From today’s reading in Tyndale’s One Year Chronological Bible dated 4/14:

David says to Saul regarding Goliath, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Then Saul tries to give David his armor, but David doesn’t need the armor of a king because David is armed with the power of the Lord. So David walks toward Goliath with a slingshot and five stones and says, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you… Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.” And that’s exactly what happened! David takes Goliath down with a stone and then chops off his head with Goliath’s own sword. “And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”

Now, all of a sudden, Saul is wanting to know all about David, the one who has been playing the harp for him. I suppose for some people it takes chopping off the head of a giant to get their attention. So David comes to Saul with Goliath’s head in his hand, and there David meets Saul’s son, Jonathan. Jonathan and David quickly bond as friends, and Saul gives David command over His army. “So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely.” David is so wise and successful as a commander that the women are now singing about the ten thousands that David has killed compared to Saul’s thousands.

However, praise-seeking Saul doesn’t like hearing that more victories are credited to David. Saul becomes so consumed with jealousy that he is now wanting to kill David. So the next day when David is playing music to calm Saul’s distressing spirit, Saul throws a spear at David, but David escapes. “Now Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, but had departed from Saul. Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.”

Then Saul comes up with a plan to send David out against the Philistines with hopes that David will get killed. Saul offers his daughter, Michal, to be David’s wife in exchange for a hundred Philistine foreskins. But David, the brave warrior that he is, brings back not a hundred but two hundred foreskins! “Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually. Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.”

Saul continues to seek to kill David, but Saul’s own children, David’s best friend Jonathan and David’s wife Michal, protect him. However, David is now on the run and crying out to the Lord, “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; defend me from those who rise up against me… For You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble. To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; for God is my defense, my God of mercy.” 

David flees to Samuel in Ramah, and Saul sends men there to kill David, which ultimately ends with Saul humbled on the ground naked in front of Samuel. Tomorrow, Saul continues to chase after David. Keep reading to see how David, a man after God’s own heart, responds to attacks from his enemy. (1 Samuel 17:32-19:17, Psalm 59, 1 Samuel 19:18-24)