Word & the Wild

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This is Word and the Wild. It's a one year Bible adventure with friends, and my name is Owen. I'm your host and your guide on this adventure as together. We're on a 12 month journey as a podcasts plus community, where we read the Bible for ourselves, but not by ourselves. We're here in week 16, my friend, and this week Saul and David.

It's all about to break loose between these two iconic characters in our story. And what's the final straw? I. That's where we're headed this week. So hello and welcome. Rolling through this journey together where we do much more than just recap, bite-sized bits of the Bible. Now this is a freewheeling walk where we watch the story of the Bible unfold, like the epic movie that it is, and so subscribe here on your favorite podcast platform.

And share it with a friend. Get 'em to join us. It's fun. And I wanna say a special welcome to our word in the Wild Plus community members. It's your support gang that's keeping this nonprofit endeavor alive and well, making space for all of us on this Bible reading adventure. As part of the community, they enjoy access to private, safe online space where no honest question is a dumb question along with weekly livestream, q and a, bonus content interactions, and even some livestream teaching gatherings from yours truly.

So all that is available. And if you're interested in it sounds like something you'd like to be part of, then just check out how to become a member of the Word and the Wild Plus community for yourself. It's easy. All the details are in the show notes or over at Word and the wild.com. All right. With that my friend, let's pivot the conversation toward popcorn worthy, binge worthy adventure between Saul and David.

That's what is ahead for us this week, so buckle up. Here we go.

Now as we step into week 16, the pressure in this relationship between King Saul and David is about to bust a gasket. But before we sat out on the trail this week and see what happens, let's take a look back real quick at what got us to the point we're standing in right now. Now, one reason there's so much stress in this relationship between Saul and David is that there are some large scale factors putting pressure on the nation of Israel as a whole.

You've got some external factors and some internal factors. Okay, so this is kind of backstory here. Let's talk about those external factors that are putting pressure into the story. For much of the Saul David story arc. Those pressures are coming from a powerful warlike group of people called the Philistines.

That comes up often in the story. Now, best we can tell the Philistines land along the southern coast of Canaan, right about the same time that the Israelites also arrive in the Promised Land. And so there's a, there's actually a good chance that the Philistines origin story, like their people is that they are from ancient Greek territory and that they are a tribe of ancient Greek warriors who got displaced from their homeland through a number of factors.

So they end up showing up in Canaan. They've got military training, they've got high tech weapons, and they're looking for a fight. When we say high tech weapons, we're talking about their ability to make iron weapons while the rest of the people in Canaan don't have that technology yet. Meanwhile, the Israelites, they're farmers and shepherds for the most part.

And so on paper, they are simply no match for the Philistines. I mean, you've got guys like s Samson, even Samuel they intervene for a time. But in the end, the Israelites feel the need for a unifying force internally. A and they need a, they, they feel like they need a single king, a, a, a single leader to lead them.

And that's how we get Saul. Okay, Saul. Tall, rich, popular, a natural choice for King. Yeah, but there's just, there's a problem that pops up more on that in a minute. Okay. First, let's keep talking about the factors at play in the relationship between David and Saul. External factor, the Philistines.

Internal factor....

Well, you've got the first thing, you've got some internal politics. In Israel itself, I mean, the Israelites wanted a king to unify them as a nation because they weren't unified as a nation, and the situation was scattered. And it was, it was tribal. I mean it was very much, everyone's in a choose your own adventure type of a situation.

And we saw that play out in the book of judges and that part of the story in a major way. And it's still a major dynamic that a guy like Saul has to deal with. Now, Saul does manage to pretty quickly rally at least 10 of the tribes of Israel. To him, they recognize as leadership as king but the largest and most powerful of the 12 tribes of Israel.

That tribe of Judah, well, they are still on the fence. They cooperate with Saul most of the time, but they are still feeling pretty independent about things. They're not sure Saul is their guy. You could think of Judah, kind of like the Texas of Israel, if that makes sense at all. So the result. Saul's constantly on edge, right?

He's, he's checking opinion polls. He's sensitive to anything that would push Judah toward more doubt and disloyalty to his leadership. And then on top of that, you've got the fact that Saul comes from a rich family. He's got a reputation to keep up. And so you can definitely feel like the pressure is on and then.

As if on cue a nine foot tall Philistine warrior named Goliath shows up and plants his massive feet, right on Saul's pressure points, I mean the nation's anxious. Judah is questioning and everything. Everyone feels unstable. They're shaking in their sandals, Saul included. And then at that moment. A foolishly brave, frustratingly naive young shepherd boy named David arrives on the scene.

And as you know from the story, David solves Saul's giant problem, and then he goes on to create a. Giant problem for Saul. Now, what I mean by that is at a time when Saul feels insecure in his leadership and he gets a big win over the Philistines at that time when he really needed it, well, he does get the win, but he does not get the credit for the win.

The credit goes to David. And then on top of all that, guess which tribe David is from? Yeah, that's right. He's from the tribe of Judah. Oh, and by the way, God has his hand on David because David loves God with all his heart. And so no matter what kind of impossible task Saul puts on David's plate, David manages to succeed and then he gets more credit and then the pressure builds on and on it goes.

So let's just say that. Then we end up with a situation where Saul and David. Are definitely binge worthy. All right. You do not wanna miss a minute of this. Now, remember when I said that Saul makes a natural choice for a king? That's absolutely true. He's rich, he's connected, tall, handsome. I mean, he's the kind of guy that we would all vote for.

But as the story unfolds, it doesn't take long to discover that there's a problem with Saul. It. It's a heart problem. Now, we're not talking about the thing that pumps blood. No. We're talking about the fact that Saul wants for himself and God's people, things that don't match up with what God wants. With Saul and God's people, Saul and God have very different ideas on what it means to be a leader and what it means for his people to find success.

And of all the, the pressures that Saul faces, the external pressures of the Philistines, the internal pressures of the politics, it turns out to be another internal pressure. The pressure of insecurity and self focus that finally causes Saul's pipes to burst and Saul's relationship with David. It shines a big, bright spotlight on that heart problem Saul has, that ends up being his his Achilles heel, if you will.

David isn't perfect, but unlike Saul, David loves and longs for what God loves and longs for because David. As the Bible says is a man after God's own heart. And so this week as we watch the drama between these two men unfold, we also get to watch how a person driven by insecurities and haunted by what others think deals with the pressure.

Versus a person who feels the pain and pressure of deep conflict, cares about what people think, but in the end ranks God's opinion of him above all others.

So pop that popcorn and enjoy the show. I'm grateful to be rolling with you on this one and on this whole one year Bible adventure together that we're calling Word and the Wild, all of You Word and the Wild Plus Community members. Just a special thanks to you for your financial support of this nonprofit endeavor.

You guys are just awesome. I'll be seeing you in the wild this week, our online private community. So look for us there. Everybody else. Don't forget, you can join us on Facebook. Drop a question, send me a message. Been enjoying interacting you with you and messages on Insta and Facebook as well. Word in the wild.

It is a Lion House community. It's part of the Lion House Community Network. It's a nonprofit organization with a mission to bring neighbors together to promote awareness, appreciation, and understanding of the Bible because friendship. And God's word, change lives and change cities. Word in the wild is presented by the LumaVoz Podcast Network.

Podcast Network. Big ups to LumaVoz.Thanks my friends. You guys are awesome. And with that, we are out. I'm Owen. I'm your host and your guide. Until next time, I'll be seeing you out there on the trail, in the word and the wild. Have a great rest of your week.