David runs to the cave of Abdullah. His brothers and all his father’s house come to him and “everyone who was discontented gathered to him”. David says to the Lord, “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge”. A man of the Lord, David, now becomes a refuge for ones in distress. There is something about a person who is trusting in the Lord that draws others to them. The Lord hears David’s prayers and He protects David and the others by sending them mighty warriors from the tribe of Gad who say, “We are on your side, O son of Jesse! …For your God helps you”. This is good news bc Saul is still trying his best to kill David.

Doeg told Saul how Ahimelech, the priest, helped David. Saul repaid Ahimelech’s kindness to David with murder. Doeg kills 85 priests and the entire city of Nob in response to Saul’s jealousy. One of Ahimelech‘s sons, Ahitub, escapes and seeks refuge with David. David writes in Psalm 52, “Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually…You love evil more than good…God shall likewise destroy you forever”.

There will come a day when the Lord will put an end to evil forever. (Rev 21:1-8) But today in the Story David is still on the run from evil. After he saves the town of Keilah from the Philistines, David finds out that Saul is coming after him. Tomorrow David has an opportunity to kill Saul. Will he take it? Keep reading to find out.

(1 Samuel 22:1-2, Psalm 57, Psalm 142, 1 Chronicles 12:8-18, 1 Samuel 22:3-23, Psalm 52, I samuel 23:1-12)

#bibleliteracymovement#chronologicalbibleteaching

David finds Jonathan and asks him, “What have I done?” 🤔 Why is your dad trying to kill me? Well David, you didn’t do anything except try to help Saul and the kingdom and you did a better job at it than Saul. Saul has a major jealousy problem! “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones”. (Proverbs 14:30 NLT) “Wrath is cruel, anger is overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?” (Proverbs 27:4 ESV)

Unfortunately, David, a man who is doing great works for the kingdom, is on the run bc of one man’s jealousy. Jonathan tells David he will find out if Saul is still trying to kill him. Then Jonathan says, “And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die; but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever…” We will see David honor this vow later in the Story with Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth. “Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.” Jonathan understands what Jesus later commands in Matthew 12:31. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jonathan even lays down his own rights, as the son of Saul, to the kingdom for David. Well, Saul tells Jonathan, “For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom”. But see, Jonathan was not all about Jonathan. So Jonathan reports back to David his dad’s plan to kill him.

David, on the run again, goes to a priest named Ahimelech in Nob. There is no bread there for David and his men so the priest gives David the holy bread. Jesus will later use this story of giving the holy bread in a time of need in Mark 2:23-28 to rebuke the Pharisees who were beating people over the head with the law.

The reading ends today with David having to act like a madman to spare his life. Even in the midst of his terrible circumstances David is still praising God. “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” David knows that even when man is against him, God is for him. He also knows that “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart”. Tomorrow, Doeg, Saul’s servant, reports back a David sighting to Saul. Keep reading to find out what happens.

(1 Samuel 20:1-21:15, Psalm 34)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

After David’s brother belittles him when he arrives to the battle field, David tells Saul he will fight the giant Goliath. See, David isn’t concerned about his brother’s verbal beat down bc David knows God has a plan for him. Well, Saul tries to give David his armor but David doesn’t need it bc his armor is the Lord! So David walks toward Goliath with a sling shot and 5 stones and takes him down! 💪 Then David chops off Goliath’s head with Goliath’s own sword.

Now, all of a sudden, Saul is wanting to know all about David…you know, the one who has been playing the harp for him. I guess for some people it takes chopping off the head of a giant to get their attention. 🤷‍♀️ So David comes to Saul with Goliath’s head in his hand and there he meets Jonathan. Jonathan and David quickly bond as friends and Saul gives David command over His army. David is a very successful commander. So much so that the women are now singing about the ten thousands that David has killed compared to Saul’s thousands.

Saul, out of jealousy, now wants to kill David. 😏 Go figure. Saul comes up with a plan to send David out against the Philistines in the hopes that David will get killed. Saul offers his daughter, Michal, to become David’s wife in exchange for 100 Philistine foreskins. David, the brave warrior that he is, brings back not 100 foreskins but 200 foreskins! 👏👏 So Saul continues to try to kill David but his kids, Jonathan and Michal, protect David.

