1 Samuel 22:18-23 - You strike down the priests

22:18,19

Saul then turned to Doeg. He was an Edomite and did not have the same scruples. Doeg was quite happy to carry out the order, killing eighty five priests. Many other people. Including women and children, in the town of Nob were killed by him, along with cattle, donkeys and sheep. The fruit of tyrants is always much bloodshed, as history repeatedly attests.

22:20-23

However, one priest, Abiathar, managed to escape. He fled to join David, so David now has a priest as well as a prophet. Abiathar informed David of what had happened.  David knew he was responsible for the deaths, knowing that Doeg would act treacherously. David promises to protect Abiathar. One of the costs of leadership is that the mistakes and sins of a leader affect many more people.

1 Corinthians 12:8,9 - Through the Spirit

12:8

We now get a list of various gifts. There are a few lists of gifts and ministries in the Bible, none of them should be viewed as being exhaustive or exclusive. The first two mentioned are wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is something the church in Corinth seemed to be lacking. Here I would take wisdom as the ability to see through a situation, to get to the heart of the matter and to know how to deal with the matter. Knowledge can be having knowledge of something because the Spirit has revealed it, i.e. It would otherwise not be known. There are some who do not accept this definition.

12:9

The next is faith. Now all believers by definition have faith, but this is speaking of a special faith for a particular circumstance. I.e. Giving a person belief that God is going to do something when most people would consider the situation hopeless.  Next are gifts of healing, the plural is interesting here.

1 Samuel 22:14-17 - You will surely die

22:14,15

Ahimelek had not conspired against Saul at all. David was actually a loyal servant of both Saul and Israel. He was also the king’s son-in-law. Ahimelek had no cause at all to think of David as a renegade. Indeed Ahimelek had inquired of the Lord for David on previous occasions. This may have been part of the reason why David went to Nob in the first place. Ahimelek had acted in all innocence.

22:16,17

However, paranoid despots never see sense, and Saul was no exception. So Saul declares that Ahimelek and all his family will die. In fact he then extends it to all the priests of the Lord, commanding his guards to kill them all. Death is always the fruit of paranoid tyrants. He believes that all the priests knew that David was fleeing and deliberately failed to tell Saul. However, the guards had more regard for the priests than Saul did, and were not willing to kill the priests.

1 Corinthians 12:5-7 - The Spirit is given for the common good

12:5,6

The emphasis continues to be on the Lord as the source and focus of the gifts of the Spirit, in all their varied forms. The gifts differ, but they come from the same Holy Spirit. There are different ministries, but all designed to serve the same Lord. The purpose of all gifts and ministries is to serve the purposes of the same Lord.

12:7

Gifts are given to a person not to exalt that person, but so that God's purposes are advanced, and that others are helped. Our natural tendency is to be self-focused, God's purpose is to be God focused, and other people focused. This is shown by Christ's statement on the two greatest commandments. The first is to love God with all that we have, and the second is to love our neighbour as ourself.

1 Samuel 22:9-13 - Why have you conspired against me?

22:9,10

Doeg the Edomite had been at Nob, and tells Saul that he has seen the “son of Jesse” with Ahimelek. And that Ahimelek inquired of the Lord for David, gave him Goliath’s sword, and also provided him with bread. Doeg had no true allegiance to Israel. Saul will trust an enemy of Israel, rather than his own men. Stalin and Hitler were both paranoid, and their paranoia was part of the reason for many deaths.

22:11

Saul then sent for the priest Ahimelek. At this stage Ahimelek probably had no idea of the trouble he was in. In helping David he thought he was helping one of the king’s servants. If David had been honest with him when he appeared at Nob then maybe things may have turned out differently. 

22:12,13

However, it very quickly turns out that things are not looking good for Ahimelek. Saul immediately accuses him of conspiring against him. Saul saw Ahimelek’s giving of bread and a sword to David, and inquiring of God, as being actions against Saul. The paranoia of Saul is all too evident, and others pay a high price for this.

