Understand the KJV Bible

David was now son-in-law to King Saul, and one of the chief commanders in his army. It did not make his life with this unpredictable and unreliable king any easier - rather, matters grew much worse. Still for about 10 years, and with the strong support of Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, David managed to continue to serve Saul. Then, suddenly, matters grew much worse...

When David defeated Goliath, the result was an immediate change in his life. Before, David was an unknown shepherd boy; now in towns across Israel, women sang to celebrate his victory. Before, David would occasionally go to the palace, to play on his harp to help the king, when the evil spirit troubled him. Now Saul commanded that David must work for him constantly. He became the friend of Jonatha...

David had no experience in war, but he came to the battle with a deep and mature trust in God, formed during his work as a shepherd boy on the hills near Bethlehem. There, he had defeated enemies who were stronger than him: a lion and a bear. He was confident that the God who saved him then, would defend him now. It must have been difficult to reject the sword and the armour that King Saul offered...

David was never intended to fight in the battle against Goliath, the champion of the Philistine army. His three eldest brothers had joined Saul's army; but David was assigned a different task: to look after the family's sheep. However, the battle was slow to begin. For 40 days, Goliath taunted Israel's army. He demanded that they must find a man who dared fight against him, massive as...

One nation, two men anointed king. Saul is the people's choice, that is, the kind of king that the people wanted. A proud and fierce man, who battles for his authority and his country. But God's Spirit has left him, and an evil spirit troubles him. David is just a youngster, who must pass through many troubles before his rule begins - but he is God's choice, the man after God's own...

Amalek: a nation of desert robbers who attacked the weakest of Israel's people as Moses led them across the desert, and against whom God made an especially severe judgment. That judgment was not carried out until the rule of Saul, some 400 years later, by which time Amalek had become even worse, destroying and depopulating whole towns in Judah and Philistia. So God commanded Saul, as the capta...

After Jonathan, Saul's son, had acted bravely in great faith in God to rescue Israel from certain defeat, Israel's men had to save him from his father. The problem was an unwise oath that Saul had demanded that the army should swear when they went into battle. For Jonathan, an innocent mistake - he simply tasted a little honey - developed into a life-and-death matter. Saul tried to deal wi...

One of the greatest victories in war in the Bible was achieved by just two men: Jonathan and his armour-bearer, against a massive army of Philistines. What makes this battle astonishing is the great faith of Jonathan, the eldest son of King Saul. Saul, without faith and leading just 600 men, thought that disaster was inevitable. Jonathan however didn't think that small numbers were any limitat...

For seven days, Saul waited at Gilgal. His enemy, the Philistines, was gathering a massive army, and Saul's men were afraid. This time, Saul had failed to gather Israel's men to defend their country, and the small group of soldiers with him were afraid. But God had promised that after 7 days, Samuel would come to offer sacrifices and to direct Saul what to do. When just 600 men remained with Saul,...

Now that Saul had established his authority as king, Samuel the prophet retired. Of course, he did not retire from his calling as a prophet: he would continue to pray for the people and teach them the ways of God. He retired from his work as leader of his nation, and therefore from many of his public activities. But God would still have important work for Samuel to do. The people had been wrong to...

After Saul became king, he simply returned to his work on his father's farm. It seemed as if nothing had happened; some doubted that he could ever achieve anything as king. But when King Nahash of Ammon threatened the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, Saul did not hesitate. Saul's anger against this cruel enemy was as great as his zeal on behalf of Israel. He demanded that every one of Israel's men mu...

There needed to be a great change in the character of Saul to make him king. Saul had never even led his own family group, and certainly not a nation or its army. He needed to gain a new kind of maturity, a real zeal and passion for the people whom he would lead, and a powerful determination to act against its fierce enemies. So God needed to work powerfully in Saul's life before he ever could mat...

