World English Bible
- Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David.
- Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, live in a secret place, and hide yourself.
- I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.”
- Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;
- for he put his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
- Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan; and Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.”
- Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
- There was war again. David went out and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
- An evil spirit from the LORD was on Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing music with his hand.
- Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence; and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night.
- Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”
- So Michal let David down through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped.
- Michal took the teraphim and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes.
- When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
- Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”
- When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head.
- Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”
- Now David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
- Saul was told, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
- Saul sent messengers to seize David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, God’s Spirit came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied.
- When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
- Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” One said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”
- He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then God’s Spirit came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
- He also stripped off his clothes. He also prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Sheltered in Song, Surrounded by Spears
“Deliver me from my enemies, O God; be my fortress against those who
are attacking me.”
(Psalm 59 :title, New International Version)
Psalm 59 was born on the night described in today’s chapter. To read it next to 1 Samuel 19 is to watch David write in real time: danger outside the window, trust inside the heart, praise rising above it all.
Yesterday we lingered over the cost of covenant friendship (ch. 18). Today the tension snaps. Saul’s jealousy becomes an open order: “Kill David.” The Spirit that once empowered the king now restrains him; the Spirit that now rests on David protects him. The contrast could not be sharper: a man who clutches a spear versus a man who carries a harp.
• Jonathan stands between father and friend, risking everything to
speak truth.
• He recalls David’s service, appeals to Saul’s better memory, and wins
a fragile oath.
Cross-reference: Proverbs 31 :8-9; 1 Timothy 2 :5—true mediation defends the innocent.
Key Hebrew note: ḥē·ṭāʾ (“sin against” v. 4) stresses willful rebellion. Jonathan does not shrink from calling murder by its right name, even to a king.
David’s music once soothed Saul; now it only exposes the unrest within him. The spear, royal symbol of authority, becomes a weapon of insecurity. David escapes, as he had twice before (see 18 :11).
Literary device: the triple repetition of Saul’s spear-throwing (18 :11; 19 :10; 20 :33) forms a drumbeat of decline—each thrust a heartbeat closer to the king’s downfall.
• Michal lowers David through a window—echoes of Rahab and Paul (Josh
2 :15; Acts 9 :25).
• She props a teraphim (household idol) in the bed. The
presence of such an object in Saul’s family hints at the spiritual
compromise behind his unraveling.
• Teraphim (Hebrew plural) were small clay or wooden figures found in
domestic shrines across the Levant; archaeologists have recovered many
from the Late Bronze and early Iron Ages.
Western readers often miss the irony: the very idol forbidden by God is used to shield God’s anointed. Grace works even through imperfect means, but the text leaves a quiet rebuke in place.
David runs to Samuel, the prophet who once poured oil on his head. They stay at Naioth (“dwelling-huts”), likely a cluster of simple houses used by the prophetic guild. Excavations around modern Ramah (er-Ram) reveal pillared four-room dwellings typical of early Iron Age settlement—perhaps similar to those shelters.
Saul’s three waves of soldiers melt into praise as the Spirit descends. Finally the king himself strips off his royal robes and falls bare before God, prophesying. Earlier we saw him hide among baggage; now he is exposed before heaven. Augustine saw here a sign that power bows to prophecy, crown to charisma. Calvin added: “When men rage against God’s decree, they are held fast even by the gift they despise.”
• Chrysostom: “See how the weapons of malice are turned to
hymns.”
• John Wesley’s journal (24 Jan 1739) links 1 Sam 19 to the experience
of enforced praise in a society meeting when critics came to arrest the
preachers but ended singing.
• Modern scholarship notes the “school of prophets” as an early
institutional root for later synagogue worship—music, instruction, and
communal discernment.
• Psalm 59 – composed during this event
• Hebrews 13 :6 – “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.”
• Acts 5 :33-39 – Gamaliel’s counsel: fighting God is futile
• Isaiah 54 :17 – “No weapon forged against you will prevail.”
“Be Still, My Soul” (Katharina von Schlegel, 1752)
Its themes of quiet confidence amid turmoil echo David’s composed heart
while spears flew and soldiers watched.
Lord of secret windows and public victories,
Thank You for friends who warn, for mentors who shelter,
for nights when You alone are our fortress.
Disarm the spears of envy within us,
expose every hidden idol,
and clothe us not in fear but in Your Spirit.
May our enemies hear songs instead of screams,
and may we, like David, learn to sing before the dawn.
Through Jesus, the greater Anointed One, we pray.
Amen.