Caves, Crowns, and Crossroads

The story of David and Saul in 1 Samuel chapters 24-31 presents us with a powerful study in restraint, mercy, and trusting God's timing. We witness David facing not one, but multiple opportunities to seize the throne by force—to take matters into his own hands and eliminate the threat that Saul posed to his life. Yet in each instance, David chose a different path. He refused to harm 'the Lord's anointed,' even when his own men urged him to act, even when it would have been justified by human standards. This remarkable restraint teaches us that God's timing is not always our timing, and that forcing our way into what we believe is our destiny can actually work against God's perfect plan. David's statement 'May the Lord judge between you and me' reveals a profound trust in divine justice over human revenge. The tragic end of Saul's life stands in stark contrast—a king who repeatedly ignored God's voice, who sought guidance from mediums instead of the Lord, and who ultimately fell on his own sword. Between these two men, we see the consequences of two different approaches to life: one rooted in patience and faith, the other in disobedience and self-reliance. The question for us becomes: which path are we walking? Are we forcing doors open that God hasn't unlocked, or are we waiting with faithful expectancy for His perfect timing?

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Welcome back to another episode of Baseball and the Bible. I am Riker Dotson and I'm here with my father, Ryan Dotson. We're back for another one. Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Let's go. We're back. Still me until I can be replaced. So we're taking auditions for my replacement.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Indeed.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

So we're back. Better than ever. Ready to dive into some baseball topics and some Bible topics.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Rocking the red.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Rocking the red. I'm cardinaled out today. So same. I am bright. If you're watching, I am bright. Like the cool sunglasses today. Yep. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Doing fine. Doing fine. Doing fine.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

We um you're on spring break this week.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

You know I am.

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Yeah, spring break. Enjoying that, the days off. And have a tournament coming up this weekend.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Indeed, we do.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Indeed, you do. And uh this will be our third tournament of the season um with Forge and excited to another big tournament, uh, national qualifying tournament. And so hoping as we've talked about on previous episodes, um working through some things as a team and believing we're gonna pull it all together this weekend and have a positive result. So um keep you guys updated on that. But yeah, we got a tournament this weekend. Um got the March Madness is kicking off this week. It's a great time of year for sports. March Madness is kicking off, and then um MLB season is also about 10 days away or so. Um World Baseball Classic just wrapped up, which we'll talk about in a minute. Um before we get into all of those topics and get into our devotion and all that, we did one, we haven't we haven't done cards in a while. We haven't opened any live. Um, and we don't have any tonight to open live, but we do we were given a big binder here. If you want to grab that, uh, Riker. Given this nice big binder of baseball cards, pretty much the entire binder is all McGuire. So uh we were uh a good friend of ours, David Fields, gave us these, and um, so we've been working our way through it. We were gonna go through it's kind of hard to see on the screen. We've got the big card here that Riker was gonna show.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Uh Mark Maguire, the athletics.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So there's a there's a bunch of good ones in there. A lot of them uh dealing with the the home run chase of 98 62 that that season. Got a couple uh early years McGuire with the A's, and then even one rookie maguire uh with the A's. So some good cards in there, a lot of a lot of good Cardinals cards, uh his time there. So he's got he's actually had cards of the entire uh like that kind of chronicle the the chase for 62, um, which I hadn't even seen those cards before, so that's pretty cool. Yeah, um, so a lot of uh whole deck there of of Big Mac. Uh so we're thankful for that. And uh again, we haven't forgotten the cards. We've been trying to do that, but we haven't done it here on the pod. So we're gonna kind of work that back in. And then we have these cards here. I had the opportunity uh uh recently to scoot that back the other way. There you go. Had the opportunity recently to tour uh the fanatics facility here locally in in uh Allen, Texas, and Fanatics, which is a clothing sports clothing store, also owns Topps, the baseball card uh company. And so I got to tour the facility that like makes the baseball cards, uh, which was really awesome. Got to see all the cards kind of on the press and and how they make them and all the different designs and things. So it was really neat. Got to see that. And then at the end of it, they gave us some baseball cards that we I was gonna open them here on the pod, but they really wanted us to open them there and see what we got. And I didn't get any, we didn't get any like one of ones or uh signed cards, but we did get some good ones. So Riker was gonna share some of those uh with you guys. But what did we get there?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

