1 Samuel 19:1-17 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 19:1-17. 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 19:1-7 (NIV)
1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan was very fond of David
2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there.
3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king do wrong to his servant David; he has not wronged you, and what he has done has benefited you greatly.
5 He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine. The LORD won a great victory for all Israel, and you saw it and were glad. Why then would you do wrong to an innocent man like David by killing him for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan and took this oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”
7 So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.
On verses 1-7: King Saul wanted to kill David, but Saul’s son Jonathan, the Prince of Israel, stood up for his best friend, declaring his innocence. Because this prince spoke in David’s defense, David’s life was spared.
Similarly, we too are protected and saved because a prince spoke in our defense. When our sin made us objects of God’s wrath, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, stood up for us and spoke in our defense, declaring us innocent. As one of Jesus’ closest disciples writes, “if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1).
1 Samuel 19:8-17 (NIV)
8 Once more war broke out, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them with such force that they fled before him.
9 But an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. While David was playing the harp,
10 Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear, but David eluded him as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David made good his escape.
11 Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.”
12 So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
13 Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.
14 When Saul sent the men to capture David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
15 Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him.”
16 But when the men entered, there was the idol in the bed, and at the head was some goats’ hair.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?” Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?'”
On verses 8-17: When Saul tried once again to kill David, this time it was David’s bride Michal who protected him, letting him down a window (v12) and putting an idol statue in the bed disguised as David (v13). What can we learn from this? Just as God used a bride to protect and spare David, God uses a bride to protect and spare us. That bride is the church, also known as the bride of Christ. Like Michal who lied and who worshiped idols, the church is far from perfect. But just as you cannot deny how Michal helped to protect and save David’s life, there’s no denying that God uses His church to protect, save, counsel and spare us. Just as Michal was there in David’s time of need, I’ve found that in my biggest times of need it is the church that God uses to be there for me, to protect me, to speak truth into me and thus to spare my life.
Father, thank You for Jesus, my Prince of Peace who speaks in my defense and who saves me from wrath. And thank You for Your church, whom You use over and over again in my life to protect me, speak truth into me and to spare my life. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
Copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