1 Corinthians 12:3,4 - There are different kinds of gifts

12:3

We are then told what someone “speaking by the Spirit of God” cannot say, and what they will say. There are some who think that there were occasions in their meetings when someone actually would say “Jesus is cursed”. However, Schreiner thinks this unlikely. If this had actually been happening, surely it would have elicited a greater response from Paul. Conversely it is only by the Holy Spirit that one can say “Jesus is Lord”.

12:4

With their propensity for exalting self, and for comparing one person with another, deciding who is better, Paul highlights that “there are different gifts”. However, they all come from the same Spirit. At the beginning of the letter Paul chastised them for  saying “I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas” etc. This wish to compare people, or themselves, to be constantly ranking each other, was deep rooted. Indeed, it is part of human nature, but a characteristic that we need to be very wary of.

1 Samuel 22:6-8 - You have all conspired against me

22:6,7a

So we have seen what David is doing, and he is following the word of the Lord. We now see what Saul is doing, and it is very different from what David is doing. Saul learnt that David had been found. He was sitting, spear in hand, presumably ready to throw it at any person who took his displeasure (and probably miss). His officials were at his side. It seems that the officials were all from the tribe of Benjamin. He speaks to them about David, referring to David as “the son of Jesse”. Saul did not want to speak the name of David. He had an irrational hatred of David. 

22:7b,8

As happens with many tyrants (and some democratic leaders as well), they become paranoid, and this was true of Saul. He thought that all his officials were against him. He asks them if David will give them fields and vineyards, and promotion. He thinks that they were deliberately refusing to tell him where David was. He blames them for not telling him that Jonathan is on David’s side. 

1 Corinthians 12:1,2 - Now about the gifts of the Spirit

12:1

We now come to three chapters dealing with spiritual gifts and their use within the church. The emphasis is on two aspects: (i) everything is to be Christ centred; (ii) everything Is to be for the building up of others. What they are not about is self aggrandisement, It appears that Paul is writing in response to questions from the church itself. Paul wants them to be informed, to be aware.

12:2

“When you were pagans”. Prior to becoming disciples of Jesus Christ, the Christians in Corinth had been pagans, and their lives would have involved much pagan worship. Idol worship was just a normal part of everyday life. Paul pointed out that these idols could not speak. There are several passages in the Old Testament that mick idols for their inability to do anything. Here they are contrasted with the God who has spoken. A key element of the gospel is that God has revealed himself, H has spoken.

1 Samuel 22:3-5 - Do not stay in the stronghold

22:3

David then went to the king of Moab asking him to let his parents stay with him until he knew what to do. Now Moab was traditionally an enemy of Israel, so why would David expect to find favour there? There are two possible reasons. One is that Saul had fought against Moab, so perhaps it was a case of “my enemy’s enemy ...”. Another is that Ruth, David’s great grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabite. David also says that he will seek the Lord’s guidance.

22:4,5

It seems that the king of Moab was agreeable to David’s request, and he left his parents (who by now would be quite elderly) there. The prophet Gad came to David and told him to leave the stronghold and go to Judah. So David now has a prophet, later on in the chapter we will see that he gets a priest as well. In Jesus the roles of king, prophet and priest were rolled into one. By nature we seek places of safety. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but there comes a time when we need to leave the place of apparent safety and go to the place where God wants us to be. Israel failed to do this when they refused to go into the Promised Land. However, David obeys the word of the Lord and goes to Hereth. We don’t know where Hereth was, apart from it being in Judah.

1 Corinthians 11:32-34 - You should all eat together

11:32

Paul does not see the judgement as final, rather it is discipline from God. We need to appreciate that discipline from God is good for us, it is to save us from condemnation, and to improve our lives. Heb 12:4-11 is an important section in Hebrews that expands on this matter.

