This is the Bible Book Club. I'm Heather and I'm Susan and we're in the book of First Samuel.

Welcome to the club.

Last time in chapter 13, Saul began to fall out of favor with God. The Philistines are threatening

to attack and Saul just panics.

He was told to wait for Samuel and God's blessing before he attacked, but Saul could not wait.

And he impulsively offered sacrifices to God without Samuel. His actions revealed his heart,

and the results were disastrous. Because Saul did not keep the Lord's command, his kingdom would not endure,

and God would choose a man with a heart for God to replace him.

In Chapter 14, then, Saul's foolish leadership begins to negatively affect all of Israel.

In an attempt to appease God, Saul orders the army to fast, while Jonathan unknowingly breaks that order, and then the starving

army in desperation breaks the fast. And even worse, wolves down their meat with the blood still in it,

which was a very bad sin. It's a violation of God commands. Saul then atones for his men's sin

with a sacrifice to God. But he decrees that his son Jonathan must die.

The people think this is foolish and they rescue Jonathan.

First, Saul lost the favor of God and now he has lost the respect of his people.

Okay, so here's our setup for this episode.

Even though Saul's been told that his descendants will not be king and that

God has chosen another man to replace him, that person hasn't been revealed. And so Saul is still the

acting king, which leaves the door open for Saul to redeem himself in some way in whatever days

he has left. Now, an opportunity to find favor with the Lord arrives in the form of

an order from Samuel to destroy the Amalekites. Can Saul do the right thing? Scene one, Saul gets a

chance to obey chapter 15. Samuel said to Saul, I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel.

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