Prepare
Opening Prayer
God, thank you for this day, for time together in your Word, and for your many blessings. Help us love you, and give us your Spirit so that we understand both the history of this story and how it should shape our hearts and lives. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
Saul Persecutes David
19 Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David. 2 So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you.”
4 Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not 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. 5 For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
6 So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.” 7 Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in times past.
8 And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.
9 Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand. 10 Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.
11 Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped. 13 And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes. 14 So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a cover of goats’ hair for his head. 17 Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?”
And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’ ”
18 So David fled and escaped, and went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. 19 Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!” 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. 22 Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?”
And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Samuel 19.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Saul repeatedly tries to kill David despite promising not to do so. Jonathan and Michal help David escape, and God overturns Saul's violence by causing each group of messengers—and finally Saul himself—to prophesy. Saul declines while David rises, showing that God remains in control of the kingdom.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
1 Samuel 19:19-21
Now it was told Saul, saying, take note, David is at Naoth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.
Bryan asks his daughter which part best summarizes the chapter. She chooses the three groups of messengers whom God stops by causing them to prophesy, and Bryan explicitly identifies that choice as verses 19-21. These verses display God's sovereign power to overrule Saul's repeated attempts against David.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do & Christ Connection
Do not cling to power, reputation, or anger as Saul did. Trust God's protection as David did, and look to Jesus, the true King who came to serve rather than grasp for power.
Additional Notes
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are going to be at 1 Samuel chapter 19. King Saul don't like David. Okay. Yeah, King Saul doesn't like David. He's got some problems with him. He wants to kill him. He's trying to set a trap by dangling his daughter, Michael, saying, you can marry my daughter, but you got to go to battle. And David goes to and wins. Hmm, so what's Saul going to do about this?
Let's have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll get into God's word. A sip of hot coffee. Just a little sip. All right, that's enough. Hey, it's hot. I told you a hot coffee. Let's pray. God, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for time to spend together in your word. Thank you for your many blessings towards us. And we pray that we would love you and that your spirit would be with us, that we would understand both the history of the story, as well as how it would shape our hearts and our lives in Jesus's name.
Amen. Like I got all my school done? You did get all your school done. Before. Before coffee and devotions. Wow. Smart girl. You ready? Yeah. All right. So I'm going to read a paragraph and you're going to tell me what it was about. Okay? And then I'll read another paragraph and you'll tell me what it was about. Oh, can I read? Yeah, you can read a little bit. Okay. All right. Here, right here.
O. Now. Now. Sol. Sol. Can you read it after me? Now Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David. So Jonathan told David, saying, My father seeks to kill you.
Therefore, please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell you. Alright, so what happened in that paragraph? He's telling David to go hide because he don't want him to get killed by his father.
Good. Thus Jonathan spoke well of David, who saw his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good towards you. For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?
So what's that about? Trying to make him not kill David. Yeah, good. Jonathan's trying to convince his dad, the king, not to kill David. So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, as the Lord lives, he shall not be killed. Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as in past times. So what happens there? So as long as God lives, what will Saul do? Not kill him. And so Jonathan goes and he gets his best buddy, he gets his best friend, and where does he take him? Back to Saul. And there was war again.
David went out and fought against the Philistines and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him. Now the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul. He sat in the house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing music with his hand. Then Saul sought to pin David against the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence, and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night. What happened in that section? He tried to kill David, but he couldn't.
It's like this guy's gone insane. Yeah? Yeah. Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michael, David's wife, told him, saying, if you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. By the way, Michael is a girl's name. It's his wife's name. So Michael let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped.
And Michael took an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goat's hair for its head, and covered it with clothes. So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, he is sick. Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers had come, there was the image in the bed with a cover of goat's hair for his head. And then Saul said to Michael, why have you deceived me like this and sent my enemy away so that he has escaped?
What happened? She pretended that he was in the bed, but he wasn't. Yeah, it's almost like she made a dummy, right? And she tricked her dad and the guards. Is Saul happy about that? No. And Michael answered Saul and said, he said to me, let me go. Why should I kill you? She fibbed to her daddy. Yeah, I wonder if she thought maybe her dad would kill her. Hmm.
