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King David Of Israel
3. The Popular Hero
The story of Israel's most famous king
The slaying of the Philistine champion Goliath established David at once as the idol of the people, the hero of the army, and the favourite of Saul. David was at once made a permanent member of the king's entourage at his court at Gibeah, and apparently entrusted with various commissions that he executed with such grace and discretion that he quickly became popular among all his fellows at court and in the sight of the people. This also was the period during which he and Saul's son Jonathan formed the close friendship that meant so much to David in the events that were. to follow. Jonathan was probably the youngest of Saul's four sons and about the same age as David. The close companionship of these two, continued until Jonathan perished with his father at the battle of Gilboa, which ended Saul's reign as king. But that event was still ten years away; at this moment Saul looked upon David with his military valour as a most welcome addition to his own warlike sons and other valiant men upon whom he relied to keep the Philistines at bay. It is plain to see that Saul had rejected all thought of reliance upon the Lord and was counting on the strength of his warriors to keep his throne. Samuel, the old prophet, had now been retired into obscurity some four or five years and Saul no longer saw him nor sought his counsel. Neither was he at all interested in David's profession of faith in God; it was his military prowess he valued and that to such an extent that according to 1Sam.18.5 he now appointed David supreme commander over all his army. The account reads as if this was directly after the affair of Goliath but this is most unlikely. More probably David "worked his way up" over a period of several years so that the events of this chapter might have their place when he was about twenty-three years of age.
This is when Saul began to wonder whether he had rather over-reached himself in the matter of David. It was one thing to acquire an exceptionally valiant and successful warrior to lead his troops to victory: it was quite another when that warrior was so outstandingly successful that the people began to compare him with Saul himself, to the King's discredit. Returning from a victorious battle, Saul and David, with their forces, were met by the women of Israel coming out in dances and singing in triumph, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands ". That did not please Saul at all well. "They have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they have ascribed but thousands, and what can he have more than the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward" (1 Sam. 18.6-9). He suddenly saw in David a possible rival for the kingship, and the jealousy in his nature came to the top.
Saul had originally been made king by command of the Lord and at first he had accepted that position and ruled as the Lord's anointed. On that basis he had gone forth to war and on that basis he had gained victories. But he then repudiated the Lord's guidance and turned instead to his own military prowess and that of his soldiers. It was then that his troubles began. Saul and his men were unable to resist the Philistines until the incident of Goliath. Then he was only saved by the timely advent of David who went forth in full faith in God and slew the giant. But Saul had forgotten all that and was still fighting the Philistines in his own strength. That strength was ebbing away and that of David taking its place, so he was morose and resentful. It should be noted that Goliath's death did not permanently end the Philistine menace; Saul was fighting them more or less continuously to the day of his death. The account in I Samuel 18 is often read as though it was on the return from the slaying of Goliath that the women danced and sang. This is not so for in I Sam. 18.6 the AV has "Philistine" but in the Hebrew it is in the plural. Saul and David were returning from a later battle with "the Philistines" when they experienced the singing that aroused Saul's anger.
Back at court after the victory, Saul's jealousy, and incipient insanity, overcame him again, and David thinking to appease him, produced his harp and sang again some of the songs of God which had pleased the king in the past. Saul was in no mood to listen to the songs of God; irritated beyond endurance, he picked up a javelin and threw it at David. The latter adroitly avoided it, and the incident passed. But David knew then that Saul had become his enemy. This became even clearer a little later when Saul demoted him from being Commander-in-Chief of three hundred and thirty thousand men to the captaincy ofjust one thousand. Many a soldier treated like that has revolted and led his men against the king who had dared to treat him thus but not so David. He continued in the new sphere to which he had been relegated, and says the chronicler, "all Israel and Judah loved David"(18.16). If Saul hoped to provoke retaliation that would enable him to treat David as a rebel he was disappointed. In favour or out of favour, David served his king faithfully, because Saul was the Lord's anointed.
So David passed his second test which was to treat honour and glory and the plaudits of men on exactly the same terms as disgrace, reproach and insults, all as from the hand of the God he served and in whom he had absolute faith. Saul was afraid that David would try to displace him and set himself up as king. The people and the army regarded him with so great favour that such a revolt had every chance of success and David probably knew that very well but he never gave way to such a temptation. When the Lord was ready for him to be king He would arrange matters in His own way. In the meantime David was content to serve in the place to which he was appointed.
