Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him.
When the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, all good departed with Him. He had driven away God's grace by willful sin; now the evil spirit had possession of him, and he became prey to fear, rage, and suspicion. God made David his physician, and in serving at court the young shepherd would learn the ways of a kingdom without knowing he was being fitted to rule it.
AI summary
Commenting on 1 Samuel 16:14-23
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,.... As a spirit of prophecy as at first, as a spirit of wisdom and prudence in civil government, and as a spirit of fortitude and courage, as the Targum: and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him; the reverse of the former, which by the permission of God, and as a punishment to him for...
The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him--His own gloomy reflections, the consciousness that he had not acted up to the character of an Israelitish king, the loss of his throne, and the extinction of his royal house, made him jealous, irritable, vindictive, and subject to fits of morbid melancholy.