1 Samuel 16:14

But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,.... As a spirit of prophecy as at first, as a spirit of wisdom and prudence in civil government, and as a spirit of fortitude and courage, as the

But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

God took away that prudence, and courage, and alacrity, and other gifts and assistances of God’ s Spirit, wherewith he had qualified him for the management of his public employment. An evil spirit; properly so called; for what need is there of forsaking the proper signification of the word? It is evident, both from Scripture and experience, that God hath permitted some men to be really acted and disquieted by the devil; and why not Saul as well as others? From the Lord, i.e. by God’ s permission or judgment, delivering him up to Satan. Troubled him; stirred up in him unruly and tormenting passions; as envy, rage, fear, despair, and the like.

1 Samuel 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.Ver. 14. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.] He lost his royal abilities and achievements; he that was before in bellis acer et victor, factus est imbellis, ignavus, iners, nec quidquam praeclare gessit. And the like befell Henry IV of France after that he turned Papist once. Bonus Orbi, but afterwards Orbus Boni, as they wittily anagrammatised his name Borbonius. And an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.] Or, Terrified him, scared him, vexed him. That old man-slayer - permittente Deo aut immittente - assaulted him, and perhaps possessed him, tormented his mind and body, working upon his melancholy and discontent, which is the devil’ s bath, and casting him into fits of frenzy and fury. He had preferred his own reason, saith a grave interpreter, before God’ s directions in the business of the Amalekites, and so made an idol of his own wisdom and reason: and now God deprives him of the use of his reason, and breaks, as it were, this his idol in pieces. A. Lapide. Mr Jackson.

Verse 14. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul] He was thrown into such a state of mind by the judgments of God, as to be deprived of any regal qualities which he before possessed. God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will. An evil spirit from the Lord] The evil spirit was either immediately sent from the Lord, or permitted to come. Whether this was a diabolic possession, or a mere mental malady, the learned are not agreed; it seems to have partaken of both. That Saul had fallen into a deep melancholy, there is little doubt; that the devil might work more effectually on such a state of mind, there can be but little question. There is an old proverb, Satan delights to fish in troubled waters; and Saul's situation of mind gave him many advantages. The theory of Dr. Scheuchzer, in his Physica Sacra, on the malady of Saul, is allowed to be very ingenious. It is in substance as follows: Health consists in a moderate tension of the fibres, which permits all the fluids to have an entire freedom of circulation, and to the spirits, that of diffusing themselves through all the limbs; on the contrary, disease consists in tensions of the fibres morbidly weak or morbidly strong. This latter seems to have been the case of Saul; and as the undulations of the air which convey sound communicate themselves to and through the most solid bodies, it is easy to suppose that by the modulations of music all the fibres of his body, which were under the influence of the morbidly increased tension, might be so relaxed as to be brought back into their natural state, and thus permit the re-establishment of a free and gentle circulation of the fluids, and consequently of the animal spirits, and thus induce calmness and tranquillity of mind. I believe this theory to be correct, and I should find no difficulty to amplify and to illustrate the subject. Even a skilful playing upon the harp was one means to bring a disordered state of the nervous and fibrous system into a capacity of affording such uninterrupted tranquillity to the mind as to render it capable of receiving the prophetic influence; see the case of Elisha, 2Kg 3:14-15. It has been said: - "Music hath charms to sooth the savage breast." This has been literally proved: a musician was brought to play on his instrument while they were feeding a savage lion in the tower of London; the beast immediately left his food, came towards the grating of his den, and began to move in such a way as to show himself affected by the music. The musician ceased, and the lion returned to his food; he recommenced, and the lion left off his prey, and was so affected as to seem by his motions to dance with delight.

14–23. David’s introduction to the Court of Saul 14. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul] Note the contrast to 1 Samuel 16:13. As David rose, Saul sank. an evil spirit from the Lord] The cause of Saul’s mental disorder is described as “an evil spirit from Jehovah,” or “of Jehovah” (1 Samuel 19:9); “an evil spirit of God” (1 Samuel 16:15-16, 1 Samuel 18:10); “the spirit of evil” (1 Samuel 16:23); even “the spirit of God” (1 Samuel 16:23); because it was God’s messenger of judgment. Cp. 1 Kings 22:19-22. It is never called “the spirit of Jehovah,” which always designates the spirit of holiness. Saul’s apostasy was punished not merely by the withdrawal of the grace which had been given as the endowment of his office, but by positive assaults from the powers of evil, akin to the demoniacal possession of the N. T. The result was a form of melancholy madness. The cause of the disease was (as we commonly speak) “supernatural,” the cure employed “natural.” The inference is that it is impossible to draw a sharp line of distinction between the two spheres. They are in closer connexion than is commonly recognised.

DAVID’S TO THE COURT OF SAUL, 1 Samuel 16:14-23. 14. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul — The divine influences of which he had been made a partaker at the beginning of his career (see 1