On Thursday nights we're going through the Bible book by book and chapter by chapter

verse by verse and tonight we're going to be in chapter 16. We left off last time at verse 14. So we're

going to pick it up in verse 15 tonight and make it all the way through to the end of the chapter, Lord willing.

While you're turning there, I'll just sort of refresh our memories a little bit as to what's taking place.

This is a very low point for King David.

That's probably one of the darkest periods in his entire life.

His loyal followers and David have fled Jerusalem in fear for their lives after hearing of Absalom,

who is David's son's rebellion and his plan to actually, if he can believe it or not, kill his own father. The reason that David runs, it's not

just for himself or even for his 600 men and their families,

but he didn't want innocent lives lost knowing that were he to stay in Jerusalem,

it would have been a bloodshed upon Absalom's arrival. It would have just been horrific.

So he leaves to avoid that and spare people of that.

Interesting side note, and please know I don't share this to make those of you who didn't go to

Israel with us feel bad but those of us who did go actually were in the very

area that David fled to and I didn't think about it when we were there in

2010 of course I wasn't you, we weren't teaching through and studying through First and Second Samuel.

We weren't studying the life of David.

But this last time, when we were in the area of the shepherd's fields where it was announced,

the birth of the Savior was announced to shepherds,

it was overlooking Bethlehem. Well, this is the very area that David and his men have fled to in the rush to leave Jerusalem.

So we're standing there and looking over the shepherd's fields.

You can see Bethlehem in the distance.

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