Text: I Samuel 18
Theme: The Christian should always act with the highest integrity, regardless of how much we are mistreated by others.
Intro:
- We recently studied I Samuel 17 and took some lessons from the account of David and Goliath.
a. We noted that Saul typifies for us the impotence of a carnal Christian. The carnal Christian cannot be effective in spiritual warfare became he is depending on self-effort and human wisdom to get him through. - Today we will look at chapter 18 and see how well David behaved before all the people, even while Saul was trying to have David killed.
We will break down the chapter into the following sections:
i. Saul Benefited from David (Vs 1-5)
ii. Saul Resented David (Vs 6-13)
iii. Saul Plotted Against David (Vs 14-30)
I. Saul Benefited from David (Vs 1-5)
- David was loved by Jonathan (Vs 1-4)
a. When David had finished speaking to Saul about how he slayed Goliath, Jonathan recognised a kindred spirit.
i. You will remember that Jonathan was the one who had acted so boldly against the Philistines in the early days of Saul’s reign.
– In chapter 13 we saw that Jonathan had attacked the Philistine garrison in Geba, which resulted in all Israel being seen as an abomination to the Philistines.
– In chapter 14 it was Jonathan and his armour bearer who had taken the step of faith to go up against the Philistines encamped at Michmash, and God honoured their faith and delivered the Philistines into the hands of the Israelites.
ii. Jonathan’s father Saul was a spiritually weak man who lacked the faith necessary to lead God’s people. Jonathan had always been the one who led by faith and he probably felt like he was on his own in that respect. Now, Jonathan meets a man who is anointed with the Spirit of God and who is willing to lead others based on his faith in God, and Jonathan loved what he saw and decided to be a friend to David and support him in his walk of faith.
iii. We are still draw to such people today. When we see someone who is able to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ and who walks by faith in God, it inspires us to do the same. When you find someone who is being led by God and who leads by example in the walk of faith, you need to come alongside that person and be a help to them and learn from them how to live by faith. - David was loved by everyone (Vs 5)
a. David had already been anointed to be king, but he still submitted himself to Saul.
i. David would one day be the leader of Israel, but the best leaders are, first and foremost, excellent followers who understand the experience of those they guide.
ii. David learned that true leadership is built on a foundation of humility, empathy, and service, rather than just authority or command.
b. Saul promoted David and set him over the army, which made sense since that was the area in which David seemed to excel.
i. The people loved David because he was well behaved and honourable and even Saul’s own servants were happy with David’s new leadership role.
ii. As a Christian, you should be known as a person of excellent character.
iii. Are you known, by those around you, as a person of good character?
II. Saul Resented David (Vs 6-13)
- Saul noticed David’s popularity (Vs 6-7)
a. Verse 5 tells us that David was set over Saul’s army and went wherever Saul sent him.
i. In verse 6, we have David returning from one of these expeditions which Saul had sent David on. Clearly David was active in continuing to drive the Philistines out of Israel’s territory and to free the cities from Philistine oppression.
ii. This provides us with further explanation as to why David was so popular. As David went forth with the army and successfully pushed the Philistines out of Israel, the people would have begun to see David as their liberator rather than king Saul.
b. As a result of David’s success, king Saul and David were welcomed home in great celebration.
i. The people came out into the streets to meet Saul with singing and dancing, and with musical instruments. They were clearly celebrating the defeat of their oppressors.
ii. We have seen a modern example of this in Iran. Following the joint U.S. and Israeli strikes against the Islamic regime, the Iranian people around the world began celebrating the destruction of their oppressors. - Saul resented David’s popularity (Vs 8-13)
a. The celebration in the street wasn’t the problem for king Saul, but what the women were singing offended his sense of self-importance.
