1 Samuel 19:8

19:1-10 How forcible are right words! Saul was, for a time, convinced of the unreasonableness of his enmity to David; but he continued his malice against David. So incurable is the hatred of the seed of the serpent against that of the woman; so deceitful and desperately wicked is the heart of man without the grace of God, Jer 17:9.

And there was war again,.... Between Israel and the Philistines; it does not appear that either of them sent out their whole force, only some parties or detachments, between which there were skirmishes: and David went out and fought with the Philistines; he went out with his thousand men, over which he was made captain, 1 Samuel 18:13; for he had not the command of the whole army; that belonged to Abner: and slew them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him; he killed many of them in his engagements with them, and the rest fled, and he returned victorious; which stirred up the envy and increased the jealousy of Saul, to observe which this is related.

Verses 8, 9. - The - more correctly an - evil spirit from Jehovah. The friendly relations between Saul and David continued for some time; but when at length war broke out again, David acquitted himself with his usual ability and success, whereupon Saul's envy and jealousy returned, and fits of melancholy, deepening into insanity, once again over. clouded his reason. It is no longer called "an evil spirit from God," as in 1 Samuel 18:10 , but from Jehovah, as in 1 Samuel 16:14 , suggesting that it was no longer a natural influence, but that Saul, having broken his covenant relations with Jehovah, was now punished by him. While in this moody state the same temptation to slay David with his javelin came over him, but with such violence that he was no longer able to restrain his evil intent. 1 Samuel 19:8

1Sa 19:8-17. Saul's Malicious Rage Breaks Out against David. 8-10. David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter—A brilliant victory was gained over the public enemy. But these fresh laurels of David reawakened in the moody breast of Saul the former spirit of envy and melancholy. On David's return to court, the temper of Saul became more fiendish than ever; the melodious strains of the harp had lost all their power to charm; and in a paroxysm of uncontrollable frenzy he aimed a javelin at the person of David—the missile having been thrown with such force that it pierced the chamber wall. David providentially escaped; but the king, having now thrown off the mask and being bent on aggressive measures, made his son-in-law's situation everywhere perilous.

Another great defeat which David had inflicted upon the Philistines excited Saul to such an extent, that in a fit of insanity he endeavoured to pierce David with his javelin as he was playing before him. The words Ruach Jehovah describe the attack of madness in which Saul threw the javelin at David according to its higher cause, and that, as implied in the words Ruach Jehovah in contrast with Ruach Elohim ( 1 Samuel 18:10 ; 1 Samuel 16:15 ), as inflicted upon him by Jehovah. The thought expressed is, that the growth of Saul's melancholy was a sign of the hardness of heart to which Jehovah had given him up on account of his impenitence. David happily escaped this javelin also. He slipped away from Saul, so that he hurled the javelin into the wall; whereupon David fled and escaped the same night, i.e., the night after this occurrence. This remark somewhat anticipates the course of the events, as the author, according to the custom of Hebrew historians, gives the result at once, and then proceeds to describe in detail the more exact order of the events.

"As the Lord liveth" was the most common form of oath among the Israelites (e. g. Judges 8:19 ; 1 Samuel 14:39 ; 1 Samuel 19:6 ). It was unique to David to attach a further clause to this oath - a clause of thankfulness for some special mercy 1 Samuel 25:34 , or for God's constant protection of him (here and in 2 Samuel 4:9 ).