The Good Book Club: Week 19
The fall of Saul, the rise of David, and the battle with Goliath
This Week
We are reading:
1 Samuel 11-31
Psalms 54, 57, 59, 142, 63, 56, 34
Summary
This is a crazy week of readings — we get to witness a high-octane game of cat and mouse as we finish 1 Samuel, and we finally catch up to the primary author of the Psalms.
Saul becomes Israel’s first king, chosen by God, anointed and tall and promising — and he is exactly the kind of king the Israelites deserve, tbh. He starts out with genuine victories and potential, but pride and fear chip away at him until there’s almost nothing left of who he was supposed to be.
And running alongside this disintegration is the redemptive story of the rise of David as he navigates evolving identities — shepherd, musician, giant-killer, fugitive. He is impossible not to root for, and at this point in the Bible, we really need and deserve a hero.
The Psalms woven into this week’s readings are on point, traditionally attributed to David during the very events we’re reading about. You can feel David’s simultaneous fear and trust in the Lord palpably through these Psalms.
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Here is the daily breakdown from our annual plan:
Day 124 — Monday, 5/4 — 1 Samuel 11-13, Psalm 54
Day 125 — Tuesday, 5/5 — 1 Samuel 14-16, Psalm 57
Day 126 — Wednesday, 5/6 — 1 Samuel 17-19, Psalm 59
Day 127 — Thursday, 5/7 — 1 Samuel 20-22, Psalm 142
Day 128 — Friday, 5/8 — 1 Samuel 23-25, Psalm 63
Day 129 — Saturday, 5/9 — 1 Samuel 26-28, Psalm 56
Day 130 — Sunday, 5/10 — 1 Samuel 29-31, Psalm 34
Day 124 — Monday, 5/4 — 1 Samuel 11-13, Psalm 54
Saul rallies Israel to rescue the city of Jabesh-Gilead from the Ammonite king Nahash — a genuine military victory that consolidates his kingship. At this point, he is functioning exactly as God intended. Will it last?!
Samuel gives his farewell address as judge, directly reminding and warning the people that wanting a king was a rejection of God’s direct leadership. Uh oh.
The cracks begin to show: Saul grows impatient waiting for Samuel before battle and offers the burnt sacrifice himself — something he had no authority to do. Samuel arrives moments later. “What have you done?”
Samuel tells Saul his kingdom will not endure.
Day 125 — Tuesday, 5/5 — 1 Samuel 14-16, Psalm 57
Saul’s son, Jonathan, pulls off a solo attack on the Philistines that routes the whole enemy army. He didn’t ask his father’s permission, but God honored the faith.
Saul, meanwhile, makes a rash oath that no one should eat until evening, nearly getting Jonathan executed for eating honey he didn’t know was off-limits, and is only stopped by the people intervening.
Once again the Israelites refuse to honor God’s commands to destroy everyone/everything when Saul wins the battle against the Amekalites but spares the king Agag and keeps the best livestock. When confronted, Sau insists he was going to sacrifice them.
God rejects Saul as the King of Israel and Samuel anoints David as the next king of Israel. David plays the harp to soothe Saul as a tormenting spirit overcomes him.
We don’t talk about the daily Psalms/Proverbs readings enough, but all of this week’s Psalms are likely written by David. Psalm 57 is attributed to David as he’s hiding in a cave — an event we’re getting to a little later this week.
Day 126 — Wednesday, 5/6 — 1 Samuel 17-19, Psalm 59
Ah, the Goliath story. David beats Goliath, a giant, and it’s one of the most famous Bible stories, and maybe the umpteenth time giants are mentioned, and people still think giants are mythological.
Saul elevates David in the aftermath, he becomes friends with his son, Jonathan, and his status as a rising Israelite celebrity pushes Saul’s affection into jealousy and then rage.
1 Samuel 18 reads like a twisted fairy tale. Saul, seeing an opportunity to put David in harm’s way, offers to marry him off to his daughter for the price of 100 Philistine foreskins. Much to his chagrin, David returns unscathed with 200 foreskins.
Saul tries to kill David and his son, Jonathan, warns him, and he escapes. He tries to kill him again and his daughter, David’s wife, Michal, helps David escape again.
The Psalms we are reading this week are written by David mostly in exile, as he flees the growing rage of Saul
Day 127 — Thursday, 5/7 — 1 Samuel 20-22, Psalm 142
Jonathan learns that Saul does, indeed, intent to kill David
David, now a fugitive, shows up in Nob and lies to the priest Ahimelech about his mission, gets the consecrated showbread and Goliath’s sword.
David gathers a ragtag band of men and becomes their leader. The Saul/David story continues to sound like a Fractured Fairy Tale.
Psalm 142 is David in a cave, with no one left.
Day 128 — Friday, 5/8 — 1 Samuel 23-25, Psalm 63
David keeps fighting the Philistines even while fleeing Saul, protecting Israelite cities while he’s technically a wanted man simply because he is a man of God and it’s the right thing to do.
Saul pursues David relentlessly through the wilderness, and one day, he even retreats into a cave that David and his men are already in, further back. David’s men whisper that God has delivered Saul into his hands, but David refuses to harm him because he has been anointed by the Lord.
Nabal (a name that means fool) insults David’s men and David is ready to kill him, when Nabal’s wife, Abigail, rides out to intercept him with food. She basically talks him down from a massacre and reminds him of who he is and who he’s going to be.
Nabal dies shortly after of a stroke, and David marries Abigail.
Day 129 — Saturday, 5/9 — 1 Samuel 26-28, Psalm 56
David again has an opportunity to kill Saul and doesn’t take it.
Running out of options and safety in Israelite territory, David defects to the Philistines, raiding enemy towns while pretending to raid Israelite ones.
Saul, desperate before a battle he already knows he’s going to lose, visits the Witch of Endor and asks her to conjure Samuel’s spirit. This does not bode well for Saul.
Day 130 — Sunday, 5/10 — 1 Samuel 29-31, Psalm 34
The Philistine commanders don’t trust David marching with them into battle against Israel and send him back. David and his men return to Ziklag to find it burned and their families taken captive by the Amalekites. His own men speak of stoning him.
David asks the Lord if he should pursue the Amalekites and get the wives, children, and stuff back, God says yes, and David and his men pursue and get everything back.
Meanwhile, in battle: the Philistines are closing in and, rather than die at the hands of “these pagan Philistines,” Saul falls on his own sword and dies.
Psalm 34 is David’s song of deliverance, ending the week on a sweet note.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:18
Don’t forget to share your thoughts on the week’s readings below and in the weekly chat!