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The End of Saul and Jonathan · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Then said Saul unto his armor-bearer, Draw thy sword, and
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  Speaker 1: thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come, and thrust
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  Speaker 1: me through, and abuse me. But his armor-bearer would not,
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  Speaker 1: for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword,
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  Speaker 1: and fell upon it. 1 Samuel 31.4 My God, as
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  Speaker 1: I listen to today's reading of 1 Samuel 31 and
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  Speaker 1: 1 Chronicles 10, Help me to recognize which battle to
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  Speaker 1: fight and who to stand shoulder to shoulder with. I
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  Speaker 1: will not choose to stand by someone who does not
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  Speaker 1: carry your spirit as Jonathan did. As hard as it
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  Speaker 1: may seem, give me the strength to detach from wrong relationships,
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  Speaker 1: no matter how close they may be. As I rely
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  Speaker 1: on your spirit, Lord, I will attach myself to individuals
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  Speaker 1: who have your hand on their lives and on their
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  Speaker 1: endeavors like myself. I will not die in the battlefield
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  Speaker 1: of life without having fulfilled all that I have been
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  Speaker 1: created to fulfill. I will rest in the fact that,
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  Speaker 1: even in wrong relationships, you always provide a way out.
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  Speaker 1: I declare that your partnerships are better than any I
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  Speaker 1: can find on my own. Therefore, I will lean on
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  Speaker 1: you and your understanding so that I can gain the
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  Speaker 1: victory in any valley I walk through. I decree that
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  Speaker 1: I am aligned and assigned to the right people. In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for making prayer a priority in your day.
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  Speaker 1: To learn more about the Bible, stay tuned for today's story.
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  Speaker 1: Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: The End of Saul and Jonathan In our last story,
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  Speaker 2: we learned about David's fractured identity among the Philistines. He
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  Speaker 2: played the part of loyal servant to Achish, the Philistine king,
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  Speaker 2: but was still loyal to Israel at heart. When the
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  Speaker 2: Amalekites raid David's town and steal all their families, David's
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  Speaker 2: heroic spirit is rekindled, and he mounts a rescue mission.
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  Speaker 2: In this story, we learn about the death of Saul
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  Speaker 2: and Jonathan... inspired by the book of 1 Samuel and
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  Speaker 2: 1 Chronicles.
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  Speaker 3: I'm so glad you joined us on the Bible in
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  Speaker 3: a Year podcast today. But before we get to today's episode,
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  Speaker 3: I want you to know that I would absolutely love
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  Speaker 3: to send you my daily devotional that will give you
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  Speaker 3: fresh encouragement every single morning and day. From the moment
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  Speaker 3: we wake up to the moment our head finally hits
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  Speaker 3: the pillow, there are thousands of things that demanding our attention.
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  Speaker 3: But it's in the midst of all this crush and
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  Speaker 3: hustle and bustle that you and I need peace and
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  Speaker 3: truth in God's Word. That's why I want to help
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  Speaker 3: you spend time each day growing in God's life-giving, life-changing
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  Speaker 3: Word by sending you my free daily email devotional, PowerPoint Today.
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  Speaker 3: So visit jackgram.org to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional.
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  Speaker 3: That's jackgram.org. In yesterday's story, we learned that Saul consulted
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  Speaker 3: a medium, a woman devoted to the occult, in order
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  Speaker 3: to speak to Samuel. It was not the woman's power
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  Speaker 3: that summoned the prophet from the realm of the dead. Rather,
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  Speaker 3: it was God who willed this to happen and used
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  Speaker 3: it to deliver a devastating message to Saul. His time
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  Speaker 3: was up. Death would soon come to him and his sons.
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  Speaker 3: In today's scripture, we will hear of the death of
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  Speaker 3: Saul and of David's dearest friend, Jonathan, the son of
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  Speaker 3: the king. So, let's listen to today's reading.
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  Speaker 2: The battle raged on violently. Steel clashed against steel, and
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  Speaker 2: the men of Israel were choked under the weight of
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  Speaker 2: the Philistine horde. Jonathan fought alongside his brothers. Jonathan's sword
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  Speaker 2: flew through the battle. His strength was inspiring, but waning.
