David's reign laid the foundation for the future prosperity of Israel under Solomon.

• The Books of 1 and 2 Kings received their names because they document the reigns of the 40 monarchs of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah who followed David.
• Israel had 20 kings, and Judah had 20, including one female who usurped the throne: Athaliah.
• In the Hebrew Bible, 1 and 2 Kings were regarded as one book until the sixteenth century.
• The ancients viewed them as the continuation of the narrative begun in 1 and 2 Samuel.
• The historical period covered in 1 and 2 Kings (approximately 413 years) is almost three times as long as that of the period covered in 1 and 2 Samuel, which was about 150 years in length.
• The Book of Judges covers about 300 years of Israel's history.
• All three significant sections of Kings— the reign of Solomon, the divided kingdom, and the surviving kingdom —emphasize numerous theological lessons.
• Still, each one repeats and reinforces the central motif (theme): the importance of obeying the Mosaic Law to succeed. 
•       David's declining health 1:1-4
•       David's charge to Solomon 2:1-9
•       David's death 2:10-12
• David was 70 years old when he died (2 Sam. 5:4).
• Saul may have been as old as 80 when he died.
• However, the deaths of these two kings, as well as their lives, contrast dramatically.
• David died in peace, Saul in battle.
• David died in victory, Saul in defeat.
• When David began to reign, the Philistines dominated Israel.
• When Solomon began to reign, Israel was at peace with and in control of her neighbors.

 
THE LORD APPEARS TO SOLOMON
1 KINGS 3
1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter.

• A descendant of former Egyptian slaves now became Pharaoh's son-in-law!
• At this time Israel was stronger than Egypt, as a result of David's conquests and as a result of Egypt's weakness.

Solomon brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace, the Lord’s temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem. 2 However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built. 3 Solomon loved the Lord by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

• Solomon is the only king in the Book of Kings who is said to have loved the LORD.
• The only deviations from the Law that the writer ascribed to Solomon at this early time in his reign was his worship at the high places.
• Otherwise Solomon followed God faithfully.

4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask. What should I give you?”
6 And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.

• Prophecy fulfilled so far.

7 “Lord my God, you have now made your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. 8 Your servant is among your people you have chosen, a people too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?”

•  In Hebrew words translated "hearing" and "obeying" come from the same root word.
• "The heart, in Israelite thought is the center of the psychic self.
• It includes especially mental activity but is broader in scope than English 'mind,' embracing the feelings and will as well.
• The heart is susceptible to become hardened, to be made fat (Isa. 6:10), and to dwell on evil (Gen. 6:5; 8:21); indeed, it is 'deceitful above all things' (Jer. 17:9).
• It is over against these capabilities of the heart that Solomon's request is to be understood.
• A 'hearing heart' [v. 9] is one that is open, receptive, teachable (Isa. 50:4).
• That to which the heart of the king should be open above all else is God's torah [lit. Instruction].
• The king ideally rules not based on his own understanding but administers his realm in the light of God's revealed will."

10 Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. 11 So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice, 12 I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. 13 In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no king will be your equal during your entire life. 14 If you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

• This section concluded in the same way it began: Solomon making a journey and sacrifices to God.

 
 
SOLOMON’S WISDOM
16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

• In Israel, it was much easier for ordinary citizens to gain an audience with the king than it is today.
• The fact that the two mothers were prostitutes is important in this story … because it shows how the wise king would act on behalf of the very lowest of his subjects …

17 One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house. 18 On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there. 19 During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him in her arms, and she put her dead son in my arms. 21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”
22 “No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.”
The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.
23 The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.’ ” 24 The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king. 25 And the king said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
26 The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion, for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!”
But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”
27 The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.”

• Solomon demonstrated insight into fundamental aspects of human nature, particularly regarding maternal instincts.
• This insight enabled him to understand why people behave as they do and how they will respond.
• This was a gift from God and is an aspect of wisdom.
• Solomon became a blessing to the people because he had a proper relationship with Yahweh.
• Wisdom in Israel and the ancient Near East was not synonymous with knowledge or education.
• It involved the ability to live life skillfully, so at the end, one's life would amount to something worthwhile.
• To the Israelites, this was possible only if a person knew and responded appropriately to (i.e., feared) Yahweh.

28 All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice. [1]

• I get asked often… “What can I pray about for you?”
• Most likely my answers will be “wisdom.”

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Ki 3:1–28.

David's family life was fraught with turmoil.

• His son Amnon committed a grievous act against his half-sister Tamar, leading to further family strife when Absalom, Tamar's brother, avenged her by killing Amnon (2 Samuel 13:1-29).
• Absalom later led a rebellion against David, temporarily seizing the throne.
• David fled Jerusalem but eventually regained his kingship after Absalom's death (2 Samuel 15-18).

Despite these personal and political challenges, David remained a man after God's own heart, seeking God's guidance and showing repentance when confronted with his sins.

ACTS 13
16 Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said, “Fellow Israelites, and you who fear God, listen! 17 The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty arm. 18 And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness; 19 and after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20 This all took about 450 years. After this, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart,, who will carry out all my will.’
23 “From this man’s descendants, as he promised, God brought to Israel the Savior, Jesus.[1]
 
David is remembered for his deep devotion to God, as reflected in the Psalms he authored.
 
PSALM 51
A PRAYER FOR RESTORATION
For the choir director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba.

• This is the first of fifteen consecutive psalms in Book II (42-72) attributed to David.[2]

 
 
Cleanse Me
1 Be gracious to me, God,
according to your faithful love;
according to your abundant compassion,
blot out my rebellion.
2 Completely wash away my guilt
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned
and done this evil in your sight.
So you are right when you pass sentence;
you are blameless when you judge.
5 Indeed, I was guilty when I was born;
I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire integrity in the inner self,
and you teach me wisdom deep within.
7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

• “Hyssop” was a shrub with hairy stems that could be dipped into liquid, and the priests used hyssop to sprinkle blood or water on people needing ceremonial cleansing (Lev. 14:4, 6; Num. 19:6, 18; see Ex. 12:22).
• Today’s believers find their cleansing in the work Jesus accomplished on the cross (1 John 1:5–10; Heb. 10:19–25).[3]

Restore Me
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Turn your face away from my sins
and blot out all my guilt.
10 God, create a clean heart for me
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

• 1986 – Wedding – Brown Bannister

11 Do not banish me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore the joy of your salvation to me,
and sustain me by giving me a willing spirit.
Use Me
13 Then I will teach the rebellious your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
14 Save me from the guilt of bloodshed, God--
God of my salvation--
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.

