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Brendan's Bytes: 1 Samuel 14
5 Plays5 months ago
Brendan teaches on 1 Samuel 14.
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Transcript
Introduction and Recording Challenges
00:00:01
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Hi there friends, how are you today? I'm Brendan Thomas-Larratt. This is my third and hopefully final time trying to record this teaching. It has been a week of technological disasters, but all the same, God is good.
00:00:17
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Let's see what he has for us today.
Jonathan's Covert Mission Against Philistines
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so we're going to look 1 Samuel 14 and 15. fifteen It begins. One day, Jonathan, son of Saul,
00:00:30
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So Jonathan's the prince of Israel. He's got a few brothers, but he's the real hero. He's the most important one. He to his young armor-bearer, come, let's go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side.
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But he didn't tell his father. So basically, the men of Israel, God's people, weren't doing a heck of a lot to defeat the enemy.
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So he said, let's take the initiative. You and I will go on a super stealth mission.
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Saw the staying on the outskirts of Gibeah under a per ah pomegranate tree in Migran.
Migran: Symbol of Fear and Silence
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Now Migran translates as fear and throat.
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This is when you are so terrified you can't even speak. It's when the enemy pretty much steals your voice with the absolute terror that has gripped your heart.
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With him were about 600 men, and one of them was Ahijah.
Introducing Ahijah, the New Priest
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You might remember at the start of our study on 1 Samuel, had the fat prophet who thought he was a king. Well, sorry, he wasn't a prophet, he was a priest.
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A big fat priest named Eli. And he and his sons were taking the best of the best from the people, sticking a trident in their pans of meat, and pans, pots and cauldrons of meat.
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He had a son called Phineas, who was doing the same. He was getting meat by threatening people with physical violence, while also whoring it up with women who worked at the tent of meeting.
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um Phineas had a son named Ichabod the day he died. don't even think he met his son. um This guy Ahijah, the new priest, is Ichabod's nephew.
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Okay, so that's the family tree.
Jonathan's Struggles with Bozes and Senna
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So verse four, on each side of the path that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost was a cliff. One of them was named Bozes, which means ooze or mud, slime or bog land.
00:02:46
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Have you ever felt like you're just trudging through sludge? You're trying to move forward, it's hard, things are holding you back, you're stuck in the mud. Yeah, God's heroes in the Old Testament can relate.
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The other one was called Senna, which means thorn bush. You know, you when you get poked and prodded, maybe by your family, your friends, your colleagues, your church family.
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um I want to do something for Jesus, poke.
00:03:21
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I taught the word of God this week seven times for a total of 21 hours. you're just a slave to religion, poke. Um, I'm in deliverance ministry, I die drive things out of people. Nah, you're a joke, it's in your head. Poke, po poke, poke, poke, right?
00:03:39
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Someone comments on your weight, poke. Your height, poke. That thing you did when you were seven years of age, which was like 35 years poke. Yeah? Thorn bushes.
00:03:52
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So one cliff stood to the north towards Michmash, and the other to the south towards Geba.
Faith and Unity in Battle
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Now, a mcmash means something hidden, something underground, something concealed, but it also translates as treasure.
00:04:08
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You know, this is when the enemy is doing something, and you're not entirely sure what it is, but you know something's happening. Conversations are being had about you, but you don't know who's saying it.
00:04:19
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You know people are conspiring against you, but you don't know what it is. It's all under the radar. But when you expose these things and deal with them, There is treasure.
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There is plunder. There's something to be gained.
00:04:36
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Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, come, let's go over the outpost to the uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to us. Perhaps he'll do something.
00:04:48
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Nothing's goingnna happen if we stay back there at the camp and do nothing. then But you know what? if we position ourselves... In a position of readiness, God might just do something our behalf.
The Armor-Bearer's Support and Encouragement
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And nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few. And that's so amazing. You know sometimes we look at our family size or the size of our church group or our prayer group or the ministry that we're involved in, and we just feel so inadequate. We feel so small.
00:05:22
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Everyone else's bigger. Everyone else has hundreds or thousands, whatever it is. But God's looking for unity. And where there's unity, he'll command a blessing.
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And it only takes a few faith-filled people to turn the trajectory the nation. Amen.
00:05:43
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And I love verse 7. This is his armor-bearer's response. It's like Holy Spirit speaking right to you. Do all that you have in mind. Go ahead. I am with you, heart and soul.
Divine Intervention and Panic
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Amen. Someone out there needs to hear that today.
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Jonathan then had adopts a bold strategy. He says, if the Philistines say, come on up here, little Hebrews, and face us like men, we will go, we will fight, and we will win.
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Because Old Testament logic. But if they say, halt, stop, dirty Hebrews, stay from here. It means, let's bugger off.
00:06:29
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Let's go back home. Today is not our day. i love that. So they presented themselves, the Philistines. The Philistines were like, oh, the Hebrews are crawling up from underground now, are they?
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Which is true. They had been hiding underground. 1 Samuel 13, 6 says that they were hiding in caves.
