1 Samuel 31

⁵⁴ Jonathan had been attacking the Philistine outpost (verse 1) when Saul commanded his men not to eat.

⁵⁵ The Amalekites were descended from Jacob’s twin brother Esau (Genesis 36:12); they were fierce nomads living in the desert area south of Canaan who were known for raiding and plundering their neighbors’ fields and livestock.

⁵⁶ The campaign against the Amalekites was to be a “holy war,” a judicial action taken against a wicked people (verse 18). The idea of God commanding Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites (verse 3) is difficult for modern readers to understand. However, God has created a universe in which there are moral consequences to our actions. The Amalekites, because of their wickedness, had brought punishment upon themselves; and in this instance God used the Israelites to carry the punishment out.

   For a discussion of what it means to “totally destroy” something, or to “devote” something totally to the Lord, see Leviticus 27:28–29; Numbers 21:1–3 and comments. For a discussion of God’s waging war to punish persistently sinful and godless people, see Exodus 15:3–5; 34:4–7 and comments; comment on Judges 21:1–4 and footnote to comment.

⁵⁷ In verse 8, the writer says that Saul took Agag alive but totally destroyed all his people—that is, all the people whom the Israelites encountered. Some Amalekites escaped and lived to fight another day (1 Samuel 30:1–2).

⁵⁸ God knows the future; God’s plans and purposes are eternal. And yet He gives each of us the freedom to choose between right and wrong, between faith and unbelief. We can never say, “God made me turn out wrong”; if we turn out wrong, it is always by our own choice (James 1:13–14).

    God doesn’t act arbitrarily, or without feeling. He delays punishing us in order to give us time to repent; in His mercy He helps us, admonishes us, disciplines us. Yet the time comes when He must deliver His verdict; and in this chapter He delivers His verdict against Saul: Saul is to be rejected as king (see verse 26).

⁵⁹ For a discussion of divination and sorcery, see comment on Exodus 22:18–20; first footnote to comment on Leviticus 19:26–31.

⁶⁰ For a discussion of idolatry, see Exodus 20:3–6; 34:15–16; Deuteronomy 4:28 and comments.

⁶¹ True confession comes from the heart, not from the lips alone. True confession is always accompanied by repentance, a turning from one’s sin and making right what has been done wrong. For further discussion, see Word List: Repentance.

⁶² The anointing of David took place in about 1025 B.C. The events of this chapter follow shortly after the events of Chapter 15.

⁶³ Jesse was in the direct line of descent between Jacob’s son Judah and Jesus Christ (see Ruth 4:18–22; Matthew 1:1–6). Bethlehem was the birthplace of both David and Jesus (Luke 2:4–7).

⁶⁴ For the meaning of “consecration,” see Exodus 19:9–11; 29:1–9 and comments; Word List: Consecration.

⁶⁵ Even a godly man like Samuel could be deceived by external appearance. And how right God was to reject Eliab, who later cowered before the Philistines and rebuked David for thinking he could defeat Goliath (see 1 Samuel 17:26–28).

⁶⁶ According to verse 15, David had been going back and forth between tending his father’s sheep and serving at Saul’s court; his appointment as Saul’s armor bearer had not yet become permanent (see 1 Samuel 16:21–22). Tending sheep was a good preparation for becoming the “shepherd” of Israel (see Exodus 3:1).

⁶⁷ The slingshot was no mere child’s weapon. A skilled slinger could hurl a stone with deadly accuracy at speeds of up to 240 kilometers (150 miles) per hour.

⁶⁸ In verse 50, the writer says that David killed Goliath with the stone. However, in verse 51, the writer implies that David killed Goliath with Goliath’s sword. It is likely that the stone had fatally injured Goliath; it had sunk into his forehead (verse 49). But when David ran up, he found Goliath still breathing. Thus David did, in effect, kill Goliath with the stone; the sword was used simply to finish the job.

⁶⁹ It is very common for Christians to be quite sure they are in God’s will and equally sure that their opponent is not. This attitude has caused much unnecessary conflict within the Christian church. The only final arbiter in determining whether or not one is in God’s will is the word of God, the Bible. The Holy Spirit is a crucial guide, but the Spirit will never contradict God’s written word. Let us make sure that we are abiding by God’s word and that our opponent clearly is not; only then will God enable us to prevail.

⁷⁰ Saul thought that the women were giving David ten times more praise than they were giving him. But such was not the case. Hebrew poetry repeats itself in parallel phrases: the expressions thousands and tens of thousands (verses 7–8) are not meant to be taken literally; rather they are equivalent (see Deuteronomy 32:30; Psalm 91:7).

⁷¹ In verse 10, the Hebrew word for prophesying can also mean various types of ecstatic behavior, sometimes uncontrolled.

⁷² Think of Saul’s cruelty toward his own daughter: he knew Michal loved David, and yet Saul offered her to David in order to have him killed, leaving Michal to suffer as a grieving widow.

⁷³ The foreskin is the excess skin at the tip of the penis; circumcision is the cutting away of this skin. Since the Philistines did not practice circumcision, every dead Philistine provided a foreskin for David—as well as proof that the foreskins indeed came from the Philistines!

⁷⁴ The exact nature of this idol is unknown; the Hebrew word used here for “idol” usually refers to a household god. Possibly Michal had kept such an idol somewhere in her house. There is no record that David himself ever worshiped an idol.

⁷⁵ The writer of 1 Samuel neither praises nor rebukes Michal for her clever deception. Was she right to lie to the king’s men? For a discussion concerning such moral dilemmas, see comment on Exodus 20:16 and second footnote to comment; footnote to comment on Joshua 2:22–24.

⁷⁶ The prophesying in verse 20 probably involved entering a trancelike state during which those who prophesied were not in full control of themselves (see 1 Samuel 10:5–6; 18:10).

⁷⁷ Jonathan’s oath was made using the Lord’s name: “. . . may the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if this promise is not fulfilled” (verse 13). The speaker invites a curse upon himself if he fails to carry out the promise. Another common oath formula was: as surely as the LORD lives (verse 3).

⁷⁸ A covenant is an agreement between two parties in which each party has an obligation to fulfill the terms of the covenant. For further discussion, see Word List: Covenant.

⁷⁹ David honored his covenant promise by showing kindness to Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, after Jonathan had been killed in battle (1 Samuel 31:2; 2 Samuel 9:1–10).

⁸⁰ For the meaning of the term ceremonially unclean, see Leviticus 7:19–21; 11:1; 15:1 and comments.

⁸¹ The ark itself, however, was not at Nob; it eventually ended up at Kiriath Jearim (1 Samuel 7:2).

⁸² For further discussion concerning moral dilemmas in the Bible, see comment on Exodus 20:16 and second footnote to comment; footnote to comment on Joshua 2:22–24.

⁸³ The consecrated bread was also called the bread of the Presence (verse 6); this was the bread that was placed on the golden table within the tabernacle (see Exodus 25:23–30; Leviticus 24:5–9). Fresh bread was made each Sabbath; Ahimelech gave David the old bread that had been there during the previous week. The bread was placed on the golden table as an expression of thanks to God for His promise of daily food.

⁸⁴ In Mark 2:23–27, Jesus refers to this incident during a discourse about the Sabbath. David’s visit to Ahimelech evidently occurred on the Sabbath, because that is the day the old bread was exchanged for the fresh (see verse 6). Jesus’ point was that meeting human needs is always more important than keeping the ceremonial law. Jesus implied that the high priest at the time was Abiathar, not Ahimelech. (Abiathar was Ahimelech’s only surviving son.) However, Jesus only said that this incident took place “in the days of Abiathar.” Abiathar had already begun his duties as a priest, but his father was the one who actually gave David the bread.

⁸⁵ The titles of Psalms 34 and 56 refer to this brief time in Gath when David pretended madness (verses 10–15).

⁸⁶ The titles of Psalms 57 and 142 probably refer to David’s time in the cave of Adullam (verse 1).

⁸⁷ The Edomites were descended from Jacob’s twin brother Esau, also called Edom (Genesis 25:2426,29–30). They lived in Seir (Edom), which was located south of Canaan (Deuteronomy 2:1–6); they did not believe in Israel’s God.

⁸⁸ The title of Psalm 52 refers to this incident.

⁸⁹ The linen ephod was the ordinary garment worn by priests serving in the tabernacle (see 1 Samuel 2:18); it was not the same as the high priest’s ephod.

⁹⁰ Presumably it was Abiathar who inquired of the LORD (verses 2,4), using the Urim and Thummim kept in the breastpiece attached to the high priest’s ephod (verse 6). For a discussion of the use of the Urim and Thummim for obtaining God’s guidance, see comment on Exodus 28:15–30 and footnote to comment.

⁹¹ Indeed, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off part of Saul’s robe (verse 5); much less could he contemplate harming the king himself.

⁹² In verse 14, David chides Saul by asking him who it is that he is pursuing: A dead dog? A flea? If Saul thinks that, he’d better watch out: David is no “dead dog,” no “flea.”

⁹³ For the meaning of cut off, see Leviticus 7:19–21 and comment.

⁹⁴ Nabal the Calebite was a descendant of Caleb (Numbers 13:6; 14:6–9,24).

⁹⁵ In Hebrew, the name Nabal means “fool.”

⁹⁶ David knew he was getting a good wife! Not only was Abigail intelligent and beautiful (verse 3), but she was also humble and submissive; she was ready even to wash the feet of David’s servants (verse 41), the most menial task a servant could be asked to do (see John 13:3–17; Ephesians 5:2224; 1 Peter 3:1–6). Sadly, according to Scripture, David was not that good a husband (2 Samuel Chapter 11).

