I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 18-20.

    Sometime after David killed Goliath, Saul began using him for special missions. He was so successful on these missions that Saul made him a commander over a significant portion of his army. During this time, David and Soul’s son Jonathan became friends. David’s friendship with Jonathan was one of two things which should have made Saul realize that David was not seeking to take his throne. The other key factor thing was the fact that David turned down the opportunity to marry Saul’s oldest daughter, and initially turned down the opportunity to marry Saul’s daughter Michal. Saul’s jealousy and hostility to David reflects a style of ruling which played a major role in the downfall of Saul’s dynasty. It seems unlikely that David was the only successful commander whom Saul drove away due to fear that they would try to take his place. Not even the love his son and daughter had for David was lead Saul to rethink his hostility to him. Rather it fueled that anger and made Saul more convinced that David was a threat to him. While Saul, for awhile, had David play the harp to soothe his anger, he never took ownership of that anger and acknowledged that he needed to control it.