1 Samuel 18:17-30 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 18:17-30. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
1 Samuel 18:17 (NIV)
17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the LORD.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”
On verse 17: Because Saul envied David, Saul wanted to David dead. So he devised a plan that would hopefully get David killed without getting Saul himself in trouble. Saul would try to offer David one of his daughters – first his oldest daughter Merab and, then later, his younger daughter Michal – in marriage on the condition that David fights against the Philistines, hoping that David would be killed in battle. Yet David would not be killed and would take Michal as his wife.
Similarly, Satan wanted to see Jesus destroyed. So he devised a plan to have Jesus killed on a cross. Yet in the end that cross could not keep Jesus down. Rather through the cross Jesus got His bride, i.e. us His church.
1 Samuel 18:18-30 (NIV)
18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
19 So when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased.
21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.'”
23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”
24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said,
25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.'” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed,
27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28 When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,
29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.
30 The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.
On verses 17-30: There are 3 questions that come to mind when I read these verses:
1. Why did David refuse to take Merab, Saul’s older daughter, as his wife even after Saul had offered, letting Merab be given to another man instead (v17-19)?
2. Why did David initially refuse to marry Michal, Saul’s younger daughter, after the first time Saul had offered (v20-22)?
3. Why was David finally pleased to marry Michal only after Saul had issued a price (100 Philistine foreskins) for her?
The answer to all 3 questions is the same: It’s because David thought that he should only marry a princess if he had earned that opportunity.
It’s because David had a noble, humble heart. He did not have a false sense of entitlement, as if the world should serve at his beck and call. Rather, David was committed to working hard for what he wanted. He wanted to earn the right to marry a princess.
So, for example, twice in this passage David refers to his less than royal background as the reason he should not marry the king’s daughters (v18, 23). Yet when the opportunity was given for him to earn that right by defeating 100 Philistines (v25), David jumped at the opportunity.
Given his humble, down-to-earth spirit as well as his can do attitude, it’s not surprising that David excelled and became increasingly well known (v30).
What can we learn from this? Like David, we must have a healthy attitude toward grace and hard work. It is true that through Jesus Christ we receive God’s grace in countless ways that we do not deserve. But that’s not an excuse for us to become spoiled children who live with a false sense of entitlement, who are lazy, who don’t work hard, and who act as if the world revolved around us. That would be taking God’s grace for granted.
As we see in David’s life, becoming aware of God’s grace in our lives should cause us to work that much harder in the areas that matter. As Paul says, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them–yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (1 Corinthians 15:10).
So since God has given us His grace, work hard at what He has given you (whether it’s at home, at church, at work, at school or your relationships). Like David, don’t take anything for granted. Don’t claim the most exalted position when you haven’t earned it. Have a healthy attitude toward the need for God’s grace and the need to work hard.
Heavenly Father, because You have given me the most amazing grace I could ever ask for, I pray that I would be the hardest worker in the room. Wherever I go, may I never take anything for granted. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
