Глава 18

Popular favor towards David. Saul's suspicion. Saul's secret enmity against David. 1 Samuel 18:1. When David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan's soul clung to his soul, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 1 Samuel 18:2. And Saul took him that day and did not allow him to return to his father's house. 1 Samuel 18:3. Jonathan made an alliance with David, for he loved him as his own soul. 1 Samuel 18:4. And Jonathan took off his robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and also his other clothes, and his sword, and his bow, and his girdle. 1 Samuel 18:5. And David acted wisely wherever Saul sent him, and Saul made him commander over the military men; and this pleased all the people and Saul's servants. 1 Samuel 18:6. As they walked, upon David's return from the victory over the Philistine, women from all the cities of Israel came out to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with solemn timbrels and cymbals. 1 Samuel 18:7. And the women who were playing exclaimed, saying: Saul has conquered thousands, and David has conquered tens of thousands! 1 Samuel 18:8. And Saul was greatly upset, and this word was unpleasant to him, and he said: They gave David tens of thousands, and me thousands; all he lacks is a kingdom. 1 Samuel 18:9. And from that day forward Saul looked at David suspiciously. 1 Samuel 18:10. And it happened the next day: an evil spirit from God fell upon Saul, and he raged in his house, and David played with his hand on the strings, as on other days; Saul had a spear in his hand. David's music apparently lost all charm for Saul. The sight of a supposed contender for his throne caused unbridled rage in Saul. 1 Samuel 18:11. And Saul threw his spear, thinking: I will nail David to the wall; but David evaded him twice. It must be assumed that Saul did not act entirely unconsciously here, because soon afterwards he began to coolly come up with other, more plausible, ways to destroy David. 1 Samuel 18:12. And Saul began to fear David, because the Lord was with him, but he retreated from Saul. 1 Samuel 18:13. And Saul removed him from him and made him captain over a thousand, and he went out and in before the people. 1 Samuel 18:14. And David acted wisely in all his affairs, and the Lord was with him. 1 Samuel 18:15. And Saul saw that he was very prudent, and he feared him. 1 Samuel 18:16. And all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and in before them. David's obvious success in everything, his irresistible charm on those around him inspired the painfully suspicious king with something like a superstitious fear of the personality of his supposed enemy. 1 Samuel 18:17. And Saul said to David, Behold my eldest daughter, Merab; I will give her to you as a wife, just be brave with me and fight the Lord’s wars. For Saul thought, Let not my hand be upon him, but the hand of the Philistines be upon him. Obviously, Saul did not yet dare to openly oppose the young national hero. 1 Samuel 18:18. But David said to Saul: Who am I, and what is my life and my father's family in Israel, that I should be the king's son-in-law? 1 Samuel 18:19. And when the time came to give Merabah, the daughter of Saul, to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel from Meholah. 1 Samuel 18:20. But Saul’s other daughter, Michal, fell in love with David; and when they told Saul about it, it pleased him. 1 Samuel 18:21. Saul thought: I will give her for him, and she will be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines will be on him. And Saul said to David: Through another you will now become related to me. “She will be a net to him”: see Art. 25. 1 Samuel 18:25. And Saul said: Thus tell David: the king does not want any money except one hundred circumcisions of the Philistines, as vengeance on the king’s enemies. For Saul had in mind to destroy David at the hands of the Philistines. Veno is a marriage gift from the groom for the bride, determined in its scope, among other things, by the importance of the bride’s social status. The reward for the king's daughter could not be insignificant. Circumcision is the cutting of the foreskin. 1 Samuel 18:26. And his servants told David these words, and David was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. The feelings of Michal and David were obviously mutual. 1 Samuel 18:27. Before the appointed days had passed, David arose and went himself and his men with him, and killed two hundred Philistine men, and David brought their circumcision, and presented them in full to the king, to become the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. “The appointed days” for the march have not yet passed. 1 Samuel 18:28. And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David [and all Israel loved him,] and that Michal the daughter of Saul loved David. 1 Samuel 18:29. And Saul began to fear David even more and became his enemy for life. 1 Samuel 18:30. And when the leaders of the Philistines went out to war, David, from the very moment they went out, acted more prudently than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very famous. By concluding the marriage between Michal and David, Saul “fell, so to speak, into a net laid by himself. Having made David his son-in-law, he realized that David had now become incomparably more dangerous for him, since he had become a member of his royal house” (Ya. Bogorodsky, “Jewish Kings”, p. 90). You might be interested in: