Saul’s Jealousy of David

1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.5 Whatever Saul sent him to do, David did it so successfully ^[a] that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the people, and Saul’s officers as well.

6 When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. 7 As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.”

8 Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9 And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

10 The next day an evil ^[b] spirit from God came forcefully upon Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the harp, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11 and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul. 13 So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14 In everything he did he had great success, ^[c] because the LORD was with him. 15 When Saul saw how successful ^[d] he was, he was afraid of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.

17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the LORD.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”

18 But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19 So ^[e] when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21 “I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”

22 Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and his attendants all like you; now become his son-in-law.’ ”

23 They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”

24 When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’ ” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.

26 When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

28 When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29 Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.

30 The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success ^[f] than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.

I know that I probably seem to be going soft on “the bad guy” in Saul, who starts heading towards murderous rage in this chapter, but it’s easy to understand the basis behind Saul’s jealousy. It’s really hard to look at the anointing of others and see God working through people who you start believing are lesser people than you are, and nasty jealousy takes a hold. You know that it’s not right, you know that it shouldn’t be about that, but there’s something deep down that makes you say “why isn’t that me?”

It’s pretty obvious that this is a devastating way to react. Saul becomes tormented by the anointing on David, by the Lord being “with David”. Jealousy, like almost no other, inflates your perception of events, and makes things worse than they are.

I managed to get along to this week’s game, and it was worth sitting in the freezing cold. The Kangaroos are pretty down at the moment, and it was blatantly obvious that they were a team that was lacking confidence. The could have been 10 separate occassions where a kick or a handball went directly to the chest of a Richmond player. The Kangaroos picked us out and drilled it to us. The only player of any merit in the Kangaroos side was Nathan Thompson, who was very unlucky not to have kicked 8 goals – he ended up with 5 and hit the post three times.

Richmond badly missed Matthew Richardson. For most of the game we completely lacked any semblance of a marking target in the forward line – Kayne Pettifer was playing at full forward. Although he aquitted himself admirably – kicking 4. Nathan Brown’s return was very encouraging: he looks like he might return to form at some stage late in this year. He managed to get quite a bit of the ball, setting a couple of goals up and kicking two himself.

Joel Bowden has cemented his place in the Fantasy Football sides of any astute player. Richmond has a game plan that says “If you can’t find a player on their own to kick to, kick it backwards to Joel Bowden”. It sounds absurd, but it is exactly what our young, impressionable team needs. They’ve clearly had it drilled into them that rather than panic at any stage, we turn around and kick it to Joel and let him set up our play. Kane Johnson might be the captain, and a great captain he is, but Joelly is our conductor, orchestrating any movement forward.

It wasn’t a pretty win, we’ve played much better this season, and had we played a better side we would almost certainly have been beaten. But from a Tigers supporter’s point of view, these are the wins that almost mean more than any other. The wins we should get. They’ve been the games were the tigers of old have inexplicably let slip. But Terry Wallace is transforming this side. They’re not a premiership side. They’re not even neccessarily likely to make the top eight. But they are beating the teams that they are better than. And that is a sweet relief.

Richmond 15. 12. (102)

def.

Kangaroos 9.13 (67)