• David’s sins had affected his whole person:
• his eyes (v. 3),
• mind (v. 6),
• ears and bones (v. 8),
• heart and spirit (v. 10),
• hands (v. 14),
• and lips (vv. 13–15).
• Such is the high cost of committing sin.
• David knew this, so he asked for more than cleansing, as important as that is; he wanted his entire being to be restored so he could serve the Lord acceptably.
• He wanted the joy of the Lord within him (see v. 12) and the face of the Lord smiling upon him.[4]

 
16 You do not want a sacrifice, or I would give it;
you are not pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit.
You will not despise a broken and humbled heart, God.

•  David was wealthy enough to bring many sacrifices to the Lord, but he knew that this would not please the Lord and that their blood could not wash away his sins.
• David wasn’t denying the importance or the validity of the Jewish sacrificial system; he was affirming the importance of a repentant heart and a spirit yielded to the Lord (Isa. 57:15).
• God could not receive broken animals as sacrifices (Mal. 1:6–8), but He would receive a broken heart![5]

18 In your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper;
build the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,
whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.[6]
 

• David was a man after God’s own heart.
• David’s sin was forgiven entirely.
• David’s lineage was the one through which God chose to send the Messiah.
• But David never got to build a home for God.

 
His reign laid the foundation for the future prosperity of Israel under Solomon.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ac 13:16–23.
[2] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 186.
[3] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 187.
[4] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 188.
[5] Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Worshipful, 1st ed., “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: Cook Communications Ministries, 2004), 189.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ps 51.

• Chapter 25 – Samuel died
• David and Saul’s hide-and-seek continues similar to the previous week
• David ends up finding refuge with the Philistines but doesn’t really take up their side.
• Chapter 30 – David’s family is taken as hostages by the Philistines, but David rescues them and pummels the Philistines.
• Chapter 31 - recounts the tragic end of Saul and his sons in battle against the Philistines.
• Saul is wounded and takes his own life to avoid capture.
• The Philistines desecrate Saul's body, but the Israelite men retrieve and bury it honorably.
• Saul's death ended David's fugitive experiences, which is estimated to have lasted four or five years at the most.
• 2 Samuel 1-3 – Civil war between the house of and the house of David.
• Abner vs David – Abner died
• 2 Samuel 4 – Saul’s other son dies

2 SAMUEL 4
4 Saul’s son Jonathan had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nanny picked him up and fled, but as she was hurrying to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.[1]
 
2 SAMUEL 5
4 David was thirty years old when he began his reign; he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.[2]
 
7 Yet David did capture the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.[3]
 
9 David took up residence in the stronghold, which he named the city of David. He built it up all the way around from the supporting terraces inward. 10 David became more and more powerful, and the Lord God of Armies was with him. 11 King Hiram of Tyre sent envoys to David; he also sent cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David. 12 Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
13 After he arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. 14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, they all went in search of David, but he heard about it and went down to the stronghold. 18 So the Philistines came and spread out in Rephaim Valley.
19 Then David inquired of the Lord: “Should I attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?”
The Lord replied to David, “Attack, for I will certainly hand the Philistines over to you.”
20 So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there and said, “Like a bursting flood, the Lord has burst out against my enemies before me.” Therefore, he named that place The Lord Bursts Out. 21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off. [4]
 
2 SAMUEL 6
12 So David went and had the ark of God brought up from Obed-edom’s house to the city of David with rejoicing. 13 When those carrying the ark of the Lord advanced six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. 14 David was dancing with all his might before the Lord wearing a linen ephod. 15 He and the whole house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of the trumpet. 16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.[5]
 
2 SAMUEL 7
4 But that night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: 5 “Go to my servant David and say, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you to build me a house to dwell in? 6 From the time I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today I have not dwelt in a house; instead, I have been moving around with a tent as my dwelling. 7 In all my journeys with all the Israelites, have I ever spoken a word to one of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, asking: Why haven’t you built me a house of cedar?’
8 “So now this is what you are to say to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. I will make a great name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. 10 I will designate a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done 11 ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies.
“ ‘The Lord declares to you: The Lord himself will make a house for you. 12 When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with a rod of men and blows from mortals. 15 But my faithful love will never leave him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.’”[6]
 
2 SAMUEL 8
15 So David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness for all his people.[7]
 
2 SAMUEL 9

• David discovers Mephibosheth, offers him all of Saul’s fields, and even has Zibah’s (David’s servant) house work the fields.
• David also offers Mephibosheth a place at his table for every meal in Jerusalem.

 
2 SAMUEL 10

• David continues to do battle and win.

 
DAVID’S ADULTERY WITH BATHSHEBA
2 SAMUEL 11
1 In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. 3 So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he said, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hethite?”

• Perhaps Bathsheba was not totally innocent, but that does not lessen David's guilt.
• Nevertheless, the writer, and God, never explicitly blamed Bathsheba for what happened.
• They only blamed David.
• It seems reasonable to assume that she could have shielded herself from view if she had wanted to do so.
• And she was not necessarily completely naked.
• She could have been washing herself using a basin.
• Since David was born in 1041 B.C. and this incident took place about 992 B.C., David was close to 49 years old when he committed adultery.

4 David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to inform David, “I am pregnant.”

• "The only recorded speech of Bathsheba, brief though it is.

6 David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hethite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.

• Quietly observing the wartime soldier's ban against conjugal relations (mentioned in 1 Samuel 21:4-7).

10 When it was reported to David, “Uriah didn’t go home,” David questioned Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah answered David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camping in the open field. How can I enter my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live and by your life, I will not do this!”
12 “Stay here today also,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. He went out in the evening to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.
 
URIAH’S DEATH ARRANGED
14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote:
Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.
16 When Joab was besieging the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were. 17 Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell in battle; Uriah the Hethite also died.
18 Joab sent someone to report to David all the details of the battle…
 
24 However, the archers shot down on your servants from the top of the wall, and some of the king’s servants died. Your servant Uriah the Hethite is also dead.”

