Latest / Scripture Central / 1 Samuel 17 - 2 Samuel 7 I Rise of the House of David I Handmaiden, Harem & Heroine I Lynne Wilson

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1 Samuel 17 - 2 Samuel 7 I Rise of the House of David I Handmaiden, Harem & Heroine I Lynne Wilson · Scripture Central

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I know that there are wicked satanic spirits working on the
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earth, and that's one of the signs of the last days.
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Whoever can kill Goliath, King Saul is going to give them the
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greatest riches. They'll give him his daughter in
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marriage, and his whole household can be exempt from
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Texas. David's phenomenal faith comes
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forward and he says, you know, you come to me with a sword and
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a shield, and I come to you in the name of God.
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This passage has been misunderstood to communicate
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that a woman's presence was viewed as incompatible with the
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men's ritual of holiness. When Saul's own soldiers heard
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this command to go and take out the entire town, this this
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priestly city, they refused. They would not raise a sword
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against the Lord's priests. Three of her sons actually
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become military heroes under their uncle King David.
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You know, he's following this ancient pattern where the kings
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demonstrate their power by their large harems.
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Would you, as a widow now like to become my wife and listen to
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what she does? This is amazing.
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She bows down with her face on the ground and says hello.
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Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson, part of the team that wants to build
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enduring faith in Jesus Christ by illuminating and defending
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the Scriptures. And today, welcome back to the
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Old Testament. We're in First Samuel 17 all the
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way through Second Samuel 7, and we're looking specifically at
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the handmaidens and the harems and the heroines, and we've got
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a lot of those. Today we're going to look at the
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women who celebrate the conquering battles of Saul and
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King David. We're going to look at the
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Mother of David. We're going to look at the girls
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of Noah. We're going to get a wonderful
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Abigail again, briefly, and I know I'm the Jezreelite Davidde
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wife, as well as David sister Azuria, the witch of Endor.
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It's a fabulous section on these great women.
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We'll start out in chapter 17 of First Samuel.
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Do you remember Jesse has all these sons who were off a
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battle. And so he sends his youngest
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son, David, to take up some food and see how they're doing.
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And when he gets there, David hears this announcement from
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King Saul that whoever can kill Goliath, King Saul is going to
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give them the greatest, richest. They'll give him his daughter in
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marriage and his whole household can be exempt from Texas.
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Well, as you know, David has great faith.
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And as that Philistine giant comes down, it says 40 days.
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I don't know if that's literal or, or just meaning for a long
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period of time, But David's phenomenal faith comes forward
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and he says, you know, you come to me with a sword and a shield
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and I come to you in the next name of God of Israel.
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And it's a beautiful experience for the Israelites and it's
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tragic for the Philistines. Their hero is slain and they
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they depart. But after the battle is when the
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women come in. And this happens often times
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after the battle, but it's not always written up in Scriptures.
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But in this time, First Samuel 18, we learned about the
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celebrating women who are playing their instruments and
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singing. Saul has slain his thousands and
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David his 10s of thousands. Well, this public honor of
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David's victory over Goliath did not go well with our jealous
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king, and this spontaneous celebration actually caused a
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lot of problems, unfortunately. And Saul's jealousy began with
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this murderous obsession of David.
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And the text describes how these these honest women's praise of
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military achievements inadvertently really did trigger
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the King's descent, I think, into almost madness.
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And and so David is usually on the run, but he's still doing
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the work of God. He's still an anointed king.
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And as part of this tour of David's mighty men that are
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traveling with him, sort of like rebels, they are hungry and they
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go to where the Tabernacle is at Nob.
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Now, archaeologists don't know exactly where this is, but it's
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just probably close to north of Jerusalem, a few miles.
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And David's troop goes to visit the priest Ahimelech at the
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Tabernacle. And you know the the priest
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says, I, I, I don't want to give you this food just in case your
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men have been with women. We've got to keep you richly
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pure. Well, David says, no, when the
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men are with me, we are chased. There is there is no harlotry or
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anything else going on here. Well, that was enough that the
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priest said, OK, you can have this bread.
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Now. This is a delicate spot here.
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Because his men desperately needed food, the priest really
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was reluctant to give them the holy bread, just in case the men
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were not worthy to eat it. But even in the sacred
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Tabernacle, this unleavened loaf had recently been replaced,
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probably with the fresh bread. And so these older loaves were
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given to David and his men. Now, they were still holy and
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they still required reverence. And so the King James Version
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adds that David's men of war had been sexually absence for three
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days. Then.
