The Life of David Series: Tell the Women to Please Sing Quietly

Yakob ben Ibrahim trudged along the dusty road together with the roughly two hundred fighting men who made up the cohort under the command of the young Judean named David. Despite the heat of the day and the exhaustion from their exploits of the past few days, the men were in a buoyant mood. Their lightning raids against Pelistim settlements had been successful beyond their wildest dreams. Two oxcarts loaded with spoils in the middle of the loose formation gave testament to their victory.

Still licking their wounds after their trouncing after David had made short work of the giant Goliat, King Saul was keeping them on the run, and had put David in charge of one of the raiding parties he sent out to harass them. And with every raid David’s success grew. In a few short months he had gone from a gangling shepherd boy to an increasingly confident and competent leader of men. Of course leading a small raiding party was a far cry from commanding an army in the field, but to the members of David’s band who witnessed his bravery and quick decision-making skills, David was their beloved general.

As for Yakob, for the first time since those early days when he had first joined Saul’s army he felt like the Hebrews were turning the tide against the hated Pelistim.

As they approached the city of Gibeah of Saul, where the king made his headquarters, Yakob fell in step with Ehud, one of the older soldiers in the raiding party. Ehud had been a warrior since before Yakob was born. He was said to have been present when Samuel raised the Ebenezer stone near Mizpah. Yakob had never heard him mention it…in fact, Yakob had never heard Ehud say much of anything. But his prowess in battle was legendary, and David relied greatly on his experience. Ehud had a look about him that seemed to size men up and evaluate their quality, without any words being exchanged.

“That was quite a raid!” Yakob said after he had walked alongside Ehud in silence for several minutes.

Ehud responded with a grunt.

“The king is going to be very pleased with these spoils!” Yakob enthused, motioning his head towards the carts laden with gold, silver and bronze utensils, clothing, foodstuffs, and, perhaps most importantly, weapons and armor. Yakob himself sported a breastplate he had “liberated” from its previous Pelistim owner, and in his hand was a beautiful bronze sword to replace the battered one he had gone into battle with.

Ehud said nothing, and they continued walking.

As they neared the city it became obvious that the news of their victory had already reached the populace. People came out to meet them and David, at the head of his men, received the city elders. As they made their way into the city children ran in among the soldiers, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the groaning oxcarts. The mood was festive. Somewhere a tambourine sounded, and a women of the city broke out into song. Yakob strained to hear the words over the clamor of the ever-increasing crowd. Suddenly a group of women near to where they were standing took up the refrain.

“Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”

Suddenly Yakob felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look into Ehud’s grizzled face. The older man nodded his head in the direction of the singing women, and uttered more words than Yakob had ever heard come out of his mouth at once.

“That’s going to be a problem.”

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This installment of our series on the life of David will deal with the events of I Samuel 18:1-16. As the purpose for David’s life unfolds, there are at least three observations to be made from this text.

Observation 1: The contrast between a man whom God is blessing and a man whom God is actively resisting.

In David’s life we see God’s purpose unfolding, as he is brought to the very place were he will learn the kingly craft – the court of King Saul. We see God’s protection and his promotion, and David goes into battle and returns victorious. With each armed conflict David is gaining experience as a fighter, a leader, not to mention a heroic profile among his fellow Israelites.

At the same time, King Saul’s pride has lead him to paranoia, as the singing of the women makes him feel insecure in his position. Constantly ringing in his head are the words Samuel had spoken to him earlier:

The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

Once he has identified (correctly, it turns out) David as the one God is preparing to replace him, he begins to plot the young hero’s demise. But in plotting against God’s anointed, Saul is plotting against God, and that is a fools errand. Perhaps, decades later, it was recalling his father’s tales of this period in his life that inspired King Solomon to pen these words:

There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord.

What is the result of Saul’s plotting and scheming? He decides to remove David from his presence, so he gives David command of one thousand men. Whereas before David had led small raiding parties, now he was in charge of a significant division of Saul’s army, and thus able to make even more of a name for himself. Hence, Saul’s cleverness only plays into God’s hands.

Observation 2: This passage presents at least three kinds of friendship.

First, we have the false friendship of Saul. Saul dare not openly oppose David (at least at first), so he pretends to be David’s friend, while secretly plotting to destroy him.

Next, there is the fickle friendship of the crowds, as exemplified by the singing women. They love David for his exploits, but their musical praises of him make a point of contrasting him to Saul, and their words end up complicating his life. At the end of the day, they like David for what they can get out of him, not for who he is.

Finally, there is the faithful friendship of Jonathan. Saul’s son loves David to the point of giving him his armor (something that was scarce at that time), and ultimately renouncing his own right to the throne in favor of David.

Observation 3: There is a profound christological point to be made, as we remember that David, God’s anointed, is a shadow of Christ, the Messiah (anointed one).

This follows from the previous observation, because when confronted by Christ, people respond in the same three ways. Some with a fickle friendship, saying nice things about Jesus while undermining His word and disobeying His commands. As with Saul, this quickly turns into open hostility.

Then of course we have those, like the singing women, who flock to Christ for the perceived benefits – health, wealth, status, etc. The multitudes that followed Christ in John 6 were of this stripe. When things get rough, these people are nowhere to be seen. They do more harm than good to the Kingdom.

Finally there are those faithful ones who recognize who Christ is, and His authority in their lives. Like Jonathan, they step down from the throne, giving the Anointed One His rightful place, and begin to serve Him sacrificially.

The good news is that every believer was once in one of the first two categories, until the Messiah found us, gave us His Spirit, reconciled us to the Father through his sacrifice, and made us his friends.

But back to David’s tale: Saul’s machinations are just starting. Things are about to get very tense for our hero. Stay tuned for the next installment.

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