Chapter 18
1 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. [1Sa 18:1 ESV]
David had just finished speaking, after killing Goliath. He was holding Goliath's head at the time. Jonathan must also have been in the room.
Jonathan also makes a covenant with David because he loves him so much. It does not say that God knit the souls together, it says it was between them. There are MSB notes referring to this as covenantal love for each other, as God has toward all Israel at this time.
MSB further says that Saul had promised David a wife and riches, and wants him in the palace so that he can keep a close eye on him. David is promoted rapidly because God gives him success where ever he goes. He is soon in charge of the men of war, and all approve of these events. One has to wonder what Abner, Saul's general thinks about it all.
Saul becomes jealous of David when some women sing about him. These two verses:
8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?" 9 And Saul eyed David from that day on. [1Sa 18:8-9 ESV]
The "saying" came from the women who were singing Saul's and David's victory praises. Saul's character flaws rise quickly and because of a song that was meant as inclusive celebration, Saul grows suspicious of David as a rival, never trusts David's ambitions again, and in everything David does, Saul sees an ulterior motive.
The very next day, a harmful spirit from God rushes upon Saul, and Saul "raved within his house". This spirit sort of makes Saul crazy jealous. Saul throws a spear at David twice, but somehow David is able to dodge it. Saul has David removed from his presence and made commander over a thousand soldiers. David is then very successful at that, and his approval rating among the people continues to grow.
2022 - This is like the next day after David killed Goliath. So wouldn't this mean that Saul was already having some issues before this whole thing with Goliath, and that David was already playing the lyre for him before this? Yet David seems to be back home, tending the sheep again. Maybe David was summoned when needed, rather than residing in the palace of Saul. How far is it from Bethlehem to Gibeah? It's a ways I think. There is much right through here in 1 Samuel that needs to be unraveled. Is this a second harmful spirit that rushes upon Saul?
2023 - I think David had played the lyre before Goliath, but only when he was summoned. Back when Saul's servants suggest that someone play to calm Saul, they don't mention a name do they? Later...they do, in 16:19. Saul sends to Jesse and asks that David be sent. He asks by name. I guess it could be that the servant who knew about David actually sent the letter in the King's name. More likely though, Saul had forgotten David's name, and so far as we know had never really seen David up close. Remember that when David would have been summoned to play, it was because Saul was "not himself", but troubled by the evil spirit. The first time Saul meets David when Saul is in his right mind it when David kill Goliath.
2023 - Look at the next verse though...I Sam 18:10: 10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand. [1Sa 18:10 ESV]. I think this makes it clear that the lyre playing started BEFORE Goliath, and that at the battle, Saul did not recognize that David had spent time in Saul's presence before. Further, even AFTER Goliath, David continues to show up with his lyre to sooth the king, and the King does not notice that it is David doing the playing. So in vs 10, David is there again, playing lyre, right after the killing of Goliath, and Saul is so beset by the evil spirit that he doesn't recognize David, though he is already very jealous of David. It is all a jumble, and I think the key to it all is the harmful spirit...No...that won't fly either, because Saul plans to pin David to the wall with his spear. He KNEW now, by this time, that his lyre player was also the giant slayer. Saul misses two murder attempts in his own palace. This scares Saul - I guess that God protected David from the spear - and he removes David from the palace - no more lyre-playing - and makes him captain of a thousand.
Saul offers David his oldest daughter, Merab. But David says he and his family are unworthy of the daughter of a king. Something happens, and Merab is given instead to another. MSB notes says Merab has five sons that David later executes as punishment for Saul's disregard of Joshua's covenant with the Gibeonites, (2Sa 21:8).
2023 - This verse: 19 But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife. [1Sa 18:19 ESV]. How is it that a King's daughter "should have been", but was not? What kind of weirdness led to all this? And yet, since she should have been David's wife and was not, is that why David later agrees to have her sons killed? Was there some kind of snub involved in Merab marrying another? Perhaps she disdained David because he was of low birth, and manipulated events to marry another. Maybe she slept with that other guy to make herself "have to" marry him, and not David?
21 Saul thought, "Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." Therefore Saul said to David a second time, "You shall now be my son-in-law." [1Sa 18:21 ESV]
What a way to start a marriage. The father-in-law wants your wife to be a snare, something to slow you, to hinder you, to cause you problems.
David marries her, though the bride price is gruesome. David is successful in all his battles, and Michal, Saul's daughter, loves him. This makes Saul even more afraid of David and he considers David an enemy from then on.