Outline of Chapter 19:

       vv.    1–7        Jonathan Convinces Saul Not to Seek David’s Life

       v.      8         David Fights the Philistines

       vv.    9–10      Saul Makes a Direct Attempt on David’s Life/David Eludes Saul

       vv.   11–17      Saul Sends Assassins to David’s Home/Michal Helps David Escape

       vv.   18–21      David Goes to Samuel in Ramah/Saul Attempts to Have David Arrested There

       vv.   22–24      Saul Himself Goes to Kill David in Naioth

Charts and Maps:

       v.     11           Where Does Each Translation Place that night?

       v.     13           Summary of the Doctrine of Teraphim

       v.     19           Various Interpretations of Naioth

       v.     20           Interpreting and Understanding Samuel’s School of Prophets

       v.     24           The School of Prophets

       v.     24           The Appearances of Samuel in the Book of Samuel

I ntroduction: In 1Sam. 19, we have Saul making more attempts on the life of David. In this chapter, his desire to kill David becomes overt to the point that all of their common acquaintances, as well as much of Israel, are cognizant of Saul’s evil mission. We have several important things in this chapter: we again see the true character of Jonathan; we see the true character of Micah; and David becomes a fugitive for the remainder of Saul’s life.

To give a more detailed account of this chapter: Saul again decides that David has to die, and he tells all of his servants and Jonathan (v. 1). Jonathan recognizes that this is a very real threat, and he goes directly to David and tells him to hide and that he would get back to him (vv. 2–3). Jonathan then convinces his father that David his an asset and a loyal subject, and Saul is convinced (vv. 4–6). David returns to the palace, goes to war and then returns to the palace again, victorious in his battles with the Philistines (vv. 7–8). Saul suddenly makes an attempt on David’s life, and again attempted to pin David to the wall with his javelin (vv. 9–10). David escapes and goes home to his wife, Saul’s daughter. It is not clear exactly who knows what when David arrives home, but his wife Michal convinces him to surreptitiously leave that very night. She makes his bed look as though someone is sleeping there, David sneaks out the back window, and Saul’s officers make two trips to their house to get David, becoming much more insistent the second trip (vv. 11–15). When they discover that David is not sick in bed, but escaped, they brought Michal to Saul. However, instead of standing up for David as her brother did, she tells her father that David threatened her life (vv. 16–17).

David, meanwhile, goes to Samuel. It was Samuel who told him that he would become king over Israel, which seemed to get the ball rolling on a multitude of changes which took place in David’s life. They go to Naioth near Ramah, not necessarily to hide out, but because Samuel has a seminary there (v. 18). Saul finds out that David is in Ramah, and he sends officers there to either arrest or kill (perhaps Saul told them, “Bring David back here—dead or alive!”). However, when they find Samuel at his school of prophets, they are overtaken by the Spirit of God and overpowered, and they begin to speak God’s Word (vv. 19–20). Saul sends two more sets of officers who experience the same thing (v. 21). Finally, Saul goes to Naioth near Ramah, and he is overtaken by the Holy Spirit and he begins to speak God’s Word even as he travels toward Naioth. When he arrives at the school of prophets, he removes his clothes and continues to prophesy while naked. Again, Israel began to circulate the saying, “Is Saul among the prophets?” (vv. 22–24).

Jonathan Convinces Saul Not to Seek David’s Life

I should point out that v. 1b is apparently a part of v. 2 as well in some manuscripts (as per Young and the Amplified Bible). Since v. 2 makes more sense with 1b attached, I have also altered the translations below to reflect that (therefore, for instance, I have only quoted v. 1a for the NASB below; however, I will quote 1b with v. 2).

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And so speaks Saul unto Jonathan and unto all his servants to kill David.

Septuagint                             And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, to slay David. [According to the note in Brenton’s appendix, there are a lot of variations on this first verse].

Significant differences:          None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       One day, Saul told his son Jonathan and his officers to kill David.

NAB                                       Saul discussed his intention of killing David with his son Jonathan and with all his servants.

NLT                                Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David.

REB                                       Saul incited Jonathan his son and all his household to kill David.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

JPS (Tanakh)                        Saul urged his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     Now Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants to put David to death.

Young's Updated LT              And Saul speaks unto Jonathan his son, and unto all his servants, to put David to death.

What is the gist of this verse? Saul more than made his plans known to kill David. In this verse, he tries to enlist the help of Jonathan and his officials.

Translation: Then Saul proposed to Jonathan and to all his servants to kill David. Saul is doing more here than merely announcing his intention to kill David. He is attempting to enlist the help of Jonathan and his officials. It is possible that Saul recognizes Jonathan’s love for David, and is gauging Jonathan’s reaction. Or Saul may be expecting that Jonathan will be intimidated and stay out of his way. On the other hand, Saul may be completely oblivious to Jonathan’s strong emotions, being cognizant only of his own feelings of hatred toward David. Often the more hypersensitive and/or psychotic that a person becomes, the more likely they are to be completely oblivious to the thoughts and feelings of others. My thinking is that this is Saul’s mental state. He announces to his officers, which include Jonathan, that David must be killed. How Jonathan or anyone else feels is probably the last thing on Saul’s mind.

