1 Samuel 19:1-24
In Romans 8:26 we learn that because of our limitations, the Spirit of God intercedes on our behalf. God generously defends us both from the angles we can see and the ones we cannot. In this chapter, we will see two people perform as purposeful instruments of God's will in a concentrated effort to preserve an innocent child of God. For sometimes we do not know that we need an escape... but God does, and He makes a way.
19:1 Saul confides to Jonathan is hate for David. Saul gathers all of his servants and commands them each to kill David.
19:2-3 Alarmed but wise enough to take precautions, Jonathan informs David of Saul's wicked plot against his life. Jonathan tells David to be careful and to hide until he has a chance to speak with Saul, dismantle his anger and change his mind.
19:4-5 Jonathan speaks frankly, simply and boldly to his father. He explains that David does not deserve to be killed as he has been dutiful and and honest in every moment with Saul. He has won battle after battle for the kingdom. Moreover, David has been good to Saul, personally. David played the harp for Saul on many occasions, concerned about his distress and suffering.
19:6-8 Believing himself successful in defusing Saul's anger, Jonathan tells David is it safe for him again. David therefore returns to military service and does not hide from Saul.
19:9-10 But Saul lied to Jonathan; he never abandoned the desire or intention to kill David. Saul throws an arrow at David but misses, and David flees.
19:11 At home, Michal tells David that he must flee immediately because her father intends to kill him by the next day.
19:12-13 Michal helps David escape down through a window. While he escapes, Michal forms a person-like shape in the bed in order to trick David's pursuers.
19:14 When they arrive, Michal pretends that David is sick. This earns David time to flee while they think he is stationary in bed.
19:15 Saul sends the men back to David and Michal's place to kill David.
19:16-17 But the men find that the shape is not David. Saul is furious with Michal and counts her actions as a betrayal to him. God ensured that Michal helped David escape, but because she is not a fearless child of God, she loses her courage in the face of Saul's anger. She lies to Saul and tells him that David threatened her so she let him go. (This would be obvious as a lie to anyone who actually knew David. It was not even his idea to run away.)
19:18 David flees to Samuel in Ramah. Together they go to Naioth.
19:19 Saul finds out that David is in Naioth in Ramah.
19:20 Immediately Saul sends people after David to capture him. But when they arrive, they find David to be protected by prophets, prophesying his divine purpose given by God... and they join them. There are times in scripture when God's ability and sense of humor are mingled and such is the case here. God turns David's pursuers into his protectors.
19:21 Saul continues to send people after David but each time, the same thing happens. God's power is indefatigable.
What is interesting is that Saul is jealous of David for having everything Saul once had. Saul could have everything David has but his arrogance disables him from having it. Saul rejected God but David loves God. Saul has chosen to be submissive to his arrogance and greed. David has chosen to submit to God.
19:22 Saul goes to Ramah himself and inquires after Samuel and David's whereabouts.
19:23-24 Saul thinks that he has the power to do what his messengers could not - Saul thinks he can defy God. But God can, and does, cause even Saul to submit to His will. We learn here, if we did not already realize, that God could force His authority over us. Instead He allows us to become who we want to be, to love what we want to love and to submit to who/what we wish to submit to. God's authority is able to cause Saul to do the complete opposite of what he wants. Because God's will will be done.
God does not want our sacrifices, he does not want us to reassure His authority. God is not insecure. We are made in His image and therefore we can understand that He wants our authentic love. We are therefore given freedom. But evil has no freedom and no power cannot plot or succeed against God. God does not force us to submit to His will... but He can. Ultimately, whoever rejects Him is blotted out from existence. If a soul chooses to reject Him, He lets them go... into nothing, oblivion, just as they asked. Rather than robotic, inauthentic humility and obedience, God allows evil to go down its own path. The path of evil is distressing, paranoid, discontent, insecure (Saul's raving and suffering evidenced this) and ends in spiritual death. Poof, gone.
We have read of David's love and obedience toward God but have not yet heard from David himself. In the following Psalm, we hear David's voice in an expression of faith and trust:
Psalm 111 In the Lord I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
2 For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
4 The Lord is in His holy temple,
The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The Lord tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the Lord is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.
David expresses trust in God's willingness and ability to protect the righteous against the malicious plots of their oppressors. From David we learn that we can speak openly with God, raw and passionately. David, as human as each of us, went through the same trials we all do. In his difficult moments, he turned to God. A man after God's own heart, he made God his Home Base. His Protector. His Leader. And he understood that the defense of the righteous is absolute.