• Some other innocent soldiers besides Uriah died because of David's orders. David was responsible for their deaths, too.

25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this matter upset you because the sword devours all alike. Intensify your fight against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband, Uriah, had died, she mourned for him. 27 When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord considered what David had done to be evil. [8]
 
NATHAN’S PARABLE AND DAVID’S REPENTANCE
2 SAMUEL 12

• David had sleepless nights.
• He could see his sin written across the ceiling of his room as he tossed and turned in bed.
• He saw it written across the walls.
• He saw it on the plate where he tried to choke down his meals.
• He saw it on the faces of his counselors.

1 So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him:
There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very large flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. He raised her, and she grew up with him and with his children. From his meager food she would eat, from his cup she would drink, and in his arms she would sleep. She was like a daughter to him. 4 Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.
5 David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! 6 Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.”
7 Nathan replied to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. 9 Why then have you despised the Lord’s command by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hethite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife—you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword. 10 Now therefore, the sword will never leave your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hethite to be your own wife.’
11 “This is what the Lord says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you from your own family: I will take your wives and give them to another before your very eyes, and he will sleep with them in broad daylight. 12 You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’ ”
13 David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Then Nathan replied to David, “And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die. 14 However, because you treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.” 15 Then Nathan went home.

• This was the turning-point in the life of David, and the clearest indication that he was different from Saul in the most essential relationship of all, that of submission to the Lord God.
• For that reason he found forgiveness, whereas Saul never accepted his guilt or the rejection that followed from it.

 
THE DEATH OF BATHSHEBA’S SON
The Lord struck the baby that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became deathly ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted, went home, and spent the night lying on the ground. 17 The elders of his house stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.
18 On the seventh day the baby died. But David’s servants were afraid to tell him the baby was dead. They said, “Look, while the baby was alive, we spoke to him, and he wouldn’t listen to us. So how can we tell him the baby is dead? He may do something desperate.”
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering to each other, he guessed that the baby was dead. So he asked his servants, “Is the baby dead?”
“He is dead,” they replied.
20 Then David got up from the ground. He washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, went to the Lord’s house, and worshiped. Then he went home and requested something to eat. So they served him food, and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, “Why have you done this? While the baby was alive, you fasted and wept, but when he died, you got up and ate food.”
22 He answered, “While the baby was alive, I fasted and wept because I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me.”
 
THE BIRTH OF SOLOMON
24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and slept with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The Lord loved him, 25 and he sent a message through the prophet Nathan, who named him Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

• The birth of David's and Bathsheba's second son, Solomon (whose name comes from the Hebrew word shalom, "peace," and means "Peaceable" or "Peaceful"), was a blessing from the LORD.
• It demonstrates that God's grace is greater than all our sins

 

• The chapter ends with David and soldiers taking captive the city of Rabbah.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 4:4.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 5:4–5.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 5:7.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 5:9–21.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 6:12–16.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 7:4–16.
[7] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 8:15.
[8] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 2 Sa 11:1–27.

1 SAMUEL 17

• David kills Goliath

• 18 picks right up after

 
DAVID’S SUCCESS
1 SAMUEL 18
1 When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship, and loved him as much as he loved himself. 2 Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.
3 Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as himself. 4 Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David,

• Robe was symbolic of the Israelite Kingdom
• Transfer of power

along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

• Jonathan was probably 20-30 years olders than David.

5 David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men, which pleased all the people and Saul’s servants as well.
6 As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments. 7 As they danced, the women sang:
Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands.
8 Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.

• It was personal jealousy that took root in Saul's mind and led to his downfall.
• The problem was Saul's desire to be popular with the people more than with God 

 
SAUL ATTEMPTS TO KILL DAVID
10 The next day an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear, 11 and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.

• Saul's unchecked jealousy bred the symptoms of paranoia
• He began to think that his most loyal subject was his mortal enemy.
• Contrast Jonathan's implicit confidence in David.
• The difference was that Saul saw David as a threat to his security, whereas Jonathan saw him as the savior of God's people.

12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. 13 Therefore, Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops 14 and continued to be successful in all his activities because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him.

• Saul sent David out to die at the hands of the Philistines, but actually became more of a hero to the Israelites.

16 But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops. 17 Saul told David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife if you will be a warrior for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I don’t need to raise a hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18 Then David responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19 When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

• David did not jump at the chance to marry the king's daughter, even though such a marriage would have advanced his career significantly (cf. 16:18).
• He dismissed this possibility since he could not afford the dowry.

 
DAVID’S MARRIAGE TO MICHAL
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him. 21 “I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”

• Evidently Saul meant that Michal would become a snare to David because, as the son-in-law of the king, David would have been a specially important target for the Philistines in battle

22 Saul then ordered his servants, “Speak to David in private and tell him, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Therefore, you should become the king’s son-in-law.’”
23 Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor commoner.”
24 The servants reported back to Saul, “These are the words David spoke.”
25 Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived, 27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife. 28 Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, 29 and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.
30 Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became well known.[1]
 
In 1 Samuel 19-23, we see the escalating tension between Saul and David, as Saul's jealousy and fear of David grow.

• In chapter 19, Saul orders his son Jonathan and his servants to kill David.
• However, Jonathan, who has a deep friendship with David, warns him and helps him escape.
• Michal, David's wife and Saul's daughter, also aids in David's escape by deceiving her father (1 Samuel 19:1-17).
• David flees to Samuel in Ramah, where Saul sends men to capture him.
• However, each group of men, and eventually Saul himself, are overcome by the Spirit of God and begin to prophesy, unable to harm David (1 Samuel 19:18-24).
• In chapter 20, David and Jonathan devise a plan to determine Saul's intentions.
• Jonathan confirms Saul's desire to kill David and helps him escape, reaffirming their covenant of friendship and loyalty (1 Samuel 20:12-17, 30-42).
• David continues to flee from Saul, seeking refuge in various places.
• In chapter 21, he visits Ahimelech the priest in Nob, where he receives consecrated bread and Goliath's sword.
• David then seeks asylum with Achish, the king of Gath, but pretends to be insane to avoid harm (1 Samuel 21:1-15).
• In chapter 22, David gathers a group of followers at the cave of Adullam, including those in distress and debt.
• Meanwhile, Saul, in his paranoia, orders the massacre of the priests of Nob after learning they aided David.
• Only Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, escapes and joins David, bringing the ephod with him (1 Samuel 22:1-23).
• In chapter 23, David continues to evade Saul, seeking God's guidance through Abiathar and the ephod.
• He saves the town of Keilah from the Philistines but must flee again when Saul learns of his location.
• David and his men hide in the wilderness, and Jonathan visits to encourage David, reaffirming God's promise that David will be king (1 Samuel 23:1-18).

