|  Home  |  Old Testament Studies  |  1 Samuel Table of Contents  |  Previous Section  |  Next Section  |

1 SAMUEL 19

PARAGRAPH DIVISIONS OF MODERN TRANSLATIONS

READING CYCLE THREE (see "Bible Interpretation Seminar")

FOLLOWING THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR'S INTENT AT THE PARAGRAPH LEVEL

This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

Read the chapter in one sitting. Identify the subjects. Compare your subject divisions with the five translations above. Paragraphing is not inspired, but it is the key to following the original author's intent, which is the heart of interpretation. Every paragraph has one and only one subject.

1. First paragraph
2. Second paragraph
3. Etc.

WORD AND PHRASE STUDY

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 19:1-7
  ¹Now Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants to put David to death. But Jonathan, Saul's son, greatly delighted in David. ²So 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. ³I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you; if I find out anything, then I will tell you." ⁴Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, "Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you. ⁵For he took his life in his hand and struck 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 by putting David to death without a cause?" ⁶Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, "As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death." ⁷Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as formerly.

19:1 Saul's paranoia is increasing. His actions are more and more irrational.

▣ "Jonathan. . .greatly delighted in David" The MT has the VERB (BDB 342, KB 665, Qal PERFECT) means "take delight in" (cf. 1 Sam. 18:22; 19:1; 2 Sam. 20:11). Jonathan's special relationship with David is highlighted in 1 Sam. 18:1-4. The were best friends, not lovers!

19:2 "in the morning" This must have been when Saul held court (i.e., the cool of the day).

19:5 "innocent blood" This is a Hebrew idiom for premeditated murder. Murder (innocent blood, cf. Deut. 19:10; 2 Kgs. 21:16; 24:4; Jer. 22:17) brought "bloodguiltiness" (cf. Num. 35:33; Deut. 21:1-9), which brought YHWH's judgment.

SPECIAL TOPIC: MURDER

19:6 "Saul vowed, 'As the Lord lives'" This was a serious promise in YHWH's name. A violation of this would be "to take the Lord's name in vain."

SPECIAL TOPIC: TAKING GOD'S NAME IN VAIN

SPECIAL TOPIC: NAMES FOR DEITY, D

19:7 "as formerly" See 1 Sam. 16:21; 18:2,10.

1. singer (1 Sam. 19:9)
2. armor bearer (1 Sam. 16:21)
3. military leader (1 Sam. 19:8)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 19:8-10
  ⁸When there was war again, David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with great slaughter, so that they fled before him. ⁹Now there was an evil spirit from the Lord on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. ¹⁰Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, so that he stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

19:9 Saul's mental illness returns. See full note at 1 Sam. 16:14.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 19:11-17
  ¹¹Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death." ¹²So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. ¹³Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick." ¹⁵Then Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me on his bed, that I may put him to death." ¹⁶When the messengers entered, behold, the household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats' hair at its head. ¹⁷So Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?" And Michal said to Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go! Why should I put you to death?'"

19:12 Thank God for windows, used for escape!

1. Joshua's spies ‒ Josh. 2:15
2. here
3. Paul in Acts 9:25

This MASCULINE PLURAL NOUN (BDB 1076) is difficult to define. There are no cognate roots. Why would David, who loves YHWH, have an idol/image in his home? See Hard Sayings of the Bible, p. 214.

SPECIAL TOPIC: Teraphim

This NOUN (BDB 460, KB 458) appears only here. BDB suggests "something netted."

19:17 Michal tells her father that David threatened her.

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: 19:18-24
  ¹⁸Now David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹It was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah." ²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied. ²¹When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Then he himself went to Ramah and came as far as the large well that is in Secu; and he asked and said, "Where are Samuel and David?" And someone said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah." ²³He proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

The UBS Handbook, p. 419, mentions that the MT has one form, נוית (Naioth, BDB 627), but the marginal note suggests ניוח (encampment, BDB 627).

The Targums translated it as an encampment where the prophets lived (Akkadian root). Early prophets lived in communal groups. NEB has "the monastery in Ramah."

19:20-24 This is a strange account of the power and presence of YHWH effecting the expressed will of humans (i.e., Saul).

The early prophetic movement was an ecstatic experience (i.e., v. 24).

SPECIAL TOPIC: PROPHECY (OT)

19:20 "the Spirit of God" See full note at 1 Sam. 11:6.

SPECIAL TOPIC: SPIRIT IN THE BIBLE

The MT has a place name (BDB 967, KB 1326) of unknown location but in or near Ramah. The LXX thinks it refers to a "threshing floor on a bare hill," but the MT has "a great well."

Just as an aside, the Hebrew word for "well" (BDB 92) can also mean (NIDOTTE, vol. 1, p. 620)

1. custom
2. storage
   1. water
   2. grain
   3. prisoners
3. grave (possibly the tomb of a famous prophet located in the private encampment of the prophetic community)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.

These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.

1. What does the phrase "Jonathan greatly delighted in David" mean?
2. Explain the implications of a divine oath (i.e., oath in YHWH's name).
3. What is a teraphim (v. 13)?
4. Why does Michal lie in v. 17?
5. Explain the nature of Israel's early prophetic group.

|  Home  |  Old Testament Studies  |  1 Samuel Table of Contents  |  Previous Section  |  Next Section  |