So last time we ended when David was anointed to be the next king of Israel and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. What does the Book of Samuel tell us about next? The Spirit of the Lord that had been upon King Saul departed from him and when the Spirit of the Lord left him then a demonic spirit came upon him. God had sent this evil spirit to bother King Saul. Saul was experiencing so much mental and physical suffering that his servants thought that an evil spirit from God must be tormenting Saul. So they suggested to Saul that he let them go find someone who can play a musical instrument called a lyre – a kind of harp. They thought that it would help when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul.
So Saul gave the order. He told his servants to provide him with a man who can play well and bring him there. One of the young men replied, “I have seen one of sons of Jesse of Bethlehem who is very good at playing. He is a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” Thus Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” And Jesse took a donkey loaded down with bread and wine and a young goat and sent them by his son David to the king. It was that day that little David entered into the King’s service.
Saul loved David very much and David became his squire who carried his armor. So Saul asked Jesse to let David stay. And whenever the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, little David took his harp and played it with his hand. And at the sound of the soothing music Saul was refreshed and felt better and the evil spirit left from him.
Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle against Israel. And Saul and the men of Israel drew up in a battle line against the Philistines. The Philistines were standing one the mountain on the one side and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side and there was a valley between the two armies. And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath who was a giant. Playing a harp wasn’t going to make this giant go away. Stay tuned to see what David did next.
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