And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be put to death.
Saul's hatred has hardened into a plan: watchers around David's house, and death set for dawn. Why did God let it come to this, and what was David doing inside while the killers waited?
One writer sees a pattern in this night. The enemy stays quiet until the believer starts winning.
A fresh victory of David's re-awakens the evil spirit that had taken control of Saul. As long as the believer does not trouble Satan by victories won over his followers, his hostility stays asleep. But his deadly hatred soon wakes up. We see this hatred against David at the very moment when the gracious relief he brings the king seems to subdue the evil spirit. A moment comes, then, when the only thing the believer can do is to flee, to escape like a bird out of the fowler's net. Now David's death is fixed and final. Michal's natural affection for David moves her to help him in her own way. God uses here the human feelings that stirred her.
Jonathan had helped David before. He is not the only instrument God has.
God is never limited in His resources. So He had instruments other than Jonathan for the help of His persecuted servant. Michal used a trick to help David escape when Saul would have murdered him in his bed. Samuel sheltered him at Naioth when his own home was no longer safe.
Psalm 59 carries the note "when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him." David answered the deadline with music. (The writer quotes the psalm itself in an older English translation.)
Saul's messengers were prowling round the house, like dogs greedy for their prey. David was far from afraid. He expected their defeat and disappointment with scorn. He rejoiced in the power of the Lord and His mercy. And he prepared a song for the morning that Saul had appointed for his death — "But I will sing of your power, yes, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning, to you, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy."
The same psalm shows what David did not pray for.
The account in this chapter has its counterpart in Psalm 59, written when Saul sent men to watch David's house to kill him. Saul's messengers were men of blood, gathered against him. They went round the city during the night. Meanwhile David was lifting his heart in prayer to the Lord. He looked to Him for deliverance, sure that He would be gracious toward him. They sought his life not for any wrong he had done, but because he belonged to the Lord. For the moment he does not ask the Lord to kill his enemies, or to kill Saul, so that David's people may not forget these things. The godless king must stay alive until the patience of the Lord's anointed has had its perfect work.
Michal's warning saved David's life. Commentators weigh her motive differently.
Michal clearly loves David. But that love does not seem joined with genuine faith here. Still, we would not brand her as being entirely like her father. Her act involved deception, which we do not excuse. It has some likeness to what Rahab did, when she sent the spies away in peace. But Michal does not seem as loyal in heart as Jonathan. Still, her scheme shows at least her willingness to help her husband, and he escapes safely.
One writer sees the same escape repeated much later in the Bible.
Saul sends to his daughter's house, David's wife, to take David, but Michal lets him down through the window, reminding us of Paul's escape from the plotting of the Jews in Damascus. What a unity underlies all truth, whether it is the hostility of the natural heart or the path of faith through the world!
- The plot. Saul's hatred wakes when David wins. He sets a deadline for morning and turns David's own house into a trap.
- The warning. God was not limited to Jonathan. He used Michal's affection — real love, though not clear faith — to get His servant out alive.
- The night. While the watchers circled the house, David prayed and sang. They hunted him not for his sin but because he belonged to the Lord.
- The restraint. He did not ask for Saul's death. The godless king stayed alive until the patience of the Lord's anointed had done its full work.
- The outcome. Driven from home, David escapes through a window and finds shelter with Samuel at Naioth.
And Michal let David down through a window; and he went, and fled and escaped.
Saul has posted men outside David's house with orders to kill him at daybreak. The escape that follows raises three questions: was flight a failure of faith, who stood behind the rescue, and how did David spend that night?
One writer marks this night as the turn in David's whole life:
David was driven from the court and looked for shelter in his house. At once Saul sent messengers "to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning." His wife, Saul's daughter, told him of the danger and he escaped. From that night he never again had a settled home while Saul lived. This is history. Psalm 59 gives us much more. According to its title it was written when Saul's plot was discovered, and with knowledge of the men Saul sent.
Was running away a failure of faith? One writer points to what woke Saul's rage again, and to the one move David had left:
A fresh triumph of David's re-awakens the evil spirit that had taken control of Saul... A moment comes, then, when the only thing the believer can do is to flee, to escape like a bird out of the fowler's net. Now David's death is decreed, and nothing will reverse it. Michal, moved by her natural affection for David, comes to his help in her own way. God used here the human feelings that stirred her.
Jonathan had been God's instrument for David before. Two others step in now:
God is never limited in His resources. So He had instruments other than Jonathan for the help of His persecuted servant. Michal used a trick to help David escape when Saul would have murdered him in his bed. Samuel sheltered him in Naioth when his own home was no longer safe.
Writers do not treat Michal as a simple heroine.
Michal clearly has love for David, but it does not seem to be joined with genuine faith here. Still, we would not brand her as being entirely like her father. Her act, with its deception, which we do not excuse, has some points of likeness to Rahab, who sent out the spies in peace. But she does not seem as loyal in heart as Jonathan. Her plan shows at least her willingness to help her husband, and he escapes safely.
Another writer looks at her motive:
Why did Michal not tell Saul frankly that she did not want her husband killed? Clearly her love for David took second place to her fear of Saul. She lied to her father, telling him that David had threatened to kill her if she did not let him go.
Psalm 59 shows what David was doing while the messengers circled outside.
While Saul's messengers were prowling round the house, like dogs greedy for their prey, he was far from afraid. He expected their defeat and disappointment with scorn. Rejoicing in the power of the Lord and His mercy, he prepared a song for the morning that Saul had appointed for his death: "I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning."
One writer sees the same escape repeated much later, in Paul's flight from Damascus:
Saul shows that it was not a passing passion, but the renewal of a relentless hatred with a definite purpose. He sends to his daughter's house, David's wife, to seize David, but Michal lets him down through the window, reminding us of Paul's escape from the plots of the Jews in Damascus (Acts 9:23-25). What a unity underlies all truth, whether it is the hostility of the natural heart or the path of faith through the world!
David was already the anointed king. His road to the throne ran out of a window.
So David, though anointed king of Israel, had to endure the hatred and scorn of the ruling power. All who could see his moral worth loved him... David knew he was anointed king, but Saul held the throne. He was quite content to wait on God and to accept His timing meekly... His way to the throne lay through many sorrows and difficulties. He, like his blessed Master, was called to suffering first, and glory afterwards.
