1 Samuel part 9 18 – 20
In tonights lesson in 1 Samuel we will learn about the importance of having a good friendship and just how destructive jealously can be. Let us begin in
1 Samuel 18:1 Now
when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the
soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and
would not let him go home to his father's house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a
covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and
gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.
Now you might remember
from last week that David had killed Goliath and he was standing before King
Saul telling him whose son he was and what we just read is simply a
continuation of what happened after David talked to the King. It is from these
verses that we see the friendship between David and Jonathan start to blossom.
Though we are not given the details I get the idea that Jonathan was really
take with David because he respected his courage and how gave God the glory for
his victory. We certainly can see that Jonathan gave David a very high honor by
giving him his cloths, armor and his weapons. They made a covenant with one
another to be friends for life which was common occurrence in that time.
As I think about David and Jonathans friendship I reminded of just how important it is for all of us to have good friendships today especially with other Christians. The more Christian friends we have the better off we will be because they can be there for us in our low times to help encourage us in our faith.
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Two
are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. 10 For if they fall, one will lift
up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one
to help him up. 11 Again, if
two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? 12 Though one may be overpowered
by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
I
think every person need a good friend that they can talk with and share there
problems with knowing with all confidence that friend will not go around
telling everyone your business. But in order to have good friendships first all
must be open to having more friends in our life and we also must realize that
friendship take work from both people.
Proverbs 18:24 A man who
has friends must himself be friendly,
As you go through out
this life will discover many who call themselves your friends but their
friendships are one sided because they only they only want to be your friend
when they want something out of you and when you want something from them they
never seem to be available. So, must realize that a good friendship like what
David and Jonathan had is based upon both parties contributing to the
friendship. As we get back to our text in 1Samuel we also see that Saul makes
David a part of his family so to speak because he does not allow him to back to
his fathers house.
1 Samuel 18:5 So
David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set
him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and
also in the sight of Saul's servants. 6
Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning
from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the
cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines,
with joy, and with musical instruments. 7
So the women sang as they danced, and said: "Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands." 8
Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said,
"They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only
thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" 9 So Saul eyed David from that day
forward.
As
you can see David was rising up in the eyes of the people and of the King. In
the beginning Saul had nothing but admiration and respect for David and he
never disappointed him. No matter where Saul sent him David always did a good
job. But when Saul heard his people giving David more credit for the deaths of
the Philistines in him it changed his attitude toward David and he becomes
insanely jealous and angry at David success. In the back of Saul’s mind he must
have been thinking of what Samuel had told him in the past about how his
kingdom would be taken from and given to another. Saul was starting to think
that this person who would take his kingdom from his was David. So Saul kept his
eye on David from this time forward.
1 Samuel 18: 10
And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon
Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his
hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Saul's hand. 11 And Saul cast the spear, for he
said, "I will pin David to the wall!" But David escaped his presence
twice. 12 Now Saul was afraid
of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from
his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and
came in before the people. 14
And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the LORD was with
him. 15 Therefore, when Saul
saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16 But all
Here we see just how far
Jealously and anger can take a person. Now in the past David was able to play
his music and it would sooth Saul’s disposition but this time was different
because Saul wanted to make David disappear but David manages to avoid Saul and
his spear and this makes Saul even more afraid of David and so he sends him
away to be the captain over a thousand men. Now I do not believe that Saul was
just giving David a promotion at this time but I believe he was hoping that the
more battles David was in the greater the chance he would die in battle. But
wherever David went he was successful and Saul had nothing to fault him on and
the people loved him because he was a man of the people.
1 Samuel 18:17 Then
Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab; (mee – rab) I
will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD's
battles." For Saul thought, "Let my hand not be against him, but let
the hand of the Philistines be against him." 18 So David said to Saul,
"Who am I, and what is my life or my father's family
in
Here we see that Saul was
doing whatever he could to get David killed. As the custom of the day was the
Older daughter was to marry first and even though Saul had promised whoever
killed Goliath would get to marry her he goes back on his promise and gives his
daughter to this other man. Now we are not told why he does this but this just
another example of how Saul was not being true to his word. We also see how
humble David was in that he didn’t feel worthy to be considered as a son-in-law
to the king. Now Saul wasn’t finished yet with his plotting and planning to
kill David.