David is now on the run and crying out to the Lord, “Deliver me from my enemies, O my God”. David goes to Samuel in Ramah and Saul sends men there to kill David which ultimately ends with Saul on the ground naked in front of Samuel. 🙈 Tomorrow, David continues to run from Saul. Will Saul catch him? Keep reading to find out.

(1 Samuel 17:32-19:17, Psalm 59, 1 Samuel 19:18-24)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today Samuel told Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites for the attack that we read about on Feb 6th in Exodus 17. After that battle the Lord had Moses write in the Book of the Law that “…I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven”. “But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lamb, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.” 🧐 This does not sound like what God said to do. When Samuel confronts Saul, Saul said he saved the best for the Lord and then started blaming the people. Well, God ain’t buying what Saul is selling so Samuel tells Saul that God as rejected him as king. Saul, proving his true motives, begs Samuel to at least go and worship with him to “…honor me now, before the elders of my people and before Israel”. Jesus will later say in John 5:44, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

Next the Lord sends Samuel to Jesse, from the tribe of Judah, in Bethlehem to anoint the next king. Samuel incorrectly assumes the older son was God’s pick so God says “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical statue, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”. So Jesse passes 7 sons before Samuel but the Lord didn’t chose any of them. God chose the boy out in the field whose daddy didn’t even consider to be in the lineup. God chose the boy who was out in the field playing his harp and working his sling shot. Meet King David! The Lord uses those harp playing skills to get David into the kingdom and to sooth Saul’s distressed spirit. Tomorrow we will read how David’s sling shot skills come in handy against that pestering Philistine, Goliath Keep reading.

(1 Samuel 15:1-17:31)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

The Israelites are going up against the Philistines but the men of Israel run and hide in caves bc they are scared since they don’t have any swords or spears. Now Saul, afraid of losing his men, doesn’t wait on Samuel to arrive at the camp but instead offers a burnt offering to the Lord, an act only the Levites were to perform (Numbers 8). Because Saul was more concerned about the men leaving than obeying the Book of the Law, God says he is going to take the kingdom from him and give it to a man after His own heart. “The fear of man lays a snare but whoever trust the Lord is safe.” (John 5:44)

Today we meet Saul’s son Jonathan who, unlike his dad, has great faith in the Lord! Jonathan decides to sneak into the Philistines’ camp with his armor-bearer. He tells him, “For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or a few”. 💪 The men hiding in caves hear the commotion of Jonathan and his armor-bearer defeating the Philistines and they come out to fight with them. “So the Lord saved Israel that day, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven.”

There Saul has the men make a stupid oath that they will not eat until the Philistines have been defeated. 🤨 Jonathan didn’t hear the oath and he eats some honey which revives him and gives him more energy for battle. Saul’s foolish oath had 3 consequences:
1) Israelites could have had a greater victory if they had more energy.
2) The men sinned bc they were so starving when they could finally eat that they didn’t handle the meat properly and ate the blood (Gen 9:4, Lev 17).
3) Saul almost killed his son Jonathan but the people stepped in to save him.

See, Saul has a position and a title but Jonathan has the respect and influence of the people. Tomorrow Saul continues to show his disregard for the Book of the Law which he should be reading everyday per Deut. 17:18-20. Don’t be like Saul, keep reading! 😁

(1 Chronicles 9:35-39, 1 Samuel 13:1-5, 19-23, 6-18, 1 Samuel 14:1-52)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Today we meet Saul from the small tribe of Benjamin and “There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people”. Wow! 😍 The Israelites, who often make decisions based on sight, are gonna love this guy!

While Saul is out looking for some lost donkeys he meets Samuel. Samuel ends up anointing Saul as king and sends him home telling him, “The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you…and (you will) be turned into another man”. “So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart…” Later Samuel gathers all the tribes of Israel and makes Saul king…well, after the people drag him out from behind the baggage where he is hiding. 🤔 Sort of a cowardly move for a tall handsome king.

But next we read that Saul catches wind of the Amorites threatening the children of God. “Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard the news, and his anger was greatly aroused.” Saul leads the Israelites in victory over the Ammonites. Well, that sounds promising; maybe he won’t turn out to be totally weak. We shall see!

