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David Prepares to Rule Israel

n Lesson Two, we learned that the nationof Israel rejected God by asking for a king.

They wanted to be just like all of the Gentilenations around them. As a result, God hadSamuel anoint Saul as king of Israel.

At first, it seemed as though Saul was agood king. But then, something happened toSaul—he lost the humility that he once had,and he began to disobey God. And as a resultof this attitude, God was sorry that He hadmade Saul the king of Israel. God rejectedSaul’s house from ruling over Israel, andchose to anoint someone else.

We also learned about how the Philistinesposed a challenge to Israel. They would puttheir champion Goliath up against anyIsraelite. Goliath was a huge man, and every-one in the Israelite camp was afraid to go upagainst him. Yet, a shepherd boy namedDavid was brave enough to fight this giant.He had confidence in God and was sure thatGod would deliver Goliath into his hands.With this assurance, David, with God’s help,was able to kill this giant. This was just onegreat milestone in David’s event-filled life.

David Bonds with Jonathan

Having defeated the Philistine champion,the Israeli army returned home to an over-

joyed and cheering crowd. As King Sauland the troops marched along, the womengreeted them with musical instruments,songs and dancing.

The king, who loved to have the praiseof the people, cheerfully waved as thewomen sang. But this cheerful attitudewould not last for long. The women sang,“Saul has killed his thousands, and Davidhis ten thousands.”

Saul was instantly offended andextremely angry at this saying. He was jeal-ous of all the attention the people were giv-ing to David. He thought to himself, “Theyhave attributed to me 1,000 kills and toDavid 10,000 kills. They have elevated thisboy above me. Other than the kingdomitself, what is left for him to take fromme?”

From then on, Saul was distrustful ofDavid. And that distrust turned into purehate. One day, David was playing his harpto calm and soothe the king. As Davidplayed, the king brooded over the glory thatDavid had stolen from him. He thought tohimself, “David is a threat to me. Could hepossibly be God’s chosen replacement? Ifso, that makes him my enemy, and he mustsurely die.” Then Saul tightly gripped hisjavelin and fiercely threw it at David twice.

I

David Prepares toRule Israel

1 Children’s Bible Lesson

Illustrations by Paula Rondeau

But he managed to dodge both attempts onhis life.

Saul’s intention from that day forwardwas to kill David. The king made David acaptain in the army so that he would die inbattle. He even gave David his daughter tomarry, thinking that she could be a key inhis undoing. But God prospered David, andall of Israel loved him. This angered andfrightened King Saul even more.

However, Jonathan, the king’s son, did-n’t share his father’s feelings about David.Jonathan and David quickly realized theyshared common traits and goals. They bothfaithfully obeyed God and put His will first.Jonathan and David loved each other great-ly. Jonathan realized that David was theman whom God had chosen to replace hisfather as king. So the prince honored thefuture king by removing his royal robe, bowand arrows, and his sword and giving themto David. Jonathan, a wise and popular mil-itary leader of noble character, had thepotential to become a wonderful ruler. Buthe humbly stepped aside to support David,his friend.

Many times, Jonathan interceded forDavid, warning him that his father wasseeking to take his life. Jonathan urged hisfather not to do this. Turn to I Samuel 19:4-5: “Let not the king ____________________________, against David, becausehe has not sinned against you, and becausehis works have been____________________. For he took hislife in his hands and killed the Philistine,and ________ brought about a great deliv-erance for all Israel. You saw it andrejoiced. Why then will you sin against

innocent blood, to kill David without acause?” For the moment, Saul agreed.

However, as soon as David was in hissights, an evil spirit came upon Saul and hetried to kill David again. But David onceagain dodged Saul’s attack and fled. He metwith Jonathan and told him about what hisfather had done. Jonathan asked David whathe wanted him to do. David devised a planto find out Saul’s intentions.

David said, “Tomorrow is the NewMoon, and I’m supposed to eat dinner withyour father at the festival. Instead, I’mgoing to hide in a field until the third day atevening. If Saul wonders where I am, tellhim, ‘David asked me to let him go toBethlehem, his hometown, so he could takepart in a sacrifice his family makes thereevery year.’ If your father does not getangry, then you will know that I am safe.But if he becomes wrathful, then you willknow that he wants to do me harm.”Jonathan agreed to the plan. But Davidwanted to know how he would deliver thenews to him.

