The Hey Eddy! Podcast

In this episode, Cousin Michael gently walks kids through 1 Samuel 31, where King Saul’s story comes to its sad end on Mount Gilboa. As the Philistines overwhelm Israel’s army, Saul’s sons, including David’s faithful friend Jonathan, are killed. Badly wounded by archers, Saul dies by his own sword, and everything Samuel predicted comes true. Israelites abandon their towns, and the Philistines mock...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 29–30, where God rescues David twice. First, as David marches with the Philistine army toward a battle against his own people, the other Philistine commanders refuse to trust him, so Achish sends him home, freeing David from a trap he couldn’t escape himself. But David returns to find Ziklag burned and every wife and child taken captive b...

In this episode, Cousin Michael carefully walks kids through 1 Samuel 28:3–25, one of the Bible's spookiest and saddest stories. With Samuel dead and a massive Philistine army gathered, a terrified Saul asks God for guidance, but God stays silent after years of Saul's refusal to truly repent. Desperate, Saul does the very thing he once banned: he disguises himself, sneaks through enemy lines, and...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 27:1–28:2, where an exhausted David makes a decision based on fear instead of faith. Instead of asking God, David "thought to himself" that Saul would eventually kill him, so he fled with his six hundred men to King Achish in the Philistine city of Gath. Saul stopped chasing him, but David had left the Promised Land and placed himself und...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 26, where Saul breaks his promise and hunts David again with three thousand soldiers after the Ziphites betray David a second time. Under cover of darkness, David and his nephew Abishai sneak into the center of Saul's camp, possible only because God has put the whole army into a deep sleep. Abishai begs to pin Saul to the ground with his...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 25, which opens with the death of the prophet Samuel. David then asks a wealthy man named Nabal, whose name means "fool," for a share of food after protecting his shepherds and flocks in the wilderness. Nabal rudely insults David, and David, blinded by anger, straps on his sword and marches four hundred men toward Nabal's house, vowing to...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 24, where Saul hunts David with three thousand soldiers near En Gedi. In a stunning coincidence, Saul steps alone into the very cave where David and his men are hiding. David's men urge him to kill Saul, insisting God has handed him over, but David only cuts off a corner of Saul's robe and even feels guilty about that, refusing to harm "t...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 23, where David, still on the run, does the job Saul should be doing by rescuing the town of Keilah from Philistine raiders. Using the ephod the priest Abiathar brought, David asks God for guidance and learns that the very people he saved will hand him over to Saul, so he escapes before Saul can trap him inside the city walls. Day after d...

In this episode, Cousin Michael gently walks kids through 1 Samuel 22, one of the Bible's darkest chapters. David hides in the cave of Adullam, where his family and four hundred distressed, indebted, and discontented men gather around him as their leader. He takes his aging parents to safety in Moab, thanks to his great-grandmother Ruth's Moabite roots, then obeys the prophet Gad's call to return...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 21, where David, alone, hungry, and unarmed after saying goodbye to Jonathan, flees for his life. He goes to the priest Ahimelech at Nob and tells a half-truth about being on a secret mission for the king. Ahimelech gives him the holy bread of the Presence, a moment Jesus later pointed to when he taught that people matter more than ritual...

In this episode, Cousin Michael tells the story of David and Jonathan from 1 Samuel 20, the greatest friendship in the Bible. With Saul trying to kill David, the two friends devise a test: David will skip the New Moon feast, and Saul’s reaction will reveal his intentions. Jonathan, the crown prince, acknowledges that God has chosen David as the next king, and the two make a covenant before the Lor...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 19, where David narrowly escapes Saul's murderous plans three times in one chapter. First, Jonathan convinces Saul to spare David and Saul swears an oath—but soon breaks it by hurling a spear at David while he plays the harp, and David dodges just in time. Second, Saul sends soldiers to surround David's house, but his wife Michal lowers h...

In this episode, Cousin Michael explores 1 Samuel 18, where David’s victory over Goliath makes him a national hero. Jonathan, the crown prince, forms an instant friendship with David, sealing it with a covenant and giving him his royal robe and weapons. But when the women sing that Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands, Saul’s jealousy takes over. He hurls his spear at David twi...

