Mental Health, Music, and the Bible
So here we are, 1 Samuel 16:14-23. To be honest I spent a week wavering, unsure if I would tackle this portion of 1 Samuel or just skip over it and hope no one noticed. This is a very challenging portion of scripture and many of the resources I usually use did not address the questions the text brought up in my mind. But as I woke up today and set down to write the post I felt compelled to write on it and also I was able to find one recourse that really helped me gain a better understanding of some of the issues taking place in this narrative. So let’s follow the story and deal with these issues as they come up.
In my last post, Heart Matter, we witnessed the anointing of David as the next king of Israel. Along with the anointing, David also received the spirit of the LORD (1 Samuel 16:13). In this post we follow the progression of events and discover that the spirit of the LORD has departed from Saul.
Choices and Consequences
Saul has been making a series of bad choices.
First, he offered a sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel as God commanded. (more info at Obedience During Emergencies)
And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
- 1 Samuel 13:13-14 NKJV
Second, Saul made a rash vow and was willing to kill his own son. (more info at Abuse and Misuse of Religion)
Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.”
And Jonathan told him, and said, “I only tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. So now I must die!”
Saul answered, “God do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Jonathan.”
But the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
- 1 Samuel 14:43-45 NKJV
Finally, God told Saul to completely destroy the Amalekites but Saul spared king Agag and the army took spoils from their defeated enemies. (more info at Mostly Obedient)
Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
- 1 Samuel 15:18-19 NKJV
We must keep these events in mind as we look at Saul in 1 Samuel 16. I would like to highlight that the problem is not so much the poor choices that Saul made, but rather his lack of repentance. We do not see Saul humbling himself and seeking God.
Saul had said, “I have sinned,” but he never repented. No doubt he regretted the consequences that flowed from his preference of self to the will of God; but he still loved to have his own way. The spirit that prompted to set aside God’s command for his own choice was unchanged. It in itself was a state of war; but still it was restive, unsubdued; it chafed under restraint and conviction of rejection, and sometimes would break out in fury that its preferences should thus be chastised. “As a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke.” It is this element of cherished sin, this persistent continuance in the original state of mind that contracted guilt, which poisons the entire life. It sets the whole man at war with God, and renders irksome what to a penitent, lowly heart would be meekly borne. Truly when men sin, and “will have it so” they are so far left to themselves as to work out in their life all manner of miseries.
- Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). 1 Samuel (p. 304). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
This would be similar to you being completely aware of a sin in your life, but instead of humbling yourself before God and begging His forgiveness, you feel angry at God for making such a big deal out of such a small sin. You’re not sorry about your behavior, you don’t think it’s that bad if bad at all. You’re upset about the consequences that accompany your poor behavior. You’re upset that you can’t just be happy with your choices, but you have no desire to turn to God. You refuse to humbly come to God, even though you’re fully aware of His coming judgment and that you are living your life outside of His will.
Transition
A transition has been coming for a while and now becomes more clear. From this point forward the story is more about David than Saul. Saul is still king, but the story is now about how David became king. In the first 13 verses of 1 Samuel 16, we witness the anointing of David, and now we witness the Spirit of the LORD departing from Saul.
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.
- 1 Samuel 16:14 NKJV
God caused it?
This is a troubling passage. At first glance, it gives the impression of Saul being the victim of God’s bullying. It is challenging to read a text translated from a different language, especially if it was written a long time ago, in a very different place, with a very different culture. The more we read the Old Testament the more we become acquainted with the ancient Hebrew way of thinking. When you consider that God is ultimately in charge than in a way everything that happens had to be allowed by Him. I don’t wish to pursue this too far for it will distract from the main point of this passage but I do want to give you an idea of the Hebrew way of thinking. The story of Job is probably one of the best places to illustrate this point.
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
-Job 1:1
I will super summarize the story and if you’re not familiar I would recommend reading at least the first two and last two chapters of Job. Job is faithful to God and Satan questions Job’s love and devotion to God. God gives Satan permission to cause Job to suffer.
9 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
12 And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.”
So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.
-Job 1:9-12 NKJV
So Satan goes off and causes all kinds of destruction and calamities to come upon all that Job possesses. Yet God receives blame for what He allowed Satan to do.
