What's your response? Envy or Appreciation - 1 Samuel 18
Prayer:
Lord help us to cultivate love toward each other as you would have us do. Help us to heed the warnings that we get from studying Saul's behavior, and help us to live like lives more like Jonathan - lives marked with self-sacrifice, lives committed to your purposes rather than to our own.
To remind us where we left off: Goliath is dead, killed by the young David, the Philistines have been routed, and now its time for the King to return home.
Quickly Form Groups and answer these Questions: BE HONEST!!
1. Who do you envy and why?
2. Who would you like to have envy you?
3. Why is envy a dangerous thing?
<have groups share answers... some thoughts:> I envy people with all kinds of musical and artistic talent, I wish I had the talent that they have. As a child growing up I was quite envious of my brother, he had tons of natural talent & was well liked by everyone. Sometimes I catch myself wanting my brother or my friends to envy me, my situation, what I can do that they can't. Envy is a form of Jealousy and has its roots in a Discontented Spirit. When we envy we are telling God we're not satisfied with the beautiful and unique way He's gifted us, we want something else or someone else's gifts instead. Envy is also a sin that offers no pleasure - it harms both the giver & receiver.
In the Bible we see several examples of the destructiveness of envy: Lucifer's revolt from heaven, Cain's murder of Abel, Herod's massacre of the innocent children in Bethlehem, and more... today's passage introduces another case of envy - Saul's envy of David, and Saul's envy is horribly destructive. That said, this passage starts on a more beautiful note, on a very different response to David, on the response of Jonathan - Jonathan, in contrast to his father Saul appreciates rather than envies David.
1 Samuel 18 v1-4: Jonathan could have been envious of David, David had just killed Goliath, David was Israel's champion, David was clearly being used by God. But Jonathan chose a better way, instead of questioning why God hadn't used him, he appreciated the one that God had chosen to use. Jonathan goes beyond simple appreciation, he entered into a covenant with God's chosen. In Beth Moore's study on David she notes that this covenant was based on Jonathan's love and no mention is made whether David reciprocates. Jonathan's behavior was unexpected and self-sacrificial, a response like Jonathan's is precious & rare - we should strive to respond more like Jonathan.
Rebecca Manley Pippert in her book A Heart Like His says the following about Jonathan: "Jonathan's life is a testimony to the freedom that comes when we see ourselves accurately before God, and when we humbly submit to his sovereignty. Now we are free to accept our neighbor's blessing without envy. For if God is sovereign, then what is it to us if he chooses to bless our neighbor with abundant gifts?"
She goes on to say: "Once we understand that our future, our blessings, our reputation, and our success are all in the hands and under the control of a loving God, we can sit back and rest. God's plans for his children are plans of 'hope and not despair.'"
Jonathan's heart was obviously in line with God's where David was concerned. Jonathan and David are a picture of a beautiful friendship: over time Jonathan demonstrated his love for David, defended David's honor, and provided David protection from his own father King Saul. David was going to need this friend, especially as he came under attack from the King, and God was providing for David's needs.
<Side note from Chronological Study Bible, paraphrased:> When David accepted the gifts from Jonathan David took Jonathan's position, this action caused David to be positionally the heir apparent to the throne of Israel. Jonathan was a seasoned military leader, David was a young man who hadn't even served in the army, but from this point forward it is David who gets sent out to lead Israel in battle rather than Saul or Jonathan.
v5-9: In verse 5 we get a quick summary of David's skill as a warrior - David does such a good job that he gets promoted to a high rank, and the people and the King's officers are impressed. But back to the main story of David, they're heading home from the war with the Philistines, Goliath has been killed, and the people are rejoicing. The women are coming out of the towns to greet the King and his champion with songs & dances, a joyful celebration!! But then there's this song, a song that credits Saul with 1,000s and David with 10,000s.
<NIV Notes on Poetry of the time, paraphrased:> In normal conventions of Hebrew poetry the women were in essence saying "look what Saul & David have done, they've conquered 1000s". 10,000 would have been simply a parallel of 1,000, with no implication that David was better than Saul. It is Saul's jealousy, perhaps maybe even that they were recognizing anyone in addition to him, that colors his thinking and causes him to be offended.
