and Samuel lived in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.) David then talked to Jonathan, saying, “What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?” (1 Samuel 20:1).

Jonathan did not believe what David was telling him. 1 Samuel 20:2 says,

² He said to him, “Far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”

Perhaps this is the only time that David and Jonathan disagreed on anything. A “new moon” was approaching, and as far as Jonathan knew, David was expected to be seated at Saul’s table for dinner. But David would not put himself in that kind of danger. So they hatched a plan where David was called home to Bethlehem for a family traditional feast—perhaps on the Feast of Trumpets, which was the first day of the seventh month at the time of the new moon.

The disagreement between David and Jonathan was still not resolved. 1 Samuel 20:12 says,

¹² Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good feeling toward David, shall I not then send to you and make it known to you?”

This was essentially an appeal to the divine court to reveal Saul’s heart toward David. Jonathan would tell David the result, not by words that others may overhear but by shooting three arrows toward a target. He would deliberately miss the target and then send a boy to retrieve the arrows. If he called out and said, “They are on your right (or left),” then it signaled that Saul was friendly with David. If he called out and said, “They are beyond you,” then it signaled that David should flee.

This arrangement was agreeable to them. 1 Samuel 20:15, 16, 17 then says,

¹⁵ (Jonathan said) “You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord require it at the hands of David’s enemies.” ¹⁷ Jonathan made David vow again because of his love for him, because he loved him as he loved his own life.

By a double vow, they agreed to maintain their covenant of peace to the end. Jonathan made David vow never to cut off his “lovingkindness from my house” (i.e., the house of Saul). But if Saul’s house were confirmed to be David’s enemy, then the Lord would “require it at the hands of David’s enemies.” This was part of the reason why David did not kill Saul later, even when the opportunity presented itself. So, in the end, Saul’s house was destroyed by the Philistines, not by David himself.

After these vows, David hid himself from Saul. Jonathan soon learned that David was right. Saul was still trying to kill David and was angry with his son for defending David (1 Samuel 20:30, 31). In fact, Saul even tried to kill Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:33), for he suspected that Jonathan had conspired with David not to come to Saul’s table for dinner.

So God answered their appeal to the divine court, and Saul’s heart was exposed. Jonathan knew then that even his own life and position as the future king were in danger. The spear itself made this crystal clear.

This marked the moment when David became a fugitive. It was the start of David’s 12-year training in a new way that would ensure that David would remember these lessons and rule righteously. From a prophetic standpoint, this training cycle corresponds to the time from the start of the Protestant Reformation until the year 1993, which was the 40^th year of Saul’s reign. Saul then died in battle, and David was crowned king over Judah.

We know this as the time of the rise of the house of David.