The Nathan-David Confrontation (2 Sam 12:1-15a) by Afoakwah James Donkor

Author:Afoakwah, James Donkor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peter Lang AG
Published: 2015-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

5.2.3 Divine protection of David against Saul

2 Sam 21-26 present David as the innocent victim of Saul’s inordinate anger, armed with various opportunities to have ended the struggle by simply turning the tide against his pursuer, but David would not stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed (24:6, 11, 26:9, 11, 23). In these stories, the narrator presents Saul as the capriciously wicked ruler who seeks to destroy the life of his perceived rival; the humble, pious young man who is also the future successor to the throne (26:21-25). This trend of events begins with Saul’s anger over the ascription of thousands to him and ten thousands to David by “the women of all the towns of Israel” in 18:6-7, after David had prevailed over Goliath. The narrator enters the mind-set of Saul and presents his soliloquy triggered by the normal human emotion of jealousy; “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?” (18:8b). The fear of ← 156 | 157 → a rival to his throne possibly aggravated the ailment of Saul who sought to pinion David to the wall with the spear while the latter was engaged in his normal service of playing the harp to soothe the fits of his lord but as divine providence would have it, he eluded him twice (18:10-11). Saul then hatched a plot to let David fall at the hands of the Philistines. In the first place David was to fight “the Lord’s battles” as a valiant man to win the hand of Merab, the elder daughter of Saul. When the time came for Merab to be given to David, she was given instead to Adriel (18:17-19). Michal, who loved David, became the next pawn in the hand of Saul to be used against David. He won her hand with two hundred foreskins of the Philistines in place of a marriage present without losing his life in so doing, as was perceived by Saul (18:20-27). In the meantime, the war with the Philistines raged on and David had more successes than any of the commanders of Saul (18:30), to aggravate the already tense situation between him and the king. Saul could no longer conceal his intentions and made public his plan to kill David (19:1) but Jonathan, Saul’s own son, interceded for David and secured a solemn promise from his father not to harm David (v. 6). This promise did not see the light of day as another decisive victory of David over the Philistines wrought a bout of psychical instability in which state Saul attacked David but missed him, sticking his spear into the wall (v. 19). The die was now cast for the survival of the fittest. The first step was to kill David in his bed but Michal tipped him off and aided him to elude the guards of her father who were to ensure the success of the plot (19:11-17). David fled to Samuel at Ramah and the two proceeded to settle at Naioth.

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