We have a Albert Pooh holes right there.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, I don't know if we can see that on the screen.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Yeah, they definitely can't, but Albert Poohs, it's Albert Pools, yeah. Cool throwback.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

A good one, yeah. Yep. Then we got a couple rookie cards there.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

I'm not even gonna try to say this.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Uh Joxton Garcia for the Red Sox. He's an outfielder rookie card.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Looks like they just typed the alphabet out on the uh James Wood for the uh Nationals, he's an outfielder. Matt Shaw, third baseman for the Cubs.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

It's his rookie card. That's the only reason why it's a good one. Uh but he's a good player.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

And Roman Anthony.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Yeah, Roman Anthony's rookie's card. Rookie card.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

It's a rookie card, and because of the topics we are about to discuss, has a lot more weight to his name now.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

He does. He's a rookie uh outfielder for the Red Sox and actually uh was part of Team USA for the World Baseball Classic, and he played really, really well. So that's gonna be our our segue into discussing the World Baseball Classic, which again, this this episode airs on Sunday. It'll be a few days over, but in and as we're airing today, it just wrapped or recording today, it just wrapped up last night. Um and Venezuela took it. Took it. When we let when we recorded last week, again, we we were recording not knowing even if Team USA was gonna make it out of pool play. We ran home from here after recording and watched. Well, by the time we got home, Italy was already destroying Team Mexico. Yeah. Uh, I don't even remember what the final score was, but it was uh a whooping. I don't remember. Uh, but they they laid it on them pretty good, pretty convincingly, and so they won Puay, kind of like what we had discussed. Uh, and and they played um who did they play? They played Puerto Rico and they beat Puerto Rico. Um, and U.S. played Canada, and we did beat Canada. We beat Canada. Um, and then we played uh the DR in the semis.

SPEAKER_00 7:25

Uh DR beat that was a cool game.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah, the DR beat Korea. I think that one was 10 to nothing. I think that might have been I think they they run ruled them. DR was rolling through the tournament, undefeated, and scoring a ton of runs. I think they had scored at least seven runs in in all the games. Um they were rolling, and so then you had that matchup, which was like on Sunday night of last week, the dream matchup. You had Paul Skeens on the bump against yeah, for U.S. against the one of the great lineups of all time there for the DR, having to navigate that. And I mean, there was some action on the I mean, you know, on the bases, yeah, but he was getting out of any kind of jams. They had a they had a leadoff home run, uh, or they had a home run, I think it was in the second inning. Um Kevin Arrow hit it, won nothing, and then you had Gunnar Henderson hit a home run, solo shot, and then Roman Anthony hit the home run to put the U.S. up two to one, and that held, which was again the pitching was unbelievable because the DR's lineup had been just killing it. Uh, and but they shut him down, won the game, headed to the finals, and then uh Venezuela uh had to beat in the quarterfinals, had to play Japan. And knew that was gonna be a tough matchup.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

I thought Japan was coming out of that matchup.

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Well, a lot of people did, but um, and it was a great game, great game, kind of back and forth, back and forth. Uh and then uh Abreu hit the big three-run home run, put them up, and they won. I think it was seven to five was the final of that one, and then they played and beat uh Italy in the semis, and then you had U.S. and Venezuela in the championship game, and it was a great game. Uh I mean U.S. could not really get anything going, didn't have anybody in scoring position, I think, all game, really. And then um they were down 2-0. Uh Nolan McLean started for Team USA, uh, but Venezuela was pitching really well. And um, but two to nothing, bottom of the eighth, one out. My National League MVP, who's been who has struggled in the World Baseball Classics. So I was like, I was worried because it's like this is not a good way to go into the season. But hopefully that home run that he hit. Bryce Harper hit a nice two-run home run, pretty crazy moment, awesome moment, two, and then you had Judge coming up, and so I was like, oh, could they go back to back and wrap this, wrap this thing up? Uh, but did not, and so they went to the top of the ninth. Venezuela scored top of the ninth, go up three to two, and then they shut it down and uh they won. So congratulations to Team Venezuela. It was a great run for USA. They represented well. Um but better luck next year. Well, better luck in a few years, because it's not every year.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Oh, well, yeah, true.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

