24<\/strong>. naked<\/em> ] Not literally naked, but stripped of his outer garment.<\/p>\n Is Saul also among the prophets<\/em>?] The origin of the proverb is related in 1Sa 10:11<\/span>. It now received a fresh exemplification. This burst of prophetic inspiration was a startling reminder to Saul of that former occasion when the Spirit of God came upon him to fit him for that office in which he had failed so sadly. See Maurice, Prophets and Kings<\/em>, p. 17 ff.<\/p>\n Naked – <\/B>i. e., without his robe and other outer garments, but only the shirt. Compare the marginal references.<\/P> The whole history affords another instance of the protection of God vouchsafed to His servants, which forms so frequent a topic of the Psalms of David.<\/P><\/p>\n 1Sa 19:24<\/span><\/p>\n And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Religious enthusiasm, true and false<\/strong><\/p>\n This passage brings before us three very remarkable men–Samuel, and Saul, and David. And this passage speaks to me of religious consolation and religious excitement. Now I ask you to observe that in the case of David there is no record of any agitation or excitement. It would have been little wonderful if he, fleeing for his life, had been overcome with emotion when he found himself with Samuel and with the servants of God, in safeguard. It was the servants of Saul that became excited, and then it was Saul himself showed religious frenzy. The son of Kish was one exceedingly sensitive to the influences of music and song. When his fit of mania came upon him the voice and harp of David wonderfully soothed and even melted him. We read at an earlier period, before he came into possession of the kingdom, that he met a company of prophets, and he too joined them. Years had passed, and now he was a worse man that he was at that day. His character had sorely deteriorated, but through that very disorder of his mind he was in some respects more susceptible than ever to a sort of religious excitement. When he came to Naioth he was quite beyond himself; the spiritual electricity of the place was too much for him, and he fell into a sort of paroxysm of enthusiasm. But he was no prophet. You may be among the prophets, and join your voices among them, and yet be no prophet.<\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>There is a religious excitation or excitement which may not have any moral quality or influence whateverse It is not affected; it is real. It is not insincere; it is sincere. I despise the man who would play a part and pretend to be religiously excited when he is not. He is too base a creature. But I mean a person who really is lifted up and carried along with a rush of sacred enthusiasm. He cries for mercy, and he sings loudly of salvation. When he was alone he could not pray at all. He was carried along with the prophets. He had a wonderful fervour, his emotions were all aglow, and his brain was excited with a sort of sacred ecstasy. Now, this happens all the more easily if a man has a constitution accessible to such influences. I do not say that all excitement is useless, but I say that there is an excitement that only amounts to this. God forbid that we should for a moment deny that there are cases in which people get real permanent good. But the excitement is only the accompaniment; it is not the change. Excitement wears itself out. Paroxysms and ecstasies pass away.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>The second thing is this: the degree in which religious emotion overpowers the body is generally proportioned to the ignorance of the mind, or to its alienation or estrangement from God. David joined the company of these prophets without any excitement or frenzy. I do not read a word about his lying naked upon the ground for a day and a night. Why was that? Because David had more of the matter in him than Saul. There was no resistance in David, therefore his body was not overpowered. But Saul was in an evil mood. He had come down to Naioth in a very evil mood. Envy and murder were in his heart, and when this pure sacred impulse came upon him, it met with the strongest resistance. If this is right, and surely this is right, this case should teach those persons who have at various times made a great ado over prostrations and trances and long lastings as signs of the work of grace, to be somewhat more cautious in their utterances. These things occur almost always in the case of a morbid hysterical temperament, in which case they are only a sign of disease, not of health; or in the case of a very ignorant person who is overwhelmed with things