author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Samuel 18, and when you find that, I want you to put a bookmark there and go to the book of James chapter 3. James 3.
Last week, when we left off, David had just killed Goliath. In an instant, he went from being an unknown last-born son of a farmer, to being one of the most famous men in Israel and a national hero.
We already know God had anointed him to be king. We know God had promised to take away the kingdom from Saul because of his sin. But David still has to wait about 20 years until he is king.
In the meantime, he has to deal with one of the darkest forces around - King Saul's jealousy.
Are you in James 3? Let's read verses 13-18:
[!bible] James 3:13-18 - KJV 13. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. %% #James3 %%
I'm not a guy who has a "life verse" - but if I did, it would probably be this passage. It's a passage that the Lord brings to my mind very often.
Do you know what an acid test is? When they are trying to figure out if gold is gold and not some cheaper metal they put on gold, they apply a little acid and depending on how it reacts, they can see.
This passage lays out an acid test for spiritual leadership.
If you want to be wise, if you want to be a spiritual leader, then you have to have meekness, humility, you have to have a pure and gentle spirit, you have to be someone who other can talk to and question, you have to be merciful, you can't show favorites, you can't be a hypocrite, and more than anything - you have to live in peace.
And those things have an opposite. Their is a negative to those traits that cannot coexist with spiritual wisdom - envy and competitiveness. Envy and strife. If you have envy and you are manipulating against people - then you can be absolutely sure you aren't a spiritually wise person.
So envy and strife are an acid test for a spiritually wise leader.
Now, I mention that because in our story tonight we are going to see these two things illustrated. We will see three leaders: one of them lived in envy and strife and the other two lived in spiritual wisdom.
So let's go back to 1 Samuel 18 and look at our story. We'll read in parts tonight, and we'll make some applications from each part as we go through.
Let's look at the first part of the story, and we will examine the first leader here - who absolutely showed spiritual wisdom.
[!bible] 1 Samuel 18:1-4 - KJV
- And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
- And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.
- Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, 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 garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. %% #1Samuel18 %%
The first leader here who we apply this acid test to was
1. Jonathan
Jonathan was the crown prince of Israel. His father was the king, which meant that he as the eldest son was the heir to the throne.
He was brave - we've already seen that. He was strong. He was a great leader.
And here Jonathan watches as this unknown - this shepherd boy David, steps up to the plate and gos to battle against Goliath and wins a decisive victory.
In that moment, David became a hero. He would never not be a hero in the eyes of Israel because of what he did to Goliath.
So Jonathan sees this and hears David talking, he hears the faith that David has and the boldness that he shows for God.
They are about the same age. Jonathan was probably about 5 years older - but they are both in the same season of life. They are both in the court.
Jonathan could have seen David as a threat, but instead, he recognized David as a brother - another man of faith - and a man who God had his hands on, and our text tells us that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan loved David. They were instantly brothers. And Jonathan made the decision that he would never hurt David - but he went even further - as he got to know him, he made a covenant with him and gave him his robe and his armor and his sword.
Why? Here is what I think this means: I think Jonathan knew that God wanted David to be king, and his giving him his armor and his robe was basically symbolically giving over his crown prince, heir apparent status to David.
What selflessness! What love! What faith!
It seems like Jonathan knew God well enough to know God's will was David, and rather than be jealous, Jonathan rejoiced in it.
Sometimes, its hard to see others do well. We develop envy. We want what they have. We question God why He didn't give it to us. Rather than trust His wisdom.
Maybe someone gets a promotion you wanted. Maybe someone else is chosen to teach the Sunday School class. Maybe some other mom seems to get all the perks. Our temptation is get angry at God. But that is envy, that leads to strife - and God is never in it.
We need to rejoice in what God is doing, even if it isn't with us. Jonathan shows us that.
Unfortunately, there is a second person to look at in this story.
Let's read the rest of the chapter:
[!bible] 1 Samuel 18:5-27 - KJV 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. 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. 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. 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. 17. And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD’S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. 18. And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king? 19. But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife. 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. 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. %% #1Samuel18 %%
Ok, so there is a lot going on in the rest of this chapter, but basically you have two characters: Saul and David. One is showing spiritual wisdom and one is not.
So let's look at what Saul did first:
2. Saul
Saul at this point had been the king for a long time. But God had already told him that his kingdom was going to be taken from him.
A better man would have stepped down. But Saul held on. He tried to hold on in his flesh.
And so when David came around and was suddenly the hero of Israel, Saul did not take it well. He was filled with envy.
We see the source of Saul's envy in verse 6. After David killed Goliath, the number one ditty on the airwaves was a little song called "Saul killed his thousands, but David tens of thousands."
This filled Saul with insane jealousy and Saul "eyed David from that day forward."
Saul could not handle David being more popular than him. I think everyone could see that David had God's hand on him. And Saul couldn't handle that.
I actually think Saul tried to kill David five different times in this chapter.
First, he tried to kill him with the javelin. David, even though he's now a famous general, is still called into play for Saul to calm him down when he gets in a mood. And Saul takes advantage of this to try to run David through with a spear.
He throws the spear at him, and narrowly misses and David just runs away. The most interesting thing about this story is what the end of verse 11 says - the last word of that verse is "twice" - which means Saul actually did this two times. Two times David played and Saul threw the javelin at him and attempted to kill him.
So that is two times Saul tries to kill David.
Then, the third time I think is verse 13. Saul elevated David to a military leadership role which put him on the front lines of battle.
I think Saul did this first to get David out of his sight, but I think he probably also did it in hopes that David would be killed in battle. He was doing what David would later do to Uriah - putting him on the front lines as a proxy for murder.
But David was too good to die.
So I think Saul tried something a little more subtle in verses 17 and 18.
David had been promised that he could marry one of Saul's daughters when he killed Goliath. And Saul kind of brought him in and introduced him to his oldest daughter - Merab and said "I'm going to let you marry her. You just keep on fighting."
Then, when David was out fighting, Saul quickly married Merab off to someone else. To a guy named Adriel.
Now, why would Saul do that? I think he did it to mess with David. I think he was trying to get a rise out of him. To stir him up.
If David spoke out of turn in anger against Saul, then David could be accused of treason and killed. I think Saul was manipulating to make this happen.
But David didn't. So Saul tried another tactic. He had another daughter who really liked David, a girl named Michal.
And Saul knew that Michal was going to be a problem. He knew her character enough to know she wouldn't be a good wife for David. (She wasn't - she caused problems later on.)
It reminds me of a time when a young preacher approached Jonathan Edwards and asked him to marry his daughter. Edwards refused. The man said "but I love her" and he said "no, she won't be a good pastor's wife." Basically he said "she has issues." The man said "But she's a Christian right?" And Edwards said "Yes, but the Holy Spirit can live with people no one else can."
I think Michal was one of those girls. She was a lot. But David loved her and she loved David - so Saul came up with another idea to get rid of David.
He said "I'm not going to ask a dowry." Saul knew David couldn't afford a princess' dowry anyways. "I'm not going to ask for a dowry, just the foreskins of 100 Philistines."
That's like saying "You want to buy my car, I don't want anything for it - just do this thing that will almost certainly kill you and ruin your life."
This was an incredibly dangerous thing. Not only would David have to fight with the 100 philistines in battle (and each one of them would be trying to kill him) but he would be desecrating their bodies and putting a huge target on his head.
So Saul tried all kinds of ways to get rid of David, because he saw him as his enemy. He got envious of him and let his envy turn to manipulation and malicious actions to get David killed.
Again:
[!bible] James 3:16 - KJV 16. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. %% #James3 %%
And I want to remind you of something here - whenever you get envious of someone else. Whenever you start looking at another brother as an enemy and you start dreaming of ways to beat them or take them down - you are not acting in the Spirit. You are opening the door for all kinds of wickedness in your life.
Who would have ever thought that Saul, who was so humble and seemed spiritual even a few chapters ago, would stoop to attempted murder of a loyal subject - just because of his jealousy and envy. But he did.
So be on the lookout in your own heart for envy - and manipulating against people. You are going down a dark road when you go there - and God is not in it.
Now, look at the third character in this story:
David
David did nothing in this story besides follow God and be the passive recipient of all of this stuff.
Think about it. He kills Goliath in an act of faith, and then Jonathan symbolically gives him the heirship. I don't think David asked for that.
Even so, it would be years and years before he was king - and things would get much worse before they got better for David.
Then Saul asks him to play music for him. David could have thought "I'm a big deal now. I'm the subject of the number one hit on WISL, I'm not your ministrel." But he didn't. He stayed humble. He wasn't too big for that work.
In fact, one of David's big tests was popularity. You know, most people aren't undone by hardship. They are undone by success and popularity. How many young people make it big every year and become famous and then die of a drug overdose or end up in prison or homeless. This was a test of David, and he remained humble.
Then Saul tried to kill him. David could have picked up the javelin and thrown it back. We would call that self-defense. But he didn't. He just ran away.
Then, amazing David went back into the same situation, and a second time had the opportunity to fight back, but he didn't.
There was this book I read last year called "A Tale of Three Kings" by Gene Edwards. It's a great little book. But it talks about this event and listen to what it says about David:
“In doing this small feat of returning thrown spears, you will prove many things. You are courageous. You stand for the right. You boldly stand against the wrong. You are tough and can’t be pushed around. You will not stand for injustice or unfair treatment. You are the defender of the faith, the keeper of the flame, detector of all heresy. You will not be wronged. All of these attributes then combine to prove that you are also obviously a candidate for kingship. Yes, perhaps you are the Lord’s anointed. After the order of King Saul.”
Many of us would justify David retaliating against Saul - but then David would be just like King Saul and not like King Jesus, who when He was hurt didn't retaliate, but prayed "Father, forgive them."
Then Saul tried to get David with guile. With manipulation. And David seems to not even notice. David is just following the Lord.
The summary of David here is found in verse 14:
[!bible] 1 Samuel 18:14 - KJV 14. And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him. %% #1Samuel18 %%
David had that spiritual wisdom that James talks about. He wasn't playing these manipulation games. David's life was simple: follow the Lord. Follow the Lord.
David wasn't worried about how this would look or what would happen in this scenario - he was just following God's will and because of that, despite Saul's attempts, David just kept prospering.
[!bible] James 3:17-18 - KJV 17. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. %% #James3 %%
Do you have spiritual wisdom? Or do you have envy?
They don't go together. Let's be like David in this story, let's be like Jesus. Let's let God fight out battles for us and live in the simple peace of God's will.
Let's stand for prayer.
