Scheming: 1 Samuel 18:16-20
David wants to serve God, not the king. This is one of the primary differences between David and Saul. David looked to the Lord for guidance and obeyed. Saul tried to use every opportunity to promote himself into a better position. As we’ll see, David is even willing to turn down one of the biggest increases in social status – becoming son-in-law to the king – because he is interested in obeying God’s will.
The Hebrew people continue to love David, which had to feel like sand caught in a wound in Saul’s mind. Saul was in awe of David because of what the Lord accomplished through him. But awe does not imply friendliness. Saul wanted David dead.
Saul had not yet lived up to the promise he made when Goliath opposed to the Hebrew people. Saul promised one of his daughters in marriage to whomever would kill Goliath. As Saul schemes against David, he decides to use his promise to make another attempt against David. He offers his daughter Merab to David as his bride and payment of the reward.
Look at the irrationality of how far Saul descended into evil without the Spirit of the Lord to guide him! Saul harbors so much hatred against David he would use his own daughter as a tool in his scheming. Using other humans we should care about is not uncommon in humanity at all! How many of us, in our anger, frustration, or fury, use another person to accomplish our desire? We gossip to friends, hoping our words will harm their relationship with the person we are antagonistic towards. We manipulate other people into seeing things our way and perhaps even doing our bidding as they try to help. What we see in Saul happens all the time when people carry sin in their heart. As the sin grows and becomes our focus, the people around us become pawns to accomplishing our sin.
Neither does Saul consider the ramifications of his actions in Merab. Imagine being a young woman and promised as the bride of the hero of Israel. However, if Saul had gotten his wish, as a part of the bride-price David would have gone out to battle and died. Merab, who had thought she would become the bride of a famous godly hero, would be left grieving what could have been. Saul doesn’t take Merab into account in the slightest as he plots against David.
Fortunately, David rejects the proposal. The Bible doesn’t say exactly why David rejects it, but in the next section we’ll get a bit of a clue. For today, it is enough to consider that David rejects Saul because he fights when God calls, not when Saul calls. David doesn’t mind killing Philistines as long as the battle is from the Lord. David has no interest in being Saul’s lackey. David wants to serve God, not the king.
