13 July. Saul attempts to kill David
“Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David, but Jonathan liked David very much. So he warned David, ‘My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Watch out in the morning. Hide in a secret place. I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are hiding, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll let you know what I find out.’”
“When Jonathan talked to Saul his father, he said good things about David. Jonathan said, ‘The king should do no wrong to your servant David since he has done nothing wrong to you. What he has done has helped you greatly. David risked his life when he killed Goliath the Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel…’”
“Saul listened to Jonathan and then made this promise: ‘As surely as the LORD lives, David won’t be put to death.’ So Jonathan called to David and told him everything that had been said. He brought David to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.”
“When war broke out again, David went to fight the Philistines. He defeated them, and they ran away from him.”
“But once again an evil spirit from the LORD rushed upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing the harp. David tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David jumped out of the way. So Saul’s spear went into the wall, and David ran away that night.”
“Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, saying, ‘Tonight you must run for your life. If you don’t, you will be dead in the morning,’ So she let David down out of a window, and he ran away and escaped. Then Michal took an idol, laid it on the bed, covered it with clothes and put goat’s hair on its head.”
“Saul sent messengers to take David prisoner, but Michal said, ‘He is sick.’ Saul sent them back to see David, saying, ‘Bring him to me on his bed so I can kill him.’ When the messengers entered David’s house, they found just an idol on the bed with goat’s hair on its head.”
“Saul said to Michal, ‘Why did you trick me this way? You let my enemy go so he could run away!’ Michal answered Saul, ‘David told me if I did not help him escape, he would kill me.’”
“After David had escaped from Saul, he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then David and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.”
(1 Samuel 19:1-18)
In today’s passage, Saul becomes increasingly volatile and unpredictable. Firstly, he threatens to get rid of David and orders Jonathan and all his servants to kill his rival. But after some timely intervention by Jonathan, who praises his young warrior friend, Saul comes to his senses again and promises not to harm David.
After an interval during which David goes off to fight the Philistines, we are given a second account of Saul’s violent behaviour. David is portrayed here as Saul’s resident harpist, rather than the young warrior who defeated Goliath. Saul again sends his men to kill David, but David escapes from the royal court at Gibeah with the help of an imaginative plot hatched by his wife, and flees to Samuel at Ramah (see 4 on the map posted on 8 July).
Saul then pursues David to Ramah, and discovers David has fled with Samuel to Naioth. But Saul is prevented by the Holy Spirit from harming David, who escapes once again (see 1 Samuel 19:19-24).
The photo (by Judae1) shows a view of East Jerusalem from the site of King Saul's palace at Gibeah.
You can read more about David and Saul @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/30-israel-becomes-a-kingdom-under-saul-and-david/saul-becomes-jealous-of-david/