But uh we'll see again if they make some tweaks to it. But I I thought it was just an awesome, awesome tournament. There's been some talk about maybe trying to do it in the middle of the year. Um kind of like what uh hockey did last year with the four Four Nations tournament. I think would would I think it could be great if they did it that way because the problem that you're running into with it in spring training is like for the manager, you have for Mark DeRosso, or any any of the managers that have players from the major leagues, you have 30 bosses basically of those teams that are like I only uh my pitcher or my player can only play this much because I mean they're calling the shots because they don't want you, you know, if you've invested 200 200 million dollars into somebody, you don't want them getting hurt when they're not wearing your uniform. And so I think it could like for the pitching, you know, like schemes and all those guys. I mean, they can only throw a limited amount, they're not gonna go, they're not going nine innings, you know, even if they're if they're dealing. So if you could if you could get into the middle of the season, maybe they're more stretched out, maybe you could do that, and you wouldn't have the parade of pitchers that you have to have, and it might just make for a more exciting enjoyable competitive. But again, it was enjoyable and it was super competitive and fun. The atmosphere was awesome, the the championship atmosphere was great. Um, so it's just a it's I I do enjoy it. We've talked about this. I enjoy the fact that it's for spring training on one hand, but it if they could tweak it, maybe it wouldn't it wouldn't be a bad idea just to see what could because to see if maybe doing it in the middle of the season and make a make a week-long thing out of it. Um I don't know. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Again, but like if that did happen, then there's nothing to enjoy baseball wide during spring training.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Well, spring training is that, but it it's just it's again, I I'm with you. It's we've talked about it. The reason I like it is because it is it's different, and I think it can help your players get get ready, like get those true competitive juices flowing before the season starts. But um, you know, and and we didn't thankfully, there was no injuries, major injuries to speak of in this tournament, which is always the the fear. Um but thankfully everybody seems to have gotten through it, and it was again it was a lot of fun. I love it. Great tournament, great, you know, great championship game, and you know, now we're ready for the regular season. But congrats, congrats to team Venezuela.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

See, that's what I'm saying. Like we got we were getting we were enjoying the world baseball classic so much, and boom, here's the regular season. Like, we're ready to go.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Uh, I do want to highlight just a few players because you did you had the all tournament team, which is always a fun thing whenever you're in a tournament to be part of the that. And so the the MVP of the tournament was from Team Venezuela, uh Mikhail Garcia. Um, I'm gonna read some of his stats here in a second, but just highlight a few players. Catcher was Austin Wells from the DR, uh Luis Arriz for first base for Venezuela, uh USA had a couple. We had uh Bryce Tarang uh at second base. Um, and he was probably one of maybe the least known player on the team USA, but uh he bet at 364, had four doubles um uh playing second base. And then third base, again, Mikhail Garcia was the MVP uh 385 for the tournament, had 10 hits, which led uh led the tournament. Uh had his game-winning hit against Italy in the seventh inning uh of this in the semifinals. Um you had Ezekiel Tovar uh for Venezuela, also had uh you know 471, had eight hits. He played well, had a couple hits in the championship game. Uh and then Roman Anthony, our guy. Uh again, what a what a way to kick off just to be on that team and then to perform the way he did. Had a 920 OPS, had two home runs. Uh he was only added after, which I didn't, I'm reading that now, but I didn't realize he was added after Corbin Carroll got hurt. Um but 21-year-old uh and he showed out uh in the outfield. You had Tatis for the DR. He played well. You had Dante Nori from Italy. The DH uh for the tournament was Shohei, of course. Three home runs, seven RBIs. Uh the pitchers was Paul Paul Skeens was one of the pitchers, Logan Webb, and then Aaron Nola from uh Italy. Those were the three. So that was your your all-tournament team. Uh, and again, Mikhail Garcia was the tournament MVP. So just uh you know, we we had a blast watching it, and uh now we're ready for ready for the season. So Bobby Whipp played well. I'm just trying to think. I mean, every I mean it really everybody really played. Bryce Harper struggled, but he again had that big home run and um just like everyone kind of delivered in their own way, their own way, in their own had their own moments, yeah. You know, it's such a it's such a you know, your batting average, and that can can look really good or really bad. It's just such a small sample size, you know, when you're just a few games and and they're having to sub, you know, so many of the guys who are getting not playing every game just because it's an all-star team and you're trying to work guys in. So uh, but there that's it. That's over. And uh, like I said, the baseball season is here, and um get into that. Uh we wanted to wrap up, get into our devotion and get in and wrap up first Samuel, right? We've been working our way through it. The last two episodes we've covered first 23 verses or chapters of First Samuel. And if you guys haven't, you know, encourage you to read it. Uh just a really uh you know interesting and uh cool, cool book, lots of um essentially an action movie, really. Yeah, yeah. I was trying to that's a good way to put it. I mean it really is um it's like uh it's like you're reading a movie because it's it's just there's so much so much happening there. Um and it doesn't does not change as we as we wrap up uh first same. Oh, absolutely not, noward to 31.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