Frustrated, Saul then tried another tactic. He would publicly humiliate David in his deepest feelings in the eyes of all the people. The plot was to offer his eldest daughter, Merab, in marriage to David, thus allying him with the royal house. No greater honour could be imagined. Then at the last moment Saul would give Merab to somebody else and sit back to observe the effect of his snub. David demurred at first, out of modesty, on the grounds of his lowly birth, but, probably after this being brushed aside by Saul, assented. Merab herself would most likely be only too pleased at the prospect of marrying the handsome and valiant idol of Israel. So the match was arranged, and all Israel rejoiced. Then, just as the nuptials were about to be celebrated, the whole thing was called off and the unfortunate Merab married off in haste to a man of Issachar, Adriel a man so obscure that he never figures again in the history of the times. If Saul expected a violent reaction, he was disappointed again, for David seems to have taken this insult with studied unconcern. It might well be that he was not particularly drawn to Merab and not sorry at the outcome. What did come out of it was the realization within Saul's household that his younger daughter, Michal, was in love with David. It seems too from the account, although not plainly stated, that David on his part was not insensible to her charms, and this set Saul thinking again.
The plot this time was that David could have Michal if he first brought to the king concrete evidence that he had killed a hundred Philistines. Saul doubtless reasoned that this yielded a first-class chance of David getting himself killed in the process. The more he thought about the scheme the more satisfactory he felt it to be. There was one snag; he felt somewhat diffident about broaching the matter to David himself, after the manner in which he had just treated him over Merab. So he persuaded his household servants to handle the matter for him. They were to enlist David's interest and obtain his consent. David seems to have been much more receptive this time. "it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law" (1 Sam. 18.26). He felt perhaps that the proposal constituted a conditional contract that he could easily fulfil on his side and he would ensure the promised outcome without hitch. He set out with some of his men for the land of the Philistines.
Saul must have been considerably vexed upon receiving the announcement from his attendants that David was back, and even more so when his prospective son-in-law produced evidence that he ~ had killed, not merely one hundred, but two hundred Philistines!
Saul probably looked round his circle of attendants but received no looks of sympathy. "They, too, are all on David's side" he must have ~ thought bitterly. With the evidence before them of more of their hated enemies slain they were not likely to do other than applaud the champion. Saul realised he could not afford to lose face. Reluctantly, we may be sure, he gave way and kept his word. So David was married to Michal.
One wonders if this was the point at which the guileless shepherd lad changed into a hardened and, later, embittered man. For something like four years he had waged war against the Philistines in the defence of Israel and in that time had been responsible for the deaths of many men. But in all that he went out in the belief that he was waging the ~ wars of the Lord and what he did was with the power of God behind him. This was different. This time he went deliberately into the enemy land with the avowed purpose of killing two hundred Philistines as the price to be paid to get the woman he wanted. In his Philistine campaigns the previous narrative says that the Lord was with him — in the story of his marriage the Lord has no place and there is no indication that the Lord had anything to do with it. Was this the first time in his colourful and varied career when he embarked upon a major action without first and foremost consulting his Lord?
Be this as it may, it is undeniable that at this point of time David's initial prosperity ended and he entered upon a time of adversity. Saul, pf course, did not forgive him. He was resolved more than ever upon the death of David. I Samuel 19 tells how he next consulted with his son Jonathan and his house servants to encompass his son-in-law's death. He must have been a singularly obtuse man in many ways, or else the intensity of his hatred clouded his judgment. He knew the regard in which his servants held David. He knew that Jonathan looked upon David as his closest friend. What help could he have expected from them in a murder plot? Naturally enough, Jonathan dissuaded his father, reminding him of the great service David had done him in slaying Goliath, and for the time being Saul was reconciled. Then the Philistines staged another invasion and David again distinguished himself in repulsing them. It is quite a question whether this invasion was in retaliation for David's incursion and slaughter when he married Michal and once again Saul, in jealousy at David's success, tried unsuccessfully to kill him with his javelin. Michal, knowing her father perhaps better than did David, saw that the position was becoming serious. She urged him to flee for his life, and when Saul' s men arrived at her house she met them with the bland assurance that David had gone.
So ended David's association with the court of King Saul. After perhaps five years commencing from the fight with Goliath, he found himself reduced in a moment to the status of a fugitive. He had married the king's daughter, was held high in honour by army and people alike, feared by the Philistines and invincible whenever he led his men against them in combat, but now was without possessions, without friends, without home. He even had to leave his newly married wife behind. He departed from Gibeah in Benjamin in the darkness of that night, not knowing where to go or what to do next. What prospects now for David, would-be king of Israel?
(To be continued)
AOH
