1 Samuel 19:12-22

12 So Michal let David down through a window: and he went , and fled , and escaped .

13 And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.

14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said , He is sick .

15 And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying , Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.

16 And when the messengers were come in , behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster.

17 And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so , and sent away mine enemy , that he is escaped ? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go ; why should I kill thee?

18 So David fled , and escaped , and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

19 And it was told Saul, saying , Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.

20 And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying , and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied .

21 And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

22 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said , Where are Samuel and David? And one said , Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

1 Samuel 19:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 19

This chapter relates the dangers David was exposed unto through Saul's enmity at him, and his deliverance from them, as by the notice Jonathan gave him of his father's designs against him, and by his kind interposition on his behalf, 1Sa 19:1-7; by David's slipping out of Saul's presence, when he was about to cast a javelin at him, 1Sa 19:8-10; by Michal's letting him down through a window, when Saul sent messengers to kill him, and by deceiving them with an image laid in his bed in the room of him, 1Sa 19:11-17, and again by Samuel's protection of him at Naioth, whither David fled, and where Saul sent messengers after him, and at length came himself; and instead of laying hands on David, both he and the messengers were set a prophesying, 1Sa 19:18-24.

Footnotes

• [a]. image: Heb. teraphim