It's actually it's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

So um, so we're gonna kind of like we've again we've been doing just trying to work through it as quickly as we can and as efficiently as we can.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Um pretty good at that.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

Do what?

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Is it if I do say so myself, we've been doing pretty good at that.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

I feel like we have. Okay, well good. So let's let me get uh get to my notes here and we're gonna read through some of these verses. All right, we're gonna again we're gonna pick up in 24. Um and this is one of the first instances where David had the opportunity to take Saul's life and did not.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

Well, well put, because it's going on YouTube, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Um so if you want to read Riker, uh are you in chapter 24?

SPEAKER_00 18:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Go ahead and read verse um. Uh I'm trying to think what parts we want to read. Go ahead and read verse six and seven.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

Okay. Got it. He said to his men, The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, or lay a hand on him, for he is the anointed of the Lord. With these words, David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

SPEAKER_01 18:54

So do you remember what happened there or a few verses earlier there?

SPEAKER_00 18:59

So basically, um Saul, well, David was in a cave, right? And then Saul comes into that cave to rest. And to go to the restroom.

SPEAKER_01 19:15

Is that what it says? To relieve himself. Yeah. Could be rest, could be the restroom, whatever you want to think, but he went in to relieve himself. Thanks a lot.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

He went in to relieve himself. Yeah. Um and then what did and David kind of David had David and his his men were urging uh David's like soldiers and people were urging him to um take Saul's life. Again, I'm trying to think kind of where this from for you two, but uh yeah, you get my point. But uh so yeah. Uh he had the opportunity, but what David does is he sneaks behind Saul, hopefully, while he's not using the restroom. That would be that would be scary.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, maybe he was asleep.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Uh yeah, let's let's hope. But um he cuts off a corner of uh David uh or Saul's robe and then he like keeps it, and so when Saul flushes the toilet, I'm getting but when Saul uh leaves the cave and gets back on his way, that's what it said, he's going his way. Uh David leaves the cave and gets Saul's attention. He's like, I had the opportunity to kill you, I didn't. Here's a piece of your robe back in your face.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yep. That's a good summary. Go ahead and read verse 12 since we're uh talking about 20 since you're in there. Go ahead and read verse 12.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

Uh may the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Yeah. So basically he's saying, you know, may the Lord deal with each of us appropriately, but I'm not gonna be the one. I'm not gonna take it into my own hands. Right. Um and so and then Saul says you like search crying. Yeah, I'm you know, I love you, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

I'll never mean a thing of that.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

I'll never try to do it again.

SPEAKER_00 21:23

Uh that's a total lie considering what happens next. But we'll get there.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Yep. So okay, so covered that, and then in 1 Samuel 25, um Samuel, uh Nabal and Abigail. Well, yeah, Samuel dies. Uh yeah, and um they were they were mourning uh the the death of of Samuel, and then um comes across uh he goes and he meets. Nabal or Nabel. Um and he had been they had been taking care of their shepherds, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:08

And kind of protecting them while they were out in the wilderness. And and he basically sent them to say, you know, help me, help us out, you know. We could use some we could use some stuff. We could use some support here. We took cover your guys, now you take care of us. And basically, uh he said, I don't know who you are. And the Bal did.

