“The Lord Was with Him”

Welcome to Truth for Life, where today we are continuing our study in 1 Samuel. We're seeing how Saul, the rejected king, and David, the anointed king, are about to collide.

Only one kingdom can survive, so what is the deciding factor? Alistair Begg shows us today on Truth for Life as he teaches from the opening verses of 1 Samuel chapter 18. If we were to summarize what we have in the chapter, we might say that here in this chapter we are given the encounter between the rejected king, namely Saul, and the anointed king, namely David.

And the collision, if you like, of these two kingdoms is going to be part and parcel of our discovery as we proceed through the book. We've already discovered that the Lord has rejected Saul as king, and the Spirit has departed from him. And at the same time and in contrast, we have learned that David has been anointed, and the Spirit of God has rushed upon him.

The sun, if you like, is setting, has set on Saul's endeavors, and the sun now has risen on the back, if you like, of this shepherd boy, the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah. And what we're told about him—and it is emphasized by way of repetition—is that people loved David. Actually, we're told at the very beginning that Saul loved him greatly.

That's back in chapter 16. However, his love didn't last very long, as we see. Here in verse 16, all of Israel and all of Judah loved him. Michal loved him, as we'll see, God willing, next week, as she became his wife.

The servants of Saul loved him. And right at the top of the list, Jonathan loved him. In fact, if your eye is set on your text, you will see that immediately we're told in verse 1 that Jonathan loved him as his own soul. So there is a soul-level relationship which is established between Jonathan and David.

In order to help me get through this passage, navigate my way, I drew my thoughts under three headings, and I'll give them to you so you can be aware of progress being made. First of all, then, the unity that he experienced. And we're thinking here of this peculiar relationship with himself and Jonathan. Jonathan, we need to keep in mind, was the crown prince. He was the son of Saul. He was therefore, to all intents and purposes, the one who, were it not for the fact that the kingdom had been taken, torn from Saul, he would have been stepping up sooner rather than later to assume his position on the throne. And so we could anticipate that, given his background and his position, the ascendancy of this fellow David, no matter how much people said of him, might have proved to be a real thorn in his side.

And yet, what we discover is the reverse of that. And because we're familiar with it, we ought not to miss the drama that is contained in it. I just wrote down three words in my notes concerning the nature of this unity that the two of them enjoyed.

On what basis? First of all, because Jonathan clearly admired David. He admired David.

Anybody would admire what had taken place. This giant who has been shouting for all he's worth, who has neutralized the armies of the living God, has now been encountered by David, who has brought him literally to his knees and has produced his head on a plate. This would appeal to Jonathan.

Why do you say that? Well, because of what we know of Jonathan. Back in chapter 14, we reminded ourselves—or we discovered, and now we remind ourselves—of the bravery of Jonathan himself.

And you must do this by means of your own research. We can't delay here, but I'll set you on track in verse 6. You remember, Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, "'Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised.'" Now, it's interesting that he uses the very same terminology—the terminology that David had used against the big fellow—because he was pointing out to him that he had no right to say these things to the covenant people of God, as he was a Philistine, marked as straightforwardly on his body. Jonathan has approached it in the same way back in chapter 14. And strikingly, he says to his armor-bearer, "'Let's go over to the garrison"—which was a brave thing to do—"it may be that the Lord will work for us."

Where is he looking? He's looking to the Lord, the Lord who was with David. "'It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.'"

That was his conviction. And now he comes right out of the experience in chapter 17, and it would be hard if he did not actually admire him. But admiration doesn't do it. No, this unity has to do with affection—affection.

Because the terminology and the verbs that are used, if we said anything other, then we wouldn't be true to the text. As soon as he'd finished speaking to Saul, verse 1, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David. Knit to the soul of David.

It is a metaphor, but it's a powerful metaphor. They were co-joined. They were joined together at a soul level. Jonathan, I look to you, Lord, as we go against this garrison. He now watches David as he goes against this giant. He is the one, Jonathan, who has said, The Lord is able to save by many or by few. Certainly it is few, because it's only David on his own. And his soul is joined to David's.

He made a covenant with him, as you will see. In everyday life, in the story of human friendship, if you have one friend, you are rich. If you have one friend in the world who can tolerate you, be honest with you, love you, know the worst about you, and stick with you, you are rich. If you have two, you are a multimillionaire in the realm of friendship.

This is unique, and genuine friendship at this level is peculiarly unique. And Jonathan loved him as he loved his own soul. And he displays it in a quite amazing way, in a covenant to which we will come later but in the expression of what it means for him to take the initiative in declaring this devotion.

