And an evil spirit from Jehovah was upon Saul. And he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David played with his hand.
Saul had sworn that David would not die, yet here the evil spirit returns and the spear is back in the king's hand. Two questions press: how can an evil spirit come "from the LORD," and why does the music that once soothed Saul end with a spear in the wall?
The phrase troubles readers, because it sounds as if God is the author of the evil. One writer answers by asking what God actually commissions:
Evil as well as good has its commission from God — not its existence, but its liberty to act, and the limits of its action. So we see with Job in early times, and in Ahab's case later; and what a comfort it is to know this. This is how the wrath of man is made to praise Him, while the rest of it He restrains. Nothing can escape the divine government by being evil, or by admitting that it is. How could it? Only in this way can we be at peace, sure that no waves can rise higher than the footstool of His throne.
The spirit did not force its way in. Another writer traces the trouble back to what Saul refused, and to what a man is left with when he refuses it:
God did not only allow Saul to take his own headstrong way. Since Saul had refused the Spirit of God, God left him open to the opposite of this, an evil spirit. God allowed the evil spirit to trouble Saul, to wake him up to the folly of his own self-will. Disobedience to God does not leave us in a merely negative state, but in a state of positive evil.
In this chapter the trigger is David's victory over the Philistines. The same writer names the real enemy Saul faced:
Instead of making Saul appreciate and honour David, this brought on deeper jealousy. His real enemy was only his own pride. That pride opened the door for the evil spirit to turn him in hatred against David.
Days earlier Saul had sworn that David would not die. One writer weighs the javelin against that oath:
Again Saul threw his javelin at David, intending to kill him. What was the value of his sworn oath that David would not be killed (v.6)? This breaking of his oath shows Saul's painful incapacity for ruling over men.
The broken oath points to something deeper than a weak character:
Now we have to trace how every effort to escape the devil's slavery only proves that he is the stronger of the two. Flesh in the highest place only brings a man under the enemy's power more surely and more quickly.
The strangest detail is David himself, harp in hand, serving a man who had already thrown a javelin at him:
His watchful eye is on David, and he is clearly looking for a chance to be rid of him. Yet he would still make use of David's playing, and David takes up the harp again when the evil spirit torments the king.
Why did the music help at all? One writer explains what the harp worked on:
David's harp does not act directly on Satan, but on Saul. Its strange power to soften and subdue the savage temper of the rejected king, though only for a time, drives back and shuts off the power that assails him. For the time being he is set free.
The javelin is not a one-off. Saul throws it three times in these chapters, and it lands wherever someone honours David. One writer turns that into a warning:
Follow Christ fully. What will be the result? Javelins. If we make much of Christ, Satan must oppose. So we read that three times Saul threw a javelin at David (1 Sam. 18:10-11; 1 Sam. 19:9-10). Satan cannot touch Christ, but he will touch you if he can. When David was off the scene altogether, Jonathan spoke up again for his worth, and so Saul threw a javelin at him to kill him (1 Sam. 20:33).
David slips aside and the spear hits the wall. One writer sets the escape beside a moment in Christ's life:
Again he seeks to kill David, and again David escapes. It is just as our Lord passed through the middle of His enemies who wanted to lay hands on Him. He went on His way, for His hour had not yet come.
- Permitted — the evil spirit acts only by God's commission. God sets its liberty and its limits, so no wave rises higher than the footstool of His throne.
- Opened — Saul refused God's Spirit, so the opposite spirit came in. Disobedience leaves a man not neutral but in positive evil, and his own pride held the door.
- Enslaved — the javelin breaks the oath Saul swore days before. Every effort to escape the devil's slavery only proves that the devil is the stronger of the two.
- Served — David plays on for the man hunting him. The harp calms Saul for a time, but Saul still wants his chance to kill.
- Preserved — the spear hits the wall and David slips away. Our Lord too passed through His enemies, because His hour had not yet come. Make much of David, and expect javelins.
And Saul sought to smite David and the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the spear into the wall. And David fled, and escaped that night.
