He stripped off his clothes—and lay down naked— When Saul went down to Naioth he went like himself, with the military dress and distinguishing habit of a king; and when he prophesied, he put off his military habit or vestment, and thus appeared like the rest of the prophets, a plain, disarmed, and therefore naked man. The text says, he pulled off בגדיו begadav, his exterior garment. This is the certain meaning of the word בגד beged, without any forced criticism. Joseph's mistress, Genesis 39:12; Genesis 39:15 caught him by his בגד garment,—and he left his garment,—and she laid up his garment. This can mean nothing but his external habit, his coat or cloak, which she laid hold of, and he easily dropped when she pulled it. Other instances I can produce. In like manner Saul stripped himself of his outward dress, and is therefore said to lie down naked, or without the clothes which he had just pulled off; and the word in all languages answering to the English word naked is frequently used, not in the sense of stark-naked, but in that of being ill-dressed, stripped of an exterior garment, and being quite destitute of arms. In this sense Isaiah is ordered to put off his sackcloth, and walk naked; i.e. without his prophetical dress, Isaiah 20:2 and we read of stripping the naked of their clothes, Job 22:6; Job 24:7. Saul might be thus naked, without any circumstances of extravagance and indecency.
Is Saul also among the prophets?— This is mentioned as a proverb, by way of anticipation, ch. 1 Samuel 10:11-12.; but it is evident, that the original of the proverb was this second prophesying among the prophets: because, first, Saul was not at that time known to the people; and, secondly, because the original of the proverb is said to arise from this second prophesying in this very verse; therefore the account of the proverb in ch. 10 is given by way of anticipation. This proverb was used to express a thing unlooked for, and unlikely. What this was, maybe thus explained: Saul, with many great qualities, both of a public and a private man, and in no respect an unable chief, was yet so foolishly prejudiced in favour of the human policies of the neighbouring nations, as to become impiously cold and negligent in the support and advancement of the law of God, though raised to regal power from a low and obscure condition for this very purpose. He was, in a word, a mere politician, without the least zeal or love for the divine constitution of his country. This was his great, and no wonder it should prove his unpardonable crime; for his folly had reduced things to that extremity, that either he must fall, or the law. Now this pagan turn of mind was no secret to the people: when, therefore, they were told that he had sent frequent messengers to the supreme school of the prophets, where zeal for the law was so eminently professed, and had afterwards gone himself thither, and entered with divine emotion and extacy into their devotions, they received this extraordinary news with all the wonder and amazement that it deserved; and, in the height of their surprize, cried out, Is Saul also among the prophets? that is, "Is Saul, who, throughout his whole reign, has so much slighted and contemned the law, and would conduct all his actions by the mere rules of human policy; is he at length become studious of, and zealous for, the law of God?" And the miracle of such a change in a politician was brought into a proverb before the mistake was found out.
REFLECTIONS.—1st. Saul no longer seeks to cloke his bloody designs, but gives public orders to kill David as a traitor; and particularly commands Jonathan to dispatch the rival of his crown: but Jonathan's love was stronger than the ambition of a throne, and Saul's malice, by being undisguised, was the easier disappointed.
1. He warns David of his danger, and bids him hide himself till the morning in some secret place, because of the order which had been given; and by that time he hoped to procure some change in his cruel father, or, at least, to let David know how to proceed.
2. He takes the first opportunity the next morning to expostulate with his father, and to pacify his resentment. He urges the kindnesses that David had shewn him, the great obligations the whole land owed him; nay, Saul's own acknowledgments of it. How ungrateful and base then to murder so faithful a servant, and so valiant a subject! Had he committed aught worthy of death, indeed, this might cancel his past services; but Saul must be conscious of his innocence; and, therefore, to shed his blood would be as inhuman as unjust. Note; Such a friend as Jonathan, so disinterested, so faithful, is rare.
3. Saul having slept, his passion was cooled. Conviction accompanied Jonathan's arguments; he swears to save David harmless, revokes his bloody edict, and restores him to his place at court, with every apparent mark of regard and confidence. Note; (1.) The oath of a common swearer is bad security. (2.) Good advice, though from an inferior, deserves attention. (3.) Sudden changes of passionate men prognosticate no long continuance.
2nd, David is ever armed in Israel's cause; we find him again in the field, fighting the Lord's battles, and again victorious over the Philistines. But every fresh laurel on David's brow puts a sharp thorn in Saul's bosom: his melancholy returns; and, willing to relieve him, his son-in -law thinks it not beneath his dignity again to handle the harp: but while, in kind regard, he seeks to soothe the torments of Saul's heart, he little suspects the spear that stood ready to pierce his own. Swift and violent, Saul hurls the javelin to pierce him to the wall; but his agility avoids the blow, and, leaving his presence, where it was no longer safe to stay, he seeks, by flight, to save himself from the enraged monarch. Note; (1.) Something will always be found to allay the joys of our triumphs. (2.) No kindness can cure the ranklings of inveterate malice.
3rdly, David was now in imminent danger; for Saul, supposing him fled to his own house, dispatches a party to watch him and kill him there: but through mercy he escapes.
1. Michal, by whom Saul hoped to ruin him, loves him too well to betray him: no sooner is she apprized of his danger, than she informs him; and in the night, through the window, lets him down, that he might not be perceived by those who had beset the house; and in the morning, to give him more leisure to escape, feigns that he is sick, puts an image in his bed, and thus deceives the messengers of Saul. Note; (1.) Wives must love their husbands, and cleave to them even beyond their own parents. (2.) A woman's wits are often sharper than her husband's; and it is no disparagement for a man to follow his wife's advice.
2. Saul's rage will not put up with excuse; he will have David brought in his bed, that he may have the satisfaction of murdering him by his own hand. Note; Wicked men grow worse and worse as they resist their convictions, and provoke God to give them up to their violent passions.
3. Michal, when the cheat was discovered, well knowing her father's mad rage, seeks to appease him; and as she stopped not at one lie to save her husband, she hesitates not at another to excuse herself, even at the expence of her husband's character. Note; One lie usually hardens the conscience for another.
4thly, We have,
1. David's flight to Samuel to consult him in his distress, and to have his faith supported, with regard to the kingdom, now severely shaken by these persecutions. Note; God's ministers, in our distresses, are the properest advisers.
2. Saul is no sooner informed of the place of his abode, than he sends messengers to Naioth in Ramah to seize him. But God so over-ruled their spirits, that, instead of bringing David prisoner, they no sooner came into the congregation of the prophets, with Samuel at their head, than themselves were seized with the sacred enthusiasm, and prophesied among them: repeated messengers feel the same irresistible impulse; yet Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter; will not desist; and, conceiving his own heart to be secure from the impression, he will go in person, and, rather than not destroy David, will be himself his executioner. But how vain are man's impotent designs! He, too, again feels the strange influence. Before he approaches the gates of Ramah, his fury subsides; and, laying aside his military garb and weapons of war, he lies down at Samuel's feet a day and a night, to the admiration of the beholders. Meantime David had an opportunity given him to escape. Note; (1.) Many have come into the assembly of God's people with the most violent designs, who have fallen before the power of God, and been forced to hang down the arms designed to be lifted up in wrath. (2.) God can turn persecutors into preachers, and make those who breathed out threatenings sing his praises. (3.) It is no strange thing to see wicked men prophesy in his name, and do wonderful works; but all these, without they are accompanied by a change of heart, only aggravate their final reprobacy and eternal ruin.—Goldsmith, speaking of the effects produced by the prevailing piety of his country Clergyman, says:
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools who came to scoff remain'd to pray. DESERTED VILLAGE.