1 Samuel 23-24

1 Samuel 23-24

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 23: David Continues to Flee

                David hears that a placed called Keliah is being attacked by the Philistines and David inquires of the Lord as to what he should do. The Lord tells David to go and save Keliah. David tells his men to prepare for battle and they tell him that they are too scared to fight. David inquires a second time and gets the same answer, so he tells his men that they must go. So they go, and they inflict massive damage and casualties! Saul hears that David is going to a heavily fortified city named Keliah and thinks that this is a sign from God that he will put him in prison for him. So Saul goes and prepares to siege the city.   

    

                David however hears about this and decides to inquire of the Lord. The Lord tells them that YES Saul is coming and that the people of Keliah will give David to Saul. David and his men leave the city in droves, and makes it so Saul changes his search from Keliah to David directly. David, with the help of God evades Saul.

                While David is at Horesh in the desert of Ziph he learns that Saul was coming out to take his life and that his son Jonathan tells David to not be afraid for his father will not lay a hand on him. In fact David and Saul make a pact, that David will become the king of Israel and that Jonathan would be his second in command. After this pact is made, Jonathan heads home and David stays at Horesh.

                Both Saul and Jonathan know that David will become king! The Ziphites approach Saul and offer to hand over David, but Saul rejects their offer until they come up with a more solid offer, because Saul knows David too well! He knows that if he can evade him, he can easily evade the Ziphites. David is hiding in the Desert of Maon and Saul is hot on his trail. However the Lord intervenes again! While Saul is chasing David and his men, a messenger comes and tells Saul that the Philistines were being attacked and they needed reinforcements. This slows down Saul.

Chapter 24: David Saves Saul's Life

                This chapter picks up where the last one left off. Saul is still pursuing David, but goes into a cave to relieve himself. While he is in there, he doesn't realize that David and his men are also hiding in the same cave!

                Instead of killing Saul, David sneaks up to Saul and cuts a corner off of his robe and keeps his men from attacking him. Saul leaves the cave and David calls out to him. David explains that he is crazy to think that he was deceiving him or trying to harm the king. He shows the corner he cut off of his robe, to prove to Saul that he could have killed him, but he did not! David even calls Saul his king.

                Saul weeps out and tells Saul that he has done wrong and should not have tried to kill him, calling David more righteous then himself.

1 Samuel 21-22

1 Samuel 21-22

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 21: David Gets Help from Ahimelech

                David, while in hiding goes to a place called Nob where he meets up with Ahimelech the priest. The priest gets a little nervous for some reason that David is alone, thinking that there might be something up, like maybe he is in hiding/running away? Maybe. But David tells him that he is on basically a secret mission for the king and that he really isn't alone, because he will be meeting back up with the men soon.

                David asks the priest for some food and he explains that he has no "normal" food, but some blessed/consecrated bread. Ahimelech gives David the food, thinking it is for his men and David actually asks the priest for a weapon and armor because he "left so quickly" that he had essentially forgotten about the whole thing. Ahimelech gives David the sword that had belonged to Goliath.

                Unbeknownst to David, a servant of the king named Doeg is there in Nob when David was talking to the priest... but continuing on... David goes to a place called Gath. Unfortunately for David the king of Gath named Achish gets nervous and thinks that David is the king of Israel because he had slain tens of thousands of people while Saul had only killed a few thousand. So they go to kill David and David decides to pretend like he is completely wacked out nuts. The king buys the acting of David and then doesn't feel threatened by this madman.

Chapter 22: David Moves: Running from Saul

                David leaves Gath and heads for a cave in a placed called Adullam, oddly enough people hear that David is coming and they actually meet him there! So much for being secretive. Every man who was in distress or in debt gathered around David and made him their leader, 400 in all.

                David approaches the king of Moab and asks him to provide a kind of protective custody for his parents in his land while he figures out the stuff between him and Saul. The king of Moab agrees and David goes back to his cave in Adullam. David is there in the cave for a while until a prophet in Gad tells him to not stay there, so David listens and goes to the forest of Hereth.

                This whole time up until now we have read about David and his constant fleeing and hiding, but what about Saul? Oh, he has been busy looking for David! Saul gathers his men and starts talking to them about how they have deceived him and are not telling him key details. In this group, we have Doeg, remember from last chapter? Doeg tells Saul that he saw David in Nob and that he had been speaking to Ahimelech the priest. Saul commands that Ahimelech and his entire family be brought in for questioning. Ahimelech tells Saul that he hasn't been helping David and that he doesn't think that David would conspire against him. Saul of course is not happy with this answer and thinks that Ahimelech is up to no good, so he orders his execution.

