Saul’s Spear

By the time David finished speaking with Saul, Saul’s son Jonathan was bound to David heart and soul, and he loved David as much as his own life.

That day Saul kept David with him, and he didn’t let him go back home to his father’s house anymore.

Jonathan and David made a covenant, because Jonathan loved David as much as his own life. Jonathan stripped off his robe and gave it to David. He gave him his other clothes too, and even his sword, his bow and his sash.

David went wherever Saul sent him and handled everything wisely, and Saul put him in charge of the soldiers. Everyone was pleased with that, and so were Saul’s officials.

Saul was very angry. He didn’t like that song at all. “They have given David credit for ten thousands,” he said, “and me for only thousands. What more can he get, except the kingdom?”

From that day on, Saul kept his eye on David.

On the next day an evil spirit from God came on Saul with power, and he prophesied inside the house. David played the harp, as he did each day. Saul had his spear in his hand.

Saul threw the spear. “I’ll pin David to the wall!” he said. But twice David escaped from him.

Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord had left Saul and was with David. So Saul sent David away from his side and made him commander of a thousand men. David led his men out and brought them back.

David acted wisely in everything he did, and the Lord was with him. When Saul saw how very wisely David acted, it filled him with dread. But all Israel and Judah loved David. He was the one who led them out and brought them home.

“Who am I?” David said to Saul. “What is my life, or my father’s family in Israel? Who am I to become the king’s son-in-law?”

But when the time came for Saul’s daughter Merab to be given to David, she was given as a wife to Adriel the Meholathite instead.

Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. When Saul was told, the news pleased him. Saul said to himself, “I’ll give her to him. She can be a trap for him, and the Philistines can attack him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “Today you will be my son-in-law.”

Saul gave orders to his officials: “Talk to David in private. Tell him, ‘Look, the king is delighted with you, and his officials all love you. So go ahead and become the king’s son-in-law.’”

Saul’s officials said all this to David. But David answered, “Do you think becoming the king’s son-in-law is a small thing? I’m a poor man, and nobody thinks much of me.”

When the officials told Saul what David had said, Saul answered, “Say this to David: ‘The only bride-price the king wants is a hundred Philistine foreskins, as revenge on the king’s enemies.’” A foreskin is the fold of skin that circumcision cuts away. Saul was planning to have David killed by the Philistines.

When the officials told David this, he was pleased with the idea of becoming the king’s son-in-law. Before the time was up, David set out with his men and killed two hundred Philistine men. He brought their foreskins, and the full count was handed to the king, so that David could become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, as his wife.

Saul saw clearly that the Lord was with David. And Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. Saul was more afraid of David than ever, and from then on he was David’s enemy.

The Philistine commanders kept coming out to fight. Every time they came out, David acted more wisely than any of Saul’s officers, and people thought very highly of him.

Jonathan warned David. “My father Saul is trying to kill you,” he said. “So be careful tomorrow morning. Go to a secret place and stay hidden there. I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you. If I find out anything, I’ll tell you.”

Jonathan spoke up for David to his father Saul. “Don’t sin against your servant David,” he said. “He hasn’t sinned against you, and everything he has done has been good for you. He risked his life when he killed the Philistine, and the Lord gave all Israel a great victory. You saw it yourself, and you were glad. So why would you sin against an innocent man and kill David for no reason?”

Saul listened to Jonathan. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he swore, “he won’t be put to death.”

Jonathan called David and told him all of it. Then he brought David to Saul, and David was at Saul’s side again, as before.

Then an evil spirit from the Lord was on Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing music. Saul tried to use the spear to pin David to the wall, but David slipped away from him, and Saul drove it into the wall. David ran and got away that night.

Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told her husband, “If you don’t get away tonight, you’ll be killed tomorrow.”

So Michal let David down through the window. He went off at a run and escaped.

Then Michal took the household idol and laid it in the bed. She put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes. When Saul sent messengers to take David, she told them, “He’s sick.”

Saul sent the messengers to see David. “Bring him up to me in his bed,” he ordered, “so I can kill him.”

When the messengers went in, there was the household idol in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head.

“Why have you tricked me like this?” Saul asked Michal. “You let my enemy go, and now he has escaped.”

Michal answered, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”

Someone told Saul, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.”

