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.