I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 18-20.

Once again we can be thrown off by our modern way of writing biographies.  The compiler of 1 Samuel takes a story about how David came into favor with Saul and then fell out of favor and weaves it into his account as if it was just a continuation from chapter 17.  Having written that, it does not really connect with the lesson I think we should take from the passage.  As David became more successful serving King Saul, King Saul became more and more jealous of him and sure that David would one day usurp the throne.  Despite this, King Saul arranged for David to marry his daughter.  I would like to note that if David had married King Saul’s older daughter that would have been a clear political move.  Instead, David later agreed to marry Michal, who the passage tells us had fallen in love with him.  This suggests that David married Michal because he was attracted to  her, not because of the political power which came with marrying the king’s daughter.  That is important because it tells us something about David: the people around King Saul who cared for Saul also loved David.  Despite how badly King Saul mistreated him, David never became disloyal.  David only left King Saul’s court when it became obvious that if he stayed, King Saul would have him killed.  This does not necessarily mean that we should stay in situations where we are mistreated.  It does, however, teach us that we should not strike back at those who have authority over us and treat us badly.  If we continue to faithfully serve God in such trying circumstances, others will see and be inspired to serve Him as well.