These chapters highlight God's protection and guidance for David, despite Saul's relentless pursuit. They also emphasize the importance of friendship, loyalty, and seeking God's direction in times of trouble (1 Samuel 23:14-16).
 
DAVID SPARES SAUL
1 SAMUEL 24
1 When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.” 2 So Saul took three thousand of Israel’s fit young men and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

• Pics of En Gedi (Hyrax & Ibex/dessert goat)

3 When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself.

• Nobody, even his personal bodyguard, would accompany him into the cave for this purpose.
• Walk in a pitch dark cave after being in the sunlight.

David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave, 4 so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’ ” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

• A king's hem was especially ornate and identified him as the king.

5 Afterward, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe. 6 He said to his men, “As the Lord is my witness, I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” 7 With these words David persuaded his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul.
Then Saul left the cave and went on his way. 8 After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David knelt low with his face to the ground and paid homage.

• By addressing Saul as his "lord" and his "king," and by bowing with his face to the ground and prostrating himself before Saul, David demonstrated his respect for and his submission to Saul.

9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’? 10 You can see with your own eyes that the Lord handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed. 11 Look, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Recognize that I’ve committed no crime or rebellion. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life.
12 “May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord take vengeance on you for me, but my hand will never be against you. 13 As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness comes from wicked people.’ My hand will never be against you. 14 Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A single flea? 15 May the Lord be judge and decide between you and me. May he take notice and plead my case and deliver me from you.”

• David confronted Saul face to face… not through his people.

16 When David finished saying these things to him, Saul replied, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud 17 and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have done what is good to me though I have done what is evil to you. 18 You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when the Lord handed me over to you, you didn’t kill me. 19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go unharmed?, May the Lord repay you with good for what you’ve done for me today.
20 “Now I know for certain you will be king, and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. 21 Therefore swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.” 22 So David swore to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to the stronghold.[2]

• It was customary in the ancient Near East for a new king to kill all the descendants of the ruler whom he replaced.
• This prevented them from rising up and reestablishing the dead king's dynasty.

David had already promised Jonathan that he would not kill his descendants (20:14-17), and he now made the same promise to Saul.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 18:1–30.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 24:1–22.

1 SAMUEL 14
    - Jonathan and his armor bearer defeated some Philistines.

• Saul and his men joined the battle and won.

1 SAMUEL 15
10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following me and has not carried out my instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.[1]

• God regretted that He had made Saul king because of Saul's actions, not because God felt that He had made a mistake in appointing Saul as Israel's king.

 
24 Saul answered Samuel, “I have sinned. I have transgressed the Lord’s command and your words. Because I was afraid of the people, I obeyed them. 25 Now therefore, please forgive my sin and return with me so I can worship the Lord.”
26 Samuel replied to Saul, “I will not return with you. Because you rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27 When Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the corner of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. 29 Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.[2]
 
35 Even to the day of his death, Samuel never saw Saul again. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the Lord regretted he had made Saul king over Israel.[3]
 
1 SAMUEL 16
1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected for myself a king from his sons.” [4]
 
Eliab rejected:
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”[5]
 
12 So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance.
Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward.[6]
 - 1029 BC – 12 years old.
 - According to Chuck Swindoll, more was written in the Bible about David than about any other character: 66 chapters in the Old Testament plus 59 references to his life in the New Testament.
 
14 Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him,[7]

• The removal of the God’s Spirit leaves one back to the seed of Adam and a sinful nature… which is selfishness… Doing things in your own strength.

 
21 When David came to Saul and entered his service, Saul loved him very much, and David became his armor-bearer. 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse: “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor with me.” 23 Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would pick up his lyre and play, and Saul would then be relieved, feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.[8]

• The importance of music – soothing, calmness and connection.

 
DAVID VERSUS GOLIATH
1 SAMUEL 17

• 1024 – 17 years old

1 The Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah;

• Map & Pictures
• The goal of this strategically important battle was undoubtedly to secure the Valley of Elah, the natural point of entry from the Philistine homeland into the hill country of Saul’s kingdom.

then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them.

• Even though Saul had already been rejected as king, he was going to force his position even further.

4 Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall

• Not a Nephilim but probably from the people of Anakim.
• Anakim people were large and often compared to the Nephilim.

5 and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds. 6 There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him.
8 He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations, “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9 If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

• Since Saul was the tallest Israelite and the king, he was the natural choice for an opponent.
• But, as earlier (14:1-2), Saul was staying in the background when he should have been leading the people.

12 Now David was the son of the Ephrathite (F-ra-T) from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, 14 and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, 15 but David kept going back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.

• The site of battle was 15 miles due west of David's hometown: Bethlehem.

16 Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand.

• The number 40 often represents a period of testing in the Bible (cf. the Israelites' testing in the wilderness for 40 years, Jesus' testing for 40 days, etc.). 

17 One day Jesse had told his son David, “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to the field commander. Check on the well-being of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.”
20 So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had charged him.
He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other. 22 David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. 23 While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard. 24 When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.
25 Previously, an Israelite man had declared, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. The king will also make the family of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.”
26 David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 The troops told him about the offer, concluding, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28 David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”

• The very things with which he charged his brother—presumption and wickedness of heart—were most apparent in his scornful reproof.
• Whenever you step out by faith to fight the enemy, there's always somebody around to discourage you, and often it begins in your own home.

29 “What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question.” 30 Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before.
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him. 32 David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”
33 But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”

• The opposite of the fear of the Lord is the fear of man.
• No greater contrast of these opposing fears could be presented than when David confronted Goliath.
• Saul and his men feared Goliath the man, but David by virtue of his fear of Yahweh did not.

34 David answered Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

• David doesn’t take credit for what the Lord did.

Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
38 Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor. 39 David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off.

• Saul was still dependent on personal possessions were David was dependent on the Lord.

40 Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

• Shepherds used slingshots to herd their sheep.
• Stones were as big as baseballs.

41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?”

• Shepherds fought off dogs (wolves).

Then he cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!”
45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel—you have defied him. 46 Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, 47 and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.”
48 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground. 50 David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword.

• Stoning was the penalty for blasphemy in Israel (Lev. 24:16; Deut. 17:7).

51 David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled. 52 The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
53 When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54 David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55  When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner?”
“Your Majesty, as surely as you live, I don’t know,” Abner replied.
56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is!”
57 When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.[9]

• Facing a giant or giants?
• Fear standing in your way?
• The difference between fear and hope.
• Both are projecting the future… but with different perspectives of outcome.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 15:10–11.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 15:24–29.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 15:35.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 16:1.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 16:7.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 16:12–13.
[7] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 16:14.
[8] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 16:21–23.
[9] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), 1 Sa 17:1–58.

The name "Ruth" may mean "friendship," "comfort," or "refreshment."

• It appears to have been a Moabite name and not a Hebrew name originally.
• The only other Old Testament book that was named for a Gentile (non-Israelite) is Job.
• The Book of Ruth was attached to the end of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible.
• Books of the Bible picture
• Later the Jews placed Ruth in the third major division of their canon, the Kethubim (Writings).
• In most Hebrew Bibles, Ruth occurs immediately after Proverbs and before Song of Songs in the Writings, the third section of the Tanak [Hebrew Bible].
• This placement associates Ruth with Proverbs 31, the poem of the virtuous woman, and the Song of Songs, in which the woman takes the lead in the relationship.

 

• Twenty-three of its 85 verses mention God.
• Of these, only 1:6 and 4:13, which bracket the book, are the narrator's comments.
• All the rest appear in the characters' speeches.
• Contrast the Book of Esther, which also teaches the providence of God, but does not mention God even once.
• This is one of the only two books in Scripture which bear the names of women.
• Those two are Ruth and Esther; and they stand in marked contrast.
• Ruth is a young Gentile woman who is brought to live among Hebrews and marries a Hebrew husband in the line of royal David.
• Esther is a young Hebrew woman who is brought to live among Gentiles and marries a Gentile husband on the throne of a great empire.

 

• The Ruth narrative provided a gratifying reminder that even in the darkest times God was at work in the hearts of His faithful remnant.

 
NAOMI’S FAMILY IN MOAB
RUTH 1
1 During the time of the judges, there was a famine in the land. A man left Bethlehem in Judah with his wife and two sons to stay in the territory of Moab for a while. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife’s name was Naomi. The names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They entered the fields of Moab and settled there. 3 Naomi’s husband, Elimelech, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 Her sons took Moabite women as their wives: one was named Orpah and the second was named Ruth. After they lived in Moab about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and without her husband.
 
RUTH’S LOYALTY TO NAOMI
6 She and her daughters-in-law set out to return from the territory of Moab, because she had heard in Moab that the Lord had paid attention to his people’s need by providing them food. 7 She left the place where she had been living, accompanied by her two daughters-in-law, and traveled along the road leading back to the land of Judah.
8 Naomi said to them, “Each of you go back to your mother’s home. May the Lord show kindness to you as you have shown to the dead and to me. 9 May the Lord grant each of you rest in the house of a new husband.” She kissed them, and they wept loudly.
10 They said to her, “We insist on returning with you to your people.”
11 But Naomi replied, “Return home, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Am I able to have any more sons who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters. Go on, for I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me to have a husband tonight and to bear sons, 13 would you be willing to wait for them to grow up? Would you restrain yourselves from remarrying? No, my daughters, my life is much too bitter for you to share, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me.” 14 Again they wept loudly, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 Naomi said, “Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. Follow your sister-in-law.”
16 But Ruth replied:
Don’t plead with me to abandon you
or to return and not follow you.
For wherever you go, I will go,
and wherever you live, I will live;
your people will be my people,
and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I will die,
and there I will be buried.
May the Lord punish me,
and do so severely,
if anything but death separates you and me.

• Ruth, being a Moabitess, was a descendant of Lot, who chose to leave the Promised Land because he thought he could do better for himself elsewhere (Gen. 13:11-12).
• Ruth now reversed the decision of her ancestor and chose to identify with the promises of Yahweh that centered in the Promised Land.

18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped talking to her.
19 The two of them traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was excited about their arrival, and the local women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
20 “Don’t call me Naomi. Call me Mara,” she answered, “for the Almighty has made me very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has opposed me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?”
22 So Naomi came back from the territory of Moab with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.[1]
 
RUTH AND BOAZ MEET
RUTH 2
1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side. He was a prominent man of noble character from Elimelech’s family. His name was Boaz.
2 Ruth the Moabitess asked Naomi, “Will you let me go into the fields and gather fallen grain behind someone with whom I find favor?”
Naomi answered her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech’s family.
4 Later, when Boaz arrived from Bethlehem, he said to the harvesters, “The Lord be with you.”
“The Lord bless you,” they replied.
5 Boaz asked his servant who was in charge of the harvesters, “Whose young woman is this?”
6 The servant answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the territory of Moab. 7 She asked, ‘Will you let me gather fallen grain among the bundles behind the harvesters?’ She came and has been on her feet since early morning, except that she rested a little in the shelter.”
8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Don’t go and gather grain in another field, and don’t leave this one, but stay here close to my female servants. 9 See which field they are harvesting, and follow them. Haven’t I ordered the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go and drink from the jars the young men have filled.”

• Boaz is instituting the first anti-sexual-harassment policy in the workplace recorded in the Bible.

10 She fell facedown, bowed to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor with you, so that you notice me, although I am a foreigner?”
11 Boaz answered her, “Everything you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband’s death has been fully reported to me: how you left your father and mother and your native land, and how you came to a people you didn’t previously know. 12 May the Lord reward you for what you have done, and may you receive a full reward from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”
13 “My lord,” she said, “I have found favor with you, for you have comforted and encouraged your servant, although I am not like one of your female servants.”
14 At mealtime Boaz told her, “Come over here and have some bread and dip it in the vinegar sauce.” So she sat beside the harvesters, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.
15 When she got up to gather grain, Boaz ordered his young men, “Let her even gather grain among the bundles, and don’t humiliate her. 16 Pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to gather. Don’t rebuke her.” 17 So Ruth gathered grain in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gathered, and it was about twenty-six quarts of barley.

