1 Samuel 16:14

_BUT THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD DEPARTED FROM SAUL, AND AN EVIL SPIRIT FROM THE LORD TROUBLED HIM._ An evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, х_ WªRUWACH_ (H7307) _ YAHWEH_ (H3068) _ CAARAAH_ (H5493), and a spirit of defection (apostasy) from the Lord]. There is no reason, from the phraseology of the text, to believe that the Hebrews were accustomed to ascribe every malignant disorder as "from the Lord." Saul was possessed of a devil; because it is evident from the symptoms, as well as the remedy proposed, that his attendants regarded his malady as a natural, not an extraordinary or miraculous, disease. It was manifestly a case of hypochondria. But his bodily distemper was aggravated by the state of his temper (Mead, 'Medica Sacra,' p. 26). His own gloomy reflections, the consciousness that he had not acted up to th

14-23 Saul is made a terror to himself. The Spirit of the Lord departed from him. If God and his grace do not rule us, sin and Satan will have possession of us. The devil, by the Divine permission, troubled and terrified Saul, by the corrupt humours of his body, and passions of his mind. He grew fretful, peevish, and discontented, and at times a madman. It is a pity that music, which may be serviceable to the good temper of the mind, should ever be abused, to support vanity and luxury, and made an occasion of drawing the heart from God and serious things. That is driving away the good Spirit, not the evil spirit. Music, diversions, company, or business, have for a time often been employed to quiet the wounded conscience; but nothing can effect a real cure but the blood of Christ, applied in faith, and the sanctifying Spirit sealing the pardon, by his holy comforts. All other plans to dis...

Verse 1 Samuel 16:14. _THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD DEPARTED FROM SAUL_] He was thrown into such a state of mind by the judgments of God, as to be deprived of any regal qualities which he before possessed. God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will. _AN EVIL SPIRIT FROM THE LORD_] The evil spirit was either immediately sent from the Lord, or permitted to come. Whether this was a diabolic possession, or a mere mental malady, the learned are not agreed; it seems to have partaken of both. That Saul had fallen into a deep melancholy, there is little doubt; that the devil might work more effectually on such a state of mind, there can be but little question. There is an old proverb, Satan delights to fish in troubled waters; and Saul's situation of mind gave him

DAVID ANOINTED AS THE FUTURE KING, AND HIS FIRST INTRODUCTION TO SAUL. (1 Samuel 16:1) EXPOSITION CHOICE OF DAVID AS SUCCESSOR TO SAUL (1 Samuel 16:1). 1 SAMUEL 16:1 HOW LONG WRIT THOU MOURN? The grief of Samuel was prolonged almost to a sinful extent, nor can we wonder at it. We who see Saul's whole career, and know how deeply he fell

BUT THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD DEPARTED FROM SAUL,.... As a spirit of prophecy as at first, as a spirit of wisdom and prudence in civil government, and as a spirit of fortitude and courage, as the Targum: AND AN EVIL SPIRIT FROM THE LORD TROUBLED HIM; the reverse of the former, which by the permission of God, and as a punishment to him for his sins, came upon him; he seemed to be a demoniac, as Josephus represents i him, as if possessed with the devil; by whom he was almost suffocated and strangled, as well as was distracted in his counsels, and became weak and foolish; lost all courage and greatness of mind, was timorous and fearful, and alarmed by everything, and was full of envy, suspicion, rage, and despair. i Antiqu. l. 6. c. 8. sect. 2....

III. DAVID, THE KING AFTER GOD'S HEART--HIS EXILE AND SUFFERING 1. David Anointed King and the Departure of the Spirit from Saul CHAPTER 16 _ 1. David anointed king (1 Samuel 16:1)_ 2. The Spirit departs from Saul and David with Saul (1 Samuel 16:14) The king after the people's heart has failed and is set aside, and now Jehovah brings forth His king after His own heart. That king like Jonathan, a man of faith, is devoted to Jehovah and in perfect subjection unto Him. Furthermore, from the tribe of Judah (Judah means “praise”) he is a worshipper through whom the Spirit of God pours forth the sweetest strains of praise and worship. He prospers into a great kingdom and Jehovah makes an oathbound covenant with him ...

DAVID, SAUL'S MINSTREL. (J), the ancient narrative, continues 1 Samuel 14:52. The earlier and more authentic of the two accounts of David's introduction to Saul (_cf._ 1 Samuel 17:55 ff.). Saul became possessed with some form of recurrent mania, which the primitive combination of pathology and theology explained by saying that the Spirit of Yahweh had departed from him, and that Yahweh had sent an evil spirit to torment him; so, according to Micaiah, 1 Kings 22:23, Yahweh put a lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets. For us such statements connect themselves with the problem of the relation between the Divine Omnipotence and the origin of evil, but here they show that the Israelites did not yet ful

BUT. This marks and introduces the later episode, placed here in order to bring out and connect the contrast of the Spirit's departing from Saul and coming on David. See notes on 17. and 1 Samuel 18:12. EVIL: always. Hebrew. _ra'a'_ (App-44.), in this connection. SPIRIT. Hebrew. _ruach._ App-9. TROUBLED. terrified....

David's introduction to the Court of Saul 14. _But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul_ Note the contrast to 1 Samuel 16:13. As David rose, Saul sank. _an evil spirit from the Lord_ The cause of Saul's mental disorder is described as "an evil spirit from Jehovah," or "of Jehovah" (1 Samuel 19:9); "an evil spirit of God" (1 Samuel 16:15; 1 Samuel 18:10); "the spirit of evil" (1 Samuel 16:23); even "the spirit of God" (1 Samuel 16:23

THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD DEPARTED FROM SAUL— Or, as the word might have been rendered, _had departed from Saul._ But what spirit? Not the prophetic spirit which he received according to Samuel's prediction, which ceased instantly when his prophesying was ended: not the spirit to render him incapable of transgressing; for that he never had, and therefore could never lose it. No: God was no longer with him, to prosper and guide him; but left him, as the effect of his disobedience, to that evil, melancholy, jealous, envious, malicious, murderous spirit, which afterwards possessed him, and seems never wholly to have left him. And this _evil spirit_ of jealousy, hatred, and cruelty, will in the nature of things banish the spirit of a sound mind, moderation, equity, and every princely virtue, introduce an almost perpetual gloom, and dispose those who are under the unhappy influence of it, to the...