2. David and Jonathan (chs. 18-20)
After the Goliath incident, David’s career soared. Saul had liked him very much (16:21; 'hb); now Jonathan loved him (18:1, 3; 'hb). Soon all Israel and Judah, including Saul’s daughter Michal, and the king’s servants loved David as well (vv.16, 20, 22, 28; 'hb). David became part of Saul’s household (v.2). Jonathan even gave his own robe and (sole?) sword to the newcomer (v.4), an action poignantly symbolic. But David earned such treatment, for he continued to stack up military successes (v.5).
However, Saul worried that David was opportunistic or at least too popular for the king’s political good (18:6-9). Already jealous because of unfavorable comparison (vv.7-8), Saul, troubled by an evil spirit sent by God, tried to kill David. His failure to do so only highlighted his ineptitude (vv.10-11)! Still, he realized that his main problem was that God had abandoned him to be with David (vv.12, 14, 28).
Saul’s attempts to neutralize David had the opposite effect. Assigning his nemesis to military duty only made him more famous (18:13, 16). The king offered his daughter in marriage in exchange for more military service, hoping that David would be killed (v.17). (By rights David should have won Saul’s daughter when he defeated Goliath [cf. 17:25, 27], but he humbly declined [18:18-19]).
When Michal fell in love with David, Saul anticipated that he would again beg off. So the king tried to jeopardize David by leaking word that a marriage present of 100 Philistine foreskins would suffice. David instead acquired 200 Philistine foreskins, thus foiling Saul and winning Michal’s hand. Nothing could impede David’s rise (18:20-30).
When he finally issued direct orders to kill David (19:1, 11), Saul was thwarted by Jonathan, Michal, and God’s Spirit. Jonathan warned David and pointed out to his father that David not only had not harmed him but had actually benefited him. Saul relented, so David returned to the king and fought on his behalf as before (vv.2-8).
But Saul, under the influence of the evil spirit from God, tried to murder David again. When David fled, Michal tipped him off about the king’s posse, lied about his whereabouts, rigged a dummy to look like her bedridden husband—the inept servants did not notice this until they arrived home!—and then lied to her father (19:9-17).
Finally, though an evil spirit from God had formerly instigated Saul (19:9-10), God’s prophesying Spirit latterly frustrated his efforts against David (vv.18-24). Also, though Samuel was with David at the time, something of which Saul was aware (v.22), the king apparently was not conscious that he had actually prophesied before the great prophet (cf. 15:35) or symbolically had removed his royal attire (vv.24-25).
David had to rely on Jonathan once more (ch. 20), but this time his friend seemed naïve (vv.2, 9, 13; cf. 19:1). David pleaded his innocence and tried to get the incredulous Jonathan to appreciate the danger (vv.1-3; cf. v.8). He finally convinced Jonathan to try something that would indicate which man correctly understood the situation (20:5-23). Though Jonathan appeared imperceptive about the present danger (and therefore unworthy to be king?), he was prescient about the future, “predicting” that David would not be killed and that his enemies would be vanquished (vv.2, 9, 13, 15-16). Poignantly, however, Jonathan hoped that he would be spared and that his family could depend on David’s kindness (vv.14-15).
Just as an ostensive liturgical occasion was the pretext for Samuel’s anointing of David (cf. 16:2-3), so Jonathan attributed David’s absence from court to his attending a family sacrifice (20:6, 28-29). Apparently genuinely inquisitive at first about David’s being missing, Saul got angry when he heard the alibi, surmising (correctly!) that Jonathan was undercutting his own chances of being king (vv.30-31). Previously Jonathan got Saul to change his mind about David (19:4-6), but this time Jonathan’s efforts almost led to his own execution. Underscoring his naïvete, Jonathan perceived Saul’s true intentions only after eluding a spear meant for him (vv.32-33). Jonathan had to admit that David had been right, whereupon the two friends renewed their vows (vv.34-42).