- Hatred — Saul's move is not a passing temper but a settled purpose. David's victories wake that hatred instead of soothing it.
- Flight — There are moments when the believer's only move is to escape like a bird out of the fowler's net, and this was one.
- Helper — God is never short of instruments. Beyond Jonathan, He had Michal's window and Samuel's shelter ready.
- Weakness — Michal's rescue was real but mixed. She had love without faith, and fear of her father strong enough to make her lie.
- Song — While Saul's men circled the house, David prepared praise for the very morning set for his death. Suffering first, glory afterwards.
And Michal took the image, and laid it in the bed, and put the net of goats' [hair] at its head, and covered it with the coverlet.
Saul has posted messengers around David's house to kill him at daybreak. Michal, David's wife, buys him time with a dummy in the bed — and the object she uses is a household idol.
The Hebrew word behind "image" is teraphim. The same object turns up in other homes in Scripture:
This is a Hebrew word in the plural. It refers to household idols, like the ones Rachel stole from her father. There, as in other places, the word appears as "images," with "teraphim" in the margin (Genesis 31:19, 34, 35). Michal the wife of David had one in her house, and laid it in the bed when David escaped (1 Samuel 19:13, 16). Micah also had them in his house, and regarded them as "gods" (Judges 17:5; 18:14-20). People used them in some way for divination — for seeking hidden knowledge. They stand among the images and idols that Josiah cleared out of the land.
The verse reports, in passing, that such an object stood in the house of the man of God. One writer asks how it got there and what it cost:
This passage also shows us that there was an image (a teraphim) in David's house. Certainly, David did not worship it, but its presence allows us to conclude that he put up with it… The image (teraphim) ranks below the idol. It is a household god of lower rank. People give it a certain importance, and even consult it at times. Such superstitions quickly lead to true idols… Often the believer lacks the energy to drive these causes of stumbling out of his family. Each one of us must watch this carefully, even though, like Jacob and David, we may think they have no influence over our own life. Michal, Saul's daughter, had clearly brought the image into David's household, and so she became a snare to the man of God.
Michal wanted David alive. But what she reached for shows where her trust lay:
Michal, to gain time for David, had put a "teraphim" in David's bed (v. 13). This was an image in human form. It was truly idolatrous, yet Israelites too often used it alongside the worship of God. Poor Michal! She did not know the power of God, nor did she have real faith in His faithfulness. She thought it necessary to at least partly trust in idols! But we all may too easily become skilled at practising deception.
Michal's trick buys time, and she follows it with a second lie when she is caught. Scripture tells the story plainly, but it does not approve it:
And Michal practised a deception. Like Rachel, she had teraphim — the idol-images in wide use among the Chaldeans and other nations. Jehovah had forbidden them, and yet people used them in secret (Judges 17:5; 18:14). Michal's image must have been fairly large. She arranged it in the bed and then told the messengers, "He is sick." When they uncover the trick, she lies again and says that David threatened her life. The Scriptures record these wrongs, and that is only proof of how honest they are. The Holy Scriptures never approve such things. In all these attempts on David we also see a foreshadowing of the attempts made on the life of our Lord.
The same chapter shows two people helping David, and they do not help him in the same spirit. Michal covers herself by telling Saul that David forced her hand:
Michal avoids her father's wrath by acting before him as though she were one of David's enemies, forced by his threats to let him escape: "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'" (v. 17). How different her heart is from Jonathan's! He openly defended the one he loved dearly, at his own risk and peril.
Commentators differ on how hard to be on her. One calls the deception inexcusable, yet allows that her plan at least shows she wanted to save her husband (Samuel Ridout).
Saul had meant this marriage as a trap. The escape it produced also produced a psalm:
Saul gave his daughter Michal to be David's wife, thinking in this way to trap him. But she became David's deliverer. This called forth Psalm 59. David had faith that God would laugh at his enemies: God was his defence and the God of his mercy.
- Image. The object was a teraphim — a household idol. Rachel stole such images, Micah kept them as gods, and Josiah later cleared them from the land.
- Tolerated. It stood in David's home. He did not worship it, but he put up with it — and lesser superstitions lead on to real idols.
- Trusted. Michal loved David but did not know the power of God, so she leaned partly on an idol to save him.
- Told, not blessed. Scripture reports her trick and her second lie without approving either. Recording a sin is proof of honesty, not approval.
- Delivered. Saul's trap became David's rescue, and the night produced Psalm 59, where the credit goes to God as his defence. The attacks on David also foreshadow the attacks later made on the life of Christ.
And Saul sent messengers to take David, and she said, He is sick.
Saul's men stand at David's own door, and the word that meets them is that the man they want is ill in bed. Who really lay there? And how did God keep His anointed alive while armed men watched the house?
Saul's hunt had moved from the throne room into David's bedroom. Notice what the king now calls his own son-in-law.
Michal did not get what she wanted by telling Saul's messengers that David was sick. Saul was so set on killing him quickly that he ordered his servants to carry David to him in his bed. Of course they then found out the trick, and Saul was angry with his daughter for helping her own husband! Instead of calling David her husband, Saul calls him "my enemy," which was not true, for David had no hatred toward Saul.
The shape under the covers was a teraphim — a household figure. One writer explains both what such an object was and how it came to be in the home of the Lord's anointed at all.
This passage also shows us that there was an image — a teraphim — in David's house. David did not worship it, but its presence shows that he put up with it. Strictly speaking the teraphim was not an idol, and Scripture keeps the two apart… It ranks below an idol. It is a kind of household god. People treated it as important and even asked it for guidance at times. Superstitions like this soon lead to real idols… Often a believer lacks the energy to clear such traps out of his family… Michal, Saul's daughter, had clearly brought the image into David's home, and so she became a snare to the man of God.
Michal's words at the door were a lie, and another lie followed. One writer asks what it means that the Bible reports them at all.
God had forbidden such images, yet people used them in secret (Judges 17:5; 18:14). Michal's image must have been fairly large; she laid it in the bed and then told the messengers, "He is sick." When they uncovered the trick, she lied again and said that David had threatened her life. Scripture records these wrongs, and that is one proof of how honest it is — yet it never approves them. In every attempt on David's life we see a foreshadowing of the attempts later made on the life of our Lord.
Michal wanted her husband alive. Commentators differ over how serious the object in the bed was; this writer calls it plainly idolatrous, and asks what Michal was trusting in.
