1 Samuel 19:20

_AND IT WAS TOLD SAUL, SAYING, BEHOLD, DAVID IS AT NAIOTH IN RAMAH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

11-24 Michal's stratagem to gain time till David got to a distance was allowable, but her falsehood had not even the plea of necessity to excuse it, and manifests that she was not influenced by the same spirit of piety which had dictated Jonathan's language to Saul. In flying to Samuel, David made God his refuge. Samuel, as a prophet, was best able to advise him what to do in this day of distress. He met with little rest or satisfaction in Saul's court, therefore went to seek it in Samuel's church. What little pleasure is to be had in this world, those have who live a life of communion with God; to that David returned in the time of trouble. So impatient was Saul after David's blood, so restless against him, that although baffled by one providence after another, he could not see that David was under the special protection of God. And when God will take this way to protect David, even Sa...

Verse 1 Samuel 19:20. _THE COMPANY OF THE PROPHETS PROPHESYING_] Employed in religious exercises. _SAMUEL - APPOINTED OVER THEM_] Being _head_ or _president_ of the school at this place. _THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS UPON THE MESSENGERS_] They partook of the same influence, and joined in the same exercise; and thus were prevented from seizing David....

SAMUEL STANDING AS APPOINTED - Rather, “as Overseer, or leader.”...

SUCCESSIVE ATTEMPTS UPON DAVID'S LIFE FRUSTRATED BY THE LOVE OF JONATHAN AND MICHAL, AND FINALLY BY FLIGHT (1 Samuel 19:1.). EXPOSITION JONATHAN'S LOVE FOR DAVID (1 Samuel 19:1). 1 SAMUEL 19:1 SAUL SPAKE TO JONATHAN HIS SON...THAT THEY SHOULD KILL DAVID. The translation of the last clause is untenable;

AND SAUL SENT MESSENGERS TO TAKE DAVID,.... Notwithstanding the sacred place he was in, so bent was he upon his destruction: AND WHEN THEY SAW THE COMPANY OF THE PROPHETS PROPHESYING; or praising, as the Targum; singing hymns and songs of praise to God, under the inspiration and influence of the Spirit of God, who endited these songs for them, and excited them to sing them; these prophets belonged to the school or college of prophets at Naioth, whom the messengers saw when they came thither, and found them thus employed; or "when he saw" m, for the word is singular, that is, the chief of the messengers, or everyone of them, so Kimchi: AND SAMUEL STANDING [AS] APPOINTED OVER THEM; he was president of the college, and he stood to instruct and teach them in the knowledge of divine things: so the Targum, "standing, teaching over them or by them,'' and to direct and assist them in singing...

4. SAUL'S RENEWED ATTEMPT AND DAVID'S ESCAPE CHAPTER 19 _ 1. Saul and Jonathan (1 Samuel 19:1)_ 2. Saul's new attempt to kill David (1 Samuel 19:8) 3. David's escape (1 Samuel 19:11) 4. Saul's pursuit and his helplessness (1 Samuel 19:19) The lost King goes from bad to worse. First he tried to spear David; then he attempted to take his life through having him killed by the Philistines, and now he speaks openly to his own son and to all his servants that David must be killed. Therefore loving Jonathan warned David and he hid himself Then Jonathan persuades his father to desist an

DAVID AT RAMAH (R). Of uncertain origin, probably late. Partly parallel to 1 Samuel 10:10 ff. David takes refuge with Samuel at Naioth in Ramah. Naioth is apparently not a proper name, but if it is not, its meaning is quite unknown. It has been conjectured that it may have been the quarter of the town inhabited by the prophets. The contagious nature of this ecstatic prophecy is shown by the fact that, first Saul's messengers, and then Saul himself, are seized by it when they come to Naioth. [For 1 Samuel 19:24_ b cf._ 1 Samuel 10:11 f., another story as to the origin of the proverb. A. S. P.]...

COMPANY. Compare 1 Samuel 10:5. 2Ki 2:3-5. 2 Kings 5:22. College for instruction of prophets, priests having failed in their duty as teachers. Deuteronomy 17:11; Deuteronomy 33:10. APPOINTED OVER. Samuel the head here. Elisha in 2 Kings 2:15. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim_. App-4....

David takes refuge with Samuel at Ramah 18. _to Samuel_ Turning naturally for direction at this crisis to the prophet who had anointed him, and hoping that Saul would at least reverence the age and authority of Samuel. No doubt David had had much intercourse with Samuel since their first meeting at Bethlehem. _in Naioth Naioth_, which was at or near Ramah, is a quasi-proper name signifying _dwellings_, and in al probability denotes the _College_, or common residence of the society of prophets collected together at Ramah by Samuel. See Introd. ch. 6 p. 33. Cp. 2 Kings 6:1-2. The Targum renders the word "house of instruction." Hither Samuel took David, partly as being a safer place of refuge than his own house; partly that he might be spiritually strengthened by a share in the religious exercises of the society ...