One In Jesus

Saul threatens David’s life

(1Sa 19:1-7 ESV) And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David.  2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself.  3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.”

4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you.  5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?”  6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.”

7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.

(1Sa 19:8-17 ESV)  8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him.  9 Then a harmful spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.  10 And Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”  12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped.

13 Michal took an image and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes.  14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”  15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”  16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head.

17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?”

And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?'”

Michal and Jonathan helped David escape the wrath of their father Saul. In fact, Michal lied to her father for David’s sake, pretending that he’d threatened her life so that he could escape. Continue reading →

[Teachers: Please add moral lessons and conclusions.]

David and Jonathan

As we discussed Wednesday night, we skip David and Goliath, which takes us to chapter 18 —

(1Sa 18:1-4 ESV) As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.  2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.  3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.  4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.

There are a couple of subtleties here. First, Jonathan, as Saul’s oldest son, is heir to the throne. David is a competitor for the throne. And then, as now, being king has many advantages — wealth, power, sex. And yet Jonathan and David were great friends despite that fact. Continue reading →

(1Sa 16:4-13 ESV) 4 Samuel did what the LORD commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

Why were the elders of the city afraid of Samuel?

(1Sa 7:10 ESV) 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel.

Samuel was a judge and a prophet — and brought victory to Israel more than once. And a man who could, by the power of God, defeat the Philistines, was no one to be trifled with. Continue reading →

I meet with the adult Bible class teachers on Wednesday nights, and contrary to the post I put up a couple of nights ago, we decided to start with 2 Sam 15-16, the God’s rejection of Saul and the anointing of David, to avoid starting in the middle of the story.

I call this a “wiki-lesson” because I’m going to give the other teachers the ability to edit these lessons without having to go through me — just click “edit” and add ideas. I figure we can produce better lesson plans together.

Background

Saul had been anointed the first king of Israel by Samuel. Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe and surely the pride of his people. Saul had been successful in battle, freeing Israel of the hated Amalekites — Continue reading →