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1 Samuel 23 · a question people ask

Jonathan said Saul "knows that also" (23:17). Did Saul know David would be king?

In the text

The book lets you watch what Saul was told and what he said. Samuel told him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you" (15:28). Saul told Jonathan, "For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom" (20:31). Here Jonathan tells David, "you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also" (23:17). In the next chapter Saul says it himself: "Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand" (24:20). Yet in this chapter he still seeks David "every day" (23:14) and blesses the men who offer to hand him over (23:21).

The verses

“Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.”
1 Samuel 15:28 · 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
“David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.”
1 Samuel 23:14 · World English Bible
“He said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father won’t find you; and you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.””
1 Samuel 23:17 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 23

1 Samuel 23: Into whose hand?

Chapter 23 keeps asking whose hand David will fall into. Saul says God has delivered him into his (23:7), the LORD says Keilah's men would deliver him up (23:12), and the Ziphites promise to (23:20). But "God didn’t deliver him into his hand" (23:14), and Saul's own son comes to David and "strengthened his hand in God" (23:16).

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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