1 Samuel 19:9

9 And the evil spirit of the Lord was made upon Saul (And then again an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul); and he sat in his house, and held a spear; certainly David harped with his hand.

1 Samuel 19:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 19:9

And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul
His melancholy and frantic disorder returned upon those victories of David, and he grew envious, jealous, spiteful, and malicious:

as he sat in his house with his javelin his hand;
which either describes the posture he was in when the evil spirit came upon him; or the effects of it, he became dull and melancholy, did not care to go abroad, but kept at home, and was suspicious of everybody; and therefore kept a javelin in his hand to defend himself; or it may be rather to dispatch David with it, when an opportunity should offer, which quickly did:

and David played with [his] hand;
on some instrument of music, particularly the harp, to drive away the evil spirit, the melancholy disorder, from Saul; which showed his humility, that though he was an officer in the army, had a considerable post in it, yet deigned to act the part of a musician to Saul, and his great kindness and affection for him his sovereign, willing to serve him what he could to promote his health and comfort, and the trust and confidence he put in his promise and oath, or rather in the providence of God for his protection in the way of his duty, though he knew how spiteful and injurious Saul had been to him.

1 Samuel 19:9 In-Context

7 And so Jonathan called David, and showed to him all these words (and told him all these things). And Jonathan brought in David to Saul, and he was before him as [he was] yesterday and the third day ago.

8 Forsooth (the) battle was moved again; and David went out, and fought against the Philistines, and he smote them with a great wound/with great fierceness, and they fled from his face.

9 And the evil spirit of the Lord was made upon Saul (And then again an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul); and he sat in his house, and held a spear; certainly David harped with his hand.

10 And Saul enforced to preen, that is pierce, with the spear (right through) David in(to) the wall; and David bowed [aside] from the face of Saul; and the spear without hurt of David was fixed into the wall; and David fled, and so he was saved in that night. (And Saul endeavoured to preen David with the spear, that is, to pierce right through him, into the wall; but David veered away from the spear thrown by Saul; and it was fixed into the wall without hurting him; and David fled, and so he was saved that night.)

11 Therefore Saul sent his knights in the night into the house of David, that they should keep him, and that he should be slain in the morrowtide. And when Michal, the wife of David, had told this to David, and said, If thou savest not thee in this night, thou shalt die tomorrow; (And so Saul sent his sergeants in the night to David's house, to keep watch over him, and then to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David's wife, told this to David, and said, If thou savest not thyself this night, thou shalt die tomorrow;)