Story 82: Saul's Increasing Jealousy; Jon'a-than's Love For Da'vid ll

   Saul was so determined to entrap Da'vid in some scheme which would cost him his life, that he sent his courtiers to the brave officer with a new proposal. They told Da'vid that he would be given the hand of Mi'chal in marriage when he had slain one hundred Phi-lis'tines. He accepted this challenge to his bravery, went out against the Phi-lis'tines, and slew twice the number required by the crafty king.
   The king then had no other choice than to permit the marriage of Da'vid and Mi'chal, which took place at once. The Phi-lis'tines thought that Da'vid would follow the He'brew custom which exempted newly married men from military service for one year, so they planned a series of attacks upon Is'ra-el in revenge for the losses which they had suffered at the hands of this great warrior.
   Instead of taking advantage of this privilege, Da'vid remained on active service in the army and proved himself more valiant than ever; so successful was he in these new combats that Saul's jealousy and determination to have him killt became more fierce with every passing day. As Da'vid continued to grow in favor with the people, Saul's hatred for him broke out in desperate attacks upon his life.
   The one earthly source of cheer and hope for Da'vid during these trials was his friendship with Jon'a-than, Saul's eldest son. They were drawn together by kindred qualities of nobility, heroism, and love for the LORD. Just as the shepherd lad had proved his courageous faith by meeting the giant in single combat, so the young prince of Is'ra-el had shown the same boldness when he scaled the rock and entered the garrison of the Phi-lis'tines. They were both possessed with great concern for the welfare of Is'ra-el, and by the spirit of humility which always accompanies true greatness.
   It is not strange, therefore, that when the young shepherd stood before Saul and proved his holy motives both by humble conduct and noble words, Jon'a-than's heart went out to him with an affection stronger than life or death. "He loved him as he loved his own soul," and there began on that day a friendship which has long been famed in history. The hearts of the two young men were bount together in a spiritual union which has seldom been equaled.
   Jon'a-than then displayed the highest mark of honor which a prince can bestow upon a subject. He gave Da'vid his own royal robes and official weapons of war, and announced his willingness to give up his own advantages as the son of the king for the good of his friend. A perpetual covenant of friendship between the two young men was made that day, and it withstood the strains of the civil war and revolution in which Da'vid became an outlaw and a fugitive.

Story 82: Saul's Increasing Jealousy; Jon'a-than's Love For Da'vid l

   After the heroic feat of Da'vid in slaying Go-li'ath in single combat, Saul showed the same ungrateful, selfish spirit which had possessed him after the victory of his eldest son Jon'a-than at Mich'mash. He pretended not to know who Da'vid was, and tried to deprive him of the honor in which he was held by the people. The love which Saul had once felt toward his young musician was now turnt into envy, for the king could not bear to hear anyone praised but himself.
   Da'vid came back from his great victory carrying the head of Go-li'ath, which he presented to the king. Under the circumstances, Saul was forced to acknowledge Da'vid's bravery by suitable honors and rewards, so he received him into his own house and made him an officer in the army.
   A few days passed before the armies returnt from pursuing the Phi-lis'tines, and the usual celebrations of victory took place. When the soldiers returnt, Da'vid took his place among them in the triumphal march, for his victory over Go-li'ath had done more than anything else to end the war.
   Even though Saul had already publicly honored the heroism of Da'vid and had appointed him as an officer in his army, he could not overcome his envy; to hear the people sing the praises of one who had put his own glory to shame deeply aroused the king's anger. Da'vid's loyalty to the army won him the good-will of the other officers and soldiers, while his courage in warfare made him more popular than ever with the Is'ra-el-ites. Much as he hated to do it, Saul was obliged to show Da'vid the same courtesy and favor which the other officers enjoyed, and to send him out in battle whenever the peace of Is'ra-el was threatened by further uprisings by the Phi-lis'tines.
   These circumstances brought great unhappiness to Saul, and he fell once again into fits of melancholy and fierce unrest. He was constantly haunted by Sam'u-el's report that the LORD had chosen another to take his place upon the throne. The black moods which had been the occasion for bringing the shepherd boy to him some years before now became worse than ever. So Da'vid was invited once more to play the harp for him with the hope that these trying spells might be driven away. This time, however, the sweet music of Da'vid no longer soothed the troubled spirit of the king. Saul's heart was filled with murderous jealousy, for he began to suspect that the young hero was the LORD'S choice for the throne of Is'ra-el. Twice he tried to kill Da'vid by throwing a javelin at him,  but each time the young man was able to dodge the deadly weapon.
   Convinced that the LORD was with Da'vid, and that he himself was rejected by GOD, Saul decided to place him in command of a thousand men in some outpost where he could not see him. But even this plan did not overcome his determination to do away with  Da'vid. He began to seek some means of having him killed by some of the officers, or by the Phi-lis'tines in battle.
   Saul pretended to have great admiration for Da'vid because of his bravery and prudent behavior, and offered to give him his eldest daughter in marriage. Of course, he did not really wish to have Da'vid become his son-in-law, but the offer was made in the hope of encouraging him to attempt such dangerous exploits in war that he would eventually be killed. Saul had no intention of keeping his promise, and when the time came for Da'vid to marry Me'rab, the princess who had been promised him in marriage, it was found that she had been given to another officer in the army.
   In the meantime Saul's younger daughter Mi'chal had fallen in love with the noble young officer, and the king proposed once more to make Da'vid his son-in-law. He was no more sincere this time than before, and his failure to keep the promise concerning Me'rab seems to have led Da'vid to pay little attention to the second proposal.
  

