What is the significance of the song, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands" (1 Samuel 21:11)?

Verse 6 speaks of a time, evidently later, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistines, as the margin reads not simply his defeat of Goliath. Apparently David had been sent out and accomplished a clear victory in which Saul had little or no part. The Women coming to celebrate the victory with singing and dancing were not exactly diplomatic to sing in Saul's presence that Saul had slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. The tide of popular opinion was evidently turning in David's direction, and this alarmed and aggravated Saul. Samuel had told Saul that God would give his kingdom to another (1 Sam.15:28), and Saul discerns the signs that David may very well be the man. This was another opportunity for Saul to willingly abdicate and give the kingdom to David, but instead he watched David suspiciously for any signs that he might desire the throne. Of course, David himself showed no such inclination. It was only the facts of his character and ability that spoke to both Saul and the people.

"David" then "went out whithersoever Saul sent him." This was his duty now. He had been before where his father sent him, and there Jehovah had blessed him and put honour on him. Now he was in a new position; but it was the place, not that he chose, but that God had given him in a sphere that he had never sought. He therefore "went out," as it is said, "whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants. And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick. And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very wroth."

The sense of the great service that David had wrought faded quickly away from Saul's spirit. And why? Because his object, his idol, was himself, and David's name that day interfered with it. "Saul had slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands." The women, having more particularly sensitive spirits, according to their nature, seized and uttered the simple truth. It was not that they failed to honour the king, but certainly they paid honour to the one to whom honour was due. They felt who was the instrument of the mighty deliverance in Israel. This roused the jealous susceptibility of the king, "and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward." Yes, and it was an evil eye, nor did Satan fail to take advantage of what the occasion furnished. "And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand." But mark, the old remedy that soothed the king, music, had lost its effect now. When the evil spirit first came upon him, it yielded to the sweet sounds of David's harp and hand. It was no longer so. The progress of evil in presence of the good it hates is apt to be rapid and deep. "And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice." The king not merely disliked David, but was afraid of him, "because Jehovah was with him, and was departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people."

David had once played with his harp for Saul, and now he would fight the battles for him, but Saul was still as far in heart from submission to God as ever he was. This comes out in what follows. The people meet David after his victory with rejoicing. The women, with their instinctive recognition of true excellence and their simple childlike celebration of it, while giving to Saul a place of honor, set David above him. Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. Nothing could stir the heart of the self-centred man like this. Was not he king of Israel, and here they were, ascribing to David greater prowess than his own. What more could he have than the kingdom itself, and so he eyes David from that day forward.

But was it not true? Had not David slain his ten thousands? What was Saul, compared with him? Would not this reminder of the superiority of the man after God's heart have furnished an opportunity for Saul to have even yet retraced his steps and bowed to the government of God? What an act of faith it would have been; and what a lesson to the whole nation, had the king deliberately abdicated in favor of the one whom God had so signally used! But there is no thought of that in his heart. His watchful eye is upon David, and he evidently seeks occasion to rid himself of him; and yet he would still make use of the minstrelsy of David, who resumes the playing of the harp when the king is afflicted by the torture of the evil spirit.

God causes David's true glory to outshine the official importance of Saul. The victories of the former are sung in such a manner as to excite the king's jealousy.

The women of Israel meet the returning army with songs. Their higher praise of David connects him in Saul's mind with the kingdom; for he knew from the prophet that it was given to another. Therefore from that day and forward he eyed David: the chosen of God as such draws upon himself the fiercest and most implacable hatred of the rejected king. So did the Jew treat Christ. Upon His Holy Head fell the concentrated hate of the rulers. Nor is there any more cruel hate in this world than that of the rejected of God upon the faithful.

That day of acclamation is anticipated in the early verses of 1 Samuel 18. Jonathan's personal devotion is most striking, depicting as it did no mere outward appreciation but indicating the deep outgoing of his innermost soul, something which was so fully appreciated by David himself — "thy love to me was wonderful" (2 Samuel 1:26). Then "the women came out of all cities of Israel … and the women answered one another as they played, and said, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands'." Affections were united in their appreciation of the pre-eminence of David, resulting in this collective outburst of praise from hearts in perfect harmony. Hearts thus welded together in their appreciation of the victor's supremacy was the evidence, even to Saul himself, that the kingdom must eventually be David's.