You notice what he does. He transfers his robe, his armor, his sword, his bow, his belt. Now, you will remember what had happened in the tearing of the robe of his father. "'The LORD has torn the kingdom from you, Saul,' says Samuel. And in the tearing of the kingdom from him, that was the end of the line that would have given the opportunity to Jonathan to ascend to the throne." But now he takes the very emblem of his position as the crown prince, and he says, Here, David, you wear this.

You carry this. Essentially, it is not simply admiration and affection. It is an abdication. Later on, in chapter 23, we will come upon the words where he says to David, You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Now, that we can leave—the unity that he experiences. Because it is set markedly against the jealousy that he now encounters. Because there is no way in the world that Saul is prepared to simply play second fiddle. Presumably, in verse 2, where it says that he took David into his own house, that was on account of the fact of what we had learned earlier—that whenever he found a strong man or a valiant man, we're told in chapter 14, verse 52, that he attached him to him.

So presumably he's doing that there. We'll pass over verse 5 and come back to it, and we'll go directly to verse 6. Because verses 1 through 5 are essentially a kind of summary and almost disjointed. And then you come to verse 6, and the narrator, the storyteller, backtracks and takes us right to the day of the homecoming celebration of the great ticker-tape parade following on the death of Goliath and the rout of the Philistines. And as they were coming home, David returning from doing what he had done, the women came out.

And this, of course, was standard practice. You can read of it elsewhere, even in secular literature. And they sang a little song. In fact, they sang, and they played their tambourines.

It would be very interesting to have been present. And the refrain that stuck was that Saul has struck down his thousands and David his ten thousands. Now whether the women meant to distinguish between Saul and David in this way, we cannot actually tell. But what we do know is that Saul took it in this way. After all, it says that they went out to meet King Saul. They didn't go out to meet David. And you will notice that it is Saul's name that comes first. And in this kind of poetic framework, it's not unusual for a number that appears in line one to be beefed up in line two.

You can find that if you look. Nevertheless, Saul is too immature, he's too insecure to let it go. And to quote Joyce Baldwin, it rankled and festered in him an incurable jealousy.

He sees it as a threat to his position. The Lord had torn the kingdom from him, and Samuel had told him on that occasion that he has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Better than you. There's the stain, you see.

I'm the king. No, this is a neighbor who is better than you. And Saul now, I think, senses that he has just met his neighbor. Now he's confronted by this neighbor. And you will notice that as he goes down through the line, they've ascribed to David ten thousands.

They only ascribed thousands to me. There's nothing else for this guy to have but the kingdom! And, of course, he actually says more than he even understands.

Because that is what is about to take place. Now, this doesn't come out of nowhere. Few of our words actually come out of nowhere. The Bible actually says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

It'd be hard to imagine that Saul had been able to dismiss that phraseology after he had heard it on that day. The Lord has taken the kingdom from you, Saul, and he has given it to one of your neighbors who's better than you. And he'd wake up in the morning and say, Better than you! Better than you!

Better than you! Rejected, rejected, rejected. Another king.

The Lord has sought out a man. Rejected you as king. Jealousy. Jealousy. Destroy a marriage. Disrupt a family. Bust a business. Neutralize a sports team. Create absolute chaos in a church leadership.

And reduce a church family to bare bones. Wrath is cruel, says Solomon. Anger is overwhelming. But who can stand before jealousy? James, in his epistle, which is the most proverbial of all the New Testament letters, picks it up in chapter 3, and he says, Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. And you'll notice verse 9, And Saul eyed David from that day on, if looks could kill. If looks could kill, I'd kill him with a look if I could.

And what do you discover? It's a short step from jealousy to murder. And the very next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was seeking to provide the musical therapy. And on this occasion it wasn't doing so well. I can imagine David saying to him, I know I'm not very good at the harp, but this is a bit of an overreaction, is it not? It's almost quite humorous, imagining him playing the harp and just dodging every drop. Whoa!

And then for a second time, whoa! Jeez! Saul, what got into you today? Saul said, I'd pin him to the wall if I could.

I'd hate him. Well, verse 12 is surprising to me. Saul was afraid of David.

Wait a minute. Wasn't it Saul that had the spear, and he was throwing it at David? Shouldn't verse 12 read, And David was afraid of Saul?

No. No, Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence. In verse 2, he brought him into his house. In verse 13, he removes him from his presence. And there is a suggestion here that in making him a commander of a thousand, it was actually a demotion. Previously, he'd been involved with the men of war. I don't know how much credence to put in that. It doesn't really matter.

