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1Sa_18:13-30
Alarmed to see the progress David was making in the affections of the notable persons at court, and that even his son Jonathan had become entirely subject to the fascination by which the son of Jesse gathered to him the hearts of men like summer fruits, he deemed it wise to remove him from this sphere of influence by sending him into a sort of honorable exile. He was entrusted with the command of a thousand men, and sent upon the dangerous service of guarding the frontier, in the hope that his daring spirit would lead him into such hazardous enterprises as would soon accomplish his destruction by the sword of the Philistines. But this only afforded David the better opportunities of showing that he possessed not only the qualities of a champion, but the talents, the sagacity, and prudence of a military leader, while he was thus also enabled to gather that experience in war which availed him much in later years. Still further dismayed at the rapid growth of David’s popularity with the people, Saul next thought of making him a prop to his family by uniting him to his eldest daughter Merab. The hand of the king’s daughter had been promised beforehand to the conqueror of Goliath, but Saul had conveniently forgotten this promises and David had been too discreet to press for its fulfillment. Now the king proposed it as a new matter, and caused it to be intimated to David that such an alliance was not beyond his hopes, in case he proved himself worthy by renewed exertions against the enemies of his country. The manner in which he received this intimation is well worthy of attention. He did not decline the honor proposed—both prudence and respect forbade that; but he was careful to make it appear that not only did he not claim or accept it as a matter of right, but disavowed all pretences to it on the score of merit. Such greatness as David possessed is but little conscious of its own deservings; and we have reason to suppose that David spoke with no less sincerity than prudence when he said, “Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
By what increased exertions David showed his worthiness of this honor, and by what escapes from the perils into which his daring spirit threw him, he defeated the king’s secondary, no longer primary, object of effecting his destruction, we do not learn; but we know that when the time for the fulfillment of the promise arrived, Saul shamefully violated his word, and bestowed his daughter upon another man. This harsh indignity and disappointment must have been deeply felt by David. Many men would have been exasperated by it into some act of outrage or some indiscreet expressions. Perhaps the act was intended to produce this effect, that advantage might be taken of David’s indiscretion to effect his ruin. But from this snare he was delivered. It was well that it thus happened, and that his submission under injuries is so much more apparent than his resentments, as to have caused it to be questioned whether he might not well have manifested a little more of what is very improperly called “proper spirit.” But it has been acutely remarked by an old writer, that retired students are not always the best judges of what best becomes a truly heroic spirit. We are glad that David’s conduct took this direction, for had it been otherwise—had he, even under strong temptation, swerved from his loyalty to the right hand or to the left, much would have been made of it to the discredit of his rectitude in these latter days, when the whole of his conduct has been so searchingly and unsparingly investigated.
Some time after this—and it is a loss to us that the intervals of time are not distinctly marked—it came to the knowledge of Saul that his daughter Michal cherished a tender regard for David. It might have displeased him to hear that the heart of another of his children had gone over to one whom he had by this time learned to hate and to dread. But it happened to please him; as he hoped to be able to use her as an instrument for his destruction. We all know that in the East, the husband is expected in some sort to purchase his bride, by a payment to her father. One who cannot pay this in money, may do it by his services, as Jacob did, or by some exploit fixed by the father, as was done by Othniel. David had a clear claim to one of Saul’s daughters; but this, as a matter of right, he did not urge, and his family was not in such circumstances as to afford such “gift and dowry,” as a king had a right to expect when he gave a daughter. To meet this difficulty, the king was graciously content to accept some great exploit against the public enemy, as a sufficient equivalent for his daughter’s hand. Thus understood, that which Saul required was not, as the difference of manners has led many to take it, a gratuitous task, the real object of which might have been even at the first view very obvious; but it was in appearance a generous and considerate mode of enabling the son of Jesse to contract this match on somewhat equal terms, by the acceptance of a service that he could render; in lieu of payments beyond his power. For Saul to give his daughter without any consideration, would have been a slur upon her; and to accept her on such terms would have been, according to eastern notions, dishonorable in David. It was, therefore, not without the appearance of generosity on the part of the king, that he offered to accept a public service in lieu of a private benefit; and it was right that he should make that service bear some proportion in hazard and difficulty to the value he act upon his daughter. This, as we take it, was the aspect in which Saul intended the transaction to appear, and in which it probably did appear in the eyes of all, but the few who were prepared to see through it the deeper design to compass the ruin of Jesse’s son. Whether David himself was of the number is not clear—probably not, if we may judge from the alacrity with which he undertook the proposed enterprise; and if we consider that, to his heroic spirit, there were few achievements which would seem difficult or dangerous.
This enterprise was, that he should, probably within a given time, destroy with his own hand a hundred of the Philistines, and bring to the king such proofs of their deaths, as might assure him that they were Philistines and no others who had been slain. This demand, so much in unison with the spirit of the age, and of which we have a subsisting example in the scalps which the North American Indians take from their slaughtered enemies as trophies of their valor—was undertaken by David, and when the time expired, he appeared before the king with not only an hundred, but with two hundred, such proofs of his prowess as the king had required. This was another great exploit—far more arduous, although less renowned, than the overthrow of Goliath. It must, however, have attracted great attention at the time, and have conduced in no small degree to the public estimation in which David was held. Thus, whatever the as yet concealed aversion of Saul devised for his destruction, led only to his greater honor, and materially advanced the results which the king desired to avert. So shall it be with every one who blindly and foolishly endeavors to frustrate the counsels of God.