11:33,34

Paul now rounds off this section. They should all eat together. In 1 Cor 10:17 Paul said we are body because we all share in the one loaf, the sacrifice of Christ. He then gives very practical advice, if you are hungry eat at home first. So we see a deeply spiritual matter, the Lord’s Supper, and very practical advice going together. Paul then promises to bring them further instructions when he next visits them. We never get to know what these “further instructions” are.

1 Samuel 22:1,2 - David left Gath

22:1

David escaped and fled to the cave of Adullam. There he was joined by his family and by various waifs and strays. Remember that earlier his brothers had been far from friendly towards David. It doesn’t say with what spirit they joined David. The basic reason they joined him is probably because they were now in danger from Saul, rather than a great desire to join with him. They may have resented their own lives being put in danger because of David. In these opening two verses there are some parallels between David and Jesus. Jesus’ own brothers were not overly enamoured with Him either. However, they did stay with Jesus, and after the resurrection at least some of them became disciples.

22:2

David was also joined by various outcasts and those in trouble. They were people who were “in distress, or in debt, or discontented”. Jesus attracts all sorts of people, many of them not naturally attractive. David gathered about four hundred men and he became their commander.

1 Corinthians 11:28-31 - Everyone ought to examine themselves

11:28,29

So we should treat the bread and wine with proper respect. We should examine ourselves before taking the bread and wine. We should repent of anything we need to repent of, and change any wrong attitudes that we may have. 

“Discerning the body of Christ” is a phrase that is sometimes used by those proclaiming some dodgy teaching. So what does it mean? It could refer to the church, i.e. properly recognising that all believers, regardless of worldly status (or lack of), are fully members of Christ’s body, the church. Or it could mean properly appreciating what the cross was all about.

11:30,31

Failure to properly discern the body is a very serious matter. Paul states here that failure to do this was the reason why many were sick, and some had even died! Sometimes sickness is the direct result of sin. This does not mean that all sickness is a direct result of sin, but sometimes it is. In fact, Paul sees it as the result of judgement from God. We need to have a Biblically balanced view on this matter. There are some, but not many, who see all sickness as a direct result of sin. However, the primary imbalance in the church today is never seeing sickness as possibly being a direct result of sin.

1 Samuel 21:8-15 - David feigned insanity

21:8,9

David had no weapons with him, so he sks the priest if he has a sword or spear available. David’s lack of a weapon is at odds with his tale about being on a mission for the king. One lie usually leads to another, and so it does here. So David says he was sent on this mission with such urgency that he hadn’t brought a weapon. Ahimelek replies that the only sword around is Goliath’s sword, the one David took off Goliath when he killed him. David is happy to take that sword.

21:10-15

Psalm 34 was written about this time. David fled from Saul and went to Achish, king of Gath. David’s renown seems to have been widespread, for the servants of Achish recognised him as David, and knew of the refrain about him killing tens of thousands. On hearing this David feigned insanity. He feared that they would try to kill him. Even warriors can have fear in their hearts. David acted like a madman. Achish didn’t want anything to do with David, saying that he had enough madmen of his own to deal with. David’s act was clearly effective.

1 Corinthians 11:26,27 - You proclaim the Lord's death until He comes

11:26

The Lord’s Supper is a supremely important sacrament. It is important for us, for what Jesus did on the cross and resurrection is the whole basis for our life and hope. But it is also a demonstration to the world of what we believe. It is so much more than a ritual. We “proclaim the Lord’s death”. Just think what an odd thing this is, without the resurrection. The gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the wisdom of God to those who are being saved. There is also a looking forward to the return of Christ.

11:27

Some of the Corinthians were treating their fellow Christians with contempt. In doing so they were sinning against “the body and blood of the Lord”. They are in fact treating the body and blood of Christ with contempt. The focus here seems to be on counting all follow believers as equals. We can also do this if we have the attitude of “I can sin because Christ will forgive me”. Yes we will be forgiven, but we are forgiven in order that we can become ever more Christlike. 

