XVIII (1 Samuel 18:1) David with Saul. Jonathan and David. The Envy of Saul is excited by the People’s praises of David. He Marries King Saul’s daughter Michal. EXCURSUS H: ON THE SCHOOLS OF THE PROPHETS (1 Samuel 19). “Long before Plato had gathered his disciples round him in the Olive Grove, or... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SOUL OF JONATHAN WAS KNIT WITH THE SOUL OF DAVID. — We have in this and the following Chapter s somewhat of a detailed account of David at the Court of Saul. In 1 Samuel 16 this Court life of the future king has been already touched upon, notably in 1 Samuel 18:21, where the affection of Saul fo... [ Continue Reading ]
MADE A COVENANT. — The son of the first Hebrew king recognised in David a kindred spirit. They were one in their God, in their faith, in their devotion to the Divine will. Jonathan recognised in the young shepherd, who unarmed went out alone to meet the mighty Philistine warrior, the same spirit of... [ Continue Reading ]
GAVE IT TO DAVID. — It has been suggested that the reason of this gift was to enable his friend David — then poorly clad — to appear at his father’s court in a fitting dress; but this kind of present was usual among friends in those remote ages. Glaucus and Diomed, for instance, exchanged armour of... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WAS ACCEPTED. — The historian here calls especial attention to the strange power David was able to acquire over the hearts of men. It was not only over Saul and his great son that he rapidly won influence, but in the case of his colleagues at the Court and in the army, all of whom he was rapi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN DAVID WAS RETURNED. — The triumphant return of the young soldier does not refer to the homecoming after the death of the giant, but to the close of the campaign which followed that event. Evidently a series of victories after the fall of the dreaded champion — perhaps spread over a very conside... [ Continue Reading ]
SAUL HATH SLAIN HIS THOUSANDS, AND DAVID HIS TEN THOUSANDS. — These words, which sing of the early glory of David in battle, are quoted again in 1 Samuel 29:5. They were, no doubt, the favourite refrain of an old national or folk-song.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT CAN HE HAVE MORE BUT THE KINGDOM? — In this foreboding utterance of Saul there was involved not only a conjecture which the result confirmed, but a deep inward truth: if the king stood powerless before the subjugators of his kingdom at so decisive a period as this, and a shepherd boy came and d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAUL EYED DAVID. — From the hour on which the king listened to the people’s lilt in honour of the young hero, in Saul’s distempered mind hate alternated with love. He still in his heart longed for the presence of the only human being who could charm away his ever-increasing melancholia, but he d... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EVIL SPIRIT. — The evil spirit comes now over the unhappy king in quite a new form. Hitherto, when the dark hour came upon Saul the madness showed itself in the form of a dull torpor, a hopeless melancholia, an entire indifference to everything connected with life, as well in the lower as in the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAUL CAST THE JAVELIN. — The Alexandrian MS. of the LXX. and the Chaldee Version translate the Hebrew here “lifted the javelin.” The probable meaning of the verb in this place is “brandished,” or “aimed.” It is hardly credible that if he actually threw it, David would have trusted himself a seco... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAUL WAS AFRAID OF DAVID. — Even after the scenes in the royal chamber just related, David remained at Court. He looked on such manifestations of bitter hatred as simple outbursts of a temporary insanity. His loyal nature would not believe in the enduring hate of one so great and noble as Saul;... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ALL ISRAEL AND JUDAH. — This distinct mention of the two great later divisions of the chosen people seems to point to the fact that the compiler of the Books of Samuel lived after the final separation of the ten tribes from Judah and Benjamin, in the reign of Rehoboam. It is, however, clear from... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD MY ELDER DAUGHTER MERAB, HER WILL I GIVE THEE TO WIFE. — This was but the fulfilment of a much earlier promise. The king had said he would give his daughter in marriage to the hero who should slay the Philistine giant champion. For one cause or other he had declined, or at least postponed, th... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT IS MY LIFE? — These words in David’s modest and wise answer have been variously interpreted. (_a_) They have been taken to refer to David’s personal life; but surely _that_ has been alluded to in the preceding words, “Who am I?” (b) As referring to the condition of life in which he was born and... [ Continue Reading ]
SHE WAS GIVEN UNTO ADRIEL. — Saul’s capricious wavering nature, so painfully prominent in the last part of his reign, displayed itself in this sudden change of purpose. It may have been brought about owing to some great fit of jealousy of David; or possibly the large gifts in money or valuables offe... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MICHAL SAUL’S DAUGHTER LOVED DAVID. — But the love of the younger of the two royal princesses for her father’s brilliant officer gave the unhappy king a fresh excuse to expose David’s life to peril, while at the same time he appeared to be endeavouring to carry out an old formal promise.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT SHE MAY BE A SNARE TO HIM. — Is it not possible that this dark plot of Saul against a life once so dear to him — a plot which in after days, when the enmity of the king was a matter of general notoriety, became of course known by David — suggested to him (David) the means by which, in the darke... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE KING HATH DELIGHT IN THEE. — Lange quaintly sees in this fluent discourse of the courtiers “something of the flattering, conciliatory tone usual in such circles.”... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM A POOR MAN. — David dwells upon this fact of his utter inability to give the expected costly offering for the princess. He evidently attributes to his poverty and his successful rival’s wealth his former disappointment in the case of Merab. AND LIGHTLY ESTEEMED. — David looked upon himself as... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HUNDRED FORESKINS. — Wordsworth’s note here, which he derives from Theodoret, is curious. _Foreskins!_ why not _heads?_ Here is a sign of Saul’s suspicious and malignant spirit. He, judging for himself, impiously suspects that David would go forth and destroy some of the _Israelites_ — Saul’s own... [ Continue Reading ]
IT PLEASED DAVID WELL. — The king’s design succeeded well, and the prospect of the alliance with Saul spurred on this brave soldier to more daring achievements, and yet wilder feats of arms. The savage, half-barbarous state of the age, however, comes prominently into view when we reflect upon the fe... [ Continue Reading ]
SAUL SAW... THAT THE LORD WAS WITH DAVID. — The success of the last savage enterprise, and the return of David with his ghastly spoils, filled the unhappy king with dismay. His daughter’s love, too, for the rising soldier contributed to his trouble. Saul felt that all that David undertook prospered... [ Continue Reading ]
WENT FORTH. — Probably to avenge the last raid of David (recounted in 1 Samuel 18:27). Wordsworth, quoting from the Rabbis, suggests that they were emboldened to make this attack, supposing that their successful foe would, according to the Hebrew Law, claim exemption from warfare for a year after ma... [ Continue Reading ]