                Saul's men however are not about to kill a servant, let alone a priest of the Lord! So they refuse, but Doeg is more than happy. He kills Ahimelech, his family and all of town of Nob. The only one to survive and flee is Abiathar who was Ahimelech's son. Abiathar catches up to David and tells him everything that had happened. David feels bad and blames himself, even saying that he thought he had seen Doeg, and thought that he would do something like this. David tells Abiathar to stay with him and he would be safe.

1 Samuel 19-20

1 Samuel 19-20

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 19: Saul Seeks to Kill David

                We learned from the last chapter that Saul has become jealous of David. Saul commands Jonathan and his servants to go off and kill David. The problem is that Jonathan likes David and ells David to hide. David goes into hiding, meanwhile Jonathan talks to his father Saul and tries to reason with him and make him understand that all David has done is serve him. Saul changes him mind and agrees to not kill him.

                So, David returns to his service and there is another battle with the Philistines, where David has great success in getting rid of the Philistines. Because of this, the jealousy combined with the evil spirit in Saul comes back and while David is playing the harp to help soothe the evil spirit, Saul takes a spear and attempts to spear David to the wall. But David is able to avoid the spear and runs off. When Michal finds out, she tells David that Saul is going to come for him and that he needs to hide. So she lowers him down from the window and makes a dummy to go into David's bed. When they finally find out that David is not "real" Saul asks Michal why she would deceive him like that. But Michal (probably to protect herself) tells Saul that she was forced to do it, because David had threatened to kill her if she didn't.

                So Saul finds out that David had gone to see Samuel in a place called Naioth. So Saul sends a group of men to go get him, but they end up prophesying. Saul sends two more groups and they also prophesy. Finally Saul goes himself and he too... is filled with the Spirit and prophesies!

Chapter 20: David and Jonathan; Covenant of Friendship

                This chapter opens up with Jonathan being baffled by the fact that Saul was trying to kill David, telling David that his father would have told him about this. David tells Jonathan that his father probably didn't tell him anything this time, because he knew that they were friends.

                Jonathan asks David what he can do for him, and David comes up with a plan. It's almost time for the New Moon Festival and David decides to not go, and asks Jonathan to make up an excuse as to why he is absent. If Saul is fine with him being absent than that will mean that everything is fine between them, but if Saul gets angry about David not being there, then he must want to kill David.

               
                Jonathan tells David that he will go to the festival and then bring him word from his father. But David is worried about how they will meet up again to talk. So they come up with a plan, a few days after the festival they will meet in a field. Jonathan will go out to practice with his bow and when the servant goes to collect the arrows, he will use a code. If David is safe, he will tell his servant that the arrows are to the side of him, and if David is in danger, he will tell his servant that the arrows are beyond him. If he is in danger, David is supposed to run away.

                So Jonathan goes to the festival and 2 days after the festival Saul asks about David's absence. Jonathan tells him and Saul gets angry, even throwing a spear at Jonathan. So Jonathan goes out and to shoot arrows and loses control and just yells to David to "Go quickly and run!" - the servant must have been really confused.

                David decides to still wait and when the servant is gone comes out to Jonathan and weeps saying goodbye!

1 Samuel 17-18

1 Samuel 17-18

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 17: David and Goliath

                The Philistines and the Israelites gather together their armies for battle, each on opposing hills with a valley in between them.  Both sides are just standing around, but no real battle has begun. Here is where we read about one of the more famous people of the Bible, Goliath. Goliath comes out and challenges the Israelites, telling them that if they find a man to fight him and win, then the Philistines would be subject to the Israelites. But if Goliath wins, then the Israelites would be subject to the Philistines. This is a winner take all battle between two people.

                The Israelites are a little uncomfortable with fighting Goliath and for very good reasons! So who is Goliath?

                Goliath is from Gath and came from a Philistine camp, he was a champion fighter. Goliath was 9 feet tall, and only shy of 0.8 ft from the top of the backboard on a NBA basketball hoop. Essentially the top of the basketball hoop is at eye level with Goliath. He wore a coat of mail that weighed 200 lbs and a spear, who's spear head alone weighed 24 lbs!

                This terrifies the Israelites, but Goliath steps out and offers this battle every day for 40 days, with no takers! During this same time we learn that David's three oldest brothers are in army (Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah). David is serving Saul halftime, while still tending to his father's sheep. David comes out to meet his brothers on the battle field on the 40th or 41st day that Goliath once again issues his challenge. When Goliath comes out to issue this challenge the Israelites are so afraid that they run in the opposite direction. David talks to some of the other men on the battle field about this and one man tells David that the man who defeats Goliath gets money, exemption of taxes and Saul's daughter to marry. Eliab (Saul's brother) is very unhappy that David is talking to the other soldiers

.

