1 Samuel 16:16-18
Seek out a man who is a cunning player
The servants propose music as treatment, and the recommendation that follows lists six qualities with playing at the front.
Objects of the Bible
The harp of David
It got him into the palace, and later he was playing it while a spear came at him.
The job description arrives before the man does. Saul’s servants suggest seeking out a man who is a cunning player on an harp, and one of them gives a recommendation that reads like a reference letter: cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him. Music is the first item on that list and the reason he is sent for.
Scroll down to the storyThe movements, in the order the text gives them.
The story of The harp of David
- 01
- 02
1 Samuel 16:21-23
Saul was refreshed, and was well
The result is stated without explaining how. David becomes his armourbearer and Saul loves him greatly, which makes what follows worse.
- 03
1 Samuel 18:10-11
David played with his hand, as at other times
The phrase as at other times is doing a lot of work. The routine is unchanged and the spear is new.
- 04
1 Samuel 19:9-10
He smote the javelin into the wall
It happens again with the same setup, and this time David slips away in the night. The harp is not mentioned after that.
Why it matters
What the playing does is described plainly and without mechanism: David took an harp, and played with his hand, so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. It works, repeatedly, for years. The same instrument is in his hands in chapter 18 when Saul throws a javelin at him twice, and David avoids out of his presence twice. The job that got him in is the job he is doing when the house turns against him, and he keeps doing it.
3 songs
The music
Every song in the catalogue whose passage falls inside these chapters.
