1 Samuel Chapter 18    

“when he had made an end of speaking to Saul.” Here we see that the love between Jonathan and David started while they were still in the Valley of Elah.

“and did not let him return to his father’s house.” At this point, David becomes part of Saul’s troops and supporters in Gibeah, Saul’s hometown.

“including his sword and his bow and his belt.” This is the clothing of the crown prince, and it likely is a way that Jonathan acknowledged that David was the actual king.

“of the Philistine.” After killing Goliath in the Valley of Elah, the Israelite army chased the Philistines all the way to Gath. During that time, word of David’s victory over Goliath spread, and so when David and Saul returned to Gibeah, the women came out and sang and danced.

“musical instruments.” The Hebrew word is related to the word “three,” so this word may be referring to a specific instrument that has three strings, or a triangle with three sides.

“that day.” “That day” is the day Saul and David returned to Gibeah of Saul.

“on the next day.” The day after Saul was angry about what the women sang.

“the house.” In this context, the “house” is the palace. There are a number of verses in the Bible where the palace is called the king’s “house.”

“even more afraid.” The Hebrew word translated “afraid” in 1 Samuel 18:12 is yare (#03372 יָרֵא), the most common word for fear, while the word used here in 1 Samuel 18:15 is guwr (#01481 גּוּר), an intense word that some translations even translate as “dread,” and the REV and some other versions translate as “even more afraid.” The point in the text is that as David’s reputation and successes grew, Saul became increasingly afraid of David. Saul knew from Samuel’s prophecy that he had lost the kingdom (1 Sam. 15:28), but what Samuel did not say was who would get the kingdom after Saul. To Saul, it was becoming increasingly clear that David would end up ruling the kingdom after Saul, and in the biblical culture that often meant that at some time David would kill Saul. There were other ways David could be king without killing Saul—Saul could die from all sorts of causes, or he could just abrogate the throne—but Saul did not consider them. Instead, he became insanely jealous of David and wanted to kill him, as if killing David would somehow change Samuel’s prophecy. Jealousy blinds the mind, and we see that here with Saul.

“son of valor.” A “son of valor” was a Semitic way of saying a valiant man.

“living relatives.” The Hebrew specifically refers to relatives that are alive. David does not say, for example, that he comes from a long line of heroes.

“Meholathite.” The town of Meholah was Elisha’s hometown. Adriel shows up again in 2 Samuel 21:8, in tragic circumstances.

“good.” The Hebrew is more literally, “right, straight, correct.” But the phrase “right in his eyes” could be easily misunderstood.

“Through the second one.” The position of the words in the sentence favors this reading. In this case, the word “second” occurs later in the verse, not near the verb “said,”^a and it refers to the second daughter, Michal, and not that Saul “said a second time.”

“continually.” The Hebrew is literally, “all the days.”