David’s wife… took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a pillow made of goats’ hair at its head, and put a cover over it.
Fascinating. How people looked at the world back then was deeply rooted in a “hodge podge” mix of beliefs (Genesis 35:2-4)! I wonder to what extent that’s true today? Of me?
Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David dodged, and the spear stuck in the wall.
…Saul… ordered them, “Carry him here in his bed, and I will kill him.”
Frightening. This is a man truly possessed by hate: it’s the only thing he sees going forward.
Samuel… took off his clothes and danced and shouted in Samuel’s presence, and lay naked all that day and all that night. (This is how the saying originated, “Has even Saul become a prophet?”)
Bizarre. This saying may well have been confused with 1 Samuel 10:12 – much in the same way as that concerning Judah’s death (Acts 1:17-19). Urban legends?
David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went to Jonathan. “What have I done?” he asked. “What crime have I committed? What wrong have I done to your father to make him want to kill me?”
Sometimes just living, breathing and taking up space is the cause…
…David answered, “…I swear to you by the living Lord that I am only a step away from death!”
And yet no harm ever came to David (Psalm 91:3-7). When the powerful do what they will, our situation can seem so precarious but only in appearance (Matthew 14:10-14). The reality is, I’m probably always only a step away from death – I just don’t realize it. May I always and forever lean on you, Father.