I don't know if your experience has been like mine. In a crisis, I have often found that the people I expected to be on my side were surprisingly nowhere to be seen, but conversely I have found support from some individuals whom I would never have expected to be there for me. This was the situation with David. No mention of help from his father or brothers. But when he was facing the wrath of King Saul, he was helped by two of Saul's own family. God has a sense of humour - he chooses the most unlikely people to work for him. It is remarkable that David was supported by two members of Saul's family. Come to think of it, Moses was rescued by Pharaoh's daughter despite the edict from her father to kill all Hebrew boys.
I have already mentioned about Jonathan, the heir to the throne by natural means. He turned out to be a very loyal friend to David. He helped David out of many a tight spot despite the fact that he was risking the anger of a father with a very short fuse. Even more surprising is the fact that David was a real threat to Jonathan's advancement. If David was successful, then Jonathan could say goodbye to the throne of Israel. But Jonathan loved David and would not let his personal advancement or mad father get in the way of helping his friend. At the beginning of chapter 18, we have the beginning of a wonderful friendship that is entirely unexpected.
As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. [1 Samuel 18:1 ESV] I like the reference to knitting - not that I am an expert in that subject. It is amazing to see that a ball of wool is transformed into a beautiful garment. There was a transformation happened that day in the palace - Jonathan was watching David speaking to Saul and he developed a deep, lasting affection and admiration for him. Please do not allow our modern cynical world to debase this relationship into something sexual and inappropriate. Jonathan was being illogical and selfless. Jonathan was the heir to the throne and yet he loved David even though David was going to be Israel's next king instead of him. "Love is not selfish," we read in 1 Corinthians 13:5. Jonathan is a good example of taking the lowly place in favour of another. Jonathan had relied on the Lord previously and had won a victory over the Philistines at Michmash (Chapter 14) but he recognised God's hand in David's victory. It is good when we can see God working through another Christian and not feel any resentment or jealousy. Jonathan did not feel that his victory against the Philistines had been overshadowed by the defeat of Goliath.
Image of a puppet in the bed created by AI. Not sure if this is remotely accurate! I am useless as an artist and I am so grateful to Andy Inglis for making up these images!
But David got help from another of Saul's offspring - his daughter Michal. Saul has tried several times to assassinate David - usually by throwing a javelin at him from close range. Saul decides to ambush David when he is in the house with his new wife. He sends messengers to keep watch outside the house and they were instructed to kill him in the morning. Michal is aware of her father's plans and she makes a deliberate decision to go against her father and rescue her husband from her father's clutches. She tells David that his life is in danger and she assists David to escape from the house by lowering him down from the window and then he fled away and escaped. She used a puppet to replace her husband in the bed with a pillow of goats hair at its head and covered this with the bed clothes. When the messengers arrived, she simply told them that David was too ill to be seen. This did not satisfy Saul who insisted that the messengers brought David to him in his bed. They discover the image with the pillow of goat's hair is in the bed instead of David. There is some irony and even humour in this incident. Saul was angry with Michal and said to her "Why have you deceived me in this way and let my enemy escape from me." But Michal is not brave enough to challenge her father's schemes or his unfair description of David. She lies to her father and says that David had forced her to rescue him. However, she had preserved David's life that night.
God used Saul's son and daughter to keep David alive. God can do anything. He can use anyone to accomplish his will. He used Pharaoh's daughter to protect Moses from her father's cruel edict and Moses was brought up in the palace - despite Pharaoh's wish to exterminate the Israelites. In the same way, God used both Jonathan and Michal to preserve David when their jealous father had decided to end his life. He used a heathen godless king of Persia by the name of Cyrus to rescue His people from exile in Babylon. How often we divide politicians into two camps - broadly speaking goodies and baddies and we pray that God will put the goodies into power instead of the baddies. He can and does use even those who deny him to accomplish His plans. Michal was not a particularly nice person - but God used her to preserve His servant, David. God is not limited to making use of 'nice' people - he can use even a twisted woman like Michal for His purposes.
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