00:06:56
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Um, and basically, yeah, says, come on up here. we're going to teach you a lesson. We're going to kill you stone dead.
00:07:06
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So, Jonathan the armor bearer are like, happy That's the sign we were looking for. And they run up that mansion and they kill 20 them.
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And then panic stroke the whole army. They were gripped by a reverential fear.
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Best case scenario. Or an absolute terror of God of the angel armies. That the God that they were declaring war on was indeed mighty to save his people.
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And just as the people were shaking, so too God sent an earthquake in the Philistine camp and the earth shook. He gave a physical, natural picture what was happening on the inside.
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and And God, mark my words, will use nature to defend his people when he has to. and
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Verse 16.
Saul's Impatience and Battle Decisions
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Saul's lookout at Gibeah and Benjamin saw the army melting away in all directions. They saw the Philistines being dissolved as though struck with water.
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They saw their faces become disheartened, losing all hope, losing in all courage.
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And then Saul said the men who were with him, muster the forces and see has left us. Let's see who's deserted us. Let's see who abandoned their post.
00:08:50
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Let's see who's hiding underground. Let's see who ran away um to Ephraim. Let's see who abandoned us and joined up with the Philistines, who handed themselves over.
00:09:04
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Numbers are taken, the armies counted, and Jonathan and his armour bearer are found not to be among the Israelites.
00:09:16
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Saul then says to Asia, bring the Ark of the Covenant. Probably looking to see, you know, either how to punish Jonathan or um how to take advantage of the Philistines' distress.
00:09:33
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So Ahijah goes to get the Ark and he draws out his hands to pray over the Ark. Remember, the Ark is a golden box and a layer of the Lord's presence is within that box.
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And next thing Saul says, you know what? Screw it. Withdraw your hand.
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stop what you're doing. Enough is enough. He's impatient. He gives the perception that he wants to seek the Lord's face, but actually he has no intention of hearing God's plan, God's opinion.
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He's too impatient, so he says, you know what? Let's just do our own thing. We're going to war. We're taking advantage of this opportunity.
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So Saul and his men rush over to defeat the Philistines. And even those who had been hiding in ephraeum return to fight alongside them.
00:10:32
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Israelites who had abandoned their troops and hooped up the Philistines, turned against the Philistines. And you know what? I believe we're going to see this in a major way these days. um We're going to see Christians who have betrayed us and abandoned us coming back.
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Christians who've abandoned Jesus because they got so distressed when a prophetic word didn't happen when they thought it would, how they thought it would, coming back.
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Christians who've backslidden, they just said, you know what? Living for Jesus is hard. Living a life where you give in to temptation so much easier. Goodbye, Jesus. Goodbye, Bible.
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Goodbye, people of God are going to come back.
Revival of Faith Among Christians
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And we have to let them. I mean, look at this description of the Israelites who came back from Ephraim in 22. They joined the battle in hot pursuit because they saw just how wicked it was, how empty it was, how hollow it was going back to the world.
00:11:36
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Their zeal for Jesus will be infinitely greater than ever before. And this time they will join the battle and they will not turn tail again. And in addition to that, verse 20 says,
00:11:48
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They saw the Philistines in confusion attacking each other. And I believe we're going to see that in a major way as well. We're going to see our enemies, our political enemies, our media establishment enemies, because let's be honest, they're the same thing. I mean, in Ireland or the UK, where you have state media, state propaganda funded by the taxpayer.
00:12:12
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And if you don't pay your TV license fee, you get thrown in jail while the government propagandizes you.
Saul's Rash Oath and Its Consequences
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But we're gonna see the enemy turning against each other. It's gonna be amazing to see.
00:12:29
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But in the same way this seemed like such a great victory, the story goes downhill very, very quickly. I mean, think of how after the lockdown,
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The Irish mask mandates were said to end on the 28th of February. But there was no breathing space. There was no moment of, oh, thank God, it's all been done and dealt with. and It's totally over and done with for free. Happy days.
00:13:03
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um You know, let's have celebrations on the streets. Let's have parades. Let's all hug and meet up. No barbecues. though There was no room to catch your breath. because on the 24th of February, Russia invaded Ukraine and it was the next thing.
00:13:18
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It was the next crisis. And that's exactly what happens here. There is no breathing space.
00:13:28
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As soon as one enemy has been defeated, the Israelites own government, own king, own politicians, if you will,
00:13:40
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turn against the people and try to starve them.
00:13:45
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So 24, the Israelites were not celebrating that day, rather they were in distress because Saul had put a curse on the nation. He sworn an oath on behalf of all of them, a curse, hex, vex.
00:14:03
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Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes, before I have avenged myself and my enemies. So effectively, if you eat anything, you will be cursed and you will die. He's starving the people.
00:14:20
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And you know what? That's happening in Ireland today, where the Irish government, at least most of them, yes, there are some who are pro-life and pro-Ireland, pro-unification, pro-patriotism. They're great.
