I SAMUEL 18 Lesson # 19
GOSPEL OF WEALTH OR SHISH-KEBOB
I. Introduction:
Q Does every body love a winner? Or put another way, does success always make us loved by everyone?
Q If you do everything right and everything successfully will everyone appreciate you?
Q What group or persons may not appreciate your successes?
Note: Our chapter today will stress three things about David: his success, his being loved and that “the Lord is with him”. It will stress that everyone loves David, but one man.
TWO REACTIONS TO THE SAME MAN: JONATHAN AND SAUL
II. David and Jonathan: Hero meets Hero. I Samuel 18:1-5.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:1-4.
Note: The narrator tells us twice in this little section that Jonathan loved David as himself (17:1,3). It also tells us that Jonathan made a covenant with David. We do not know if this meant that this covenant was made right away or that it refers to the one the two would make in the future.
Note: Jonathan evidently recognizes in David, a kindred spirit. Both are risk takers and both have a deep faith in the power of God to deliver. Both are adventurous
Q What is being symbolized in the giving away of Jonathan’s garments?
An = One’s station in life was symbolized by one’s clothes. Jonathan is submitting to David and giving him royal prestige. There is irony here, because it foreshadows the fact that the kingdom will indeed go to David. We will see this symbolization of garments used again in I Samuel 19:19-21. It is the outward garments, over the muslin undergarment that all wore, which signifies one’s station in life.
Note: It appears that when the Lord is with someone then the Spirit of God makes us winsome.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:5.
Q Who else likes David?
An = All the people, including Saul’s staff. David is a great success.
III. Saul and David: Saul Sees David As Competition. I Samuel 18:6-9.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:6-9.
Q How does Saul interpret the song?
An = Saul sees David as a threat (I Samuel 18:8). Saul sees things the others do not see. Saul is analyzing a song no one else is. He is alone in his paranoia, but he knows 15:28 and no one else but he and Samuel do. >> Have everyone turn to and read I Samuel 15:28. Note: Saul cannot enjoy the fruits of victory, a lack of humility does that.
Q Did David do anything to deserve this suspicion?
An = No, but neither did Jesus Christ. All He did was heal the sick, feed the hungry, and embody the very Spirit and Nature of God, and yet the religious leaders of His day wanted Him dead.
Note: Brueggemann (p. 137) notes that Saul sees David only as a threat and as an ambitious man, but not as a man destined by God. Brueggemann goes on to say that Saul has lost contact with God and cannot understand His ways. What is ironic is that Saul’s son can. He is on good terms with the Lord and he is drawn to David. Sin makes us imperceptive!
IV. Saul’s First Type of Attempt to Kill David: Overt Murder. I Samuel 18:10-16.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:10-16.
Q How many up and coming young men are undermined by disobedient old men?
Note: Notice that the narrator says two attempts were made to make shish-kebob out of David.
Note: Saul, according to 18:11, thinks his attempt to kill David is justified, because it will work, but narrator sees the attempt in a different light in verse 12. The narrator sees more truly that Saul is afraid. The reason Saul fears David is that Lord is with David and no longer with Saul.
Q What does I Samuel 18:12,14, and 28 have in common?
An = Three times the narrator tells us that the key to David’s success is the Lord’s hidden grace. The Lord is the secret to David’s success.
Q How does Saul deal with his fear in 18:13?
An = He removes David from his presence and places him, ironically, where David will have a greater platform. Saul would have been wiser to leave David in the court and not let him go to the battlefield where his blessing from God could have greater exposure.
Note: Let me explain a phrase. In some translations you will often find the words “go in and out before the people”. That phrase refers to going to battle. Perhaps it arises from the people watching there captains go out to war and come home from battle.
Q This time who is it that loves David?
An = Now it is all Israel and Judah. The word love, in connection with people’s reaction to David in this chapter, will be found six times: 1,3,16,20,22,28. He is said to be pleasing to the people in 5,7,30.
Note: The very opposite reaction is created in Saul. He now lives in dread of David (see also 18:12 and 29). What is consistently repeated throughout the chapter, along with David’s success and popularity, is Saul’s reaction to David: 8-9,11-12,15,17,21,29. He is suspicious, fears, and four times attempts to kill his loyal servant.
V. Saul’s Second Type of Attempt to Kill David: Covert Murder. I Samuel 18:17-29.
A. First Covert Attempt Through Merab. I Samuel 18:17-19.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:17-19.
Note: Again, it would have been wiser for Saul not to bring David royal status by marrying him into the family.
Q What does David’s response in 18:18 mean?
An = David’s rhetorical questions basically reveal a humble response. He questions his own worthiness and the worthiness of his social status to be a king’s son-in-law.
Note: Saul breaks his word. We are not told why he does this. However, just like the last attempt on David’s life, which was tried twice, now we will watch Saul attempt to let the Philistines do his dirty work for him in the next few verses. This will be Saul’s fourth attempt to polish off David and his second in a subtle or covert fashion.
B. Second Covert Attempt Through Michal. I Samuel 18:20-29.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:20-27.
Note: Note that in I Samuel 18:20-22 the plot is conceived and specifically in 18:21-22 Saul sets the trap.
Note: Note that in I Samuel 18:23-26 the trap is sprung. Saul sets the trap with Michal, a king’s daughter, as bate. At the end of 18:21 and 25, the narrator makes clear what Saul’s motives were.
Note: Note that in I Samuel 18:27 the trap fails.
Q What is David’s reaction to the offer of a king’s daughter?
An = Again in a Rhetorical Question, David’s response is one of humility. David understands his low position. Notice that David does not see the trap, but actually welcomes the challenge. He could never afford a dowry for a king’s daughter.
Q Does the trap fail?
An = Yes, it does, for the Lord is with David.
RQ Can you imagine David presenting the dowry?
Note: Again, David is a great musician, but he is not afraid of war. The foreskins are proof of the men being dead and their being Philistines. Most of the countries around Israel did circumcision, except the Philistines.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:28,29.
Q In 18:28 and 29 what is Saul’s reaction?
An = He is both aware of David’s having the Lord with him and that his own daughter loved this country shepherd. He therefore grew more afraid of David and saw his best warrior and soldier as an enemy.
Note: Saul is totally consumed with fear and need to kill David and David is seemingly unaware. He does not know of the plot to secretly kill him, and Davis is probably right in David seeing the spear attempts as nothing more than a bad affect of Saul’s depression (Davis, p. 54).
VI. Continuing Success In Battle. I Samuel 18:30.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 18:30.
Note: The twin topics of this chapter are the Lord’s favor and Saul’s disfavor, but the former is stronger (Davis, p. 55).
Note: Davis makes another suggestion (p. 55). The “quiet protection” of God could be the heritage of His servants. He suggests that we could be moving totally in such a protection that it is unknown to us. We call it “hidden grace”.
Q Does the “hidden grace” of God mean that if we do all things right that everyone will like us and all things will go smooth?
An = We shall see the another aspect to be “under the wings of the Almighty” in the chapters to come.