1 Samuel 18:9-30 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.… It is the enmity of Saul which we are to consider — its beginning, its rapid growth, its deadly purpose. The excitement of the war being over, the king has time to think of himself, and he is filled with thoughts of his dethronement; and the envy of David eats into his heart so greedily that his old frenzy is brought on again. On the very next day his heart grew malicious toward David; the evil spirit seized him once more. "Whether this was a diabolical possession or a mere mental malady the learned are not agreed. It seems to have partaken of both. There is too much of apparent nature in it to permit us to believe it was all spiritual, and there was too much of apparent spiritual in it to suffer us to believe it was all natural." This we know from the plain record: "The Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul," and "an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him." So that, negatively and positively, the hand of the Lord was in it. And yet he was eating the fruit of his own doings — "given over," as Paul says, "to a reprobate mind." But Saul's hate has not abated with the passage of the frenzy. The direct assault has failed, but there are surer methods in reserve. Men are cheap now to the king, who sees his crown in danger, and ten thousand slain or captured will not be missed if David but goes down with them. Yet again he fails. David can wield a thousand men as skilfully as he can swing his sling, and the king grows bitterer still. Saul learns that his other daughter loves this brilliant young captain, and it is surmised that her passion was returned, else the spirited soldier had not submitted so tamely to his twice winning and twice losing Merab. Not to gratify the heart of either does Saul give his consent now; he hopes that Michal "may be a snare to him" and the hand of the Philistine may be against him. He slyly mentions a dower — not directly, but through his courtiers — such as a "poor man," skilled in fight, might give to a king, the procuring of which he surely thought would bring him his death. And his heart must have been filled with malignant joy as he heard that "he and his men" (his two or three attendants, not his ten hundred) bad sallied forth to slay one hundred men. But "before the days were expired" back be comes, bringing the designated trophies in double tale. But why pursue the disgraceful story further? Each defeat but fans the flame to greater fury, and Saul soon throws off the thin disguise with which he has marked his deadly purpose, and openly "spake to Jonathan, his sons and to all his servants that they should kill David" (1 Samuel 19:1.) At length the sad end came. The life that bad begun in such brilliant promise was closed by self-destruction. His enmity was fruitless, except in bitterness to himself and trouble to Israel. It could not set aside the plans of the Almighty: "His counsel shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure." These are the practical lessons which the unrelenting enmity of Saul suggests. (1) Beware of jealousy. "Let the misery Saul brought upon himself remind us what a magazine of self-torture every human spirit contains;" and no single disposition of the soul is more likely to touch off the magazine, and make of the "heart a hell of wildest disorder and ever-dripping woe," than the disposition of envy, jealousy, and revenge. Jealousy may lead any man who listens to its suggestions into hatred as fierce, and opposition as malignant, and thoughts as deadly, and at last defiance of God as blasphemous, as Saul manifested. (2) We are reminded by Saul's conduct how natural it is for a man to throw over on some other the blame of his own hurtful blunders or wilful misdeeds. Rarely, very rarely, do men go down by blunders all their own or wickedness springing from their own hearts. But for some other or others they bad been standing yet. (3) Saul's case may warn us of the great danger of becoming embittered and revengeful when going down in prosperity and losing influence and honour. Men. rarely stay long at the top. There is an established system of rotation in the universe as regards the tenure of its high places. Men may come down when at the height of their powers and opportunity, or they may stay up till waning powers tell them another must take the place. A blunder may give the start, or the scheming of others may do the work. But whatever causes it, let the declining man crucify his selfishness, curb his tongue from bitter words, and go down gracefully, sweetly, clothed in the kingly garments of dignified self-respect. (4) As Saul warns of what may take men down, David teaches how to rise in the face of opposition that it would seem should stop our progress. He who fears God will have the favour of the Lord. (5) We may see in Saul's fall and David's rise that God cannot be thwarted in His purposes. In spite of Saul's javelin, in spite of Saul's wily scheming, in spite of his pursuing warriors, in spite of the fierceness of the Philistines, he was chosen of the Lord and must take the crown. "Now, therefore, kings, be wise; be taught, ye judges of the earth;" "The Lord reigneth;" "He puts down one, and sets another up." (T. H. Hanna, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. |
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