    For further discussion on the subject of taking more than one wife, see comment on Exodus 20:14 and first footnote to comment.

⁹⁷ The two men were Ahimelech the Hittite (not the same as Ahimelech the priest mentioned in 1 Samuel Chapter 21) and Abishai, David’s nephew (verse 6). Abishai and his brother Joab were sons of David’s older sister Zeruiah (1 Chronicles 2:15–16). Later Joab would become the commander of David’s army.

⁹⁸ Saul may well have been sincere at that particular moment. However, sincerity alone is not enough; we are often sincere when we make a promise or commitment, but then we fail to follow through. We need not only sincerity but also integrity. Integrity is “following through.” Integrity is keeping one’s promises and commitments. Integrity is “practicing what we preach.”

⁹⁹ One reason Saul stopped pursuing David was because David went to live in the land of the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:1,4). He remained there until Saul’s death.

¹⁰⁰ Ziklag was a town in the southern part of Judah’s original tribal allotment (Joshua 15:21,31). Here David and his men remained for a year and four months (verse 7)—that is, until Saul’s death.

¹⁰¹ David had another justification for leaving no one alive: these Geshurites, Girzites and Amalekites were tribal groups that God had told the Israelites to “totally destroy” (see Deuteronomy 7:1–2; Joshua 6:17,21; 1 Samuel 15:3); they were ungodly people who were encroaching on land that God had given to Israel. For the significance of the expression “totally destroy,” see comment on Numbers 21:1–3 and first footnote to comment.

¹⁰² The Negev was the southern desert region of Canaan.

¹⁰³ God opposes mediums and spiritists because they ally themselves with evil forces and evil spirits. They do possess certain powers, but these powers come ultimately from Satan. One of these powers is the apparent ability to consult with the dead, as we shall see later in this chapter (verses 814).

¹⁰⁴ According to 1 Chronicles 10:13–14, Saul did not properly inquire of the Lord at this time. Answers from the Lord usually came through dreams (see Numbers 12:6), the Urim, or through prophets; but Saul received no answer by any of these means (verse 6). He had left the Lord, and therefore the Lord had left him; as a result, he was filled with terror (verse 5).

¹⁰⁵ We are not told how Saul knew it was Samuel. Throughout history, people have had many kinds of spiritual experiences and encounters, and they are still having them today. Some of these experiences come directly from God, while others come from evil spirits. Some are not even truly spiritual but arise solely in people’s minds. These verses do not give us enough information to know for sure what was underlying Saul’s experience here. However, we must remember that, ultimately, God underlies all experience; all of our ex periences, all of our circumstances—even those brought about by evil spirits—are ultimately under God’s control. The writer clearly intends to convey that something very real was happening to Saul and to this medium—even though he doesn’t explain it—and that what was happening was under God’s control.

¹⁰⁶ The main reason Saul lost his kingdom was his failure to obey God when he was fighting the Amalekites (see 1 Samuel 15:17–26).

¹⁰⁷ These rulers (verses 6–7) were the kings of the other four Philistine cities (Joshua 13:2–3); Achish was king of the fifth city, Gath (1 Samuel 27:2).

¹⁰⁸ The Amalekites were longtime enemies of Israel (see 1 Samuel 15:1–3 and comment). In this instance, the Amalekites attacked Ziklag in retaliation for David’s attacks on them (see 1 Samuel 27:8). They no doubt had heard that David and his men had marched off with the Philistine army (1 Samuel 29:1–2), leaving Ziklag undefended. They were surely surprised, however, when David returned home earlier than expected and caught up with them as they were drinking and reveling in the desert! (verses 16–17).

¹⁰⁹ Caleb had been allotted an area in southern Judah as a reward for his faithfulness to God (see Joshua 14:13–14).

¹¹⁰ A number of David’s men were evil and discontented (1 Samuel 22:2); some were undoubtedly outlaws.

¹¹¹ According to 2 Samuel 1:1–10, an Amalekite brought the news of Saul’s death to David at Ziklag. The Amalekite told David that he had found Saul still alive and had, at Saul’s request, put him to death. If the Amalekite was telling the truth, it means that Saul did not die after falling on his sword, even though his armorbearer thought he had (see verse 5).

¹¹² One of Saul’s sons, Ish-Bosheth, survived (2 Samuel 2:8); he had evidently not taken part in the fighting that day. Also many other Israelites survived; when the writer says that all [Saul’s] men died (verse 6), he means all the men who had been fighting by Saul’s side that day.

¹¹³ Dagon was the main god of the Philistines (Judges 16:23), and the Ashtoreths were goddesses they worshiped also.

¹¹⁴ It is not certain why the men of Jabesh Gilead burned the bodies (verse 12.); cremation was not an Israelite custom. Furthermore, the bodies were not truly cremated, because the bones remained.