- Introductory guidance
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (4-part series)
- National (In)security (6-part series)
Today's session may take between 30 to 40 minutes.
So, as usual, find a quiet space. Sit down and take a few breaths.
Ready?
Since our series is called Mythbusters, let's begin by watching another segment from the Discovery show Mythbusters:
Section one. Myth #1 - Because we love David, we don't love Saul.
OK, let's read 1 Samuel 18:1-16, the click back here.
From Saul's increasingly isolated and paranoid perspective, Jonathan and Michal love and are loyal to David, and if they love David and are loyal to him, somehow they cannot love and be loyal to their father. The truth beyond this lie is that they can, and Jonathan does to the end of his life. Jonathan is loving and loyal to both his father and David.
In the Hebrew of verse 3, you get the best sense of what is happening. The grammatical pattern makes it clear by using a plural subject and a singular verb: Jonathan forges this pact of friendship, Jonathan is the active party, while David is the passive party. The sense here is that although David has just won this stunning victory, David seems a little in awe of his new friends, especially this new friend, the rockstar Jonathan.
Along these same lines - of David being acting upon and not necessarily being the actor - we witness God's work in David's life. God has anointed and blessed David and His favour is upon him. Therefore, David is the object of the verb "to love" over and over again in the narrative. Jonathan loves him. The people love him. Michal loves him.
It is also interesting to note that David's inner thoughts are not revealed explicitly at this point. What he is thinking and what is happening internally with David is left for us to surmise from his actions and his words.
Remember throughout these studies in 1 Samuel, we have been looking for certain imagery and themes and motifs that occur again and again? Well, here in the beginning of chapter 18 we see the clothing imagery come to the foreground of our narrative again. At the end of chapter 19, we will see this again, but here in 18 Jonathan takes clothes off himself and gives them to David. Robert Alter has some good insight on the resonance of all this: "This gesture strongly invites comparison with Saul's failed effort to dress David in his battle gear in the previous episode [with Goliath]. This time David accepts the proffered garments and weapons: practically, they are presumably his own size, but he also is now ready to assume a regular role in the army. The first item Jonathan offers is his cloak, me'il," which is the piece of clothing that is associated with Samuel and one of his roles: prophet. We talked about this in an earlier study session. The cloak can also be seen as conveying some sort of kingship, but I think the cloak-prophet motif stands out most to me at this time.
So David becomes the best of friends with Jonathan and gets invested with new clothes and weaponry. Saul also gives David a very choice assignment: David is given a military command over "men of war." This phrase, according to the biblical scholar Moshe Garsiel, is a term for an elite corps or we might say "special forces". Of course, jealousy rears its ugly head again, and in verse 13, Saul sort-of demotes David in moving him to another command post over a regular army unit, away from the "special forces". Of course, this jealousy arises with David's successes and exploits, brought to our attention in the ditty by the celebrating women: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." This brings up a trait we have noticed time after time with Saul - his own insecurity and listening and being influenced by the voice of the people. Alter puts it bluntly: "Saul, who earlier had made the mistake of listening to the voice of the people, now is enraged by the people's words."
Thus, even though Saul initially loved David, and even though David was loyal to Saul, jealousy begins to grip and eventually consume Saul. After the Goliath affair, David became one of the chief fighting men, and Saul enjoyed the benefits of David's victories. But jealousy raises its head and the tipping point for Saul comes after David had taken his daughter as wife, had taken the love and loyalty of his heir Jonathan, and finally had taken the love of the people. Thus Saul's jealousy drives him to seek to kill David.
It was the custom among women to celebrate the triumphs of their warriors after a great battle in spectacular performances. Decked with wreaths, they danced down the public streets, singing the songs of victory in praise of their great leaders. The ditty of verse 7 further stirs Saul to deadly jealousy. He becomes determined to suppress David in some way or to kill him outright. Also note in verse 10, most English translations use the word "raving" for what Saul is doing, but the actual word in Hebrew is nava (the rootword used for the Hebrew word for prophets: nevi'im), which is typically translated as "prophesying" or "ecstatic prophesying"; this is exactly the same activity he fell into back in chapter 10 when he met the band of prophets, and the same activity he falls into later in chapter 19 when confronted with Samuel leading a band of prophets in ecstatic prophecy. Thus, Saul is doing some sort of ecstatic prophecy via an evil spirit, which the text clearly states in verse 10. Let's leave that hot topic for a little later at the end of our study session today when we get to chapter 19.
