After the slaying of Goliath, Saul kept David with him, and would not permit him to return to his father’s house. And it came to pass that “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.”1 Samuel 18:1. Jonathan and David made a covenant to be united as brethren, and the king’s son “stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.”1 Samuel 18:4. David was entrusted with important responsibilities, yet he preserved his modesty, and won the affection of the people as well as the royal household.
(PP 649.1)
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“David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war.”1 Samuel 18:5. David was prudent and faithful, and it was evident that the blessing of God was with him. Saul at times realized his own unfitness for the government of Israel, and he felt that the kingdom would be more secure if there could be connected with him one who received instruction from the Lord. Saul hoped also that his connection with David would be a safeguard to himself. Since David was favored and shielded by the Lord, his presence might be a protection to Saul when he went out with him to war.
(PP 649.2)
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It was the providence of God that had connected David with Saul. David’s position at court would give him a knowledge of affairs, in preparation for his future greatness. It would enable him to gain the confidence of the nation. The vicissitudes and hardships which befell him, through the enmity of Saul, would lead him to feel his dependence upon God, and to put his whole trust in Him. And the friendship of Jonathan for David was also of God’s providence, to preserve the life of the future ruler of Israel. In all these things God was working out His gracious purposes, both for David and for the people of Israel.
(PP 649.3)
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David, in his covenant with Jonathan, had promised that when he should have rest from his enemies he would show kindness to the house of Saul. In his prosperity, mindful of this covenant, the king made inquiry, “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”2 Samuel 9:1. He was told of a son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, who had been lame from childhood. At the time of Saul’s defeat by the Philistines at Jezreel, the nurse of this child, attempting to flee with him, had let him fall, thus making him a lifelong cripple. David now summoned the young man to court and received him with great kindness. The private possessions of Saul were restored to him for the support of his household; but the son of Jonathan was himself to be the constant guest of the king, sitting daily at the royal table. Through reports from the enemies of David, Mephibosheth had been led to cherish a strong prejudice against him as a usurper; but the monarch’s generous and courteous reception of him and his continued kindness won the heart of the young man; he became strongly attached to David, and, like his father Jonathan, he felt that his interest was one with that of the king whom God had chosen.
(PP 713.1)
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After David’s establishment upon the throne of Israel the nation enjoyed a long interval of peace. The surrounding peoples, seeing the strength and unity of the kingdom, soon thought it prudent to desist from open hostilities; and David, occupied with the organization and upbuilding of his kingdom, refrained from aggressive war. At last, however, he made war upon Israel’s old enemies, the Philistines, and upon the Moabites, and succeeded in overcoming both and making them tributary.
(PP 713.2)
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Then there was formed against the kingdom of David a vast coalition of the surrounding nations, out of which grew the greatest wars and victories of his reign and the most extensive accessions to his power. This hostile alliance, which really sprang from jealousy of David’s increasing power, had been wholly unprovoked by him. The circumstances that led to its rise were these:
(PP 713.3)
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