1 Samuel 2:3-7 - The king sent me on a mission

21:3,4

David now asks for food, and the priest replies that the only food he has is consecrated bread.  The priest agrees to give David this bread as long as his men have abstained from sexual relations with women. See Ex 19:15, Lev 15:18. Jesus referred to this incident in one of the many Sabbath arguments (Matt 12:4). God did not intend the Law to be taken in a legalistic manner. The Pharisees, of course, did precisely this, and to do so is a human trait. 

21:5,6

David replies that he always insists on his men being ceremonially clean when going out on missions, even ones where it is not strictly necessary. So the priest gives the consecrated bread to David, and the bread at the altar is replaced.

21:7

One of Saul’s servants was at that place. It says he was “detained by the Lord”, but gives no further explanation. This man was Doeg. Doeg was an Edomite and was employed by Saul as his chief shepherd. The Edomites were traditionally enemies of Israel. Doeg’s presence would later lead to trouble for David.

1 Corinthians 11:24,25 - This is my body

11:24

First of all He gave thanks for the bread. This is no incidental, but a crucial aspect of the Lord’s Supper. We are to receive it with thankfulness towards God. There is no place at all for exalting oneself. “This is my body, which is for you”. See the brief discussion on transubstantiation etc in 11:20. Much more involved descriptions can be found elsewhere! “Remembrance” is not just a matter of recalling what happened, but feeding on the significance of it all.

11:25

After this Jesus took the cup and said “This cup is the new covenant in my blood”. In the Old Testament there is an awful lot of blood in the sacrifices. Jesus shed His blood for our forgiveness. Remember also that in the Law it was strictly forbidden to eat the blood of animals, for “the life was in the blood” (e.g. Lev 17:11). So the words and instructions of Jesus must have been quite a shock to the disciples. When we take the wine we are to focus on the significance of Jesus shedding His blood for us.

1 Samuel 21:1,2 - David went to Nob

21:1

David is now on the run. First of all he runs to Nob where Ahimelek the priest is. It may be that he ran there in order to seek guidance from the Lord. When Ahimelek meets David he trembles. Perhaps this was because he knew of David’s reputation as a warrior and feared for his life. He asks David why he is alone.

21:2

In this phase of his life David uses deception. The Bible does not criticise David, nor does it condone his actions. We think of David as this great man of God, but we also know from the Psalms that he went through great mental anguish at various times. To put it in today’s terms, David’s “mental health” would not be great at this point! While the Bible does not overtly criticise David, his lies did cause problems later on. So what can we learn from this? When we are under pressure we should still seek to live by the truth, but if we fail to do so from time to time, we should repent, but not consider ourselves condemned forever. God is aware of our weakness (Ps 103:14).

So David pretends that he is on a secret mission for Saul. He does say that he will meet with his men “at a certain place”.

1 Corinthians 11:22,23 - Don't you have homes to eat in?

11:22

There was no good reason for the “elite” among the church to have a separate meal at church, they could do that perfectly well at home. In terms of society some of them (but not many, 1 Cor 1:26) may have been of the “elite”, but in terms of the church all were equal. By their actions, they were despising the church of God by humiliating the poor. 

11:23

Paul then reminds them what the Lord’s Supper is all about. The words used by Paul here match most closely with those found in Luke’s gospel. This is not surprising as Luke accompanied Paul on at least some of his journeys. The words passed on by Jesus were first given on the night He was betrayed.

1 Samuel 20:34-42 - Then David left

20:34-40

Understandably, Jonathan was furious at his father’s spear throwing antics. He left and did not eat, grieved at the way his father treated David. The next day he went into the field to inform David of the state of affairs. He shot the arrows and told the boy “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!”. These words were as much directed at David as at the boy. Jonathan then sent the boy back to town with his weapons. 

20:41,42

Jonathan and David then met and they had an emotional farewell. Jonathan then sent David on his way. In saying “Go in peace” and affirming their friendship, Jonathan is assuring David that he has not sided with the king, his support for David remains. So David left, and Jonathan went back to town. David would now be effectively in exile for a time, while Jonathan would serve with his father, the king.