So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naoth. Samuel was the prophet, the judge who had anointed him with oil. So David runs to Samuel. David is the son of Jesse. He's the one who's been anointed the king. But Saul doesn't know that. And Saul hates David. Yeah.
Now it was told Saul, saying, take note, David is at Naoth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then he also went to Ramah and came to the great well that is at Seku. And he asked, so he asked and said, where are Samuel and David? And someone said, indeed, they are at Naoth and Ramah. All right. So what happened in that section? He tried to keep her legs down. So he tried to touch him. He tried to kill David. put in message jars, but God made all the message jars good. He started prophesying again and again and again.
So he went there to Naoth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him also. And he went on and prophesied until he came to Naoth in Ramah. And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner and laid down naked all the day and all that night. Therefore, they say, is Saul also among the prophets? So he sends three groups of messengers, each one of them prophesied. So finally he says, all right, fine, I'll go myself. And he goes to Naoth and Ramah. And what happens?
He didn't prophesy. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. There's even more than that. What? It's like he goes stark raving mad. He takes off all his clothes and he's there naked. Yeah. Something's going cuckoo in his cocoa puffs. Yeah, he's he's kind of lost his mind here, hasn't he? OK, so what was this whole story about? John the Kid, David and Ava Tom got That's right. Yeah. God stops it. Right.
So it's Saul kind of power hungry and going crazy, promising he won't kill David, but then having a distressing spirit and wants to kill David and then somehow wanting to kill David, but God stops him. It's kind of weird. Like God is really in control of all this and kind of as everybody else is watching King Saul, do you think all of them like, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
He should still be our King. He's a great guy. Nope. No, I think Saul is becoming lower and lower and lower and lower in people's minds. Yeah, but David is increasing. Up, up, up, up, up. That's right. Entire into a past. Yeah, so eventually he's going to become the king of both Israel and Judah. Judah Judah! Okay, yeah, like your little brother's name, that's right.
All right, what do you think was the best verse, if you remember? What part of the story do you think sticks out in your mind to summarize this? When the three messengers went and then they got prophesied. Okay, so you really like verses 19 through 21. All right, yeah. They're going to go and kill them. Well, God stop them. And then two other ones. Yeah. God stop them. All right.
So now talk to me about seek calling. What are you called to do? Are you called to be possessed by the Lord and try to pin your brother against the wall with a spear? Uh, no. Are you called to go try to kill someone, but instead get turned into a naked prophet? No. No. So how in the world does this apply to your life? What are you called to do or how does this point you to Jesus Christ? Don't put a bunch of messes on to kill somebody and then they... Okay, but that will never happen in your life. So you tell me. How do you think this teaches you to live? Not kill somebody.
Okay, and not like your power so much that you would get so angry you would want to kill someone? Wait, powers? Yeah, Saul is the king, right? And so he wants power. I see you have a cut. It's a cool cut. Okay, Ally, let's pay attention. Okay. Yeah. Do you think Jesus as our king acts like Saul? No. No, I think Saul was acting a lot like a later king, like King Herod who tried to kill Jesus. I think he was acting like a bunny. He was not acting like a bunny.
Yeah, he was. What do you mean by that? Jump, jump, jump, turn away, and then jump back up. Oh, okay, I see what you mean. Yeah, right, but I think we can see ourselves even like David and take trust, right? If the Lord is for us, who could be against us? That's what the psalmist says. OK, you ready to pray? I think we're done. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you that you have given us a great king in Jesus Christ. And he's not fickle and possessed like Saul. He's not power hungry, but he came to serve. We thank you for giving us such a wonderful king. Father, we pray that you would please help us to know even our own spirits, that we could love our own power too much, be about our own reputation too much, and let us serve you and love you always. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Who has power? Who has power? Yeah. Well, there are a lot of people who have powers. Presidents do, and prime ministers, and generals, and secretaries of war, and stuff like that. Uh, so Donald Trump have it? Donald Trump is the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of Military, yep. Well, why do his name have a Donald? Because that's what his mommy and daddy named him. Huh. They said, your name is Donald. All right, you want to say goodbye? Bye. Bye.