1 Saul told his son Jonathan and his servants of his intention to kill David. But Jonathan, who liked David very much,
2 said to David, “My father Saul wants to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning and hide yourself in a secret place.
3 I will go out and keep my father company in the countryside where you are and I will speak to him about you. If I find out something, I will let you know.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said, “Let not the king sin against his servant David for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, what he has done has benefited you.
5 He risked his life in killing the Philistine and Yahweh brought about a great victory for Israel. You yourself saw this and greatly rejoiced. Why then sin against innocent blood and kill David without cause?”
6 Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea and swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. He then brought him to Saul and David was back in Saul’s service as before.
8 War broke out again and David set out to fight the Philistines. David crushed them so badly that they had to flee.
9 Then an evil spirit from Yahweh seized Saul as he sat in his house holding his spear while David was playing on the lyre.
10 Saul made an attempt to pin David to the wall with his spear. David, however, dodged the blow and the spear hit the wall instead. David fled and escaped.
11 That night Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep an eye on him as he intended to kill him the following morning. But David’s wife, Michal, told him, “If you do not run for your life to night, tomorrow you will be killed.”
12 So Michal let David down through the window, allowing him to escape.
13 Next Michal took the household idol, laid it in the bed and put a bundle of goat’s hair on its head. She then covered this with a blanket.
14 When Saul sent messengers to capture David, Michal told them, “He is sick.”
15 Saul sent messengers back to David and said, “Bring him up to me on his bed for me to kill him.”
16 But when the messengers entered, they saw the household idol in the bed with the bundle of goat’s hair at its head.
17 Saul, therefore, asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me and allow my enemy to escape?” Michal answered, “He threatened to kill me if I did not let him go!”
Saul and the prophets
18 David had fled and was in safe ty. He went to Samuel at Ra mah and related all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel then went to live at Naioth.
19 Saul was told that David stayed at Naioth in Ramah,
20 so he sent messengers to capture David. But when they saw the band of prophets prophesying (signifying that they had fallen into a trance) with Samuel leading them, the spirit of Yahweh came upon them and made them prophesy.
21 Upon hearing what happened, Saul sent more messengers who also be gan to prophesy. Saul sent more the third time and the same thing happened.
22 Then Saul himself went to Ra mah and arrived at the deep well in Secu. He asked, “Where can I find Sa muel and David?” The people answered, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.”
23 So Saul proceeded to Naioth in Ramah but the Spirit of Yahweh came upon him as well. And he walked along prophesy ing until he reached the entrance of Naioth in Ramah.
24 He took off his clothes and prophesied in Samuel’s presence. Then he fell down naked, re maining in that position all day and all night. Hence sprang the saying, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
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Comments 1 Samuel, Chapter 19
• 19.1 Chapters 19–25 are about the life of David as a fugitive. He becomes chief of a band of not very desirable companions and lives with them in the marginal parts of the country.
David is no “saint,” as we would actually imagine one. He is God’s friend in the way people can be in a primitive society. In spite of his defects, he becomes an example of what God can do with a person who allows himself to be guided by him.
The Bible highlights David’s magnificent soul and his generosity while living with outlaws and everything that this implies. David is always conscious of his mission. He faces dangers without fear, acts as an educator of his companions and is a man with prophetic intuitions.
When God wants to entrust a great mission to someone, he sets that person apart from his or her usual environment for a time. Like Moses, David also goes to the desert.
• 18. Israel lives its faith with songs and dances, celebrating Yahweh’s deeds. That is why they need those groups of prophets. Here, they are men tioned for the first time in the Bible. These men excited themselves to the point where they fell in to a frenzy very similar to a state of hys te ria. At that time, nevertheless, such manifestations were considered to be the work of the Spi rit of Yahweh. In their beginnings, the pro phets of Israel were not very different from the “pro phets” of other neighboring pagan peoples. Later in the Bible other prophets who are very different appear, and are called by God for an exceptional mission. These prophets will re tain only a semblance of that primitive religious frenzy.
It is good to compare these actions of the prophets with others manifested in the early Church (see Acts 21), and to read what Paul says with respect to the manifestation of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12–14. No manifestation of the Spirit is solely the work of the Spirit of God. It depends also on the capabilities of those in whom the Spirit acts, just as the light of the sun takes on the color of the glass through which it passes. In groups consisting of sim ple and uneducated people, the Spirit of God acted (and still acts) by arousing ecstatic manifes tations which, in fact, are also ob served in non-Christian reli gions. But these things strengthened them in their faith.