Saturday, March 27, 2004
1 Samuel 23 – Casting Lots
This chapter, devoted to David’s new life as a raider in the wilderness, contains an interesting passage which reveals in practical terms what was involved in consulting the Lord. There were three main ways in which God spoke during this time: through dreams, through prophets, and through the priests. Here is an account of David’s experience with the latter:
1 Samuel 23:9 When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to the priest Abiathar, "Bring the ephod here."
The ephod contained the “lots” – the Urim and Thummin.
10 David said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. 11 And now, will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant."
The LORD said, "He will come down."
12 Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?"
The LORD said, "They will surrender you."
Thus advised, David and his men made a timely escape from Keilah.
The ephod contained the lots which the priests cast to gain an answer from God. This is an excellent example of the sort of "yes" and "no" questions that they would put to God. As is made even clearer in the passage from chapter 14, below, the priest would then cast lots which would show either "Urim" or "Thummin." Depending on which, the priest would have the answer from God.
1 Samuel 14:41 Then Saul said, ".... If this guilt is in me or in my son Jonathan, O LORD God of Israel, give Urim; but if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim."
The only instance I know of in which Christians pursued this method of divining God’s will was in the selection of a successor to Judas in the group of the 12 apostles:
Acts 1:23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
I believe that some Mennonite bodies use this procedure even to this day in the selection of congregational leadership. We Quakers want to sense an “inward witness” from God, and find this approach unduly mechanical. But there was more to it than meets the eye. There were times when the priests could get no answer. God refused to be manipulated or rushed:
1 Samuel 14:36 Then Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night and despoil them until the morning light; let us not leave one of them." They said, "Do whatever seems good to you." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here."
37 So Saul inquired of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him that day.
This is where the third commandment becomes so important:
KJV Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The temptation is to speak for God . . . even when God is not speaking. Perhaps the worse temptation is to assume that God is not speaking, even when he is.
1 Samuel 23:9 When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to the priest Abiathar, "Bring the ephod here."
The ephod contained the “lots” – the Urim and Thummin.
10 David said, "O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. 11 And now, will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant."
The LORD said, "He will come down."
12 Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?"
The LORD said, "They will surrender you."
Thus advised, David and his men made a timely escape from Keilah.
The ephod contained the lots which the priests cast to gain an answer from God. This is an excellent example of the sort of "yes" and "no" questions that they would put to God. As is made even clearer in the passage from chapter 14, below, the priest would then cast lots which would show either "Urim" or "Thummin." Depending on which, the priest would have the answer from God.
1 Samuel 14:41 Then Saul said, ".... If this guilt is in me or in my son Jonathan, O LORD God of Israel, give Urim; but if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim."
The only instance I know of in which Christians pursued this method of divining God’s will was in the selection of a successor to Judas in the group of the 12 apostles:
Acts 1:23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
I believe that some Mennonite bodies use this procedure even to this day in the selection of congregational leadership. We Quakers want to sense an “inward witness” from God, and find this approach unduly mechanical. But there was more to it than meets the eye. There were times when the priests could get no answer. God refused to be manipulated or rushed:
1 Samuel 14:36 Then Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night and despoil them until the morning light; let us not leave one of them." They said, "Do whatever seems good to you." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here."
37 So Saul inquired of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him that day.
This is where the third commandment becomes so important:
KJV Exodus 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The temptation is to speak for God . . . even when God is not speaking. Perhaps the worse temptation is to assume that God is not speaking, even when he is.
Wednesday, March 24, 2004
1 Samuel 21-22 - Lies and Spies
Chapters 21 and 22 tell the story of the beginning of David’s career as a rebel. It is not pretty: the lies David tells result in an innocent town being slaughtered.
After leaving Samuel, David flees to Nob, where he approaches Ahimelech, the priest, and seeks to requisition bread. The priest wonders why David, a high military official, is alone. David lies, claiming to be on a secret mission:
1 Samuel 21:2 "The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, 'No one must know anything of the matter..."
Ahimelech only has bread that had been consecrated to God and was thus restricted to the use of the priests (Lev 24:9). David lies that he has troops with him, and embellishes his story by saying that his troops have "kept themselves from women." (21:4) Somehow, this qualifies them to use the sanctified bread.
[Jesus cites this episode in Mark 3:25-27+ in defense of his followers eating standing grain on the Sabbath and articulates the principle: Mark 2:27 "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." ]
David then appeals to Ahimelech for a weapon, and...
1 Samuel 21:9 The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you will take that, take it, for there is none here except that one."
