Chapter Eighteen

Popular regard for David. Saul’s suspicion. Saul’s secret enmity toward David.

1 Samuel 18:1. As soon as 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. 1 Samuel 18:2. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 1 Samuel 18:3. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. A covenant of friendship.

1 Samuel 18:4. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. 1 Samuel 18:5. And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely; and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was well-pleasing in the sight of all the people and also of Saul’s servants. 1 Samuel 18:6. As they came home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music. 1 Samuel 18:7. And the women sang to one another as they played, and said: Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands! 1 Samuel 18:8. And Saul was very angry, and this word displeased him, and he said: They have attributed to David ten thousands, and to me only thousands; and what more can he have but the kingdom? 1 Samuel 18:9. And from that day forward Saul kept a watchful eye on David. 1 Samuel 18:10. And on the next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved in his house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as he did day by day; and Saul had a spear in his hand. The music of David had evidently lost all charm for Saul. The sight of a presumed rival for his throne awakened in Saul uncontrolled rage.

1 Samuel 18:11. And Saul hurled the spear, thinking: I will pin David to the wall; but David escaped from him twice. We must suppose that Saul acted here not entirely unconsciously, for soon afterward he began calmly to devise other, more respectable, ways to destroy David.

1 Samuel 18:12. And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him but had departed from Saul. 1 Samuel 18:13. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand; and David marched out and came in before the people. 1 Samuel 18:14. And David behaved wisely in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him. 1 Samuel 18:15. And when Saul saw that he was very successful, he was afraid of him. 1 Samuel 18:16. But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them. The obvious success of David in all matters, his irresistible charm on those around him, inspired in the morbidly suspicious king a sort of superstitious fear of this supposed enemy.

1 Samuel 18:17. And Saul said to David: Here is my elder daughter Merab; I will give her to you for a wife; only be strong 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. Evidently, Saul did not yet dare openly to act against the young popular hero.

1 Samuel 18:18. But David said to Saul: Who am I, and who is my family, and what is my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? 1 Samuel 18:19. But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel of Meholah in marriage. 1 Samuel 18:20. Now Saul’s other daughter Michal loved David. And when it was told Saul, the thing pleased him. 1 Samuel 18:21. Saul thought: I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of the Philistines may be upon him. And Saul said to David: You shall this day be my son-in-law through the other one. “She may be a snare for him”: see verse 25.

1 Samuel 18:25. And Saul said: Thus shall you say to David: The king desires no bridal gift except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged on the king’s enemies. For Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. Mohar — the bride price offered by the bridegroom for the bride, determined in its amount, among other things, by the importance of the bride’s social position. The mohar for the daughter of a king could not be insignificant. Foreskin — the removal of the foreskin.

1 Samuel 18:26. And his servants told David these words, and it pleased David to become the king’s son-in-law. The feelings of Michal and David were evidently mutual.

1 Samuel 18:27. Before the time was up, David rose and went with his men and killed two hundred of the Philistines, and brought their foreskins as the full number to the king, so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. “Before the time was up” — before the appointed days for the campaign.

1 Samuel 18:28. And Saul saw and realized that the Lord was with David [and all Israel loved him,] and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. 1 Samuel 18:29. And Saul was still more afraid of David, and he became David’s enemy for all time. 1 Samuel 18:30. And whenever the commanders of the Philistines came out, David was more successful than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was held in great esteem. By making a marriage between Michal and David, Saul “fell, as it were, into his own trap. By making David his son-in-law, he understood that David had now become incomparably more dangerous to him, because he had become a member of his royal house” (Ia. Bogorodsky, “Hebrew Kings”, p. 90).