Then Jonathan said, “People attendingtomorrow’s festival will wonder where youare. By the third day, you will be greatlymissed. Then go to the place where you hidbefore and stay beside the stone Ezel. I willshoot three arrows off to the side of therock, and send my servant to find them. If Isay, ‘The arrows are on this side of you,boy! Pick them up!’ then you will know thatyou are safe. But, if I say to the boy, ‘Thearrows are farther away!’ then you willknow that the Lord has sent you away.”

So, Jonathan departed, while David hidin the field.

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On the first day of the feast, Saul noticedthat David’s seat was empty. But he didn’tsay a word, thinking to himself, “Somethinghas kept him from coming. He probablyisn’t clean. I’m sure that’s it.” But on thesecond day, he noticed that David still wasmissing. Saul asked Jonathan, “Why hasn’tDavid come to the feast, either yesterday ortoday? Where is he?” And Jonathananswered, “David asked me to let him gohome to Bethlehem. He said, ‘My family isoffering a sacrifice in the city, and mybrother told me that I have to be there. If Ihave found grace in your eyes, allow me togo to my family.’ Therefore, David will notbe coming to the king’s table.”

Saul was furious. He said, “You son ofperverse rebellion! You don’t think that I

know that you have chosen to beloyal to the son of Jesse to yourown shame? Your own mothershould be ashamed of your birth!Don’t you know that as long as theson of Jesse lives that neither younor your kingdom will be estab-lished? Therefore, go get him andbring him to me, because he mustbe killed!”

Jonathan replied, “Why must hebe killed? What did he do?” Thisfurther enraged Saul. He grabbedhis javelin and fiercely threw it atJonathan. Shocked by his father’sactions, Jonathan left the tableenraged. Knowing that his fatherwas determined to kill David,Jonathan fasted the rest of the dayfor his friend.

The next day, Jonathan and a lit-tle boy went out into the field where Davidwas hiding. Jonathan shot the arrowsbeyond the boy and shouted, “Didn’t I shootthe arrow past you?” That was the signal forDavid to flee. After Jonathan sent the boyback to the city, David got up from his hid-ing place and bowed low to the ground threetimes. He was humbly acknowledging thatJonathan was a just prince, true to his word.Then he gave Jonathan a brotherly kiss, andboth men wept bitterly, for they knew thatthey might not see each other again for therest of their lives.

A friendship like this is very rare intoday’s world. David and Jonathan couldhave been enemies. It would have beeneasy for each to turn against the other. Butinstead, they set aside jealousy, resent-

ment, bitterness, competition and lust forpower and became the best of friends. Youshould strive to be the kind of friend toothers as David and Jonathan were to eachother.

Test Your Memory:

1) Why was Saul jealous of David? ____________________________________________________________________________2) What traits did Jonathan and David havein common? ___________________________________________________________3) Why did Saul try to kill Jonathan? ___________________________________________________________________________

King Saul Pursues David

David greatly feared for his life and, thus,fled from the presence of Saul. David firsttraveled to Nob to seek the help ofAhimelech the priest. The priest providedDavid and his men with food, and gaveDavid the sword of Goliath. Then Davidand his men fled to the mountains and hidout in the cave Adullam.

When his family and other groups foundout where he was, they came and joinedhim. However, God, through the prophetGad, warned David not to stay in the cave,but to flee and hide in the land of Judah. SoDavid obeyed the Eternal and settled in theforest of Hareth in Judah.

Then Saul appealed to his fellowBenjamites. He asked them why they wereconspiring against him. He wanted them totell him where David was hiding.

Then Doeg the Edomite recalled how hesaw David in Nob consulting withAhimelech the priest. He also told him thatthe priest talked to God for him, and gaveDavid Goliath’s sword.

So, Saul sent a message to Ahimelechand all of the rest of the priests, command-ing that they come to him. Ahimelech andthe priests complied.

When they got there, the king accusedthem of conspiring with David against him.Ahimelech was totally shocked by thecharge and said, “My lord, what are yousaying? None of your officers and servantsis more loyal than David! Is he not yourson-in-law and the captain of your guard?Everyone in your family respects him.Besides, this is not the first time I have

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talked to God for David, and it’s nevermade you angry before. So please don’taccuse me or my family of wrongdoing. Ihave no idea what is going on.”

