Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / February 15 - 1 Samuel 31

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February 15 - 1 Samuel 31 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's shown here. It's Thursday, it's the 15th of
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  February. And we have reached the last
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  chapter of this book of First Samuel.
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  And here we are at the end of this little part of our journey.
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  And I am just once again reminded how grateful I am that
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  you each day continue to choose to take a moment out of your
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  day, to open up God's Word with me and go on this journey of
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  hearing more about what our God has to share with us in His
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  living word. Thank you, friends.
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  You really are a blessing to me. And I am so delighted that I can
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  play a small part in your days as we go about this lives of
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  ours. And today's a particularly
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  interesting day because, well, today we're going to read about
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  the death of Saul and life and death in the Bible is just
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  presented in such a matter of fact way so often where the the
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  scope of the narrative of the Bible is so much bigger than
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  each individual life that is included in it.
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  And it reminds me that my life too is but a small thing.
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  And we need to make each day count.
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  And each day that I'm able to share this journey with you is a
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  good day in my books. So thank you.
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  Thank you for being here with me today as we continue this
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  journey together. So let's do just that.
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  Let us continue this journey. Let us wrap up this book of
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  First Samuel as we read together.
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  Chapter 31 Now the Philistines attacked
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  Israel and the men of Israel fled before them.
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  Many were slaughtered on the slopes of Mount Gilboa.
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  The Philistines closed in on Saul and his sons, and they
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  killed three of his sounds, Jonathan Abinadab and Mel Kisha.
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  The fighting grew very fierce around Saul, and the Philistine
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  Archers caught up with him and wounded him severely.
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  Soul groaned to his armour bearer.
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  Take your sword and kill me before these Pagan Philistines
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  come to run me through and Taunton torture me.
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  But his armour bearer was afraid and would not do it.
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  So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
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  When his armour bearer realised that Saul was dead, he fell on
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  his own sword and died beside the king.
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  O Saul, his three sons, his armour bearer, and his troops
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  all died together that same day. When the Israelites on the other
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  side of the Jezreel Valley and beyond the Jordan saw that the
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  Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead,
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  they abandoned their towns and fled.
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  So the Philistines moved in and occupied their towns.
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  The next day, when the Philistines went out to strip
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  the dead, they found the bodies of Saul and his three sons on
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  Mount Gilboa. So they cut off Saw's head and
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  stripped off his armour. Then they proclaim the good news
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  of Saul's death in their Pagan temple, and to the people
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  throughout the land of Philistia.
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  They placed his armour in the temple of the Ashtoreth.
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  Had they fastened his body to the wall of the city of
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  Bethshan? But when the people of Jabesh
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  Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
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  all their mighty warriors travelled through the night to
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  Bethshan and took the bodies of Saul and his sons down from the
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  wall. They brought them to Jabish,
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  where they burned the bodies. Then they took their bones and
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  buried them beneath the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted
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  for seven days. Load After everything that Saul
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  had done, it's so easy for us to write him off.
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  But here we read of the tenderness and the loyalty that
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  you inspire your people to have to their king and his sons.
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  Lord, soften our hearts so that we too can, instead of writing
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  people off, can hold true with tenderness and kindness to them
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  that we can be your presence. When everyone else is writing
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  someone off because of something they've done or something, they
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  continue to do that. You shape our heart to be like
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  yours, our God of second chances and third chances and fourth
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  chances and so on. That's the only reason that we
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  are still able to be your disciples is because you give us
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  so many chances. So help us to be more like the
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  father of the prodigal son who throws his arms wide open and
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  welcomes again and again and again, rather than that heart
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  hardened older brother who's just so embittered by the
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  injustices that he sees. We offer ourselves to you as a
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  living sacrifice to be used and shaped as your beloved agents in
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  the world. We love you and we praise you
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  and we pray all of these things in your name, Jesus.
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  Amen.