Very different were the feelings with which Saul regarded the person and work of David. He had not learnt to forget himself and rejoice to see the work done by another. It is the work of grace to be able to do this. We all naturally like to be or to do something — to be looked at and thought of. Thus it was with Saul; he was a self-important man, and was, therefore, little able to bear the songs of the maids of Israel: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Saul could not brook the idea of being second. He forgot how he had trembled at the voice of Goliath; though cowardly he would fain be counted brave and valiant. "And Saul eyed David from that day and forward." Terrible eye! — the eye of envy and bitter jealousy.

{It requires a very simple heart and single eye to be able to rejoice as unfeignedly in the fruit of another's labours as in that of our own hands. Had the glory of God and the good of His people filled Saul's heart, he would not have spent a thought upon the question as to the numbers attributed to him or to David. Alas, he sought his own glory. This was the secret of his envy and jealousy. Oh, what sacred rest, what true elevation, what perfect quietness of spirit flows from self-renunciation, such self-renunciation as results from having the heart wholly occupied with Christ! When we are honestly seeking the promotion of Christ's glory we shall not be careful as to the instrument.}

The continuation of this chapter presents the progress of David and of Saul; progress for good in the one, and progress for evil in the other. A feeling of animosity produced by Satan of necessity leads to other expressions of ill-will; it is enough that the tares are sown by the enemy in the wicked heart of the man for them to grow all by themselves and finally invade his entire being. “Saul was very wroth … and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed the thousands; and what is there more for him but the kingdom?” (v. 8). This is not yet irritation against David, but rather irritation against men's opinion which was elevating David and lowering the king at the very moment when Jonathan's faith was sacrificing everything for the beloved. This is because the flesh can never bear being nothing in Christ's presence.

Henceforward David was to be famous. His name was never to be forgotten. Israel remembered his victory, women celebrated it in song (1 Sam. 18:6-7), and the enemy never forgot it. (1 Sam. 21:11; 1 Sam. 29:5.) As for Jonathan, he loved him as his own soul. They were knit together in love at once. It could not be otherwise. Jonathan, who had smitten a garrison of the uncircumcised, could not but be drawn to David, who had conquered Goliath. And nothing Jonathan had was too good, in his eye, for David to be invested with. Of all that had distinguished him before the people he had divested himself, that David should be arrayed in it. Saul, actuated by human thoughts, which completely shut out God, pressed on David the use of his armour before he met Goliath. Jonathan, after the victory, invested David with his robe, his garments, his sword, his bow, and his girdle. Saul thought to shield the person of David from the blows of the giant. Jonathan gave to David, in token of his admiration and his love. In him we see that putting aside of self which is the fruit of divine grace.

Jonathan was occupied with David. Saul eyed him from that day and forward. To him he was an object of jealousy, to Jonathan of admiration. What caused this difference? The songs of the women put Saul in the second place. This the king could not endure. So jealousy took possession of the unhappy monarch, and urged him to a course, which his better judgment, at times, condemned, but from which he never really turned. From this time, till Saul's death, David experienced his bitter enmity, and the history which sets this forth divides itself into several distinct portions. From 1 Sam. 18:9 – 19:17 we have David as yet at the court and in the camp. From 1 Sam. 19:18 – 21:15, we see him a fugitive from his home. 1 Sam. 22 – 26 describe his life, trials, and escapes in the land of Judea, and 1 Sam. 27 – 31 exhibit him as an exile with the Philistines, dwelling at Ziklag, until Saul's death. Many must have been the lessons that he learnt of God's goodness in sustaining him and delivering him during these years, in spite of his failures. And during this period of his life many of his psalms were probably composed. Thus God has made his trials, as He did the imprisonment of Paul, to redound to His own glory, and to the instruction and comfort of His people in all succeeding ages.

David's victory, completed by the giant's own sword, and the expressive evidence of that victory (his returning with the Philistine's head in his hand), made him the object of attention to Saul, to his generals, to every soldier in the army, and to all Israel. What was the effect on Saul? Did he share the joy of victory, and the delight of his subjects in the victor? No, the flesh only saw a rival; and anger, envy, jealousy, hatred, took possession of Saul's heart towards the one to whom he owed his life and kingdom. Secretly first, but soon publicly, he sought with all the power at his command to ensnare and destroy David. No gratitude for deliverance from the evil spirit in private, or from the terrible giant in public, had any place in his bosom towards the one who had been the instrument of both deliverances. What was the ultimate result? Whilst every step of David's endeared him more and more to the heart of the people, every step of Saul's only alienated them; so that at last when Saul and Jonathan lay dead, who was there to weep for them but David himself? The daughters of Israel, who spontaneously sang David's praises in the day of his victory, were exhorted by him to weep over Saul, but without meeting, as far as we know, a responsive throb from their hearts, or a tear from their eyes, so complete had the alienation become.