1 Samuel 19:1-7 (KJV)
And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.
But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:
And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.
And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:
For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?
And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain.
And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.
Someone had told David that Saul was going to try to kill him and that he should run for his life.
Neither David, nor his friend Jonathan could believe it.
Jonathan proposed a test.
He suggested that David should hide himself in an agreed upon place. Jonathan would speak with his father and find out if the reports were serious.
Jonathan was able to sooth his father’s anger and restore David to his place at the side of the king.
The interesting thing is that, in just three verses, the threat will be real enough that David escaped Saul not once, but twice.
The first time, while David played his harp for the King,
And the second time while he was at home with his wife, Michal,
And in the next chapter Saul will be so angry with David that he attempted to kill Jonathan for protecting him.
It was at this point that David:
· Went to the city of the priests in Nob,
· Got the sword of Goliath and
· Began a period of approximately eight years hiding from Saul.
· Four of those years were spent in hiding right under Saul’s nose, in the mountains of Israel.
· The remaining for were spent in Gath that belonged to the Philistines where he remained until Saul’s death.
For four years he was hunted like a dog
For the second four years he was dispossessed of his home, and likely never saw his family alive again.
From the time David killed Goliath until the time of Saul’s death, Saul abused David over and again.
I. HE WAS JEALOUS OF DAVID
1 Samuel 18:6-9 (KJV)
And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.
And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?
And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
Saul knew God’s pronouncement that He would take the kingdom from him and give it to a more worthy man.
He must have suspected that man was David.
II. HE LIED TO DAVID
1 Samuel 18:17-19 (KJV)
And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.
And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?
But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.
David had never done what he did for reward – certainly not to earn himself a wife.
But the fact was, Saul made the offer, David kept his agreement, but Saul shirked on the deal.
III. HE CONSPIRED AGAINST DAVID
1 Samuel 18:20-28 (KJV)
And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.
And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune withDavid secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son in law.
And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David.
And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days were not expired.
Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.
And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him.
Ok, he had also conspired against David with the matter of Merab too, but this time he thought he really had him.
He set a prize for Michal that he thought would be impossible for David to obtain – 100 Philistine foreskins.
David did double the expectation to win Michal.
At which time the Bible says Saul became his constant enemy,
1 Samuel 18:29 (KJV)
And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually.
IV. HE THREW A JAVELIN AT DAVID
1 Samuel 19:9-10 (KJV)
And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.
And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
Right about now, I would think a man would not figure this is not a friend.
V. HE TRIED TO KILL HIM IN HIS BED
1 Samuel 19:15 (KJV)
And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.
VI. HE THREW A JAVELIN AT JONATHAN FOR PROTECTING DAVID
1 Samuel 20:32-33 (KJV)
And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
VII. HE KILLED THE PRIESTS IN NOB JUST BECAUSE DAVID HAD BEEN THERE
1 Samuel 22:16-17 (KJV)
And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.
And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
When David heard about this his heart was broken.
He said he had occasioned the death of the priests. He saw Doeg there. He knew Doeg would betray him.
The only thing I can think of that David could have done to protect the priests would have been to capture or to kill Doeg.
Can you understand the situation David was in?
Saul’s blind rage against David had forced him to either risk the lives of the priest or kill a man on the chance that he would tell Saul and would react by killing the priests.
VIII. SAUL SURROUNDED DAVID AT MAON
1 Samuel 23:25-26 (KJV)
Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.
The Bible says there that David knew Saul secretly practiced mischief against him.
1 Samuel 23:9 (KJV)
And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.
IX. SAUL HUNTED HIM IN THE SHEEPCOTES
1 Samuel 24:2-3 (KJV)
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
It was there that David’s men told him God had given him a chance to kill Saul and become king.
David refused to touch the Lord’s anointed and promised Saul not to hurt his family.
X. SAUL HUNTED FOR HIM AGAIN IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH
1 Samuel 26:1-2 (KJV)
And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
Once again David could have slain him but afterwards just rebuked Abner for not protecting Saul better.
Upon hearing that David could have killed him but did not Saul promised David,
1 Samuel 26:21 (KJV)
… I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
David knew better than to trust him. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 27:1 (KJV),
And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
He was now dispossessed of his homeland. For four years he lived the life of, what I think was an undercover spy.
Remember, David is already an anointed king. He has a small but loyal following, enough to make a city in Gath.
I think he was, under command of God, attacking the Philistines from inside Philistia.
He was there until King Saul died.
And when news of Saul’s death came to him – you would think he would be relieved. Not so.
2 Samuel 1:11-14 (KJV)
Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the men that were with him:
And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the LORD, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.
And David said unto the young man that told him, Whence art thou? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.
And David said unto him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thine hand to destroy the LORD'S anointed?
And David spent the rest of his life trying to shew kindness to the family of Saul.
David:
· Loved Saul,
· Never stopped loving Saul and
· Willingly gave Saul chance after chance after chance to get things right in his heart.
Until the day of Saul’s death David believed there was hope for King Saul.
And I wrestled with this concept all week long, until it finally hit me.
David was a man after God’s own heart.
David just did with Saul what God does for everyone of us.
Jesus gave the parable
Matthew 21:33-41 (KJV)
Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus said in, Matthew 23:37 (KJV)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Don’t you see?
What David did for Saul is what God does for everyone of us.
· We’ve disobeyed His Bible
· We’ve ignored His teachings
· We’ve neglected His churches
· We’ve robbed Him of His tithes
· We’ve trampled the name of Christ
· We’ve spoken badly or worse of His preachers
· We’ve gossiped about his children
· We’ve sown discord among the brethren
For some of us:
· We have refused to get saved
· We have laughed at the Gospel
· We have committed unspeakable crimes
But God has not given up on us.
Romans 5:6-8 (KJV)
For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
· We have a chance to get saved until the day we die
· We have the opportunity to repent of sin until the very last breath
As wickedly as we have behaved ourselves, if we will come to Him He promises He will not cast us out.
And what’s more, if we refuse to get right and reject Christ to our death.
God will try to do good for our children.
That’s the kind of heart God has.
Hanging on the cross, about to die for the sins of all mankind. Jesus looked down upon those who had put Him there and prayed.
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do[1].”
Conclusion
How long will you refuse His grace?
How long until you come to Him for forgiveness and salvation?
How long until you repent of your sins?
How long until you learn to love the things that God loves?
And may I ask you this; how long until you ask God to give you this kind of heart?
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