An Enemy Within (1 Samuel 18)

Will faithful servants of God have enemies even from within? How should we treat them? Let’s begin in 1 Samuel 18.

Did Jonathan and David become the best of friends?

As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. (1 Samuel 18:1-5 ESV)

Did Saul eventually become jealous of David and his fame?

As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments. As they celebrated, the women sang: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands. Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?” So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward. (1 Samuel 18:6-9 HCSB)

Did Saul attempt to kill David in a jealous rage, but did the people love David?

The next day, while David was playing the lyre as he had before, the evil spirit from the Lord attacked Saul, and he began to rave inside the house with a spear in his hand. Saul hurled it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David escaped from him twice. Now Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him and had departed from Saul. Saul removed David from his presence and made him an officer over a division of soldiers. So David led the troops in battle. David was successful in all that he did, for the Lord was with him. When Saul saw that David was highly successful, he feared him. But all Israel and Judah loved David because he led them in battle. (1 Samuel 18:10-16 ISV)

Did Saul lure David into battle with the Philistines, hoping he would die?

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. (1 Samuel 18:17-19 KJV)

Did David initially decline the hand of Saul’s second daughter because he did not have enough for a dowry? What did Saul plot?

And Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. So they told Saul, and the thing was right in his eyes. And Saul said, “I will give her to him that she may become a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David, “For a second time you may be my son-in-law today.” Then Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David secretly, saying, ‘Behold, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you; so now, become the king’s son-in-law.’” So Saul’s servants spoke these words in David’s hearing. But David said, “Is it trivial in your eyes to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?” And the servants of Saul told to him according to these words which David spoke. Saul then said, “Thus you shall say to David, ‘The king does not desire any dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul planned to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 18:20-25 LSB)

Did Saul’s plot fail? Did he become David’s enemy continually?

When his servants told David these words, it pleased David to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the time had expired, David set out and went, he and his men, and fatally struck two hundred men among the Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and they presented all two hundred of them to the king, so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal as a wife. When Saul saw and realized that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, then Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually. Then the commanders of the Philistines went to battle, and it happened as often as they went out, that David was more successful than all the servants of Saul. So his name was held in high esteem. (1 Samuel 18:26-30 NASB)