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Saul had a habit of wanting to do things his own way instead of God’s way (something most of us can relate to right?). He never put in any genuine repentance for his mistakes but made excuses instead and thus became enemies with God. David meanwhile was constantly increasing in success and had become more popular with the people than Saul ever was. As a result Saul’s jealously of his #1 rival, his own servant, began to drive him into a fit of rage. You can read the whole chapter 1 Samuel 18 to get a sense of it. It got to the level where he had become essentially demonically possessed. In his court he tried to impale David with his javelin twice, but David escaped each time. As verse 12 states, Saul began to realize that David was under God’s own powerful protection and could not be harmed, unless he could somehow find a way to first break David’s relationship with God. Saul knew God was working to replace him as king and raise up David to take Saul's place. Saul had tried to have David die in battle, but David was protected each time. He unsuccessfully tried to kill David with the javelin twice. Saul knew that to have David killed was impossible. So he came up with a more devious strategy.

1 Samuel 13:11-27 tells a similar story of an “old prophet” whom God had evidently intended to replace, bypassing him and using a new prophet to release a major word over Bethel, the old prophet's own city. After releasing God's power, this new prophet was insructed by God to return directly back to Judah and not stop for food or even to drink water. The old prophet, being jealous of having been replaced, tricks the new prophet by claiming an angel appeared with new instructions and that it was acceptable to eat and drink at the old prophet's house. Halfways through the meal the old prophet pronounces God's curse on the young one for his having disobeyed the original instructions God had given. Soon after the young prophet was dead. Now the old prophet did not have to worry about his authority being challanged by new competition. Saul's mindset is the same way toward David. He wants to cause David to stumble spiritually so that he would be unfit for God to use to replace Saul. Saul believed would allow him and his lineage to remain as the ones occupying the throne.

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The king wanted to be avenged of his enemies. In this passage it is commonly assumed that Saul was demanding that David go to battle and kill 100 Philistines (after all, it will be difficult to get a man of a hostile nation to willingly circumcise himself right?). I do not believe this is the case however. In verse 7 of this chapter, Saul acknowledges David was being credited with killing tens of thousands of philistines. Assigning a quota of 100 to slay would therefore be nothing. Mathamatically it is only 1% of his normal kills. David could have it done in 20 minutes with his eyes closed. This is like telling Tiger Woods you have a task he will find difficult.... to putt 6 feet from the hole. David's reaction would have been the same.

Saul had earlier made David a captian in the army. All David would have to do is wait for his next battle and then collect the foreskins of the fallen Philistines. It would not have even required any extra danger than he already took each day as an army leader. If Saul wanted David to die in battle he would have required him to do a crazy mission such as assassinate the Philistine king, or take multiple cities and major territory from the Philistines. That would have put David in real danger. Killing 100 men was a normal day for David however. Remember he was an army captain, not a solo Rambo. According to 1 Samuel 18:13 David had command of 1000 soldiers at this point in the story. This is why it is unlikely Saul's dowry referred to expecting 100 dead enemies, that would have been laughably easy, a complete joke.

There is another possibile meaning when we take a closer look at the evidence. This leads to an evangelistic interpretation of this story. Saul had been working hard to remove idolatry and witchcraft from Israel. 1 Samuel 28:3 says that Saul had exiled all those who practiced witchcraft out of the land. The kings of Israel had a constant struggle to remove Baal worship from the land. The “enemies of the king” were thus not simply opposing armies but were the false gods, religions, and ideologies of the lands bordering Israel. Warfare is not only physical, it can be economic, psychological, and spiritual. Through trade and relations the false religions would seep into Israel, corrupting the people from the purity of worshiping Yahweh alone. This would result in the nation losing God's blessing by breaking his covenant and thus allow the foreign armies to have victory over Israel.