• This was the equivalent of at least half a month's wages in one day.

18 She picked up the grain and went into the town, where her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She brought out what she had left over from her meal and gave it to her.
19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you gather barley today, and where did you work? May the Lord bless the man who noticed you.”
Ruth told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”
20 Then Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May the Lord bless him because he has not abandoned his kindness to the living or the dead.” Naomi continued, “The man is a close relative. He is one of our family redeemers.”
21 Ruth the Moabitess said, “He also told me, ‘Stay with my young men until they have finished all of my harvest.’ ”
22 So Naomi said to her daughter-in-law Ruth, “My daughter, it is good for you to work with his female servants, so that nothing will happen to you in another field.” 23 Ruth stayed close to Boaz’s female servants and gathered grain until the barley and the wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law.[2]
 
RUTH’S APPEAL TO BOAZ
RUTH 3
1 Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, shouldn’t I find rest for you, so that you will be taken care of? 2 Now isn’t Boaz our relative? Haven’t you been working with his female servants? This evening he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfumed oil (Midnight in Moab), and wear your best clothes. Go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let the man know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, notice the place where he’s lying, go in and uncover his feet, and lie down. Then he will explain to you what you should do.”

• Touching and holding his feet was an act of submission.

5 So Ruth said to her, “I will do everything you say.” 6 She went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law had charged her to do. 7 After Boaz ate, drank, and was in good spirits, he went to lie down at the end of the pile of barley, and she came secretly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
8 At midnight, Boaz was startled, turned over, and there lying at his feet was a woman! 9 So he asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Ruth, your servant,” she replied. “Take me under your wing,, for you are a family redeemer.”
10 Then he said, “May the Lord bless you, my daughter. You have shown more kindness now than before, because you have not pursued younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 Now don’t be afraid, my daughter. I will do for you whatever you say, since all the people in my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Yes, it is true that I am a family redeemer, but there is a redeemer closer than I am. 13 Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, that’s good. Let him redeem you. But if he doesn’t want to redeem you, as the Lord lives, I will. Now lie down until morning.”

• (1) He had to be a near kinsman.
• (2) He had to be willing to redeem.
• (3) He had to be able to redeem.
• (4) He had to be free himself.
• (5) He had to be able to pay the price of redemption.

14 So she lay down at his feet until morning but got up while it was still dark. Then Boaz said, “Don’t let it be known that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 And he told Ruth, “Bring the shawl you’re wearing and hold it out.” When she held it out, he shoveled six measures of barley into her shawl, and she went into the town.
16 She went to her mother-in-law, Naomi, who asked her, “What happened, my daughter?”
Then Ruth told her everything the man had done for her. 17 She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, because he said, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ”
18 Naomi said, “My daughter, wait until you find out how things go, for he won’t rest unless he resolves this today.” [3]
 
RUTH AND BOAZ MARRY
RUTH 4
1 Boaz went to the gate of the town and sat down there. Soon the family redeemer Boaz had spoken about came by. Boaz said, “Come over here and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 2 Then Boaz took ten men of the town’s elders and said, “Sit here.” And they sat down. 3 He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the territory of Moab, is selling the portion of the field that belonged to our brother Elimelech. 4 I thought I should inform you: Buy it back in the presence of those seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, do it. But if you do not want to redeem it, tell me so that I will know, because there isn’t anyone other than you to redeem it, and I am next after you.”
“I want to redeem it,” he answered.
5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from Naomi, you will acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased man, to perpetuate the man’s name on his property.”,
6 The redeemer replied, “I can’t redeem it myself, or I will ruin my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption, because I can’t redeem it.”
7 At an earlier period in Israel, a man removed his sandal and gave it to the other party in order to make any matter legally binding concerning the right of redemption or the exchange of property. This was the method of legally binding a transaction in Israel.
8 So the redeemer removed his sandal and said to Boaz, “Buy back the property yourself.”
9 Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I am buying from Naomi everything that belonged to Elimelech, Chilion, and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, to perpetuate the deceased man’s name on his property, so that his name will not disappear among his relatives or from the gate of his hometown. You are witnesses today.”
11 All the people who were at the city gate, including the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman who is entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you be powerful in Ephrathah and your name well known in Bethlehem. 12 May your house become like the house of Perez, the son Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring the Lord will give you by this young woman.”
13 Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. (rest) He slept with her, and the Lord granted conception to her, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you without a family redeemer today. May his name become well known in Israel. 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Indeed, your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a mother to him. 17 The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
 
DAVID’S GENEALOGY FROM JUDAH’S SON
18 Now these are the family records of Perez:
Perez fathered Hezron,
19 Hezron fathered Ram,
Ram fathered Amminadab,
20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon,
Nahshon fathered Salmon,
21 Salmon fathered Boaz,
Boaz fathered Obed,
22 Obed fathered Jesse,
and Jesse fathered David.[4]

• Ruth became an example of what God intended Israel to be in the world: a blessing to others and blessed herself.
• God was faithful to bring this to pass because Ruth exercised faith in Him.
• Rest is God's reward for those who follow Him faithfully, as Hebrews 3 and 4 make clear.

 

• The Book of Ruth reveals God's grace in providing a redeemer.
• First, He provided Boaz, to redeem Ruth and Naomi.
• Then, through Ruth, He provided David to set Israel free from her enemies.

Finally, through David, He provided Jesus Christ to set the world free of its slavery to sin.

[1] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ru 1:1–22.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ru 2:1–23.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ru 3:1–18.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020), Ru 4:1–22.

