Hi Folks,

Welcome back to the Bible study.  In this first post, I would like to overview the basics regarding 2^nd Samuel in the Old Testament.  I jokingly stated on Facebook recently that I was thinking of starting a series about the bad boys of the Bible.  King David was one of the bad boys that has been painted in a positive light.  He was a man who constantly fell into sin but always repented of his sin to return to God.  This is perhaps why the Bible says that he was a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14).  Later when David is anointed king, Samuel stated that God looks on the heart of man (1 Samuel 16:7).  From this book we may continue on to 1^st and 2^nd Kings, finishing with Chronicles.  We should cover most of the bad boys of the Bible in this series.  We will look at why they were bad, how they repented (if they did) and the result of their lives.  It should prove to be a profitable series.

This study will be a little bit lengthy as I overview where we were at in the last study of Samuel.  I will be posting to Facebook and will be e-mailing out the study to the study group.  If you wish to be on the e-mail list, please email me through Facebook or send an e-mail to whetstone@emailbiblestudy.com.  Normally the studies will not be as long as this one.  I will leave this open for comment on Facebook.  For those who are on the e-mail list, you can respond to the study on Facebook or simply reply.  The E-mail list will have a prayer list attached to it.  I do not feel comfortable publishing a prayer list on Facebook.

The book of 2^nd Samuel is a continuation of the book of 1^st Samuel.  In the beginning these two books were one book.  The story shifts from Saul who was king to David the new king.  Other stories continue as well.  We will deal with them as they come up. 

We last looked at Samuel about two years ago.  The story of 1^st Samuel ended with a sad story where David had taken shelter in the land of the Philistines (1 Samuel 27).  He was living as a sort of mafia lord where he deceptively caused the Philistines to believe he was good while slaughtering villages and looting them.  The Philistine army was mustering for battle against the Hebrews.  David mustered with them in a pass and review, when the Philistine commanders realized that he may turn against them in battle.  David and his men were sent home (1 Samuel 29).  David found on the way home that the Amalekites had taken over his hometown of Ziklag and taken all of his family captive.  David then went off to fight them (1 Samuel 30).  At the same time Saul encountered battle with the Philistines.  He suffered tremendous defeat where he and his three sons were killed in battle.  Saul and his armor-bearer both committed suicide rather than fall into the hands of the Philistines due to wounds that would result in death (1 Samuel 31). 

In these stories it was very evident that God had worked through the circumstances to position David and Saul away from each other.  He allowed David to be distracted by a battle against his hometown/home base and allowed Saul to be drawn into battle simultaneously.  Both men were living in sin; neither of them were following God’s direction for their lives.  Yet God continued to work through their lives anyway.  I find this extremely interesting.  If you would like to comment, please feel free to do so. 

Father, open the eyes of those on the study so that we can see, enjoy and learn from 2^nd Samuel.

By His grace,

Joe Turner