1 Corinthians 11:20,21 - It is not the Lord's Supper you eat

11:20

The wish to prove you are right, or superior to others, has no place at the Lord’s Supper. We have all sinned, and all are utterly reliant on the atoning blood of Jesus. The Lord’s Supper is a celebration and declaration of that fact. It does nothing to exalt human beings. Now there are, or have been, great debates over the Lord’s Supper. The Roman Catholic church did, and still does, believe in transubstantiation. This means that the bread and wine literally becomes the flesh and blood of Jesus. This is a heretical view. Consubstantiation was a view favoured by Luther. This view says that the bread and wine remain as bread and wine, but the body and blood of Jesus are present as well. Both views seem to be a load of nonsense to me. Zwingli said that the bread and wine are symbolic. Something akin to this is probably the dominant view among evangelicals. While transubstantiation and consubstantiation have their errors, we should note that they take the Lord’s Supper and the cross seriously and be careful that we do not take it seriously enough.

The Corinthians were not actually eating the Lord’s Supper. This shows that saying the “right words” and doing the “right actions” does not make something right.

11:21

So what were they doing wrong? The Corinthians were not focused on Christ at all, but on themselves. They were exalting themselves, not Christ. Does the Lord’s Supper benefit us? Of course it does, for we are reminded that even though we are sinners, we are forgiven sinners. Christ has died for our sins. The Corinthians were treating it almost as a private dinner party!

1 Samuel 20:24-33 - You son of a perverse woman!

20:24-27

So David hid in the field, and the feast went ahead. Abner was sat next to Saul. Saul noticed David’s absence, but kept quiet about it for the first day, thinking there was an innocent reason for it, namely David being ceremonially unclean. However, when David was absent on the second day Saul inquired about the matter, asking Jonathan. For he knew that Jonathan was close to David. He refers to David as “the son of Jesse”, not wanting to use his name.

20:28-33

Jonathan gave Saul the agreed tale of David returning to Bethlehem. On hearing this Saul’s anger flared up, and his anger is directed at Jonathan because of Jonathan’s friendship with David. He then curses Jonathan, and his mother (Saul’s wife). Finally he tells Jonathan to  send men to capture and kill David. In response, Jonathan tells his father that there is no good reason to put David to death. In response Saul reverts to his old speat trick. He still hasn’t perfected this and needs to put some practice in!

1 Samuel 20:16-23 - May the Lord call David's enemies to account

20:16,17

So David and Jonathan made a covenant. The text also talks of their great love for each other. Of course there are some who see this as evidence of a homoerotic relationship between them. The Bible gives no evidence whatsoever of this. The Biblical teaching is that there are meant to be close relationships between men, but there are relationships where sex should not enter into it, and is destructive if it does so. These include relationships between men, between women, and between adults and children.The only relationship where sex is good and beneficial is between a man and woman in marriage.

20:18-23

Jonathan then gives David instructions, so that he can inform him of Saul’s reaction. This involved Jonathan shooting three arrows, and sending a boy to get them. His instructions to the boy would inform David of the state of play with Saul.

1 Corinthians 11:17-19 - I have no praise for you

11:17,18

The second half of the chapter deals with the Lord’s Supper. Paul does not have a high opinion of them at all with regard to how they regard the Lord’s Supper, and how they practise it.  Indeed, he says that their meetings do more harm than good!. The first issue that he raises is that of divisions. The Lord’s Supper should be a demonstration of unity, not division. In Eph 2:11-22 Paul shows how through the cross the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles has been done away with. The cross, and therefore the Lord’s Supper, is the great equaliser. All of us have sinned against God, and in Christ all who believe are forgiven and freely accepted by God. “and to some extent I believe it”. Paul had received reports of what was going on at the Lord’s Supper in Corinth, and thought that there was plausibility to the reports.

