Who Is This Youngster?
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Today’s text has puzzled some Bible scholars.
How could Saul not know the identity of the musician who played harp in his own court? First Samuel 17:15 says, “But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem” (emphasis added).
Was David already playing before Saul part time, or was he ferrying food from Bethlehem to Saul’s camp? He was doing both! “In the providence of God, David, as a skillful performer upon the harp, was brought before the king. His lofty and heaven-inspired strains had the desired effect. The brooding melancholy that had settled like a dark cloud over the mind of Saul was charmed away. “When his services were not required at the court of Saul, David returned to his flocks among the hills and continued to maintain his simplicity of spirit and demeanor. Whenever it was necessary, he was recalled to minister before the king, to soothe the mind of the troubled monarch till the evil spirit should depart from him. . . . “. . . [David] had been in the court of the king and had seen the responsibilities of royalty. . . . He had seen the glory of royalty shadowed with a dark cloud of sorrow, and he knew that the household of Saul, in their private life, were far from happy. All these things served to bring troubled thoughts to him who had been anointed to be king over Israel. But while he was absorbed in deep meditation, and harassed by thoughts of anxiety, he turned to his harp, and called forth strains that elevated his mind to the Author of every good, and the dark clouds that seemed to shadow the horizon of the future were dispelled.” Once Saul realized David, the hero of the hour, was also the humble harp player he had taken little notice of during his periods of abstraction, he refused to allow David to return to his father’s home. He reasoned that if God was with David, keeping him close might be beneficial! Beware! Some, calling themselves Christians, only associate with a church to gain short-term benefits and fleece the flock.