of which he has no intelligent conception; or in cases where there has been a very awful estrangement from God, and the Word of His grace finds an obstruction. There is a sympathy between the body and the spirit. They suffer together, they rejoice together. The body is not overpowered because the spirit of the man is open to the teachings of the Spirit of God. Mark you, it is Saul, not David, that cast off his garments in his excitement, and that threw himself in fanatical exhaustion upon the ground, if you reflect now and consider this, that this Bible is a collection of Eastern books, and remember that the East has always been the home of strange religious extravagance, do not you recognise a new proof of the Divine wisdom that pervades this Bible, that it is really inspired of the Holy Ghost in its well-balanced sobriety of mind? The Lord Jesus, Whom the Bible sets forth as the Holy One, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners–Jesus Whom the Bible calls us to admire and love and follow, is full of the grandest enthusiasm. God was with Him. If ever there was a man full of Spirit it was the Man Christ Jesus. He was filled with the Holy Ghost, and went everywhere led by the Spirit, and at the same time full of sweet self-possession, full of meekness and wisdom, and so answered all questions on the spur of the moment in the wisest possible manner, and set forth perfectly the cause of righteousness. The Bible teaches us, and especially to be calm and fervent, fervent and calm. (Donald Fraser, D. D.<\/em>)<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Verse 24<\/span>. He stripped off his clothes<\/B><\/I>] Threw off his royal robes or military dress, retaining only his tunic<\/I>; and continued so all that day and all that night, uniting with the sons of the prophets in prayers, singing praises<\/I>, and other religious exercises<\/I>, which were unusual to kings and warriors; and this gave rise to the saying, Is Saul also among the prophets<\/I>? By bringing both him and his men thus under a Divine influence, God prevented them from injuring the person of David. 1Sa 10:6<\/span>, c. and see my sermon on The Christian Prophet and his Work<\/I>.<\/P> <\/p>\n His clothes, <\/B>to wit, his military or royal garments; which he did, either that he might suit himself and his habit to the rest of the company; or because his mind being altogether taken up with Divine things, he did not understand or heed what he did. <\/P> Also:<\/B> this implies that the messengers which he sent, who probably were military persons, had done so before him. <\/P> Prophesied before Samuel:<\/B> this doth not contradict 1Sa 15:35<\/span>, where it is said that Samuel came no more to see Saul<\/I>; for here Saul goes to Samuel, and that not with design to see him, but to surprise David. <\/P> In like manner; <\/B>as the rest of the prophets there did. <\/P> Lay down, <\/B>Heb. fell<\/I>, to wit, down upon the earth; for his mind being in an ecstasy, he had not the use of his senses or motion, as he Num 24:4<\/span>; God so ordering it, that David might have an opportunity to escape. <\/P> Naked, <\/B>i.e. stripped of his upper garments, as was said before, and as the word naked<\/I> is oft used, as Isa 20:2<\/span>; Mic 1:8<\/span>. See also 2Sa 6:20<\/span>; Joh 21:7<\/span>. And it is here repeated to signify how long he lay in that posture. <\/P> All that day and all that night; <\/B>so God kept him as it were in chains, till David was got out of. his reach. <\/P> Is Saul also among the prophets?<\/B> The same proverb which was taken up upon a like occasion, 1Sa 10:12<\/span>, is here remembered and revived upon this new occasion, as an evidence of Gods wonderful care over David; he made Saul in some sort a prophet, that he might make David a king. <\/P><\/p>\n 24. lay down naked<\/B>that is,divested of his armor and outer robesin a state of trance. ThusGod, in making the wrath of man to praise Him, preserved the lives ofall the prophets, frustrated all the purposes of Saul, and preservedthe life of His servant.