First Samuel 16:14

The Bible says in First Samuel 16:14, “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.” Another difference about the Old Testament and the New Testament is that the Spirit could depart from someone in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament once you accept Jesus as Savior, the Spirit will never leave you. As it says in Ephesians 4:30, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Even though the Spirit cannot leave us the way that He left Saul, we still want to be careful that we do not “grieve” the Spirit. That would be terrible. We need the Spirit to guide us. We need the Spirit to teach us. We need the Spirit to draw us close to Jesus. We need the Spirit so that we will have the fruits of the Spirit instead of the works of the flesh.

Notice that an evil Spirit came to Saul once the Holy Spirit left Saul. An evil spirit could not have come while the Holy Spirit was there. For that same reason an evil spirit can never inhabit a believer because he or she always has the indwelling Holy Spirit. The evil ones fear God and run away from Him. The evil ones know that Jesus is King. That is why Christians are protected from demons and other forms of evil. We have the all-powerful Christ and the Holy Spirit within us. And Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us.

God is involved in everything in this world. It is His world and everything in it belongs to Him: the evil and the good. No evil happens unless God lets is happen. That is one of the things that we cannot entirely understand or know. How can such things be? And yet somehow God controls everything. That is one reason that we have the promise in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them that are the called according to His purpose.”

The Bible says in First Samuel 16:15-17, “And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.[16] Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.[17] And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.” These verses emphasize the importance of music. David had a lot of time on his hands when he was the shepherd of the sheep as a teenager. He used his time well. He not only learned to be an expert with the slingshot, but he also learned to be an expert musician. The people knew the value of music to soothe the soul. All of the Psalms were written to be sung as songs. But anyway, this passage shows how the circumstances came about whereby David would be brought into King Saul’s presence.

The Bible says in First Samuel 16:18-23, “Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.[19] Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep.[20] And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul.[21] And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer.[22] And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight.[23] And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.” David already had quite a reputation. Everyone has a reputation. David was known for his music ability which is why he was chosen to come and soothe Saul’s spirit with music. David was also known as “a mighty valiant man, and a man of war.” We know that David killed wild animals while guarding the sheep, and was an expert with the sling shot. It says in verse eighteen that David was “prudent in matters.” In France a child that is well-behaved is called “sage.” That means literally “wise.” Even as a very young man, David was prudent. The opposite of that is foolish. Some children are foolish because they do not know how to act. It also says that David was a comely person, and so from a human standpoint, he was the total package. He had it all. And David had one more thing that made everything work so well for him: he knew the Lord. David had a true relationship with God. It says at the end of verse eighteen, “the LORD is with him.”

The Bible says in First Samuel 17:1-11, “Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.[2] And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.[3] And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.[4] And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.[5] And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.[6] And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders.[7] And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.[8] And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.[9] If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.[10] And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.[11] When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.” One of the things that Goliath is most known for is how big he was. A cubit is approximately 1 ½ feet, and therefore, Goliath was over nine feet tall. People always want to compare what is in the Bible to what is known in modern day science. Is it possible for a man to be over nine feet tall? We have people in the modern world who are well over eight feet tall, so yes, it is possible. Goliath was so big that he frightened all the Israelite soldiers. None would answer his challenge because they were afraid. In their minds, to fight Goliath one-on-one would mean certain death. But what if someone trusted in God? Can we not do all things through Christ who strengthens us? Was God not able to prepare someone who would be more than a match for Goliath? Every human being has their weaknesses and their vulnerabilities. Goliath also had tremendous armor to protect him, but there was one very important open spot: his forehead.

The Bible says in First Samuel 17:12-15, “Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehemjudah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men for an old man in the days of Saul.[13] And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.[14] And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.[15] But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.” Of course, these verses are setting the stage for the great incident of David and Goliath. David goes back to tending the sheep. His three oldest brothers are with King Saul, and are thus in place to take up Goliath’s challenge if they dare to. God is in charge of all things, and God has decided to give the shepherd boy, David, the great victory over Goliath.

The Bible says in First Samuel 17:16-24, “And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.[17] And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren;[18] And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.[19] Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.[20] And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the trench, as the host was going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle.[21] For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array, army against army.[22] And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army, and came and saluted his brethren.[23] And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and David heard them.[24] And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.” We already see the enthusiasm, and the energy, and the positive spirit of David. He “ran into the army.” Then David heard Goliath and his threat, and David saw the fear in the soldiers of Israel.

The Bible says in First Samuel 17:25-29, “And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.[26] And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine, and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?[27] And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him.[28] And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle.[29] And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” David’s immediate reaction was that there is something wrong here. Why was not someone taking the challenge from Goliath? Why was Goliath allowed to “defy the armies of the living God?” Eliab, the oldest brother, did not react very well to David, and obviously tried to get David to go away. But David was going to stand up for what was right no matter what other people did or said.

The Bible says in First Samuel 17:30-36, “ And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.[31] And when the words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul: and he sent for him.[32] And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.[33] And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.[34] And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:[35] And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.[36] Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.” David is a great example of a prepared person being ready for a prepared place, and God did it. God prepared David. People might put you down and put you in a place that they think is taking opportunity away from you. But God can turn the tables. God can take a brother of low degree and exalt him because God decides. We also see that David was very confident because one success led him to know that he could have another success. To David Goliath was no different than the lion or the bear. David killed them, and David knew that he could kill Goliath too. It is wonderful to see God put a prepared person in a prepared place. That is one thing that the Lord might do with Christian parents: give the parents wisdom to know how to guide their children so that their childhood will be a time of preparation, so that when they reach adulthood, they will be ready to take on the work that the Lord has prepared them for. Christian schools and home schooling, and especially Christian colleges can be very effectual in being an integral part of this preparation.

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