Michal, to buy time for David, had put a "teraphim" in his bed (v.13). This was an image in human form, idolatrous in itself, yet Israelites too often used it alongside the worship of God. Poor Michal! She did not know the power of God, and she had no real faith in His faithfulness. She thought she had to put at least some trust in idols! But any of us can quickly become expert at deceiving people.
Her brother Jonathan faced the same father and chose a different way.
Michal escapes her father's anger by acting as though she were one of David's enemies, forced by his threats to let him go: "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'" (v. 17). How different her heart is from Jonathan's, who openly defended the one he dearly loved, at his own risk and danger.
David's rescue did not rest on the quality of the people who helped him.
God is never limited in His resources. So He had others besides Jonathan to help His persecuted servant. Michal's trick let David escape when Saul would have murdered him in his bed, and Samuel sheltered him at Naioth when his own home was no longer safe.
While Michal spoke at the door, David was doing something else.
The account in this chapter has its counterpart in Psalm 59, written "when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him." While Saul's messengers, violent men gathered against him, went around the city through the night, David was lifting his heart to the Lord in prayer. He looked to Him for rescue (vv. 1-2), sure that He would be gracious to him (v. 10). They wanted his life not for any wrong or sin of his, but because he belonged to the Lord.
- Danger — Saul's hatred followed David from court to camp to his own bedroom. The king now called his loyal son-in-law "my enemy," though David bore him no hatred.
- Prayer — while armed men circled the house, David asked God to rescue him. They hunted him for no wrong of his, but because he belonged to the Lord.
- Rescue — God is never short of resources. When Jonathan could no longer help, Michal's trick and then Samuel's shelter at Naioth kept His servant alive.
- Flaw — Michal loved David, but she did not know the power of God. The figure she laid in the bed was a household image, tolerated in the home of the Lord's anointed.
- Verdict — Scripture records both lies without ever approving them. Every attempt on David's life points forward to the attempts made on the life of our Lord.
And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may put him to death.
Saul's messengers come back with word that David is too sick to move, and the king answers: carry him here, bed and all. The excuse meant to buy time only proved how fixed Saul's purpose was, and it raises a question: who was guarding David that night?
Michal's story about David's illness should have stalled the arrest. Saul's reply shows the man giving the orders.
Michal did not gain what she wanted by telling Saul's messengers that David was sick. Saul was so determined to kill him quickly that he ordered his servants to bring David to him in his bed. Then, of course, they discovered the trick, and Saul was upset with his daughter because she had helped her own husband. Instead of calling David her husband, Saul calls him "my enemy," which was not true, for David had no hostility toward Saul.
David was already gone, and Saul kept hunting.
David runs away. Saul shows that this was not a passing burst of feeling, but the return of that relentless hatred which had a settled purpose.
Saul already knew whom God had chosen. That knowledge fed his hatred instead of cooling it, and it made the quarrel bigger than one man.
He knew that the kingdom had been given to David by God, and he hated him all the more. It was rebellion against God, as well as hatred of David. It was the enmity of man's king against God's anointed — the same feeling that said, when Jesus, the true Heir, came, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance."
Psalm 59 names this night in its opening note: "when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him." It lets us hear David's own voice.
Saul's messengers, men of blood gathered against him, went round the city during the night. All that time David was lifting up his heart in prayer to the Lord. He was looking to Him for deliverance, sure that He would be gracious toward him. They were after his life not for any transgression or sin of his, but because he belonged to the Lord.
Saul had fixed a morning for the killing. David got ready for that same morning in his own way.
While Saul's messengers were prowling round the house, like dogs hungry for their prey, he was far from afraid. He looked on them with scorn and expected them to fail and be disappointed. Rejoicing in the power of the Lord and His mercy, he prepared a song for the morning that Saul had appointed for his death.
David's prayer that night stopped short of asking for Saul's death.
For the moment he is not asking the Lord to kill his enemies, or to kill Saul. The wicked king must stay alive until the patience of the Lord's anointed has done its perfect work. Later God will destroy the enemy to establish his reign.
The rescue came through Michal, and commentators differ on how to weigh what she did. Some stress that God was behind it:
Michal, moved by her natural affection for David, comes to his help in her own way, God using here the human feelings that stirred her.
Others stress that using her is not the same as approving what she did.
Michal used a trick. Like Rachel she owned teraphim, the idol-images so widely used among the Chaldeans and other nations. God had forbidden these, yet people still used them in secret (Judges 17:5; 18:14). Michal's image must have been fairly large; she laid it in the bed and then told the messengers, "He is sick." When the messengers discover the trick she lies again, saying that David had threatened her life. That Scripture records these wrongs is evidence of its honesty; but the Holy Scriptures never approve such things. In all these attacks on David we also see a foreshadowing of the attacks later made on the life of our Lord.
Saul's men came for the bed and found no David in it. That became the pattern of David's whole exile.
No one had been allowed to touch him; and though there was only a step between him and death, God occupied that step, and no one was allowed to harm him.
- Hatred hardens. Sickness was no obstacle to Saul; he simply ordered the bed carried to him. What looked like temper was a settled purpose that no excuse could deflect.
- Hatred aims higher than it knows. Saul knew God had given the kingdom to David, and hated him for it — the same enmity that later said of the true Heir, "Come, let us kill him."
- Hatred meets prayer. While the watchers circled the house, David asked God for deliverance. They wanted his life not for any sin of his, but because he belonged to the Lord.
- Hatred meets song. He prepared a song for the very morning Saul had fixed for his death, rejoicing in God's power before any rescue had arrived.
- Hatred meets God. Between David and death there was only one step, and God occupied that step. The messengers found only an image in the bed, because God let no one touch His anointed.
And the messengers came in, and behold, the image was in the bed, and the net of goats' [hair] at its head.
Saul's men come back with a new order: carry David to the king, bed and all. They pull back the cover and find a dummy. Two questions follow. Why was an idol-image in David's house? And what do we make of the wife who saved him by lying?
Saul pushed harder, and the trick collapsed.
Michal did not get what she wanted by telling Saul's messengers that David was sick. Saul was so determined to kill him quickly that he ordered his servants to bring David to Saul in his bed. Then of course they discovered the deception, and Saul was upset with his daughter because she had been helpful to her own husband! Instead of calling David HER HUSBAND, Saul calls him "my enemy," which was not true, for David felt no hatred toward Saul.
