Understand the KJV Bible

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  David serves a Philistine king - 1 Samuel 27 (KJV) explained 19.09.2026 34dk

  The time came when, astonishingly, David believed that he must seek a place of refuge with one of the Philistine kings in order to escape from Saul. For Saul's whole rule, the Philistines were fierce enemies of Israel - but David, with his 600 men, considered that they were now safer in enemy territory than in their own land.The move came with a cost to David's integrity. During his 16 months in Philistia, David was deceiving King Achish about the raids he was carrying out against the tribes of desert robbers who attacked both Israel and Philistia. David pretended that he was himself a robber, attacking Israel's people. Achish believed him, and so convinced himself that David was no longer popular in Israel. However, David's firm plan was to be loyal to Achish while he continued to act in defence of Israel's people and to respect Saul.
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  Forgiveness, mercy and respect for God's anointed - 1 Samuel 26 (KJV) explained 12.09.2026 45dk

  For the second time, David found himself in a situation where he could have killed Saul, and for the second time, David chose to spare his life. David remembered that Saul was the Lord's anointed, chosen by God to rule over Israel, and therefore David refused absolutely to harm Saul in any way. When the facts became known, this impressed Saul greatly. Saul confessed his sin and spoke to David kindly. In fact, he blessed David and declared that David would do great things and he would in the end overcome all his troubles; and in that Saul was right.This was their final meeting. The two men would never see each other again.
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  The wisdom of Abigail - 1 Samuel 25:21-44 (KJV) explained 05.09.2026 44dk

  David had been determined to carry out an act of great cruelty, and he would have done it, had not Abigail intervened with her great wisdom. Accepting personal responsibility for the foolish and evil behaviour of her husband, Nabal, she reminded David that as God's anointed king, he must gain his power in God's way, and not by the power of his own military action.This was something that David had already resolved in his dealings with King Saul. David now saw that he must implement the same principle in everything that he did. God could deal with Nabal and his wickedness; David did not need to act - rather, he could and should hand the matter over to God.
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  David's temptation - 1 Samuel 25:1-20 (KJV) explained 29.08.2026 40dk

  At Engedi, there were plenty of hiding places for David, but there was no work for his 600 men. So David made the decision to return to the region of Ziph - where Saul had almost caught him - so that the men could work as guards for the shepherds, in a region at constant danger from violent robbers.Of course, those guards were entitled to payment for their work, and they expected wealthy farmers like Nabal to pay at the time of shearing their sheep, when they would make good profits.However Nabal refused to pay, and he did it with a nasty insult to David, whose men had worked so hard to look after Nabal's sheep. At once, David decided to act, and he himself led his men. In his anger, David failed to see that he was planning a massacre of men, most of whom were completely innocent. If Nabal's wife Abigail had not acted quickly to save David from the temptation, David would have been guilty of a truly terrible crime.
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  A moral dilemma - 1 Samuel 24 (KJV) explained 22.08.2026 41dk

  Engedi, near the Dead Sea, is a place of many caves, in one of which David hid from Saul, who wanted to kill him. However, Saul chose the very same cave when he needed to do something privately. David's men urged him to take the opportunity to kill his enemy, and David was able to creep so close to Saul that, with a stroke of his knife, he cut off the fringe of Saul's robe. But would David now act to make himself king by ending Saul's life? And if not, how could God's promise ever be fulfilled that David would rule Israel?
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  Close escapes at Keilah and Ziph - 1 Samuel 23 (KJV) explained 15.08.2026 42dk

  The people in Keilah should have been truly grateful to David. With his group of 600 men, he fought to save them from the Philistines, who had been robbing their supplies of food. However, when Saul threatened to surround their town with his army, they cared little about David's life. In Ziph, the inhabitants did not even need to be threatened to want to hand over David. They were glad to see an opportunity to please King Saul.From both of these places, David's escape was truly a miracle. At one, a warning from God himself; at the other, an urgent message for Saul, was all that saved David from capture.Yet in the middle of all this, David's friend Jonathan, the son of Saul, found him, and strengthened him with a reminder of the promises of God.
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  Refuge at Adullam, disaster at Nob - 1 Samuel 22 (KJV) explained 08.08.2026 44dk

  In the midst of Saul's persecution, David found a place of refuge in the cave at Adullam, and a band of men, outcasts from Israel, joined themselves with him.However, Saul's anger continued unabated, and it drove him to one of the most terrible incidents in the entire Bible. Doeg the Edomite was remorseless in hunting down the families of Israel's chief priests. The sole survivor, Abiathar, escaped to David, taking the chief priest's ephod with him.
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  Episode 200: David's desperate escape - 1 Samuel 21 (KJV) explained 01.08.2026 38dk

  Welcome to our 200th Episode. During the last 5 years, we have released 200 talks covering 175 complete chapters of the King James Bible, studying each chapter verse-by-verse and word-by-word.Today we reach 1 Samuel 21, with David in a truly desperate state, fleeing from King Saul, who is determined to kill him. David first goes to Nob, the town of the priests, where he begs for bread and a sword. Then he goes to Gath, the town of his enemy, the Philistine champion Goliath, hoping for a safe place of refuge from Saul's anger. On the way, there's deceit, and fear and danger, and the chapter doesn't show David at his best. But even so, David is learning a deeper trust in God too, and his experiences in this chapter provided the inspiration for two of the Psalms, Psalm 56 and 34.Please also visit our website, usefulbible.com
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  A friendship and a parting - 1 Samuel 20:24-42 (KJV) explained 25.07.2026 42dk

