This is not as spooky and inexplicable as it appears on the surface. The Lord had commanded Samuel to go and anoint a new king for Israel. He was directed to David, the youngest son of Jesse.
Upon being anointed King of Israel, the covering angel of the Lord left Saul and stayed with David. This left Saul open to the demons that were waiting their chance. Demons respect divine covenants. As long as Saul was the anointed, he had some protection. But his intensely shallow spirit was a beacon to demonic forces. With the covering angel reassigned, Saul was wide open to torment.
We learn later that the torment included violent urges arising from paranoia. This was quite unpleasant to Saul. His advisers knew the answer: It needed someone with a gift for worship in music. The shofar was not appropriate; this called for an instrument that would allow singing. About the only thing they had at that time was something like a lyre called the kinnor in Hebrew. So far as we know, this was a ten-stringed instrument played on the pentatonic scale (5 notes, missing the 2nd and 7th from our octave).
The task required someone who bore sufficient charisma to seem noble, and with strong faith in Jehovah. It so happened that the same David who had been secretly anointed the next king was also well known for his strong musical talent in worship. So he was called into service in Saul’s rather primitive court. As we would expect, his talent and devotion were sufficient to restrict the demons.
David was promoted to the position of Saul’s armor bearer. It made David the equivalent to a captain in our terms, but with a special assignment as the King’s personal assistant. He was sensitive enough to recognize when Saul was tormented and could sing the torment away.
Any other explanation misses the point. A pure heart-led worship of the Lord tends to clear away demonic presence anywhere, but is particularly potent under a covenant. Still, as Saul was increasingly alienated from God, the torment escalated in intensity and frequency. He was holding the throne unjustly by the provisions of the Covenant, and should have abdicated.
The obvious lesson is that singing worship songs, even without any actual talent, can still reduce moral and spiritual tension. More to the point, it reduces demonic power and presence when you are doing something for the Kingdom.
Interesting to note that later on, David really never fought back against Saul despite how terribly he treated him. It’s a testament to how powerfully the spirit of God came upon David. I want to conjecture that David was at peace with all of that because of that, not through his own power. His pacifism wasn’t a normal human response.
Yes, David made the point that, as far as he was concerned, despite all his flaws, Saul was still God’s anointed. So David had to carry out his mission by avoiding Saul, lest the situation force David’s hand.
Looks like I need to re-read the Samuels 🙂