The word behind "image" is teraphim. It was a household figure, and one of them sat in David's own home.
This passage also shows us that there was an image (a teraphim) in David's house. David did not worship it, but its presence shows he put up with it… A teraphim ranks a little below an idol. It is a kind of household god, treated as having some importance, and people even consult it at times. Such superstitions soon lead to real idols… Often a believer lacks the energy to clear these stumbling blocks out of his family. Each of us must watch this closely, even if, like Jacob and David, we credit them with no influence over our own life. It seems Michal, Saul's daughter, brought the image into David's household, and so she became a snare to the man of God.
Commentators differ on how serious the object was. One treats it as milder than a true idol. Another calls it plainly idolatrous and points to Michal's trust in it.
Michal, to gain time for David, had put a "teraphim" in David's bed (v.13). This was an image in human form. It was truly idolatrous, yet Israelites too often used such things alongside the worship of God. Poor Michal! She did not know the power of God, nor did she have real faith in His faithfulness. She thought she had to put at least part of her trust in idols! And any of us can become skilled at deception all too easily.
Caught out, Michal had to answer her father. She chose a story that cleared her and made David the threat.
Michal escapes her father's anger by acting as though she were one of David's enemies, forced by his threats to let him go: "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'" (v. 17). How different her heart is from Jonathan's. He took up the defence of the one he dearly loved, in the open and at his own risk.
The Bible reports the whole episode without praising the method. One writer draws out what that honesty proves, and what the attacks on David point toward.
Michal used a trick. Like Rachel she had teraphim, the idol-images so widely used among the Chaldeans and other nations. The LORD had forbidden these, yet people still used them in secret (Judges 17:5; 18:14). Michal's image must have been fairly large; she laid it in the bed and told the messengers, "He is sick."… The Scriptures record these wrongs, and that is one proof of their genuineness; but the Holy Scriptures never approve such things. In all these attacks on David we also see a picture of the later attacks on the life of our Lord.
Men watched the house all that night. Psalm 59 carries a note tying it to that very night, and it shows what David was doing while they watched.
The account in this chapter has its counterpart in Psalm 59, given "when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him." Saul's messengers were violent men, banded together against David, and they went round the city through the night. While they did, David was lifting up his heart in prayer to the Lord. He looked to Him for rescue (vv. 1-2), sure that He would be gracious to him (v. 10). They were after his life for no transgression or sin of his, but because he belonged to the Lord.
When this escape route closed, another opened.
God is never limited in His resources. So He had helpers other than Jonathan for His persecuted servant. Michal used a trick to let David escape when Saul would have murdered him in his bed, and Samuel sheltered him at Naioth when David's own home was no longer safe.
- The image — the thing in the bed was a teraphim, a household idol; David did not worship it, but he tolerated it, and it came into his home through his wife.
- The tolerance — what a believer puts up with at home becomes a trap for the family. One writer urges us to clear such things out, even when we credit them with no power.
- The trick — Michal's trick got David out alive, yet she did not know the power of God, and she lied about him the moment her father turned on her.
- The contrast — Jonathan defended David in the open, at his own risk. Michal defended herself by making David out to be a threat.
- The Deliverer — Scripture records the trick without approving it. The real rescue came from God, who is never short of means, and David was praying to Him while the messengers watched the house. These attacks on David also foreshadow the attacks on the life of our Lord.
Then Saul said to Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I slay thee?
Michal is Saul's daughter and David's wife. She has just been caught helping David escape. Now she stands before her father with an answer ready, and what she says about David never happened.
Saul had married Michal to David hoping the marriage would trap him. One writer shows how that plan backfired, and names the psalm it produced:
He gave his daughter Michal to be David's wife, and thought to trap him this way; but his wife became his deliverer. This is what brought out Psalm 59. He had faith that God would laugh at his enemies: God was his defence and the God of his mercy.
The escape needed a cover story. When the first one failed, Michal made up a second. One writer follows the lies, then draws two lessons from them:
Michal practised a deception. Like Rachel she had teraphim — the idol-images used so widely among the Chaldeans and other nations... She arranged it in the bed and then told the messengers, "He is sick." When they found out, she lied again and said that David had threatened her life. The Scriptures record these misdeeds, and that is evidence that they are genuine. Yet the Holy Scriptures never approve such things. In all these attempts on David we also see a foreshadowing of the attempts later made on the life of our Lord.
Her answer puts David in the wrong and makes her the victim. Set beside Jonathan, the difference stands out:
Michal avoids her father's anger by posing as one of David's enemies. She claims his threats forced her to let him go: "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'" How different her heart is from Jonathan's! He defended the one he loved dearly, out in the open and at his own risk.
Her love for David was real, and so was the help she gave. The method is another matter:
Michal clearly loves David. But that love does not seem to come with genuine faith here. Still, we would not brand her as being just like her father. Her deception, which we do not excuse, is in some ways like the act of Rahab, who sent the spies away in peace. Yet she does not seem to be as loyal in heart as Jonathan. Still, her scheme shows at least her willingness to help her husband, and he escapes safely.
Her motive was simple human affection. God used even that:
Michal is moved by her natural affection for David. She comes to his help in her own way. God uses here the human feelings that stirred her.
Saul's own words give him away. He will not name the relationship:
Michal did not achieve what she wanted by telling Saul's messengers that David was sick. Saul was so determined to kill him quickly that he ordered his servants to bring David to him in his bed. Then, of course, they discovered the deception. Saul was upset with his daughter because she had helped her own husband. Instead of calling David HER HUSBAND, Saul calls him "my enemy." That was not true, for David felt no hatred toward Saul.
Years later David demanded Michal back. One writer reads her words here as a warning David should have weighed:
Michal had shown no faithfulness to David in 1 Samuel 19:17. She told her father that David had threatened to kill her if she did not let him escape from Saul. Why should he want her returned when she had proven undependable? Was it only his own rights he was thinking about?
- Rescue. Saul gave Michal to David as a trap, but she became his rescuer instead. Out of that came Psalm 59, where David is sure that God laughs at his enemies.
- Deception. She first said David was sick. When that failed, she invented a threat on her life. Scripture records such misdeeds without approving them, and the attacks on David foreshadow the later attempts on the life of Christ.
- Motive. Natural affection, not faith, moved her — and God still used those human feelings to save His servant.
