In 1 Samuel 16:13, Samuel anoints David as king of Israel and the Spirit of God “rushes” upon him. Immediately after this narrative, we are told that the Spirit of the LORD, which had previously “rushed” upon Saul in the same way (1 Samuel 10:6-10, 11:6) departed from him and was replaced by an “evil spirit” (1 Samuel 16:14). This sets the stage for the entrance of David into the court of the king, where he curries favor with Saul by playing his lyre and thus comforting Saul from the torments of the evil spirit. David “took the lyre and played it with his hand…and the harmful spirit departed from him” (1 Samuel 16:23). Understanding the language used in this story has a hugely significant impact on the way in which we interpret the meaning of Biblical warfare. This specific language concerning the Spirit’s “rushing” upon a person are only used of three figures: Samson, Saul, and David. In Samson’s case, it describes the Spirit’s “rushing” upon him so that he “tore the lion in pieces” (Judges 14:6). This anticipates his defeat of the Philistines, as the Spirit will twice more “rush” upon Samson and drive him to overcome the Philistines (Judges 14:19, 15:14), striking down the men who attempted to usurp him on the one hand and tearing the bonds with which they had bound him on the other.
In the case of Saul, the Spirit first “rushed” upon him to make him a “new man” and give him “another heart” so that he prophesied in the midst of a company of musicians (1 Samuel 10:6-10), and then again “rushed” upon him to energize his war of liberation against the oppression of Nahash (meaning “serpent”) the Ammonite (1 Samuel 11:6ff). We thus see that there is a twin implication in this phrase- on the one hand, the rushing Spirit powerfully transforms a person unto the praise and glory of God: it energizes Saul to prophesy and operates in David to make music. On the other hand, the rushing Spirit powerfully energizes a person to war against those who would oppress the people of God. These senses are never separate, as music has always been closely linked with warfare: the steady drumbeat of the war drums unites a host of men in common operation, allowing them to march as a single body. The blast of the trumpet calls that host to begin their offensive action. The Spirit who energizes men unto the glory of God energizes them to fulfill their vocation to “subdue the earth” (Genesis 1:26), and when there are true enemies to be defeated, that includes the driving out of those enemies. Yet scripture has never presented the real war as a war against flesh and blood. It has always been “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). The true blade has always been the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). It is in this very same letter, after all, that the Apostle Paul encourages his hearers to be “filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Ephesians 5:18-19).
In 1 Samuel 16, David plays his lyre and so drives out the evil spirit who had tormented Saul. It is after this, in 1 Samuel 17, that David extends this war to encompass a physical conflict with Goliath- who, as a giant of Gath, a descendant of the Nephilim (Joshua 11:22, 1 Samuel 17:4), is intimately associated with the diabolic powers of hades. The Spirit rushes upon a man to drive him to war- and the Spirit rushes upon David and drives him to war against the powers of hell. We may derive another practical lesson from David’s actions here- David understands that Saul is not his true enemy. Saul is his rival to the throne- but Saul forfeited his throne by his own folly, by which he put himself under the influence of evil spirits. David’s war is against the enemies of Saul as well as his own- Saul is not yet so far gone that he cannot be recovered. Indeed, Saul’s journey to utter destruction is not a steady one. There are moments when he seems to recover himself, recognizing that David is in the right and that he is in the wrong (1 Samuel 24:16-21). David’s war is not against flesh and blood- it is not truly against the house of Saul. Saul has been played for a fool by the powers of hell, with whom he ends his life by consulting a medium and necromancer (1 Samuel 28:8ff). But David, in his struggle, is being trained for the real war. And so does David write: “Blessed be the LORD my rock who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1). Recall the words of Scripture: “David took the lyre and played it with his hand” (1 Samuel 16:23). The reference in particular to the training of fingers for battle makes far more sense as a reference to his playing musical instruments than it does as a reference to a physical sword.
And thus has David bequeathed to the Church his great legacy- the Psalter. How many devils have been driven out through the prayers of the Psalter? How many long struggles in the desert have been won by the sword of David’s words? How many passions have been slain, souls been saved, nations been redeemed by David’s sweet song? David is indeed the “Sweet Singer of Israel”, the one through whom the Spirit cast down the powers of hell as the words of David proceeded from the lips of our Lord Jesus on the Cross, crushing the head of the serpent (Psalm 22:1, Mark 15:34).