The king, sure that Ahimelech was lyingto him, commanded his soldiers to kill thepriests. But, none of the soldiers wouldattack God’s priests. Therefore, Saul com-manded Doeg to kill the priests—a job hegladly did. Doeg killed 85 priests that day.However, one priest escaped—Abiathar, theson of Ahimelech. He ran and caught upwith David and told him what happened toAhimelech and the other priests.

David knew that he couldn’t stay in oneplace for too long. So, he and his men keptmoving.

Respect for God’s Government

Then one day, Jonathan discov-ered that David was hiding out inthe wilderness of Ziph. AndJonathan visited him. Jonathanstrengthened David in the Lordsaying, “Don’t be afraid, David.My father will not be able to killyou, because one day, you will beking over Israel and I will be rightby your side. Deep down, myfather knows that also.” AfterJonathan finished his words ofencouragement, he and Davidconfirmed their covenant with oneanother, and then Jonathan wentback to his house.

Meanwhile, Saul was right onDavid’s heels. Sensing this, Davidmoved his men to the wilderness

of Maon, south of Jeshimon. Then messen-gers reported to Saul where David had runto, and Saul fiercely pursued him. However,at this time, the Philistines were attackingIsrael. So Saul had to stop pursuing Davidin order to protect his kingdom. God inter-vened on David’s behalf, saving him fromSaul’s grasp.

After Saul defeated the Philistines, helearned that David had fled to the wildernessof En-gedi. Therefore, Saul took 3,000 menand once again pursued David. Saul decidedthat he would rest in a cave that he foundalong the way, not knowing that David andhis men were in there. One of David’s mensaid to David, “Look! This is the day that theLord spoke to you about, saying, ‘I will

deliver your enemyinto your hand.’”

Then David cut theskirt off of Saul’srobe. But, David wasupset with himself forwhat he had done.Turn to I Samuel 24:5-7. Notice: “Now ithappened afterward that David’s heart______________________ because he had_______________. And he said to his men,‘_______________ that I should do thisthing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to__________________________________,seeing he is the anointed ___________.’ SoDavid restrained his servants with thesewords, and did not allow them to riseagainst Saul.”

Even though Saul was trying to kill him,David showed great respect for God’s chosenleader. He was determined to be loyal toGod’s government, regardless of the currentleader’s sins and shortcomings. David decid-ed to wait on God to fulfill His promise Hisway, according to His plan and timing.

So Saul got up and left the cave, intend-ing to continue his search for David. ThenDavid yelled out to Saul. David told theking about how his men wanted to kill him,but David would not let them. He tried toconvince the king that he was not hisenemy. He also gave proof by showing Saulthe skirt that he had cut from his robe.

Look at what David said next. I Samuel24:12-13: “Let the Lord judge between youand me, and let the Lord avenge me on you.But my hand shall not be against you. Asthe proverb of the ancients says,

‘Wickedness proceedsfrom the wicked.’ Butmy hand shall not beagainst you.”

After David had fin-ished speaking, Saulcalled out to David andwept. He admitted thatDavid was better than

him. He also acknowledged that he had nodoubt that the Lord had chosen David to bethe next king of Israel.

At that moment, Saul made a covenantwith David. Saul said, “Promise me by Godin heaven that you will not cut off mydescendants after I am dead and you willnot wipe out my name from my father’shouse.” And David promised. So, Saul wenthome, but David, not trusting the sincerityof Saul’s remorse, went back to his hideout.

David and Abigail

While David was in Maon, he had heardthat a man named Nabal was shearing hissheep in Carmel. He was a very wealthyman with many great possessions. He wasmarried to a beautiful and wise womannamed Abigail. But Nabal was evil and onlycared about his possessions.

David had protected this man, his fami-ly, his shepherds and his possessions. Davidthought to himself, “Surely, this man will bevery grateful for all that I have done forhim. I will ask him for some of his goods.Surely, he will be willing.”

So, David sent ten messengers to Nabal.They informed Nabal of how they had pro-tected all of his goods, making sure that the

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shepherds felt safe from thieves. Theyassured him that they had never taken any-thing and that they had dealt honestly withhim. Then they asked him to be graciousand to share any food and wool with themthat he could spare. Neither the servants norDavid could have been prepared for theresponse that they received.