- Contrast. She protected herself by posing as David's enemy. Jonathan defended David in the open, at his own risk. Commentators compare her to Rahab, yet they refuse to excuse the lie.
- Aftermath. Saul calls his son-in-law "my enemy," which is untrue. Michal calls her husband a threat, which is untrue too. David would meet that disloyalty again.
And 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.
Saul has sent men to David's house to kill him. With no home and no place at court, David runs to the last man in Israel who can shelter him. Where does a man turn when every ordinary refuge is gone? And what does he find when he tells his whole story to someone who knows God's mind?
David had options. He had family in Bethlehem, and a nation that had cheered him. He passed them all by.
David has been driven out from Saul's court. He has had to flee from his own wife and home. He turns for refuge to his aged and trusted friend Samuel. He does not turn to his relatives in Bethlehem, or to the many thousands in Israel who had praised him so loudly for his exploits.
This was not sentiment. Two things set Samuel apart from everyone else.
David flees, naturally enough, first of all to Samuel. Samuel had anointed him. In those days Samuel stood out before everyone as a man set apart from all others by his nearness to God. Samuel, if anyone, had power to stand against Saul himself, and there could be no question that he would do it. Few characters in all Scripture equal Samuel's for that consistent walk with God, and that ability to act for Him. These are the things that create confidence in others.
David holds nothing back, and the trial ends not in isolation but in company.
David tells everything to Samuel, God's representative and prophet. He becomes his companion, and the two of them dwell together. Such is, for David, the result of this trial.
Sheltering a man the king wanted dead was dangerous. One writer contrasts Samuel with the priest David turns to two chapters later.
He felt that the man of God was one he could completely trust, and who would prove to be a real "friend in need." Samuel is not like the priest Ahimelech in chapter 21, who "was afraid at the meeting of David, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you?" No; Samuel was in the current of God's thoughts. He understood well how matters stood between Saul, the man God had rejected, and David, His anointed. Without hesitating, Samuel received David and identified himself with him, "not fearing the wrath of the king."
The name of the place David moved to carries its own message.
Samuel comes with him to live at Naioth, the gathered "dwellings" of the prophets who had collected around Samuel. The word is a plural, and means both "dwellings" and "pastures"… Here we might imagine David's words to be what he says in the psalm about all who trust in God: "You shall hide them in the secret of Your presence from the pride of man; You shall keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues." Yet from here he is driven out, to find a better "hiding-place" in God Himself.
Naioth itself was only a short move away.
He changed his quarters from Ramah to Naioth — probably a suburb of Ramah, and a school of the prophets, some think.
This night produced a psalm too. It shows what David was doing while Saul's men circled his house.
The account in this chapter has its counterpart in Psalm 59, inspired "when Saul sent, and they watched the house [of David] to kill him." Saul's messengers were men of blood gathered against him. They went round the city during the night. All that time David was lifting his heart to the Lord in prayer. He was looking to Him for deliverance (vv. 1-2). He was sure that He would be gracious to him (v. 10). After all, they were seeking his life not "for [his] transgression, nor for [his] sin," but because he belonged to the Lord.
Samuel's own story ends inside David's.
Samuel is lost in David. He lives with David through the season of David's rejection. Then Samuel, the man of prayer and dependence, passes away (1 Sam. 25:1) from the scene of his former ministry, his exercises, and his discipline. All this happens before the rightful king — God's anointed, whom Samuel had owned — takes the sceptre. May we have, like him, the blessing of dependence on God. May we understand the discipline. However searching and sifting it is, it is only leading us to Naioth, to dwell with our Lord and King.
- Driven — Stripped of court and home, David passes by family and admirers. He runs to the man who anointed him, the man in Israel who lived closest to God.
- Told — He tells Samuel everything Saul had done. The trial ends not in loneliness but in a shared home.
- Received — Samuel takes David in without hesitation. He ties himself to God's anointed, unafraid of the king's anger.
- Sheltered — Naioth, the "dwellings" of the prophets, is a real hiding place. Yet David is driven on from it, to find a better hiding place in God Himself.
- Sustained — Psalm 59 shows him praying while Saul's men circled the house. They hunted him not for any sin of his own, but because he belonged to the Lord.
And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth by Ramah.
David has fled beyond Saul's reach at home, and now the secret breaks: someone tells the king where he is. So can any hiding place hold when a king's hatred hunts, and what shelter had David chosen?
David had family, and he had a nation that had cheered him. He went to neither.
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Saul drove David out of his court, and he had to flee from his own wife and home. He turns for refuge, but not to his relatives in Bethlehem. Not to the thousands in Israel who had praised him so loudly for what he had done. He goes to his old and trusted friend Samuel.
The name Naioth itself tells us what the place was.
Samuel comes with him to live at Naioth, the collected "dwellings" of the prophets who had gathered around Samuel. The word is plural. It means both "dwellings" and "pastures." That fits well with the idea of a school of prophets, which tradition uses to fill out the few details Scripture gives.
Samuel had anointed David. Taking him in now meant taking sides, and it even changed where Samuel lived.
He was in step with God's thoughts. He understood well how matters stood between Saul, whom God had rejected, and David, His anointed. Samuel took David in without hesitation and stood with him, "not fearing the wrath of the king." He moved from Ramah to Naioth. That was probably a suburb of Ramah, and some think it was a school of the prophets.
The verse does not name the informer. It only says that word reached the king.
David flees to Samuel, the man who had anointed him. He turns to him as if by instinct, because Samuel had the word of God that he needed for guidance. Some people are ready enough to tell Saul where he can find the enemy he imagines. So Saul chases him there. His relentless hatred has now become the full expression of his character.
Naioth was the right place for David. But the report to Saul shows that being there did not stop the hunt.
Where does the path of the man of faith lead now? To the prophet who was in Israel. The prophet lives apart from it all, with God. He is the right companion for the man of Jehovah's choice, and he strengthens him, until judgment sets aside every hindrance in between, or grace overcomes it. All the same, David is not free from Saul's pursuit, even though he is with Samuel at Ramah. Saul first sends messengers to take him, and finally goes there himself.
Even this shelter did not last.
Yet he is driven from there too, to find a better hiding place in God Himself.
Saul acted on the news at once. What happened to his men was the opposite of what he wanted, and it carries a sober warning.