Story 81: A Shepherd Boy Slays The Phi-lis'tine Giant lll

   Go-li'ath felt insulted when he and his armor-bearer stood before the young shepherd of Is'ra-el. Here was a mere boy, armed only with a staff and sling, going out to meet the greatest warrior of the Phi-lis'tine nation as though he were about to kill a dog with a club. Go-li'ath then announced that he would feed the flesh of his opponent to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.
   The taunts of Go-li'ath were quietly answered by Da'vid with confidence in GOD'S help, and with an assurance of victory which could have been given to him only by the LORD. He boldly met the defiance and scorn of the giant with these inspired words:
               "Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield; but I come to thee in the
               name of the LORD of hosts, the GOD of the armies of Is'ra-el, whom thou hast defied. This day
               will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee;
               and I will give the carcass of the host of the Phi-lis'tines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to
               the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a GOD in Is'ra-el. And all this
               assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with the sword and spear, for the battle is the
               LORD'S, and He will give you into our hands."
   Da'vid then took one of the smooth stones from his shepherd's bag, placed it in his sling, and hurled it with deadly aim at the forehead of the giant. The stone pierced the skull of the giant, and Go-li'ath fell to the ground. Da'vid then rushed up to the fallen giant, drew Go-li'ath's sword, cut off the head of his enemy, and carried it back to the camps of Is'ra-el as a trophy of his victory.
   This super-human feat of Da'vid was accomplished by his grasp upon the unseen forces of GOD. He fully believed that GOD who had delivered him out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, would also deliver him out of the hand of the giant Phi-lis'tine. His previous life had been a life of faith unseen, and hence he was ready for any emergency. It was to the LIVING GOD that he turnt for his pivotal victory.
   The death of their champion struck terror into the hearts of the Phi-lis'tine armies, and they fled toward their own land, different groups taking three separate routes in their efforts to escape death at the hands of the pursuing Is'ra-el-ites. The armies of Is'ra-el slew thousands of the fleeing Phi-lis'tines, pursuing the remnants of the defeated armies even to the gates of their cities of Ek'ron and Gath. Da'vid meanwhile took the head of Go-li'ath to Je-ru'sa-lem, and later delivered it to Saul in person.

Story 81: A Shepherd Boy Slays The Phi-lis'tine Giant ll

   The soldiers were delighted with Da'vid's bravery in proposing to meet the Phi-lis'tine giant, and hastened to report his courageous offer to Saul, who demanded that the young man be sent to him at once. When Da'vid stood before the king, his first words were, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with the Phi-lis'tine." The king tried to dissuade him from meeting the giant in single combat by telling him that he was too young and inexperienced to go against one who had been trained in war for so many years. But Da'vid persisted in his demand, telling Saul of the mighty deeds he had already performed with the help of GOD. The young man closed his appeal with these words: "The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Phi-lis'tine."
   The confidence of this young hero, joint as it was with his unfaltering faith in the help of GOD, overcame the hesitancy of Saul. He agreed to Da'vid's request to champion the cause of Is'ra-el before the giant Go-li'ath, but was unwilling to let him enter what seemed to be unequal combat without the benefit of the best armor and weapons which he could have.
   Saul then brought out his own armor and sword, and asked Da'vid to use them in the battle soon  to come. Da'vid felt however, that he would do better with weapons with which he was more familiar. After putting on the king's armor and taking his sword in hand, he decided that the sling which he had learnt to use with such telling force would serve him better. The man-made armor of an unbelieving and rejected king was only an encumbrance to a youth whose faith was approved by GOD. By using the sling he would not have to come into close grips with a man who was much larger and more powerful than he. As an expert with the sling, he could take sure aim and hurl a stone with the strength of GOD lending force to his arm.
   On his way to the field of battle, Da'vid pickt up five smooth stones from the brook which ran through the valley between the two armies. Placing these stones in the shepherd's bag which he carried, and with his staff in hand, Da'vid marcht out between the armies of Phi-lis'ti-a and Is'ra-el to meet the giant warrior. The Is'ra-el-ites looked on with mingled feelings of amazement, hope, and prayer, while the hosts of the Phi-lis'tines gazed at the young man with scorn and ridicule.