While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
- Job 1:16 NKJB (bold mine)
It looks like God sent fire to destroy Job’s sheep and servants. But we know this was Satan’s fault and not God’s. At the same time, Satan could not touch anything that belonged to Job without God’s permission. Are you beginning to see how it is and isn’t God’s fault?
In chapter Job chapter 6 we witness Job’s suffering from his perspective.
For the arrows of the Almighty are within me;
My spirit drinks in their poison;
The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Job 6:4 NKJV (bold mine)
God loves Job, God is not shooting arrows at him, God has not arrayed any terrors against Job. But God gave permission to Satan to do it. Satan delights in causing suffering, he is the enemy Jesus refers to in Matthew 13:28.
The point is that the departure of the Spirit of the LORD allowed for a distressing spirit to come upon Saul. Did God actively send it, or is it described this way because God allowed it by removing His spirit from Saul? Both are possible, my personal preference is that God removed His spirit and Satan jumped at the opportunity to torment the king of Israel.
Mental Health
There are well-meaning Christians who believe that all mental illness is in essence a distressing spirit sent by God or some form of demon possession that can be cured with a stronger devotional life. I have yet to be convinced of this. I believe that prayer helps in all situations. I also believe that God has gifted people in ways that they help others heal. I believe that there are people gifted with the ability to help others heal emotionally and psychologically. I believe that God gives doctors and nurses and others wisdom to help heal the body and counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists the ability to heal the mind and emotions.
We have people in the Bible who love God and yet suffer from emotionally.
The sons of Korah seem to be struggling with depression and anxiety when they penned the words to Psalm 42.
Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him
For the help of His countenance.
-Psalm 42:5 NKJV
Jesus also experiences trouble in His soul.
“Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour.
- John12:27 NKJV
Interestingly both the author of Psalm 42 and Jesus were emotionally intelligent enough to recognize what was happening. The author of Psalm 42 recognizes he is feeling down and disquieted. Things are not going well, he is struggling and feels like God is distant. He knows that he needs to trust in God, he knows that God will save him, even though right now he feels down. You should read the whole Psalm, you can feel the struggle in the words. This man knew God, believed in God, yet his soul was cast down and disquieted.
Similarly, as Jesus approached His death, his soul was troubled, John 12:27. Matthew records the following.
Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”
-Matthew 26:38 NKJV
Jesus recognized that He was not well. His soul was exceedingly sorrowful. So Jesus sought the help of His closest friends. He did not want to be alone.
These examples are of people who had not rejected the LORD, were not living in rebellion against God, and still struggled in their innermost being with feeling down. They were aware of their feelings, they understood why they were feeling that way and that God was in control, they had faith, yet they still struggled. When you struggle with feeling down, abandoned, like there is so much sorrow in your life that it might just kill you, Jesus knows what that is like. The inspired writers of the Bible experienced emotional struggles and perhaps would have been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. They sought help, and their faith helped in the battle. I know of pastors who struggle with depression, with anxiety, Godly man and women who need medication due to hormonal imbalances.
There is still so much that we don’t understand about mental health. But in the Bible, even prophets struggle emotionally, sometimes even asking God to kill them.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!”
1 Kings 19:4 NKJV
That was Elijah, the prophet who never had the opportunity to die! Talk about unanswered prayers. I have a series on Elijah and part 4, The Depressed Prophet is probably my most read blog of all times. Struggling with mental health is not necessarily a sign of rejecting God. But imagine struggling and not having the assurance that God is in control, that God is loving and merciful, everything will be okay in the end. Do you think that helps or do you think it would make it more difficult?
Saul needs help
Saul’s servants notice that he needs help.
And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will play it with his hand when the distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.”
- 1 Samuel 16:15-16 NKJV
Saul’s servants recommend music therapy. If you have ever listened to music you know that music has a special influence on our emotions. Music works in mysterious ways that seem magical. We still have much to learn regarding music, its power, and influence. With that said, we should also be careful with anyone who believes she has it all figured out. I really have to control myself here because I have strong opinions on music and have been involved with it my whole life. But let’s stick to the text we are studying. If Saul is struggling with fits of rage, anxiety, depression, paranoia, etc. (I won’t cite every occurrence for the sake of time but as you read about Saul’s life form this point on you see examples of these.) It makes sense that music would be helpful. Soothing music definitely helps calm the nerves.