Against their own will these instruments of the enemy feel the influence of the Spirit of God. In His power they prophesy. It is a serious warning, and it neither converts them nor saves them. Even Saul is forced here to prophesy by the Spirit of God... God is able to speak through the mouth of a Saul who at other times is the mouthpiece of Satan. This only proves that God uses someone as an instrument if it suits Him. But we must tell the difference between the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit and His various works of power.
Even the king's rage served God's purpose.
God knows how to make the wrath of man praise Him, as in this instance.
- Told. Someone told Saul where David was. There are always people ready to hand a hunted man to his hunter.
- Turned. David passed over his relatives and his fame. He went to the prophet who had anointed him and knew where God stood.
- Sheltered. Naioth was a cluster of dwellings where prophets lived around Samuel. There Samuel took David's side and would not fear the king.
- Pursued. The right place with the right man did not end the chase. Living apart with God strengthens faith; it does not shield faith from attack.
- Kept. The Spirit took hold of Saul's messengers instead of letting them take David. God can use a man as an instrument without changing his heart.
Then Saul sent messengers to take David; and they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as president over them; and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
David has fled from Saul and taken refuge with Samuel. Saul sends armed men to drag him out. What follows is one of the strangest reversals in Scripture. The arresting party arrives, sees the prophets with Samuel at their head, and starts prophesying instead.
David ran to the man who had anointed him.
David flees, naturally enough, first of all to Samuel, who had anointed him. In those days Samuel stood out before everyone: his nearness to God set him apart from all other men. Samuel, if anyone, had power to stand against Saul himself... Samuel comes with him to live at Naioth, the collected "dwellings" of the prophets, who gathered around Samuel. The word is a plural, and means both "dwellings" and "pastures."
Samuel is not just present. He stands as head over the prophets, and one writer sees a picture of Christ's authority in that detail.
In Samuel we read that the company of the prophets were prophesying, and that Samuel was standing as "head" over them. In Corinthians the apostle gives directions for the use of gifts in the assembly, and then says: "If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord." So Samuel, standing as head over the prophets, was picturing the Lordship of Christ, His Headship over His saints when they gather as an assembly.
Notice what the text does not say. David is not mentioned as present when the messengers arrive.
The messengers truly came to take David. But they were in the place where the Spirit of God dwelt (we speak of the type) and acted, so they themselves were taken, subdued, and turned into vessels of His power. The Spirit of God was upon them "and they also prophesied." What a rebuke to us! We have the indwelling Spirit, which neither Samuel nor the prophets had, yet in conflict with the enmity and power of Satan we lean on an arm of flesh, on worldly influence or means.
How can God's Spirit rest on men whose errand was murder? Commentators answer by drawing a line between two different things.
Since Christ accomplished His great sacrificial work and went up on high, the Holy Spirit is God's gift of love to every believer alike... But this is different. In the Old Testament we sometimes read of the Spirit of God coming upon men for some special service. This is the sovereign act of God, regardless of conversion... we also read that the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and even upon the king himself. None of these were saints, for murder was in their hearts at the time.
The Spirit could come on Saul and later leave him. One writer explains what makes indwelling permanent.
Apart from the Lord Jesus Himself, the lasting, permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit rests only on the ground of redemption really accomplished. The temple in which God takes up His home must be clean, and morally suited to Him who is holy... It is little wonder, then, if the Spirit of God left a man like Saul, in whom there was no holiness at all.
God set roadblocks in Saul's path: the prophet who had anointed him, and then the Spirit's power moving through Saul's own mouth.
Saul loses all conscience. The thought that David was with Samuel ought to have stopped him — Samuel, the man who had anointed him. God put everything in his way to stop him, but he was hardened. When he prophesied himself, he ought to have understood this: the power that made him act at that moment, and that rested on David, was greater than he was. But he despises these signs, as he had despised the first.
Read the other way, the same event was an open door.
How vain to fight against power like this! Who ever hardened himself against God and prospered? On the other hand, what an assurance of One still ready to receive! He would put Saul among the prophets, even by force if that were possible. Yet against all this, as we know, Saul hardened himself. He became more evil in proportion to the grace he resisted.
Prophesying proved nothing about these men's hearts. One writer presses the warning further.
He is none the better for it. The power of the Spirit of God only makes a man's case more desperate, if he is not born of God. Who are the most terrible examples in the New Testament recorded by the Holy Spirit? Not the people who never had the Spirit, but those who had.
- Refuge. David runs to Samuel at Naioth, the dwellings where the prophets gathered around the man who had anointed him.
- Head. Samuel standing as head over the prophets pictures Christ's Lordship over His saints.
- Subdued. The men sent to take David are taken instead. God's power subdues their hostility and makes them prophesy.
- Upon, not within. The Spirit came on these men for a moment, a sovereign act with no tie to conversion. Permanent indwelling rests on redemption accomplished.
- Hardened. Saul met grace at every step and pushed past it. Privilege without new life leaves a man worse, not better.
And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
Saul's hunt for David reaches Ramah, where the prophet Samuel leads a company of prophets. Saul sends three squads of officers to seize David, and all three fail: the men start prophesying instead.
The repetition is the point. Each new squad hits the same wall. Even the king who sends them is no stronger than his own servants.
Saul sent messengers three times to kill him, and three times God stepped in with a wonder. God turns the messengers of death into prophets. Saul defies the plain power of God. It is as if he said that God might turn aside his servants, but would never turn him! No act of his rebellion went further than this. The mightiest man is only a reed in the hands of the Almighty. Saul must prophesy. He is no stronger than his servants. Yet his evil heart still held to its purpose against David.
Officers sent to make an arrest came back without their man on a later occasion too.
The officers sent to take Jesus (John 7:32) came under a similar power, and were also turned from their purpose. They went back amazed, saying, "No one ever spoke like this man!"... In each case we see God using the enemy to bear witness to His power, as He wills.
Saul sends a second group, then a third. God keeps putting signs in his way, and this is not the first one he has brushed aside.
Saul loses all conscience. The thought that David was with Samuel should have stopped him — Samuel, the man who had anointed him. God put everything in his way to stop him, but his heart stayed hard. Saul prophesied too. That power made him act at this moment, and it rested on David. He should have understood that it was greater than himself. But he despises these signs, as he had despised the first.
The men who prophesied here had come to make an arrest. Nothing in the story suggests a change of heart in any of them.