In this episode, Cousin Michael covers 1 Samuel 17:48–58, where the stone finally flies. David sheds Saul’s ill-fitting armor, grabs five smooth stones and his sling, and runs straight at the giant while everyone else has been running away for forty days. One stone sinks into Goliath’s forehead and the giant crashes facedown into the dirt. David then uses Goliath’s own sword to cut off his head, f...

In this episode, Cousin Michael covers 1 Samuel 17:31–47, where David volunteers to fight the giant and reveals his shepherd’s secret. He tells Saul how God delivered him from a lion and a bear while protecting his father’s sheep, and declares that the same God will deliver him from Goliath. Saul dresses David in royal armor, but David can barely walk in it and takes it off—he won’t win by out-gig...

In this episode, Cousin Michael sets the scene from 1 Samuel 17:1–30. The Philistine and Israelite armies face off across the Valley of Elah, and every morning and evening for forty days, the nine-foot-tall giant Goliath marches out in full bronze armor to mock Israel and challenge them to send a champion. Every soldier, including King Saul, is terrified. Meanwhile, young David arrives at camp on...

In this episode, Cousin Michael guides kids through 1 Samuel 16, where God sends Samuel on a secret mission to anoint a new king from among Jesse's sons in Bethlehem. When the tall, impressive eldest son Eliab steps forward, Samuel thinks he's found the one—but God delivers the chapter's key lesson: "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." Seven sons pass before Samu...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 15, where God gives Saul a clear command to completely destroy the Amalekites and everything they own. Saul wins the battle but keeps the Amalekite king Agag alive and spares the best sheep and cattle, destroying only the worthless stuff. When Samuel arrives, Saul cheerfully claims he obeyed—until Samuel asks why he hears sheep bleating a...

In this episode, Cousin Michael takes kids through 1 Samuel 14, where Jonathan and his armor-bearer secretly slip away from Saul's paralyzed army to attack a Philistine outpost, declaring, "Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." They climb a steep cliff on hands and feet, strike down about twenty soldiers, and God sends a massive earthquake and panic that throws the e...

In this episode, Cousin Michael walks kids through 1 Samuel 13, where King Saul faces a massive Philistine army and a shrinking force of terrified soldiers. Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days at Gilgal for him to come and offer sacrifices, but as the days pass and soldiers desert, Saul panics and offers the sacrifice himself. The moment he finishes, Samuel arrives and delivers a devastating v...

In this episode, Cousin Michael guides kids through 1 Samuel 12, where the aging prophet Samuel delivers his farewell speech to Israel. He first puts himself on trial, and no one can find a single fault in his lifelong leadership. Then he confronts Israel with their history—every time they forgot God, He let enemies defeat them, and every time they cried out, He sent a rescuer. But this time, inst...

In this episode, the cruel Ammonite king Nahash surrounds the town of Jabesh Gilead and threatens to gouge out every man’s right eye. When the desperate news reaches Saul’s hometown, the Spirit of God comes upon Saul in power, transforming the shy farmer who once hid in the luggage into a bold warrior-king. He rallies all Israel by cutting up his oxen and sending the pieces throughout the land, an...

In 1 Samuel 10:17-27, Samuel gathers all Israel at Mizpah for a national assembly to publicly reveal their new king. But first, he reminds them of the hard truth: by demanding a king, they had rejected God who had always saved them. Then Samuel uses lots to narrow down God’s choice—tribe by tribe, clan by clan, family by family—until Saul son of Kish is chosen. But when they look for Saul, he’s no...

In 1 Samuel 9:1–10:16, a tall, handsome young man named Saul is sent by his father to find some lost donkeys. After three days of searching with no success, his servant suggests consulting a nearby prophet—who turns out to be Samuel. What Saul doesn't know is that God told Samuel the day before, "Tomorrow I will send you a man from Benjamin. Anoint him as leader over my people." When Saul arrives,...

In this episode, Cousin Michael guides kids through 1 Samuel 7:2–17, where Israel finally comes back to God with their whole hearts after twenty years of half-hearted faith. Samuel challenges the people to get rid of their foreign idols and serve God alone—and they do. At a gathering in Mizpah, Israel pours out water, fasts, and confesses their sin. But when the Philistines hear about the assembly...