An important difference found in this verse and those which follows is, Saul’s attempts on David’s life become much more overt. Even though he did make two fairly direct attempts on David’s life by chunking a spear at David (1Sam. 18:11), this may have been written off by David as a sudden attack of paranoid-delusional behavior on the part of Saul. Despite this attack, Saul kept David in the military (although he apparently demoted David—1Sam. 18:13) and he eventually consented to allow David to marry into his family (1Sam. 18:27). So, what happened was dramatic, but somewhat explicable, and an act that may have been seen by David as an anomaly. However, here, in this verse, Saul clearly announces his intention to kill David.

Edersheim: And...the story becomes darker and darker. We have marked the progress of murderous thought in the king’s mind, from the sudden attack of frenzy to the scarcely self-confessed wish for the death of his victim, to designed exposure of his life, and lastly to a deliberate plan for his destruction. But now all restraints were broken through. Do what he might, David prospered, and all that Saul had attempted had only turned out to the advantage of the son of Jesse. Already he was the king’s son-in-law; Michal had given her whole heart to him; constant success had attended those expeditions against the heathen which were to have been his ruin; nay, as might be expected in the circumstances, he had reached the pinnacle of popularity. One dark resolve now settled in the heart of the king, and cast its shadow over every other consideration. David must be murdered. Saul could no longer disguise his purpose from himself, nor keep it from others. He spoke of it openly—even to Jonathan.

This might be a good place to point out that, all that is found in Scripture does not necessarily meet with God’s approval. This is a good example, as very few believers would read this passage and decide, I guess God wants to kill David. Here, Scripture merely records the events, without necessarily giving us a clear disapproval. We don’t have a v. 1b which reads, Saul’s intent to kill David was bad. We should know enough doctrine in order to realize that Saul is out of line, and his intent is wrong. Now, God clearly allows this, and there will be several reasons why God allows Saul to live and to put David on the run. However, it should not take a theological genius to recognize that Saul’s intent and actions are sinful. Now, what I am saying here may seem to be so obvious as to not require commentary. I agree. So, when we get down to v. 17, and Michal lies to her father, we should not understand this act to be approved by God either. This verse tells us: (1) not everything in the Bible is an act which God approves of and expects us to imitate; and, (2) the Bible does not stop during a narrative to tell us whether the action described is one approved by God or not. A natural question which would arise out of this is, how do we tell? How do we read Scripture and figure out what is right and what is wrong? God provided for the Jew (and for us) the Law of Moses, the 2^nd through 5^th books of the Bible, which clearly states what is right and what is wrong. Therefore, anyone reading Samuel should have a reasonable understanding of the Law.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And Jonathan son of Saul has taken pleasure in David exceedingly and so makes known Jonathan to David to say, “Seeking Saul my father to kill you. And now, take heed please: in the morning stay in a hiding place and hide yourself.

Septuagint                             And Jonathan, Saul’s son, loved David much; and Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul seeks to kill you. Take heed to yourself, therefore, tomorrow morning, and hide yourself, and dwell in secret.

Significant differences:          Any apparent differences are a matter of translating from the Hebrew into the Greek; in many of this individual places, the Hebrew could have been similarly rendered into the English.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       But Jonathan liked David a lot, and he warned David, “My father is trying to have you killed, so be very careful. Hide in a field tomorrow morning,... [there are portions of v. 3 in this translation].

NJB                                        But Jonathan, Saul’s son, held David in great affection, and Jonathan warned David, ‘My father Saul is looking for a way to kill you, so be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding, stay out of sight.

NLT                                But Jonathan, because of his close friendship with David, told him what his father was planning. “Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         But Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of David, so he reported to David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you. Please be careful tomorrow morning. Go into hiding, and stay out of sight.

JPS (Tanakh)                        But Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of David, and Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is bent on killing you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; get to a secret place and remain in hiding.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

NASB                                     But Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. So Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. Now therefore, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

Young's Updated LT              And Jonathan son of Saul delighted exceedingly in David, and Jonathan declares to David, saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death, and now, take heed, I pray you, in the morning, and you have stayed in a secret place, and have been hidden,...

What is the gist of this verse? Jonathan, because of his love for David, immediately goes to David and warns him of Saul’s evil intent. Jonathan suggests that David hide himself until he can sort things out with his father.

Translation: But Saul’s son Jonathan had greatly delighted in David,... As we have already observed, Jonathan took an immediate liking to David (1Sam. 18:1, 3–4). And, as has been pointed out, two men can have a great love for one another without being gay.

Translation: ...therefore Jonathan made known to David, saying, “My father Saul is seeking to kill you;... Saul told Jonathan his plans, hoping to enlist Jonathan to help him assassinate David. Jonathan instead goes to David and informs him of Saul’s plan. Now you may think, doesn’t David know this already? After all, Saul did try to kill him twice in the palace. Mental illness can be a state which comes and goes; a person can be normal and lucid one moment, and way out there the next. So, on one occasion (or possibly twice), Saul attempted to kill David. However, that was weeks or even months ago. David does not know if this is going to occur again; whether Saul has snapped out of it; after all, David is now his son-in-law and his wife, Saul’s daughter, loves him. It would be easy to understand that David would think that Saul has snapped out of it. What man would kill his own son-in-law whom his daughter dearly loves? However, suddenly, Saul has made his plans to kill David more public (now, all his servants and his son Jonathan—and possibly the rest of his sons know).

Also, this is probably the first time that Jonathan is fully aware of his father’s intention. It would have been out of character for David to go to Jonathan and say, “Hey, your old man tried to kill my last night while I was playing music for him.” However, at this point, Jonathan hears this from his father’s mouth directly, which concerns him greatly.