1 Samuel 19:1-3 - Saul is looking for a chance to kill you

19:1

The enmity of Saul towards David becomes all the more blatant. Previously he had been working covertly to have David killed, now he works openly, telling his attendants and Jonathan to kill David. However, Jonathan was on David’s side, not Sauls. The enemy may have plans to destroy us, but we should not fear, for God already has plans to frustrate the enemy.

19:2,3

We have read earlier of Jonathan’s disdain for his father, thinking him to be a curse on Israel, and of his friendship with David. So Jonathan goes to warn David, advising him to be on his guard, and to go into hiding. Meantime Jonathan would go out to speak privately with his father, and then let David know the outcome.

1 Corinthians 11:1,2 - Follow my example

11:1

The section headings in your Bible probably indicate this verse should go with the previous section, at least NIV and ESV do this. Paul is urging the Corinthians to “follow my example as I follow Christ”. The Corinthians were in danger of seeing the gospel as all about them. Now the gospel does bring immeasurable benefits to the individual believer, but the basic call from Jesus is “follow me”. Our focus needs to be on following Christ.

11:2

Chapters 11 to 14 deal mostly with public worship, though as always with Paul, other deep and important teachings are brought in along the way. Perhaps most importantly the section on love.Paul begins by praising the Corithians for two things (i) for remembering Paul; and (ii) for “holding to the traditions”. The “traditions” are probably the ways of worshipping and other aspects of church life that Paul had taught them. However, it will soon become apparent that they did not hold to everything, and needed further guidance in a number of areas.

1 Samuel 18:26-30 - Saul became still more afraid of him

18:26,27

David was delighted to hear of the king’s requirement. So David took his men and killed two hundred, rather than just one hundred, Philistines, and brought back their foreskins. Saul then had no choice but to give Michal to David in marriage. So we see two different mindsets at work here. Saul is “kicking against the goads”, trying to frustrate God’s will, always a futile exercise. He thinks his plan will lead to David’s death, and the end of his problems. Even if David had died, God’s rejection of Saul would still stand. David, a man of God, living by faith, saw an opportunity to use his God given skills to defeat the enemy. We can think that a head on confrontation is the way to defeat the enemy. Sometimes it is, but not always. Delighting in the Lord should be a key part of our life.

18:28-30

Saul realised that his ploy had failed, and that the Lord was with David. He realises this on a number of occasions but then seems to forget very quickly! He also saw that Michal loved David. So Saul was more afraid than ever, and was an enemy of David. He should have realised that the situation was hopeless and repented. Meanwhile, the Philistines continued to fight against Israel, and David continued to go out to battle against them and win.

1 Corinthians 10:27-33 - Do it all for the glory of the Lord

10:27,28

Likewise, if you are eating at the house of an unbeliever you have no idea where the food has come from.  Again, what should not worry about it, but eat the food gladly. However, if the host then says that the food was offered to an idol, then our actions should change. In that case the believer should not eat the food. This is both for your own sake, and the sake of the host.

10:29,30

If the believer does eat the food that has been declared as having been offered to idols, then the conscience of the unbeliever may be affected. How so? The unbeliever may then have a lower opinion of the believer, thinking he is not being true to his professed faith. Unbelievers may mock or deride us for our values, but they will also condemn us if we do not act consistently.

10:31-33

Paul now sums up the argument, and the key thing is one of our basic driving force. Are we doing things for ourselves or our ego, or for the glory of God. Doing things for the glory of God includes looking after other believers. So we should ensure that as far as possible we do not cause anyone else to stumble. We should think of others. We are to seek the good of others,”so that many may be saved”.

1 Samuel 18:22-25 - I am only a poor man and little known

18:22,23

There seems to be either a little pride in David, or honour in him. Saul gets his attendants to speak to David, telling him that Saul likes him and wants him to be his son-in-law. On being told this David is still reluctant, still claiming to be unworthy, whether it be through pride or honour.

18:24,25

Saul can now enact his plan. It was common practice in those days for a “bride price” to be paid. In this case Saul requires “a hundred Philistine foreskins”. How delightful! This would appeal to David’s warrior nature. Saul’s plan was that the task would be very dangerous, and as a result David would be killed.

1 Corinthians 10:24-26 - No one should seek their own good

10:24

We now get the attitude that we should have, “no one should seek their own good, but the good of others”. Rebellious man thinks only of himself; he may put a veneer of respectability on this by adding “as long as it doesn’t harm others”. However, all that we do affects others in some way. This applies most obviously in the matters of sexual morality and gender identity. Most of the arguments for “sexual freedom” and “gender ideology” focus mostly or only on the person directly involved.

10:25,26

However, the context here is that of food offered to idols. There were two contexts in which this could occur. One which was dealt with earlier in this chapter, is that where there is some sort of ceremony or ritual related to an idol. This was likely to occur in relation to trade guilds. The Christian should have nothing to do with such rituals. The second context, and the one addressed now, is that of food sold in the marketplace. Such food may or may not have been offered to idols. Paul’s instruction here is not to be too fastidious. I.e. there is no need to carry out an investigation to determine the origin of the food! Ecc 7:16 does say “do not be overrighteous”. Everything is the Lord’s so the starting point is that one can eat the food with gratitude towards the Lord.

1 Samuel 18:18-21 - I will give her to him

18:18,19

David says that he was not worthy to become the king’s son-in-law. Neither he, his family nor his clan was worthy of such a thing. “So” may also be “however”. If “so” then it seems that Saul decided not to give Merab to David as his wife, or the marriage just didn’t happen. If “however”, then for some reason plans changed and Merab was married off to Adriel. Either way, David did not marry Merab.

18:20,21

Saul’s other daughter, Michal, was in love with David. Saul heard about this and was pleased to give her to David. However, his motives were far from pure. He thought she would be a snare to David, in that he could use her as enticement for David to embark on a dangerous mission and be killed by the Philistines. Saul thought he could solve his problems by getting David killed, the Jewish religious leaders thought they could solve their problems by getting Jesus killed. Both were wrong. In David’s case he wasn’t killed, in Jesus’ case He was raised from the dead!