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  Speaker 2: His brothers had fallen, but Jonathan pressed on. Two Philistines
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  Speaker 2: came towards him. He ran towards one, dodged his advance,
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  Speaker 2: and drove his sword into his back. He delivered a
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  Speaker 2: blow to the shield of the other Philistine, but he
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  Speaker 2: parried with a swing to Jonathan's left calf. Jonathan wailed
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  Speaker 2: in pain and knelt to the floor. Then with one swoop,
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  Speaker 2: the Philistine stood and struck Jonathan's chest. Jonathan knelt there
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  Speaker 2: holding his chest, and the Philistine delivered a second blow,
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  Speaker 2: driving the sword into him. Jonathan lay in the dirt
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  Speaker 2: of the battlefield, choking on his own blood, until eventually
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  Speaker 2: breathing his last to be with his god. The battle
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  Speaker 2: pressed on, and Saul was fighting behind the battle with
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  Speaker 2: his back to the valley for easy escape. Saul struck
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  Speaker 2: down a Philistine and knelt down behind a crack in
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  Speaker 2: the canyon to catch his breath, but the archers could
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  Speaker 2: see him. From a distance, a Philistine archer drew his
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  Speaker 2: bow and released an arrow through the sky. A direct
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  Speaker 2: hit into Saul's abdomen. Saul writhed in pain on the floor.
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  Speaker 2: His armor-bearer, who was fighting beside him, knelt over him,
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  Speaker 2: trying to stop the bleeding. Saul's eyes were glazing over
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  Speaker 2: in pain, and his breathing became miserable. Saul grabbed his
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  Speaker 2: armor-bearer by the tunic and said, Draw your sword and
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  Speaker 2: kill me now, lest I die by these worthless Philistines.
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  Speaker 1: They will capture me and shame me.
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  Speaker 2: But his armor-bearer could not kill his king. He would not.
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  Speaker 2: Saul let him go, and the armor-bearer ran away. Saul
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  Speaker 2: turned onto his side and looked at the battle. The
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  Speaker 2: men of Israel fought valiantly. Everything began to blur for
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  Speaker 2: Saul as he propped himself up with a boulder and
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  Speaker 2: drew his sword. Saul's heavy breathing began to slow, and
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  Speaker 2: he thought of all he had done in his life
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  Speaker 2: until that point. He remembered his journey to find his
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  Speaker 2: father's donkeys, his meal with Samuel, and his first victory
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  Speaker 2: in battle. Oh, how the people loved him back then,
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  Speaker 2: back when he had the Spirit of God guiding his
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  Speaker 2: every step. Tears fell from Saul's eyes as he clenched
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  Speaker 2: his sword in his right hand. Saul raised his sword
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  Speaker 2: towards him and with a final push fell onto his blade.
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  Speaker 2: The dead king lay there motionless on the floor of
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  Speaker 2: the battlefield. Dirt and blood covered him. as the Philistines
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  Speaker 2: began to overtake the entire army. When the men of
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  Speaker 2: Israel saw that Saul and his sons had perished along
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  Speaker 2: with all the other soldiers, they fled. So the Philistines
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  Speaker 2: sauntered into the cities of Israel and lived among them.
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  Speaker 2: They cut up Saul and Jonathan's bodies and mounted them
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  Speaker 2: in the land of the Philistines as a symbol of victory.
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  Speaker 2: A few brave men stole away the body parts and
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  Speaker 2: buried them in Jebesh, but the Philistines still had power
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  Speaker 2: over much of Israel. Israel once again found themselves under
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  Speaker 2: the boot of another evil nation, yet God would not
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  Speaker 2: abandon them. As he had every time before, God would
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  Speaker 2: send a hero, a man of bravery, wisdom, and purity
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  Speaker 2: of heart. David, a shepherd from the town of Bethlehem,
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  Speaker 2: would rise up as a savior to the oppressed and
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  Speaker 2: enslaved people. an image that would echo throughout all history.
