Oldest Stories

Today we ask the question, how many temples did God authorize, and why did he authorize some but not others. Then we ask, was David a priest of God, and why he could be priest and king when Saul could...

2 Aug 202344min

Today is King David and War. Lots of war. Some diplomacy, which turns into war, some rebellion, which becomes war, some more rebellion, which becomes a double war, and a bunch of war-related logistics...

19 Juli 202338min

Today the shepherd David becomes King David. This involves violence. Indeed, most of his career is violence, and we take a nice look at some of that violence here today. We also look at his constructi...

5 Juli 202343min

David comes in for a bit of criticism today, for probably being a murdering bandit, but these issues are an important part of this story. We look again at the bias in our sources, and we see a pretty ...

21 Juni 202332min

We begin the tale of young David's rise to power, looking at the three origin stories of the young shepherd, warrior, and poet, and then noting that as he began to rise in fame and power, Saul was abs...

7 Juni 202341min

Today we get some serious military history as we look at the main chunk of King Saul's reign. We deliberately avoid David as much as possible today, because it is far too easy for King Saul to get ups...

24 Maj 202338min

Today we properly start the career of King Saul, or at least Saul as he makes his bid for kingship. This story is important as a piece of ancient literature, it is important through the question of wh...

10 Maj 202338min

Today we look at the lead up to King Saul, and how Israel made the transition from a collections of tribes to a unified kingship. Why is the Old Testament so ambivalent on the matter of kingship? Most...

26 Apr 202354min