Lesson 33 – David vs. Saul
1. What do you think about Jonathan's
plan?
2.
What risks
does the plan involve for Jonathan?
3.
What risks
does the plan involve for David?
1. What do you think about Saul's response
to Jonathan's answer about David?
2.
What did
Jonathan's arrow tell David he had to do?
1.
Read 1 Samuel 23:24-24:22
1.
Why did Saul want to kill
David?
2.
What saved David from being
captured in the wilderness of Maon?
3.
What did David do when Saul
entered the cave where David was hiding?
4.
How did David try to
convince Saul that he was not guilty of treason?
5.
What did David mean when he
asked, "Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A single flea?"
6.
Whom did David want to sit
in judgment of his guilt?
7.
How did Saul respond when David
showed him the cloak and talked to him?
8.
What prediction did Saul
make about David?
9.
What promise did Saul want
David to make to him?
The Lord is my rock,
my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge.
Bible
Background (taken from Journey
through the Bible, Christian Board of Publications, 1995, p. 105)
Matters go from bad to worse in the household of Saul. Saul sees that his son Jonathan is devoted to David and will surely not raise a hand against David, even though, as Saul can see, David is winning the affection of the people away from Saul and his household. On one occasion, as the Philistine wars are continuing, Saul hurls a spear at David, trying to pin him to the wall of the king's house. David escapes, but now sees that there is no safety for him around Saul. That very evening, Saul has soldiers hide around David's house so that, in the morning, they can take him captive. But David's wife Michal helps him escape through a window and then deceives the soldiers when morning comes. She explains that David is ill, arranging his bed to look as though it is occupied, and in that way gives David time to get far away.
2Finally, Jonathan and David agree on a plan that will decide whether there is any chance at all for reconciliation. A three-day festival of the New Moon was approaching, and the custom on that occasion was for David to eat with Saul and Jonathan and Abner, Saul's army commander. David is afraid to come to the festival. Jonathan cannot believe that his father is now ready to murder David; surely, his father would let Jonathan know if that were the case. But David reminds Jonathan that Saul knows very well the love that these two have for one another, and Saul probably would keep any such decision from Jonathan. They agree that Jonathan will attend the festival, learn of Saul's intentions, and then let David know.
3Saul lets David's
absence on the first day go without any comment, but when David is also absent for the meal on the second day, Saul asks where he is. Jonathan explains that David has had
to go to a family festival in
4This love between David and Jonathan is a beautiful thing. In our own day, we can see how hard it is for adult males to express affection for one another. As a result, though male friendships are often very close indeed, expressions of friendship of the sort that come naturally to David and Jonathan are nearly impossible to show. This is not the case in all contemporary societies, but it is so in most European and North American cultures. We have no reason to suppose that David and Jonathan were lovers in a sexual way; the picture given is of deep affection between two men who were ready, each of them, to give his life for the other.
5David must now
become a fugitive from the armies
of Saul. In order to maintain his life and continue
his leadership in
6On one occasion when Saul has heard that David has been spotted, he and Jonathan take the field to find him. Jonathan and David have one last meeting, and then David finds the opportunity to show Saul that he, David, is not his enemy but his friend. When Saul goes into a certain cave to relieve himself, David comes into the cave and cuts off a part of his cloak. We are to imagine David doing this while the outer cloak of Saul is lying on the cave floor and Saul is farther back in the cave. Then, as Saul leaves the cave, David comes after him and, from a safe distance, shows Saul what he has done. Saul repents of his misjudgment of David, but neither David nor Saul apparently trusts the reconciliation to be a permanent one.
7This long period
of conflict between Saul and David actually does much to prepare David to rule
as
Especially important during this period
was his experience in the service of King Achish of
Readers
Theater style – see if you can find a couple other people to read it with you,
or try reading it outloud using different voices for
each character.
1 Samuel 20:1-23
N = narrator,
D = David, J = Jonathon, S = Saul
N: David fled from Naioth
in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said,
D: "What have I done? What is my
guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my
life?"
J:
"Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either
great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this
from me? Never!"
N: But David also swore,
D: "Your father knows well that you
like me; and he thinks, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be
grieved.' But truly, as the LORD lives
and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death."
J: "Whatever you say, I will do for
you. "
D: "Tomorrow is the new moon, and I
should not fail to sit with the king at the meal; but let me go, so that I may
hide in the field until the third evening.
If your father misses me at all, then say, 'David earnestly asked leave
of me to run to
If he says, 'Good!' it will be well with your servant; but if he is angry, then
know that evil has been determined by him. Therefore deal kindly with your
servant, for you have brought your servant into a sacred covenant with you. But
if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your
father?"
J: "Far be it from you! If I knew that
it was decided by my father that evil should come upon you, would I not tell
you?"
D: "Who will tell me if your father
answers you harshly?"
J:
"Come, let us go out into the field. "
N: So they both went out into the field.