1 Samuel 20
1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What did I do wrong? How have I sinned against your father so that he wants to take my life?”
2 Jonathan said to him, “No, you won’t die. Listen, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This can’t be true.”
3 But David said, “Your father certainly knows that you have come to look favorably on me. He has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or else he will be grieved.’” David also swore, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
5 So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I’m supposed to sit down and eat with the king. Instead, let me go, and I’ll hide in the field until the third night. 6 If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David urgently requested my permission to quickly go to his town Bethlehem for an annual sacrifice there involving the whole clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he becomes angry, you will know he has evil intentions. 8 Deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I have done anything wrong, then kill me yourself; why take me to your father?”
9 “No!” Jonathan responded. “If I ever find out my father has evil intentions against you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”
10 So David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11 He answered David, “Come on, let’s go out to the field.” So both of them went out to the field. 12 “By the Lord, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If I find out that he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you? 13 If my father intends to bring evil on you, may God punish Jonathan and do so severely if I do not tell you and send you away so you may go in peace. May the Lord be with you, just as He was with my father. 14 If I continue to live, treat me with the Lord’s faithful love, but if I die, 15 don’t ever withdraw your faithful love from my household—not even when the Lord cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.” 16 Then Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord hold David’s enemies accountable.” g17 Jonathan once again swore to David in his love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; you’ll be missed because your seat will be empty. 19 The following day hurry down and go to the place where you hid on the day this incident began and stay beside the rock Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows beside it as if I’m aiming at a target. 21 Then I will send the young man and say, ‘Go and find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you—get them,’ then come, because as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no problem. 22 But if I say this to the youth: ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you!’ then go, for the Lord is sending you away. 23 As for the matter you and I have spoken about, the Lord will be a witness between you and me forever.” 24 So David hid in the field.
At the New Moon, the king sat down to eat the meal. 25 He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.

• Most of the time during the next two days he was to be merely a passive observer of his father.[1]

26 Saul did not say anything that day because he thought, “Something unexpected has happened; he must be ceremonially unclean—yes, that’s it, he is unclean.”
27 However, the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered, “David asked for my permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Please let me go because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if you are pleased with me, let me go so I can see my brothers.’ That’s why he didn’t come to the king’s table.”
30 Then Saul became angry with Jonathan and shouted, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you are siding with Jesse’s son to your own shame and to the disgrace of your mother? 31 Every day Jesse’s son lives on earth you and your kingship are not secure. Now send for him and bring him to me—he deserves to die.”
32 Jonathan answered his father back: “Why is he to be killed? What has he done?”
33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, so he knew that his father was determined to kill David. 34 He got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the New Moon, for he was grieved because of his father’s shameful behavior toward David.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointed meeting with David. A small young man was with him. 36 He said to the young man, “Run and find the arrows I’m shooting.” As the young man ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 He came to the location of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, but Jonathan called to him and said, “The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?” 38 Then Jonathan called to him, “Hurry up and don’t stop!” Jonathan’s young man picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39 He did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement. 40 Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the young man who was with him and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”
41 When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone Ezel, fell with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept with each other, though David wept more.
42 Jonathan then said to David, “Go in the assurance the two of us pledged in the name of the Lord when we said: The Lord will be a witness between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan went into the city. [2]
 

• Chapter 21 – David flees
• Chapter 23 – David is persecuted
• Chapter 24 & 26 – David spares Saul
• Chapter 28-31 – David battles Philistines, destroys Amalekites and Saul dies.

 
2 Samuel

• Chapter 1-5 – David becomes King over Judah then all Israel. Israel is united.
• Chapter 6-10 – David brings the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and continues to win battles. Chapter 9 – Mephibosheth

 
Chapter 11
1 In the spring when kings march out to war, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem.
2 One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing—a very beautiful woman. 3 So David sent someone to inquire about her, and he reported, “This is Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
4 David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. Now she had just been purifying herself from her uncleanness. Afterward, she returned home. 5 The woman conceived and sent word to inform David: “I am pregnant.”
6 David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David. 7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. 8 Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. 9 But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house.
10 When it was reported to David, “Uriah didn’t go home,” David questioned Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a journey? Why didn’t you go home?”
11 Uriah answered David, “The ark, Israel, and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camping in the open field. How can I enter my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live and by your life, I will not do this!”
12 “Stay here today also,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. 13 Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and David got him drunk. He went out in the evening to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home.
 
14 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In the letter he wrote:
Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest fighting, then withdraw from him so that he is struck down and dies.
16 When Joab was besieging the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were. 17 Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell in battle; Uriah the Hittite also died.
18 Joab sent someone to report to David all the details of the battle. 19 He commanded the messenger, “When you’ve finished telling the king all the details of the battle— 20 if the king’s anger gets stirred up and he asks you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you realize they would shoot from the top of the wall? 21 At Thebez, who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the top of the wall so that he died? Why did you get so close to the wall?’—then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’” 22 Then the messenger left.
When he arrived, he reported to David all that Joab had sent him to tell. 23 The messenger reported to David, “The men gained the advantage over us and came out against us in the field, but we counterattacked right up to the entrance of the gate. 24 However, the archers shot down on your soldiers from the top of the wall, and some of the king’s soldiers died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is also dead.”
25 David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this matter upset you because the sword devours all alike. Intensify your fight against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him.”
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah had died, she mourned for him. 27 When the time of mourning ended, David had her brought to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. However, the Lord considered what David had done to be evil.[3]

[1] Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7, p. 214). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Sa 18:1–20:42). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (2 Sa 11:1–27). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.

1 Samuel 18
1 When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan committed himself to David, and loved him as much as he loved himself.

• Demonstrates that the men were like-minded

2 Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.
3 Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as himself.

• Covenant included oath (statement), blood sacrifice (sealed) and a meal (celebrated).

4 Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

• Jonathan was “OK” with passing on the monarchy to his friend, David.

5 David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the soldiers, which pleased all the people and Saul’s servants as well.
6 As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments. 7 As they celebrated, the women sang:
Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands.
8 Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.

• Kings in antiquity received credit for victories in battle—not soldiers.[1]
• Dr. Bob Cook often reminded us that everybody wears a sign that reads, “Please make me feel important.”[2]

 
10 The next day an evil spirit sent from God took control of Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace.

• Could the evil one be defined as one sent from God's presence?
• He was banished from heaven.
• The only way for evil to exist is in the absence of God (good).
• 1 Kings 22 - 21 “Then a spirit came forward, stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
• “The Lord asked him, ‘How?’

“He said, ‘I will go and become a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’
“Then He said, ‘You will certainly entice him and prevail. Go and do that.’ [3]

• Throughout the O.C. the Lord used the enemy to bring judgment on people or to prove His faithfulness to the believer.
• Once Saul was identified as a false prophet, he lost credibility.

