For many years, David has been one of my favorite Bible characters. He has become a friend to turn to, and his life has encouraged mine. I especially resonate with his earliest years; the ones spent preparing for his leadership role in Israel. Many of those years were spent on the run, and the sweet psalmist of Israel penned many of his best works during that chaotic time. Because the texts explaining his life are precious to me, I am going to write a series of articles on the early years of David's life (1 Samuel 16-2 Samuel 1), with some snapshots of his later years on the throne (2 Samuel 2-24) and I will release these teachings once per month. As always, thank you for reading and I pray God ministers to your heart as we inspect His word. You can find all articles here.
Early in the public ministry of Christ, during a time when His popularity was shooting forth, He taught in a house in Capernaum. His presence had rocked that region, so the house overflowed with people. He had been preaching and teaching in those days but also casting out demons and healing the sick, so some men brought a paralyzed man to Christ, expecting his healing. When they arrived at the house, they soon realized there was no possible way to bring the man into the crowded home, so they proceeded to head to the earthen roof, where they tore a hole in the ceiling and lowered the man down to the Lord.
The gospel writers record the next movement this way: "And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Take heart, my son; your sins are forgiven'” (Matthew 9:2). His forgiveness of the man’s sin was the primary need; the man needed forgiveness of inward sins more than the healing of outward paralysis. But this forgiveness raised some ruckus that day, for the religious leaders thought to themselves, “Who can forgive sins, but God alone.” Jesus, knowing their thoughts at that moment, proved His God-power and position by then saying, “So that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, I say, ‘Son, take up your bed and walk.’” The man arose and went on his way rejoicing, for he had been healed spiritually and physically by our Lord (Matthew 9:3-8).
But notice whose faith Jesus saw: “When He saw their faith” (Matthew 9:2). It was the faith of those who brought the man Christ observed. Together, they had demonstrated their belief in the Lord by bringing the man to Him.
This story serves as an excellent illustration of our next episodes in the life of David because, in this next chapter, three friends protect and help David’s life. In danger due to the envy and rebellion of King Saul, David will find aid from his friend Jonathan, his wife Michal, and his spiritual leader Samuel. All three will intervene and intercede for David, bringing him the protection of God. Amid these episodes, David would cry out to God for help, and God would help him in the form of a friend, a spouse, and a spiritual leader. All three were helpful to David, just as all three might be helpful to us. God might protect and aid and help our lives along by granting us godly friends, family, and leaders who will be there for us in our times of need. However, it is possible to find ourselves surrounded by terrible friends, carnal spouses, or wayward spiritual leaders. During moments such as these, we must remember Jesus is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is a husband who sacrificially loves His church-bride. And He is a spiritual leader who always tells the truth and shepherds us into maturity.
With a Friend (19:1-7)
1 Samuel 19:1–7 (ESV) — 1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. 2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” 4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
Saul has already attempted, multiple times, to take David’s life. He has thrown spears and thrust battles at David, all in the hopes David would be deleted from Israel’s consciousness. But, each step of the way, God has protected David. As Saul watched David’s rise, envy filled his heart, so he “spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David” (19:1). This assassination plot was undoubtedly rooted in envy but also resistance to God’s obvious will. The Lord had told Saul he was a rejected king. He had told Saul another would take his place, a man not of Saul’s family, but another, a man who would be “after God’s own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14). Through David’s victory over Goliath, along with his subsequent victories over the Philistine armies, it had now become obvious that David was the fulfillment of God’s promise. He would be the one to take Saul’s throne. So when Saul puts out a hit on David’s life, he is not only acting out of envy but rebellion against God’s plan.
However, Jonathan would not hear it running straight to David, warning David to hide until he had a chance to intervene for him with Saul. As the son of Saul, Jonathan risked much to become an informant for David, but he could not bring himself to keep the truth from his friend. Jonathan then ran back to Saul and spoke the truth to his father, as well. He reasoned with Saul that David was a hero, someone even Saul had appreciated in the past, and not a man worthy of death. “Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, ‘As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death’” (19:6). Upon hearing it, “Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before” (19:7).
Time and time again, before his death, Jonathan’s friendship would prove to be a wonderful help to David. Their friendship stands out as an example of brotherly love and iron sharpening iron. Both men become better as a result of their care for the other.
