Welcome to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. The Bible tells one big story of redemption,

and we want to spend five minutes every day journeying through the Bible from start to

finish and exploring how all of it points to Jesus.

Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of our podcast The Bible in a Year with Daily

Grace. My name is Miranda, and today we are finally wrapping up the book of 1st Samuel,

and it has quite an ending. The Philistine kings have gathered together into one army

against Saul and the people of Israel. This is going to be an epic battle, and the Philistines

are not playing any games. David is even asked by Akish to join his army, and David agrees.

David has been bluffing and lying to Akish the whole time he stayed in gas,

so we can be pretty sure that this is what he is still doing. But his reliance on the Philistines

has gotten him into trouble. He can't fight against the people that the Lord has given him

to lead, not good PR if you know what I'm saying. The text cuts to Saul, and is he bravely

preparing himself for battle? Not at all. He is terrified. The Lord is not responding to his

calls, and he knows he is hopeless without God's intervention. This should remind us of Saul's

battle with the Philistines in chapter 13. And again, instead of seeking the Lord in repentance,

because there's a reason why God is not responding, he goes in disguise to a medium to try and talk

to Samuel. He's breaking his own rule here because he had cast all the mediums out of the land,

but he's desperate. And just a note, a medium is like a witch, a diviner, or a fortune teller.

And when the medium calls Samuel, Samuel tells Saul what he's already told him. The Lord is not

with him because the kingdom has been torn from his hands, but Samuel adds something worse to the

message. Saul and his sons will be with Samuel tomorrow. Cue the ominous and dramatic music.

Saul falls over in fear, and the medium and his servants have to coax him into eating something.

...