Nabal pretended like he didn’t know ofDavid. He also implied that David’s ser-vants could be lying and that David reallydidn’t send them.

Nabal was so selfish that he did not wantto share any of the blessings of his wealth.

So the ten messengers returned to Davidand told him what Nabal said. David wasfurious. He told 400 of his men, “Get yourswords, and let’s go!” David and his menwere on their way to totally wipe outNabal’s household.

But, one of Nabal’s servants ran andtold Abigail about Nabal’s evil reply toDavid. The servant said, “David sent mes-

sengers to happily greet our master, but heinsulted them. But they were very good tous. They protected us, and nothing was everstolen. Now, something must be donequickly, because if you don’t, I’m sure thatDavid will destroy our master and hiswhole household. I would tell the master,but he is so stubborn that he won’t listen toanyone.”

Abigail acted quickly. She quickly gottogether 200 loaves of bread, two largeskins of wine, the meat from five sheep, alarge sack of roasted grain, 100 clusters ofraisins, and 200 cakes of dried figs.

She loaded all the food on donkeys andtold her servants, “Take this on ahead. I willcatch up with you.” She didn’t tell her hus-band what she was doing, because she knewthat he wouldn’t understand the wisdom innot angering Israel’s future king.

Suddenly, Abigail met David as he andhis men headed straight at her. She quicklygot off her donkey and humbly bowed down

in front of David. She begged David formercy. She asked him to disregard theinsults of Nabal, whose name means “fool.”She told him that the Eternal had stoppedhim from killing innocent people, and thatHe would handle all of David’s enemies.Abigail also assured David that God wouldcontinuously protect him. She also askedhim to remember her when he received allthat God had promised him.

Turn to I Samuel 25:32-34 for David’sresponse: “Then David said to Abigail:‘Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,_____________________ to meet me! Andblessed is your advice and blessed are youbecause you have kept me this day from___________________ and from_______________ with my own hand. Forindeed, as the Lord God of Israel lives,____________________ from hurting you,unless you had hastened and come to meetme, surely by morning light no males wouldhave been left to Nabal!”

David then accepted the gifts thatAbigail had brought.

“Do not worry,” he said. “You can gohome in peace. I will do what you asked.”

Abigail returned home and found Nabalthrowing a huge party, and he was verydrunk. So she decided not to tell him any-thing that night. But the next morning, shetold him everything that had happened.When Nabal heard how close he had cometo losing his life, his fear was so terrible thathe had a stroke. He laid in bed for ten days,and then God took his life.

God avenged David on Nabal. WhenDavid heard that Nabal had died, he praisedGod for judging between him and Nabal,

and he was grateful that God kept him fromsinning out of anger.

Some time after the death of Nabal,David married Abigail.

Test Your Memory:

1) Why Did Saul kill Ahimelech and theother priests? ___________________________________________________________2) Why didn’t David kill Saul when he hadthe chance? ____________________________________________________________3) Who stopped David from killing Nabal?______________________________________________________________________

Saul Speaks to a Demon

One day, David thought to himself, “Surely,Saul is going to kill me if I stay aroundhere.” So David decided to flee into the landof the Philistines. He and his followers wentand lived in Gath with King Achish.

Because David had become a well-known adversary to Saul, this Philistineruler was glad to welcome him. Achishgave David the town of Ziklag, which wasabout 13 miles away from Beersheba.

When Saul heard that David had leftJudah and fled into the land of thePhilistines, he no longer pursued David.

However, one day, King Achish and hisgenerals had made plans to attack Israel.The king commanded that David and hismen fight alongside the Philistines. Davidagreed to help out in any way.

Meanwhile, Saul could see that thePhilistine army was gathering for battle.

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He decided to ask the Eternal what heshould do, but God did not answer him.

Now terribly fearful because the Lordwould not answer him, Saul sent his ser-vants out to find a witch. Some of his ser-vants knew of a witch that resided in EnDor. So, Saul put on a disguise and went tosee her.

As king, Saul had spent most of hisreign removing witches, wizards, sorcerersand other such demon-influenced peoplefrom Israel. He knew that God command-

ed that all witches, wizards, sorcerers,spiritists and charmers be put to death. ButSaul had now grown so desperate that hewas willing to seek the aid of witches andother servants of Satan!

