1 Samuel 16:18
Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is 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.
The verse is the report of the servant, the officer, who brought David to Saul's notice and attention before David was summoned to court. In God's providence David was thus brought forward after Saul's counselors advised seeking a skillful musician to soothe Saul's distracted and troubled mind. Saul was then in bitter rebellion and despair after his rejection by God, on the verge of losing his reason. A brooding melancholy had settled over his mind like a dark cloud, and an evil spirit troubled him.
The description shows David had already distinguished himself by deeds of valor. Its calling him valiant and skilled in war and wise in conduct rested on proven strength and courage in protecting his flock, his charge. He was known not only as a skillful harp player but as a valiant man of war and a prudent and faithful man in all matters, in his duties. This was because he was especially guided by the Lord, and the statement that the Lord was with him identifies God's presence with him.
Saul, at times humbled and wanting one who knew from the Lord how to act according to His will to take charge of the kingdom, sent messengers for David while in a favorable state of mind. He soon loved him and made him his armor-bearer and attendant, thinking that if God favored David he would be a safeguard and might save Saul's life from enemies. He expressed delight in David and his music. David's lofty and heaven-inspired harp playing ministered before the king until the evil spirit departed, charming away the melancholy, dispelling the gloom that settled on him. It soothed Saul's troubled spirit and brought his excited and troubled mind into a more rational, happy, and calmer state.
When his services were not required at court David returned to his flocks among the hills in simplicity of spirit, leaving the king's house with relief and gladness, and he was recalled whenever necessary to minister to the troubled monarch. The setting shows Saul as a man of strength and weakness combined, with gifts of talent that would not have led him to dishonor himself by transgression if wholly consecrated to God, but with contradictory elements bound up in his character working at cross purposes with God. At times tender and full of sympathy and at other times jealous, overbearing, unjust, and cruel even toward his best friends, good and evil were ever in collision with evil striving for supremacy. Under the influence of sacred music, sacred vocal music, he could be caught up into devotion and pour forth impassioned expressions of lofty eloquence, of praise and prayer, in ecstasies day and night, giving himself no rest while under that excitement until exhaustion and reaction came and his strength failed. After the paroxysm of wild excitement and inordinate zeal had spent itself he revealed his old disposition and became furious when his will was crossed, in words and deeds dishonoring to himself and still more dishonoring to God.
The verse presents David as a shepherd lad holding God's promise of the throne who stood against Saul the established monarch determined to keep his power. It shows that faith in God's word enables one who appears weak to withstand worldly power.