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.