The Bible Study Podcast, episode 247. Today, the Bible Study podcast begins the study of Second Samuel.

Welcome to the Bible Study podcast. I'm your host, Chris Christensen. I had said last week we might start Second Samuel,

or we might begin a study on the fundamentals of Christianity. I've decided I'm not quite

ready for that study yet, and so we'll do Second Samuel, and that will give me time, a lot of

time, I suspect, to prepare for the next one. Second Samuel 1. David Hears of Saul's death.

You may remember that at the end of the last book, 1 Samuel, and these are a two-part series of books, that Saul and his sons were all killed by the Philistines.

And actually, I say all killed, but that's not quite true, and we'll see that that presents a problem in a minute.

Chapter 1. After the death of Saul, David returned from striking down the

Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days. On the third day, a man arrived from Saul's camp with his

clothes torn and dust on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.

Where have you come from? David asked him. He answered, I have escaped from the Israelite camp.

What happened? David asked, tell me. The men fled from the battle. He replied, many of them fell and died, and Saul and his son Jonathan are dead. Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, how do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, the young man said, and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, what can I do? He asked, who are you? An amalekite, I answered. Then he said, stand here by me and kill me. I'm in the throes of death, but I'm still alive. So I stood beside him and killed him because I knew that after he had fallen, he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord. Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son

Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the

sword. David said to the young man who brought him the report, where are you from? I am a son of a

foreigner, an Amalekite, he answered. David asked him, why weren't you afraid to lift your hand

to destroy the

Lord's anointed? Then David called one of his men and said, go strike him down. So he struck him down

and he died. For David had said to him, your blood be on your own head, your own mouth testified against

you when you said, I killed the Lord's anointed. This seems like a very harsh story, but at least in this, David is

being consistent. David was twice given the opportunity to kill Saul, who was after his own life,

and said he could not do so, because it would be wrong to kill the Lord's anointed. So David is only

doing to this man what he felt would happen to him if he had done the

...