In each episode of David’s life in which Jonathan appears, a different facet of their friendship is on display. Here, we discover Jonathan was a friend who told the truth at all costs, first to David, then to his father. He endangered himself and denied his father in order to speak the truth to David. He went further and spoke on David’s behalf, at great risk to himself, to Saul.
We need friends in Christ who will speak the truth to us in love. Paul said we should “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Romans 12:9). None would say we want disingenuous or hypocritical love, but that is what love that approves of evil is. Instead, a good and godly friend says, “I love you so much, and I hate to see you living less than God’s best. Let me help you climb out of that evil.” In a godly friendship, there is a willingness to truthfully challenge the faith of the other, drawing out the best in their walk with Christ. As Paul said to the Galatians: “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (Galatians 6:1a).
Not only did Jonathan speak the truth to David, but he brought David back to his rightful place. Saul had been at odds with David, but Jonathan had brokered peace, and David needed to return to the palace to experience that peace. He was married to Saul’s daughter and a servant in Saul’s courts, so with Saul is where David belonged.
We need friends in Christ who will bring us back to our rightful place. When out of fellowship, they will inquire of us. When running from our obligations, they will challenge us to return. When out of step with the gospel of grace, they will remind us of it. When forgetting the mission of God, replacing it with our personal mission and endeavors, they will remind us of it. Godly friends will bring us back to where we ought to be.
With a Spouse (19:8-17)
1 Samuel 19:8–17 (ESV) — 8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. 9 Then a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night. 11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’ ”
The peace within Saul was temporary, however, and soon after David’s next victories over the Philistines, Saul was stirred to jealousy once again. When the distressing spirit came upon him in past times, Saul had been calmed by David’s music, but this time it was different. Nothing could calm Saul. Twice, he threw the spear at David, seeking to pin David to the wall. But twice David eluded Saul. Fleeing for his life, David went home that night a marked man.
“Michal, David’s wife, told him, ‘If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed’” (19:11). David heeded his wife’s warning, escaping out the window with Michal’s help. Michal then covered further for David by putting an image in David’s bed, complete with “a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes” (19:13). She told the messengers of Saul that David was sick and could not come to the door. Saul replied to the messengers, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him” (19:15). But when the messengers arrived back at David’s house, they found the image and the clothes, realizing it had all been a ruse. “Saul said to Michal, ‘Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?’ And Michal answered Saul, ‘He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’’” (19:17).
The entire scene is so tragic it is comical. We must work hard to remember that David lived out this unfortunate event. His father-in-law had just made obvious attempts on his life. Running home, his wife came across intelligence which told her David would die if he did not flee that very night. He climbs out the window alone. He is a man on the run. He did not know how all this would turn out, for he was living this nightmare.
It was during the horror of this episode David wrote one of his finest prayers to God, the 59th Psalm. There, David cried, “Save me from bloodthirsty men. For behold, they lie in wait for my life” (Psalm 59:2-3). But God taught him during this trial, for he referred to God as his “Strength,” the one he would “watch for” and “sing praises to” (Psalm 59:9, 17).
But in turning our attention to the narrative once again, we are blessed to discover a bride who protected her husband. Jonathan had interceded, but now Michal took her place as God’s instrument of protection for David. As Saul’s daughter, this may have been an episode filled with conflict, but she chose her husband over her father, God’s man over the rejected king.
Perhaps Michal was privy to information only the king’s daughter could know. As the princess, she may have had informants who would keep her abreast of her father’s madness and plots. Perhaps Saul was the informant, delusional enough to believe Michal would side with him in this affair. In whatever way she happened upon the information, she acted upon it by telling her husband, revealing the truth.
Michal protected David with truth only she could know. Does not this serve as an excellent illustration of Christian marriage? For in marriage, the man and woman become one flesh, with insights and perspectives about one another only they could know. When Adam awoke from his deep sleep, upon seeing Eve, he said, “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man” (Genesis 2:23). Adam understood his wife to have come from him, to be part of him, that something from him was missing, only to be found in her. Upon becoming “one flesh” with his wife, that which was missing was rejoined to him (Genesis 2:24). Godly spouses recognize this divine design and calling, understanding their perspectives are an aid to their other half. They see how, from a position of oneness, they are to provide help in many ways, including offering the complementary side of things.
