1 Samuel 18
Jonathan gives David his robe, weapons, and belt. David succeeds at everything. The women's song makes Saul afraid.
Summary
Chapter 18 establishes the two primary relational currents of the second half of 1 Samuel: the love of Jonathan for David and the fear of Saul for David. Jonathan's response to Goliath's death is immediate and total — when he has finished speaking with David, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. He strips himself of his robe, his armour, his sword, his bow, and his belt and gives them to David. For Jonathan the crown prince, the gesture is a covenant of equality that dissolves his own status. David is set over Saul's warriors and succeeds wherever he goes.
Saul's fear begins with a song. Women of the towns come out to celebrate the victory with tambourines and dancing, singing responsively: Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. The song assigns David the larger number. Saul is angry and alarmed: they have ascribed to David ten thousands and to me only thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom? The jealousy is registered in a single phrase — he eyed David from that day on. An evil spirit sends Saul into a frenzy while David plays the lyre; Saul hurls his spear at David, intending to pin him to the wall. David evades him twice. Saul, recognizing that the Lord is with David and has departed from himself, removes David from court by promoting him to field command — but David's success in the field increases his popularity. Saul attempts to use his daughter Michal's love for David as a military trap: the bride price he sets is one hundred Philistine foreskins, hoping the Philistines will kill David in the attempt. David brings back two hundred. Saul gives him Michal and becomes his enemy.
- 1 Samuel 1Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship.
- 1 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven.
- 1 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 4Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward.
- 1 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy.
- 1 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence.
- 1 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc.
- 1 Samuel 8Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book.
- 1 Samuel 9Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony.
- 1 Samuel 10Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection.
- 1 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure.
- 1 Samuel 12Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter.
- 1 Samuel 13Chapter 13 begins the decline.
- 1 Samuel 14Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs.
- 1 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the final disqualification.
- 1 Samuel 16Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter.
- 1 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize.
- 1 Samuel 19Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent.
- 1 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature.
- 1 Samuel 21Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation.
- 1 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book.
- 1 Samuel 23Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting.
- 1 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it.
- 1 Samuel 25Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it.
- 1 Samuel 26Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible.
- 1 Samuel 27Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 28Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 29Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel.
- 1 Samuel 30Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 31Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story.