 
David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear, 11 and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.
12 Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. 13 Therefore, Saul reassigned David and made him commander over 1,000 men. David led the troops 14 and continued to be successful in all his activities because the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops.

• Love for David grew and fear grew within Saul.

17 Saul told David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife, if you will be a warrior for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “My hand doesn’t need to be against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18 Then David responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19 When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
 
20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him. 21 “I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”
22 Saul then ordered his servants, “Speak to David in private and tell him, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Therefore, you should become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
23 Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor man who is common.”
24 The servants reported back to Saul, “These are the words David spoke.”
25 Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except 100 Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
26 When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived, 27 David and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife. 28 Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, 29 and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.
30 Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became well known.
 
1 Samuel 19
1 Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much,

• When Jonathan heard his father’s words, an internal collision occurred between the young man’s love for David and his desire to please his father.[4]

2 so he told him: “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there. 3 I’ll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are and talk to him about you. When I see what he says, I’ll tell you.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him: “The king should not sin against his servant David. He hasn’t sinned against you; in fact, his actions have been a great advantage to you. 5 He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan’s advice and swore an oath: “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.” 7 So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he did before.
8 When war broke out again, David went out and fought against the Philistines. He defeated them with such a great force that they fled from him.
9 Now an evil spirit sent from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his palace holding a spear. David was playing the lyre, 10 and Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. As the spear struck the wall, David eluded Saul, ran away, and escaped that night. 11 Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!” 12 So she lowered David from the window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then Michal took the household idol and put it on the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

• Michal’s action creates a strong contrast with those of her husband; whereas Michal trusted in a teraphim to save David, David trusted in the Lord[5]

14 When Saul sent agents to seize David, Michal said, “He’s sick.”
15 Saul sent the agents back to see David and said, “Bring him on his bed so I can kill him.” 16 When the messengers arrived, to their surprise, the household idol was on the bed with some goat hair on its head.
17 Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!”
She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”
18 So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah (3 miles away) and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel left and stayed at Naioth.
19 When it was reported to Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20 he sent agents to seize David. However, when they saw the group of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s agents, and they also started prophesying. 21 When they reported to Saul, he sent other agents, and they also began prophesying. So Saul tried again and sent a third group of agents, and even they began prophesying.

• A battle between the flesh and the Spirit with the Spirit winning each time.

22 Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He came to the large cistern at Secu, looked around, and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“At Naioth in Ramah,” someone said.
23 So he went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God also came on him,

• The triple employment of the Hebrew phrase gam hûʾ (lit., “even he”; not fully noted in the NIV) in vv. 23–24 emphasizes the fact that Israel’s most powerful citizen was subjugated by the power of God.

and as he walked along, he prophesied until he entered Naioth in Ramah. 24 Saul then removed his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel; he collapsed and lay naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

• Saul’s loss of royal attire in the presence of God’s Spirit presented a powerful image confirming the prophetic judgments Samuel made earlier.
• God had rejected Saul as king, so in God’s presence Saul would not be permitted to wear the clothing of royalty.
• Saul remained “naked”; a grave shame in the ancient Near East) and in a prophetic trance “all that day and night.”[6]

[1] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Sa 18:8). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (2001). Be successful (pp. 101–102). Colorado Springs, CO: Victor/Cook Communications.
[3] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Ki 22:21–22). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7, p. 206). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7, p. 208). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6] Bergen, R. D. (1996). 1, 2 Samuel (Vol. 7, pp. 210–211). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

1 Samuel

• Chapters 1-3 - Eli > Samuel
• Chapters 4-7 – The capture & return of the Ark
• Chapters 8-10 – Samuel to Saul
• Chapters 11-15 – Saul’s Reign
• Chapter 16 – David annointed

 
1 Samuel 17
1 The Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them. 4 Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall

• (six cubits and a span)
• This would make him about half a foot taller than the world’s tallest man in medical history (8 feet, 11 inches)[1]

5 and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed 125 pounds. 6 There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze sword was slung between his shoulders. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him.
8 He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations: “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me. 9 If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.

• Saul always fears the wrong things:

1. his calling as king (see v. 22),
2. the Philistine hordes (see 13:7; 28:5),
3. his own army (see 15:24),
4. Goliath (see 17:11, 24),
5. David (see 18:12, 15, 29),
6. a coup (see 22:7–8, etc.),
7. Samuel’s prophecy about his death and defeat by the Philistines (see 28:20, 21; compare Josh 1:6, 7, 9).[2]

12 Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man. 13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third, 14 and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, 15 but David kept going back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
16 Every morning and evening for 40 days the Philistine came forward and took his stand. 17 One day Jesse had told his son David: “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these 10 loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Also take these 10 portions of cheese to the field commander. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.”
20 So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him.
He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry. 21 Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other. 22 David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were. 23 While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard. 24 When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.
25 Previously, an Israelite man had declared: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. The king will also make the household of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.”
26 David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
27 The people told him about the offer, concluding, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
28 David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”
29 “What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question.” 30 Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before.
31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him. 32 David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”
33 But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”
34 David answered Saul: “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”
38 Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor. 39 David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off. 40 Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. 42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy kand handsome. 43 He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods. 44 “Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!”
45 David said to the Philistine: “You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel’s armies—you have defied Him. 46 Today, the Lord will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, cut your head off, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God, 47 and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the Lord saves, for the battle is the Lord’s. He will hand you over to us.”
48 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. 50 David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. Even though David had no sword, he struck down the Philistine and killed him. 51 David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran. 52 The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
53 When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. 54 David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
55 When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner?”
“My king, as surely as you live, I don’t know,” Abner replied.
56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is!”
57 When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”
“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered. [3]
 

• What giants are in front of you today?
  • Watching your 401k crash?
  • An ailment that wants to destroy you?
  • A relationship that seems finished?
  • A situation you can’t escape?
  • An addiction that is lying in wait?
  • Overwhelmed with your personal finances?
  • Thoughts of grief, anxiety or depression?
• Meeting with the Mayor on mental health.

I have great confidence in my God.

[1] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Sa 17:4). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[2] Barry, J. D., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Mangum, D., & Whitehead, M. M. (2012). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Sa 10:22). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[3] The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (1 Sa 17:1–58). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.