David Flees from Saul 1 Samuel 21 : 1-23 & 28
Introduction
We have reached a real low point in our continuing saga of the life of Saul & Davivid as described in 1 Samuel.  Brian was able to lift our spirits with the wonderful inspiring story of Jonathan and his armour bearer.  Abby King also challenged us with what it means to be a Jonathan to a David.  To be a friend when encouragement is needed.  But it gets pretty tough today.
 
But do not let your hearts be troubled cos God has a message for us today which I am gonna give you up front. And that is WHAT IF? And we are going to dig into 1 Samuel today and find the gold that is a ‘What If’ word for us
 
We are looking at about three chapters in 1 Samuel 21-23 and that’s a long read so I am going to summarise and pick bits out as I do.
 
A bit of context, a bit of historical background.
 
I think we sometimes forget the historical situation in our focus on what God is saying to us and I believe he would want us to understand, the whole picture.
 
The nation of Israel at the time of Saul was a confederacy of tribes held together as has been said by the judges.  Both Brian and Jim Munson referred to the changing situation in the nations around Israel.
 
Chief amongst the threat were the Philistines but not the only threat.
 
We are talking about what we as the end of the Bronze age yep that kind of puts all this into context .
 
The Philistines had the new Weapon of mass destruction-  Steel weapons
 
Saul’s problems had become numerous.
He ruled over land that was amongst the most fertile in the region,
He was surrounded by enemies who had been ruled by Kings for longer and as a result had much better central govt control with standing armies and technologies such as chariots and steel weapons
He ruled a country that was not used to kingship and had many tribal factions.
 
He had his own recurring insecurities arising from his rejection by Samuel.
 
And then there was the problem of what to do about that son of Jesse- David the shepherd boy.
 
So what happens next?
Listen to Tim sharing the story on the audio to find out