<\/P><\/p>\n And he stripped off his clothes also<\/strong>,…. Not all his clothes, but his upper garments, as men in such circumstances used to do, as the prophets sometimes did, and as it seems his messengers had done; according to Jarchi, R. Isaiah, and others n, he stripped himself of his royal robes, and put on the habit of the scholars, the disciples, and sons of the prophets:<\/p>\n and prophesied before Samuel in like manner<\/strong>, as the messengers had done, singing such like songs, or foretelling such like things as they did; he and they speaking not of themselves, but as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of prophecy; for such gifts have sometimes been bestowed on men that were destitute of the grace of God, as Balaam, Caiaphas, and others;<\/p>\n and lay down<\/strong>: or “fell down” o, as persons in an ecstasy or trance: and lay<\/p>\n naked all that day, and all that night<\/strong>; not entirely naked, both without his upper garment or royal robes, or else his armour; so an unarmed man is said to be naked, though otherwise he has his clothes on: thus Gelon having conquered the Carthaginians, and made himself master of all Sicily, went into the forum “naked” (i.e. unarmed), and declared he would restore the government to the citizens, wherefore a naked statue for him was erected in the temple of Juno p; so Quinctius Cincinnatus was found ploughing naked q, who cannot be supposed to be without any clothes on him. Jarchi, from Menachem, reports, that he had heard from an Arabian, that the word the Targum makes use of for “naked”, signifies, in the Arabic language, one that is furious or mad, as persons in an ecstasy, or under a prophetic spirit, sometimes seemed to be; now Saul was kept and held in such circumstances a whole day and night, that David might have an opportunity of making his escape, and getting at such a distance from him that he could not overtake him:<\/p>\n wherefore they say, [is] Saul also among the prophets<\/strong>? this became a common saying, a proverbial expression, at least was now revived and observed with admiration; that Saul, who had behaved himself in so ill a manner, as an enemy to so good a man, should be found among the prophets of the Lord, and prophesying as they did.<\/p>\n n Vid. Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 76. G. o “et cecidit”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, “et corruit”, Vatablus. p Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 6. c. 11. q Aurel. Victor. de Vir. Illustr. c. 20.<\/p>\n (24) And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner.<\/strong>This was certainly not the first time that Saul had experienced a similar influence of the Spirit of God. We are told (1Sa. 10:10<\/span>) that directly after his anointing by Samuel, he met a company of prophets, who were prophesying at Gibeah, and that the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. On that <\/em>occasion he had been changed into another man. What was the meaning of the outpouring upon the faithless king now? The Chaldee, according to Raschis explanation, says he was mad. <\/em>Is it not, however, better to explain the incident by understanding that once more the pitiful Spirit pleaded with the man whom the Lord had chosen to be His anointed? But, alas! when the moment of strange excitement was over, the blessed pleading was forgotten. Is not this a matter of every-day experience?<\/p>\n And lay down naked.<\/strong>Not necessarily without any clothes, for under the tunic there was worn by men of the upper ranks certainly a fine-woven shirt of linen or cotton. Lyranus explains the words stripped off his clothes as simply denoting that he threw off his upper garment, his royal robe.<\/p>\n Is Saul also among the prophets?<\/strong>The same thing having taken place before (see 1Sa. 10:12<\/span>), this saying gained currency among the people. There seemed something strange to men in one so self-willed and disobedient as was Saul receiving, as it seemed to the by-standers, the Divine and much coveted gift. Many, says St. Augustine, are the gifts of God which are possessed by evil men. Evil men have often great talents, great skill, great wealth. . . . The gift of prophesy is a great gift, but it was possessed by Saul. Saul, an evil king, prophesied at the very time he was persecuting holy David. Let not, therefore, men boast if they have Gods gifts; those gifts will profit them nothing without charity (1Co. 13:1-2<\/span>). But let them think of the fearful account they must one day give to God, if they use not holy things holily.St. Augustine, <\/em>in Psalms 103<\/span>, quoted by Wordsworth.<\/p>\n 24<\/strong>. <\/strong> He stripped off his clothes <\/strong> That is, his outer raiment; his royal and military vesture. <\/p>\n Lay down naked <\/strong> Not in a state of utter nudity, but divested of his upper garments, as just stated. Compare Isa 20:2<\/span>; Mic 1:8<\/span>; Mar 14:52<\/span>; Joh 21:7<\/span>. <\/p>\n All that day and all that night <\/strong> From ten to twenty hours. And when he recovered again his consciousness and self-possession he probably returned to his home at once, without any further attempt at that time to capture David. God thus indicated to Saul that in seeking to destroy David he was fighting against the divine Power a Power that holds the hearts of all men in subjection, and can turn them whithersoever he will. This remarkable scene served to revive the proverb that originated with a former somewhat similar occasion (1Sa 10:12<\/span>) Is Saul also among the prophets?