But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.
Ver. 14. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.] He lost his royal abilities and achievements; he that was before in bellis acer et victor, factus est imbellis, ignavus, iners, nec quidquam praeclare gessit. a And the like befell Henry IV of France after that he turned Papist once. Bonus Orbi, but afterwards Orbus Boni, as they wittily anagrammatised his name Borbonius.
And an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.] Or, Terrified him, scared him, vexed him. That old man-slayer - permittente Deo aut immittente - assaulted him, and perhaps possessed him, tormented his mind and body, working upon his melancholy and discontent, which is the devil's bath, and casting him into fits of frenzy and fury. He had preferred his own reason, saith a grave interpreter, b before God's directions in the business of the Amalekites, and so made an idol of his own wisdom and reason: and now God deprives him of the use of his reason, and breaks, as it were, this his idol in pieces.
a A. Lapide.
b Mr Jackson.