1 Samuel 18:20 Now
Michal, (my-kul) Saul's daughter, loved David. And they
told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21
So Saul said, "I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and
that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." Therefore Saul said
to David a second time, "You shall be my son-in-law today." 22 And Saul commanded his
servants, "Communicate with David secretly, and say, 'Look, the king has
delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king's
son-in-law.' " 23 So
Saul's servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said,
"Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king's
son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?" 24 And the servants of Saul told
him, saying, "In this manner David spoke." 25 Then Saul said, "Thus you
shall say to David: 'The king does not desire any dowry but one hundred
foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king's enemies.' "
But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 So when his servants told David
these words, it pleased David well to become the king's son-in-law. Now the
days had not expired; 27
therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of
the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full
count to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave
him Michal his daughter as a wife. 28
Thus Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal,
Saul's daughter, loved him; 29
and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David's enemy
continually. 30 Then the
princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they
went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul,
so that his name became highly esteemed.
Again we see just
how much Saul was driven by his jealousy and envy of David. Here see him using
his daughter and deception to try and get David killed. Did you notice how Saul
sent men in secret to try and convince David that Saul really wants him to be
his son-in-law. But again we see the humility of David who know that he had no
money to offer and he still didn’t feel worthy to marry the Kings daughter even
though he loved her. But when David heard all he had to do for the king was to
bring 100 foreskins he was ready to take on this task. Not only did David get
him 100 he got him 200 foreskins. Once again Saul’s plans were spoiled because
God was with David helping him all the way.
Now just for a
min I want to talk about the dangers of
jealousy and envy toward another person. We have already seen what this has
done in Saul’s life and the same thing can happen to us today. If we start
looking around at other that are better off than we are or maybe more popular
than we are and we become jealous or envious of that person this can cause to
sin against God and that person. How many times have you heard a person
spreading rumors about another person trying to destroy their credibility all
because they were jealous or envious of that person? How many times have you
seen people use lies or other people to try hurt those people they are Jealous
of? I have seen it happen with Christians and non-Christians.
As Christians it
important for us to realize just how unhealthy and how sinful jealously and
envy can be. We must learn not to be this way. As Christians we should be happy
for our brothers and sister in Christ when things go well for them or they
accomplish something great for the Lord. You can find several places in the NT
that list this attitude of strife or jealousy as something that can keep from
making it to heaven because its sinful. In fact lets look at few passages that
talk about Jealousy and envy.
Song of Solomon
8:6 For love is as strong as death,
Jealousy as cruel as the grave;
Proverbs 27:4 Wrath is
cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before jealousy?
James 3:16 For where envy and self-seeking exist,
confusion and every evil thing are there.
So
as Christians let us strive not to have jealousy or envy in our life or we find
ourselves like King Saul separated from God.
1 Samuel 19:1 Now
Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill
David; but Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David. 2 So Jonathan told David, saying,
"My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until
morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. 3 "And I will go out and
stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with
my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you." 4 Thus Jonathan spoke well of
David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Let not the king sin against
his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because
his works have been very good toward you. 5 "For he took his life in
his hands and killed the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great
deliverance for all
Saul make his plans know
that he wants David dead but because Jonathan loved David so much he tells him
of his fathers plans so that he can hide. As we read Jonathan reminds his
father of what David had done and how faithful a servant he was. Well this was
enough for now to convince Saul that not to kill David at this time. He even
swore before God that he would not kill David but Saul would soon break his
word just as he had done in the past. As you continue from verse 7 – 17 you see
that Saul gets his evil spirit again and David tries to sooth him with his
music and once again Saul tries to kill David with his spear but he misses and
he spear gets stuck in the wall. David runs for his life and goes back to his
wife and Saul spies on him and is going to kill David but someone his wife gets
wind of this and she lets David down through the window so he could escape and
then she makes a dummy out an idol and goats hair to make it look like David is
bed. Then his wife tells 2 lies. First of all she tells the messengers that
come to take David that he is sick. When Saul finds out what his daughter with
the dummy she made he want to know why she did that and she tells lie number 2.
She basically says the he threatened her life if she tried to make him stay.
Now one thing we need to
keep in mind is that the God did not approve of these lies just as he didn’t
approve of Rahab’s lie when she lied about the spies to keep them alive. Many
times the Bibles simple records these lies that are told as a historical fact
of what was said but it no way tries to make these lies as being justified in
the sight of God.
Now what happens next
kind of strange.