11:19

“No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you has God’s approval.” We can either take this verse at face value, or treat it as being an ironic statement. The commentaries I have read, including Schreiner, take it at face value. I think it is far more likely to be a statement tinged with irony. Let’s take the face value approach first. If this is the case, then what were the differences? Were they secondary issues? If so the Lord’s Supper is not the place to be settling them, or proving that one group is better than the other. If they were primary issues, then they would be addressed more directly. I favour the ironic view. If we look at what has gone before, some of the Corinthians were keen on proving that one group was better than the other (e.g. those who follow Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, 1 Cor 1:12).

1 Samuel 20:5-15 - Tomorrow is the New Moon feast

20:5-8

There was a feast the next day and David was supposed to attend. Instead he would go and hide in the field. As a shepherd he would know how to do this. They concocted a story that Jonathan was to tell Saul when/if Saul wondered where David was. Jonathan was to tell Saul that David had returned to Bethlehem for family reasons. Saul’s reaction to this would show whether he was still determined to kill David. David then says to Jonathan that if he is indeed guilty, then Jonathan himself should kill him. He did not want to let Saul kill him. Later we will see that neither did David want to kill Saul.

20:9-15

Jonathan declares that he will only do what is good for David. David then wonders how he will know if Saul has reacted angrily. Jonathan declares that he most certainly will let David know, and further stresses his allegiance to David. He also asks David to vow to show him and his family kindness. This has relevance for what happens after Saul eventually dies, and David becomes king, e.g. Mephibosheth. 

1 Corinthians 11:14-16 - It is her glory

11:14

Having said that, the argument that it is not natural for a man to have long hair seems not quite so obvious. There have been times when men seemed to have quite long hair. Indeed some paintings of Jesus show him with fairly long hair! Of course, the paintings are a product of the artist’s imagination, rather than being based on actually seeing Jesus! Even so men do normally have shorter hair than women (and often, as we get older, very little hair at all). Moreover, we do not get a clear definition of what “long” means in this context.

11:15,16

Conversely women having long hair is common, and usually adds to her beauty, it is to her glory. Paul then states that it is given to her “as a covering”. Paul’s argument from nature seems to be that women are meant to have covering on their head, men are not. Paul seems to be expecting an argument from some. His answer to that is that what he is saying is what he applies to all churches, and the other churches are quite happy with it.

1 Samuel 20:1-4 - How have I wronged your father?

20:1,2

David did not understand why Saul was so obsessed with killing him. Looking at himself he could see nothing that he had done wrong. Sometimes we attract trouble because of our own stupidity or even sinfulness, but at others there is no good reason why we are being attacked. Jonathan’s response is that while Saul is out to kill David, he won’t succeed. The reason he gives is that Jonathan knows all that his father does, so he will be able to thwart Saul’s plans.

20:3,4

David was not so sure. David knew that Saul knew that Jonathan was on David’s side, so he would not necessarily let Jonathan know everything. David knew that he was in a very precarious position. Jonathan seems to begin to appreciate the situation better, and responds by saying he will do whatever David wants him to do.

1 Corinthians 11:11-13 - Man is born of woman

11:11,12

As mentioned above, some react against these verses because of a fear that the teaching is that men are superior to women, and men can make use of women. Paul now counters any such ideas. “Woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman”, and all this is “in the Lord”. He then points out the clear creation fact that while woman was created from man, so “man is born of woman”. “But everything comes from God”. We need to look at everything in the light of God being God. We also need to look at Christ for all things, how he showed us how to live. Doing so corrects an awful lot of wrong and mistaken thinking.

11:13

Having given theological arguments, Paul now argues from creation, from the natural order of things. There are no two ways about it, this section (11:1-16) is difficult to interpret precisely, because theological and cultural matters are intertwined with each other. However, there is one point that we can draw from this, this is that what seems obvious from nature is relevant in deciding what is right. For instance, the argument that homosexual acts are not natural has some weight, as does the argument that there are only two sexes.

