1 Samuel Chapter 19
In this chapter, we read about two events which some might find puzzling:
- (v9) Now the distressing spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand.
- (v24) And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night.
We use the principle of looking for comparable Biblical passages (I Cor 2:13) to understand these verses: These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Job 1:11-12 conveys the idea that God allowed the evil spirit Satan to attack Job. Similarly, we would explain v9 as God allowing the evil spirit to distress Saul. A similar incident when Jesus allowed the Legion to possess the herd of pigs (Luke 8:30-33) reinforces the explanation that God does not send evil spirits to harm but allows them to do so in certain circumstances – to test Job in one instance and as a result of forsaking Saul (I Sam 16:14) in another.
The important lesson for us today who have the indwelling Holy Spirit is not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30) nor to quench Him (I Thess 5:19) lest He leave us and we would be open to attacks from the evil spirits. Judas the traitor is a sad example for us to learn from. The devil entered the heart of Judas because of his greed and in spite of all that Jesus had done for him – finally Jesus said “Do what you want to do.” (Luke 22:3-6; John 13:1, 2, 27)
The prophets of God did some strange things in the past to graphically convey God’s message to a world that was then short of ‘media coverage’. Isaiah 20:2-3 records of Isaiah walking naked and barefoot for three years to convey God’s warning to the people. Again the prophet Micah (Micah 1:8) had to “wail and howl … go stripped and naked” to convey God’s warning of judgment to the people. In the case of Saul, the shame was directed to himself as a king rejected by God.
The work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament differs from that of the Old Testament. He is to us, among other things, a Counsellor (John 16:7) and a confirmation of our sonship (Gal 4:6). The receiving of the Holy Spirit and His indwelling in the New Testament will never result in shameful acts such as nakedness and lack of control.
Jonathan’s love for David (1 Sam 19:1-7) is a glimmer of light in this grim chapter. The world lacks people who would happily be second. Jonathan loved David and acknowledged him as anointed (messiah) of God. To him, the kingship would not stand in the way of his true love for his friend (1 Sam 23:17).