<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n The profoundly mysterious and interesting subject or the prophesying and catalepsy of Saul and his messengers is one of the physical and psychological problems connected with religion that has been the subject of extensive speculation. We regard this whole matter of Saul’s prophesying and falling down under the power of the Spirit as an ancient instance of substantially the same marvellous religious phenomena which the Christian Church has so often witnessed in modern times. The extensive religious revivals in the Western States fifty years ago were attended with hundreds of such phenomena, commonly called “the jerks.” In the great awakening in New England in Edwards’s day similar scenes were of frequent occurrence, and also in the British Isles during the ministry of Wesley, and earlier. They seem to have been always more or less common during seasons of great religions excitement, and to have a peculiar affinity for a certain class of minds. Persons, like Saul, of quick and powerful emotions, and given to sudden changes of feeling, have been the readiest subjects of this mysterious affection. But not only have pious and devoted persons, but wicked and blasphemous opposers of the truth, been seized upon by this strange influence. Some, in attempting to disturb religious meetings, and while yet, like Saul, beyond the bounds of the company of worshippers, and hastening on to intended acts of violence, have been seized by an unseen power, and held in subjection to it in spite of all their efforts to regain their self control. Some have remained in such a state for nearly a week at a time. See facts and references in Stevens’ History of Methodism, vol. ii, p. 425.<\/p>\n What the precise nature of Saul’s prophesying on this occasion was we are not informed. In one of the seasons of his madness, and when possessed by a demon, his prophesying seems to have been prompted by the evil spirit, and to have consisted of impassioned cries and incoherent ravings. See 1Sa 18:10<\/span>, and note. But when he first prophesied at Gibeah, (1Sa 10:10<\/span>,) his exercises, like those of the band of prophets whom he met, seem to have been the ecstatic utterance of prayer and praise to God. So, on this occasion, it was the Spirit of God that made him prophesy; and it is therefore probable that his utterances now, like the later ones recorded 1Sa 24:17-20<\/span>; 1Sa 26:21<\/span>; 1Sa 26:25<\/span>, were confessions of his own sins, and predictions of David’s ultimate triumph.<\/p>\n We have space only to suggest that an explanation of these mysterious phenomena may be brought out in the scientific elaboration of the following propositions: All human beings have a common sympathetic nature, universally pervaded by a subtile and mysterious medium of influence, by means of which mind is brought in rapport <\/em> with mind and heart with heart. This influence becomes intensely active in an assembly of persons where all hearts and minds are highly electrified by one common all-absorbing thought and state of feeling, and in such cases it may pass beyond the bounds of the assembly and make itself powerfully felt at a distance. It furnishes the psychical basis on which demoniacal possessions are possible, and also by which the Holy Spirit holds personal intercourse with man. By it these different external agencies will affect the different persons in different degrees of power, according to their different organism and temperament. But any attempt at a scientific explanation, which assumes all the phenomena to be merely physical, and not also psychical, must fail, as well as any explanation that denies that the Spirit of God may have often been exerted in their production; for this mysterious medium of influence seems to be the psychological basis both of divine and demoniacal possession.