The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.
Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them. – 1 Samuel 18:10-16 ESV
Saul had his eye on David. He didn't trust him. He viewed David as a threat to his crown and resented this young upstart’s growing popularity among the people. While he had been grateful for David’s victory over Goliath and the Philistines, it had actually made things much worse for Saul. And it wasn’t long before his oversensitive ego and the “harmful spirit from the Lord” (1 Samuel 16:14 ESV) ganged up on him and produced some less-than-normal outcomes.
At one point, Saul was having one of his “fits” and David was playing his usual role as musical therapist, when the king grabbed a spear and attempted to pin David to the wall with it. Not once, but twice. The text tells us that Saul feared David. He knew that the same Spirit of God that used to dwell on him, was now on this young man. And Saul knew that fact did not bode well for him. He was crazy, but sane enough to remember what the prophet, Samuel, had said.
And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” – 1 Samuel 13:26 ESV
And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. – 1 Samuel 13L28 ESV
Saul had put two and two together and reached the conclusion that David was the one who would be replacing him as king, and it scared him. He knew his days were numbered. So to deal with the frustration created by David’s constant presence, he Saul decided to send him away. Part of his reasoning behind this move was likely out of his love for David. He genuinely loved this young man, and regretted his inability to control his anger against him. So by sending David away, he removed any temptation to harm David and provided a distance between the two of them that acts as a buffer of protection.
Saul made David a commander over a thousand men. But this new role did little to solve Saul’s jealousy problem. It seems that David was quite successful as a leader and continued to impress the people with his skills as a soldier. Verse 14 tells us, “And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him.” This phrase is very reminiscent of statements made regarding Joseph during his stay in Egypt. It seemed that wherever Joseph ended up, God was blessing him and all those associated with him. God’s presence assured Joseph’s success, and the same thing proved true for David. His success and subsequent popularity only served to drive an even greater wedge between he and the king. We’re told, “when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him” (1 Samuel 18:15 ESV). All Saul could do was stand back and watch in wonder as David’s stock continued to rise as his own fell. The prophesy of Samuel was coming true right before his eyes. God had rejected him as king. He was ripping the kingdom our of his hands and giving it to someone better than him. This was a difficult pill for Saul to swallow and he would prove to be a lousy patient, refusing to accept God’s remedy for his own disobedience.
And yet, David was loved by all. He was young, handsome, successful and extremely popular. God was with him and all the people were for him. And all Saul could do was wait for the inevitable to happen. But Satan, the arch-enemy of God would not this change in leadership lying down. He was not about to relinquish Saul’s hold on power. Saul was just the kind of king Satan wanted ruling over Israel. He was disobedient to God. He was self-centered and egotistical. He had proven adept at twisting the words of God and blaming everyone but himself for his mistakes. Watching Saul get replaced by a man after God’s own heart was not something Satan was eager to experience. So he would do everything in his power to resist the will of God by influencing the king God had rejected.
The following years of David’s life would be marked by ongoing and increasing animosity between himself and the king. His path to the throne was going to be a rocky one. This would prove not to be a smooth transition of power. But God was in control of the entire process. None of the events recorded in David’s life reflect a flaw in God’s plan or an inability on His part to control the situation. This was all part of the divine strategy for preparing God’s anointed king for his role as the shepherd of Israel. David was going to learn that being in the will of God does not necessarily guarantee a trouble-free life. Becoming the kind of man God intended him to be was going to require painful lessons in failure, defeat, loss, and abandonment. But he would also learn to recognize his own weakness and trust in the power and presence of God.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
