The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  8Then Jonathan said, “Very well, let us cross over to these men, and we will show ourselves to them.

  9“If they say thus to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place and not go up to them.

  10“But if they say thus, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up. For the LORD has delivered them into our hand, and hthis will be a sign to us.”

  11So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, “Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have ihidden.”

  12Then the men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will 2show you something.” Jonathan said to his armorbearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.”

  13And Jonathan climbed up on his hands and knees with his armorbearer after him; and they jfell before Jonathan. And as he came after him, his armorbearer killed them.

  14That first slaughter which Jonathan and his armorbearer made was about twenty men within about 3half an acre of land.

  15And kthere was 4trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison and lthe raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so that it was ma very great trembling.

  16Now the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and there was the multitude, melting away; and they nwent here and there.

  17Then Saul said to the people who were with him, “Now call the roll and see who has gone from us.” And when they had called the roll, surprisingly, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there.

  18And Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the 5ark of God here” (for at that time the ark of God was with the children of Israel).

  19Now it happened, while Saul otalked to the priest, that the noise which was in the camp of the Philistines continued to increase; so Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”

  20Then Saul and all the people who were with him assembled, and they went to the battle; and indeed pevery man’s sword was against his neighbor, and there was very great confusion.

  21Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

  22Likewise all the men of Israel who qhad hidden in the mountains of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle.

  23rSo the LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted sto Beth Aven.

  Saul’s Rash Oath

  24And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had tplaced the people under oath, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.

  25uNow all the people of the land came to a forest; and there was vhoney on the ground.

  26And when the people had come into the woods, there was the honey, dripping; but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.

  27But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the people with the oath; therefore he stretched out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in a honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his 6countenance brightened.

  28Then one of the people said, “Your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food this day.’ ” And the people were faint.

  29But Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land. Look now, how my countenance has brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.

  30“How much better if the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found! For now would there not have been a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?”

  31Now they had 7driven back the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. So the people were very faint.

  32And the people rushed on the 8spoil, and took sheep, oxen, and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them wwith the blood.

  33Then they told Saul, saying, “Look, the people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood!” So he said, “You have dealt treacherously; roll a large stone to me this day.”

  34Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, ‘Bring me here every man’s ox and every man’s sheep, slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.’ ” So every one of the people brought his ox with him that night, and slaughtered it there.

  35Then Saul xbuilt an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar that he built to the LORD.

  36Now Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light; and let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” Then the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”

  37So Saul yasked counsel of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel?” But zHe did not answer him that day.

  38And Saul said, a“Come over here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see what this sin was today.

  39“For bas the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die.” But not a man among all the people answered him.

  40Then he said to all Israel, “You be on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will be on the other side.” And the people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.”

  41Therefore Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, c“Give9 a perfect lot.” dSo Saul and Jonathan were taken, but the people escaped.

  42And Saul said, “Cast lots between my son Jonathan and me.” So Jonathan was taken.

  43Then Saul said to Jonathan, e“Tell me what you have done.” And Jonathan told him, and said, f“I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!”

  44Saul answered, g“God do so and more also; hfor you shall surely die, Jonathan.”

  45But the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! iAs the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked jwith God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

  46Then Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place.

  Saul’s Continuing Wars

  47So Saul established his sovereignty over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, against the people of kAmmon, against Edom, against the kings of lZobah, and against the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he 10harassed them.

  48And he gathered an army and mattacked11 the Amalekites, and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.

  49nThe sons of Saul were Jonathan, 12Jishui, and Malchishua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger oMichal.

  50The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the commander of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul’s puncle.

  51qKish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

  52Now there was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man or any valiant man, rhe took him for himself.

  1 Samuel 15

  Saul Spares King Agag

  1Samuel also said to Saul, a“The LORD sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the LORD.

  2“Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, bhow he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.

  3‘Now go and cattack1 Amalek, and dutterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ”

  4So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten th
ousand men of Judah.

  5And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.

  6Then Saul said to ethe Kenites, f“Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For gyou showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

  7hAnd Saul attacked the Amalekites, from iHavilah all the way to jShur, which is east of Egypt.

  8kHe also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and lutterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.

  9But Saul and the people mspared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

  Saul Rejected as King

  10Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,

  11n“I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has oturned back from following Me, pand has not performed My commandments.” And it qgrieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.

  12So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to rCarmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.”

  13Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, s“Blessed are you of the LORD! I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”

  14But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”

  15And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; tfor the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Before David Became King

  16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”

  17So Samuel said, u“When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?

  18“Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are 2consumed.’

  19“Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the 3spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”

  20And Saul said to Samuel, v“But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

  21w“But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”

  22So Samuel said:

  x“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,

  As in obeying the voice of the LORD?

  Behold, yto obey is better than sacrifice,

  And to heed than the fat of rams.

  23For rebellion is as the sin of 4witchcraft,

  And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.

  Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,

  z He also has rejected you from being king.”

  24aThen Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I bfeared the people and obeyed their voice.

  25“Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.”

  26But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, cfor you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”

  27And as Samuel turned around to go away, dSaul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.

  28So Samuel said to him, e“The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

  29“And also the Strength of Israel fwill not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”

  30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet ghonor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”

  31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

  32Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

  33But Samuel said, h“As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

  34Then Samuel went to iRamah, and Saul went up to his house at jGibeah of Saul.

  35And kSamuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

  1 Samuel 16

  David Anointed King

  1Now the LORD said to Samuel, a“How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? bFill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to cJesse the Bethlehemite. For dI have 1provided Myself a king among his sons.”

  2And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” But the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, e‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’

  3“Then invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.”

  4So Samuel did what the LORD said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town ftrembled at his coming, and said, g“Do you come peaceably?”

  5And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. hSanctify2 yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.

  6So it was, when they came, that he looked at iEliab and jsaid, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before Him!”

  7But the LORD said to Samuel, k“Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have 3refused him. lFor4 the LORD does not see as man sees; for man mlooks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the nheart.”

  8So Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”

  9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”

  10Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.”

  11And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all the young men here?” Then he said, “There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the osheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him. For we will not 5sit down till he comes here.”

  12So he sent and brought him in. Now he was pruddy, qwith 6bright eyes, and good-looking. rAnd the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”

  13Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and sthe Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

  A Distressing Spirit Troubles Saul

  14tBut the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and ua distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.

  15And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you.

  16“Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will vplay it with his hand when the 7distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.”

  17So Saul said to his servants, 8“Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”

  18Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and wthe LORD is with him.”

  19Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with
the sheep.”

  20And Jesse xtook a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul.

  21So David came to Saul and ystood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer.

  22Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.”

  23And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.

  1 Samuel 17

  David and Goliath

  1Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle, and were gathered at aSochoh, which belongs to Judah; they encamped between Sochoh and Azekah, in Ephes Dammim.

  2And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.

  3The Philistines stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, with a valley between them.

  4And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named bGoliath, from cGath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

  5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was 1armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.

  6And he had bronze armor on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.

  7Now the staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him.

  8Then he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the dservants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.

  9“If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and eserve us.”

  10And the Philistine said, “I fdefy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.”