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1 Samuel 19 · a question people ask

God's Spirit came on Saul at Naioth (19:23). Did that mean the LORD was with him again?

In the text

The chapter says what happened, and not what it meant for Saul. Three times Saul sent messengers, the first "to seize David" (19:20), and each time "they also prophesied" (19:20-21). Then Saul went himself, and "God’s Spirit came on him also" (19:23); he "prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night" (19:24). David wasn't taken: the next chapter begins, "David fled from Naioth in Ramah" (20:1). The book had said, "Now the LORD’s Spirit departed from Saul" (16:14), and "the LORD was with him, and had departed from Saul" (18:12). After Naioth, Saul still says of David, "he shall surely die!" (20:31), and casts his spear at Jonathan (20:33). The book doesn't say that the LORD was with Saul again. Early in his story, too, "the Spirit of God came mightily on him, and he prophesied among them" (10:10).

The verses

“David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?””
1 Samuel 20:1 · World English Bible
“Now the LORD’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.”
1 Samuel 16:14 · World English Bible
“Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and had departed from Saul.”
1 Samuel 18:12 · World English Bible
“For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!””
1 Samuel 20:31 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 19

1 Samuel 19: Without a cause

Saul swore by the LORD that David would live (19:6), then reached for his spear again (19:10). Jonathan's "without a cause" (19:5) is chinnam in Hebrew, the word of the Psalms' "Those who hate me without a cause" (Psalm 69:4). Jesus said those words were fulfilled in the hatred he met: "They hated me without a cause" (John 15:25).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions