INTRODUCTION:In this story, when Nabal was done with his drinking bout, it says that “the wine was gone out of” him (v. 7). The Hebrew word for wineskin (what wine goes out of) is nebel. Nabal is a nebel, a deflated wineskin. God deals with him after David refrains from taking matters into his own …
The Divided Robe
INTRODUCTION:God has made it plain in many diverse ways that Saul has lost it, and what Saul has lost, David has been given. But all Saul does is double down in his disobedience. The irony is that, even after the Spirit had departed from him, and come upon David, the Spirit was still there at …
Encouragement in God
INTRODUCTION:Harry Truman once said that if you want to find loyalty in Washington, then you should get a dog. In this chapter we see the reasons for thinking this way—the thin loyalty of Keilah and Ziph. But there is also an exception to this way of the world, and it is the staggering loyalty, the …
A Grotesque Parody of Holy War
INTRODUCTION:In the Gospel of Mark, we read the account of Jesus feeding the five thousand (Mark 6), but this occurs immediately after John the Baptist’s head was brought before Herod, at a banquet, and it was brought out on a platter. There are two kinds of kings, two kinds of rulers—those who feed the people …
Mercy Stands Taller
INTRODUCTION: David seeks to get away from Saul, but he cannot get away from his anointing. He can evade Saul, but he cannot evade the fact that a new Israel is going to start to form around him. David goes into the wilderness and finds a throne. Saul goes to his throne and finds a …
The Son of My Enemy
INTRODUCTION:In the midst of court politics, and treachery, and intrigue, we find a shining and glorious example of covenant loyalty. Jonathan disappears from our narrative at this point, at least as a major character, but he departs in glory. One of the noblest sons of Scripture was the son, not of Eli, or Samuel, or …
Saul Among the Prophets
INTRODUCTION:Although Saul continues his reign for some time after the incidents in this chapter, this chapter does mark the formal textual end of his reign. Call this definitive foreshadowing, as well as some sort of formal closure. Put another way, for Saul this is all over but the shouting. THE TEXT:“And Saul spake to Jonathan …
A Form of Insanity
INTRODUCTION:Goliath was a very great giant, but envy is a greater giant still. Just as giants devour, so envy devours. Envy grows on unnatural food, and when a person gives way to temptation and eats this food, the results are perverse. THE TEXT:“And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking …
David the Giant Killer
INTRODUCTION:Although the sin of our first parents had placed us under bondage to the serpent, God very quickly gave us a promise that we would be avenged upon that serpent. He thus established the antithesis and promised a Messiah in the same place. This running battle is seen throughout Scripture, and the obligation to pursue …
A Father and Brother
INTRODUCTION:In this great passage, we are introduced to David right after we are told that the Spirit had come upon him. We see the work of the Spirit first, and then we learn David’s name. THE TEXT:“And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from …