“Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.”
Samuel 19 is a continuation of an ongoing theme. We’re speaking about King Saul’s obsession with David – and his repeated attempts on his life. David’s survival bears testimony to God’s providence. Otherwise, any one of Saul’s numerous efforts to snuff out Jesse’s son would have done the job.
Abravanel neatly enumerates King Saul’s efforts to put an end to David.
- Twice, the king hurled his spear at David. Unaware, he dodged Saul’s lance. In those instances, David had no knowledge of the attempts, as he had unrelated reasons to move out of harm’s way in a nick of time – twice. “And Saul cast the spear; for he said: I will smite David even to the wall. And David stepped aside out of his presence twice.” Samuel 18.
- Saul laid out terms of agreement if David were to marry Michal. Specifically, in exchange for bringing 100 foreskins of the Philistines, Saul would let David marry Michal. The pretext, so Saul ascribes, was to avenge Philistine acts of wrongdoing. “And Saul said: Thus shall you say to David: The king desires not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. For Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.” Samuel 18. David fulfilled Saul’s terms, plus more. He delivered two hundred foreskins to the palace.
- King Saul enlisted others to do the dastardly deed. “And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should slay David; but Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David.” Recognizing David’s greatness and noble bearing, and believing that David would succeed Saul, Jonathan cut a covenant with David. Needless to say, neither Saul’s son or lieutenants complied.
- As discussed in the earlier essay, King Saul used his daughter Michal to snuff out David’s life. To no avail, as the king’s daughter would lend no hand or conspire in the bloody plot. “And Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying: If you save not your life tonight, tomorrow you shall be slain.”
- David fled to Samuel in order to apprise the prophet of Saul’s ongoing attempts to slay him. David sought to secure Samuel’s support. “Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.”
King Saul’s fifth attempt to kill David, like all earlier ones, failed. Indeed, providence protected His anointed one. Our chapter concludes with the king’s fifth assassination bid. Let’s discuss Abravanel’s interpretation of the events.
In actuality, a proper understanding of our chapter’s conclusion turns on a single key verb, oft repeated: prophesy. “And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.” What does the verb mean, Abravanel probes? Had Saul’s messengers really joined the ranks of bone fide prophets, simply by entering Naioth?
Each of Saul’s successive sets of hit agents hit the same snag. “And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again a third time, and they also prophesied.” When all else failed, Saul personally pursued David and Samuel in Naioth, with, not surprisingly, the same outcome: Saul prophesied. “And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah; and the spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.”
To rephrase the original question: had Saul’s messengers and Saul himself risen to the very highest of human endeavors and ranks, reaching the status of a prophet? Had they all heard God’s word, Abravanel wonders? The chapter closes with a particularly perplexing verse – and graphic image of King Saul. “And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say: Is Saul also among the prophets?” Fairly, Bible students ask: Why did the king strip? After all, he certainly wasn’t an ecdysiast – Heaven forfend!
The venue, Naioth, was a place where truth seekers gathered and reflected, in hopes of meriting prophecy. Hardly had Saul’s messengers arrived there than they began conversing with the prophets. All the king’s men heard the same thing; David would succeed Saul as the Hebrews’ king. Hence, any attempt to assassinate David would come to naught, for the Maker had thusly decreed.
Not only were the seers sharing God’s word with Saul’s agents, but even Samuel, their master, reiterated: “And Samuel standing as head over them…” For Abravanel, it means that the hoary prophet foretold of David’s kingship.
Let’s turn now to Saul’s agents and to Saul, respectively. What did the agents experience in Naioth? Abravanel learns that the verb that we have translated as “prophesied” needs finesse. It doesn’t exactly mean that they somehow skipped stages to reach the pinnacle of man’s religious aspirations. Instead, it means they had entered an initiation phase. They secluded themselves; cogitated; quieted their thoughts to envision David’s destiny. Through clairvoyancy, they absorbed the prophets’ message. As a result, they refused to lay a finger on David, seeing that he was Heaven’s king-select. Saul’s agents also called it quits, resenting their mission, and disdained Saul on account of it.
As for Saul, a slightly different case than his messengers emerged. When he learned of his men’s desertion to join David’s side, he went to Naioth. “And he also prophesied before Samuel…” Again, for Abravanel, it teaches that Saul engaged in solitude for purposes of channeling the future. When the king saw Samuel, he grew awestruck, impassioned. Stirred, Saul shorn and shed his raiment. Naked and absorbed in meditation, the king remained that way – for a day and night.
Heaven’s communiqué overwhelmed King Saul. It felled him and sent him sprawling. Indeed, the experience hit a raw nerve. For a brief moment, Saul prophesied no differently than other veteran seers in Naioth. Rapture took hold of Saul as he cast off all sensory perception.
In this manner, Abravanel describes what happened to Saul and his messengers. David, however, had not prophesied. But he did smell an opportunity and fled town.