1 Samuel 18

After David finished speaking with Saul{, he met Saul’s son Jonathan.} Jonathan immediately felt a strong friendship for David. He loved him as much as he loved himself.

Saul did not allow David to return home after he killed Goliath. Instead, Saul kept David with him to serve him. \*

Because he loved David as much as he loved himself, Jonathan made a solemn agreement with David that they would always be friends.

Jonathan took off the outer robe he was wearing and gave it to David. He also gave David the special clothes he wore under his armor, his sword, his bow and arrows, and his belt. \*

David then fought battles as Saul directed him. Whatever Saul told him to do, David did it very successfully. As a result, Saul appointed David as a commander in the army. The people of Israel, and especially the ones who served Saul directly, admired David greatly. \*

One time, David and the troops he was commanding defeated a Philistine army and killed many of its soldiers. Then he returned to Israel with the rest of the Israelite army. Women came out from many Israelite cities and towns to greet King Saul {and all the soldiers}. They were singing and dancing very happily, and they were playing tambourines and lyres.

To celebrate, the women sang this song: “Saul has killed thousands of enemy soldiers, And David has killed tens of thousands of them!” \*

When Saul heard the women singing that, he did not like it at all. He became very angry. He said to himself, “They are saying that David has killed tens of thousands of enemy soldiers. But they are only saying that I have killed thousands of them. The only greater honor they could give him would be to make him the king instead of me!”

From that time on, Saul watched David very closely {because he was suspicious that David would try to become king}. \*

The next day, a troubling spirit that God sent suddenly began to affect Saul. He began to act like a crazy person inside his house. David was playing the lyre for him, as he often did. Saul was holding his royal spear.

Saul thought, “I can throw my spear so hard at David that it will go through him into the wall behind him and pin him there!” Saul threw his spear at David twice, but David jumped aside both times.

Saul realized that God was no longer helping him. He realized that God was now helping David. This made Saul afraid of David. \*

So Saul tried to make sure that David would not be near him. He made David the commander of a thousand of his soldiers. Then David had to lead those soldiers out on military campaigns.

But God helped David, so David won all of the battles that he fought. \*

When Saul heard how successful David and his soldiers were, he became very afraid even to be in the same place as David.

But because David was leading their soldiers very successfully in battles, all the people of Israel and of Judah loved David. \*

One day Saul said to David, “I want to talk to you about my older daughter Merab. I will allow you to marry her if you serve me bravely by fighting battles for God {against the Philistines}.” Saul said that because he thought, “I will not try to kill David myself. I will have the Philistines kill him.”

But David said to Saul, “I do not have the standing to become your son-in-law. I am not a very important person, and I come from a family that does not belong to an important Israelite clan.” \*

So at the time when Saul would have allowed David to marry his daughter Merab, instead he allowed a different man to marry her. This man was from the town of Meholah and his name was Adriel. \*

However, Saul’s other daughter, Michal, fell in love with David. When someone told Saul about that, he was pleased.

Saul thought, “I will promise to give Michal to him as his wife, but I will do that in order to trap him. {I will make him fight dangerously against the Philistines in order to marry her,} and this will enable the Philistines to kill him.” So Saul told David once again that he could become his son-in-law right away. \*

Saul told his servants, “Talk to David privately and tell him, ‘Listen, the king is pleased with you. All of us who serve him love you. So we think that you should marry Michal and become the king’s son-in-law.’” \*

So they said those things to David. But David replied, “It would be a great honor for anyone to become the king’s son-in-law. But {I do not think that I should do that, because} I am only a poor and insignificant man.”

Saul’s servants came back and told him what David had said. \*

Saul replied, “Go and tell David, ‘The king does not want you to pay him a large amount of money in order to marry Michal. All he wants you to do is kill a hundred Philistine soldiers and bring back their foreskins. In that way, he will get revenge on his enemies.’” But what Saul really wanted was for the Philistines to kill David while he was trying to kill them.

When the servants told that to David, he was very pleased that he could become the king’s son-in-law by doing that. Saul gave David a time limit. Within that time, \*

David and his men went into battle and killed two hundred Philistine soldiers. He brought back their foreskins. Saul’s officials counted them all while Saul was watching. This proved that David had done what Saul had required for him to become his son-in-law. So Saul allowed David to marry his daughter Michal.

But when Saul realized that God was helping David and that his own daughter Michal truly loved David,

he became even more afraid of David. After this, for as long as he lived, Saul was David’s enemy. \*

The Philistine commanders kept leading their armies to fight against the Israelites, but every time they fought, David and his soldiers were more successful than any of Saul’s other army commanders. As a result, David earned an excellent reputation. \*