Story 81: A Shepherd Boy Slays The Phi-lis'tine Giant l

   Some time after Da'vid was employed by Saul for occasional service at the court as musician and armor-bearer, and several years after the defeat of the Phi-lis'tines at Mich-mash, the warlike heathens decided upon another war against Is'ra-el. Their armies marched into a village of the hill country between the mountains of Ju'dah and the plains of the Med'i-ter-ra'ne-an, about eleven miles southwest of Je-ru'sa-lem and Beth'le-hem. Here they encamped for battle along a range of low hills facing a fertile plain called E'lah. The armies of Is'ra-el went out against them, camping on the range of hills along the opposite side of the valley.
   In those days it often happened that when two opposing armies were in position for battle, but neither dared to attack, a champion from each side would meet in single combat. It was agreed that victory would belong to the army whose champion defeated his arrival in the single combat.
   The champion of the Phi-lis'tines in this battle was a giant warrior named Go-li'ath. He was nearly nine feet tall, wore armor made of metal plates which overlapped like the scales of a fish, and weighed three hundred pounds, protected his head with a helmet of brass, and had the lower part of his legs covered with heavy metal guards. He carried a short spear thrown over his shoulders, and a sword five feet long which weighed twenty-five pounds.
   Every day he marched out on the plain between the two armies and scornfully challenged the Is'ra-el-ites to send out a champion to fight a duel with him. For forty days he cast ridicule and contempt upon the armies of Is'ra-el as Saul's slaves, and taunted them for their cowardice in failing to send out a man to meet him in battle.
   During all this time the king who had once led Is'ra-el in slaying forty thousand Phi-lis'tines in one day, sat cowering in weakness while a single Phi-lis'tine braggart held the armies of Is'ra-el in check. Why the difference? Because in the previous victory the noble prince Jon'a-than had been anointed by the Spirit of GOD, and Saul had taken advantage of the confusion caused by his daring exploit to gain a decisive triumph. At this time, however, Jon'a-than had been rejected by his ungrateful father, and the LORD had withdrawn from Saul. Courage had left the army because the LORD was no longer with their king.
   Three of Jes'se's sons were among the soldiers encamped on the edge of the valley of E'lah and Da'vid often journeyed back and forth from the royal palace and his father's home, caring for the sheep when his services were not needed by the king. It is likely that he wished to join his brothers in the army opposing the Phi-lis'tines, and that he often spoke of his desire to aid in ridding the land of the cruel oppressors, but neither the king nor Da'vid's older brothers thought him old enough to be a soldier.
   One day Jes'se sent Da'vid to the camp of the soldiers, just a few hours' walk from Beth'le-hem, to carry food to his brothers and to ask about their welfare. It so happened that he reached the camp just as the two armies were facing one another ready for battle. He left the provisions which he had brought with the keeper of the army supplies and rushed to the side of his brothers. While he was talking with them, the Phi-lis'tine champion came out on the field with his usual scornful challenge. The soldiers all fell back in fear, but Da'vid looked on with growing anger. Some of the men told him that this had been going on morning after morning for forty days, and that the king had offered a great reward for any man who would slay the giant.
   Da'vid then declared that he was ashamed of the cowardly manner in which the Is'ra-el-ites permitted the heathen giant to terrify them, and said that the insult to Is'ra-el and the LIVING GOD of the nation must be wiped out. The remarks of his younger brother were bitterly resented by E-li'ab who said that Da'vid was neglecting his duties in caring for his father's sheep, and that he had no business even to visit the king's armies. It appears that E-li'ab remembered with envy the time when Sam'u-el had rejected him in favor of Da'vid for the sacred anointing. Da'vid showed both forbearance and reason in his reply, "Have I come without an errand? Is there not a need for someone to meet this defiance of our GOD?" Then he turnt to others and made similar remarks.