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Now, that's not found in most translations, however, and it's
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not in some of the ancient Hebrew texts.
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So we really don't know what that period of time was, but
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this call for complete abstinence, it was very
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appropriate for the single men. Now, the married men, of course,
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if they've been away from from their wives during the time of
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war, they are having absence. The problem is this passage has
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been misunderstood to communicate that a woman's
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presence was viewed as incompatible with the men's
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ritual of holiness. The Law of Moses does not
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require that. However, even in legitimate
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marital relationships, Levitical purity of washing was required.
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And in a different interpretation of this story,
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Jesus actually cites this story to illustrate the human need
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could supersede the ritual requirements.
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Anyway, David receives the bread his men are fed and we have the
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tragic ending of the priest because when Saul found out that
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he had helped David and that he even allowed David to have the
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sword of Goliath that David had received after killing taking
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off Goliath's head, King Saul in one of his rages of of horror
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goes and kills everyone in this little town of Nob.
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The priests, they're women, they're children.
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It's absolutely tragic when Saul's own soldiers heard this
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command to go and take out the entire town this this priest
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city, they refused. They would not raise a sword
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against the Lord's priests. However, one of the groups that
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were fighting for Saul were not Israelites.
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They were Edomites dog and he executed 85 priests and
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massacred every person and animal in the city according to
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the First Samuel 22. So these women have nob died as
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innocent victims of Salt's paranoid rage.
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You know, their deaths just demonstrate how far a king had
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fallen from God's favor. You know, and I just have to
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step back and say the Lord is omniscient, but he gives all of
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us a chance. And Saul had the potential for
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greatness and for horror, and unfortunately he did not.
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He allowed these unhealthy things to take over, and he
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became a servant of the devil. In First Samuel 22, we have a
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reference to David's mother, which is so nice.
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We hear a lot about Jesse, his dad, but David wants to make
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sure that he has careful provision for his mother's
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safety. I just love this.
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So all these years that he's just a refugee and he's
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demonstrating his parental devotion even amid his own
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personal danger by prioritizing his mom's security, and he
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arranges with the king of the Moabites to take his mom.
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Now, I thought it was interesting that he goes to the
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Moabites because remember, David has a genetic tie to the
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Moabites through his great grandmother Ruth the Moabitus.
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So he goes there first Samuel, chapter 22, verse three.
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Let my father and my mother, I pray thee come forth and be with
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you till I know what God will do for me.
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Our next wonderful heroine is one of my absolute favorites,
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Abigail and as we look at First Samuel chapter 25 and then she's
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referred to multiple times Second Samuel first Chronicles.
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I have all these on my hand out she is her first husband is
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Nabel. He's a cableite.
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And after that she becomes King David's second wife or third
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wife. Her name likely comes from this
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Hebrew word that means father and rejoices.
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So my father is a joy or my father's exaltation.
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But her husband's name means fool or vile in Hebrew.
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But he's a very wealthy landowner.
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He's got all these herds, 3000 sheep, thousand goats.
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This is all in chapter 25. And he refuses to help David
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during the sheep shearing season.
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Now, this is a time when you're supposed to be very generous to
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all these wandering bands of warriors, and it's a social
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obligation to help people out. Also, David had been protecting
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Enabled's lands in and out of all of his battles, so not only
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was Nabal rude, but he was actually making a very dangerous
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breach in ancient Near Eastern hospitality customs.
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You know, this potentially was an act of treason against
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Israel's future king. I think it's interesting that
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Abigail wants to respond, and one of the servants comes and
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tells Abigail, which lets me know that the servants knew who
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had the clear head in the family.
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And she immediately gathers 200 loaves of bread, 2 skins of
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wine, 5 prepared sheep. I don't know how you can do that
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kind of thing immediately, but she has all this roasted grain,
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100 clusters of raisins, 200 cakes of figs, you know, just an
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enormous amount of food. She goes to David to restrain
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him and she gets there in time and effectively convinces him to
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save him from an act that I think would have compromised his
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moral claim to be a king. So David then moves on and
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Abigail goes back to her husband, but her husband only
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lives for 10 more days. We aren't told exactly the cause
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of the death except for the Lord took him.
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David then praises the Lord for keeping him from violence and
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for bringing Nabel's wickedness back on his own head, you know,
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but she he then sent messengers back to Abigail and said, would
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you as a widow now like to become my wife and listen to
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what she does. This is amazing.
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This is chapter 25 verse 41. She bows down with her face on
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the ground and says, I am your servant and I am ready to serve
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you and wash the feet of my Lord's servants.
