Pam Padgett ... teacher
God rejected Saul from being king over Israel because Saul had
rejected what God told him to do. The kingdom of Israel would be given to one better than Saul ...
1 Samuel 15:26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for
thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected
thee from being king over Israel. 27 And as Samuel turned about to
go away, he laid hold upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 28
And Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel
from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that
is better than thou.
God sent Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint one of his sons whom God had chosen to be
king. Jesse brought his sons, except the youngest, before Samuel, but
God had not chosen any of them. Then David, the youngest, was brought
in. God told Samuel to anoint him, and the Holy
Spirit was
given to David and removed from Saul.
1 Samuel 16:1 And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for
Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine
horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I
have provided me a king among his sons. .... 11 And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here
all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest,
and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come
hither. 12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy,
and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to.
And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. 13 Then
Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of
his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from
that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. 14 But
the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit
from the Lord troubled him.
In 1 Samuel 18 we see that, although Saul was still recognized as king by the people at this time, God was with David and did not allow him to be destroyed. And the people of Israel came to know and love David.
After David killed Goliath, Saul wanted David to stay and not return to his father's home. David went as Saul sent him and acted wisely, and Saul set David over the men of war. David became accepted and held in esteem by the people ....
1 Samuel 18:5 And David went out whithersoever Saul
sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the
men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people,
and also in the sight of Saul's servants. 6 And it came to pass
as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the
Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel,
singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy,
and with instruments of musick. 7 And the women answered one
another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.
But as the people sang of David slaying more than Saul in battle,
Saul became very angry. Samuel had told Saul that the
kingdom would be taken from him, and now Saul saw the people holding David
in higher esteem than they held him. Saul said what can he have more but the kingdom? ...
1 Samuel 18:8 And Saul was very wroth, and the
saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto
David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands:
and what can he have more but the kingdom? 9 And Saul eyed David
from that day and forward.
Saul tried to kill David. But when David escaped
Saul's attempts to kill him, Saul feared David, seeing that God was with
David and not with Saul. ...
1 Samuel 18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow,
that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied
in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at
other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand. 11 And Saul
cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the
wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice. 12 And
Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was
departed from Saul.
Then Saul sent David from him by making him captain over a thousand. But God was with David and David behaved wisely in all his ways, which caused Saul to fear, while all the people loved David as he led them ...
1 Samuel 18:13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made
him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in
before the people. 14 And David behaved himself wisely in all
his ways; and the Lord was with him. 15 Wherefore when Saul saw
that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16
But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and
came in before them.
Saul tried to bring about David's death by offering his daughter Michal as a wife for David in such a way that the
Philistines would surely kill David. Instead of a dowry for his
daughter, Saul wanted 100 foreskins of the Philistines ...
1 Samuel 18: 20 And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and
they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 And Saul said, I
will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the
hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said
to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the
twain. 22 And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with
David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee,
and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's son
in law. 23 And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of
David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a
king's son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly
esteemed? 24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this
manner spake David. 25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to
David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins
of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But
Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
David and his men slew not 100, but 200, Philistines, bringing the foreskins to
Saul. In this, not only was David given Michal to be his wife, but
the princes of the Philistines departed. And David continued to
behave himself wisely.
1 Samuel 18:26 And when his servants told David these words, it
pleased David well to be the king's son in law: and the days
were not expired. 27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his
men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David
brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the
king, that he might be the king's son in law. And Saul gave him
Michal his daughter to wife. 28 And Saul saw and knew that the
Lord was with David, and that Michal Saul's daughter loved him.
29 And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became
David's enemy continually. 30 Then the princes of the
Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, after they went
forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the
servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.
Saul had been told that the kingdom would be taken from him and
given to someone better. When Saul saw that God was with David, that
David acted wisely, and the people loved him, Saul
tried to destroy David. He knew that if David lived, he would be king, so Saul tried to kill him. Saul told his son Jonathan: For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. (1 Samuel 20:31)
But, from the very beginning of Saul's attempts
to destroy David which we see in 1 Samuel 18, God did not allow David
to be destroyed, according to God's purpose that
David be king over Israel.