                Eliab asks David what he is doing here, and burns with anger as he asks him. David brushes it off and turns to talk to another soldier. Word gets to Saul about this and Saul calls for David. David tells Saul to not "lose heart" and to stay positive, he tells Saul that he will go and fight Goliath. Saul of course is not very comforted by this and tells David that Goliath is a warrior since birth and that he is just a boy. But after some time, David convinces Saul to let him try by telling his that he has killed a lion and a bear when they tried to attack his sheep.

                Saul tells David to go with the Lord. They prepare David to go to battle and put all the armor on him. But David is not used to it and can barely even move with all of it, so he takes it off and grabs a staff and 5 smooth stones from the river. David then approaches Goliath.

                When Goliath sees that they sent a little boy to battle him, he says;

                                "...Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?" (1 Samuel 17:43)

                David responds by saying;

                                "...Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou has defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee..." (1 Samuel 17:45-46)

                From here we find out that Goliath goes to strike David, but David slings a stone at him which strikes him in between his eyes. This stones sinks into his forehead, which caused Goliath to fall face first to the ground. David then cuts off Goliath's head with his own sword. After this happens the Philistines retreat and the Israelites pursue after them. David then takes the head of Goliath to Jerusalem and brings Goliath's weapons into his own tent.

                Abner brings David before Saul and asks David who is father is, David tells Saul that he is Jesse's son.

Chapter 18: David Marries Michal

                After the defeat of Goliath, David and Jonathan become very good friends. Saul decides to keep David in service full time, which means that David no longer has time to tend to his father's sheep. Jonathan gives David his armor, and Saul gives David a high rank in the military. David's new position is welcomed by both the people and the soldier below him.

                Saul however begins to be filled with jealousy. Because the women in the Israelites towns sing songs in the street about how Saul has slain thousands, and David tens of thousands. This makes Saul really jealous and nervous that David might take his kingdom from him.

                The following day, Saul is plagued by the evil spirit again and attempts to kill David, twice. Each time David eludes him. So Saul, because of his fear of David, decides to send him off on a campaign with a thousand men. Which of course is a very successful campaign, because the Lord is with David.

                Saul comes up with the idea to have his daughter Merab marry David. But David refuses and tells Saul that he is not worthy to be the kings son-in-law. Later Saul finds out that his other daughter Michal is in love with David. So Saul decides to give David a task, that would give him more credit into the family. He tells David to go and get him 100 Philistine foreskins. David goes and does what Saul asks and is successful at it, so successful that David brings back 200 foreskins!

                David marries Michal and continues to be successful and well known throughout all the land!

1 Samuel 15-16

1 Samuel 15-16

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 15: Saul Disobeys

                Samuel comes to Saul and tells him that he was the one that the Lord had sent to anoint him as king over the Israelites. Samuel tells him that he has a message from the Lord and that he should listen to him. The message from the Lord tells Saul that the Amalekites are evil and that they must be punished for what they have done to Israel, even saying;

                 "...utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." (1 Samuel 15:3)

                This is a very interesting point about God. At times he commands someone to "utterly destroy everyone" (See Judges 21:11) and at times God tells people to "not kill" (See Exodus 20:13). What is the reasoning for this? Well in Isaiah 55:8/28:10 the Lord tells us that his thoughts are not the same as our thoughts. This is an important principles to remember with anything that happens. God knows best, even if we don't understand why something is happening, eventually we will know and understand and be grateful for the master plan that the Lord has for each and every one of us.

                So with this commandment from God, Saul doesn't hesitate in mustering up his men to prepare an attack on the Amalekites. Before he goes to attack the Amalekites, he sends a warning to the Kenites who live nearby that Saul will spare them. So Saul and his men do what the Lord asked and utterly destroy everyone and everything except, they spare the best livestock as plunder and the king Agag of the Amalekites. The Lord is displeased with their ignorance to his commandment. The Lord tells Samuel that he is disappointed in Saul, Samuel prays all night crying out for Saul.

                The next day Samuel goes on a search to find Saul and talk with him, but cannot find him, because he had been moving around. But Samuel does find a statue that was made to honor Saul. Finally when Samuel meets up with Saul, Saul explains that he doesn't think he disobeyed the Lord.