As distinct from the Spirit living in every believer today, we sometimes read in the Old Testament records of the Spirit of God coming upon men for some special service. This is the sovereign act of God, regardless of conversion... we also read that the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and even upon the king himself. None of these were saints, for murder was in their hearts at the time.
Far from helping such men, a display of God's power through them leaves them worse off than before.
The power of the Spirit of God only makes a man's case the more desperate, if he is not born of God. Who are the most terrible examples the Holy Spirit records in the New Testament? Not the people who never had the Spirit, but those who had... A man can have every Christian privilege in power, but not life, and end in apostasy.
David does not appear in this verse. The account never says he was even in the room. Yet no one lays a hand on him.
The messengers did come to take David. But they came to the place where the Spirit of God lived and worked. So they themselves were taken, subdued, and turned into vessels of His power. The Spirit of God was upon them, "and they also prophesied." What a rebuke to us! We have the indwelling Spirit, which neither Samuel nor the prophets had. Yet we trust in human strength, worldly influence or means while we fight the hatred and power of Satan.
One writer sets this scene beside 1 Corinthians 14. There an unbeliever walks into a Christian meeting, and what he hears convicts him.
The whole scene reminds us of that energy of the Spirit's power. We see it where the people of God are truly gathered together, with nothing to hold back His working. What convicts the man of the world who comes in is not a dazzling speaking in tongues. It is definite prophecy, the ministry of the word of God in its appointed place. Then, "falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you" (1 Corinthians 14:23-25).
- Barrier. Three sets of officers, three failures. God turned messengers of death into prophets, and David was never touched.
- Warning. Each new squad was one more sign in Saul's path. He despised them all and grew harder each time.
- Power. God put His Spirit on these men for a moment's service, with murder still in their hearts. Power on a man is not life in a man.
- Danger. Privilege and power without new birth do not make a man safe. They make his case more desperate.
- Invitation. The same Spirit that overpowered Saul's men still convicts the outsider who walks in among God's people. That outsider falls down and worships God. Saul never did.
Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Sechu; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, at Naioth by Ramah.
Saul had already sent three waves of armed messengers to seize David, and each wave ended up prophesying instead of arresting. So the king goes to Ramah himself, stops at the great well in Secu, and asks for directions — and his question shows what is in his heart.
The failed arrests did not make Saul think again. One writer traces the hunt from the messengers to the king himself.
He was now so completely under the power of the devil that he had lost all respect for Samuel. He would now invade Samuel's own home and drag David out of it... He sent three groups of messengers, no doubt armed, to arrest David. But when they came in sight of Samuel and his group of young prophets, the power of God came on them so strongly that they prophesied along with them... Then, sad to say, Saul went himself. He steeled himself, sure that he would be strong enough to resist that holy power.
The wording of Saul's question at the well matters. He does not ask only for the fugitive; he names the old prophet in the same breath.
"Where are Samuel and David?" the king demands in his rage. He ties their names together as fellow traitors to the crown. It is to the prophet's lasting honour that David's enemies counted him as one with David — standing with the man whom men had rejected, in the darkest hour of his life. Anointing David had been the crowning act of Samuel's life. Now the closing act of his life is to shelter David from the rage of Saul, the king David would soon replace.
Saul knew who Samuel was — this was the man who had anointed him king. That alone should have stopped his feet at Secu.
Saul loses all conscience. The thought that David was with Samuel should have stopped him — Samuel, the very man who had anointed him. God put every obstacle in his way to stop him, but his heart was hard. When he prophesied himself, he should have seen that the power moving him at that moment, the same power that rested on David, was greater than he was. But he scorned these signs, as he had scorned the first one.
Saul reached Naioth, Samuel's home with his company of prophets, armed and determined. He never got to use his weapons.
He went to Ramah himself, and by asking directions he found his way to Naioth, where Samuel was. But before he reached Samuel, the Spirit of God took hold of him, and he prophesied just as the others had. His weapons here were useless... God was showing Saul His superior power, not in judgment, but in kindness. Yet this left Saul powerless to harm David, because the power that met him was spiritual.
The scene was an appeal, not a sentence. Another writer asks what happens when a man pushes such an appeal away.
How useless it is to fight against power like this! Who ever hardened himself against God and prospered? On the other hand, what proof that God was still ready to receive him — a God who would put Saul among the prophets, even by force if that were possible! Yet against all this, as we know, Saul did harden himself. He grew more evil the more grace he resisted, by the steady and unavoidable law of cause and effect.
The same scene spoke to both men at Naioth, and the two responses could not have been further apart.
This could assure David that, though years of wandering lay ahead, no created power could ever harm him, because the LORD was with him. Saul might well have returned home convinced that opposing God is useless. But the flesh never learns God's lessons! Another Saul did heed the voice of the Lord speaking to him out of heaven, to his eternal blessing (Acts 22). Happy Saul of Tarsus!
- Pursuit. Three sets of messengers failed, so Saul went to Ramah himself. He was sure he could resist what had overpowered his men.
- Question. By asking for "Samuel and David" together, he treated the prophet who anointed him as a traitor. That gave Samuel the honour of being counted as one with the rejected man.
- Warning. God put obstacles in Saul's road, including the memory of his own anointing. Hardness, not ignorance, carried him past every one.
- Restraint. At Naioth his weapons were useless. The power that met him was spiritual, and it came in kindness, not judgment. David went untouched.
- Choice. Resisting God's power does not leave a man neutral; it leaves him worse. One Saul hardened at Ramah. Another Saul heard the voice from heaven and was blessed forever.
And he went thither to Naioth by Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth by Ramah.
Saul's messengers have gone to Naioth again and again to arrest David, and each time they ended up prophesying instead. Now the king comes himself, and the Spirit takes hold of him on the road, so the man hunting David arrives prophesying.
What happened to his men did not stop Saul, so he went himself. One writer describes how useless the king's weapons proved:
But even this did not reach Saul's hardened conscience. So he had to learn by a humiliating experience. He went himself to Ramah, and after asking directions he found his way to Naioth where Samuel was. But before he reached Samuel, the Spirit of God took hold of him to prophesy, as the others had. His weapons here were useless. In fact he stripped off his clothes, at least his outer garments. He lay down with no defence at all, that whole day and night. God was showing Saul His superior power, not in judgment, but in kindness. Yet this left Saul helpless to do any harm to David, for it was spiritual power.