Lastly, Samuel says farewell to the Israelites now that they have a king to rule over them. He reminds the people of God’s faithfulness in the same way as Moses and Joshua did, by telling the Story. “When Jacob had gone into Egypt…your fathers cried out to the Lord…sent Moses and Aaron…forgot the Lord…sold into hand of Sisera…cried out…sent Jerubbaal…” and so forth. Samuel ends his address by saying although the people were wicked in asking for a king, “…the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, for it has pleased the Lord to make you His people”. “But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” Tomorrow we see more of Saul’s true colors so keep reading.

(1 Samuel 9:1-12:25)

#bibleliteracymovement#chronologicalbibleteaching

A messenger tells Eli that his 2 sons have been killed and that the ark of God has been taken. At the news of the ark of God, Eli falls off his chair, breaks his neck and dies. The shock of the news sends Eli’s pregnant daughter-n-law into labor. She gives birth to Ichabod whose name means “the glory has departed from Israel”, and she also dies. Tragic. 😥

Ok, so you can’t just take the ark of God and have no repercussions. The Philistines discover this once they break out in tumors which were likely hemorrhoids, 😳 and their beloved false god Dagon is decapitated. Well, this was a real pain in the rear for them. So after 7 months of moving the ark of God around and experiencing tumors and death everywhere the ark goes, the Philistines decide to return it. They load it on a cart with a guilt offering of 5 golden tumors and 5 golden rats representing the 5 Philistine rulers, and cows pull it to the field of Joshua at Beth Shemesh. After a mishap there, the people of Beth Shemesh have the ark of God taken to Abinadab’s house in Kirjarh Jearim. It will remain there until King David brings it to Jerusalem later in the Story.

Twenty years after the ark is in Kirjarh Jearim, Samuel tells the people to put away their false gods AGAIN and return to the Lord so He will give them victory over the Philistines. The people return to the Lord and He subdues the Philistines. When Samuel is older he makes his wicked sons judges over the people. I guess he didn’t learn from Eli and his corrupt sons. 🤦‍♀️ Anyway, bc of Samuel’s sons’ wickedness the people ask Samuel to give them a king like the nations around them. God tells Samuel to give the people what they want “…for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them”. But first, the Lord tells Samuel to warn the people about what will happen when they have a king. He will take your sons, take your daughters, take your fields, take your grain and vintage, and take your servants. That’s a lot of taking but the people don’t care, they still want a king. Keep reading bc tomorrow the Lord gives the people what they want.

(1 Samuel 4:12-8:22)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

While in Shiloh at the tabernacle, Hannah cries and prays to the Lord for a male child. She says if the Lord will give her a child she will dedicate him back to the Lord as a Nazarite. Eli, the high priest, saw her lips moving but heard no sound and assumed she was drunk. 😏 Sometimes hurting women are misunderstood, even by those in church. But Hannah responds graciously and once she explains herself, Eli says, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant you your petition which you have asked of Him”. So Hannah bears a son and names him Samuel. Once he is weaned she brings him to Eli in the house of the Lord at Shiloh. Hannah then says a beautiful prayer magnifying the Lord. It is much like the prayer Mary will say when she is pregnant with our Savior (Luke 1:46-55).

Now Eli has 2 sons of his own, Hophni and Phinehas, who are priests and they “…were corrupt; they did not know the Lord”. Wait. But they are priests. Is this possible?! 🤔 Jesus will later tell us to “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). Yep. That sounds like these dudes bc they are saving the best offerings to the Lord for themselves and sleeping with the women who come to worship at the tabernacle. The Lord does not take this lightly. In His own timing and in His own way, He will deal with these wolves just like He does with Eli’s sons in today’s reading. The Lord tells Eli regarding his two sons, “…in one day they shall die, both of them. Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind”. And that’s what happens. “So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.” Then during a battle against the Philistines “There was a very great slaughter…the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died”. Tomorrow Eli gets the bad news and the perfect High Priest is still coming so keep reading.