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She is amazing. This is the MIV translation, you
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know. Her response was remarkable
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humility, especially for a woman with such high social and
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economic standing. So Abigail becomes his wife.
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Abigail travels with David as long as well as his other wife,
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Ahinanam. She's a Jezreelite now.
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Last week we learned about David as a young man marrying his
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teenage sweetheart, Michael Saltz younger daughter.
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When David's gone around to battles, remember, Saul took her
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and gave her to somebody else. And so they call Abigail the
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second wife and Anne Hanion the first wife.
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This Jezreelitis, although really it's now there's 3.
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When Abigail comes to be David's wife, she brings with her five
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maid servants. This is demonstrating both of
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her substantial wealth as well as her practical necessity of
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maintaining a noble woman's household.
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But within a few years Saul dies and David is made king in
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Hebron. So Abigail accompanies David
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there as well as his other wives, and Abigail bears David's
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second son there. His name is Chiliab, Second
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Samuel, chapter 3, verse 3. He's also called Daniel, by the
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way, in in chronicled. So I don't know if she has two
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sons or if they just mixed up this name.
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I don't. I don't know sometimes because
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throne names are different than the scribal variant or nickname.
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I don't know. But she is not known by her name
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for the rest of the Bible record, only as one of David's
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wives. From then on, as we leave
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Abigail and Hananon up in Hebron, we can go back to First
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Samuel 26 and read about David's sister, Zohuya.
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I don't know if she's older or younger, but we have her name
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mentioned multiple times. Remember, she grew up in
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Bethlehem. It's this tiny little pastoral
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town. She was probably just like
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everyone else there, a daughter of a shepherd.
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She would have worked with the sheep, spinning the wool, making
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cheese, you know, she most likely was also helping in the
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springtime and the lambing season.
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But her name is always attached to her children rather than her
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husband's because of her relationship to King David.
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And it happens, you know, a dozen times.
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Three of her sons actually become military heroes under
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their uncle King David. Now, since David is the youngest
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son, I don't know how far apart these uncles are with a large
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family. They could actually be the same
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age, but they might be younger. Zerui's three sons are Joab,
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this wonderful captain who's very fiercely loyal to his Uncle
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David, and then Abishai and Abashel.
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Now this youngest Abashel was very, very fast, it says as
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fleet footed as a wild gazelle. But in one of his escapades
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defending his uncle David, he is killed by Abner.
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That's second Samuel too. The next group of women is a
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tragic reference. This is in First Samuel chapter
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27 verse 9 and also verse 11 as David is raiding and going
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through amongst the Philistines and the Lord had told him to
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kill everyone and whether he's in the Girgasites or the
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Amalekites or whatever, on these raids these women are being
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killed as well and these unnamed women died in campaigns
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revealing the very harsh reality of of military at that time.
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The next woman in our chapters is when Saul is a very old man
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and he goes to visit the witch of Endor.
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Now I'm just going to call her the woman of Endor.
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I don't want to put that title on her, but she had a history of
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being some sort of a medium between seances and the other
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world. Now she's a very controversial
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figure in Israel. In fact, witches were denounced
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in the Law of Moses. And this is Exodus chapter 22.
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I don't know if you remember this in the NIV it reads do not
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allow a sorceress to live. And King Saul in his earlier
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days trying to obey God had previously cut off all those
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that had quote familiar spirits or Wizards out of the land.
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This is for Samuel 28. But he eliminated them until he
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desperately needed one. And then he starts looking for
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one because he's he can't get an answer from God.
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The text says he couldn't get an answer through dreams by the
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Urim nor by prophets. Now I want to explain some of
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these dreams are used by God and A and it's a source that the
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Israelites trusted. If God is going to speak to a
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new dream like he did to Joseph, like he did to Daniel, then we
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can trust him now. Obviously this is way before
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Daniel but dreams are a trusted medium now.
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The Urim we know from back in Exodus when the high priest was
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dressed in addition to the breastplate with the 12 Stones,
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there was a pouch where the Urim and Thummim 2 extra stones were
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kept. So Saul, I guess had approached
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the high priest and asked, I don't know, but no answer came
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to him. Now the last one that he tried
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was it says prophets. Now he's not talking to Samuel.
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Samuel said I will not speak to you again after his wickedness.