Significantly, all of this was overheard by Doeg the Edomite, "the chief of Saul's shepherds." (21:7) By the end of the story, Doeg will have reported all this to Saul, to the great hurt of Abimelech and his town.
David takes Goliath’s sword and goes on to Gath. The interesting thing about Gath is that it was the hometown of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4). Here is the reversal of David’s essentially defenseless approach to combat with Goliath in which he trusted in the Lord to save.
The king of Gath became suspicious of David, and to save himself David feigned insanity:
1 Samuel 21:13 He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard.
David has now humiliated himself, much as Saul did when he fell among the prophets and spent the night raving and naked. (19:24) So the king let him go and David "escaped to the cave of Adullam." (22:1) There, a band of raiders formed around him: his family, debtors, "and everyone who was discontented." (22:2)
Saul, of course, has been seeking information about David. Doeg tells his story. The priest, Ahimelech is immediately hauled before the King and charged with treason for aiding David. Ahimelech is dumbfounded:
1 Samuel 22:14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, "Who among all your servants is so faithful as David? He is the king's son-in-law, and is quick to do your bidding, and is honored in your house...."
To Saul, this doesn't matter. He orders Ahimelech's execution. No one among his courtiers is willing to kill a priest of God, but Doeg, the non-Jew, carried out the order:
1 Samuel 22:18 Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he killed eighty-five who wore the linen ephod. 19 Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword."
Only Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escaped. He fled to David:
1 Samuel 22:22 David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the lives of all your father's house. 23 Stay with me, and do not be afraid; for the one who seeks my life seeks your life; you will be safe with me."
This sense of responsibility is endearing, but late. The fact is that David's lies resulted in the genocidal attack on the town of Nod. This brings to mind another of Jesus' sayings:
NRS Matthew 26:52 “all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Except in this case the innocent perished.
After leaving Samuel, David flees to Nob, where he approaches Ahimelech, the priest, and seeks to requisition bread. The priest wonders why David, a high military official, is alone. David lies, claiming to be on a secret mission:
1 Samuel 21:2 "The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, 'No one must know anything of the matter..."
Ahimelech only has bread that had been consecrated to God and was thus restricted to the use of the priests (Lev 24:9). David lies that he has troops with him, and embellishes his story by saying that his troops have "kept themselves from women." (21:4) Somehow, this qualifies them to use the sanctified bread.
[Jesus cites this episode in Mark 3:25-27+ in defense of his followers eating standing grain on the Sabbath and articulates the principle: Mark 2:27 "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." ]
David then appeals to Ahimelech for a weapon, and...
1 Samuel 21:9 The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you will take that, take it, for there is none here except that one."
Significantly, all of this was overheard by Doeg the Edomite, "the chief of Saul's shepherds." (21:7) By the end of the story, Doeg will have reported all this to Saul, to the great hurt of Abimelech and his town.
David takes Goliath’s sword and goes on to Gath. The interesting thing about Gath is that it was the hometown of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4). Here is the reversal of David’s essentially defenseless approach to combat with Goliath in which he trusted in the Lord to save.
The king of Gath became suspicious of David, and to save himself David feigned insanity:
1 Samuel 21:13 He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard.
David has now humiliated himself, much as Saul did when he fell among the prophets and spent the night raving and naked. (19:24) So the king let him go and David "escaped to the cave of Adullam." (22:1) There, a band of raiders formed around him: his family, debtors, "and everyone who was discontented." (22:2)
Saul, of course, has been seeking information about David. Doeg tells his story. The priest, Ahimelech is immediately hauled before the King and charged with treason for aiding David. Ahimelech is dumbfounded:
1 Samuel 22:14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, "Who among all your servants is so faithful as David? He is the king's son-in-law, and is quick to do your bidding, and is honored in your house...."
To Saul, this doesn't matter. He orders Ahimelech's execution. No one among his courtiers is willing to kill a priest of God, but Doeg, the non-Jew, carried out the order:
1 Samuel 22:18 Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he killed eighty-five who wore the linen ephod. 19 Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword."
Only Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escaped. He fled to David:
1 Samuel 22:22 David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the lives of all your father's house. 23 Stay with me, and do not be afraid; for the one who seeks my life seeks your life; you will be safe with me."