  Jonathan tested the attitudes of his father, King Saul, towards David. Alas, the situation was much worse than Jonathan had ever imagined. An angry outburst from Saul was so violent that he almost killed Jonathan himself.So it was a sad and difficult message that Jonathan brought to David as David hid in the field. It had become plain that Saul's cruelty had, at last, forced the two friends to separate.Separated, yes - but still the love remained. Apart from each other, in life or even after their deaths, their friendship must continue. Their covenant, their serious promises to each other in front of God, demanded it.
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  Jonathan's covenant with David - 1 Samuel 20:1-23 (KJV) explained 18.07.2026 40dk

  Saul was dangerous and unpredictable - but until now, David and Jonathan believed that they were in control of the situation. Now however, after many attempts to kill David, David was at last convinced. His life was in danger; he could no longer remain with Saul.So David asked Jonathan to test Saul. It was the beginning of the month, a festive occasion in Israel, and Saul expected David to be present at his feast. David, however, would go to Bethlehem and return on the third day. That would give Jonathan the opportunity to find out Saul's reaction to David's absence.David and Jonathan realised the likely effect on their own friendship of this. If Saul was determined to kill David, then Jonathan and David must separate, perhaps for ever. So they made a covenant, promises of friendship, which they intended to be binding on them, and their families after them into the future.
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  Reconciliation and assassination, lies and prophecies: surviving in Saul's palace - 1 Samuel 19 (KJV) explained 11.07.2026 44dk

  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...
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  David in the palace of King Saul - 1 Samuel 18 (KJV) explained 04.07.2026 40dk

  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 Jonathan, Saul's son, and the husband of Michal, Saul's daughter. And he became one of the chief commanders in Saul's army.All this promotion was a cause of great danger for David - and the greatest danger was Saul himself, the king whom David respected and loved. Saul was jealous, violent and unpredictable. At any moment, he might attack David, or cause David to be at great risk in battle.But David acted with great wisdom. He did not try to oppose Saul. He waited for God to carry out his (God's) plans in his life.
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  David and Goliath: Defeating the giant - 1 Samuel 17:31-58 27.06.2026 44dk

  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 him. Yet without experience of such things, David chose the simple home-made weapons of a shepherd. So when God gave him the victory, with nothing but a sling and five smooth stones, that would bring great honour to God. As David told Goliath before the fight began, people across the world would hear of this fight, and know that there truly is a God in Israel - in fact, that Israel's God is the only true God.
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  David and Goliath: Before the fight - 1 Samuel 17:1-30 (KJV) explained 20.06.2026 40dk

  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 he was. If they dared not fight him, how could they hope to defeat Philistia's army?So it was that David was sent to the battlefield, not to fight, but to refresh the supplies for his brothers. And there he heard Goliath. But David was not, like the other men, terrified by Goliath. Rather, David was defiant: who is this, who dares to taunt the army of the living God?
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  The anointing of David: shepherd and psalmist, prophet and king - 1 Samuel 16 (KJV) explained 13.06.2026 40dk

  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 heart, who desires above all else, to please God. On him, God's Spirit has come.And now we see the two together, Saul the present king, troubled by his evil spirit, and David, destined to be king, playing his harp, and bringing comfort and healing.
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  The judgment against Amalek - 1 Samuel 15 (KJV) explained 06.06.2026 44dk

  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 captain of his armies on earth, to carry out that terrible judgment, and Saul did it in part. That is, he did the part that he wanted to do. He did not hesitate to destroy what was weak and worthless, but he saved the best, and even Amalek's wicked and ruthless king, Agag. That was the reason why God finally made the firm and definite decision to reject Saul as king. It was also the reason why Amalek continued to trouble the southern part of Israel for long after.
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  Israel's men save Jonathan from Saul - 1 Samuel 14:24-52 (KJV) explained 30.05.2026 41dk

  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 with the situation by making even worse oaths. He was the king, and his authority absolute; but Israel's men would not hear of it. Jonathan had worked with God to save Israel that day, they reminded Saul. So Saul must repent of his oaths, and Jonathan must live.
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  The Lord can save by many or by few - 1 Samuel 14:1-23 (KJV) explained 23.05.2026 39dk

  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 limitation on the power of God to save.
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  Samuel's delay is Saul's weakness - 1 Samuel 13 (KJV) explained 16.05.2026 41dk

  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, he could wait no longer. He offered the sacrifice himself, without waiting for Samuel, and so disobeyed God's instructions to him. As the king of Israel, he had to be the servant of God - but he did not obey his divine Master's orders.
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  Retirement in the work of God - 1 Samuel 12 (KJV) explained 09.05.2026 41dk

  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 desire a king. The enemy whom they feared, King Nahash of Ammon, had already been defeated. But God had permitted Israel to have its first king, and both he and the people had the serious duty to remain loyal to God.