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This prophet that's mentioned there in chapter 28 verse 6
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refers to people who either have the the the gift of prophets
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prophecy or one that you know there's multiple prophets at the
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same time. It could also be one who's going
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to foretell of the future. Oftentimes in the Scripture,
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though, in the Bible, a prophet is one who has the gift of
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prophecy or the knowledge that Jehovah is their God.
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Now my question is because Samuel's not speaking to him, I
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don't know how many prophets of Jehovah he's going to.
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Is he going to a prophet of another God?
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You know, he's not in, he's not in his right mind at this time,
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but he finds this sorcerer and he or sorceress and he goes to
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her and says, I want you to call up Samuel.
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Now, the text is difficult to read, but humans do not conjure
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up the dead unless they are satanic spirits.
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But you can do not, you know, humans do not call up the dead
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who are servants of God. So this sorceress says she sees
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something, but everything she says that Samuel dictated this
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is he's already said before, he's already made these
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prophecies. This is for Samuel, chapter 12,
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chapter 13, chapter 15. You know, everything she said,
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he said, we already have recorded in the text.
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So Saul's paranoia may have led him to trust the woman to
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believe that she saw this. Or there is a counterfeit spirit
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that comes and just recites the things that had already been
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stated by the prophet of God. I know that there are wicked
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satanic spirits working on the earth and that's one of the
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signs of the last days. It's not only in the Book of
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Mormon, but it's in the Book of Revelation.
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It's in the it's in latter day prophecy.
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Wicked spirits are working on this earth.
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But we know that the prophet Samuel is not able to be called
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up by a wicked source, especially since he said, I will
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not speak to you Saul again. Whatever this witch or medium of
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Endor was able to say, Saul believed her.
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And even though these prophecies had already been given, now that
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he heard them again, he's absolutely devastated.
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You know, he prostrates himself on the ground.
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He's he. She realizes that he, whatever
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she said or did, has really taken him down.
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And so she kindly talks to him. And I want to read First Samuel
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2821 from the NIV. Look, your servant has obeyed
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you. I took my life into your hands
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and I did what you told me to do.
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Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some
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food that you can eat and get some strength and go on your
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way. But Saul would not eat.
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And well, fortunately his servants came and said, King,
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king, you got to listen to the lady.
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And finally, he does, with a little coercion.
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So she does her best. In fact, I think she goes to a
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lot of work. Did you see what it says?
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I think she spent hours of effort.
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She's got to butcher a calf. She's going to make the bread.
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Well, right there, that tells me these are hours of work to
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prepare this food. But she's able to prepare enough
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food for Saul and his men to eat before they leave.
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And that's the last we hear of her.
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Let's finish up First Samuel chapter 30 And as David is going
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about on his little raids, his wives and the wives of his
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military men are they're all in a camp and the enemy come and
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capture them and and take them away.
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So when David comes back at the end of his raid, their their
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tents are empty and he pursues them.
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They all chase them. They're able to redeem their
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wives and their captives. They go clear down South to
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Ziklag and they're able to take everything back that they had
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lost. It was a great success.
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But these daughters of the Ziklags then are also taken and
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these women are captive when these Amalekites had made this
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capture everyone. I really like the text.
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It says they were so worried about their women and their
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children that they wanted to join David on this.
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Even though they were exhausted. Everyone was grieving their sons
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and daughters. I just feel like these family
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ties were important to them anyway.
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They pursue, they defeat, and it just revealed how deeply they
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valued their families lives. Well, in second Samuel chapter
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one, verse 24, we learn that Saul dies and David calls upon
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all Israel's daughters to mourn for King Saul.
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So King Saul has been after him trying to kill him for years and
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his entire life has been at stake multiple times.
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And yet David's heart is so pure at this time that he says we
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need to mourn for this Last King.
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He's he's just amazing to me. To bite Saul's tragic end, David
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really honored him. His his heart is so pure.
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He he doesn't have malice and anger.
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And so this call to public mourning acknowledges the
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women's traditional role as chief mourners.
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And they are also called to mourn.
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Now in second Samuel chapter 4, when King Saul is killed and
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Jonathan, his son is killed, the nurse who's watching over
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Jonathan's children is very worried that something's going
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to happen to these children who now when David woman comes in,
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they may be killed. She scoops up the little 5 year
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old and as she's running out, an accident happens and the poor
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boy becomes lame. You know, I don't know if it's a
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compound fracture or what happened.
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But in her desperate attempt to save his life from this
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perceived danger, which was not a danger.
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I just think we can see her protective devotion to her young
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charge and her fear of this David that might eliminate
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Saul's remaining heirs. But her actions, I really feel
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we're driven by her loyalty and her instincts.