This sense of responsibility is endearing, but late. The fact is that David's lies resulted in the genocidal attack on the town of Nod. This brings to mind another of Jesus' sayings:
NRS Matthew 26:52 “all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Except in this case the innocent perished.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
1 Samuel 20 - Grace
This chapter contains the most beautiful description of friendship-love in literature. Fleeing from his sanctuary with Samuel in Naioth, David seeks out Saul's son, Jonathan, and lays bear his soul, crying out:
1 Samuel 20:1 "What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?"
When Jonathan replies that he hasn't seen any sign of enmity toward David from his father, David answers:
NIV 1 Samuel 20:3 "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, 'Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.' Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death."
Many modern English translations render the first part of this verse with insipid words like "you like me," (NRS) "our friendship," (NLT) "you are fond of me," (TNK). But the more literal translation of KJV, “I have found grace in thine eyes,” give us the passion of a man who is fearful for his life at the hands of a king whom he respects as the anointed of God, but sees "grace" extended to him in the eyes of his enemy's son.
The phrase, "there is but a step between me and death" captures the knife's edge of life in Saul’s court. In Saul's growing paranoia, anyone who extends grace to David treads that narrow ground.
David and Jonathan develop a scheme to test Saul's attitude toward David. The result is that Saul explodes, reveals his hatred for David, and nearly takes his own son's life:
1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. He said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die." 32
Then Jonathan answered his father Saul, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"
33 But Saul threw his spear at him to strike him....
The narrative of fear, testing, and flight serves as backdrop to the love between David and Jonathan.
Jonathan exclaims:
1 Samuel 20:13 ”But if my father intends to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan, and more also, if I do not disclose it to you... 14 If I am still alive, show me the faithful love [hesed] of the LORD; but if I die, 15 never cut off your faithful love [hesed] from my house....”
16 Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David.... 17 Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own life.
Twice, Jonathan calls on God to stand between them:
NAU 1 Samuel 20:23 "As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever."
and again as David prepares to flee:
1 Samuel 20:41-42 He bowed three times, and they kissed each other, and wept with each other; David wept the more.
42 Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.'"
Much later, at the news of Jonathan's death, David gave voice to the depths of his feeling:
2 Samuel 1:26 greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
What David and Jonathan found in each other was grace (which is the discovery of unexpected acceptance), hesed (an untranslatable Hebrew word conveying confidence in everlasting kindness), and a loyalty attested to by the witness of God's presence standing in the midst. These are rare qualities. They give the soul freedom for honesty and pure expression of emotion. They are give life where otherwise there is fear and death.
1 Samuel 20:1 "What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?"
When Jonathan replies that he hasn't seen any sign of enmity toward David from his father, David answers:
NIV 1 Samuel 20:3 "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, 'Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.' Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death."
Many modern English translations render the first part of this verse with insipid words like "you like me," (NRS) "our friendship," (NLT) "you are fond of me," (TNK). But the more literal translation of KJV, “I have found grace in thine eyes,” give us the passion of a man who is fearful for his life at the hands of a king whom he respects as the anointed of God, but sees "grace" extended to him in the eyes of his enemy's son.
The phrase, "there is but a step between me and death" captures the knife's edge of life in Saul’s court. In Saul's growing paranoia, anyone who extends grace to David treads that narrow ground.
David and Jonathan develop a scheme to test Saul's attitude toward David. The result is that Saul explodes, reveals his hatred for David, and nearly takes his own son's life:
1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. He said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die." 32
Then Jonathan answered his father Saul, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"
33 But Saul threw his spear at him to strike him....
The narrative of fear, testing, and flight serves as backdrop to the love between David and Jonathan.
Jonathan exclaims:
1 Samuel 20:13 ”But if my father intends to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan, and more also, if I do not disclose it to you... 14 If I am still alive, show me the faithful love [hesed] of the LORD; but if I die, 15 never cut off your faithful love [hesed] from my house....”
16 Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David.... 17 Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own life.
Twice, Jonathan calls on God to stand between them:
NAU 1 Samuel 20:23 "As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever."
and again as David prepares to flee:
1 Samuel 20:41-42 He bowed three times, and they kissed each other, and wept with each other; David wept the more.
42 Then Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.'"
Much later, at the news of Jonathan's death, David gave voice to the depths of his feeling:
2 Samuel 1:26 greatly beloved were you to me; your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.
What David and Jonathan found in each other was grace (which is the discovery of unexpected acceptance), hesed (an untranslatable Hebrew word conveying confidence in everlasting kindness), and a loyalty attested to by the witness of God's presence standing in the midst. These are rare qualities. They give the soul freedom for honesty and pure expression of emotion. They are give life where otherwise there is fear and death.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
1 Samuel 18-19 – An Evil Spirituality
The story that run through Chapters 18-19 is, first, the account of the growing love of Saul's children, Jonathan and Michal, for David, and of Saul's growing fear and hatred of him. Intertwined with this story of human relationships, is another account seen through the lens of the Spirit of God. Together, it is a narrative of the relationship between human emotion and the life of the Spirit, and the bitter poison of jealousy.