The messengers came to seize a man, and the Spirit seized them instead. One writer points out who goes unmentioned in the scene:
And notice that this power works by subduing hostility… Notice also that when the messengers came, the account does not mention David. We are not even told that he was there while the company of the prophets were prophesying. It was no longer, at least while David was at Naioth, a question between Saul and David, but one between God and Satan. The messengers did come to take David. But they had entered the place where the Spirit of God dwelt and acted, and there He took them, subdued them, and turned them into vessels of His power.
Saul prophesied, but prophesying is not the same as being saved. One writer marks the difference between two works of the Spirit:
Against their own will these instruments of the enemy feel the influence of the Spirit of God. In His power they prophesy. It is a serious warning, yet it neither converts them nor saves them… We must distinguish between the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit and His various operations in power. Power may give a great knowledge of the Word. It may even give the energy that uses this knowledge for others. But it never leads us to judge ourselves and to take Christ as the One who answers our need. It gives neither repentance nor faith.
Another writer goes further. Where there is no new birth, such power leaves a man worse off:
He is none the better for it. The power of the Spirit of God only makes a man's case the more desperate, if he is not born of God.
For Saul this was more than a show of strength. It reached back into his own memory:
And how Saul's mind must have gone back to those earlier days! That was before the Spirit was grieved away from him. Back then all the possibilities of God's call to the throne of Israel were opening before him! What tender memories to touch his heart, and to bring this wanderer back to himself, if that could be! Then, how useless to fight against power like this! Who ever hardened himself against God and prospered? On the other hand, what an assurance of One who is still ready to receive! He would put Saul among the prophets even by force, if that were possible. Yet against all this, as we know, Saul hardened himself. He became more evil in proportion to the grace he resisted.
That day on the ground was not Saul's last fall. One writer lines up three scenes from the rest of his life:
"How the mighty have fallen!" (2 Samuel 1:27). At Ramah we see the king lying low before the power of God. At Endor he lies stretched out in the house of a witch (1 Samuel 28:20). At Gilboa he lies dead on the battlefield (1 Samuel 31:4). A miserable end to an unhappy life — a life that began with every advantage a gracious God could give.
- Pursuit. Saul's messengers keep failing, so the king goes himself. The same power that stopped them stops him before he reaches Samuel.
- Seizure. The men sent to make an arrest are seized themselves. The fight is no longer Saul against David but God against Satan, and the account never even mentions David.
- Kindness. The power that flattens Saul is mercy, not judgment. It calls him back to the days before the Spirit was grieved away.
- Limit. The Spirit's power can fill a hostile mouth with prophecy, yet it gives no repentance, no faith, no new life.
- Hardening. Grace resisted leaves a man worse, not neutral — from Ramah to Endor to Gilboa the line runs straight down.
And he himself also stripped off his clothes, and prophesied, himself also, before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?
Saul has already sent three groups of messengers to seize David at Naioth. The Spirit caught each group, and they all ended up prophesying. Now the king comes himself. He arrives armed for murder, and he ends up stripped, prophesying, and lying on the ground for a day and a night.
The word does not mean fully unclothed. Scripture often uses it for a man who has taken off his outer coat:
Besides its ordinary meaning, this expression was often used of a man without his outer cloak. 1 Sam. 19:24; Isa. 20:2; John 21:7.
What Saul lost with the cloak mattered more than the cloak itself:
His weapons here were useless. In fact, he stripped off his clothes, at least his outer garments. He lay down with no defence at all, that whole day and night. God was showing Saul His superior power, not in judgment, but in kindness. Yet this made Saul helpless to harm David, because it was spiritual power. This ought to have spoken deeply to Saul's conscience. It ought also to have encouraged David: he could always depend on God's sovereign hand to protect him.
The struggle at Naioth had become bigger than a manhunt:
It was no longer, at least while David was at Naioth, a question between Saul and David, but one between God and Satan. The messengers did come to take David. But they came into the place where the Spirit of God dwelt and acted, and the Spirit took them, subdued them, and made them vessels of His power... We have the indwelling Spirit, which neither Samuel nor the prophets had. What a rebuke to us, then, when we trust human strength, worldly influence or means, against the hatred and power of Satan. "He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world," writes the apostle John.
Saul prophesies while still hunting the man he means to kill. What does that prove about him?
God is able to speak through the mouth of a Saul who at other times is the mouthpiece of Satan. This only proves that God uses someone as an instrument if it suits Him. But we must distinguish between the Holy Spirit's work in giving life and His various workings in power. Power may give a man great knowledge of the Word, and perhaps also the energy to use that knowledge for others. But it never leads us to judge ourselves, or to take Christ as the One who answers our needs. It gives neither repentance nor faith. The Spirit must work in the heart to reach the conscience, to give an awareness of sin, and to lead a soul to God. Without this, there is no new life.
Worse still, such an experience leaves a man in greater danger than before:
He is none the better for it. The power of the Spirit of God only makes a man's case the more desperate, if he is not born of God... A man can hold every Christian privilege in power, but not in life, and end in apostasy... Only one kind of person can be wicked in this worst way. It is the person who has borne Christ's name and then abandoned Him with contempt and blasphemy.
The moment reached back into Saul's own past, and it carried an appeal:
How Saul's mind must also have gone back to those earlier days! Back then he had not yet grieved the Spirit away, and all the possibilities of God's call to the throne of Israel were opening before him. What tender memories to touch the heart with, and to bring this wanderer back to himself, if it might be... what an assurance of One still ready to receive! He would put Saul among the prophets even by force, if that were possible. Yet against all this, as we know, Saul hardened himself.
The watching crowd summed up the day in a question. It may not have been praise:
He came within sight of Samuel and David with murder in his heart. It is certain that the mighty power of the Spirit of God then overwhelmed him. Well might observers say, perhaps sarcastically, knowing what kind of man he was, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
- Stripped. "Naked" here means without the outer cloak. Saul's weapons went with it, and he lay defenceless for a day and a night.
- Overpowered. Saul's men came to seize David, and the Spirit seized them instead. The fight was between God and Satan, not between two men.
- Warned. The Spirit's power can overwhelm a man without giving him new life. It can carry his words and never touch his conscience.
- Invited. The scene took Saul back to his own beginnings: kindness, not judgment, and One still ready to receive him.
- Hardened. He resisted anyway, and privilege without life leaves a man worse off than before, not better.