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  Speaker 3: Today's story begins on the battlefield. The Philistines are far
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  Speaker 3: too powerful for Israel's army and man after man falls
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  Speaker 3: dead in the fight. This was the battle that David
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  Speaker 3: narrowly avoided fighting in as God intervened to keep him
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  Speaker 3: from joining the Philistine army in battle. And this grace
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  Speaker 3: proves even greater as Jonathan, David's closest friends, one who's
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  Speaker 3: like a brother, falls to the Philistine swords. One can
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  Speaker 3: only imagine the guilt David would have felt had he
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  Speaker 3: been on the wrong side of this fight when Jonathan died.
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  Speaker 3: Jonathan's death reminds us that sin not only hurts the
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  Speaker 3: ones that commit them, Saul's rejection of God cost him
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  Speaker 3: the throne and ultimately his life, but it also cost
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  Speaker 3: his sons, including Jonathan, even though Jonathan had stood faithfully
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  Speaker 3: by David through it all. He had imagined ruling alongside
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  Speaker 3: of David, serving the man of God, chosen to lead Israel.
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  Speaker 3: But none of that would ever happen, all because of
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  Speaker 3: his father, Saul's unfaithfulness. But as we heard in yesterday's story,
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  Speaker 3: God had told Saul that he and his sons would
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  Speaker 3: die the very next day. Jonathan's death was just the beginning.
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  Speaker 3: As the battle went on, Saul was hit by an
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  Speaker 3: arrow and fell to the ground. He knew the end
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  Speaker 3: was near. Death had finally come for him. Surely in
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  Speaker 3: that moment he remembered many of the things that had
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  Speaker 3: led him to this point. How he had followed his
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  Speaker 3: own impulses and desires, rejecting God's rule in his life.
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  Speaker 3: He had no one to blame but himself. In a
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  Speaker 3: final act of pride, not wanting to be humiliated by
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  Speaker 3: the enemy, or maybe it was just the fear of
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  Speaker 3: torture that would befall him had he been captured, Saul
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  Speaker 3: asked his armor-bearer to kill him. But the young man
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  Speaker 3: would not strike the king dead. So Saul fell on
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  Speaker 3: his own sword, taking his life. His armor-bearer followed suit
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  Speaker 3: and died with Saul. The rest of Israel's army, seeing
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  Speaker 3: what had happened, fled along with the people living in
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  Speaker 3: the nearby. So the Philistines conquered the territory and lived
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  Speaker 3: in the cities. But they were not content with victory.
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  Speaker 3: They wanted to humiliate their foe. So they took the
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  Speaker 3: bodies of Saul and his sons and cut them up,
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  Speaker 3: displaying them as a trophy of their victory. But faithful
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  Speaker 3: Israelites stole the bodies and returned them to Jabesh, where
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  Speaker 3: they were buried. Israel lay in shambles under the cruel
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  Speaker 3: torture of the enemy, but God's faithfulness never wavered. His
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  Speaker 3: plans could not be stopped. And soon David would emerge
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  Speaker 3: as Savior to his people, rescuing them from the enemy
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  Speaker 3: and foreshadowing another David who would come one day at
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  Speaker 3: Bethlehem and then to Calvary and deliver us from the
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  Speaker 3: clutches of evil, the power of Satan, and give us
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  Speaker 3: eternal life. Dear Lord, thank you for your word today.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you for reminding us of the consequences of disobedience,
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  Speaker 3: but also of the grace that is supplied to all
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  Speaker 3: who look to you. May we look to you, Savior
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  Speaker 3: and Lord Jesus Christ, for our salvation, our deliverance, our strength,
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  Speaker 3: and our hope forever. Amen. Thank you for listening to
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  Speaker 3: today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas,
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  Speaker 3: and before we go, I want you to know that
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  Speaker 3: I would love to send you my daily devotional to
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  Speaker 3: give you fresh encouragement every single day. So visit jackgraham.org
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  Speaker 3: to sign up for your PowerPoint Today devotional. That's jackgraham.org.
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  Speaker 3: dot org.