J: "By the LORD, the God of
N: Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the
house of David, saying,
J: "May the LORD seek out the enemies
of David."
N: Jonathan made David swear again by his
love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own life. Jonathan said to him,
J: "Tomorrow is the new moon; you will
be missed, because your place will be empty. On the day after tomorrow, you
shall go a long way down; go to the place where you hid yourself earlier, and
remain beside the stone there. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as
though I shot at a mark. Then I will send the boy, saying, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are
on this side of you, collect them,' then you are to come, for, as the LORD
lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. But if I say to the young
man, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you, ' then go; for the LORD has sent you
away. As for the matter about which you and I have spoken, the LORD is witness
between you and me forever."
24 So David
hid himself in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat at
the feast
to eat.
25 The king
sat upon his seat, as at other times, upon the seat by the wall.
Jonathan stood,
while Abner sat by Saul's side; but David's place was
empty.
26 Saul did
not say anything that day; for he thought, "Something has befallen
him; he
is not clean, surely he is not clean."
27 But on the
second day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty.
And Saul said
to his son Jonathan, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to the
feast,
either yesterday or today?"
28 Jonathan
answered Saul, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to
29 he said,
'Let me go; for our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and
my
brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your
sight, let
me get away, and see my brothers.' For
this reason he has not come
to the
king's table."
30 Then
Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. He said to him, "You son of a
perverse,
rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse
to your
own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?
31 For as
long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, neither you nor your
kingdom shall
be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely
die."
32 Then
Jonathan answered his father Saul, "Why should he be put to death? What
has he
done?"
33 But Saul
threw his spear at him to strike him; so Jonathan knew that it was
the
decision of his father to put David to death.
34 Jonathan
rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food on the second
day of
the month, for he was grieved for David, and because his father had
disgraced him.
N: In the
morning Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with
David, and
with him was a little boy. He said to the boy,
J: "Run
and find the arrows that I shoot."
N: As the boy
ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. When
the boy came to the place where Jonathan's arrow had fallen, Jonathan called
after the boy and said,
J: "Is
the arrow not beyond you?"
"Hurry, be quick, do not linger. "
N: So
Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master.
But the boy
knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
Jonathan gave
his weapons to the boy and said to him,
J: "Go
and carry them to the city."
N: As soon as
the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and
prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He bowed three times, and
they
kissed each
other, and wept with each other; David wept the more.
Then Jonathan
said to David,
J: "Go
in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The
LORD shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your
descendants, forever.'"
N: He got up
and left; and Jonathan went into the city.
1 Samuel
21:1-15
1 David came
to Nob to the priest Ahimelech.
Ahimelech came trembling to meet
David, and
said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you?"
2 David said
to the priest Ahimelech, "The king has charged
me with a matter,
and said
to me, 'No one must know anything of the matter about which I send you,
and with
which I have charged you.' I have made an appointment with the young
men for
such and such a place.
3 Now then,
what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is
here."
4 The priest
answered David, "I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy
bread--provided
that the young men have kept themselves from women."
5 David
answered the priest, "Indeed women have been kept from us as always when
I go on an
expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a
common
journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?"
6 So the
priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there except the
bread of
the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by
hot bread
on the day it is taken away.
7 Now a certain
man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before
the LORD;
his name was Doeg the Edomite,
the chief of Saul's shepherds.
8 David said
to Ahimelech, "Is there no spear or sword here
with you? I did not
bring my
sword or my weapons with me, because the king's business required
haste."
9 The priest
said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the
that, take
it, for there is none here except that one." David said, "There is
none like
it; give it to me."
10 David rose
and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish
of
11 The
servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not
David the king of the land?
Did they not
sing to one another of him in dances, 'Saul has killed his
thousands, and
David his ten thousands'?"
12 David took
these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish
of
13 So he
changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their
presence. He
scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run
down his
beard.
14 Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is
mad; why then have you
brought him
to me?
15 Do I lack
madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my
presence?
Shall this fellow come into my house?"
1 Samuel
22:1-23
1 David left
there and escaped to the
his
father's house heard of it, they went down there to him.
2 Everyone who
was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who
was
discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Those who
were with
him numbered about four hundred.
3 David went
from there to Mizpeh of Moab. He said to the king of
let my
father and mother come to you, until I know what God will do for me."
4 He left
them with the king of
David was in
the stronghold.
5 Then the
prophet Gad said to David, "Do not remain in the stronghold; leave,
and go
into the
Hereth.
6 Saul heard
that David and those who were with him had been located. Saul was
sitting at Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height, with his spear
in his
hand, and
all his servants were standing around him.
7 Saul said
to his servants who stood around him, "Hear now, you Benjaminites;
will the
son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make
you all
commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?
8 Is that why
all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when
my son
makes a league with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or
discloses to me
that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in
wait, as
he is doing today."
