Discovery Box1 Samuel 18:1--19:17
Context18:1 When David 1 had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship. 2 Jonathan loved David as much as he did his own life. 3 18:2 Saul retained David 4 on that day and did not allow him to return to his father’s house. 18:3 Jonathan made a covenant with David, for he loved him as much as he did his own life. 5 18:4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with the rest of his gear, including his sword, his bow, and even his belt.
18:5 On every mission on which Saul sent him, David achieved success. So Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not only all the army, but also Saul’s servants. 6
18:6 When the men 7 arrived after David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women from all the cities of Israel came out singing and dancing to meet King Saul. They were happy as they played their tambourines and three-stringed instruments. 8 18:7 The women who were playing the music sang,
“Saul has struck down his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands!”
18:8 This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought, 9 “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?” 18:9 So Saul was keeping an eye on David from that day onward.
18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he prophesied within his house. Now David was playing the lyre 10 that day. There was a spear in Saul’s hand, 18:11 and Saul threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll nail David to the wall!” But David escaped from him on two different occasions.
18:12 So Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 18:13 Saul removed David 11 from his presence and made him a commanding officer. 12 David led the army out to battle and back. 13 18:14 Now David achieved success in all he did, 14 for the Lord was with him. 18:15 When Saul saw how very successful he was, he was afraid of him. 18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he was the one leading them out to battle and back.
18:17 15 Then Saul said to David, “Here’s my oldest daughter, Merab. I want to give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior 16 for me and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul thought, “There’s no need for me to raise my hand against him. Let it be the hand of the Philistines!”
18:18 David said to Saul, “Who am I? Who are my relatives or the clan of my father 17 in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 18:19 When the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she instead was given in marriage to Adriel, who was from Meholah.
18:20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it 18 pleased him. 18:21 Saul said, “I will give her to him so that she may become a snare to him and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Today is the second time for you to become my son-in-law.” 19
18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.” 18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately 20 to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”
18:24 When Saul’s servants reported what David had said, 18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his 21 enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)
18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed 22 to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired 23 18:27 when David, along with his men, went out 24 and struck down two hundred Philistine men. David brought their foreskins and presented all of them to the king so he could become the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
18:28 When Saul realized 25 that the Lord was with David and that his 26 daughter Michal loved David, 27 18:29 Saul became even more afraid of him. 28 Saul continued to be at odds with David from then on. 29 18:30 30 Then the leaders of the Philistines would march out, and as often as they did so, David achieved more success than all of Saul’s servants. His name was held in high esteem.
19:1 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much. 31 19:2 So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying 32 to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Find 33 a hiding place and stay in seclusion. 34 19:3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak about you to my father. When I find out what the problem is, 35 I will let you know.”
19:4 So Jonathan spoke on David’s behalf 36 to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial 37 for you. 19:5 He risked his life 38 when he struck down the Philistine and the Lord gave all Israel a great victory. When you saw it, you were happy. So why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason?”
19:6 Saul accepted Jonathan’s advice 39 and took an oath, “As surely as the Lord lives, he will not be put to death.” 19:7 Then Jonathan called David and told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he had done formerly. 40
19:8 Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly 41 and they ran away from him. 19:9 Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon 42 Saul. He was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing the lyre. 43 19:10 Saul tried to nail David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence and the spear drove into the wall. 44 David escaped quickly 45 that night.
19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself 46 tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” 19:12 So Michal lowered David through the window, and he ran away and escaped.
19:13 Then Michal took a household idol 47 and put it on the bed. She put a quilt 48 made of goat’s hair over its head 49 and then covered the idol with a garment. 19:14 When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”
19:15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed so I can kill him.” 19:16 When the messengers came, they found only the idol on the bed and the quilt made of goat’s hair at its head.
19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’” 50
[18:1] 1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:1] 2 tn Heb “the soul of Jonathan was bound with the soul of David.”
[18:1] 3 tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”
[18:2] 4 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:3] 5 tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”
[18:5] 6 tn Heb “it was good in the eyes of all the people and also in the eyes of the servants of Saul.”
[18:6] 7 tn Heb “them.” The masculine plural pronoun apparently refers to the returning soldiers.
[18:6] 8 tn Heb “with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments.”
[18:8] 9 tn Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.
[18:10] 10 tn The Hebrew text adds here “with his hand.”
[18:13] 11 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:13] 12 tn Heb “an officer of a thousand.”
[18:13] 13 tn Heb “and he went out and came in before the people.” See v. 16.
[18:14] 14 tn Heb “in all his ways.”
[18:17] 15 tc Much of the
[18:17] 16 tn Heb “son of valor.”
[18:18] 17 tn Heb “Who are my relatives, the clan of my father?” The term חַי (khay), traditionally understood as “my life,” is here a rare word meaning “family, kinfolk” (see HALOT 309 s.v. III חַי). The phrase “clan of my father” may be a scribal gloss explaining the referent of this rare word.
[18:20] 18 tn Heb “the matter.”
[18:21] 19 tc The final sentence of v. 21 is absent in most LXX
[18:23] 20 tn Heb “in the ears of.”
[18:25] 21 tn Heb “the king’s.”
[18:26] 22 tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”
[18:26] 23 tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”
[18:27] 24 tn Heb “arose and went.”
[18:28] 25 tn Heb “saw and knew.”
[18:28] 26 tn Heb “Saul’s.” In the translation the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun for stylistic reasons.
[18:28] 27 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[18:29] 28 tn Heb “of David.” In the translation the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun for stylistic reasons.
[18:29] 29 tc The final sentence of v. 29 is absent in most LXX
[18:30] 30 tc Verse 30 is absent in most LXX
[19:1] 31 tn Heb “delighted greatly in David.”
[19:2] 34 tn Heb “and hide yourself.”
[19:3] 35 tn Heb “when I see.”
[19:4] 36 tn Heb “spoke good with respect to David.”
[19:5] 38 tn Heb “and he put his life into his hand.”
[19:6] 39 tn Heb “and Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan.”
[19:7] 40 tn Heb “and he was before him as before.”
[19:8] 41 tn Heb “and he struck them down with a great blow.”
[19:9] 43 tn The Hebrew text adds here “with his hand.”
[19:10] 44 tn Heb “and he drove the spear into the wall.”
[19:10] 45 tn Heb “fled and escaped.”
[19:11] 46 tn Heb “your life.”
[19:13] 47 tn Heb “teraphim” (also a second time in this verse and once in v. 16). These were statues that represented various deities. According to 2 Kgs 23:24 they were prohibited during the time of Josiah’s reform movement in the seventh century. The idol Michal placed under the covers was of sufficient size to give the mistaken impression that David lay in the bed, thus facilitating his escape.
[19:13] 48 tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word כָּבִיר (kavir) is uncertain; it is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in v. 16. It probably refers to a quilt made of goat’s hair, perhaps used as a fly net while one slept. See HALOT 458 s.v. *כָּבִיר. Cf. KJV, TEV “pillow”; NLT “cushion”; NAB, NRSV “net.”
[19:13] 49 tn Heb “at the place of its head.”
[19:17] 50 tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325, 26.