Our first sight of Saul is full of contradictions. Here is a tall and impressive man, but yet to find his purpose in life. He is the man whom God has selected to be the people's choice for king: a powerful and fierce man who, so far, has shown no power whatever. He is not important in the army, and not even the head of his own family. He is already in his 40s, but still seems immature. And he care...

Samuel ruled over Israel as its prophet-judge for many years. However, that time of righteous and good leadership would end in failure. When Samuel's sons used their power dishonestly, the elders of the nation felt they could no longer trust God to look after their nation. Instead, they wanted a powerful and fierce king to rule over them, and to lead them in their battles. In short, they wanted to...

Ebenezer, or the stone of help, marked Samuel's testimony: Hitherto hath the LORD helped us. That was the name of the memorial stone that Samuel set up to commemorate a truly great deliverance. Israel's people, weak from a day of fasting and repentance, subdued the powerful army of Philistia, which had ruled over them for the last 20 years. It us not a victory brought about by military might, but...

The seven months that the ark was among the Philistines, were terrible months of plague, and the crops failed. In the end, in desperation, the people pleaded with their rulers to send this most sacred object back to Israel. But how should it be returned? The magicians and priests met in council together, and gave their advice. They wanted to know whether the true God was really acting in judgment...

The Philistines saw the ark of the covenant as their prize for success in battle. This gold-covered box was sacred to the God of Israel, and, defeating Israel, they believed that they had also defeated Israel's God. So, they offered the ark to their false god, called Dagon. But they had not even begun to know the power of the true God, firstly against their false gods, and then against their crops...

Some events change everything. Israel's defeat against the Philistines was inevitably a disaster. It became so much worse because, in a moment of great folly, they had taken into battle the ark of the covenant, their most sacred object, which symbolised God's presence among them - and their enemies had captured it. But for young Samuel, this was the fulfilment of his prophecy against the leaders o...

Still a boy, Samuel did not expect to hear the call of God or to become a prophet. He saw himself as just a servant to Eli, the blind chief priest who had allowed so many wrong things to happen at God's house, the tabernacle. Yet it was Eli who first taught the young Samuel to recognise God's voice. Samuel must respond to God and recognise himself as God's servant, even as he had until now thought...

Samuel began his ministry as a child, serving at the tabernacle, the sacred tent of God that had stood in Shiloh, as the sole place of worship of the true God, for 400 years. But much was wrong with the ministry there. The priests were evil men, stealing from the people's gifts to God, and involved in sexual sin. God sent a prophet to declare his judgment against the family of the chief priests, a...

In fulfilment of her vow, Hannah handed her young son Samuel over to work for God for his whole life. On that day, Hannah prayed, and as the Holy Spirit came upon her, she began to speak one of the greatest prophecies in the Bible, declaring how God would completely change her nation's situation and send his Anointed King, the Messiah. Hannah's prophecy was the inspiration behind the great song of...

Hannah, a woman without children, was constantly taunted by her husband's second wife. In that situation, she began to pray and resolved that, if God gave her a son, she would dedicate him to work for God for his whole life. Such was the pious mother of Samuel the prophet, who herself, as we shall discover in chapter 2, was a prophetess.

Living in a lawless age, Boaz cared about God's law. He arranged for Bethlehem's leaders to gather as a court of law, to decide who would redeem Elimelech's family and therefore, marry Ruth. So Ruth's marriage to Boaz became an important public occasion, at which the people acknowledged her great step of faith in joining Israel's people to revive one of its ancient families - a...

Desiring to become Boaz's wife, but fearful that he would never agree to marry her publicly, Ruth goes to Boaz late at night. When he wakes, she urges him to accept her as his wife, and so to have a child who will continue the family of her deceased husband. God's law has given her the right to request this from the closest relative of her late husband. However, there is a problem. Boaz ex...

Arriving in Bethlehem, Ruth decides to 'glean' for food: as a very poor person, God's law allows her to collect leftover grain from the harvest fields. By a little miracle, she chooses the field of Boaz, a relative of her deceased husband who shows her great kindness.