As we will see as we progress through the narrative, Saul soon becomes absorbed in plotting and planning how to circumvent David, and looks increasingly with jealousy on the warm friendship maturing between him and his son Jonathan. Several times, Saul tried to kill David himself with a spear, but even though David was playing the harp at the time, he easily escaped. As David's fame increases, so does Saul's jealousy and his efforts to kill David.
Jealousy is bred from Fear and burns until an explosion of anger occurs. The Hebrew word for the kind of anger Saul experiences is informative: charah-"to burn, be kindled, glow with anger, be incensed, grow indignant; to be zealous, act zealously." Unlike some of its synonyms, charah points to the fire or heat of the anger just after it has been ignited. Charah captures the moment a person explodes with anger-the moment anger is ignited before any sense of control takes over, before a rational thought can be processed. When Saul's son Jonathan is discovered protecting David, Saul exlodes with anger and throws a spear at his own son in an effort to kill him (1 Samuel 20:32-43).
Section two. Myth #2 - When a Man Loves a Woman.
Now, let's read 1 Samuel 18:17-30, then return here.
Saul seems to be like a boat tossed on the waves, as he see-saws from wanting to co-opt David into his House and family, but then turns to jealous action and manipulation with David. The scriptures lay Saul's interior dialogue explicitly out for us, with Saul full of intrigue and schemes, but still experiencing the dreaded doubt and insecurity that has plagued his life thus far.
There is something important here in this section that most people miss, and we want to make sure to make sure we don't miss it. in verse 20, it says that, "Now, Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David." While this follows Jonathan and the people loving David, it is interesting to note that she is the only woman in the whole of the Hebrew scriptures who is said to love a man. It's implied in many relationships, but this is the only place where our scriptures explicitly state that a woman loves a man. Of course, many will run to Song of Songs to see if this is true, but again, while the beautiful love story and poetry of the Song makes clear the love between a man and a woman, this is where it actually states such a case.
Robert Alter has an interesting observation at this point: "Nothing is said, by contrast, about what David feels toward Michal, and as the story of their relationship sinuously unfolds, his feelings toward her will continue to be left in question." While there is a bit of ambiguity and we will talk about their relationship much later when David actually becomes the king, our narrative does mention in verse 26 that this was pleasing to David, and in fact, he accomplishes a rather horrid, heroic, and humorous challenge to make the marriage and meet ridiculous demand for a bride-price.
Saul demands Philistine foreskins as the bride-price. Let's get this straight, Saul asks David to circumcise one hundred Philistine warriors in order to marry Michal. Yikes. Horrid, but David accomplishes it, being the dashing and heroic warrior he is. Then David counts out each and every last foreskin before Saul, the imagery of which would be quite humorous to listeners and readers of this episode. Again, Saul notices that even in such dangerous but ridiculous missions, YHWH is with David, and Saul's fears fester within him.
Section three. Myth #3 - You have to keep your clothes on to prophesy.
OK, let's read 1 Samuel 19:1-7, then return here.
The critical underlying theme of fatherhood, which we have looked at before, again comes front and center. The text seems to emphasize this in the first verse where twice it mentions and emphasizes that Jonathan is Saul's son. This is important to note, as Jonathan steps into the role of peacemaker between those he loves and is loyal to: his father Saul and his friend David. Jonathan is the quinessential "trusted advocate" doing this for the good of all.
I think we can learn a lot about conflict resolution and peacemaking advocacy from Jonathan. It's also interesting to note the deference and respect Jonthan gives to his father as he steps into this new role. He addresses his father as "the King" and speaks well of both parties, even as Saul fluctuates from wanting David killed to appeasement. Jonathan speaks truth to his father and his friend; I think this is the kind of "speaking love in truth" that the new testament apostle Paul encourages the followers of Jesus to take up. Be a peacemaker, listen and spea the truth in love. Bring warring factions together, be the wise advocate of both parties. Then in verse 7, the result - and note again that it is Jonathan doing all the action and persuasion here - David is reunited with saul, and begins to serve him as before. This is an impotant issue for our time, and I appreciate the words of Pope Benedict that point toward a path trodden by many throughout history: "Christian nonviolence...does not consist in surrendering to evil - as claims a false interpretation of "turn the other cheek" (Luke 6:29) - but in responding to evil with good, (Romans 12:17-21), and thus breaking the chain of injustice. It is thus understood that nonviolence, for Christians, is not mere tactical behavior but a person's way of being, the attitude of one who is convinced of God's love and power, who is not afraid to confront evil with the weapons of love and truth alone. Loving the enemy is the nucleus of the 'Christian revolution'..."