1 Samuel 19:19-24 - Saul also prophesied

19:19,20

Somehow or other Saul found out that David was in Naioth, so he sent men to capture him. We now get a supernatural intervention. There was a group of prophets with Samuel, prophesying. The Spirit of God then came on Saul’s men, and they too started to prophesy. It seems as if they were no longer able to fulfil their Saul-given task. There is also the question of what they were prophesying. It is quite likely that the prophesying consisted of declaring the praises of God.

19:21

Saul learnt of what had happened, and his response was to send more men. But the same thing happened to them and they ended up prophesying. Saul is completely blind to reality. He knows that God has rejected him, he knows that David brings relief to his torment, he knows that David has defeated many enemies, and now he sees God intervening against his plans. Yet he still stubbornly carries on with his futile plans.

19:22-24

In response Saul decides to go himself. At the beginning Saul was looking for donkeys, now he is looking for Samuel and David. So he went off to where they were. On the way the Spirit came upon him, and he started prophesying, even stripping off his garments. Now back in the early days Saul had experienced this thing (1 Sam 10:10), and the phrase “Is Saul also among the prophets?” is repeated.

1 Corinthians 11:8-10 - Man did not come from woman

11:8,9

“For man did not come from woman, but woman from man.” Paul is basing this on Gen 2:21-23. This, together with 11:9, “Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man”.=, will raise the hackles of some. It does not imply any superiority of man over woman. It is significant that the first mention of men and women (Gen 1:26,27) stresses that both were created in the image of God, and are together to subdue the earth and have dominion. If we look at the life of Christ a key part of His glory was that He came to serve, we rejoice in this aspect of His life and character. I think there are two reasons we react against it. One is that sinful man all too often uses his position to dominate and exploit women. The other is that our sinful rebellious nature reacts against it. 

11:10

NIV has “It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head”, ESV has “That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head”. Again, we should note that Jesus lived and rejoiced in the fact that He lived under His Father’s authority. “Because of the angels”. There are various interpretations of this, none of them particularly convincing, at least not to me. One is that the head covering protects the woman from fallen or lustful angels. Another is that the angels are involved in worship and wish to see things carried out properly.

1 Samuel 19:14-18 - David went to Samuel

19:14-16

When Saul’s men arrived Michal told them that David was ill. They seem to have listened to this and gone away. In one way this was understandable, as David was an esteemed leader and they had respect for him. On the other hand they had been sent to capture him and then he would be killed. So saying “wait till you feel better, then we can kill you” is a little odd. Maybe these men did not know what Saul’s plan was? Whatever the case, Saul sent them back and made it perfectly clear that he was going to kill David. When they got back to David’s house they find that David has fled, and the lump in the bed was just an idol.

19:17,18

Saul was angry with Michal for deceiving him, though this is just further demonstration of Saul’s stupidity. Mich claimed that David forced her to let him get away, and did so under the threat of death. Meantime, David fled to Samuel and told him all that Saul had done. He expected to get a fair hearing from Samuel. They both then went to Naioth.

1 Corinthians 11:7 - A man ought not to cover his head

11:7

While women should cover their head, men should not do so. Man is the image and glory of God. What does this mean? We know from Gen 1:26,27 that men and women were created in the image of God. To say that men are the glory of God means that we should display with our lives the splendour and wonder of God. Just as a great work of art demonstrates the skill of the artist, so we should demonstrate the greatness of God. Now sinful man does not do that because of sin, but in Christ we have been set back on the right road, and it should be our aim to honour God in our lives. To be a living sacrifice. In the same way, women are the glory of men, or wives the glory of husbands. This does not mean women are inferior to men, not does it mean women are subservient. The noble wife of Prov 31 is anything but a mere wallflower! And women being the glory of man is a bit like the Son being the glory of the Father.

1 Samuel 19:8-13 - Once more war broke out

19:8-10

David could not spend all his time playing the lyre for Saul. War broke out again with the Philistines, and David went out to fight them. As always, he was successful and the Philistines fled. David went back to playing the lyre after the fighting. At about the same time “an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul”. What the writer is saying is that this was all part of God’s plan. Saul tried his old spear trick, but David eluded it. Having had much experience of this, David wasted no time and escaped.

