The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 111: Saul Tries to Kill David (2023)

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

Fr. Mike contrasts Jonathan's brotherly friendship with David, and Saul's bitterness and envy towards David. We also learn from Psalm 59 that David still praised God in his distress as Saul tried to kill him. Today we read 1 Samuel 18-19 and Psalm 59. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 111. It is day 111. And we are reading

from 1 Samuel chapters 18 and 19. We're also praying Psalm 59. One thing, maybe I say this too often, if you have reached today, 111, which is kind of a cool number, you know, three ones, kind of Trinitarian. If you've reached this far with us, this is incredible. I think a lot of people that have reached out to me have in the past said, yeah, you know, I've always wanted to read the Bible and I have not ever been successful at this. I haven't been consistent at it. But if you have made it to today, it means that you have consistently for 111 days, you've opened yourself to God's word and you've let him speak to your mind and shape the way you see the world and shape your heart. And so what a gift.

I mean, just praise God for that. Also, the translation that I am using for this Bible in a year is the revised standard version, second Catholic edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. And if you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a year. Also, if you've not yet subscribed to this podcast, you are invited to consider that. Pray about it. Let me know what you choose. Anyways, this is day 111, and we're reading 1 Samuel chapter 18 and 19, and we're praying Psalm 59. 1 Samuel chapter 18, Jonathan's covenant with David. When he had finished speaking to Saul,

the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword, and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt. And David went out and was successful 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. As they were coming home, when David returned from slaying the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing to meet King Saul with timbrels, with songs of joy and with instruments of music. And the women sang to one another as they made merry, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul was very angry. And this saying displeased him. He said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands.

And what more can he have but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day on. Saul tries to kill David. And the next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand, and Saul cast the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people. And David had success in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in awe of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

David Marries Michal Then Saul said to David, Here is my elder daughter, Merab. I will give her to you for a wife, only be valiant for me and fight the Lord's battles. For Saul thought, let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. And David said to Saul, who am I and who are my kinsfolk, my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king. But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel, the Meholathite, for a wife. Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. Saul thought, Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him, and that the hand

of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David a second time, You shall now be my son-in-law. And Saul commanded his servants, Speak to David in private and say, Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then, become the king's son-in-law. And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and of no repute. And the servants of Saul told him, Thus and so did David speak. Then Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desires no marriage present except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he

may be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. Before the time had expired, David arose and went along with his men and killed 200 of the Philistines. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that all Israel loved him, Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy continually.

Then the princes of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out, David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed. Chapter 19. Jonathan intercedes for David. And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, Saul, my father, seeks to kill you. Therefore take heed to yourself in the morning.

Stay in a secret place and hide yourself, and I will go out and stand beside my father in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself, and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you, and if I learn anything I will tell you. And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been of good service to you. For he took his life in his hand, and he slew the Phil Philistine and the Lord wrought a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause? And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, as the Lord lives,

he shall not be put to death. And Jonathan called David and Jonathan showed him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was in his presence as before. Michal helps David escape from Saul. And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and made a great slaughter among them so that they fled before him. Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the liar. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall.

And David fled and escaped. That night Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed. So Michal let David down through the window and he fled away and escaped. Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goat's hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, he is sick.

Then Saul sent the messengers to see David saying, bring him up to me in the bed that I may kill him. And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed with the pillow of goat's hair at its head. Saul said to Michal, why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul,

He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill you? David joins Samuel in Ramah. Now David fled and escaped. And he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt at Naoth. And it was told Saul, Behold, David is at Naoth in Ramah. Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul and they also

prophesied. When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again a third time and they also prophesied then he himself went to Rama and came to the great well that is in Seku and he asked where are Samuel and David and one said behold they are at Naoth and Rama and he went from there to Naoth in Rama and the spirit of God came upon him also and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naoth in Ramah. And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay naked all that day and all that night. Hence it is said, Is Saul also among the prophets? Psalm 59. Prayer for deliverance from enemies. To the choir master, according to Do Not Destroy,

a mictum of David, when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. Deliver me from my enemies, O my God. Protect me from those who rise up against me. Deliver me from those who work evil and save me from bloodthirsty men. For behold, they lie in wait for my life. Fierce men band themselves against me. For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord, for no fault of mine, they run and make ready. Rouse yourself, come to my help and see. You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel. Awake to punish all the nations.

Spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Each evening they come back, howling like dogs and prowling about the city. There they are, bellowing with their mouths and snarling with their lips, for who they think will hear us. But you, O Lord, laugh at them. You hold all the nations in derision. O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress. My God in his mercy will meet me. My God will let me look in triumph on my enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget. Make them totter by your power and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them

be trapped in their pride. For the cursing and lies which they utter consume them in wrath. Consume them till they are no more, that the men may know that God rules over Jacob to the ends of the earth. Each evening they come back howling like dogs and prowling about the city. They roam about for food and growl if they do not get their fill. But I will sing of your might. I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning. For you have been to me a fortress

and a refuge in the day of my distress. Oh, my strength. I will sing praises to you for you, oh God, are my fortress, the God who shows me mercy. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory, and we give you praise for deliverance. We give you praise in the midst of the battle. And this is how we love you, by obeying your commandments, of course, and by seeking your face and by striving to be men and women after your own heart, but also by praising you in the midst of the battle, by praising you in the midst of uncertainty, by praising you and giving you thanks even before you've delivered us, even before you've come to our rescue. Lord God, we just lift up your name.

And so please, in our small way of just lifting up our voice and directing our heart to you and our thanksgiving to you, let that be a gift to you today. God, please, in the name of your son, please receive our words of praise. Receive our words of thanksgiving and be glorified for you are glory itself.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. So the tables have turned here when it comes to King David, or future King David, and Saul. It's so remarkable. Remember that Saul's Achilles heel is, I hate to just belabor the point, but Saul's Achilles heel is he cares too much what other people think of him and he cares too little of what God thinks of him. And so here you have David and Jonathan who make a covenant with each other. Okay, we're going to get back to Saul in just a second, but here's David and Jonathan make covenant with each other. Okay, we're going to get back to Saul in just a second, but here's David and Jonathan make a covenant with each other. Now, remember what he mentioned before

is that Jonathan sees something in David's being willing to fight against the Goliath that he has in himself. And David could see something in Jonathan's willingness to do battle with the Philistines when no one else was going to do battle with the Philistines that he has in himself. And so they make this covenant. And this is one of the great examples of brotherhood in scripture. This is one great example of friendship in scripture. We've talked about different kinds of friendship and there are friendships of convenience, which are, they're all, they're all fine. They're all good. Friendships of convenience. You know, we happen to be in the same grade, you know, we're on the same sports team. We just kind of, and we get along. Friendships

of pleasure. Those are friendships that, yeah, we just good time buddies, you know, just, we enjoy hanging out with each other. And that's good too. There's friendships of utility that we work well together. Let's start a business or whatever, you know, let's work on this group project. Friendships of utility. There's all these different kinds of friendships and they all have benefit. They all have goodness to them. But there's also this highest form of friendship called virtuous friendship. And virtuous friendship is not necessarily, we're not bound to each other by necessarily personality similarities. We're not necessarily bound to each other because we enjoy all of the same things or because we just happen to be in the same grade or the same sport

or the same whatever. We're bound because we have the same goal. Virtuous friendship, C.S. Lewis sometimes, he's been known to point this out. He has a book called The Four Loves, which is just absolutely phenomenal. When he talks about philia, which is the love of friendship, he describes it in terms of here's an individual and they're so captivated by something bigger than themselves that they're running after it, right? So you have in the early church, you have a number of examples of these saints who basically, they kind of are thrown together and they recognize that their whole life was dedicated to pursue the Lord Jesus.