                So Samuel asks him why he can hear animals in the background if he "utterly destroyed everything".  Samuel tells him that he essentially thought it would be ok to take the best animals and spare the king, completing most of what the Lord had asked. After talking with him some more, Saul admits that he was afraid of the people and gave into their demands of plunder. He tells Samuel that he has sinned and asks Samuel to go with him to worship the Lord. Samuel refuses and walks away, but Saul grabs his robe and it rips. Samuel takes the opportunity to teach and object lesson; just as his robe has ripped, so has the kingdom torn from the hands of Saul. But still Saul practically begs for forgiveness and yet again Samuel uses this opportunity as a teaching moment.

                Samuel tells Saul;

                "...Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices , as in obeying the Lord? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice..." (1 Samuel 15:22)

                Obeying is better than sacrifice. Maybe you have heard the phrase "It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission"? This is a very common and I would think widely used phrase in its literal meaning in today's world. We see this happening everywhere! But in the world of the Lord, Asking for permission is better than asking for forgiveness. It is much easier to do the right thing the first time, instead of having to make things right and living with the guilt and pain of your bad decisions for the rest of your life.

                Samuel leaves and goes to put Agag to death, then leaves to go home in Gibeah. Samuel never sees Saul again and the Lord is grieved that he has made Saul king of Israel.

Chapter 16: Saul Chooses David

                This chapter introduces King David. The Lord comes to Samuel and tells him that he should not mourn for Saul, but instead for to the home of Jesse in Bethlehem to anoint the new king. Samuel is a little worried about this, because he thinks that if Saul finds out that he is doing this, that he might be killed by Saul. So God tells Samuel that he should just claim he is making an offering sacrifice and inviting Jesse to go with him.

                Samuel goes to Bethlehem and has the town elders there to meet him. Samuel meets up with the elders and tells them that he has come in peace and that he must go and consecrate the sons of Jesse. Samuel goes to a feast and meets Jesse's son Eliab, who he thinks (by his appearance) is the one that the Lord has chosen. But the Lord tells Samuel that he should not consider his appearance of height, because the Lord does not look at the same qualities in man as men do. The Lord looks at a man's heart, whereas the natural man looks at his appearance on the outside.

                Jesse introduces Samuel to seven of his sons, but the Lord rejects them all. Samuel asks Jesse if he has more sons. Jesse tells Samuel that his youngest is out tending to the sheep. Jesse sends for David and tells everyone that they will not sit down to eat until he arrives. David comes and Samuel anoints him in front of everyone, and from that day on David is filled with the Spirit of the Lord and his power.

                Saul doesn't find out that David has been anointed (but not yet crowned king), and as soon as the Spirit of the Lord entered David, an evil spirit of the Lord entered into Saul. So one of his servants suggests that they find someone to play the harp to soothe him. The servant suggests the youngest son of Jesse, who is David!

                David travels to see Saul and begins serving him. Saul likes David so much that he has him become his armour-bearer and has him play the harp to soothe the evil spirit when it comes.

1 Samuel 13-14

1 Samuel 13-14

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 13: The Lord Chooses Another

                Saul reigned over Israel (up to this point for 2 years), 2 mark his 2 years he chose three thousand men, two thousand to stay with him in Michmash and in mount Beth-el and the other thousand men were to reside with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin.  The rest of the men were sent home.

                Jonathan decides to really smite the Philistines and sounds a trumpet throughout all the land to let the Hebrews know. The Philistines gather to fight Israel and bring with them 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen and people "numbering the same as the grains of sand in the ocean". Naturally the Israelites begin to tremble and even hide in caves and high places. So Saul calls for a burnt offering to be made. He makes the offering and is them met by Samuel, who came to salute him.

                Samuel tells Saul that he has done foolishly and because of him (and his lack of obedience to the Lord's commandments) Israel shall be destroyed. Saul quickly goes to find a smith in the land to make weapons, but they are unable to find anyone to make weapons. Because of this they are going to fight the Philistines with absolutely nothing as for weapons.

                The Lord rejects Saul and appoints a new captain over the Israelites.

Chapter 14: God Does not Always Answer Prayers

                Saul and six hundred of his men are in the outskirts of Gibeah with a priest named Ahijah. Jonathan decides to leave one day with is armour-bearer (he doesn't tell his father or anyone, he just goes!)

                Jonathan heads for an outpost on the a hill. Jonathan asks God as to whether or not he should attack the Philistines. They decide to show themselves to the Philistines and if they tell them to stay where they are, they will do it. But if they tell them to go to the top of the cliff, then they will take that as a sign from God to attack the Philistines.

