UTN uW Translation Notes:

1 Samuel 18 Chapter Introduction

Structure and Formatting

This chapter continues the part of the book that describes how David became king (chapters 16–31). It describes how Saul became jealous of David’s success as a military leader and how Saul became suspicious that David was the person whom Yahweh had chosen to become king instead of him. It relates how Saul tried to kill David both directly, by throwing his spear at him, and indirectly, by getting him to fight the Philistines in dangerous situations. But Yahweh protected David and made him successful, so Saul became even more jealous and suspicious.Some translations set each line of poetry farther to the right than the rest of the text to make it easier to read. The ULT does this with the poetic song in 18:7.

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Chapter

Jonathan’s love for David

The author says in 18:1 that Jonathan “loved” David. If your language has more than one term for “love,” be sure not to use a term that describes sexual attraction. Biblical Hebrew has specific language for sexual desire, and the author does not use that language here. Rather, he says that “the soul of Jonathan was bound with the soul of David.” By this he means that Jonathan recognized that David was a man who was like him in terms of character, and so he wanted to be his friend. (As a traditional saying puts it, “A friend is another self.”) Jonathan had demonstrated bold faith and strong trust in Yahweh by attacking the Philistine garrison in chapter 14, and David had demonstrated the same things by fighting Goliath in chapter 17. So Jonathan recognized David as a man of courage and daring, and he knew that if they were friends, they would encourage each other to trust Yahweh and continue to do bold exploits. If your language has a word for friendship-love, it would be appropriate to use that word here in your translation. You could also use a word for unselfish love. (One ancient Greek version uses the verb here from which the New Testament writers developed the noun agape for unselfish love.)

Translation Issues in This Chapter

“I am lightly esteemed” (18:23)

In 18:23, when Saul’s servants tell David that Saul will allow him to marry his daughter Michal, David replies, “I am a poor man, and I am lightly esteemed.” Since the servants tell David in 18:22 that they all love him, and the author says in 18:16 that all the Israelites loved David, it seems unlikely that David means that he is lightly esteemed by people in general or by the people in Saul’s court specifically. Instead, David may be referring implicitly to the way Saul previously promised to allow him to marry his other daughter Merab but then allowed a different man, Adriel the Meholathite, to marry her instead. In other words, David may mean, “I am lightly esteemed by King Saul.” (Some interpreters suggest that Adriel may have offered a large bride-price for Merab and that is why Saul let him marry her. This would explain why David says he is “a poor man” himself.) However, in this culture, a person would not complain explicitly that the king had treated him with disrespect or disregard. That is why David makes what seems to be an indirect statement to that effect. You may find a way to suggest this meaning implicitly in your translation.