1 Samuel part 2

After the Lord had rejected Saul as king, He spoke to Samuel and told him to go anoint a new king.  Samuel was afraid of Saul because he was still on the throne, but followed the Lord's instructions.  Samuel went to Jesse to choose from among is eight sons.  All the sons were brought before Samuel starting with the oldest, but it was David, the youngest, who the Lord had intended to be king.  When Samuel anointed David, "the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward."

Even though David had been anointed, Saul still sat on the throne and was recognized as the king.  David was actually brought into the service of the king for his harp playing skills.  Then David happens to visit his brothers while they are battling the Philistines and shows his bravery by defeating the giant Goliath.  Jonathan and David became friends... such good friends that their souls were knit together.  David began to experience much success, and Saul began to experience much jealousy of him.

David married Saul's daughter, Michal, and then Saul began trying to kill David.  Jonathan helps David escape from his father, and he runs to a cave for safety.  Then Saul continues to pursue David, but on two occasions, David spares Saul's life.

There was a man named Nabal, who had a wife named Abigail.  David came to Nabal during a feast time and asked him to provide food and let them join the feast, but Nabal was not a good man and refused.  David was ready to go back and kill his household, but Abigail heard of what her husband had done and quickly went to David and his men with much food and reverence for the king.  Because of her act, she saved David from the bloodguilt of killing unnecessarily.  Very soon after this, Nabal died and David took Abigail as his wife.

Out of fear for Saul, David flees to the land of the Philistines and is taken in by a man named Achish gave him a place to stay.  Saul was desperate to know what to do, so he visited a medium to call up Samuel from the dead and ask his advice.  Samuel tells Saul that the words he had already spoken were true- the kingdom would not be his because he did not follow the Lord.  Meanwhile, the Philistines do not like that David is living in their land even though Achish tries to defend him.  The Amalekites capture the wives of David and his men from the city while he is gone.  David uses the ephod to ask the Lord whether or not to pursue these men and overtake them, and God tells him to go because he will have victory.  They overtake the captors and take back all that was theirs so that nothing was missing.  Some of the men did not go to the battle and there was question about whether or not they should receive any of the spoils, but David made sure that everyone received his share.  Then, Saul was killed in a battle with the Philistines.  They took his body and his three sons bodies and put them on the wall of their city. The valiant men of Israel went to took them down to honor them.  And this is the end of 1 Samuel.

I know this is mostly an overview and very little of my own thoughts, but with me being this far behind it is good for me to simply recall the details of what I have read.  I love knowing the history of God's people and the lessons we can learn from them.  I'm still trying to catch up... I am currently reading in 1 Kings!  I'm so thankful the Lord has called me to this year long process of reading His word, and I want to be found faithful!