1 Samuel 16:15

1Sa 16:15 And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

Ver. 15. And Saul’s servants.] That is, His physicians. "And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians." {Gen 50:2} Yεραποντας θεραπευοντας.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 16:15-16. His servants said, &c. — His courtiers could not but observe the change which had taken place in him, and the strange disturbance in his mind, and very probably ascribed it to the hand of God upon him. When the evil spirit from God is upon thee — When a melancholy fit seizeth thee. He shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well — And the success confirmed their opinion. It is true, music cannot, of itself, have a direct influence on an evil spirit, to cause it to depart; yet because such a spirit, it seems, had not got possession of him, but only occasionally troubled him, by working on the passions of his mind, and humours of his body; and because it is manifest that music hath great power over these, frequently composing the spirits, and cheering and delighting the mind, and thereby gradually altering, qualifying, and sweetening the very juices and humours of the body; it is not strange if that evil spirit had not that power over Saul when these good effects of music had been experienced by him, which it had had before. Thus Satan had less power over lunatics in the decrease than in the increase of the moon, Mat 17:15; Mat 17:18. And seeing music prepared the Lord’s prophets for the entertainment of the good spirit, as 2Ki 3:15, why might it not dispose Saul to the resistance of the evil spirit? and why might not the cheering of his heart, in some measure, strengthen him against those temptations of the devil which were encouraged and strengthened by his melancholy humour? And by this means David, without any contrivance of himself or his friends, is brought to court, soon after he was anointed to the kingdom. Those whom God designs for any service, his providence will concur with his grace to prepare and qualify them for it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(15) An evil spirit from God.—The form in which the evil spirit manifested itself in Saul was apparently an incurable melancholy, which at times blazed forth in fits of uncontrollable jealous anger. When Saul’s attendants, his officers, and those about his person, perceived the mental malady under which their king was evidently suffering, they counselled that he should try whether the evil influence which troubled him could not be charmed away by music.

There is no doubt but that King Saul’s nervous, excitable temperament was peculiarly subject to such influences. We have some striking instances of this power exercised by sacred music over the king in the incidents related in 1Sa_10:10; 1Sa_19:23-24, where the songs and chaunts of the pupils of the prophetic schools had so powerful an influence over Saul. The solemn declaration of God through his prophet Samuel, that the kingdom was taken away from him and his house, weighed upon his naturally nervous and excitable mind. He became gloomy, and suspicious of his dearest friends, and, as we know, at times sought to take their lives; at times would command terrible massacres, such as that of the priests at Nob (1Sa_22:17-19). As the sad life advanced, we see the nobler traits in his character growing fainter, and the evil becoming more and more obvious. It was a species of insanity, fatal alike to the poor victim of the malady and to the prosperity of the kingdom over which he ruled. History gives us not a few similar instances of monarchs given up to the “evil spirit from God,” and who, in consequence, became a prey to insanity in one form or other.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Saul's servants said unto him,.... His courtiers, who observing him to act in a frantic manner, to be dull and melancholy, timorous, and irresolute, unsteady, divided, and distressed; or his physicians, who were called in to assist him, and remove his disorder from him:

behold, now an evil spirit from God troubleth thee: the disorder was not from any natural cause, or any bodily disease, and therefore out of the reach of physicians to do any service, but was from an evil spirit suffered of God to harass and disturb him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The “evil” or “melancholy” spirit here spoken of was “the Spirit of God,” or “of Jehovah,” as being God’s messenger and minister, sent by Him to execute His righteous purpose upon Saul (see 1Ki 22:19-22 note).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. An evil spirit… troubleth thee — A demon like those mentioned so frequently in the New Testament, sent by permission of the Lord, as Satan in the case of Job. Job_2:7. See notes on Mat_4:24, and Mar_5:2. It is not only by Saul’s servants, but by the sacred writer himself, that we are told it was an evil spirit from the Lord; so we cannot regard it as merely a superstitious and mistaken notion of Saul’s physicians. Compare 1Sa_18:10; 1Sa_19:9. But while he thus became possessed by a supernatural evil power, it is very likely that a mental disease bordering on insanity was the substratum on which the evil spirit worked. After Samuel’s last words of judgment the king could not be happy in his kingdom. The more he thought upon his doom, the more it harrowed up his soul. It was, perhaps, his highest ambition to be the father of a race of kings, and to have this hope suddenly dashed from him was to have darkness settle over all his life. “The Hebrew mind so linked itself to the future by the contemplation of posterity that it is scarcely possible to us, with our looser attachment to the time beyond ourselves, to apprehend, in all its intensity, the deep distress of mind with which any Hebrew, and much more a king, regarded the prospect that there would be no son of his succeeding.” — Kitto. Saul’s future gradually became full of ghostly images, and when, disengaged at times from the excitements of war and the cares of government, he sat down to think upon his darkened fortunes, his mind and heart, forsaken of all divine influences from Jehovah, became an easy prey to foul suspicions and gloomy fears — a most inviting state for demoniacal possession. The evil spirit, entering and revelling amid these mental disorders, carried him at times to the wildest height of madness.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.