Anonymous writes "Here, before the term is even coined, David is a Renaissance man. He can do it all, fight, play music, sing, lead men, be good looking, have great valor. First Samuel anoints David as king over Israel at the sacrifice in Bethlehem. When that happens David is sunburned and a youth with pretty eyes. At some later undisclosed point in time David is recruited to play the harp for Saul to ease his oppression. The Spirit of Lord had led Saul when he was obeying God. God’s Spirit has now left Saul, permanently. In its place an evil spirit has taken up residence and it torments Saul. We are not given much insight into the nature of that torment except that it terrorized Saul, which seems to indicate some sort of excessive fear. When David plays the harp for Saul, his heart is eased and the feelings of terror fade. We are given no indication as to why this works. It could be that the wholesome effect of this man of God on the atmosphere around Saul when he plays draws Saul nearer to God and thus further out of the evil spirit’s reach, but we don’t really know. We just know it helped. So God finds a way to get David introduced at the court and gives Saul an opportunity to raise up this destined young man to a place of responsibility. In effect Saul is made able to plausibly develop a friendship with David and name him as heir in a stable transition of power. Of course Saul takes this possibility and lays it on the trash heap with every other good plan to follow God he has ever seen and runs the exact opposite direction. What opportunity is God giving you to graciously obey His will rather than opposing Him and eventually losing painfully to Him?
Without Wax,
"
