Lessons From David Pt 2 Series

Lessons from David pt 2

"A somebody becomes a fugitive"

Thesis: When David does the right thing for God and becomes a somebody Saul gets jealous and forces David to become a fugitive.

Introduction:

David has the Spirit of the Lord on Him. He defeats the giant Goliath – He brings a great victory to Israel. Saul hears the praise for David Saul has killed his 1,000 and David has killed his 10,000. Saul hears this praise and the evil spirit stirs him up. He becomes jealous and his heart is prompted to strike out at the hero.

Saul see’s David as a threat not a blessings – Is it not obvious why? When an evil spirit is leading our lives and influencing our interpretation of life we will always be in opposition to the people led by the Spirit and living for the Spirit of God. They will always be seen as a threat not an ally!

1 SAMUEL 16:14-23

David’s Introduction to the Court of Saul.—V. 14. With the rejection of Saul on the part of God, the Spirit of Jehovah had departed from him, and an evil spirit from Jehovah had come upon him, who filled him with fear and anguish. The “evil spirit from Jehovah” which came into Saul in the place of the Spirit of Jehovah, was not merely an inward feeling of depression at the rejection announced to him, which grew into melancholy, and occasionally broke out in passing fits of insanity, but a higher evil power, which took possession of him, and not only deprived him of his peace of mind, but stirred up the feelings, ideas, imagination, and thoughts of his soul to such an extent that at times it drove him even into madness. This demon is called “an evil spirit (coming) from Jehovah,” because Jehovah had sent it as a punishment, or “an evil spirit of God” (Elohim: v. 15), or briefly “a spirit of God” (Elohim), or “the evil spirit” (v. 23, compare 1 Samuel 18:10), as being a supernatural, spiritual, evil power; but never “the Spirit of Jehovah,” because this is the Spirit proceeding from the holy God, which works upon men as the spirit of strength, wisdom, and knowledge, and generates and fosters the spiritual or divine life. The expression øÈòÈä éÀäÉåÈä øåÌçÇ (1 Samuel 19:9) is an abbreviated form for éÀäÉåÈä îÅàÅú øÈòÈä øåÌçÇ, and is to be interpreted according.

1 Samuel 16:15-16

Adams Clark Commentary

14 the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him—It is not that God’s Spirit departed at the moment of David’s anointing, for this could be rendered “had departed” (NIV) or “had forsaken” (NEB) or “had left” (JB, TLB). The “evil spirit from the Lord” is troubling to Christian readers. It is not that God is the source of the evil spirit, but that from an OT perspective God is in ultimate control of everything, even evil spirits. Saul, as modern psychiatrists have suggested, shows the symptoms of manic-depression. In any case, his character and personality, from this point on, clearly deteriorate. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul—He was thrown into such a state of mind by the judgments of God, as to be deprived of any regal qualities which he before possessed. God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will.

An evil spirit from the Lord—The evil spirit was either immediately sent from the Lord, or permitted to come. Whether this was a diabolic possession, or a mere mental malady, the learned are not agreed; it seems to have partaken of both. That Saul had fallen into a deep melancholy, there is little doubt; that the devil might work more effectually on such a state of mind, there can be but little question. There is an old proverb, Satan delights to fish in troubled waters; and Saul’s situation of mind gave him many advantages.

The theory of Dr. Scheuchzer, in his Physica Sacra, on the malady of Saul, is allowed to be very ingenious. It is in substance as follows: Health consists in a moderate tension of the fibres, which permits all the fluids to have an entire freedom of circulation, and to the spirits, that of diffusing themselves through all the limbs; on the contrary, disease consists in tensions of the fibres morbidly weak or morbidly strong. This latter seems to have been the case of Saul; and as the undulations of the air which convey sound communicate themselves to and through the most solid bodies, it is easy to suppose that by the modulations of music all the fibres of his body, which were under the influence of the morbidly increased tension, might be so relaxed as to be brought back into their natural state, and thus permit the re-establishment of a free and gentle circulation of the fluids, and consequently of the animal spirits, and thus induce calmness and tranquillity of mind. I believe this theory to be correct, and I should find no difficulty to amplify and to illustrate the subject. Even a skillful playing upon the harp was one means to bring a disordered state of the nervous and fibrous system into a capacity of affording such uninterrupted tranquillity to the mind as to render it capable of receiving the prophetic influence; see the case of Elisha, 2 Kings 3:14, 15. It has been said:—