The Tragedy of a Beautiful Princess The story of Tamar (2) is tragic. She’s the beautiful daughter of King David and catches the eye of her half-brother, Amnon, who lusts for her. At the advice of his cousin, Amnon feigns illness and manipulates Tamar into his bedroom, duping David into innocently arranging the whole thing. […]
A Prophet Who Dares to Confront the King Nathan (2) is a prophet during the reign of King David. The Bible has two stories about Nathan. When David has established his kingdom and enjoys a time of peace, he shares an idea with Nathan. He wants to build a temple for the Lord. Nathan tells […]
Successful Military Leader with Character Flaws Joab serves as the commander of David’s army. He realizes much success as a military leader, but he has some severe character issues. Here are three stories about Joab. As we learned in the chapter about Abner, after he defects to David’s camp with a plan to bring all […]
Michal marries David, who will later become king; her father is King Saul. Though her story starts out with promise, it ends sadly. David plays a critical role in the success of King Saul and the nation of Israel. Despite this, Saul’s attitude towards David varies greatly, with Saul often wanting to kill David out […]
A Weak King with a Short Reign Ish-Bosheth is the son of King Saul. After his father’s death—with the help of Abner, commander of Saul’s army—Ish-Bosheth assumes his father’s throne. He reigns for two years. There’s little remarkable about him or his rule. One story we have is when he confronts Abner for sleeping with […]
A Women Takes Extreme Action to Get What Is Due Her Tamar is a victim who takes extreme action to vindicate herself. She’s the daughter-in-law of Judah. She suffers at his hand, responds with guile, and has twins with him. Later she is one of four women mentioned in Jesus’s family tree. Talk about a […]
A Commander with Shifting Allegiances Abner is the commander of King Saul’s army. He’s also Saul’s first cousin. Abner serves Saul well. After the king’s death, Abner transfers his alliance to Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, making him king over all Israel in his father’s place, with David ruling over Judah. A battle rages between Israel (led […]
Elijah Makes a Socking Request During a long drought and famine, God sends Elijah away from Israel to the city of Zarephath in Sidon where God directs a widow, a foreigner, to give Elijah food. When Elijah reaches the town gates, he see a widow and asks her for water and bread. Though she is […]
A Man Willing to Kill the Innocent Doeg the Edomite appears in only one passage in Scripture. His story intertwines with Ahimelek’s. When King Saul orders the execution of Ahimelek for assisting in David’s escape, none of the king’s men are willing to kill the priest. They are wise to respect the function of the […]
God Takes Away Naomi’s Bitterness Naomi means pleasant. She, her husband, and their two sons leave their home country and travel to Moab because of a famine. While in Moab, her husband dies, leaving her a widow. Later both of her sons die, too, leaving her with two widowed daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi blames […]