1 Samuel19chapter 19

1 Samuel 19:9

“And the evil spirit from the Lord - His envy and jealousy again returned, producing distraction of mind, which was exacerbated by diabolic influence. See on 1Sa 16:14 (note).”

1 Samuel 19:9

“Saul continues his malice against David. He that but the other day had sworn by his Maker that David should not be slain now endeavors to slay him himself. So implacable, so incurable, is the enmity of the serpent against that of the woman, so deceitful and desperately wicked is the heart of man without the grace of God, Jer. xvii.”

1 Samuel 19:11

“Josephus says the design was to seize him and to hurry him before a court of justice that was ordered to condemn him and put him to death as a traitor; but we are here told it was a shorter way they were to take with him: they were ordered to slay him.”

1 Samuel 19:11

“Often is the devil out-shot with his own bow. How Michal came to know the danger her husband was in does not appear; perhaps she had notice sent her from court, or rather was herself aware of the soldiers about the house, when they were going to bed, though they kept so still and silent that they said, Who dost hear? which David takes notice of, Ps. lix.”

1 Samuel 19:12

“So Michal let David down through a window,.... In like manner as Rahab let down the spies from her house in Jericho, when the king's messengers were in quest of them, Jos 2:15; and as the disciples let down the Apostle Paul at Damascus, to preserve him from the designs of the Jews upon him: and he went, and fled, and escaped; he departed from his house, and ran with all the haste he could, and escaped the messengers that had beset the house, and were waiting for him.”

1 Samuel 19:13-17

Now Michal's name means "reign," because sin reigned over our nature up to that time. And at the very time he himself was born, he [the Lord in the figure of David] went out through a window. And the window indicates the return to the light again of the one who made himself known to those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death.And his image is seen on the bed. For the angel says to those seeking the Lord in the tomb, "Why do you seek the living with the dead? He is not here; he is risen."

1 Samuel 19:13

“And Michal took an image,.... Or "teraphim", as the word is; which, if the same with those that Rachel stole from her father, they seem to be of the same sort with the penates or household gods of the Heathens, which were privately kept by Michal; for, had David known of them, he would not have suffered them to have been in his house. Aben Ezra supposes they were images made in the form of men under such a constellation, a sort of talismans, to receive the heavenly influences, and which being consulted, foretold things to come; and R.”

1 Samuel 19:13

“An image - “Teraphim” (see the margin), an image, or bust in human form, and as large as life, of a kind of household god, to the worship of which the Israelites, and especially women, were much addicted. A pillow - It was probably a quilt or blanket of goats’ hair and of common use as a bed-covering. Whether Michal drew it over the head of the teraphim, as if for warmth, and so covered it, or whether she disposed it about the head so as to look like hair, is not clear.”

1 Samuel 19:13

“And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed--"an image," literally, "the teraphim," and laid, not in the bed, but literally on the "divan"; and "the pillows," that is, the cushion, which usually lay at the back of the divan and was stuffed with "goat's hair," she took from its bolster or heading at the upper part of the divan.”

1 Samuel 19:15

“It was base and barbarous thus to triumph over a sick man; and to vow the death of one who for aught that he knew was dying by the hand of nature. So earnestly did he thirst after his blood, and so greedy was his revenge, that he could not be pleased to see him dead, unless he himself was the death of him; though awhile ago he had said, Let not my hand be upon him.”

1 Samuel 19:17

“Why should I kill thee? - To avert Saul’s anger from herself, she pretended that David had threatened her life unless she facilitated his escape.”

1 Samuel 19:17

“What a base spirit was Saul of, to expect that, because Michal was his daughter, she must therefore betray her own husband to him unjustly. Ought she not to forsake and forget her father and her father's house, to cleave to her husband? Those that themselves will be held by no bonds of reason or religion are ready to think that others should as easily break those bonds.”

1 Samuel 19:18

“David fled, and escaped - to Samuel - He, no doubt, came to this holy man to ask advice; and Samuel thought it best to retain him for the present, with himself at Naioth, where it is supposed he had a school of prophets.”

1 Samuel 19:18-23

“It was a retreat congenial to the mind of David; but Saul, having found out his asylum, sent three successive bodies of men to apprehend him. The character of the place and the influence of the sacred exercises produced such an effect on them that they were incapable of discharging their commission, and were led, by a resistless impulse, to join in singing the praises of God.”

1 Samuel 19:20-24

“Now, it seems to me that fortuitous circumstance also is sometimes the cause of prophesying, as is true in the present case of Caiaphas. He was high priest of that year [in which] Jesus was to die for the people that the whole nation might not perish. For although others were high priests … no one prophesies except the high priest of the year in which Jesus was to suffer.And it was fortuitous circumstance that caused the messengers of Saul to prophesy when they were sent to David, along with Saul himself.”

1 Samuel 19:20

“The company of the prophets prophesying - Employed in religious exercises. Samuel - appointed over them - Being head or president of the school at this place. The Spirit of God was upon the messengers - They partook of the same influence, and joined in the same exercise; and thus were prevented from seizing David.”

1 Samuel 19:20

“And whereas some might falsely pretend to those raptures; or the devil might transform himself into an angel of light, Samuel's presence and judgment was necessary to prevent and to detect such impostures.”

1 Samuel 19:22

“To a great well - Some large well-known cistern at Sechu, the site of which is uncertain, which Saul passed on his way from Gibeah to Ramah.”

1 Samuel 19:23

“And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah,.... He went on from the well towards the place: and the Spirit of God was upon him also; as well as upon his messengers; even the spirit of prophecy, as the Targum: and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah: in this he differed from his messengers; they did not prophesy till they came to that place, but Saul began to prophesy before he came thither, as he was in his way from the well to it.”

1 Samuel 19:23

“This was only amazing, but that sanctifying--this for a day, that for ever. Note, Many have great gifts and yet no grace, prophesy in Christ's name and yet are disowned by him, Matt. vii. Now the proverb recurs, Is Saul among the prophets?”

1 Samuel 19:24

For, by the arguments wherewith he [Eunomius] endeavours to destroy the truth, he is often himself unwittingly drawn into an advocacy of the very doctrines against which he is contending: Some such thing the history tells us concerning Saul, that once, when moved with wrath against the prophets, he was overcome by grace, and was found as one of the inspired, (the Spirit of prophecy willing, as I suppose, to instruct the apostate by means of himself,) whence the surprising nature of the event became a proverb in his after life, as the history records such an expression by way of wonder, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

1 Samuel 19:24

“And he stripped off his clothes also,.... Not all his clothes, but his upper garments, as men in such circumstances used to do, as the prophets sometimes did, and as it seems his messengers had done; according to Jarchi, R.”

1 Samuel 19:24

“He stripped off his clothes - Threw off his royal robes or military dress, retaining only his tunic; and continued so all that day and all that night, uniting with the sons of the prophets in prayers, singing praises, and other religious exercises, which were unusual to kings and warriors; and this gave rise to the saying, Is Saul also among the prophets? By bringing both him and his men thus under a Divine influence, God prevented them from injuring the person of David.”

1 Samuel 19:24

“Lay down - Hebrew. fell, down upon the earth; for his mind being in an extasy, he had not the use of his senses. God so ordering it, that David might have an opportunity to escape. Naked - That is, stript of his upper garments, as the word naked is often used; and it is here repeated to signify how long he lay in that posture.”