00:14:37
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I pray for them. Keep praying for them. But the vast majority of it all, groups like Bored, Nimona, the European Union, which is an absolute stain on the Western world and should not exist, um they're habitually coming against Ireland in terms our fishing industry, in terms of our farming industry.
00:14:58
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They're doing everything they can to manufacture a famine so that people and are unable to feed themselves, because if you can't feed yourself, you but believe
Modern Parallels of Oppression
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you become weak. You become dependent on the state, dependent on the will and whims of evil men and women, and you have to be compliant with whatever they say, or you're not going to eat.
00:15:24
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It's all an antichrist tactic and regime.
00:15:30
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So verse 25, the entire army entered the woods, and there was honey on the ground. It was oozing out, it was beautiful, it was tempting, it looked delicious, it would do your heart good, but they would not put in their mouths.
00:15:45
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Jonathan is not around for this, though. He had not heard that the people were bound by this. So when he sees the honey, he gets his staff, sticks with the honey, since la and eats it up, gobbles it up, and he thinks it is delicious.
00:15:59
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It brightens his eyes, it rejuvenates his strength, it renews his energy. And the people say, oh my goodness, Prince Jonathan, I can't believe you just did that. I mean, don't you know what your father the king said?
00:16:15
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And verse 29, Jonathan said, my father has made trouble for this country. See how my eyes brightened and I tasted a little of this honey.
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How much better it would have been if the men had eaten today some of the plunder they took from their enemies. Would not the sloth of the Philistines have been even greater?
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If people had eaten up, you know, wouldn't we have had more strength and defeated more of our enemies? Wouldn't our land be even freer than before?
00:16:50
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But because the people have been starved, even pig slop looks good to them. Think of the story of the parable of the prodigal son.
00:17:03
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He's so starved. and so impoverished that he looks at what the pigs are eating, pig food and things that looks appetizing. You know, that happens in the soul as well. Amos 8, 11 to 14, talks about days where there's a famine of hearing the word of God.
00:17:21
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And people look for it and they cannot find it. And today, there is a famine of people hearing the word of God. And because they're not ingesting soul food, I mean, your word is like plenty to my lips.
00:17:37
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Taste and see you the Lord is good. Because their soul is not getting the nutrition it needs. $7.2 billion dollars was spent on OnlyFans only last year, 2024 alone. That
00:17:55
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was supposed to be revelatory moment, instead the lights went off. yes Over $2 trillion, dollars last year alone, was spent on the military-industrial complex on creating weapons of warfare to take human life.
00:18:20
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Over $200 billion was spent on prostitution.
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Billions upon billions on human his sex trafficking and exploitation.
00:18:36
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When people are starved of the Word of God, they will look for something ugly and dirty and defiled to consume.
00:18:48
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And we see that in this story, where the men are starved of the Word of God.
Saul's Leadership and Jonathan's Redemption
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And so they throw themselves on plunder, cattle and sheep,
00:19:01
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and they devour them on the ground the blood still in them.
00:19:08
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You might say people begin to cannibalize one another, having absolutely no respect for themselves or others. It all becomes, what can I consume next?
00:19:20
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What can I take? Me, me, me, me, me.
00:19:30
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In verse 35,
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Saul looks at this, he's like, ugh, the dirty plebs, ugh, horrible poor people, ugh, gagging. And he says, you know what, you all have to bring an animal sacrifice, and he builds an altar to the Lord so that he can basically take Samuel's job and become the priest and the prophet.
00:19:55
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Again, we looked in the last video that there is only one person who is fully God, fully man, Fully king, fully priest, fully prophet, and it's Jesus.
00:20:08
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But Saul here begins to see himself as a kind of Christ.
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As king, ah priest, and a prophet. and He says, oh, I will step into that position. I'll... kill the animal, I'll petition God's behalf.
00:20:27
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This is the very same guy who literally said, get away from me. Remove it. To the Ark of the Covenant. Someone who does not inquire of the Lord. Who's too impatient to inquire the Lord.
00:20:43
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But the actual priest, Ahesia, said, let's inquire of God here.
00:20:49
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And Saul asked, shall I go down and pursue the Philistines? Will you give them into Israel's hand? But God doesn't answer him that day. And again, God knows what people are like.
00:21:02
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And what he says or doesn doesn't say he will expose what's in your heart.
00:21:07
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Saul therefore said, come here, all you who are leaders of the army, and let's find out what sin has been committed today. If God doesn't speak when Saul wants him to, obviously the people are to blame, because it could not possibly be himself.
00:21:26
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And effectively, Saul's verdict is that Jonathan has brought a curse upon the people, a silence of God's word, a silence of the voice of God, because he ate some honey and he actually sets out to kill his own son.
00:21:43
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But what love is the people stand up and say, in verse 45, should Jonathan die? He, the hero, the rescuer, the one God used to deliver us, he brought about this great deliverance for our nation.
00:21:57
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Never, as surely as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to rank. For he did this today with God's help. Now, Saul probably felt absolutely humiliated at this point, and that is control of the people seemed to be slipping.
00:22:16
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But they remained true and faithful to their prince, and his life was preserved.