<\/p>\n 1Sa 19:24<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>He stripped off his clothesand lay down naked<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> When Saul went down to Naioth he went like himself, with the military dress and distinguishing habit of a king; and when he prophesied, he put off his military habit or vestment, and thus appeared like the rest of the prophets, a plain, disarmed, and therefore naked <\/em>man. The text says, he pulled off begadav, <\/em>his exterior garment. <\/em>This is the certain meaning of the word beged, <\/em>without any forced criticism. Joseph’s mistress, Gen 39:12<\/span>; Gen 39:15<\/span> caught him by his <\/em> garment,and he left his garment,and she laid up his garment. <\/em>This can mean nothing but his external habit, his coat or cloak, which she laid hold of, and he easily dropped when she pulled it. Other instances I can produce. In like manner Saul stripped himself of his outward dress, and is therefore said to lie down naked, <\/em>or without the clothes which he had just pulled off; and the word in all languages answering to the English word naked <\/em>is frequently used, not in the sense of stark-naked, <\/em>but in that of being ill-dressed, <\/em>stripped of an exterior garment, and being quite destitute of arms. In this sense Isaiah is ordered to put off his sackcloth, and walk naked; i.e<\/em>. without his prophetical dress, Isa 20:2<\/span> and we read of stripping the naked of their clothes, <\/em>Job 22:6<\/span>; Job 24:7<\/span>. Saul might be thus naked, <\/em>without any circumstances of extravagance and indecency. <\/p>\n Is Saul also among the prophets?<\/em><\/strong><\/strong> This is mentioned as a proverb, by way of anticipation, ch. 1Sa 10:11-12<\/span>.; but it is evident, that the original of the proverb was this second prophesying among the prophets: because, first, <\/em>Saul was not at that time known to the people; and, secondly, <\/em>because the original of the proverb is said to arise from this second prophesying in this very verse; therefore the account of the proverb in ch. 10 is given by way of anticipation. This proverb was used to express a thing unlooked for, and unlikely. What this was, maybe thus explained: Saul, with many great qualities, both of a public and a private man, and in no respect an unable chief, was yet so foolishly prejudiced in favour of the human policies of the neighbouring nations, as to become impiously cold and negligent in the support and advancement of the law of God, <\/em>though raised to regal power from a low and obscure condition for this very purpose. He was, in a word, a mere politician, without the least zeal or love for the divine constitution <\/em>of his country. This was his great, and no wonder it should prove his unpardonable crime; for his folly had reduced things to that extremity, that either he must fall, or the law. Now this pagan turn of mind was no secret to the people: when, therefore, they were told that he had sent frequent messengers to the supreme school of the prophets, where zeal for the law was so eminently professed, and had afterwards gone himself thither, and entered with divine emotion and extacy into their devotions, they received this extraordinary news with all the wonder and amazement that it deserved; and, in the height of their surprize, cried out, Is Saul also among the prophets? <\/em>that is, “Is Saul, who, throughout his whole reign, has so much slighted and contemned the law, and would conduct all his actions by the mere rules of human policy; is he at length become studious of, and zealous for, the law of God?” <\/em>And the miracle of such a change in a politician was brought into a proverb before the mistake was found out. <\/p>\n REFLECTIONS.<\/strong>1st. Saul no longer seeks to cloke his bloody designs, but gives public orders to kill David as a traitor; and particularly commands Jonathan to dispatch the rival of his crown: but Jonathan’s love was stronger than the ambition of a throne, and Saul’s malice, by being undisguised, was the easier disappointed. <\/p>\n 1. He warns David of his danger, and bids him hide himself till the morning in some secret place, because of the order which had been given; and by that time he hoped to procure some change in his cruel father, or, at least, to let David know how to proceed. 