i. Regarding this celebration Robert Jamieson says, “This is a characteristic trait of Oriental manners. On the return of friends long absent, and particularly on the return of a victorious army, bands of women and children issue from the towns and villages, to form a triumphal procession to celebrate the victory, and as they go along, gratify the soldiers with dancing, instrumental music, and extempore songs, in honour of the generals who have earned the highest distinction by feats of gallantry. They formed themselves into two choirs, which sung in alternate or responsive strophes. The chorus was, “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.””[1] Robert Jamieson, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Joshua–Esther, vol. II (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 183.
ii. It is very likely that Saul had been the focus of these celebrations many times before, but on this occasion, he found his own legacy being overshadowed by Davids’.
b. Saul realised he was no longer the number 1 hero of the people, and he became angry about it.
i. Verse 8 tells us he was very wroth and the saying displeased him.
– Wroth is a blaze of anger, a burning jealousy.
– The word displeased is translated from the Hebrew word yara (yaw-rah) which means to be broken up, that is, to fear.
ii. When Saul heard the women ascribe thousands to Saul and tens of thousands to David, it torn him up on the inside and he felt a burning jealousy toward David, because the people loved David more than Saul.
c. Rather than being pleased that David was establishing the kingdom in the hand of Saul and freeing the people from the Philistines, now Saul was primarily concerned about his own image and reputation.
i. Saul’s response to the situation tells us a lot about Saul. He equated the importance of popularity with importance of ruling the kingdom. In Saul’s eyes, the most popular man was the one who had the hearts of the people and was the one whom the people would follow. Leadership in Saul’s eyes was about popularity rather than good character.
ii. Some people are like this; they are happy for you to do well as long as you don’t do better than them. They will be your friend as long as your personality doesn’t outshine theirs, or as long as your character and wisdom doesn’t make them look inferior.
III. Saul Plotted Against David (Vs 14-30)
- Saul began plotting David’s death
a. Verse 9 says that Saul eyed David from that day forward.
i. In other words, from then on, Saul looked for an opportunity to reassert his dominance over David, even if it meant he had to kill David.
ii. As David played his harp, Saul tried to slay him. This time, Saul was not refreshed by the godly music David played, but he chose to cut himself off from help in order to deal with David, whom he saw as a threat to his throne.
b. Saul planned to send David into battle against the Philistines in hopes that they would kill David.
i. Saul promised to give his eldest daughter, Merab, to David in marriage if David would go out and fight Saul’s battles for him. The intention is clearly stated in verse 17 which was that Saul planned to put David into dangerous battles with the Philistines, in the hope that David would be killed without the blame falling back on Saul.
ii. David didn’t feel as though he was important enough in the kingdom to be marrying the king’s daughter. Even though he was loved by all the people and he was the hero of the king’s army, David was still humble in his self-reflections. - David continued to behave wisely
a. After David turned down marriage to Saul’s eldest daughter Merab, Saul made a conditional promise to give his daughter Michal to David instead.
i. David still wasn’t convinced that he should be marrying Saul’s daughter, so Saul had his advisors tell David that what Saul really wanted as a dowry was the foreskin of 100 Philistines.
ii. Saul set David a deadline which put pressure on him get to the task immediately, likely hoping that David would go in haste and make an unwise attack that would result in his death.
b. David went out and accomplished more than Saul had demanded.
i. David slew 200 of the Philistine men and brought their foreskins to Saul, managing to accomplish this within the time frame set by Saul.
ii. The Lord was with David and so he succeeded whenever he turned his hand against the Philistines.
c. David continued to behave wisely and in good character, despite the intentions of Saul to kill David.
i. The chapter closes out by telling us that whenever the princes of the Philistines went out to battle, David behaved himself more wisely than all Saul’s other servants.
ii. David continued to defend the kingdom of Israel against the attacks of the Philistines, making him even more popular with the people.
iii. He had made a name for himself and when David went to battle, the people had come to expect great things of him. Such was the presence and power of God in David’s life.
Conclusion:
- Those who are self-serving and self-promoting are not the sort of people God wants to use. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” (James 4:6b)
- It is far better to walk in wisdom and be of good character than to hold a high rank and be rejected by God.