SPEAKER_00 22:32

And uh he said, uh, what was it? Um he said that what does the Bible say? It says uh that he did he said something to the uh servants.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

Um he said, Who is this David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants are breaking away from their masters these days. Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered from my shears and give it to men coming from who knows where? He's like, again, he's basically saying, I don't know who this guy is, so I ain't gonna help him. And they're like, No, he helped us, and it's the honorable thing to do. Um, they bring that message back to David. David's not too happy about it.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

He uh it's so just it's like it's it this is essentially what the Bible says. The servants reported the news to David. David grabs his sword. Like there's no like David felt angry. Then he grabbed his sword. It was just David grabbed his sword, and it's like you can you can think how he's feeling right now.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Yes. Um go ahead and and then go ahead and read. Uh so he's going on his way, and then Nabel has a wife at the time, Abigail, and she goes out to basically try to intervene and and say, please don't come do what you're gonna do. So you want to read verse 32 and 33?

SPEAKER_00 23:53

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:54

In chapter 25.

SPEAKER_00 23:56

Uh 32, 33. 32, 33. Okay, got it. In my face. Uh David said to Abigail, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me for keeping me from bloodshed this day, and from avenging myself with my own hands.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah, so he's basically saying to her, because she had already pleaded with him. Yeah, yeah. He's basically saying, Thank you for stopping me. For stopping me, yeah, from keeping me from doing uh what I wanted to do. Um and then later on in that chapter, a few verses later, um you remember what happened?

SPEAKER_00 24:49

Uh oh, uh yeah, Nabal dies.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

Nabal dies.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Yeah, I remember that.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Mabel dies.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

And then David's like, yeah, uh, you want to be my wife.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

Yeah, he reaches out to Abigail, and uh because it does say earlier when they first just describe Abigail that she was uh beautiful and um I forget what other words, yeah, maybe kind, but it was a very and then so David said, You want to be my wife? And she said, Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

I feel like Nabal and Abigail are an old married couple, they're like, Would you stop that? I I just feel like like Nabal is a grumpy old man.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Well, it he he was described as uh grumpy, grumpy, yeah, and and difficult. And uh, but I don't know if they were old as much as that was just his personality.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Well, it sounds like an old married couple.

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Um okay, so then let's go to chapter 26, where again David spares uh Saul's life.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

Once again, proving that Saul is a liar.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Alright, uh, you want to read 26 verse 9?

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Uh yes. Sorry, my mic's in my face. Uh verse 9. Yeah. But David said to Ab Abishai, don't destroy him. Who can lay a hand on the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? Uh you want me to read 10?

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Um Yeah, go ahead and read 10.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

As surely as the Lord lives, he said, the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die. Or he will go into battle and perish.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Go ahead and read eleven.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let's go. So Saul was sleeping for context, and he had a spear and a water jug, and he's like, let's just rob him.

SPEAKER_01 26:53

Yeah, he went down there and he was surrounded by um basically guys that were supposed to be protecting him, but everybody was asleep. Uh, and so he he went down there, and again, he that shows that how close they were that he was able to take his spear and his water jug and bring it back.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

Again, it was next to his head. How is it like sub sleepy head?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Yeah. Well, and the Bible says that uh the Lord puts them into a deep sleep, yeah. Um, they were Navy SEALs type quiet, but the Lord also put them into deep sleep. But uh so then he gets he gets back and he calls out again. Same thing, kind of calls out and says, uh, you know, I have to say I did it again, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

I did it again. You lied to me last time. Here I am again. Saul does the same thing. He's like, Yeah, sorry. Um, you're a better king, you're more righteous than I am, is what he says.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

I like verse 15 too, when he's talking to the people that were supposed to protect him, uh Abner. Um, and he says, David, David said, You're a man, aren't you? And who is like you in Israel? Why he's basically like, you're supposed to be the guy, Mr. Abner.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

What the heck are you doing with your Lord?