It is often a truth only a husband or wife can see that becomes the lifesaving word a person needs. Many a godly couple has been motivated in their faith by one another, telling one another truths they could never have known alone, nor from anyone else. A spouse’s perspective is life-giving, a true aid and rescue in life.
With a Spiritual Leader (19:18-24)
1 Samuel 19:18–24 (ESV) — 18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
After his escape through the window, David fled to Samuel the prophet. The old man had anointed David as the next king over Israel, after all, and he knew not where else to run. Samuel was only a couple of miles away in neighboring Ramah. Upon his arrival, David told Samuel “all that Saul had done to him” (19:18). Eventually, word got out that David was hiding with Samuel. Since they were geographically close, Saul sent messengers to take David.
But when the messengers arrived, God intervened. Samuel oversaw a school of young prophets, and when the messengers came out, they were confronted by the prophetic band. “When they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied” (19:20). God had caused His Spirit to fall upon them, bringing them into a state of spiritual ecstasy. Word came to Saul of this extraordinary event, but it was no matter to him and his insanity. He sent another wave of messengers, and another after them, and both of them responded as the first, prophesying as they were filled with the Spirit of God.
Finally, Saul decided to take matters into his own hands and go to David himself. But he also experienced the Spirit of God coming upon him, and he prophesied all the way to Naioth in Ramah. He stripped himself of his outer garment, a prophecy in itself that he would one day take of his kingly position, and prophesied all day and night, lying on the gerund before Samuel. Years earlier, after Saul’s anointing as king, the Spirit had come upon him. At that time, a saying had begun: “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1 Samuel 10:12). At that time, it meant that God could use anyone. But here it found modification: God can use anyone, but that doesn’t mean they are godly.
The entire scene is bizarre to our modern era and mindset. We would not expect it to find repetition in the church age. But what we would expect is that there would be times when God would protect us as he protected David with a spiritual leader. Samuel was a man who could authoritatively declare God’s word to David, and this served as a great protection to our young hero. Samuel had spoken and received God’s word for many years, for “the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19). His word had helped Israel, and now he helped David.
Even in an anti-authority age, God wills to protect you with spiritual leaders who are able to authoritatively declare God’s Word to your heart, mind, and soul. Upon ascending to the right hand of the Father, Jesus gave gifts to all men, including the gift of “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:11-12). Paul spoke to the Galatian believers of those who are “taught the word” and “the one who teaches” (Galatians 6:6). He told Timothy to “devote (himself) to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). In his same letter to Timothy, Paul wrote of “elders who rule well” that they should “be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Timothy 5:17). And Hebrews straightforwardly says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). Also, “obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Hebrews 13:17).
Many believing men and women scan their local church environment looking for spiritual leaders who will adopt their ministries, their pet doctrines, or their methodologies. But it is far better to find good-hearted and called spiritual leadership and then submit to it. God offers protection to his people with his officers, but his people must choose to receive that protection. David ran to Samuel. We must run to our leaders. You never know when a word they speak or write or record or mention will be the saving word of God for you.
With Jesus
Perhaps, however, you have found yourself wanting in all three areas we’ve observed in this episode. Maybe your friends have forsaken you. Perhaps your spouse is carnal, or you are living a single life for God’s glory. Perhaps your spiritual leadership has gone astray, or you live in a city that has none. It is good to remember Jesus Christ is the ultimate friend, spouse, and spiritual leader. In fact, the best human versions of all three find their rooting in Him.
Jesus is the greatest friend you will ever know, in that His Spirit abides within you, and He wills to walk with you all your days. In the dark nights of the human experience, run to Him. Let His friendly rod and staff comfort you.
Jesus is the greatest spouse you will ever know, faithful in all His ways. The church is His bride. We are His, and He is ours. The union married couples experience on earth is nothing compared to the mysterious union of Christ with His church. We are one with Him. Let His love and grace bring life to your soul.
Jesus is the greatest spiritual leader you will ever know, for He is always true, always there, and always reliable. Though others are mere humans, He is divine, flawless in all his ways. Let His perfect ministry continually wash your heart and mind.
He is the one who will bring us to Himself. The paralytic had friends to draw him to Jesus, and we need our friends as well, but He is the greatest friend and spouse and leader. He wills to drag our weaknesses to Himself that He might heal them, redeeming us, protecting us, and saving us.
