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1 Samuel 18 Bible study: As his own soul
Every time chapter 18 uses the Hebrew verb for love, David is the one loved: by Jonathan, by all Israel and Judah, by Michal, and, in Saul's own message, by all his servants (18:1, 18:16, 18:20, 18:22, 18:28). Saul alone is afraid of him, and the chapter gives the reason: "because the LORD was with him" (18:12).
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“David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.”
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“Chapter 18 says Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David.”
Is that in 1 Samuel 18, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
David, the one loved
In Hebrew this chapter uses the verb love five times, and every time David is the one loved. When David had finished speaking to Saul, "the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (18:1) (tap knit, soul and loved). "But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them" (18:16). "Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David" (18:20). The words Saul gives his servants to tell David say, "the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you" (18:22). And near the end, "Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David; and Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him" (18:28). Against all of it the chapter sets one man: "Saul was afraid of David" (18:12) (tap afraid), and "Saul was David’s enemy continually" (18:29) (tap enemy).
Where it leads to Jesus
Greater love
1 Samuel 18:3leads toJohn 15:13
"Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul" (18:3), and Jonathan gave David his robe and his clothing, "even including his sword, his bow, and his sash" (18:4). Jesus told his disciples, "This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you" (John 15:12), and "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). No New Testament passage cites 1 Samuel 18, and 1 Samuel doesn't say Jonathan laid down his life for David, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear in Jonathan's love for his friend a picture of the love Jesus names: in the chapters that follow, Jonathan speaks for David to his father (19:4-5), and when he asks, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" (20:32), "Saul cast his spear at him to strike him" (20:33). Others read each in its own setting: Jonathan's is a friend's covenant love, given with his robe and weapons (18:3-4), and Jesus speaks of his own love for his disciples, "even as I have loved you" (John 15:12).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 1 Samuel 18
That was a taste
The rest of 1 Samuel 18 is waiting in Favor
- Thousands and ten thousands
- What Saul said, and what he meant
- "The LORD was with him"
- Came mightily, and a harp
- He went out and came in
- 9 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
אָהַבahavsay a-HAV
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "love", with "human love to human object" among its uses. Strong's: "to have affection for". "Jonathan loved him as his own soul" (18:1). 1 Samuel uses the verb eight times, and five of them are in this chapter. Each time here David is the one loved: by Jonathan (18:1), by "all Israel and Judah" (18:16), by Michal (18:20, 18:28), and in the words Saul gives his servants to say, "all his servants love you" (18:22). The "loved" of 18:3, "because he loved him as his own soul", is the related noun ahavah (Strong's H160). Both come back when Jonathan makes David swear again: "for he loved him as he loved his own soul" (20:17).
For your group
1 Samuel 18 Bible study questions
- 1Jonathan loved David "as his own soul" (18:1) and gave him what was his own (18:4). Who has loved you like that, and who could you love that way this week?
- 2Saul heard the women's song and "watched David from that day and forward" (18:9). When has praise for someone else been hard for you to hear, and what did you do with it?
- 3Three times the chapter says the LORD was with David (18:12, 18:14, 18:28). Saul saw it and was afraid; Jonathan and Michal loved him. How do you respond when you see God at work in someone else?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 1 Samuel 18 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home