SPEAKER_01 28:06

But why didn't you guard the Lord the King? Someone came to destroy your Lord the King. What you have done is not good. Um because again, and and you know, that is that does cost you your life because you're that's your your job, and if you let somebody get to the king. So he's basically, I mean, he's calling out Abner as well. Uh but yeah, um, go ahead and read verse 23 to.

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Okay. Oh, okay. The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord's anointed.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Yeah, so that's after he'd given the spear back. He had somebody come and get it.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

You gotta think, like, if Saul had died, Abner's like, all right, everybody here is gonna say he was eaten by a bear. You were not gonna blame me.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

You're not gonna tell the truth. All right, and then we go into chapter 27. Uh wrapping up this chapter. Oh, yeah. So now he remember this part, he goes and lives among the Philistines. Yeah. Um chapter 27, verse 1. But David thought to himself, one of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand. Uh, so David and his 600 men went uh and met someone, a Kish, and uh lived there. He gives them some land and uh stays there. Uh and Saul does give up hunting for him, and uh so David's living in Philistine territory. He lived there for a year and four months. Um that's how long he stayed there. Um and then in 28, uh Saul is troubled to say the least. Tormented by spirits. And he went to you remember this part where he who did he go to talk to?

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Oh uh uh witchcraft a medium, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

A medium person, and she's like terrible name. She's like, uh, you you know, you did away with all this, or Saul did away with all this, and then he she realizes it is Saul, and he asked, do you remember who he asked to uh to see?

SPEAKER_00 30:38

He's he asked to see Samuel, which is like so it's ironic because Samuel is such a faithful man and he's being summoned by yeah, yeah. Demonic.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

Um well go ahead and before we get to that part. So it's first Samuel 28, read verse uh six there.

SPEAKER_00 30:57

Uh okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:59

This is before he goes and seeks the medium.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Yeah. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or urim, which I don't know what that is, and I read urine. So anyway, or urim or prophets.

SPEAKER_01 31:14

And he wasn't answered. So then he said to his attendants, find me a medium that I can inquire of her. Um so he he goes and he, you know, asks to see Samuel. Uh, and basically Samuel says, You know, why are you messing with me? I'm I'm dead. I'm dead, leave me dead. And you by this time tomorrow, you and your sons will be with me.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

Yeah, that's scary. I mean, you're already seeing a ghost. It's not better when that ghost is like, hey, see you tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 31:48

Yep, and then okay, so then we get into 29, and the Philistines were going to war, and uh the Philistine leaders uh did not want and trust David, which was probably smart on their part, but didn't trust him uh to join them, felt like he would turn on him, and and so then Akish uh sends David and his men back to Ziklag. Um go ahead and read verse six, Riker in chapter twenty-nine.

SPEAKER_00 32:28

Uh we are so Akish called David and said to him, As surely as the Lord lives, you have been reliable, and I would be pleased to have you serve with me in the army. From the day you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you, but the rulers don't approve of you. That's basically saying, I think you're cool, but they don't.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Yeah. Uh so they go back and again um on their way back, and I it's one of those things, the Lord directing his steps, ordering his steps. Um because also while they were there, right, um while they were away from Ziklag, the Amalekites had raided uh the territory. And remember that, and then they took both young and old in chapter 30.

SPEAKER_00 33:35

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_01 33:37

Yeah, and so they took that, took all of their their livestock, took all their children and women. Uh they killed none of them, but carried them off on their way. And when David and his men reached Ziglag, uh they were obviously distraught. David's wives uh were gone. It wasn't, everybody was gone. Um, and the men were so mad because they were away. This is when this happened. The men were so mad that they wanted to stone David, remember?

SPEAKER_00 34:10

I don't remember that, but that's cool. Well, it's not cool. Well, it's not cool, but I didn't know.

SPEAKER_01 34:15

Um and so go ahead and read chapter 30, verse 6.