Saul's response to David completely opposite of Jonathan. Saul was angry, he was galled by the songs of praise, he was suspicious and jealous of David. The word used for Saul's anger is "charah": to burn, be kindled, glow with anger, be incensed, grow indignant; to be zealous, act zealously.
v10-11: The very next day the evil spirit is back, and Saul is "prophesying" - perhaps being controlled by the evil spirit, and it is assumed that Saul was behaving in an uncontrolled and erratic manner. Enter David, the only one who could bring Saul comfort when tormented by the evil spirit. Yet Saul's envy of David was the very source of Saul's discomfort - by attempting to sooth Saul with music David served to fuel Saul's rage. David remains in obedient submission, and Saul attempts to kill him - twice. Saul's envy has led him into a murderous rage.
v12-16: Saul's paranoia is now rearing its ugly head, he's well aware that not only is he not God's chosen, but David obviously is. He isn't able to deal with his jealousy so he sends David away, giving him command over troops & responsibility as their leader. Saul secretly hoped that David would get killed in battle, after all he's just a young & inexperienced warrior, but Saul's plans backfired - God gave david success. Saul continues to become increasingly paranoid concerning David, but the people continue to grow in their love and appreciation for David & all that he is doing to defend them.
v17-19: Saul continues to try to manipulate the situation, he promises his daughter Merab in marriage to David in exchange for David's continued service. Its interesting to note that Saul's daughter was promised to the one who killed Goliath, and yet wasn't given, Saul didn't keep his word. Of the 3 promises made to Goliath's killed the first has been broken. But that's not all Saul is up to, he's trying to force David to continue in the army indefinitely, hoping that the Philistines will succeed in killing him. David responds in humility, who is he that he should become the son-in-law of Saul? So Saul gives her to another instead.
v20-22: Saul again tries to entrap David through marriage to a daughter, this time its Michal - one who is in love with David. Its interesting that Merab was not mentioned as loving David, so her feelings weren't even considered, but with Michal her feelings are being manipulated by Saul for his own purposes. Saul's callousness toward his daughters is disturbing, he obviously doesn't care about them but only about what they can do for him. On top of that there must have been something about Michal that Saul figured would undermine David, and Saul wants to take advantage of it.
v23-25: Again David responds in humility to the offer of a daughter of the king, and I thought it was interesting that he mentions he's poor. Remember the promises made to the one who killed Goliath? One of the promises was riches, yet David is poor, so now we know a second of the 3 promises made for Goliath's killer has been broken. What about that third promise, a promise to not tax David's family... we don't know, but I'm guessing that Saul didn't bother to keep that either. But Saul already has a plan, a way David can provide a dowry, and he has an agenda with that plan - he's hoping David gets killed in the process of trying to collect the dowry. What is the dowry? 100 foreskins from their Philistine enemies - and I guarantee the Philistines didn't give them willingly.
<Side note from Chronological Study Bible, paraphrased:> A Dowry is a bride-price common in David's time, and common in some cultures still today. Sometimes its the bride's father who supplies a dowry, and other times the prospective husband must pay the bride-price to the bride's father. In this case Saul requires that David provide tokens of a victory against their national enemy, the Philistines.
v26-27: David likes Saul's plan, and in true David fashion overachieves... I'm guessing he liked Michal since he brings back double the dowry price required by Saul, and David is married to Michal.
v28-30: God was with David, Michal loved David, David is continuing to be successful in all that he does, and Saul decides that David is his enemy.
Saul's envy has led him into foolish behavior, self-destructive behavior. Instead of benefiting from David's success Saul chooses to resent David's success. Saul's anger, envy, & insisting on his own way continued to backfire... no matter how powerful he was as King he could not overrule the providence of God. Women sang songs of appreciation of David, the people adored David, Jonathan was devoted to David, Michal loved David... and Saul is becoming increasingly desperate.
Closing Prayer: Lord please help us, like Jonathan, to appreciate the blessings you have placed upon others, and keep us from envy. Help us to be slow to anger, and to have only anger that is based on things that offend and anger You. Help us to not mimic Saul by having an uncontrolled & bursting "charah" type of anger. Amen!
Quickly Form Groups Again, and answer the following questions:
4. In the past, what damage has been done because of one of your outbursts?
5. When you have an outburst what is your focus? What should your focus be instead?
6. What have you learned to do in order to prevent responding to people or circumstances with envy or anger?
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