1 Samuel 19:8-18

8 And there was war again; and David went forth and fought with the Philistines, and smote them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.

9 And an evil spirit from Jehovah was upon Saul. And he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David played with his hand.

10 And Saul sought to smite David and the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the spear into the wall. And David fled, and escaped that night.

11 And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be put to death.

12 And Michal let David down through a window; and he went, and fled and escaped.

13 And Michal took the image, and laid it in the bed, and put the net of goats' [hair] at its head, and covered it with the coverlet.

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

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

16 And the messengers came in, and behold, the image was in the bed, and the net of goats' [hair] at its head.

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

18 And 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.

1 Samuel 19:8-18 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]. See Note e, ch. 18.11
• [b]. Heb. 'teraphim.'
• [c]. A protection from gnats.