David Takes Refuge With Samuel At Ramah And When Saul Tries To Take Him He Discovers That YHWH Has Other Means Of Preventing Him From Doing So (1 Samuel 19:18-24).
Recognising that Saul was seeking his life David turned to the only one with the power to help him, Samuel, the prophet of YHWH, who had earlier anointed him (1 Samuel 16:13), and who was still a power in Israel. Even Saul had to have regard to Samuel. And Samuel took him to live with him and the company of prophets in Naioth in Ramah.
But after some time, on learning of David's whereabouts, Saul sent arresting parties to bring him back to Gibeah for trial. And each time the arresting parties were met by a large company of prophets worshipping and speaking out the praises of God, with the result that the Spirit of God came on them and they also began to worship and speak out the praises of God, losing any desire to fulfil the purpose for which they had been sent.
So in the end Saul decided that he must do the job himself, but he too was met by the prophets, with the result that the Spirit of God came on him, and he too began to worship and speak out the praises of God, and in his case he divested himself of his royal garments and lay down in his undergarments all day and all night, rendered powerless by the Spirit.
Analysis.
a 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 (1 Samuel 19:18).
b And it was told Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah” (1 Samuel 19:19).
c 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 on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied (1 Samuel 19:20).
c And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied (1 Samuel 19:21 a).
c And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied (1 Samuel 19:21 b).
b Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu, and he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” And he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah (1 Samuel 19:22-23).
a And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Which is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” And David fled from Naioth (1 Samuel 19:24).
Note that in ‘a' David goes to be with Samuel among the prophets in Naioth, and in the parallel Saul is also seen as among the prophets, at which point David flees from Naioth. In ‘b' Saul is told that David is at Naioth in Ramah, and in the parallel he is told the same. Centrally in ‘c' we have the threefold examples of men sent to arrest David who instead finish up praising and worshipping God under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
‘ 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.
Recognising that he would find refuge from Saul nowhere else David made for the only man whom he considered might be able to give him protection. Samuel was still a power in the land, and dwelt among a band of prophets who were presumably a consequence of his ministry. So David came to him at Ramah, and told Samuel all that Saul had done to him. And the result was that Samuel took David under his protection, and David went to live with him in Naioth. Naioth was where Samuel dwelt, along with a band of prophets. The word ‘Naioth' means ‘dwellings' and was probably the name of the compound or community in which the prophets had their dwellings. Both may well have thought that with David in such spiritual surroundings he would no longer be seen as a threat to Saul.
This idea of a company of prophets is a new one, and they were probably the fruit of Samuel's labours as he sought to establish a spiritual core in Israel. We came across them previously in 1 Samuel 10:5-6; 1 Samuel 10:10-13. While there was no established Central Sanctuary to which the prophets could be attached as a group, a separate community was a necessity if their activities were to continue. Elijah and Elisha will similarly form a band of prophets in the Northern kingdom of Israel (there called ‘the sons of the prophets'), also unconnected with the Temple, but as there is no mention of them in between times there are no grounds for assuming that the one is the continuation of the other, except in the sense that both helped to maintain the prophetic tradition. Once David had re-established the Central Sanctuary this band of prophets presumably connected up with the Central Sanctuary, or with the Sanctuary in Jerusalem where the Ark was. Alternatively they may have spread throughout the land.
‘ And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.'
It was inevitable that at some stage the news would reach Saul of where David was. Those who knew of Saul's determination to get rid of David, and who were looking for political advancement would not hesitate to pass on to him the information once they received it, and Naioth was a place visited by many people as they sought prophetic help. It would therefore not be long before the word spread around of where David was. He was the kind of man concerning whose whereabouts people were interested.
‘ 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.'
So Saul sent an arresting party to take David and bring him back to Gibeah, presumably for ‘trial', a trial which could only have one conclusion in the view of the despotic nature of Saul's kingship.
But when these men came to Naioth they were faced up with Samuel and the band of prophets. These were worshipping God and speaking out His praises (compare Acts 2:11). We must beware of reading into this the kind of ecstasy which was a feature of prophets elsewhere, in which the person was as one possessed, but nevertheless it was with a spirit that was effective, powerful and restraining. For as a result of meeting them the Spirit of God came on the arresting party and they too were caught up in praising and exalting God (one meaning of ‘prophesying' - compare Acts 2:11 with Acts 19:6).