Their whole life was dedicated to the knowledge of God and the study of God and the service of God and the worship of God and to be an image of God on this planet. And then they look next to them and they'd say, wait, you too. They'd see someone else running beside them. C.S. Lewis says it like that. He says, when you're pursuing this thing that's bigger than you and you look and see that there's someone running next to you and you say, wait a second, you too? That someone else is captivated by the thing that has captivated you. That you're captured not by each other, but you're captured by the same thing. And that same thing is worth giving your entire life for. And that becomes the source or the germ, the seed of virtuous friendship. And we have Jonathan and

David having that. And they make a covenant with each other. In fact, it's remarkable because, I mean, in so many ways, because Jonathan should be the one who is jealous of David, because Jonathan is the one who stands to receive the crown after his father Saul dies. And yet Jonathan seems to not care one bit about David being a threat because David's not a threat to Jonathan because God has plans for David, God has plans for Jonathan. And so Jonathan is not going to lose anything. Yes, he's not going to be the king, but that wasn't the plan. David is the king. And so he, Jonathan has such great virtue that he's able to hold on loosely. Now, on the other hand, here is Saul and here's this song. Saul's coming into different

cities around Israel. What are they singing? The women are singing the song that Saul has slain his thousands and David has 10,000. And Saul was was very angry and this saying displeased him. And he said, they've ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they've ascribed thousands. And let's pause for a second. How about zeros and one? This is all it was. I mean, there have been some battles up to this point, but most recently when it came to the battle with Goliath, Saul had zero and David had one in many ways. And so this whole notion is, again, it goes back to Saul's Achilles heel, Saul's big weakness. What do people think about me? And there can be such a driving force when it comes to the inordinate preoccupation with others' opinions of us. How do we escape that? We escape it by

recognizing that what really matters is not what other people think about me or what other people think about what we're doing, but what God, what God thinks, how God has called us, how God is continuing to know us and to see us, to love us. And Saul has missed that because of the fact that Saul has turned his back on the Lord and has revealed that he doesn't care as much about what God thinks as he does about what other people think. He tries to kill David a number of times. We have that. Apparently, you know, Saul likes that spear and he's good for David, lucky for David. He is not as good at throwing a spear as he is at getting jealous. And so what we have is David then also, he basically, he can't it to be a King's son-in-law.

And then King Saul says, well, actually, if you get 104 skins of Philistines, that'll be enough. You don't have to pay a dowry or anything like that. And so David goes out and gets 200, um, because David is an overachiever and is really, really wonderful. But ultimately what we have is this, I guess you might say the beginnings of this, what will define the next number of days and will define the next number of years for David's life. He's going to constantly be on the run from King Saul, and he's constantly going to be showing mercy to Saul while Saul shows nothing but jealousy and envy and bitterness towards

David. That's why I just love the fact that we today were able to conclude our reading with Psalm 59, prayer for deliverance from enemies. And it even says that this is the victim of David when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him. That even in the midst of this, if you want to go back and reread this or re-listen to Psalm 59, that'd be so good because this is the context is here is David who's been elevated to this place, but at the same time has to constantly watch his back. And in fact, he's going to be on the run now because he's in Ramah with Samuel. He's going to be on the run for a while off and on for the next number of years. And so

what we pay attention to is the fact that here's David, even though he's on the run, he gives God praise. Yes, he does pray for protection. He prays for the downfall of his enemies. But more than anything, even in the midst of distress, David gives God praise. Before the battle is over, he praises God. And there is something so powerful about that, that we can do as well. We petition the Lord, right? We pray for each other and we pray for ourselves. We pray for things that are important to us. We ask the Lord, we intercede on behalf of others and we bring ourselves before the Lord and ask him for gifts and blessings upon our lives.

But also we praise him. And also we praise him before the battle is over. We praise him when we're in the midst of the struggle. We praise him even when we're on the run. And so let's praise him now. We can intercede for each other. And I know that you're praying for me. I'm so grateful. I'm now. We can intercede for each other. And I know that you're praying for me. I'm so grateful. I'm praying for you. Please pray for each other. My name is

Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.