3. Saul having slept, his passion was cooled. Conviction accompanied Jonathan’s arguments; he swears to save David harmless, revokes his bloody edict, and restores him to his place at court, with every apparent mark of regard and confidence. Note; <\/em>(1.) The oath of a common swearer is bad security. (2.) Good advice, though from an inferior, deserves attention. (3.) Sudden changes of passionate men prognosticate no long continuance. <\/p>\n 2nd, David is ever armed in Israel’s cause; we find him again in the field, fighting the Lord’s battles, and again victorious over the Philistines. But every fresh laurel on David’s brow puts a sharp thorn in Saul’s bosom: his melancholy returns; and, willing to relieve him, his son-in -law thinks it not beneath his dignity again to handle the harp: but while, in kind regard, he seeks to soothe the torments of Saul’s heart, he little suspects the spear that stood ready to pierce his own. Swift and violent, Saul hurls the javelin to pierce him to the wall; but his agility avoids the blow, and, leaving his presence, where it was no longer safe to stay, he seeks, by flight, to save himself from the enraged monarch. Note; <\/em>(1.) Something will always be found to allay the joys of our triumphs. (2.) No kindness can cure the ranklings of inveterate malice. <\/p>\n 3rdly, David was now in imminent danger; for Saul, supposing him fled to his own house, dispatches a party to watch him and kill him there: but through mercy he escapes. 2. Saul’s rage will not put up with excuse; he will have David brought in his bed, that he may have the satisfaction of murdering him by his own hand. Note; <\/em>Wicked men grow worse and worse as they resist their convictions, and provoke God to give them up to their violent passions. <\/p>\n 3. Michal, when the cheat was discovered, well knowing her father’s mad rage, seeks to appease him; and as she stopped not at one lie to save her husband, she hesitates not at another to excuse herself, even at the expence of her husband’s character. Note; <\/em>One lie usually hardens the conscience for another. <\/p>\n 4thly, We have, 2. Saul is no sooner informed of the place of his abode, than he sends messengers to Naioth in Ramah to seize him. But God so over-ruled their spirits, that, instead of bringing David prisoner, they no sooner came into the congregation of the prophets, with Samuel at their head, than themselves were seized with the sacred enthusiasm, and prophesied among them: repeated messengers feel the same irresistible impulse; yet Saul, breathing out threatenings and slaughter; will not desist; and, conceiving his own heart to be secure from the impression, he will go in person, and, rather than not destroy David, will be himself his executioner. But how vain are man’s impotent designs! He, too, again feels the strange influence. Before he approaches the gates of Ramah, his fury subsides; and, laying aside his military garb and weapons of war, he lies down at Samuel’s feet a day and a night, to the admiration of the beholders. Meantime David had an opportunity given him to escape. Note; <\/em>(1.) Many have come into the assembly of God’s people with the most violent designs, who have fallen before the power of God, and been forced to hang down the arms designed to be lifted up in wrath. (2.) God can turn persecutors into preachers, and make those who breathed out threatenings sing his praises. (3.) It is no strange thing to see wicked men prophesy in his name, and do wonderful works; but all these, without they are accompanied by a change of heart, only aggravate their final reprobacy and eternal ruin.Goldsmith, speaking of the effects produced by the prevailing piety of his country Clergyman, says: <\/p>\n Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, And fools who came to scoff remain’d to pray. DESERTED VILLAGE. <\/p>\n REFLECTIONS<\/p>\n<\/p>\n WHAT an awful contrast marks the characters of Saul and Jonathan this son! While the Father manifests the malignity of an evil spirit, breathing out nothing but hatred, malice, and death, against a faithful servant, who had gone with his life in his hand, to deliver him and his kingdom from ruin; see how the son’s heart is influenced with all the kinder feelings of love, and brotherly affection towards him, so as to love him as his own soul! Reader! remark with me, the precious, blessed properties of distinguishing grace.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n But while we admire and praise the friendship of Jonathan towards David, let my soul take wing, and fly to the contemplation of the unequalled friendship of Him, whose love as far exceeds the love of Jonathan, as the light transcends the darkness. In the loves of Jonathan and David there was a congeniality of soul, of manners, of age, and of mind. But in thy love and friendship towards our fallen nature, O blessed Jesus, thou wast a Brother born for adversity. Thy love, to us was when our persons were not only totally opposite to thy pure nature, but loathsome; and no congeniality, no one thing to form a likeness, prompted thine infinite mind to such stupendous acts of mercy. Never