Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Join the livestream every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. Central. Watch, join the chat, or call in and explain exactly where I’ve misread the Bible.
David is supposedly God’s chosen king—a man after God’s own heart. So why does his rise to power look less like a divine plan and more like a chaotic, bloody struggle between rival political factions?
In this episode of God-Free Bible Study, we begin 2 Samuel with chapters 1–3.
First, an Amalekite arrives with Saul’s crown and claims that he personally killed the wounded king. There’s just one problem: that isn’t how 1 Samuel said Saul died. Is the Amalekite lying, or are we looking at another blatant biblical contradiction? Either way, David rewards the messenger’s apparent act of mercy by having him executed.
Then the kingdom fractures. David becomes king of Judah while Saul’s son Ishbaal rules Israel—despite David supposedly being selected and anointed by an all-powerful god years earlier. What follows is a bizarre 12-on-12 death match, an impossibly brutal spear killing, hundreds of casualties, and a battle that apparently ends because someone finally asks, “Are we really going to keep doing this?”
We also examine:
• David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan
• Jonathan’s love “surpassing the love of women”
• The lost Book of Jashar
• David’s growing collection of wives
• The forced removal of Michal from her grieving husband
• Abner’s defection to David
• Joab’s revenge killing of Abner
• David’s extremely public—and possibly performative—mourning
• Why David’s rise looks entirely political rather than divine
The story wants us to see David as God’s chosen ruler. The actual narrative gives us civil war, political deals, revenge killings, forced marriages, propaganda, and a supposedly omnipotent god who cannot seem to place his chosen candidate on the throne.
Join the livestream every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. Central. Watch, join the chat, or call in and explain exactly where I’ve misread the Bible.
David is supposedly God’s chosen king—a man after God’s own heart. So why does his rise to power look less like a divine plan and more like a chaotic, bloody struggle between rival political factions?
In this episode of God-Free Bible Study, we begin 2 Samuel with chapters 1–3.
First, an Amalekite arrives with Saul’s crown and claims that he personally killed the wounded king. There’s just one problem: that isn’t how 1 Samuel said Saul died. Is the Amalekite lying, or are we looking at another blatant biblical contradiction? Either way, David rewards the messenger’s apparent act of mercy by having him executed.
Then the kingdom fractures. David becomes king of Judah while Saul’s son Ishbaal rules Israel—despite David supposedly being selected and anointed by an all-powerful god years earlier. What follows is a bizarre 12-on-12 death match, an impossibly brutal spear killing, hundreds of casualties, and a battle that apparently ends because someone finally asks, “Are we really going to keep doing this?”
We also examine:
• David’s lament for Saul and Jonathan
• Jonathan’s love “surpassing the love of women”
• The lost Book of Jashar
• David’s growing collection of wives
• The forced removal of Michal from her grieving husband
• Abner’s defection to David
• Joab’s revenge killing of Abner
• David’s extremely public—and possibly performative—mourning
• Why David’s rise looks entirely political rather than divine
The story wants us to see David as God’s chosen ruler. The actual narrative gives us civil war, political deals, revenge killings, forced marriages, propaganda, and a supposedly omnipotent god who cannot seem to place his chosen candidate on the throne.
