“Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. So Saul said, ‘I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.’ Therefore Saul said to David a second time, ‘You shall be my son-in-law today.’” (1 Samuel 18:20-21 NKJV)
Just in case you don't understand what was so bad about Saul giving his daughter to David for marriage, allow me to explain. You must remember that at this time in David's life, things weren't so good between him and Saul. As a matter of fact, Saul was very jealous of David and even was to the point of hating him. At this point David had already killed Goliath and because of this was receiving a lot of popularity among the camp of Israel. Too much for Saul's liking. So he became very envious of him. Also, David had already won many great military victories. So many that the women in Israel sang a song that said, “Saul hath slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands.” Well, needless to say, Saul didn't like that one bit.
So Saul devised a plan to snare David by letting him marry his daughter Michal. The question that arises is, what kind of snare is this to David? Saul knew that the Philistines hated him. So he thought that if he would let David marry his daughter, that because he was married to the daughter of Saul the king, they would hate him too and would try to kill him. Now that's hating someone.
When we read this word “snare,” it's really interesting because in the original Hebrew there were a couple of different meanings. In the original, the word snare is mo-kashe, which means either; (a) A rope noose for hanging, or (b) a hook for the nose to lead something around. Some would possibly suggest that maybe Michal was a domineering woman, and she wanted to put a hook in David's nose and lead him around. I can assure you that wasn't what happened. David was a mighty warrior and he sure wasn't going to be led around with a ring in his nose. What Saul wanted here was to see David hang himself and he was providing the rope to do it with.
Now, here's where the plot thickens. Whenever there is to be a marriage in the Middle East, the man has to pay a down payment for the woman. This still happens to this day, and it dates back as far back as here in 1 Samuel during David's time. But Saul, being the enemy of David, devised a way for David to be killed even before he married Michal. Instead of requesting money for the down payment, he requested 100 Philistine foreskins. He just knew that David would get killed trying to do that. But you know what David did? He brought King Saul 200 foreskins! It didn't matter what kind of snare Saul put in front of David; David came out the victor. The same is true for you. It doesn't matter what snare the devil puts in front of you, you will come out victorious. It's like one man said one time, “If you give the devil enough rope, he'll hang himself.”
When we're talking about snares, allow me to give a few examples. The first one that comes to mind is people. People can be a snare to you in your Christian walk. Just like Saul wanted Michal to be a snare to David, satan wants to bring people in your path to be a snare to you. How does it happen though? Here are a couple examples: One way is to set you up with the wrong partner in marriage. In particular, getting a Christian to marry a sinner. Another way is to get you hanging around the wrong crowd. Still another way is to bring people against you. The devil will try to snare you with people.
Other ways he tries to snare you is with false blessings. Allow me to explain what I mean. Sometimes our so-called blessings are really curses in disguise. Pay attention to this example. A man is an average income worker. He serves God and is faithful to his church in all areas, including paying his tithes. But one day he gets a huge promotion and now, all of a sudden, he's making four times his old salary. Watch what happens. Whereas he used to only have to pay $25 in tithes every week, now he owes $100 a week in tithes, and that just seems like too much. So, he doesn't pay all of his tithes, but only a portion of them. But then all of a sudden, after a few months of that, he loses his job completely and eventually loses out with the Lord too. His blessing was really a curse in disguise because the devil used that promotion as a snare to hang him with.
Another example of snares in the form of false blessings is this. A man finally gets that bass boat he's always dreamed of. But what does he do? He now goes fishing on Sundays instead of going to church like he used to. That boat was a snare to him. Do you understand what I'm trying to show you? The devil will use things like these to snare you with. What he's doing is trying to give you enough rope to hang yourself with. There are many other ways that the devil will try to snare us. Temptations, jealousy, strife, peer pressure, situations, circumstances, and on and on the list goes.
There is a way to escape the devil's snares, though. There is a way to be victorious over your enemy. It is found right there in your Bibles in the same 18th chapter of 1 Samuel in verses 5, 14 and 30. “So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants….And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him…. Then the princes of the Philistines went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.” [italic emphasis mine]
David behaved himself wisely. The wisdom of God is what you use every time to escape the devil's snares. Wisdom. Victory is not assured just because you have knowledge or understanding of God's word. Victory is won by wisdom. There is a difference between knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Knowledge is simply an accumulation of facts. If all you have is knowledge, you'll be puffed up. But knowledge is not enough. You also have to have understanding. But what is understanding? Understanding is the arranging of those facts. You’re just taking the facts of God's Word and arranging them. Facts about hell, facts about heaven, facts about salvation, and so on. It is arranging those facts in a way which will bring to you an understanding of those very facts.
But, you see, knowledge and understanding aren't enough. You must also have wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is when you learn to apply the knowledge and understanding that you have. You can sit under a preacher or a teacher for years, but unless you take what they are telling you from God's Word and go use it, you will never walk in the wisdom of God. And you will never escape any of the devil's snares. Someone may wonder right here, how can wisdom help me defeat the devil? Well, in the book of Ecclesiastes, that writer said, “Wisdom is better than strength, Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” (Ecclesiastes 9:16, 18)
The only way to escape the devil snares is to use wisdom. Put the Word of God in action in your life. Learn to apply that Word to your situation when a snare comes your way. There is no better way to defeat the devil than using the Word of God against him. You can escape the snare of the devil! You can be an overcomer! You can be victorious! You don't have to hang in that noose. Turn it around by using wisdom and let the devil hang himself in his own noose.