So Saul sent messengers to seize David. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing at their head, God’s Spirit came on Saul’s messengers, and they prophesied too.

When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied too. Saul sent a third group of messengers, and they prophesied as well.

Then Saul went to Ramah himself. When he came to the great well at Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

“They’re at Naioth in Ramah,” someone told him.

So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. God’s Spirit came on him too, and he walked on, prophesying, until he came to Naioth. He too took off his clothes, and he too prophesied in front of Samuel. All that day and all that night he lay there naked. That’s why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

“Not at all!” Jonathan said. “You won’t die. Look, my father doesn’t do anything, big or small, without telling me. Why would my father keep this from me? It isn’t true.”

But David swore to it. “Your father knows very well that you are fond of me,” he said, “and he’s thinking, ‘Jonathan mustn’t find out about this, or he’ll be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives, and as surely as you live, there is only one step between me and death.”

Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want, I will do it for you.”

“Look,” said David, “tomorrow is the New Moon, and I’m expected to sit at the table and eat with the king. But let me go, and I’ll hide in the field until evening on the third day. If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David begged me to let him hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because it’s the time of the yearly sacrifice there for his whole family.’ If he says, ‘All right,’ then I am safe. But if he gets angry, you’ll know he has made up his mind to harm me.

“So be kind to me, because you brought me into a covenant with you in the Lord’s presence. But if I have done wrong, kill me yourself. Why give me up to your father?”

“Don’t say such a thing!” said Jonathan. “If I knew for sure that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”

“Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?” David asked.

“Come on,” Jonathan said. “Let’s go out into the field.” So the two of them went out together.

Jonathan told David, “I swear it by the Lord, the God of Israel. About this time tomorrow, or the day after, I will find out what my father is thinking. If he means well toward you, won’t I send word and tell you? But if my father wants to harm you, I will tell you and send you off safely. If I don’t, may the Lord punish me severely. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father.

“And while I am still alive, show me the Lord’s loving kindness, so that I won’t die. And never stop being kind to my family, not even when the Lord has wiped out every one of your enemies from the face of the earth.”

So Jonathan made a covenant with David’s family. “The Lord will call David’s enemies to account,” he said. And because Jonathan loved David as much as his own life, he had David swear his oath again.

Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. After you have waited three days, go down quickly to the place where you hid when all this started, and wait by the stone called Ezel.

“I will shoot three arrows to one side of it, as if I were aiming at a target. Then I’ll send the boy off and tell him, ‘Go and find the arrows!’ If I tell the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, pick them up,’ then come, because you are safe and there is no danger, as surely as the Lord lives. But if I tell the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, because the Lord has sent you away.

“And as for what you and I have talked about, the Lord is between you and me forever.”

Saul didn’t say anything that day. “Something must have happened to him,” he thought. “He is unclean. Surely he is unclean.”

The second day came, the day after the New Moon, and David’s seat was still empty. Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, yesterday or today?”

Jonathan answered Saul, “David pleaded with me to let him go to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Let me go, please. Our family has a sacrifice in the town, and my brother told me to be there. Now, if you will do me this kindness, please let me slip away to see my brothers.’ That’s why he hasn’t come to the king’s table.”

Saul’s anger flared up against Jonathan. “You son of a twisted, rebellious woman!” he said. “Don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse? It shames you, and it shames the mother who gave birth to you. As long as the son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you will not be secure, and neither will your kingdom. Now send for him and have him brought to me, because he must die!”

“Why should he be put to death?” Jonathan answered his father. “What has he done?”

Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan, trying to hit him. That showed Jonathan that his father had made up his mind to put David to death. Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger, and he ate nothing on that second day of the month. He was grieving for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had landed, Jonathan called after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”

Jonathan shouted after the boy, “Quick! Hurry! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrows and came back to his master. He had no idea what it was about. Only Jonathan and David knew.

Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy. “Go and carry them to the city,” he told him.

As soon as the boy had gone, David got up and came out from the south. He bowed with his face to the ground three times. They kissed one another and wept together, and David wept the most.

“Go in peace,” Jonathan told David, “because we have both sworn in the Lord’s name and said, ‘The Lord is between me and you, and between my descendants and yours, forever.’” Then David got up and left, and Jonathan went back into the city.