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Now, unfortunately, she inadvertently shaped this young
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man as life, and we'll learn a little bit more about him in
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Second Samuel 9, when King David actually shows great kindness to
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Jonathan Seed. For his sake, let's continue on.
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After the death of Saul in Second Samuel chapter 3, David
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moves up to Hebron and this becomes the area of his palace,
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and we have the listed names of his six wives.
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Then we talked earlier about his first wife Michael had been
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taken from him. So now we have Ahanyam.
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And then Abigail is the 2nd. And then #3 was a Princess and
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her father was a king of a local community.
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And this is a political marriage.
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And her name is Maha, and she has a son in Hebron.
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You might recognize his name, it is Absalon.
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I think there's an interesting correlation that she is from
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royalty. She's brought in for a political
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marriage. She may have been involved in
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her son wanting to be the heir. I don't know.
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We'll talk about her more next week.
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Then the fourth wife is Haga, the 5th wife is Habitat, and the
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6th is Igla. Now we only have two other named
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women of all these wives, but we do learn that when Saul dies,
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following this Near Eastern custom, the new king claimed his
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predecessors household as to legitimize his reign.
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Now these unnamed women represented God's generous
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provisions to David, making his idolatry with Bathsheba even
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more inexcusable. But we're not going to talk
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about that till next week. But we learned that David then
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begins to have more wives and concubines in Second Samuel
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chapter 5. So not only is he taking the
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wives of Saul, once he moves down to Jerusalem, he has more
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wives and sons and daughters, daughters in David's expanding
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harem. You know, he's following this
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ancient pattern where the kings demonstrate their power by their
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large harems. But as a member of the Church of
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Jesus Christ of Larry Saints, we learn another side of this.
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Not only is David having a very large posterity, but he is
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following the commandment of God to take these wives.
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That's section 132. However, the Torah back in
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Deuteronomy, if you remember this, they denounce the
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multiplication of wives. It says your king shall not
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multiply wives to himself so that his heart is not turned
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away. This is Deuteronomy 1717.
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And this happens in not only in David's family, but in the next
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family, especially in Solomon. You know, this foreshadows this
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family conflict and it it plagues David's household
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throughout the rest of his reign.
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And in Second Samuel chapter 6, we're told that David is able to
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conquer the Jezubite city, and he's going to bring the Ark of
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the Covenant and the Tabernacle here to Jerusalem.
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And it's going to become a home there.
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And he will then be gathering the supplies to build the temple
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that his son is allowed to build.
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But when the ark of the covenant comes in in second Samuel
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chapter 6, David goes out dancing all with all of his
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might before the Lord says in verse 14 in the BSB translation
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and 15 says while he and all the House of Israel brought in the
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ark of the Lord was shouting and the sounding of the ram's horns.
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This wonderful ceremony that women are taking part in it.
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And in verse 19, we're told that the women and the men, everyone
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receives this cake of bread, a good piece of flesh, a flagon of
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wine. You know, This deliberate
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inclusion of the women emphasizes their full
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participation in worship and in these public gatherings.
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This is very different than the New Testament, but in the Old
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Testament women were part of these public gatherings and
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worship, and I think it shows also their equal treatment to
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affirm the women's standing as members of the community, as
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they were entitled to have full participation.
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Now, one of the people who are watching this great celebration
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is David's first wife, Michael, Saul's younger daughter.
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Now, remember, she had been taken away from David, given to
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another man. David calls her back as his
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wife. But it's not the high school
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sweethearts anymore. You know, it's not these teenage
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single. She now has to come in to a
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polygamous situation and there's a strained relationship.
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And you can hear it in the text. She's very upset.
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And she accuses David of dancing without his elegant robes on in
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the eyes of the handmaidens and of his servants.
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Well, David doesn't respond very well either.
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He's he's offended as well. And he defended his inhibited
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worship by declaring that the servant women's would honor him
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for his humility before God. You know, I just wonder if some
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of his words and her words against him sort of harbor some
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of the different difficulty in the relationship now that it's
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not just one-on-one. But these are the handmaidens
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and the harem situation of our ending of First Samuel and
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beginning of Second Samuel. And next week we look at even
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more as we start looking at Bathsheba.
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So join us next week. And I hope that as you strive to
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understand these difficult stories in the Old Testament,
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you will call on the Lord and that you can be drawn closer to
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your God and your Messiah, as these women had to in the
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ancient world. And I am so grateful for a God
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who is aware of everyone, even me and you.
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In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.