1 Samuel 18:2 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father 's house.

NIV: From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family.

NASB: And Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house.

CSB: Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.

NLT: From that day on Saul kept David with him and wouldn’t let him return home.

KJV: And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

NKJV: Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore.

David's life is never the same after the Lord used him to kill Goliath. King Saul immediately recognizes that David would be a powerful addition to his military forces. Saul would want everyone to know that the champion who killed the Philistine giant was his to command. So, Saul drafts David into full-time service. Saul doesn't forbid David from visiting his own family. Yet under his authority as king, he requires—or at least convinces (1 Samuel 17:25)—David to live near Saul and to fight the Philistines as part of the army.

David is familiar with Saul's court. After the Holy Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Samuel 16:13–14). God sent a harmful spirit to torment Saul. Only David's lyre-playing could ease Saul's battered mind (1 Samuel 16:14–23). From that time until David faced Goliath, David went back and forth between his father's sheep and Saul's court (1 Samuel 17:15).

As king, Saul has the right to assign whomever he wants to serve in the palace, the army, the king's fields, or wherever he needs them. Samuel had warned the people about this when they insisted on having a king. He pointed out that the king would take the best and brightest of their children for himself (1 Samuel 8:10–18). But Saul's demand may be disingenuous. Part of David's reward for killing Samson was that Saul would "make his father's house free in Israel" (1 Samuel 17:25). That means Jesse wouldn't have to pay taxes, and the family couldn't be forced to serve the king.

First Samuel 18:1–5 records how David becomes a permanent member of the royal court. He had spent time there serving Saul (1 Samuel 17:15), but after he kills Goliath, the king brings him in permanently. Saul's son Jonathan, the heir-apparent, immediately forms a lifelong bond of friendship. Despite the bizarre views of some modern commentators, this bond is not sexual. It's a beautiful example of male friendship. Meanwhile, the people's adoration of David makes the king furious to the point of murder.

Saul's son Jonathan becomes David's best friend. David succeeds in every military mission Saul sends him on. The people praise David as being even mightier than Saul. The king is furious and terrified that David will take his throne. After Saul's direct attempts to kill David fail, the king sends David to battle the Philistines using marriage to his daughter as bait. David not only survives, but he continues to prove himself to be a mightier warrior and leader than Saul. Saul knows the Lord is with David and not with him and cements himself as David's permanent enemy.

First Samuel 18 begins the story of how the changed work of the Holy Spirit on both Saul and David (1 Samuel 16:13–14) leads to the king's destruction and David's rise. David faithfully serves both Saul (1 Samuel 16:14–23) and Saul's kingdom (1 Samuel 17—18). But David wins the hearts of Saul's people and his children. Saul can't handle the competition (1 Samuel 19—20). Finally, David flees the royal court and raises his own army. He spends years fighting Israel's enemies from afar, patiently waiting until Saul dies in battle and the shepherd boy can take his rightful crown (1 Samuel 21—31).

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.