19:11-13

Saul sent his men to hunt down David and kill him. However, Saul’s family were not exactly onside. Jonathan was definitely on David’s side, and so was Michal, his wife. Michal warned David to flee from their house, and let him down through the window. The house was possibly built into the wall of the city. Michal also took an idol and placed it in the bed, so that it looked as though David was there. It must have been a sizable idol. It also raises the question of why Michal had an idol. Idol worship seems to have been endemic in Israel.

1 Corinthians 11:5,6 - Every woman who prays

11:5,6

Paul now says that women who pray or prophesy with their head uncovered whole disrespect for their head, i.e. for her husband. In the next few verses theological justification for this will be given, this is why there are some who see the wearing of a head covering as a lasting ordinance. The more common view is that women should show respect for men, and this the lasting ordinance. The wearing of a head covering is a purely cultural thing, and as in our culture wearing a hat has little to do with showing respect for men it is no longer relevant, it is the showing of respect that is the key issue. Now in our society there is a lot of disrespect for men, e.g. “toxic masculinity”. Some men are terrible creatures, but so are some women. Men should also treat women properly, and definitely not as sex objects. We should also note that the instruction to wear a head covering is given in the context of praying or prophesying. It was a mark of shame for a woman to have shaved off her hair. Paul likens not wearing a head covering to shaving off her hair.

1 Samuel 19:4-7 - Jonathan spoke well of David

19:4,5

Jonathan spoke clearly with his father, pointing out that David had not wronged Saul in any way. Quite the opposite, Saul had greatly benefited from David’s actions. David had risked his life in fighting Goliath. Because we all know the outcome, we often don’t appreciate that in human terms David was almost certainly going to be killed. The odds were heavily stacked against him. Note also that Goliath is usually just referred to as “the Philistine”. David had won a great victory for all Israel, and had made Saul glad. So why was Saul now trying to kill David? We should not always expect rationality from people.

19:6,7

Once again Saul “listens” and changes his mind. However, he had done this before, and will do so again. He is a very fickle man. A man or woman led by evil, or evil spirits, will not be consistent or rational. They will switch from good to evil and back again, with evil increasingly gaining the upper hand. So Saul says that David will not be put to death. Jonathan informed David of the change in Saul, and David resumed his position as Saul’s musician.

1 Corinthians 11:3,4 - The head of every man is Christ

11:3

First of all Paul deals with the matters of head coverings. Now to us this seems a rather arcane notion.The section 11:3-16 is difficult to interpret, and there are various ideas on many aspects of what Paul says. The first relates to what “head” means. There are three main suggestions: (i) authority; (ii) source; and (iii) preeminence. The second is seen if we compare NIV and ESV. NIV has man and woman, ESV has husband and wife. On balance NIV seems better, as the instructions given apply to men and women in general, not just to husband and wife. On the “head” issue Schreiner favours the “authority” line, and I am inclined to go along with that. Paul presents a headship sequence of God being the head of Christ, Christ being the head of everyman, and man being the head of woman.  This then raises a further issue with regard to Christ and God. Is the authority (or headship) economic or ontological? What this means is Paul saying God is the head of Christ in a functional sense, or is it an inherent quality? The former is the case. I.e. Christ (Jesus as Messiah) lived under His Father’s authority, as the gospels clearly attest. It does not mean that the Son of God is in any way lesser or inferior to the Father. Schriener spends several pages on this verse, who would have thought it could be so complicated! We should note that in saying man is the head of woman Paul is not saying man is in any way superior to woman. 

11:4

In the culture of the day wearing a head covering signified being under authority. So a man wearing a head covering while praying or prophesying “dishonours his head”. Now this may seem strange, for if Christ is our head, surely it would mean the man was recognising that Christ was his head? However, wearing head coverings was common in pagan worship rituals.