Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 23:1-14

Helpful thoughts:

• The ephod was the way the Torah had given Israel a means of determining God’s will concerning things like this battle and whether David and his men should flee.  It was called the Urim and Thummim (Numbers 27:21) and they were kept in a pouch on the ephod.
  • The way that David heard from the Lord before going into battle is not stated.  It was perhaps simply a prophetic revelation.
• God had given the Philistines into David’s hand, but Saul’s perspective was quite different.  He was now crediting God with giving David into his hand (Verse 14 says otherwise).
• David asked the Lord questions that helped him discern how to avoid conflict with Saul and to preserve the city of Keilah.  He wasn’t looking for a fight with Saul.

Questions to consider:

1. What kinds of things do you wish you could use the Urim and Thummim for today?  What has God given us that David did not have? (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
2. Why would Saul believe that God had given David into his hand?  What would he have to base that information on besides his own desires and view of God?  Is it possible to feel very passionately about something and be wrong?  How would we know?  How can we be corrected?
3. How was David’s decision to leave Keilah the wisest and kindest thing to do?  Who benefited from his choice?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 22:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• The stronghold of Edom would not be David’s stronghold.  God was to be David’s stronghold.
• Saul has now made it clear to all of his men, if they withheld information from him, they are aiding his “enemy.”
• Eighty five priests and the rest of the city of Nob died that day to make an example of anyone who would side with David from that day forward, even though they all knew that David had been loyal to Saul.
  • It took an Edomite (Someone who had been detained) to be willing to carry out Saul’s order.
  • What Saul was unwilling to do to the Amalekites and king Agag under the command of the Lord, he was now willing to do to a city within his own country.  A city full of priests who were to point people to the LORD!

Questions to consider:

1. Once David heard this command from the Lord to go back to Judah, where was he the safest?  Why?
2. Why didn’t Saul try to have all the armed men executed who wouldn’t obey his command?  How would that have ended?
3. What is still the number one objective of Saul’s heart?  What kinds of things do we become willing to do when our number one objective is to exalt and preserve ourselves?  How is this mentality contrary to the work of Jesus (Philippians 2:5-8)?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 21:1-15

Helpful thoughts:

• Word had probably spread of Saul’s pursuit of David.  Ahimelech didn’t want any trouble.
• It could be possible that the “King” to whom David was referring was the Lord (1 Samuel 8:7).  Or, David was simply lying.  We tend to try to find reasons to excuse any or all of David’s actions (And/or other OT figures, such as Abraham or Moses).  But, David was not without sin.
• The bread that David received was reserved for the sons of Aaron.  However, there were times when matters of importance required understanding the spirit of the Law over the letter of the Law.
  • Leviticus 1:12-20 gives the example of Aaron’s son not eating the meat that was given for their own sin offering.  They simply didn’t think it would be right to eat the meat that was offered for their own sin.
  • After Jesus was criticized for healing on the Sabbath, he reminded the Jews that they also circumcised on the Sabbath (John 7:21-24).
  • Jesus also mentions this very occurrence in Matthew 12.

Questions to consider:

1. Was David any safer in Gath than he was in Israel?  According to man’s perspective?  But, what about God’s?  Did it really matter where David went?  What had God promised?
2. What did the servants call David in verse 11?  What was the perception of Israel’s leadership outside of Israel?
3. How must David’s heart have felt after having to run away from Saul, begging for bread, and acting insane to escape the king in Gath?  How bad must things have seemed to him to want to go to the Philistines in the first place? (Psalm 18:1-2)

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 20:24-42

Helpful thoughts:

• Saul knew exactly what path Jonathan had chosen, and he cursed him for it.
• Instead of throwing a spear at David, this time Saul tried to pin his own son to the wall.
• David was overcome with gratitude.  Jonathan didn’t just say he was going to help David, he actually did it.  Jonathan has acted on behalf of the future King David.

Questions to consider:

1. What did Jesus say would happen within families as a result of our faith (Luke 12:49-53)?  If we have to choose between pleasing God or pleasing our family, what must we choose?
2. Why didn’t Saul understand Jonathan’s choice?  If Jonathan was thinking the same way Saul was, what would he have done?  If Saul was thinking the same way Jonathan was, what would he have done?
3. Who is your king?  To whom have you pledged your allegiance?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 20:1-23

Helpful thoughts:

• David twice asks Jonathan to confirm that there was no guilt on his part.  Even though it seemed quite clear that Saul was in the wrong, David desired to get the beam out of his own eye if there was one. (Matthew 7:1-5)
• The defeat of David’s enemies would include the house of Saul!  But, David honored this covenant request from Jonathan by caring for the surviving member of Jonathan’s family (2 Samuel 9).
• Jonathan’s love for David was evidenced by his commitment to help David when helping him survive and succeed would only bring about the end of his own aspirations for the throne.

