Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - The House of David | Historical Books | 1 Samuel 30:16-30

Episode Date: May 26, 2025

Is the New Testament better than the Old Testament? Are you building your house like Saul or David? Are you generous? In today's episode, Keith shares how 1 Samuel 30:16-30 encourages us to follow David, building our house on God's generosity. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Samuel 30:16-30

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. A lot of people say they much prefer to read the New Testament than the Old Testament. And frankly, I don't really get it. I mean, both Testaments, of course, are equally the Word of God. And I think it's possible to love both equally. I think one reason I'm drawn to the Old Testament is because of the powerful stories it tells.

Those stories help flesh out truth we find in the New Testament. For example, in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus says we have to choose between two roads, a narrow road and a broad one. The narrow one leads to life and the broad road leads to destruction. Jesus says we have a choice between two houses, one built on rock and the other on sand. You might wonder what do those lives look like? How does the life on the narrow road look compared to the life on the broad road? How does the life built on the rock differ from the life built on the sand?

Well, we've been in 1 Samuel here on TMBT, and I think the contrast between King Saul and David helps us see how Jesus is teaching play out in real people's lives. The contrast between King Saul and David is coming to a climax in the final chapters of 1st Samuel. Saul and David lay out two different paths of how we can live our life. I don't think it's a stretch to say Saul represents the broad road and the house built on the sand, while David represents the narrow road and the house built on the rock. Before we jump in, let's pray. God, I pray that you would help us to live the life that you want us to live, that we would follow the narrow road that leads to life, that we would build our life on the rock of Jesus. Amen.

So the author of First Samuel wants us to compare and contrast Saul and David. Saul is the people's king that reflects the people's heart. They wanted a king like the other nations, and God gave them Saul. who we are told is a head taller than everyone else. David, on the other hand, is the king that reflects God's heart. 1 Samuel 167 says, But the Lord said to Samuel, Don't judge by his appearance or height,

for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Saul shrank back in fear while David trusted God and stepped out in faith to battle Goliath. When David went out to fight Goliath, Saul tried to get him to wear his armor. But David refused to trust in Saul's worldly resources. Instead, David trusted in the God who had delivered him from the lion and the bear. Saul didn't wait for the Lord's timing when he rushed to offer the sacrifices before Samuel returned. But David waited on God to make him king, and he refused to take power before God gave it to him. Saul is viewed by his family member and soldiers as being selfish and angry, jealous, murderous,

arrogant, hateful. David is beloved by those same people. David is seen as being faithful, upright, loving, humble. God's favor is on him and all that he does. Saul doesn't seek God's will, and when he does seek it, it's from corrupt priests. David willingly sought out God's will before all the important decisions in his life. I could go on and on, but I want to end with maybe the most important difference between Saul and David. You see, they both sinned in serious ways. The difference is that David repented of his sin and Saul refused to repent. Saul could have turned from his sin.

He could have listened to his own conscience or the correction of other people. He could have turned back to God. He didn't need to keep running from God. He didn't have to double down on stupid, but he did. David sinned every bit as seriously as Saul did. But when he was confronted with his sin, he listened to others. He humbled himself. He asked for forgiveness and returned to God.

Father, I pray that when we see sin in our life, that we would turn from it. That we would turn to you, that we would ask for forgiveness, that we would seek your mercy and grace. Father, help prevent us from being. hard-hearted and refusing to repent. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So now we're in 1st Samuel 30, and the chapter starts with David and his fighting men returning home from a battle to find that their mortal enemies, the Amalekites, had raided their camps. Here's 1 Samuel 30 verses 2 and 3. The Amalekites had carried off the women and children and everyone else, but without killing anyone. When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, they

wept until they could weep no more. See, the people of Israel are understandably scared, hurt, angry, and their emotions begin to turn them against David, who is their leader. Verse 6 is the key to the chapter. It says, but David found strength in the Lord His God. David relies on God's strength to do God's will. And David inquires of the Lord, and then he sets out to chase down the enemy and get the women and children safely back. Here's verse 9. So David and his 600 men set out, and they came to the brook at Bissor, but 200 of the men were too exhausted to cross the brook. So David continued the pursuit with 400 men. David and the army, now down to 400 men, finally find the Amalekites. They defeat them,

and they returned all the people safely. Verse 18. David got back everything the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, small or great, son or daughter, nor anything else that had been taken. David brought everything back. He also recovered all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock. This plunder belongs to David, they said. When they returned to camp, the men were greeted by the 200 who had been too exhausted to go out with them into battle. This could get awkward. The men who didn't go to battle encounter the men who risked their life to get everyone safely home. Some evil troublemakers among David's men said, look, they didn't go down with us,

so they can't have any of the plunder we recovered. Give them their wives and children and tell them to be gone. Verse 23, but David said, no, my brothers, don't be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of raiders that attacked us. Who will listen when you talk like this? We share and share alike. Those who go to battle and those who guard the equipment. From then on, David made this decree and regulation for Israel, and it is still followed today.

Man, there's so much for us to learn here. First, look how David deals with the men who had fought and didn't want to share with those who stayed behind. He calls them, my brothers. David emphasizes that he understands them. He gets where they're coming from. They're on the same team. He doesn't scold them. But yet at the same time, he's not afraid of saying hard things to them.

They are being selfish and prideful, and David calls them out for it. Second, David is very magnanimous toward the men who were too exhausted to fight and ended up staying behind. He tells those men that they're going to share and share alike. So what's the difference between David and the men who don't want to share? Why is David so gracious and generous, and they aren't? Listen to how they talk about their victory against their enemy. The men who didn't want to share said in verse 22, they didn't go down with us so they can't have the plunder we recovered. Did you hear it? This is the

plunder we recovered. There's no room for God in the way they're telling the story. There's no room for grace. Compare that to what David says in verse 23. David says, no, my brothers, don't be selfish with what the Lord has given us. He has kept us safe and helped us defeat the band of raiders that attacked us. when you recognize that everything you have is from God, you are generous. God has blessed us. Whatever victory we have in life, whatever possessions we have, it's all from God. So we as Christians should be the most generous people. Let's pray.

Father, I pray that we would be able to grasp that every good thing in our life is from you. And that we would be thankful to you for it, that we would not tell ourselves that it is our doing and our might and our wisdom that has helped us succeed in life. I pray that as we depend on your grace, as we see everything good in our life is a gift from you, that we would be generous in sharing with others. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.