17-01

would one day be king in his place

God did not immediately remove Saul from being king. Instead, he allowed Saul to continue to rule for several more years while God prepared a man to replace him as king.

17-03

a giant named Goliath

The word giant here describes a person who is unusually tall and powerful. Goliath was a huge soldier in an army that was fighting against Israel.

he led Israel’s army

David led the army, but Saul was still the king of Israel at this time.

17-04

David shouted to him to look at the cloth he was holding

David cut off the piece of Saul’s clothing to show Saul that David was close enough to kill Saul, but did not do it. In this way, David wanted to prove to Saul that he, David, was not trying to kill him.

David refused to kill him

David would not dishonor God by killing Saul, whom God had placed as king over Israel. Instead, he waited until God was ready to make David king.

17-06

to build a temple

David wanted to construct a permanent building for worshiping God that would replace the portable Tent of Meeting (See: 13:08).

17-07

The only descendant of David who could rule forever was the Messiah

All of the normal descendants of David eventually died. The Messiah, however, would live forever and continue to rule.

the Messiah

The term Messiah means Anointed One. It refers to the person that God would send to save his people and to rule over his kingdom forever. In the New Testament, Messiah is translated as Christ.

17-10

saw a beautiful woman bathing

Bathsheba may have been bathing at her own house, but David’s palace was very high and he was able to see over walls that were lower.

17-11

He slept with her

This is a polite way to say that David had sexual relations with Bathsheba. David was married and so was Bathsheba. Therefore, when he slept with her, he not only sinned against God, but also against his wives and her husband.

17-12

He was one of David’s best soldiers

David knew Uriah well, because he was one of the best soldiers in Israel. For that reason, it was especially evil that David slept with Uriah’s wife.

told him to go be with his wife

This could mean go home to be intimate with his wife. David wanted people, especially Uriah, to believe that Bathsheba was pregnant with Uriah’s child.

so that he would be killed

When David told his general to place Uriah where the enemies would kill him, David became guilty of murdering Uriah.

17-14

God punished David

When David repented about sleeping with Bathsheba and murdering Uriah, God forgave him and was no longer angry with him. However, God still needed to punish David so that the Israelites would know that they should not disobey God. Therefore, God caused David’s baby to die, and also caused David’s children to fight against him and against each other.