Talent Search
And now we witness the birth of Israel’s Got Talent!
So Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”
1 Samuel 16:17 NKJV
As Saul’s servants get busy with auditions and the setting up of the stage and the sale of tickets one of the talent scouts finds David!
Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.”
1 Samuel 16:18 NKJV
This description is troubling. How much time has gone by since the anointing of David? How old is David? Let’s take a closer look at the text. The word translated as “servant” is נַעַר (naʿar) which can also be an indicator of age meaning this could have been a young man. Why is this significant? Because a boy’s definition of a mighty man of valor is different from that of an adult. Imagine this boy knows David for a few years and witnessed or heard about David bravely fighting off bears and lions? Would this cause this boy to see David as a mighty man of valor? Or imagine David has sent a few would-be sheep thieves away wounded and scared. Maybe this would cause the local children to view him as a warrior while he had never really fought in a war or been a part of a formal army.
Another possibility is that the main point of this story is to transition from Saul to David. This would allow for this story to not be necessarily placed in chronological order but rather thematically. Therefore David is being described as the man that the audience knows him to be, the greatest king Israel ever had. So the narrator would be attributing to David all his qualities and contrasting him with Saul, even if all these qualities have not yet been demonstrated in the sequence of stories as they are being told.
David is a hero, a musician, and most importantly the LORD is with Him, and not with Saul. Saul had been a great man, now he needs the help of David who will ultimately surpass Saul because the LORD was with David.
Saul meets David
King Saul is so impressed with David’s resumé he cancels the talent show, which is really too bad since he never had the chance to listen to the bagpipe player.
Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. 21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. 22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.
Once again this verse is troubling. In the next chapter we have Saul not knowing who David is and I wonder again if this is not just a summarized account of how David began to learn about what life was like in the palace and in a sense began the new phase of the preparations to become king. God had provided a way for Saul to train David without Saul knowing that David would be the new king. If Saul had been humble and willing to obey God, perhaps he and David could have been best friends and enjoyed each other’s presence and God’s blessings. But sadly Saul was not interested in following God’s will.
Saul’s Rebellion
I wish to highlight a point I don’t want anyone to miss. Saul was rejected not because he made mistakes but rather because he refused to repent. Saul was not interested in following the will of God and this is why the spirit of the LORD left him. Saul was aware of this and this contributed greatly to his mental breakdown.
Guilty men, who will not sincerely repent and seek rest in Christ, know that judgment is coming, but they take care to hide that truth from others, and often bear a terrible strain on their spirits.
- Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). 1 Samuel (p. 304). London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
The music David played provided a diversion that soothed Saul’s nervous system. However, as we will find out as we continue to read the story, it did not cure Saul. Try to imagine the subduing influence David’s music had on the restless Saul as David poured forth to his harp strains of love and trust and hope in God! But as in all cases of mere diversion, the benefit was transitory. The underlying problem remained. The old fears would eventually come back in force. Saul had not sought the true remedy.
There is a lesson here for all of us. We must stop trying to seek rest and peace apart from God’s loving embrace. You can come to church, listen to Christian music, and find temporary peace and relief, but unless you make Jesus you LORD and Savior, the effects will only be temporary. As long as you continue to embrace a known sin you will not experience the peace the surpasses all understanding, even if you have a personal harp player.
This passage is not about the instrument or the type of music that David played, but rather about David’s relationship with God. Since the spirit of the LORD was with David and David made choices that were in harmony with God’s will, God blessed him and his music and everything he did. If this passage was about the type of music David played we would have been given more details on how to cast out demons through music. But all we have from David’s music is the words. If this passage and others that mention David playing had been descriptive than every church would need to have a harp to help with exorcism along with careful instructions regarding the chords and strum pattern and rhythm.
Call to action
There is one main thing that I want you to take away from this study, and that is your need for a deeper relationship with God. A relationship that clings to God when your soul is troubled, distressed, and downcast. A relationship that submits to the will of God even when it not your will (Luke 22:42). A faith that refuses to let go of God even if you feel like He is causing your suffering. A relationship where you know God as your personal Savior and not just the God of your parents, or spouse, or friend.
Do not hold on to sins that you know are keeping you from God. Turn to God, humble yourself, accept His will, and receive His salvation.
This will not make life easy, but it will guarantee your victory.
