Saul's Serious Medical Condition Results In David Being Introduced Into Court Circles (1 Samuel 16:14-23).
Sadly for Saul the Spirit of YHWH had departed from him. YHWH had now rejected him as king, and the Spirit no longer came on him. Thus there was no special divine help for him as he fought the Philistines. Fortunately for Israel, however, YHWH would provide another who did have the Spirit of YHWH on him, and that was David.
Even more sadly for Saul ‘an evil spirit from YHWH troubled him'. In the light of the New Testament we can tend to read back to this what we learn about evil spirits from there. But in fact possession by evil spirits is rarely if ever depicted in the Old Testament among the Israelites because those Israelites about whom we have details did not on the whole indulge in idol worship. Certainly Saul did not. It is therefore quite probable that this ‘evil spirit from YHWH' originally refers to a medical condition whereby his own ‘spirit' was affected. We can compare the similar situation in Judges 9:23. There we read that ‘God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem' with the result that they dealt treacherously. In context this does not appear to refer to spirit possession, and it must seriously be questioned whether it refers to more than a general ‘spirit' of distrust that set the parties against each other. Thus it is probable that we are to see the same thing here.
That it was ‘from YHWH' is, of course, true because in the end all disease and sensitivity of spirit comes from YHWH, but the idea of a satanic spirit coming from YHWH seems unlikely, even though we do discover later that even Satan acts under YHWH's control, although not directly (2 Samuel 24:1 with 1 Chronicles 21:1). However, even then it is not something brought out by the author of Samuel. That is left to the Chronicler. In fact having spent a considerable period of my life with those who have suffered from clinical depression and schizophrenia what I read about in these narratives bears all the marks of those diseases.
Yet it may be that we cannot totally wholly dismiss the idea of evil spirits at work for in 18:10 we read that, ‘an evil spirit from God (the elohim) came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied'. That certainly at first sight suggests a malignant spiritual force at work, although not one that permanently possessed him. It is not like the evil spirits of the New Testament. On the other hand it may simply indicate that in his clinically depressed state he became so utterly distraught because of an evil disposition that YHWH put in him that for a while that he babbled to himself. The whole question is necessarily a difficult one in view of the sparsity of references to evil spirits in the Old Testament.
I must admit that there was a time when I was younger that I felt a little uncomfortable with the fact that Saul could really have behaved in the irrational way that is described in later Chapter s, for at first some of the incidents do appear to be a little far-fetched. For example we may ask, would Saul really have hurled a spear at his own firstborn son? Today, however, I have no difficulty whatsoever in believing them, for I have seen similar things with my own eyes, and in these cases it is often those nearest to the person, who are seen as plotting against them, who suffer the most. How Saul behaved was precisely how we could expect an untreated schizophrenic to behave. In such cases paranoia, delusion and rash actions, appearing outwardly to come from someone who at other times is in their right mind. These are all typical of certain types of schizophrenia, and the intensity of feeling and emotion can look very much like a person possessed by a spirit.
Note again the inclusio represented in 1 Samuel 16:14 and 1 Samuel 16:23, in 1 Samuel 16:14 the Spirit of YHWH departs from Saul and in 1 Samuel 16:23 when the Spirit-possessed David plays the evil spirit departs from him. In both the ‘evil spirit' is troubling him.
Analysis.
a Now the Spirit of YHWH departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from YHWH troubled him (1 Samuel 16:14).
b And Saul's servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you. Let our lord now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp, so it will be, when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he will play with his hand, and you will be well” (1 Samuel 16:15-16).
c And Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me” (1 Samuel 16:17).
d Then one of the young men answered, and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skilful in playing, and a brave man (a mighty man of valour), and a warrior-like man, and prudent in speech, and a comely person and YHWH is with him.” Which was the reason that Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep” (1 Samuel 16:18-19).
c And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by David his son. And David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became a close servant of his (‘the bearer of his things') (1 Samuel 16:20-21).
b And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David, I pray you, stand before me, for he has found favour in my sight” (1 Samuel 16:22).
a And so it was that, when the spirit from God was on Saul, David took the harp, and played with his hand, so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him (1 Samuel 16:23).
‘ Now the Spirit of YHWH departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from YHWH troubled him.'