David is loved, first by Jonathan, Saul’s son, then by the army, and finally by Saul’s daughter, Michal:
NRS 1 Samuel 18:1 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.... 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for it was he who marched out and came in leading them.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:20 Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David. Saul was told, and the thing pleased him. (Note: Commentators say this is the only verse in scripture to assert the love of a woman for a man.)
Saul sees this love and turns it to fear and anger:
NRS 1 Samuel 18:28 But when Saul realized ... that Saul's daughter Michal loved him, 29 Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy from that time forward.
1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. He said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse... 31 .... Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die."
Parallel to all of this, and undergirding the outward human story there is the life of the Spirit. Repeatedly, the text asserts that God is with David. It is this which evokes in others their love, but also Saul’s jealousy which the text sees as a perverted spirituality. The narrator calls it, “an evil spirit from the LORD.”
NRS 1 Samuel 18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul threw the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:14 David had success in all his undertakings; for the LORD was with him.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:28 But when Saul realized that the LORD was with David, and that Saul's daughter Michal loved him, 29 Saul was still more afraid of David.
1 Samuel 19:9 Then an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing music. 10 Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night.
Finally, aided by Michal, Saul’s daughter and now David’s wife, David seeks out the prophet Samuel in Naioth. The text does not say why David went to Samuel, but that is where he found the practical protection of the Spirit of God:
NRS 1 Samuel 19:20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David. When they saw the company of the prophets in a frenzy, with Samuel standing in charge of them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also fell into a prophetic frenzy....:23 He went there, toward Naioth in Ramah; and the spirit of God came upon him. As he was going, he fell into a prophetic frenzy, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He too stripped off his clothes, and he too fell into a frenzy before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all that night. Therefore it is said, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" 20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah.
It is a fearful thing to observe in Saul the ravages of an unclean spirituality. At the beginning of his story, when the Spirit of God rushed upon him after he first talked with Samuel, we saw Saul's potential to truly be "among the prophets." Here we see him, "among the prophets" but destroyed by fear and jealousy.
David is loved, first by Jonathan, Saul’s son, then by the army, and finally by Saul’s daughter, Michal:
NRS 1 Samuel 18:1 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.... 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for it was he who marched out and came in leading them.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:20 Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David. Saul was told, and the thing pleased him. (Note: Commentators say this is the only verse in scripture to assert the love of a woman for a man.)
Saul sees this love and turns it to fear and anger:
NRS 1 Samuel 18:28 But when Saul realized ... that Saul's daughter Michal loved him, 29 Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy from that time forward.
1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan. He said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse... 31 .... Now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die."
Parallel to all of this, and undergirding the outward human story there is the life of the Spirit. Repeatedly, the text asserts that God is with David. It is this which evokes in others their love, but also Saul’s jealousy which the text sees as a perverted spirituality. The narrator calls it, “an evil spirit from the LORD.”
NRS 1 Samuel 18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul threw the spear, for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David eluded him twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:14 David had success in all his undertakings; for the LORD was with him.
NRS 1 Samuel 18:28 But when Saul realized that the LORD was with David, and that Saul's daughter Michal loved him, 29 Saul was still more afraid of David.
1 Samuel 19:9 Then an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing music. 10 Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night.
Finally, aided by Michal, Saul’s daughter and now David’s wife, David seeks out the prophet Samuel in Naioth. The text does not say why David went to Samuel, but that is where he found the practical protection of the Spirit of God:
NRS 1 Samuel 19:20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David. When they saw the company of the prophets in a frenzy, with Samuel standing in charge of them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also fell into a prophetic frenzy....:23 He went there, toward Naioth in Ramah; and the spirit of God came upon him. As he was going, he fell into a prophetic frenzy, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He too stripped off his clothes, and he too fell into a frenzy before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all that night. Therefore it is said, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" 20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah.
It is a fearful thing to observe in Saul the ravages of an unclean spirituality. At the beginning of his story, when the Spirit of God rushed upon him after he first talked with Samuel, we saw Saul's potential to truly be "among the prophets." Here we see him, "among the prophets" but destroyed by fear and jealousy.