Disguised, Saul asked the witch tobring up the spirit of someone for him. Butshe said to him, “You know what KingSaul has done, how he will not allowwitches to live. Why are you trying to trickme? You are going to get me killed!” ButSaul assured her that nothing would hap-pen to her.

So he asked her to raise up the spirit ofSamuel the prophet.

As she had done many times in the past,the witch relied on evil spells to call uponthe demon world. Then something strangeflashed before her eyes: An eerie image ofan old man floated just before her! Thewitch screamed, assuming that it wasSamuel.

But it wasn’t really Samuel; it was onlya demon pretending to be the dead prophet.The witch knew that she did not have thepower to bring the dead back to life—onlyGod does. However, since Saul was deter-mined to speak to the dead, God decided touse the king’s wicked plan against him.

Assuming that the “spirit of Samuel”was floating before her, the witch turned toSaul and said, “You’ve tricked me! Youmust be King Saul!”

Saul asked her to tell him what she saw.She described the image as an old mancovered with a mantle. Saul assumed that itwas Samuel and bowed to the ground.

Still posing as Samuel, the demon askedSaul why he had called him. Saul explained

how the Philistines weregathering together to battlehim and he didn’t knowwhat to do, because Godwas not answering him any-more. The demon proceed-ed to tell Saul of his terriblefate—that Saul and his sonswould be killed.

Saul was sorely afraid.He was so scared that hedidn’t even want to eat. Butafter continuous prodding, the witch andhis servants got him to eat something.

The Death of a King

As the Philistines gathered to attack Israel,the Philistine princes noticed that Davidand his men were marching as well. Theywere angry at the king and told him thatthey refused to fight with the Hebrews.King Achish tried to convince them thatDavid would be loyal, but it was all to noavail. So, the king sent David and his menback to Ziklag.

The Philistines were slaughtering thearmy of Israel at Mount Gilboa, causing theIsraelites to run. King Saul and his sons wereon the run. The Philistines caught up with theking’s sons and killed them—Jonathan,Abinadab, and Malchishua were dead.

Then the Philistinesturned their attentionto King Saul. Thefighting was fierce andheavy all around theking. Then Saul wasseverely wounded by

an arrow and he knew that he couldn’t go onany longer. He turned to his armor bearerand said, “Draw your sword and kill mewith it! Don’t let me fall into the hands ofthese worthless Philistines so that they cantorture and ridicule me!”

But the armor bearer was too afraid toslay the king. So the king drew his ownsword and fell on it. Saul had taken hisown life.

To celebrate their victory, thePhilistines cut off Saul’s head and took hisbody and put it on display on the city wallof Beth Shan.

When the people of Jabesh heard whatthey had done to Saul and his sons, somebrave men sneaked into Beth Shan,retrieved their bodies and brought themback to Jabesh. They then burned the bod-ies, buried them under a tree in Jabesh, and

fasted and mournedfor seven days.

In the nextLesson, we willlearn about howDavid becomes theking of Israel.

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BIBLE MEMORY: I Samuel 23:15-16

Published by The Restored Church of God.Printed in the USA; All Rights ReservedCopyright © 2004

071115 / CBL53

MATCHINGCan you remember the important people mentioned in this lesson? Answer the questions in the left-handcolumn with the people listed in the right-hand column. Write the correct letter next to the correct question.

___:He was commanded to kill the priests who helped David.

___:She was the daughter of Saul who became David's wife.

___:He was the prophet who anointed David to be king of Israel.

___:He gave David his royal robe, sword, bow and girdle.

___:She kept David from killing innocent people out of anger.

___:His name means "fool".

___:He is the priest who was killed for giving David food andGoliath's sword.

___:This king gave David and his men the city of Ziklag.

___:This king continuously tried to kill David by throwing spears at him.

___:This man kept one of his servants from killing Saul in acave in the mountains.

___:This man was a giant and the champion of the Philistines, whowas killed by David.

A) Abigail

B) David

C) Jonathan

D) Saul

E) Nabal

F) Michal

G) Ahimelech

H) Samuel

I) Goliath

J) Achish

K) Doeg

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