“How is this possible?” Shaul, king of Israel, was not pleased. The question, directed at Abner, his chief general, was not one that could be easily answered, due to the fact that an honest answer would make the king even more angry. Abner shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. He glanced…
Yakob ben Ibrahim trudged along the dusty road together with the roughly two hundred fighting men who made up the cohort under the command of the young Judean named David. Despite the heat of the day and the exhaustion from their exploits of the past few days, the men were in a buoyant mood. Their…
Yakob ben Ibrahim, of the tribe of Benjamin, stood clutching his spear and watching the scene unfolding before him, his heart in the pit of his stomach. Two armies were drawn up against each other in a wide valley. Between them, a wiry wisp of an adolescent boy strode with grim determination towards the enemy…
Shaul, king over the twelve tribes of Israel, was in a royal funk. He sat…or rather slouched…on his throne, head on his chest, mumbling incoherently. His attendants and officials had long-since learned that, when he got into one of his moods, it was best not to bother him. For if there was anything worse than…
David doesn’t break stride as he runs up the last rise, at the top of which stands his family’s home. Chasing sheep all over the hills surrounding Beit Lechem has built up his endurance to the point where he hasn’t needed to stop once since leaving the sheep in the care of his friend. Even…
Sh’muel leaned on his staff and gazed at the gently-sloping, grass-covered hill in the distance. A group of people stood nearby: a local sheep farmer named Jesse with seven of his strapping sons all seeming somewhat confused, a few of the prominent citizens of Beit-Lechem with anxious looks on their faces, some curious onlookers. Sh’muel…
The young man, barely out of his teens, made himself busy at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. There was a heavy tension in the air, a sense of dread that nobody could shake. At the entrance to the common sacrifice area, a corpulent priest sat on a wooden stool. Eli had been a…
As the sun creeps slowly towards its apex above the Judean countryside, a scrawny young boy of about fifteen stands on an outcropping of rock that affords him a commanding view of his surroundings. Despite his tender years his complexion and physical appearance belie a lifetime of living outdoors. As he steps from one rock…
The elderly prophet pauses on the dusty road that winds its way through the rock-strewn landscape. The men who accompany him – one leading a heifer, another carrying supplies that include, significantly, oil for anointing – stop and wait for him to catch his breath. Leaning on his staff, he raises his bearded, bushy-eyed face…
As we prepare to go in-depth into the life of the biblical David we are taking some time to set up some essential background. Last week we started by looking into the life of the founder of the Israelite tribe into which David was born, Judah. If you haven’t read that yet, I would highly…