1 Samuel 19:18 So
David fled and escaped, and went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul
had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. (nay- oth) 19
Now it was told Saul, saying, "Take note, David is at Naioth(nay-
oth) in
Ramah!" 20 Then Saul
sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying,
and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the
messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
21 And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they
prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they
prophesied also. 22 Then he
also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. (see –
koo) So he asked, and said, "Where are Samuel and David?" And someone
said, "Indeed they are at Naioth (nay- oth) in
Ramah." 23 So he went
there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went
on and prophesied until he came to Naioth(nay- oth) in Ramah.
24 And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before
Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night.
Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
Now again we given the
details of what happened here only that 3 different groups of men came to get
David but all of them started prophesying and this kept them from taking David
and even King Saul himself had the same thing happened to him and but the text
adds the detail that he was doing his prophesying in the nude. This strange
event just shows that God was watching out for David but this would only keep
Saul at bay for a short time.
1 Samuel 20:1 Then
David fled from Naioth (nay- oth) in
Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my
iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my
life?" 2 So Jonathan
said to him, "By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do
nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my
father hide this thing from me? It is not so!" 3 Then David took an oath again,
and said, "Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your
eyes, and he has said, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.' But
truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but
a step between me and death."
You David cant figure out
why in the world Saul wants him dead and Jonathan wanting t to thing the best
of his father is not fully convinced in his own mind that his father is still
trying to kill David. I think we can relate to Jonathan because we all want to
think best of our mothers and our fathers it would be very difficult for some
of us to believe that our parents would be capable of doing certain things and
even if your dearest friend told of our parents behavior it would be hard for
us to accept it. But at least Jonathan was willing to see if this were true or not
and so they come up with a plan to test Saul.
There was feast that was
about happen and David was suppose to be a part of it but he was going to hide
out and if Saul asked about his whereabouts then Jonathan was to tell him that
David had asked permission to go back home to be a part of the yearly sacrifice
with his family and that he had allow him to go. Now if Saul response was rough
instead of pleasant this would prove that Saul was still wanting to kill David.
Then Jonathan would let David know the response of his father by shooting 3
arrows and having a lad retrieve those arrows. If it was safe for David to come
back he would shout out to the lad the arrows are on this side of you gather
and come back, however if wasn’t safe he would shout out the arrows are beyond
you. So this was there plan.
So on the first night
David was not there and Saul didn’t say anything because he thought maybe that
David had became unclean to eat that night. But when the second day came and
David still wasn’t there Saul asked Jonathan about David and he told Saul the
story about how David had went home. Now notice Saul’s response.
1 Samuel 20:30 Then
Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of
a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son
of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? 31 "For as long as the son of
Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now
therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die." 32 And Jonathan answered Saul his
father, and said to him, "Why should he be killed? What has he
done?" 33 Then Saul cast
a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by
his father to kill David. 34
So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second
day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated
him shamefully.
Well as you can see there
wasn’t any doubt that Saul’s response was very rough. He really came unglued at
this news of David going home. I cant help but think that Saul was going to
capture David during this feast so that he could have him killed but since he
wasn’t there his plans were spoiled again and that is why I believe he reacted
so harshly. When Jonathan tried to defend David Saul through his spear at him.
Obviously there was no way anyone was going to convince Saul not to kill David.
1 Samuel 20:35 And so
it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time
appointed with David, and a little lad was with him. 36 Then he said to his lad,
"Now run, find the arrows which I shoot." As the lad ran, he shot an
arrow beyond him. 37 When the
lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan
cried out after the lad and said, "Is not the arrow beyond
you?" 38 And Jonathan
cried out after the lad, "Make haste, hurry, do not delay!" So
Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. 39 But the lad did not know
anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons
to his lad, and said to him, "Go, carry them to the
city." 41 As soon as the
lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his
face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another;
and they wept together, but David more so.
42 Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since we
have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'May the LORD be between you
and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.' " So he
arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
So David is given the bad
news just as the determined beforehand and they get to see each other one last
time before the depart from one another forever. It never easy when close
friends must separate and we can see it was difficult for them as they both
wept for one another and went there separate ways. This brings this to the end
of our lesson tonight and I hope you have learned two main points.
1. It is good to have a
strong friendship especially with a Christians.
2. Jealousy and envy can
become very destructive and can harm those around you and separate you from
God.