forget, my soul, that it was while we were enemies, Christ died for us. And when we come to estimate the acts of Jesus’ friendship, how doth all human friendship fall to the ground before it. Thy friendship not only led thee to engage as our surety, to pay all our debts, to supply all our wants, to answer all our demands, to purchase by thy blood and righteousness an inheritance for us; but thou didst give thyself a ransom to deliver us from captivity: didst place thyself in the very state of vassalage in which thou didst find us, and though unconscious of sin in thyself, didst become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in thee. Oh! matchless love, unparalleled friendship! Oh! be thou, blessed Jesus, to me ever dear, ever precious; and cause my soul to love thee, who hast so loved me, that neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, may be able to separate my soul from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.<\/p>\n 1Sa 19:24 And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, [Is] Saul also among the prophets?<\/p>\n Ver. 24. And he stripped off his clothes also,<\/strong> ] i.e., <\/em> His upper garments, or arms, as his messengers had done before. Isa 20:2 <\/em> Mic 1:8 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And prophesied before Samuel.<\/strong> ] The same God which did at first put an awe of man upon the fiercest creatures, hath stamped in the cruellest hearts a reverent respect to his own image in his ministers: so as even they that hate them, do yet honour them. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And lay down.<\/strong> ] Cecidit.<\/em> The Vulgate hath it cecinit; <\/em> he fell into a trance or ecstasy, forgetting the cause of his coming thither. “Whilst that I withal escape,” singeth David. Psa 141:10 <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is Saul also among the prophets?<\/strong> ] This was now spoken in a jeer. What! Is the bloody tyrant so tied up and manacled, in spite of all his malice and madness? It is well surely.<\/p>\n clothes: i.e. his robes, or armour, or both. <\/p>\n naked. Compare 1Sa 18:4, i.e. stripped of outer garments. <\/p>\n Is Saul . . . ? Figure of speech Parcemia. App-6. <\/p>\n stripped: 2Sa 6:14, 2Sa 6:20, Isa 20:2, Mic 1:8 <\/p>\n lay: Heb. fell, Num 24:4 <\/p>\n Is Saul: 1Sa 10:10-12, Act 9:21 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Sa 10:6 – Spirit 1Sa 10:11 – Is Saul 1Sa 15:35 – Samuel 1Sa 18:10 – and he prophesied 2Sa 7:15 – But my Luk 8:27 – and ware Joh 21:7 – naked<\/p>\n IN UNLIKELY COMPANY<\/p>\n Is Saul also among the prophets?<\/p>\n 1Sa 19:24<\/p>\n We are not told any remarkable points in the character or early discipline of Saul; there were probably none to tell. As we have often had occasion to notice in the earlier Scripture narratives, a man not distinguished from his fellows by any peculiar gifts, merely a specimen of the ordinary human material, may nevertheless be brought most livingly before us; we may be compelled to feel that he is an individual man, one of ourselves, and as such to care for him.<\/p>\n I. There are moments in the mind of the dullest, most prosaic man, when unknown springs seem to be opened in him, when either some new and powerful affection, or quite as often the sense of a vocation, fills him with thoughts and causes him to utter words which are quite alien from his ordinary habits, and which have yet in them a pledge and savour of originality. It is a fact of this kind which the record discloses to us. God gave him another heartthe Spirit of God came upon himthese are the words which tell us what that prophetic impulse denoted. However unwonted might be the thoughts which stirred in him and the words which he poured forth, they could not have come from some irregular tumultuous excitement, they must have proceeded from the very spirit of calmness and order. Saul was among the prophets, precisely because he confessed the presence of such a spirit of calmness and order.<\/p>\n II. Saul is no monster who has won power by false means and then plunges at once into a reckless abuse of itno apostate who casts off the belief in God, and sets up some Ammonite or Phnician idol. He merely forgets the Lord and the teacher who had imparted to him that new life and inspiration, he merely fails to remember that he is under a law and that he has a vocation. The calm spirit of trust and hope has been resisted and grieved, and there comes upon him an evil spirit from the Lord, an accusing conscience warning him of what he had been, throwing its dark shadow upon the present, making the future look dim and gloomy.