Story 80: A Shepherd Boy Chosen King lll

   One of the king's servants knew of Da'vid's talent as a musician, of his handsome appearance, gentle disposition, and courageous spirit. He therefore suggested that the young man be engaged as musician to the king, and Saul sent a messenger to Jes'se with the request that Da'vid be sent to him at once.
   By a strange providence the young man who had been chosen of GOD to be Saul's successor was brought to the court at the king's own request. As he modestly stood before the king with his harp in hand and began to play, the magic touch of his fingers on the strings produced an effect which immediately soothed the troubled spirit of Saul. As the sweet sounds of music fell upon Saul's ears, and the unspoken prayers of Dav'id's heart reached the ears of GOD, the king's heart went out to this young nobleman with great affection. Thus was the plan of GOD and the liberty of man combined for the preparation of Da'vid to become Is'ra-el's greatest king: For Da'vid in his devotion to his harp had no thought of thereby rising to royal favor; and the servant who suggested his name knew not that he had been chosen as Saul's successor.
   Da'vid was engaged as court musician and personal armor-bearer for the king, and they became friends fast. We do not know just how long the friendship lasted, but shall find that within a few years Saul became intensely jealous of Da'vid's growing popularity and turnt against him with murderous hatred.
   Da'vid continued to live at his father's home in Beth'le-hem, and much of his time was spent in caring for his father's sheep. Under the anointing power of GOD'S Spirit he continued to grow in strength and bravery. In protecting the sheep from ravenous beasts of that land he relied upon the ancient weapon known as a sling. By constant practice he soon became expert with the sling, and was able to hurl the small stones exactly where he wished them to go. His strength was also developed until he was able to perform some of the mighty deeds of Sam'son, such as killing bears and lions with his own hands. GOD was preparing him for a miraculous victory over the Phi-lis'tines, and we shall soon learn about it.
  

Story 80: A Shepherd Boy Chosen King ll

   Jes'se then caused the other six sons who were present to pass before the prophet, and each time the LORD said to Sam'u-el, "He is not the man." Turning to Jes'se, the prophet asked, "Are these all the children you have?"-"There remaineth yet the youngest," said Jes'se, "and he is in the field watching over the sheep." Sam'u-el asked that he be brought before him at once, and the moment he saw him the LORD said, "Arise and anoint him, for he is My choice for the throne of Is'ra-el." He was a boy of about fifteen years old, with a fine, rosy complexion, sparkling eyes, and an appearance that was good to behold.
   Thus Da'vid, the youngest son of Jes'se was solemnly anointed by the aging prophet of GOD while his father and brothers looked on in wonder. The boy was too young and inexperienced to assume the heavy burdens of ruling Is'ra-el, so perhaps he was not told at this time of the full meaning of the ceremony performed by the man of GOD. He did, however, enter a new stage in the development of his inner life, which was fully consecrated to GOD. The gifts with which he was richly endowed by nature began to unfold. As he continued tending his father's flocks the Goodness and Glory of GOD was made known to him in every hand. In the mild, starry nights he learnt how "The Heavens declare the glory of GOD; and the firmament showeth His handiwork." The holy teachings of the books of Mo'ses, in which he had been instructed from his earliest years, became more clear to him as he read them over and over again.
   It was during these formative years that he received the inspiration for many of the beautiful psalms which were afterwards put into permanent form for use in the worship of Is'ra-el. His poetic and musical gifts were cultivated as the days and weeks went by, and his kingly qualities were rapidly developing. Whether he knew that he was destined to become ruler of his nation or not, he lived in constant remembrance that the anointing by Sam'u-el had consecrated him to a life of service to GOD.  The faithful discharge of his duties as a shepherd of sheep prepared him to become the righteous and successful shepherd of Is'ra-el. The sense of duty and responsibility daily displayed in protecting his flock from bears and lions strengthened him for the eminent ruler he afterwards became. The LORD was making him ready for a great career.
   Neither Saul nor the people of Is'ra-el were informed of the selection of young Da'vid to succeed to the throne of Is'ra-el, nor did his father and brothers seem to have known the secret of the prophet. Apparently several years passed before Saul suspected GOD'S plan for the noble young man, and through these years Divine Providence brought Da'vid the training and discipline for a great career on the throne of Is'ra-el.
   While the Spirit of GOD was guiding Da'vid, an entirely different thing was taking place with Saul. The Holy Spirit having left him because of his sins, he was tormented by an evil spirit which led him into fits of melancholy and extreme irritation. Unrestrained by the Good Spirit, he was goaded by sa'tan into ungovernable madness and rage. His servants were so distressed by the change that they sought some way of quieting his temper. Even in those early days music was looked upon as a means of soothing a troubled spirit and subduing anger, so the servants suggested that a musician of great skill be engaged to play the harp for Saul. The unhappy king consented, and a search was made at once for a gifted harpist.