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?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 17:48-58

Helpful thoughts:

• The battle was over faster than it seemed to take for it to get started.
  • Both Dagon and Goliath fell face forward before the Lord and lost their heads (5:4).
• Saul needed to know who this young man was.  He had to follow through with his promises from verse 25.
• Saul had enjoyed David’s service for a while now, and yet did not recognize him.  He wouldn’t forget about David anymore.  His aloofness was about to turn into jealousy.

Questions to consider:

1. Why did David win against Goliath?  Why did Israel’s army transition from fearful men to mighty warriors?
2. It would not be right to use this narrative as an “I am David and God’s gonna knock down all my giants.”  What is the point of this narrative? What can we learn from it about God?
3. How does this passage encourage us to obey, to fight against sin, to trust God’s Word?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 17:28-47

Helpful thoughts:

• Eliab, the son who “looked” like a king (16:6-7), is now not a fan of David.  This kindled anger could perhaps be a little foreshadowing of the jealous anger Saul was about to harbor against David as well.
• David and Saul had different perspectives of the occasion.
  • In Saul’s eyes, David was a boy and Goliath was a giant man of war.
  • In David’s eyes, Goliath was a brutish animal and God was his deliverer.
• Saul attempted to clothe David in his royal armor.
  • This would have served to show David’s pending right to the throne.
  • It also illustrated David’s different approach to his reign.  Saul trusted in armor.  David was to trust in God.

Questions to consider:

1. Why would Goliath have been angry to see this shepherd boy come to fight?  What kind of solider would he have been hoping for?  What did Goliath continue to bring on himself by cursing David? (Genesis 12:3)
2. What did David contrast with Goliath’s weapons in verse 45?  Did David even need his staff or the smooth stones to defeat Goliath?
3. What was David’s goal in fighting the battle (Verses 46-47)?  Was the death of Goliath the best thing that happened to Israel that day?  What things were better?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 17:1-27

Helpful thoughts:

• Goliath was bigger than all the Israelites.  God is bigger than Goliath.  Perspective.
• All Israel was filled with fear because they were thinking of themselves.  Their problem was not self-esteem.  Their problem was that they did not esteem God.
• Goliath certainly did not struggle with self-esteem either, and he certainly did not esteem God.

Questions to consider:

1. Who at this point in the story is vulnerable to defeat?  Why are they vulnerable?  What battles are taking place above and beyond Israel vs. the Philistines?
2. How has this battle already begun? How has David begun to set the stage for what was to come? (Verse 26)  Who is the “Champion” of Israel, David or the living God?
3. Who had Israel selected as their champion (1 Samuel 8:19-20)?  What is Saul about to invite David to become?  How would David’s and Saul’s views of this situation be contrasted?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 16:14-23

Helpful thoughts:

• As soon as we read of the Spirit of the LORD rushing upon David in verse 13, we see He has left Saul in verse 14.
  • In place of the Spirit of the LORD, God sent Saul a spirit (An angel?) to torment him.
  • Saul was suffering judgment, but also being used by God to bring David to a place of prominence in Israel.
• Saul’s servant believed that music was the key to removing God’s judgment.  And, when introducing David, thought of five characteristics that were of first importance to mention before, “the Lord is with him.”
• By God’s divine plan, David became the only person who could help Saul in his distress.  And Saul greatly enjoyed David, as long as David made him feel better.

Questions to consider:

1. Why was David’s playing so effective for Saul?  Was it really just because David was musically gifted?  What do you think was happening here?
2. Why did Saul like David so much…for now?  In what way did Saul’s effort to find immediate relief avoid the actual problem he was having?  What was Saul’s greatest problem?  What was the solution?
3. How did God take care of our greatest problem?  How can the gospel message help us during times of other lesser difficulties?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 16:1-13

Helpful thoughts:

• Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
  • Samuel may have been looking at the outward appearance in this passage by:
    • Grieving extensively over Saul without moving forward.
    • Fearing for his life when considering obeying the Lord’s direct command.
    • Thinking that Eliab, the bigger, older brother would be the anointed king.
  • The elders of Bethlehem looked at outward appearance as well.  Samuel’s reputation (Perhaps on the heals of his execution of King Agag), caused them to tremble.  Their knees were knocking at Samuel’s presence.
• David’s handsome looks were therefore irrelevant.
• David’s life changed from that day forward, because of God.

Questions to consider:

1. What does it mean to “fear the Lord”?  What does it mean to “fear man”?  How is the struggle between these fears evidenced in your life?
2. How does a right fear of the Lord change the way we see other people and how we can relate to them?
3. Who is your Savior?  Is Jesus worthy of our all? (Philippians 2:9-11)