The fact of the Spirit of YHWH having departed from Saul, and of his having been rejected as king by both YHWH and Samuel, would have been quite sufficient to trigger off clinical depression and schizophrenia if he were prone to it. The experience must have been extremely traumatic for him. And thus Saul found himself with his spirit being affected in a way that was unfortunate (‘an evil' for him) and not good. The movement of dopamine in his brain became unbalanced, and he began to behave in strange ways. Compare the way ‘evil' is used in Amos 3:6, ‘Shall there be evil on a city, and YHWH has not done it?' (Compare Jeremiah 19:15; Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 25:29; Jeremiah 39:16).
‘ And Saul's servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you.” '
Saul's behaviour made his servants realise that he was ill in spirit and they described it in terms of ‘an evil spirit from God' (compare Judges 9:23). In their eyes everything came from God. Thus this had to be true of whatever was disturbing Saul. It should, however, be noted that no attempt was made to seek an exorciser, or even to go to the sons of the prophets. They do not appear to have considered this a malignant spirit, but rather as something that affected his thoughts and behaviour at certain times.
“ Let our lord now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp, so it will be, when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he will play with his hand, and you will be well.”
His servants then suggested to Saul that he seek out a man skilled in music so that he could play for him when he was going through a bad patch, and assured him that if he did so it would make him well. The ancients had a great belief in the healing power of music, especially for those who were of unsound mind, and the fact that the music did seemingly help Saul serves to confirm that this was an illness and not spirit possession.
‘ And Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” '
Acknowledging the wisdom of their words Saul called on his servants to find such a musician, one who could ‘play well', so that they could bring him to the court in order that that he might play for him.
‘ Then one of the young men answered, and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skilful in playing, and a brave man (a mighty man of valour), and a warrior-like man, and prudent in speech, and a comely person and YHWH is with him.” '
David's reputation as a musician and a composer of songs had clearly got around, (he is later called ‘the sweet Psalmist of Israel' - 1 Samuel 23:1) so that one of the young men who served Saul was able to tell him of David. His words of recommendation need not be interpreted literally but may be seen as being deliberately exaggerated, with the aim of making David acceptable to Saul, for he would know that Saul liked to have men such as the one described around him, while he might despise a David who was only a mere shepherd. David had certainly proved his valour in watching over his sheep, and he feared no one, and that reputation would clearly have spread around as such things always do. Here we learn also that he spoke wisely, was socially acceptable and had a genuine love for YHWH so that all recognised him as someone who truly knew YHWH.
‘ Which was the reason that Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” '
And this was the reason why Saul decided to send for a shepherd boy to be his personal musician. Little did he realise the status of the one for whom he was sending. But the readers and hearers who were in the know would see in this the hand of YHWH. He had already begun to prepare David for what lay ahead. So all unconscious of this fact Saul sent to Jesse and asked that his son might come to court to play for him.
‘ And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by David his son.'
Honoured by the request Jesse sent a handsome present along with David so as to make him acceptable to the king. It was normal in those days to honour a king in this way. The content of the gift reflected the nature of Saul's kingship, rustic and practical (like his palace/fortress as revealed by archaeology) rather than ostentatious and vainglorious.
‘ And David came to Saul, and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became a close servant of his (‘the bearer of his things').'
The result was that David came to Saul, and he ‘stood in his presence' as befitted a subject to a king. (You did not sit in a king's presence). And he was so pleasing to Saul that he made him one of his close servants. The words for ‘armour-bearer' or ‘bearer of stuff' is used elsewhere of close servants, even those who did not carry armour. They were the ‘bearers of his stuff' (compare the use of the word in 1 Samuel 17:22; Genesis 31:37; Genesis 43:11; Genesis 45:20; etc). Saul would have a number of ‘bearers of his stuff', as did Joab later (2 Samuel 18:15). Nor must we take too literally that ‘he loved him greatly'. What this is indicating is that he was pleased enough with him to make him one of a number of close servants.
‘ And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David, I pray you, stand before me, for he has found favour in my sight.” '
That is why Saul sent to Jesse and requested that David might stay at the court permanently and stand before him as one of his young men, because David had won his favour.
‘ And so it was that, when the spirit from God was on Saul, David took the harp, and played with his hand, so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.'
And the result was that whenever the ‘spirit from God' (compare Judges 9:23) came on Saul, David would take his harp and play for him. And the result was that Saul's spirit would be refreshed and become well and his evil mood would pass away. This all points to a psychiatric illness rather than to the world of evil spirits.