Chapter Nineteen
Saul Desires to Kill David
19:1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. 2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.”
Saul openly admits to his son and to his servants that he wants David dead. We are told that Jonathan was pleased with David, so he went and told David the news. He told him to avoid Saul and to hide in a secret place while he was going to talk on behalf of David with his father. He will then tell David later what he learned.
19:4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
Jonathan tells his father that he should not sin against David, since he had not sinned against Saul. He points out that all of David’s deeds brought good to Saul. He risked his life to go into battle with the Philistines and YHWH provided salvation for all of Israel through him. Jonathan noted that Saul saw this and rejoiced, so he asks his father, so “Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” Saul acknowledged by vowing, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.” Jonathan then returned to David and told him what his father said and brought David back to Saul.
19:8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. 9 Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre. 10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
Another battle began with the Philistines and David again was victorious resulting in the Philistines fleeing away. Returning to the scene of Saul’s home we read that a harmful spirit again comes upon Saul and while David was playing the lyre, Saul broke his oath and tried to pin David to the wall with a spear, but David was able to get away and the spear struck the wall. David was able to escape that night.
19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.
Saul has David’s house under surveillance to make sure he doesn’t escape, as he wants to kill David in the morning. Michal warns David and helps David escape through a window.
19:13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’ ”
Michal took an image (Hebrew terā·p̄îm’, idols, household gods) and laid it on the bed, put a pillow made of goat’s hair at its head and covered it with clothes. This raises the question of what is an idol (or idols) doing in David’s house. It is presumed that they belong to Michal, but the mystery is never explained. Some believe it was a statue of someone not related to a pagan god, possibly, but again we are not given any details. When the messengers came to retrieve David in the morning, they report back to Saul that he is sick. Saul told them to go back and bring him, bed and all, to him, that he may kill him. But when they returned they discovered that it was an idol in the bed, not David. Saul then asks Michal why she deceived him, letting his enemy escape. She told her father a lie, that she had to, as he threatened to kill her if she didn’t help him.
19:18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth.
David fled to Ramah where Samuel lived and he told him about Saul and his pursuit of him. We are told that they went and lived in Naioth, a location within Ramah. The name Naioth only appears in the Bible relating to this event (seen also in 1 Samuel 19:18, 19, 22, 23; 20:1) the meaning is unknown, however, the root appears to refer to a dwelling place, a structure (the Targum refers to it as a schoolhouse).
19:19 And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
When Saul found out that David was at Naioth in Ramah, he sent his people out to arrest David, but when the saw the company (Hebrew lǎ·hǎqaṯ’, a group of people) of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading them, the Holy Spirit came upon those sent by Saul, and they began to prophesy, ending their pursuit of David.
19::21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
When Saul heard about the messengers he sent, he sent another group and the same thing occurred. Saul sent out a third group of messengers and again the same response, they began to prophesy too.
19:22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”
Saul then went to Ramah himself, he came to a well (or cistern) in Secu, another unknown location (the name only appears this one time in the Bible) thought to be between Gibeah and Ramah, the Septuagint adds that the well/cistern was associated with a threshing floor (no further details). Saul asks someone there where Samuel and David could be located, and he is told that they are at Naioth in Ramah. It is unclear as to why he asked since he was previously told where they were (see verse 19, same wording).
19:23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
When Saul arrived in Ramah, the Holy Spirit came upon him and he also began to prophesy. When he reached Naioth he disrobed and continued to prophesy in front of Samuel, laying naked for the rest of the day and all that night. And so it was said by observers, “Is Saul among the prophets?” A ‘proverb’ that began when the Holy Spirit came upon Saul to demonstrate that God had selected Saul to be king (see 1 Samuel 10:11). God neutralized Saul’s efforts to have David arrested and killed. He doesn’t need an army to stop someone from doing something that He will not permit.
Considerations
School for Prophets
There are many theologians, commentators, and scholars that believe that Samuel founded a school for prophets. We first read in 1 Samuel 10:5 that Saul is told that he will meet a "group of prophets" who will be prophesying. Then in verse ten, Saul is met by the group of prophets who then begins to prophesy himself (see 1 Samuel 10:10). The people observing Saul prophesying ask "Is Saul also among the prophets?" Among what prophets? Now in chapter nineteen, we read that David fled to Samuel and the two went to Naioth, which is translated in the Targum as 'schoolhouse'. When the messengers that were sent by Saul to arrest David reached Ramah they encountered a "company of the prophets." Nothing is mentioned as to who these prophets are nor are we told anything about a school. It is important to point out that prophesying is not a 'learned' trait, as God alone chooses the person and provides that ability. So who were these 'prophets'? Some believe they were likely mostly from the tribe of Levi and were dedicated to teach and practice the Word of God. One commentator referring to this “prophetic order” wrote:
Samuel was the Founder of the Prophetic Order. Individuals in previous ages had been endowed with prophetic gifts, but with Samuel commenced the regular succession of prophets which lasted all through the period of the Monarchy, and did not cease until after the Captivity. The degeneracy into which the Priesthood had fallen during the period of the Judges demanded the establishment of a new order for the religious training of the nation.
For this purpose Samuel founded the institutions known as The Schools of the Prophets. The “company of prophets” at Gibeah (1 Sam. 10:10), and the scene at Raman described in 1 Sam. 19:18 ff., imply a regular organization. These societies are only definitely mentioned again in connexion with the history of Elijah and Elisha, but doubtless continued to exist in the interval. By means of these the Order was maintained. Students were educated, and common religious exercises nurtured and developed spiritual gifts (1 Sam. 19:20). But it was not all members of the Order who possessed special prophetic gifts; nor was it among them only that the gifts of inspiration were to be found (Amos 7:14).[1]
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[1] Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1896). The First Book of Samuel, with Map, Notes and Introduction (pp. 33–34). Cambridge University Press.