1 Samuel 16:14 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Samuel 16:14

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Saul gets worse and worse. He is possessed by his neurosis, his self-importance, his uncontrolled temper, his great bouts of self-pity, and his lies and his self-spoiling. These things have gradually got so big within him that he has become a victim to them, and they have become a very powerful malady or neurosis, and eventually the Lord gives him over to them. ‘But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.’ Now Saul was never a converted man, but God in the mystery of his purposes and will, by his Spirit, gave him some powers and qualities, some strengths, which he didn't have naturally. He was given courage in warfare, for example; he was given tactical wisdom; no doubt many other things, lent to him by the Spirit of God. But now they are all taken away and he is back to being the natural man that he was before. By nature Saul, for all his great height, had not been a man of courage, until God gave him courage for the purpose of his reign. But that is now taken away from him, and his wisdom, that extra wisdom that was given him to be a capable commander, he now forfeits. In fact he is troubled by God in a very mysterious way, as a punishment, and immediately he develops a very unhappy, uneasy disposition. He seems to be aware within himself that his time was up. There is a severe disquiet and inadequacy came into him. He is insecure; he is even paranoid from this moment on. And he is incapable of constant love. He is going to develop great affection for David, but it isn't constant. It is away in an instant, then it will be resuscitated just for a moment, and away again. He becomes a very unstable, miserable, downcast personality. He is agitated, agitated at Samuel's words that he has been rejected. And what had Samuel said? That the kingdom would be taken by a neighbour. A neighbour! Who is being referred to? So he became suspicious, and deeply aggravated. That is why he fought tooth and nail, and so cunningly to hound down David over the years ahead. David must be the one! The evil spirit from the Lord troubled him, and he became resentful, and bitter, and hostile. ‘And Saul's servants said unto him,’ – presumably his principal servants – ‘Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee’ – he understands that much. How did they know it was from God? We can only assume there was such a change in Saul, and it was so sudden that that was their immediate conclusion: it's a divine act. You might say, Here is a man of boldness to say this to Saul, King Saul, but also a man of some discernment: ‘God has caused or allowed this to happen to you, O king. A disposition has come upon you by a work of God.’ So what does he suggest to him? There is an extraordinary contradiction here in the counsel of the servant. ‘Through an action of God, something awful has come upon you.’ So, logically, surely he should say, ‘So you need to cast yourself upon God to remove it. You must make your peace with God. It may not change his mind about your being deposed as king, but maybe he will have mercy upon you.’ But there is no counsel like that. Look at the counsel; it is quite extraordinary. It is something that will work in a measure, but it is a disaster. ‘Let our lord’, the king, that is, ‘now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man,’ – we will search the land for him, if necessary – ‘who is a cunning [skilful] player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee,’ this crushing disposition, ‘that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.’ He says in effect, ‘God has done this to you, therefore let us find somebody who can relieve the symptoms; don't worry about the cause.’ What extraordinary counsel! The symptoms are all that matter! That is the best they can do. This is something akin to palliative care. This is treating just the symptoms. You can't deal with the condition: this deep gloom and resentment and bitterness. This paranoia that has come upon Saul. You can't shift that. But you can somehow placate this whole business, and calm it down.

Application

Certainly there is great deal of mental suffering in the world, and there is a great deal of trouble and sickness of the mind which has no real root in a person's individual conduct. We realise that, and we must stress that. You can read books, Christian books today which ascribe all suffering of the mind to one's own personal conduct. That is wrong. We believe that you can have trouble in your mind, just as you can break a leg, just as you can catch a cold. Similarly you can be vulnerable to problems of mental health and stress and nervous sickness. But there is also sickness of the mind, which is virtually self-induced. Having made it clear that this by no means accounts for all sickness of the mind, it is the same with the body. There are people who are sick because they have caught something, or they couldn't help it, or they had an accident; and there are some people who are sick because they virtually made themselves sick. They have neglected the body. They have done everything utterly and completely wrong. It's exactly the same with the mind. Saul is here an example of somebody who become subject to mental malady, because he has never controlled his passions and his temper and his pride, and he has spoiled himself, and gradually he has become a neurotic.

Alas, sometimes you see it, even among Christian people. By the time they reach middle age, they are taut, brittle, neurotic, difficult, uncontrollable! May there be nobody here in whose heart there is grace, who allows himself or herself to go in such a way that you could be a victim of something like this, something which would be your own fault, because you never controlled it, you never took yourself in hand. Saul, of course, to an extreme degree became neurotic, and eventually became sick.

That is what is going on in many churches too, isn't it? ‘Bring in the psychotherapy, and so on. Cure the symptoms, relieve the depression, get rid of the pain. But don't apply to God to have the cause removed, or put right.’ How modern this book is! History repeats itself over and over again. These are profound statements; this is the inspired book of God. However, – in the amazing wisdom of God, who overthrows the folly of man and turns it to his own account – this ridiculous piece of advice is going to bring David into the court, where he will learn much about being a king, where he will be proved by the Lord, where he will deepen and develop greatly.

The world uses this sort of substitute all the time. You go into a garage to get your car fixed, or any other workplace, and the music is blaring. It keeps the spirits up; it keeps everybody going. If something happens and it fails, everyone is distraught – What has happened? You need this assistance to get through, to keep yourself buoyant: the great rock drug, and music drug and so on. The young people desperately need it, and can't be happy without it. This world cannot treat the condition: Why am I so miserable and hopeless without something to stimulate me, something to lift me up, something to carry me along, and entertain me, and tickle my fancy? Why do I desperately need this? The world cannot lead you to Christ, and to spiritual salvation, forgiveness of sin, communion with God, and true and eternal satisfaction. That was all the people could do in Saul's day: find somebody skilful on an instrument to shift this gloom. Nothing against instruments, and beautiful music, and things that are gifts of God, but to desperately needs them! Nothing against food, but there are people who desperately rely on comfort foods for mood elevation. That is what is going on here.

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1 Samuel 16:14 Commentary and Bible Study