SPEAKER_00 34:20

Okay. Okay. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him. Well, there we go. Each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

Yep. So uh so he he kind of gathered himself, and then in chapter in verse eight, he says, And David inquired of the Lord, Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them? Pursue them, he answered, You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue. Uh so they went after David and his 600 men went after the Amalekites, um, and they destroyed them. And all along the way, uh, there was 200 of them that were exhausted and had to stay where they were. So it actually was only 400 that went and did it. And they, you know, they beat them, they got everything back, they plundered all the stuff they had, and they came back, and then uh they were basically the 400 were like, well, those 200 guys shouldn't get everything, they shouldn't get a share because they didn't come. And David basically made the rule like, no, we're all gonna we're gonna share it evenly. So uh verse 24, Riker, if you'll read that in 30.

SPEAKER_00 35:44

Okay, who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with who went down to the battle, all will share alike.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

Yeah, all will share alike. So David made this a statute, statute, and ordinance for Israel from that day on. And so uh being fair there, so they got their stuff back, got their families back, um, and then at the end of the chapter, um chapter 31. Uh now the Israelites and are in a battle, and uh prepare for chapter 31. They're fighting with the Philistines, and they killed all of the sons. They killed Jonathan, uh and the other two boys. Uh, and then the it says in chapter in verse three, the fighting grew fierce around Saul. Uh, and when the archers overtook him, they wounded him critically. Uh critical shot. In verse 4, Saul said to his armor bearer, draw your sword and run me through, or these fellows will come and run me through and abuse me. Uh, but his armor bearer didn't want to do it, and so um basically Saul took his own sword and fell on it. Uh, then his armor bearer did the same. Uh, and that day uh they were they were defeated and and lost their life, and Saul and his his lineage died, and so that's the end of it.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

I told you prepare for chapter 31.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yeah, um, and just kind of a rough rough ending there, but uh some key takeaways for these uh mercy over revenge. Um be one David refuses to harm Saul even when he had the chance on multiple occasions. Um trust in God's timing, uh, which is always a good one. But David doesn't force his path to kingship, God shapes it for him. Well, but again, he could have tried to speed things up, which is kind of human nature. Human nature, right? Um, wisdom and restraint, Abigail's intervention shows the power of wise counsel, stopping him from doing something that he wanted to do, and even in his anger, restraining himself. Um God's guidance in in crisis, again, seeking God. Uh in chapter 30, when he's determining what he should do and how he should react to uh the Amalekites taking their families, whether he should pursue or not, seeking the Lord, uh, and then consequences of disobedience. Uh Saul's tragic end reflects his long pattern of ignoring God. That's good. Yeah, so I like that.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 38:47

So those are some key takeaways. Uh, and that's the end of chapter or that's the end of 1 Samuel. First Samuel, yeah. And uh now we'll again we'll we'll we'll be transitioning into David um assuming his his his kingship, but there'll be a little stuff there before that. But yeah, so we're gonna we'll pick up in in 2nd Samuel. But any thoughts on on 1 Samuel 31 chapters?

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Uh I said it before, action movie. Yeah, action movie. Yeah, it's very, very cool. Yeah. Uh again, we are skipping over a lot of details here, so uh there's a lot of things I I want you to go back and read because we summarized a lot of the things that happened. Like uh Saul, we just said he cried, but what he said was I mean, yeah, it's good to hear all of those things. So I do recommend that if you're listening, go and read uh 1 Samuel. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 39:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:52

That's mine.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

That's your two cents.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

All right. All right. Well, we're done.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

We are done.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

We'll go play a tournament this weekend, and we'll be back ready to roll next week. Keep promoting, keep helping us. Uh we're trying to trying to grow. So spread the word. If you don't, you know, if you know somebody that might be interested in this conversation, if you have ideas for how we can do it better, please let us know. Right?

SPEAKER_00 40:24

And we have some exciting podcasts. Yeah, we do have some cool things coming up.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

Uh we're not just saying that. This is actually like you don't want to miss.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

So you don't want to miss. Yes. So uh all right, go ahead and pray for us, and we will get out of here.

SPEAKER_00 40:43

Lord, thank you for this day. Uh, thank you just for your podcast, Lord. I just pray that um everybody here would just understand that you are the Almighty God and there is nothing before you. Lord, we we all know that we can show with a lot of things. And Lord, whatever it is, Lord, I just pray that we would stop prioritizing it over you today, Lord. I just pray that we would make you the number one thing in our life. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_01 41:12

Amen. Love you guys. See you next time.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Love you.