Saul is under attack.
It's not just the Philistines: it seems like the Philistines are always causing some kind of trouble for the Israelites (and probably vice versa). But Saul's battle is spiritual. The spirit of the Lord has departed from him, and the text says God has sent another spirit "to torment him." I can't imagine how awful that must be...not only to lose the sense of purpose and "special-ness" that comes from being God's anointed ruler, but to gain a spirit of torment--of constant anxiety and pain--in its place.
I don't have any psychology background, and I'm not one to try and superimpose modern science onto every facet of scripture. In my opinion, that can both limit the range of meaning we get from a biblical text, and it can force us to throw out as irrelevant that texts for which we don't have an "explanation."
But with that said, what Saul is experiencing seems a lot like depression. Not just loss of purpose, but getting paranoia and anxiety in its place. Maybe if he were alive today, he'd benefit from medication. But they didn't have that. Instead, what Saul's aids suggest--and what ends up helping him--is music. He finds David, who plays the lyre for him, and it helps.
I have been amazed at times by the spiritual cure that music can provide when I am in distress. I can't imagine my spiritual walk without it. I love that before David was God's anointed king, before he was even the warrior who felled Goliath, he was a musician...what today we might call a musical therapist. If you have that gift, I really encourage you to use it. God can do amazing things with it.
God, thank you, thank you, thank you for music. Thank you for the healing it brings. Help us as a society to value those with this gift, and encourage those with this gift to pursue it as a vocation--not just a fun hobby, but a way to heal the world. Amen.
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