David and Saul had an interesting relationship, to say the least! After Samuel secretly anointed David as King, David quickly became favored by God and by men. King Saul, who had originally been anointed by Samuel, lost the favor of God when he disobeyed God on more than one occasion. The Bible details what happened to Saul after he lost the favor of God.
1 Samuel 16:14:
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.
This means that the Lord removed His Holy Spirit from Saul and ALLOWED evil spirits to torment him. Although this sounds kind of strange, we must remember that YHWH has control over everything, including evil spirits. YHWH could completely shield us from them, but He chooses not to do that in order for His purposes be accomplished. In this situation, what was God’s purpose for allowing this? There were probably several purposes.
- First, God was “judging” Saul for his flagrant lack of trust in and disobedience to the Lord, who had anointed him King over Israel.
- Second, by allowing Saul to be tormented by evil spirits, YHWH opened the door for David to enter the life of King Saul, and Saul’s son Jonathan, thus beginning David’s road to becoming King over Israel. God uses ALL THINGS together for the good of those who LOVE HIM and are CALLED according to His Purposes. (Romans 8:28).
Because of the torment of the evil spirits, Saul sought out a harp player to soothe him and to drive away the evil spirits. As it just so happened, David was an excellent Harp Player. Saul soon discovered that David, the son of Jesse, was an awesome harp player and quickly employed David to be his servant. Saul loved David, in brotherly love, and enjoyed having David play the harp for him. David was loved not only by King Saul, but also by Saul’s son Jonathan and Saul’s daughter Michal. Michal later became David’s wife, making David Saul’s son-in-law! In-fact, David grew extremely popular with most of Israel.
HOLY SPIRIT
Let’s talk just a moment about the Holy Spirit. We’re not sure if you noticed, but the Holy Spirit was definitely present and active in the time of the Old Testament. After Saul was anointed as King, the Holy Spirit came “upon” him. But after he disobeyed, the Holy Spirit left Saul and came mightily “upon” David. Is this what happens today?…..Not exactly. Those who believe in Yeshua, Jesus, as Messiah, those who believe that Jesus shed His Blood to cover our sins, receive the GIFT of the continual INDWELLING of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit LITERALLY dwells within the heart of a believer in Yeshua. This is a far Greater Gift than Saul or even David received. Jesus had to DIE as the Sacrificial LAMB OF GOD before humanity could receive the GIFT of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Our bodies have become the Temple of God. God’s Holy Spirit cannot dwell in sin, therefore He could not dwell inside of mankind in a permanent way UNTIL our sins were forgiven by the Blood of THE LAMB, JESUS! However, God’s HOLY SPIRIT has always been active upon this earth.
After David killed the giant Goliath with just a sling and a stone, Saul put him in charge of his army. YHWH opened the DOOR for David!Saul promoted David to the commander of his entire army. At this time Saul’s son Jonathan, a good and kind man, recognized that David was a man after God’s own heart, also a good, kind, and brave man, so Jonathan made a Covenant of brotherhood with David. Because of this Covenant, and the fact that David and Jonathan loved each other like brothers, Jonathan, the son of King Saul, helped to save David’s life several times. Do you think YHWH had anything to do with this relationship?
Saul’s relationship with David quickly took a turn for the worse when one day, after defeating the massive Philistine army in a particularly important battle, Saul overheard a group of women singing…
1 Samuel 18:7: “Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.”
Saul became ENVIOUS of DAVID! This envy GREW into a literal HATRED of David! Saul FEARED that David would take his THRONE! Therefore, from this time forward, Saul sought to have David killed!
1 Samuel 18:8: Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?”9 Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on.
But YHWH used Jonathan and his sister Michal (who had become David’s wife), and others in Israel to protect David from King Saul. Much of the book of 1 Samuel details the story of David running away from Saul! During this time, David gathered together a “rag tag” band of several hundred “misfits” or outcasts from Israel’s elite society, who became very loyal to David. During David’s time of fleeing from Saul, he and his men take refuge at a place called En Gedi, near the Dead sea.
In-fact, David actually had the opportunity on at least 2 occasions to kill Saul, but David, a man after God’s own heart, refused to touch the Lord’s anointed, preferring to leave the judgement of Saul to YHWH. This phrase “Do not touch the Lord’s anointed” can also be seen in Psalm 105:18:
“Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.” (Psalm 105:18).
This verse has been horribly taken out of context and misused over the years. There have been many false prophets and false teachers who actually use this verse, taken out of context, to keep their followers or congregations from speaking out against their own abuses. Let’s quickly take a look at the context of this verse. David would not lay PHYSICAL HANDS on Saul, the Lord’s “anointed”. David refused to touch Saul, or to kill Saul himself; however, David did ask the Lord to judge between Saul and himself, which HE did (1 Samuel 24:15). Saul ended up dying a very tragic death at the hands of the Philistines after David refused to kill him. This verse in no way means that it’s wrong to have Spiritual discernment when being taught by a Church or a Minister.
ALL BELIEVERS in Jesus need to be FRUIT INSPECTORS! If the “fruit” is bad, if the teacher is teaching false doctrine, if they are taking bribes, if they are abusing young boys (and girls/aka some Catholic Priests), it does NOT go against Scripture to “call them out”. If you do this, if you report on someone who is using their “office” within a Church to abuse, neglect, or HARM the flock, then it is GOOD to report them for their bad fruit. Remember, ALL Believers in Yeshua (Jesus) have been ANOINTED by the Holy Spirit. But Sadly, this verse “Do not touch the Lord’s anointed”, has been MISUSED by false teachers, wolves among the sheep, who elevate themselves over everyone else!!!
Whatever happened to Samuel? Samuel, Israel’s last judge, had grown extremely old and passed away during the book of 1 Samuel, while David was being pursued by Saul. All of Israel MOURNED the loss of Samuel, the man of God!
By the end of 1 Samuel, both Saul and Jonathan died at the hand of the Philistines. David and all Israel mourned over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan! David then inquired of the Lord, and the Lord had David go up to Hebron where the “men of Judah” anointed him King over Judah. This is actually where we begin to see a “split” between the Northern Tribes of Israel (Ephraim) and the Southern Tribes of Israel (Judah). At this time Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Ishbosheth son of Saul, and made him king over all Israel.
We can see here that a “clash” is coming, even a civil war!