This must not be seen as too surprising. These men had nothing personal against David. When they came to arrest him they were simply obeying Saul's orders. And as Israelites they certainly had a great reverence for Samuel and the prophets, and for YHWH. Thus when they were moved by the Spirit, and became involved with the prophets, they would feel it only right to participate in their worship. How far they found themselves unable to do anything else is a matter of conjecture, for history reveals that when God does choose to manifest His presence, men do find themselves unable to disobey Him (consider the remarkable happenings in the revivals in Wales and in the Hebrides in the last century). But this does not necessarily signify their being in such an ecstatic state that they were powerless to resist. It indicates rather what happens to men when they are made deeply aware that God is there among them. They do not want to resist. They want to participate in the far more important worship of YHWH. It would appear from verse 24 that in order to do so they divested themselves of their outer clothing which depicted their status as Saul's men, recognising that they were now in the presence of One Who was greater than Saul, and that Saul's authority meant nothing here. Here they had to be open before God.
“The prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them.” They found the prophets gathered in worship under their leader and great teacher Samuel, to whose authority all yielded fully as they worshipped together. In days when the importance of God and his rights over men were fully acknowledged by most, such a gathering would have been seen as of prime importance, and as one that could not be disturbed, even on the king's business. Rather than disturbing it, all spiritual men who came there would expect to have their part in it.
Having worshipped with the prophets these men would then no doubt be reluctant to reject Samuel's plea for them to go and leave David with him (compare their similar reluctance later to kill the members of the High Priestly family (1 Samuel 22:17) even when they were not involved in a spiritual atmosphere). They may even have decided to spend some time in the prophetic circles, and have remained there. We must not overlook in all this both the importance of YHWH in their eyes and the powerful standing that Samuel still had in the land as His Prophet. To them Samuel was not a man to be trifled with, for he represented YHWH. It is in fact noteworthy that even Saul, with all his excesses, never retaliated against Samuel, so we can be sure that the people in general would have looked at him with awe.
‘ And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.'
When his men failed to return with David, and he was told what had happened, Saul sent a further arresting party and then another. But in each case they had the same experience once they became involved with the prophets. God's power and working were proving to be irresistible. And there were thus more and more men involved in praising YHWH and worshipping him, and speaking out about His wonderful works (compare Acts 2:11). We are not given the details of precisely what happened, but it is clear that YHWH's power was being revealed as sufficient to protect David.
‘ Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”
In the end Saul recognised that it would be necessary to go himself and exert his own authority. He seemingly acknowledged that his men could not be blamed for becoming involved with the prophets in their worship. They were after all Yahwists. And if YHWH called on them to partake in a special period of worship then they could hardly be expected to refuse to do so. However, it would be a different matter when he went himself. He was not to be so easily swayed.
So he made his way to Ramah, and when he came to the great public water cystern in Secu, which was where people would gather to collect water, he enquired about the whereabouts of Samuel and David, and was informed that they were at the prophetic college at Naioth.
‘ And he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.'
Accordingly Saul approached Naioth, but then, even while he was on the way, he became aware of the power of YHWH working on him manifesting the presence of God, and he too began to speak out the praises of YHWH, and to worship him. God was clearly manifesting His presence among men in an unusual way. This may well have been genuine praise of YHWH in contrast to the situation in 18:10, constrained by a power that he did not understand and seeking to bring him to repentance.
‘ 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?
On arrival at the prophetic college, and the worshipping group that he found there, Saul too felt impelled to divest himself of all his insignia, and his royal outer garments, being impelled by the sense of the presence of God to humble himself before YHWH and acknowledge Him as his Overlord. All clearly saw this as a holy place. And there before Samuel, moved by an irresistible power, he spoke out the praises of God, and fell on his face before God, where he remained all day and all night, prostrated by YHWH. It was a sad reflection on his reign, which had begun with a similar sign, that this time it was caused because of his murderous attitude towards David. And when the news got around of how he had been humbled before YHWH, so too would the standing joke, ‘is Saul also among the prophets?' In 10:12 it had been asked in admiration. Now it would be asked with a snigger. But he had brought it all on himself by his own folly.
The remarkable situation described here, in which the sense of the presence of God had driven people to unexpected actions, has been reproduced at other times throughout history, in days when God has chosen to make known His power and presence in an unusual way. We have already mentioned the Welsh Revival and the Hebrides Revival. Other parallels include the time of the Great Awakening, when God moved in power through men like George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, and people were moved to unusual behaviour At such times men find themselves powerless to resist God, (and often indeed do not want to do so), and were driven to actions that they would not normally have engaged in. Here at Naioth God thus gave this revelation of His protective power as a specific reminder of the importance of David in God's future plans. The memory of it would certainly be a strength to David in the days of his exile and of his being hunted down, for he would remember that YHWH was indeed able to deliver, if necessary, in extraordinary ways. And it would help him to recognise that he was being equally protected then, even if not in such an obviously supernatural way.
“And David fled from Naioth.” This was David's third major flight (compare 1 Samuel 19:10; 1 Samuel 19:18). He was no longer the despatcher of the Philistines but a fugitive from Saul. From now on he had nowhere to go.