14 Now the spirit of the Lord had gone from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord was troubling him.
Now on the day after, an evil spirit from God came on Saul with great force and he was acting like a prophet among the men of his house, while David was making music for him, as he did day by day: and Saul had his spear in his hand.
And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the townsmen of Shechem; and the townsmen of Shechem were false to Abimelech;
And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you made me come up, troubling my rest? And Saul in answer said, I am in great danger; for the Philistines are making war on me, and God has gone away from me and will no longer give me any answer, by the prophets or by dreams: so I have sent for you to make clear to me what I am to do.
Do not put me away from before you, or take your holy spirit from me.
And at their words, the spirit of God came on Saul with power, and he became very angry.
And the Lord said, How? And he said, I will go out and be a spirit of deceit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Your trick will have its effect on him: go out and do so.
And an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul, when he was seated in his house with his spear in his hand; and David made music for him. And Saul would have sent his spear through him, pinning him to the wall, but he got away and the spear went into the wall: and that night David went in flight and got away.
Even though their children have come to growth I will take them away, so that not a man will be there; for their evil-doing will be complete and they will be put to shame because of it.
And the evil spirit, answering, said to them, I have knowledge of Jesus, and of Paul, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil spirit was, jumping on them, was stronger than the two of them, and overcame them, so that they went running from that house, wounded and without their clothing.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 1 Samuel 16
Commentary on 1 Samuel 16 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 16
At this chapter begins the story of David, one that makes as great a figure in the sacred story as almost any of the worthies of the Old Testament, one that both with his sword and with his pen served the honour of God and the interests of Israel as much as most ever did, and was as illustrious a type of Christ. Here
1Sa 16:1-5
Samuel had retired to his own house in Ramah, with a resolution not to appear any more in public business, but to addict himself wholly to the instructing and training up of the sons of the prophets, over whom he presided, as we find, ch. 19:20. He promised himself more satisfaction in young prophets than in young princes; and we do not find that, to his dying day, God called him out to any public action relating to the state, but only here to anoint David.
1Sa 16:6-13
If the sons of Jesse were told that God would provide himself a king among them (as he had said, v. 1), we may well suppose they all made the best appearance they could, and each hoped he should be the man; but here we are told,
1Sa 16:14-23
We have here Saul falling and David rising.