1 Samuel 19:8

SAUL AGAIN TRIES TO KILL DAVID

"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 lyre. And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with his spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled, and escaped."

"And there was war again" (1 Samuel 19:8). This war, like many others, was with the Philistines. This is not a reference to the conflict in which David defeated Goliath, but to one of the campaigns of that long struggle of the Philistines against Saul's government that finally resulted in its overthrow, ending in Saul's death. David trusted the solemn oath Saul had sworn to the effect that he should not be put to death; and for some extended time everything seemed to be back to normal.

David's great victories over the Philistines in this last campaign, however, again triggered the murderous jealousy of Saul, and, in the fit of madness that came upon him, David once more, as in the days of old, was assigned the task of soothing the troubled king.

This episode is not a repetition or a "doublet" of the previous effort of Saul to strike David to death with his spear. There is absolutely no evidence of such a thing.

Jamieson's eloquent description of what happened here is:

"The fresh laurels which crowned David's prosecution of the war in this last conflict reawakened in the moody breast of Saul the former spirit of envy and melancholy. Upon David's return to court, the temper of Saul became more fiendish than ever; the melodious strains of the harp had lost all their power to charm; and in a paroxysm of uncontrollable frenzy, he aimed his spear at the person of David, who providentially made his escape."[5]

Matthew Henry suggested the possibility that Saul pretended insanity in this fit of passion, thinking perhaps that he might be excused for David's murder in the eyes of God and of men, as "being not in his right mind."[6]

"An evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul" (1 Samuel 19:9). "We are not to conclude that God sent an evil spirit, but that he permitted an evil spirit to take possession of Saul. The spirit of envy and jealousy is obviously from the devil."[7]

We do not know the exact nature of Saul's affliction. It was sent upon Saul as a punishment; and with God's permission, as Adam Clarke thought: "It was made worse by some diabolical influence"[8]

"David fled, and escaped" (1 Samuel 19:10). "This remark somewhat anticipates the course of events, as the author, according to the custom of Hebrew historians, gives the result at once, and then proceeds to describe in detail the more exact order of events."[9]

David escaped that same night, as indicated by the next verse, and thus his first escape was from Saul's murderous presence to his own residence where he and his wife Michal lived. Later that same night he fled from the city where Saul was.