Questions to consider:

1. Do you have a brother or sister in Christ who you could trust to help reveal blind-spots in your life?  How could a close fellowship like this help you (And them!) to grow in Christ-likeness?
2. Why was helping David better than becoming king for Jonathan?
3. What worldly prominence or values might we be clinging to in ways that keep us from what is better in following Jesus?  (See Philippians 3 for Paul’s testimony)

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 19:18-24

Helpful thoughts:

• In going to Samuel, David was running to the Lord for shelter.
  • Saul was never going to defeat David because he was never going to defeat the Lord.
• Saul’s messengers did not prophesy until they arrived at Ramah.  Saul was prophesying on his way.  God wasn’t hunkered down and restricted in Ramah.  Samuel was not restraining or casting a spell on these messengers once they arrived.  God was (And is) in complete control.
• Saul had been rejected by God as king of Israel.  It makes sense that he would not be able to prophecy for long while wearing the king’s robes.

Questions to consider:

1. Why was David safe from Saul’s efforts to have him killed?
2. If Saul and his messengers were prophesying the truth of God’s will, what kinds of things would they have been saying?  What would they have been confirming?  What sin might they have been rebuking?
3. How can a passage like this help you to trust in God during hard times?  God hasn’t promised that you will be the king of Israel, but what has He promised? (Romans 8:28-39)

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 19:1-17

Helpful thoughts:

• Jonathan respectfully made an appeal.
• David continued to play the lyre for Saul even after he grew to be a hero in Israel.  He wasn’t “too big” to play for the king.
• Saul had hoped Michal’s idols would become a stumbling block to David, instead she used one to trick her father.
  • Michal’s idol worship, her back and forth of supporting David and then her father, etc. shows that her life and ways of thinking are much more similar to Saul’s.

Questions to consider:

1. What was the basis of Jonathan’s appeal?  How did he show Saul that refraining from killing David was truly in his best interest?
2. How did Michal’s false claim of David’s threat on her life play into Saul’s desire to have him killed?  What ramifications would her split-second self-preserving decision have?
3. We get to choose our actions and words.  But, do we get to choose the consequences?  Why not?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 18:17-30

Helpful thoughts:

• Saul had promised his daughter in marriage to whomever defeated Goliath in 17:25.
• Saul liked the idea of offering Michal to David for two reasons:
  • To encourage him into battle (To risk his life)
  • To be a “snare” to him.  This word is used in a spiritual context.  Michal was most likely caught up in forms of idolatry and Saul hoped she would pull David away from the Lord who was blessing him!
• Saul intended this marriage offer for David’s harm.  Instead the marriage, Michal’s love for David, David’s place in the family of the king, and all his growing military fame is making David an ever increasing threat to Saul’s power/dynasty.

Questions to consider:

1. How are Proverbs 16:9 and Proverbs 21:1 on full display in these passages concerning Saul’s efforts to eliminate David?
2. If Saul knew the Lord was with David and responded to that knowledge by being David’s enemy continually, what has Saul chosen concerning the Lord?  When did Saul like or dislike the Lord’s actions?  What does Saul think about the merit or justification of his own actions?
3. Whose dynasty is worth living for? (Revelation 5)

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 18:1-16

Helpful thoughts:

• Jonathan recognized and rejoiced in David’s successes and his trajectory toward the throne.
• Saul enjoyed David as long as it benefited himself.  Once he saw the “glory” was no longer his own, he hated David.
  • In asking “What more can he have but the kingdom?” Saul may very well be acknowledging the looming fulfillment of Samuel’s words in 13:14.
• Even when Saul tried to minimize/jeopardize David’s role by sending him out to battle, God used it to increase David’s place in Israel.

Questions to consider:

1. What kind of loyalty did David show in remaining in the room with Saul and continuing to play to help calm the king down even while having spears thrown at him?  Who should have been afraid of whom after this incident?  Who was afraid (Verse 12) and why?
2. What would Jonathan’s gifts to David have symbolized?  What does it seem Jonathan valued more highly than to be the king?
3. In Luke 9, Jesus said, “For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”  How did Christ exemplify this truth?  How will our Christ-like values change the way we see prominence, power and clout in this world?