                The Philistines ask them to go up, so Jonathan and his armour-bearer attack some 20 armed Philistines in an area of about 1 acre. Because of this the Philistines freak out and start to panic, causing there army to spread across the land. Saul back home doesn't know what is going on, so he calls the troops to be numbered and prepared for war. This is where they realize that Jonathan and his armour-bearer are missing. Saul calls for the Ark, but in the last minute tells the priest to just summon all the men into battle.

                When Saul and his army get to the battle, they find the Philistines so confused that some of them are actually striking each other with their own swords! The Lord rescues Israel. Saul commands a fast in the land until the evening, so that they can defeat the Philistines. He puts death as a punishment for not fasting.

                The troops go through a forest where honey is oozing out of hives. Jonathan unaware of this oath tastes some and has one soldier telling him about the oath. Jonathan basically says that he thinks it is stupid and blames Saul for putting this burden on weaken troops, who could have fought better having been full.

                They finish their battle with the Philistines and start to plunder, by slaughtering animals to eat. They are so hungry that some of them eat meat with the blood still on it. Saul gets upset and tells them that they are sinning and sets up a stone where they can properly butcher and cook the meat. Saul builds an altar to the Lord.

                Saul decides to go back and plunder the Philistines again, the priest that is with them suggests that they ask God first. So, Saul asks God and receives NO ANSWER! (1 Samuel 14:37). Saul gets worried that someone has sinned, and because of this God is not taking any favor in him. So he calls all of the men and finds out that Jonathan had sinned by tasting the honey, when they took an oath to not eat (by fasting).

                Saul wants to put Jonathan to death for doing what he did. But the men of Israel won't let Saul kill Jonathan. The chapter ends by telling us that; Saul's wife is named Ahinoam, he has three sons; Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malki-Shua. He also has two daughters; Merab and Michal. Saul has an uncle named Ner, and Ner's son; Abner is the commander of Saul's army.

1 Samuel 11-12

1 Samuel 11-12

Scripture Thought (What I Learned):

Chapter 11: Saul Comes to the Rescue

                The chapter opens up with the Ammonites trying to attacking the Israelite city of Jabesh Gilead. They start to really do a number on the city, when the Israelites agree to be subject to the Ammonite ruler Nahash if they are spared. Nahash agrees, but adds that he must take out the right eye of every person in the city to bring disgrace to Israel.

                The Israelites of course are not happy to accept an agreement where their eyes are torn out. So they ask for seven days to ponder his offer. Nahash agrees and the Israelites send out messengers to ask Israel what they should do.

                The messengers arrive at Gibeah, where Saul lives. Upon telling the story the people of Gibeah burst into tears, but when Saul hears what happens he is filled with anger. So he takes 2 oxen and cuts them into pieces, sending them to all of Israel with a message that if someone refuses to help they too will be cut up into pieces. So the Israelites (for fear of being cut into pieces, and the fear of the Lord) gather 300,000 men to fight + 30,000 from Judah.

                The messengers bring word back to Jabesh Gilead that they will be saved tomorrow. The Israelites living there are super happy and in the morning Saul and his men arrive and essentially slaughter Nahash and his men, so that the ones who do survive are so scattered that not more than 2 are left together. Saul is confirmed a king of Israel.

Chapter 12: Look What God Has Done for You!

                Now that Israel has officially called Saul to be their king, they no longer need the leadership of Samuel. But before completely handing over the reign to Saul he addresses the people;

                Samuel explains that he has been a righteous leader, and the people agree. He then explains how God calls people to leadership positions to help out his people and relates a few stories about how the Lord has always helped his people, including stories of Jacob after he entered Egypt and how the Israelites have always betrayed their God and then came back to him. Always on a roller coaster like timeline of good and evil.

                The people shout out to him that they have indeed sinned. He warns the people that if they have chosen a king then they must follow the commandments and in live in righteousness of the hand of the Lord will be against them.

                The people than get really nervous about their sinning and this is where I REALLY learned a lot...

Samuel ends his address:

                "...Fear not; ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart; and turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain. For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great names sake; because it pleaseth the Lord to make you his people... I will teach you the good and the right way... consider how great things he hath done for you. But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king." (1 Samuel 12:20-25)

                Here we learn something very important, we all sin. It is a fact. No one is perfect, but we should be constantly striving to better ourselves, so that one day we might become perfect! We can learn that when we sin, we need to pray even more and have God closer to us. When we sin, we need him even more. That is something that most of us probably don't understand. I know when I have been doing things I shouldn't have been doing, I feel like God is so ashamed of me that he doesn't want to talk with me or hear me. But that is Satan tricking us into believing this.

                The truth is that God loves us always! He will not forsake us, even if we have sinned. It can only be us forsaking him!