Saul had just sworn to Jonathan that David would not be put to death, and now the spear is in his hand again while David plays the harp for him. Why does grace harden this king instead of changing him, and why must God's anointed flee by night?
This attack on David is not a first impulse but a broken promise. One writer ties the thrown spear back to the oath Saul had sworn.
Again Saul threw his javelin at David, intending to kill him. What was the value of his sworn oath that David would not be killed (v. 6)? This breaking of his oath shows Saul's painful incapacity for ruling over men. David was on guard, however, and again dodged the javelin and escaped from Saul's house (v. 10).
Jonathan's appeal had worked, but not for long. Another writer explains why such a change never lasts:
By presenting grace to the heart of the natural man, God allows his wickedness to be held back for a moment. But this is not conversion. Saul's murderous intention changes, yet he still does not repent. He takes back his decision and makes a new resolve when a man of faith urges him. Yet no sooner is that resolve made than he shows he is in no way free from his impulses.
This is the third spear Saul has thrown at David, and every one has missed. One writer counts the failed attempts and shows who stood behind each escape:
Twice God kept him from being struck by the king's javelin (1 Sam. 18:11)… Then Saul ordered Jonathan and his servants to kill him. Here again the unhappy king's purpose failed, because Jonathan befriended him. A third personal attempt on David's life (1 Sam. 19:10) came to nothing, just like the other two. What folly to fight against God! But what power the enemy can have over a man! … Neither man nor devil can prevail against God.
David was doing his job when the spear flew — playing music to soothe the king. One writer turns that detail into a warning for anyone who stands with Christ.
Follow Christ fully. What will be the result? "javelins." If Christ is made much of, Satan must oppose. So we read (1 Sam. 18:10-11; 1 Sam. 19:9-10) that three times Saul cast a javelin at David. But Jonathan "delighted much in David" (1 Sam. 19:2), and began to "speak good" of him to Saul (1 Sam. 19:4-5). Yes, David risked his life, but Jesus laid down His for us. Well may we "speak good" of Him. But if we do, what then? Look out for javelins.
Another writer sees Saul himself as a picture of the world the believer serves in:
Saul, I think, is a picture of the world taking a religious title, just as Christendom is kept going by the world. The more faithful we are to it, the more we stir up its hostility. But how useful this hostility is to the man of God! If he stays faithful, it drives him in the end away from all connection with it. However much he may serve, he can never win.
David does not fight back or stay. He goes. One writer sees that flight not as weakness but as the only move left:
A fresh triumph of David's re-awakens the evil spirit that had taken control of Saul. As long as the believer does not trouble Satan by winning victories over his followers, his hostility stays asleep, as it were. But his deadly hatred soon wakes up. We see this hatred against David at the very moment when the relief David kindly brings the king seems to calm 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.
The whole chain — anger, violence, deceit, murder — is read as a shadow of something later and greater:
Instead of love to David, he showed him anger (1 Sam. 18:8), violence (1 Sam. 18:11), deceit (1 Sam. 18:21), and murder (1 Sam. 19:1, 10; 1 Sam. 20:33). Jesus, God's anointed Man, went through the same in far greater measure. In prophecy it could be said of the Lord Jesus, "So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love", and again, "More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; mighty are those who would destroy me" (Ps. 109:5; Ps. 69:4). The important lesson we learn from this tragic episode in Saul's life is that the flesh has no appreciation of Christ.
- Oath. Saul swore David would not die. The oath broke at David's next victory. Reform without repentance always collapses.
- Spear. Three throws, three misses. God kept His anointed safe every time. Fighting God's purpose is plain folly.
- Service. The spear came while David served the king. Making much of Christ is what invites the opposition.
- Flight. When hatred settles in, the believer's one move is to escape "like a bird out of the fowler's net." That hostility itself drives him out of a world he could never win over.
- Shadow. Evil repaid for good, hatred for love. David's night flight points to Christ, God's anointed Man, hated without cause.