I know this can be a touchy subject and one fraught with reali-life difficulties for many people. But courage and discernment is called for as we seek to place ourselves between the strong and the weak, those with power and those without, whether it is bringing friends who are fighting together or through being advocates and peacemakers in situations that deal with tongues, tribes and nations.
Now read 1 Samuel 19:8-17, then return here.
Well, the peace doesn't last too long in our text. Let's remember that Saul is being tortured by an evil spirit, playing upon his fears and insecurities. As Robert Alter points out, "[Saul] does his best to be reconciled with David, his soothing lyre player and indispensible military leader, but the recurrent flashes of jealousy drive him again to the same lethal action. After the second occurrence of the spear throwing, David realizes he must flee the court, but he does not imagine Saul will send assassinas to surround his house."
Thus Michal helps David escape and uses teraphim to fool Saul's men. Teraphim is Hebrew for household statues, typically of the gods, which were made of precious stone or wood or ceramics and were quite valuable. The use of teraphim in an incident to fool a father should resonate with those who have read Genesis. This is an allusion to the Jacob story. Jacob's wife Rachel steals her fathers' teraphim when they fled Laban. Both in the Jacob story and here in 1 Samuel, a daughter who is loyal to her husband mis-directs and lies to their father. Note that back in 1 Samuel 19:11, instead of saying that Michal was Saul's daughter, the text describes her as David's wife. In the Jacob story, Laban does not accost his daughter and never finds the teraphim, yet here we find Saul force his way into their bed-chamber and uncovers the deception and the teraphim. When Saul accuses Michal of deception in verse 17, the Hebrew is almost exactly the same as Laban's words found in Genesis 31:26: Why have you deceived me?
Let's finish today by reading 1 Samuel 19:18-24, then return here.
Thus, David flees from Saul to Samuel - the prophet who had anointed him - and his cohort of ecstatic prophets. There is some powerful spiritual warfare imagery going on here, not to mention the power of the Spirit, so let's take a closer look.
Did you notice in verse 18 that David has come under the protection of Samuel and the prophets. In verse 20, the military men that King Saul sends to take David come under the influence of the Holy Spirit and cannot do their duty. Robert Alter points out the military imagery, not of Saul's military men, but of what is going on with the Spirit-empowered Samuel and the band of prophets: "Samuel standing poised over them. The image is implicitly military; the term for "poised" (nitsav) is cognate with the terms for garrison and prefect. Samuel, like the pope, commands no divisions, but the band of ecstatics are his troops, and the infectious spirit of God that inhabits them and devastates Saul's emissaries acts as a defensive perimeter."
I love this imagery, what an awesome picture! David being protected in the midst of a worshipful and manifest encounter with the Reign of God breaking through, while those with all the military might and power are left helpless. Such an exquisite picture and example of how God reigns.
Stacey Campbell gives a humourous story of what this might have been like to encounter the infectious power of the Spirit:
Eventually, when everyone he has sent is infected with the Spirit and lost in ecstatic prophecy, Saul comes under the influence of the Spirit and begins prophesying and ends up laying naked in a field in a state of delirium. Since Saul's garments are explicitly tied to kingship, here we see Samuel and Saul conflicted again, and just as Saul was invested with kingship in his initial encounter with the Spirit through meeting the band of ecstatic prophets, now Saul - in undressing himself - implicitly divests himself of the kingship, until naked and alone, he is overwhelmed by the power of the Spirit. As biblical commentator Fokkelman sums up quite nicely: "The same faculty for the numinous and the same sensitivity for suddenly being lifted into a higher state of consciousness which occurred there [in 1 Samuel chapter 10] under the positive sign of election, appear here under the negative sign of being rejected, and now bring Saul into a lower state of consciousness, a kind of delirium." David is saved, and Samuel and his prophets triumph through the power of the Spirit over the might of men, even those previously chosen.
Section four. Assignments.
- Memorize this passage that speaks of our experience of that most holy gift: friendship - "And it happened as he finished speaking with Saul, that Jonathan's very self became bound up with David's, and Jonathan loved him as himself." - 1 Samuel 18:1
- Take some time to reflect on the fears, insecurities and jealousies that may populate your own heart. Ask God to bring something specific to your mind, just one thing to work on, and then take that before the Lord and see how He can help you. Journal your thoughts and what you think God is saying to you. Pray through this and talk to friends about this experience that may need follow-up with the hard work of forgiveness and dis-embitterment.
- If interested, here are some more about ecstatic prophecy and the phenomenological power of the Spirit from Stacey Campbell: Part 1 and Part 2
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