9 Doeg the Edomite, who was in
charge of Saul's servants, answered, "I saw the
son of
Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech
son of Ahitub;
10 he
inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword
of Goliath
the Philistine."
11 The king
sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and for all his father's
house, the
priests who were at Nob; and all of them came to the
king.
12 Saul said, "Listen now, son of Ahitub."
He answered, "Here I am, my lord."
13 Saul said
to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of
Jesse, by
giving him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him, so that
he has
risen against me, to lie in wait, as he is doing today?"
14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, "Who among all your
servants is so faithful
as
David? He is the king's son-in-law, and is quick to do your bidding, and is
honored in
your house.
15 Is today
the first time that I have inquired of God for him? By no means! Do
not let
the king impute anything to his servant or to any member of my father's
house; for
your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little."
16 The king
said, "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and
all your father's
house."
17 The king
said to the guard who stood around him, "Turn and kill the priests
of the
LORD, because their hand also is with David; they knew that he fled, and
did not
disclose it to me." But the servants of the king would not raise their
hand to
attack the priests of the LORD.
18 Then the
king said to Doeg, "You, Doeg,
turn and attack the priests." Doeg
the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he
killed eighty-five
who wore
the linen ephod.
19 Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and
women, children
and
infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword.
20 But one of
the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub,
named Abiathar, escaped and
fled after
David.
21 Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the
LORD.
22 David said
to Abiathar, "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there,
that he
would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the lives of all your
father's
house.
23 Stay with
me, and do not be afraid; for the one who seeks my life seeks your
life; you
will be safe with me."
1 Samuel
23:1-29
1 Now they
told David, "The Philistines are fighting against Keilah,
and are
robbing the
threshing floors."
2 David
inquired of the LORD, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" The
LORD said to
David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah."
3 But David's
men said to him, "Look, we are afraid here in
then if we
go to Keilah against the armies of the
Philistines?"
4 Then David
inquired of the LORD again. The LORD answered him, "Yes, go down to
Keilah; for I will give the
Philistines into your hand."
5 So David
and his men went to Keilah, fought with the
Philistines, brought away
their
livestock, and dealt them a heavy defeat. Thus David rescued the
inhabitants of Keilah.
6 When Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to
David at Keilah, he came down with an
ephod in
his hand.
7 Now it was
told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul
said, "God has
given him
into my hand; for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has
gates and
bars."
8 Saul
summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah,
to besiege David
and his
men.
9 When David
learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to the
priest Abiathar, "Bring the ephod here."
10 David
said, "O LORD, the God of
seeks to
come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.
11 And now,
will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of
12 Then David
said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and
my men into the
hand of
Saul?" The LORD said, "They will surrender you."
13 Then David
and his men, who were about six hundred, set out and left Keilah;
they
wandered wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped
from Keilah, he gave up the expedition.
14 David
remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of
the
Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but
the LORD did not give him
into his
hand.
15 David was
in the Wilderness of Ziph at Horesh
when he learned that Saul had
come out
to seek his life.
16 Saul's son
Jonathan set out and came to David at Horesh; there
he
strengthened his hand through the LORD.
17 He said to
him, "Do not be afraid; for the hand of my father Saul shall not
find you;
you shall be king over
Saul also
knows that this is so."
18 Then the
two of them made a covenant before the LORD; David remained at
Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
19 Then some Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah
and said, "David is hiding among
us in
the strongholds of Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of
Jeshimon.
20 Now, O
king, whenever you wish to come down, do so; and our part will be to
surrender him
into the king's hand."
21 Saul said,
"May you be blessed by the LORD for showing me compassion!
22 Go and
make sure once more; find out exactly where he is, and who has seen
him
there; for I am told that he is very cunning.
23 Look
around and learn all the hiding places where he lurks, and come back to
me with
sure information. Then I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I
will
search him out among all the thousands of
N: So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the
wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah
to the south of Jeshimon. Saul and his men went to
search for him. When David was told, he went down to the rock and stayed in the
wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued
David into the wilderness of Maon. Saul went on one side of the mountain, and
David and his men on the other side of the mountain. David was hurrying to get
away from Saul, while Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to
capture them. Then a messenger came to
Saul, saying, "Hurry and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the
land." So Saul stopped pursuing David, and went against the Philistines;
therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.
David then went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.
CHAPTER
24
N: When Saul returned from following the
Philistines, he was told, "David is in the wilderness of En-gedi." Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of
all
Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's cloak. Afterward
David was stricken to the heart because he had cut off a corner of Saul's
cloak. He said to his men,
D: "The LORD forbid that I should do
this thing to my lord, the Lord's anointed, to raise my hand against him; for
he is the Lord's anointed."
N: So David scolded his men severely and
did not permit them to attack Saul. Then Saul got up and left the cave, and
went on his way. Afterwards David also rose up and went out of the cave and
called after Saul,
D: "My lord the king!"
N: When Saul looked beh