(1 Samuel 1:9-4:11)

#bibleliteracymovement #chronologicalbibleteaching

Excerpt from “The 14 Eras” booklet by Iva May

The Kingdom Era

1&2 Samuel; 1 Kings 1-11; 1 Chronicles; 2 Chronicles 1-9; Proverbs; Ecclesiastes; Song of Songs; Psalms (Approximately 120 years)

At the end of the time of the judges, God gave a barren woman, Hannah, a son whom she named Samuel. Samuel ruled as Israel’s last judge and first post-Judges prophet. He anointed Israel’s first king in 1051 BC. Saul, the king, was everything the people thought they wanted in a king: he was handsome, a head taller than other men, and he came from a prosperous family. While the fulfillment of the people’s request, Saul actually proved the truth that man sees the outside, but God looks at the heart. Early in Saul’s reign, God told Samuel to tell Saul to destroy all the Amalekites, a tribe who had attacked Israel in the wilderness four hundred years ago. Had Saul taken the time to read the Book of the Law he would have read about the prophesied destruction of the Amalekites (Exodus 17:14; Deuteronomy 25:17). Instead of obeying God, Saul spared the best of the sheep and the cattle, and he spared the king, Agag. When Samuel confronted Saul, Saul blamed the people for his disobedience; this defiance cost him the kingdom.

God then raised up a shepherd boy named David, a descendant of Judah, the youngest of eight sons, who had known God from his youth and had experienced God’s deliverance and power as he defended his father’s sheep from a lion and a bear. On the outside, David did not look like a king on the outside, but God looks at the heart. One day, when all of David’s brothers were at war in Saul’s army, David’s father sent David to see how his other sons were doing. David obeyed his father. When David reached the army, he saw that Saul and his army terrorized by Goliath, a mighty warrior in the Philistine army. Through faith in God, David volunteered to fight this giant, and he killed Goliath. The people of Israel fell in love with David, and Saul became jealous of David’s success. For the next thirteen years, Saul tried to kill David, until Saul himself died battling the Philistines.

David became king in 1011 BC, reigned for forty years, and successfully led Israel in many battles. He brought the Ark of the Covenant to the city of David, Jerusalem. He loved God, loved

God’s Word, and wanted to build God a temple as a permanent dwelling place for God among His people. God did not allow David to build the temple, because he was a man of war, but God said that David’s son Solomon would build the temple, and that God would build David an everlasting house—a king who would sit on his throne forever. David spent the rest of his life collecting materials to build the temple.

When God gave Moses the Law, four hundred years earlier, God instructed the people on the behavior of a king. The king could not go back to Egypt for horses to build himself an army, the king could not be a foreigner, could not take multiple wives, and could not amass wealth for himself. The king also had to write a copy of the Book of the Law in his own hand and read the law every day of his life. David loved the Law of God, meditated on it, and wrote many psalms (songs) about God.

Although David loved the LORD and His Word, he took a vacation from God and sinned grievously by committing adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his mighty men. He then staged the man’s death and married Bathsheba. God confronted David through his prophet, Nathan, and David repented in deep brokenness. The first son of their adulterous relationship died but their second son, Solomon, succeeded his father to the throne of Israel.

Solomon recognized early on that being Israel’s king required the manifest wisdom of God; when God appeared to him and offered him whatever he wanted, Solomon requested wisdom. God honored his request, and God’s wisdom upon Solomon’s life distinguished him among all the kings of the earth. The books of Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes are records of Solomon’s great wisdom. Solomon fulfilled his father’s wish and built a temple for the Living God. Solomon, however, did not follow the regulation given for kings regarding the taking of many wives. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines and as a result, his heart turned away from God.

What does the Kingdom Era reveal about God?

God Speaks

• Hundreds of years earlier God promised that His people would cast off His rule and desire kings like those around them.

• Hundreds of years earlier God spoke to Israel about placing His Name permanently in their midst.

• Before Israel ever had a king, God had already given instruction as to the behavior of the king of His people.

• God spoke to the kings through His law and His prophets.

God Acts

• God develops the man that He will establish on the throne of Israel in the sheepfolds of obscurity and the campfires of running from King Saul.

• God emboldens and empowers the one who trusts in Him completely.

• God forgives the grievous sins of the broken and contrite.

God Reveals

• God and man differ on the qualities necessary to lead His people.

• Hardness of heart and rebellion rob men of leadership effectiveness.

• God fulfills promises made to individuals in the past by raising up people to lead in the present.

• God’s promise to David that he would be king of Israel depended on God’s activity.

• Spiritual declension occurs in the lives of those who neglect their God-given responsibilities and God’s Word.

• Even those who walk with God are capable of doing the most heinous acts. Their response, when confronted over their sin, reveals their true attitude toward God.

• Leaders need the wisdom of God upon their lives to carry out their tasks.

• When man disregards God’s righteous standards, he always suffers from the consequences.