The two may be the same, frankly. But the thing to notice is the loyalty of David. Saul removed him, says, I want you out of my sight, and I want you to go out here. And lookit! And he went out, and he came in before the people. It's remarkable. You know, if you're gonna be throwing spears at me when I'm trying to give you your musical therapy, I'm not going anywhere.

No. And he went out, and he came in before the people. And that brings us to our final point—that there was a unity that he experienced, that there was a jealousy that he encountered, but there was also a victory that he enjoyed. Go back up to verse 5, which we skipped. And there you read it, and David went out and was successful. There's your word.

There's the victory. Wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants. When you get back down to verse 16, you'll notice that it wasn't just his own folk that rejoiced with him, but all of Israel—not just Judah. They loved David. For he went out and came in before them.

It's a picture, actually, of him going out to battle and returning. But notice what we discover—that the victory engendered fear in the heart of Saul, and at the same time it aroused love in the hearts of the people. You see, the key to David's victory and his popularity was not on account of his looks or his past achievements. The narrator is almost at pains to make sure that we understand that. That's why I began as I began the first encounter we have with David. We are told, And the LORD was with him.

That's what we covet in the service of God. The question is not how intelligent. The question is not how gifted.

The question is not how apparently significant. The question is, Is the attendant blessing of the LORD resting on this life? And in David's case, the answer is unreservedly yes. What was actually happening here was the fulfillment of something that we noted way at the beginning, when the people in asking for a king are responded to by Samuel. And Samuel on that occasion is not keen on the idea of a king, you will remember. And he goes along the line, and he says, This is the kind of thing that will happen if you ask for a king. He will take your chariots from you to use them in battle. He will take your sons away from you to send them out to war, and so on. And in the midst of all of that, he says, And he will go into battle on your behalf.

Well, of course, Saul has been a moral disaster in relationship to that. And the focus is now on David. And the love of the people is the love of an attachment to a king who would fight their battles for them.

Now, what have we said all the way through this study? We've said that every time we come on the notion of king—and we come on it all the time—it is pointing us forward, not simply into the end of 1 Samuel and into 2 Samuel, but beyond, to the one who comes, great David's greater son. For he is the king who has gone into battle for his people. And he is the only one who breaks the power of canceled sin. He is the only one that walks right into death and triumphs over it. He is the only one in whose presence his army members find security and find fullness of joy. And the people really, really loved David.

Which of course raises the question, Do I really, really love Jesus? He's the king. He's the king. Am I prepared to abdicate and take my stand beside him? You say, abdicate? Yes, abdicate.

Because someone reigns on the throne of your heart and mine. And if I'm reigning on that throne—Jesus isn't—am I prepared to remove the robe that represents who I am and what I am and security, and much of it filthy and useless, and allow him to cover me with the robe of his righteousness? It's actually a fairly invasive question, isn't it? It's a lot harder than, Do you like church? It's a lot harder, Do you listen to the sermons? Are you interested in Jesus?

No, no, no, just get straight to it. Do I love Jesus? At a soul level. At the level that I relinquish who and what I am in order that I might live by his side. You're listening to Truth for Life.

That is Alistair Begg with maybe the most important question we can answer today. Do I love Jesus? If you're not sure how you'd answer Alistair's question and you'd like to know more about Jesus, that's the focus of a series Alistair preached a while back called To Know Christ. You can listen to the entire series for free on our website at truthforlife.org. And to supplement the nine messages in the To Know Christ series, we've recently released a companion study guide. As you listen to each sermon and then complete the corresponding section in the study guide, you'll gain deeper insight into who Jesus is, what he accomplished and what his mission means for you personally. The study guide can be downloaded for free at truthforlife.org slash resources slash series slash know Christ, or you can purchase it in booklet form for just $3 at truthforlife.org slash store. We have a wonderful devotional book that will go a long way toward extinguishing any lingering doubts you may have about what Jesus' work on the cross might mean for you. The book is titled Assurance, Resting in God's Salvation. This is a 31-day devotional that, as the title says, seeks to show how you can be assured of your salvation if you trust in Jesus. It's a perfect book to share with friends or family members who may be drifting from the faith. You can request a copy today when you give a donation to support the teaching ministry of Truth for Life. Visit truthforlife.org slash donate, or call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. When we find we're headed in a wrong direction, God often gives us a window of escape. But tomorrow we'll find out how pride and jealousy can blind us to second chances. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.