Examining the Hebrew word ‘Nakah’ which is translated “slew,” in the original language it can also mean “taken” or “conquered” (as in religious conversion) as well as “to wound” (as in the act of circumcision). The word occurs 460 times in the Old Testament, yet only 1/4 of the time is translated as “slay,” “kill,” or “slaughter” and the rest of the time is usually translated as “smite.” Smite can refer to killing or it can refer to simply causing some kind of injury. When Christ says, “whosoever shall SMITE thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also,” does this “smite” refer to causing death or to a non-fatal injury? Most persons would survive being smacked on the cheek. Ministry is often spoken of in warlike terms. We speak of “healing crusades” or of being “slain in the Spirit.” Let's not forget Christ's admonishion “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” (Matt 11:12). Christ could not have been referring to persecution because that was not happening during this period and would only come later in the story. As for the second part of the verse, the evangelists are compared to warriors seizing the kingdom by force, and yet we know Christ restrained his men when they wanted to fight with the sword. The violent language is a metaphor for ministers needing the intense burning passion and sacrificial nature of a soldier in order to advance God's kingdom.

If death was meant, Saul would have asked for 100 philistine heads. The fact that foreskins were instead requested shows that missionary work was David’s test. A primary and mandatory sign of the Jews covenant with God was the circumcision of all their males. David thus had to evangelize and convert 100 philistines to the Hebrew faith before being considered worthy to receive Saul’s daughter Michal.

Saul knew that God was blessing and protecting his rival David, empowering him for success in every endeavor. As long as David had his connection with God, he could not be stopped. As a result, the only way Saul could hurt David was by first breaking the strong relationship David had with God. He had to find some way to discourage David and cause him to lose his faith in God. After this, he could have success in killing him. So Saul comes up with this strategy where he will send David off on a wild-goose chase. He knew David was protected in physical battles with sword and shield, but thought perhaps he could be defeated in a spiritual fight.

In verse 18 we read that Saul thought David would “fall” by the hand of the philistines. The Bible very often uses the phrase “cause to stumble” when refering to falling into sin or unbelief. Saul thought that the persecution and mockery David would receive while evangelizing to the Philistines would cause him to stumble in his faith and give up on trusting in God. As a result, God would no longer work to bring David to kingship and replace Saul. Saul's main rival would thus be eliminated. Of course we know how the story goes. David went over and above the call of duty, achieving double of what Saul expected.

Later on in chapter 27 David would return once more to the Philistines to stay with them one and a half years, becoming an army leader. They must have had a positive earlier experience with him to allow this. This is where David learned the secret of smelting iron which he could teach to Israel upon his return, thus initiating the iron age. (Israel was very much behind the curve techonogically during Saul's reign and only had worthless bronze weapons [1 Sam 13:19-22]).

We can imagine David's struggle while on his mission among the Philistines. Preaching in the towns and going door to door trying to show them God's word and help them repent from their false gods. It was likely a grueling struggle. Much more difficult than simply killing 100 of them. It was easy for a Jew to get a foreigner to believe in Jehovah as “a” god. Much harder to have them beleive he is “the” God. Hardest of all however, is to have them committed enough to perform circumcision. Saul's requirement was that David would not simply make shallow conversions but would create true disciples who were willing to go all the way. Circumcision was often a friction point between Jews and other cultures.

In the ancient Greek culture, adult males would all excercise together in the gymnasium. Complete nakedness was a requirment for entry. The gym was more than excercise grounds however, it was a teaching and discussion forum for philosophy, politics, and literature (all while naked). Anyone who wanted to move up in society had to attend. This created friction when Jews began trying to attend. Their circumcision was visible and caused the Greeks horror. They considered it barbarous. This was the main reason it was hard to convert a Greek to Judaism. The few who did convert took the faith very seriously.

We can imagine David leading a family to the Lord and being almost at the point of conversion, however when the topic of circumcision was brought forward the curiosity and interest would turn to ridicule. David had to withstand daily mockery, rejection, and persecution. Rather than weaken his faith as Saul hoped however, David's relationship with God only strengthened during this time.

As David is a precursor to the deliverance of Christ he shows this in his fulfilling double of Saul’s request, collecting 200 foreskins instead of just 100. This was many centuries before Christ would teach us to go the extra mile when necessary. We see from the Psalms that David's heart was always overflowing to spread praise of his God. It would be hard for him not to evangelize. The joy of seeing souls won for God is overwhelming. After his 100-fold harvest David did not want to quit, he was on a roll. Only after getting 200 new Philistine proselytes (converts) did David feel his mission was truly over. Although he presented the foreskins to Saul, knowing David’s heart of worship I believe the one he really did it for was not Saul but God.

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