<\/p>\n III. There are glimpses of light in the later life of Saul, which we refer at once to a Divine source, which it would be sinful to refer to any other.The love and loyalty of David, in sparing his life, were not unrewarded. They struck out sparks of love in him, they made it evident that there was something deeper and healthier beneath all his strangest distortions of mind. And that sacred inspiration, of which our text speaks, which recalled the almost forgotten question, Is Saul among the prophets? though it came mixed with a wild kind of insanity, yet proclaimed that Gods Spirit, which bloweth where it listeth, had not left this building to be a mere possession for the birds of night.<\/p>\n Rev. F. D. Maurice.<\/p>\n Illustrations<\/p>\n (1) This was mentioned as a proverb, by anticipation, at (3) Saul was stricken down in much the same way as men have been stricken down in religious meetings since. Such a phenomenon often took place at Bristol and elsewhere under the preaching of John Wesley, in the early days of his career. But the results were very different. In the case of recent revivals the outcome was a change of heart and life, and an exalted and blessed religious experience. In Saul, the experience was as the early cloud and the morning dew that passeth away. Let us judge ourselves that we be not judged. Let us be sure that our religious life is not a mere reflection of our association with others; the influence of whose religion temporarily and superficially affects us, as the influence of the burning earnestness of these young men affected Saul.<\/p>\n 1Sa 19:24. And he stripped off his clothes also His royal robes. Perhaps this was intended to signify the taking away of his kingdom from him; and lay down Hebrew, fell down, upon the earth; for his mind being in an ecstasy, he had not the use of his senses; God so ordering it, that David might have an opportunity to escape; naked That is, stripped of his upper garments, as the word naked is often used; and it is here repeated to signify how long he lay in that posture. Day and night So God kept him as it were in chains, till David was got out of his reach. Is Saul also among the prophets? The same proverb which was used before is here revived, as an evidence of Gods wonderful care over David; he made Saul, in some sort, a prophet, that he might make David a king. <\/p>\n 19:24 And he stripped off his {l} clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay {m} down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, [Is] Saul also among the prophets?<\/p>\n (l) His kingly apparel.<\/p>\n (m) He humbled himself as others did.<\/p>\n And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, [Is] Saul also among the prophets? 24. naked ] Not literally naked, but stripped of his outer garment. Is Saul also among the prophets?] The origin of … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 19:24”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7742\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
2. He takes the first opportunity the next morning to expostulate with his father, and to pacify his resentment. He urges the kindnesses that David had shewn him, the great obligations the whole land owed him; nay, Saul’s own acknowledgments of it. How ungrateful and base then to murder so faithful a servant, and so valiant a subject! Had he committed aught worthy of death, indeed, this might cancel his past services; but Saul must be conscious of his innocence; and, therefore, to shed his blood would be as inhuman as unjust. Note; <\/em>Such a friend as Jonathan, so disinterested, so faithful, is rare. <\/p>\n
1. Michal, by whom Saul hoped to ruin him, loves him too well to betray him: no sooner is she apprized of his danger, than she informs him; and in the night, through the window, lets him down, that he might not be perceived by those who had beset the house; and in the morning, to give him more leisure to escape, feigns that he is sick, puts an image in his bed, and thus deceives the messengers of Saul. Note; <\/em>(1.) Wives must love their husbands, and cleave to them even beyond their own parents. (2.) A woman’s wits are often sharper than her husband’s; and it is no disparagement for a man to follow his wife’s advice. <\/p>\n
1. David’s flight to Samuel to consult him in his distress, and to have his faith supported, with regard to the kingdom, now severely shaken by these persecutions. Note; <\/em>God’s ministers, in our distresses, are the properest advisers. <\/p>\nFuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"