In the Genesis section of Bible Abram is mentioned as the son of Terah, who fathered Abram and his two brothers Nahor and Haran at the age of 70 years. Haran died quite early leaving behind his son Lot to the care of his grandfather.
The name of Abram&rsquo;s wife as Sarai and she was barren; she bore no children.
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram&rsquo;s wife and they settled in the land of Haran. Terah lived for 205 years and died in Haran.
God&rsquo;s Covenant with Abram
Abram had a vision of God who commanded him to go and settle in the land of Canaan where he will be blessed and his offsprings will become a great nation.
So Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot and their people and possessions that they had gathered in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. As Abram journeyed he built an altar to the Lord where the Lord appeared to him and promised him the land of Canaan to his offspring.
When Abram passed through the land of Egypt, the Egyptian pharaoh took Sarai for she was beautiful in appearance, but spared Abram for they told him that she was his sister.
But the Lord afflicted Pharaoh and his house with plagues because of Sarai, Abram&rsquo;s wife. So the pharaoh returned her to Abram and let them go along with their possessions.
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold and so was Lot who also had flocks and herds and tents.
Now when they were dwelling together at the land of Negeb, there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram&rsquo;s livestock and the herdsmen of Lots livestock.
Abram being a righteous man said to Lot, &ldquo;Let there be strife between you and me and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen for we are of same kin.&rdquo;. He asked Lot to choose any land to their left or to their right and settle there, while he himself will settle in the other along with his herdsmen.
Lot lifted his head and saw the Jordan valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the lord. So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan valley and jouneyed east. Thus Abram chose to settle in Canaan while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as fae as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.
When Lot separated from Abrams the LORD again appeared to Abram and blessed that his offsprings will be as countless as the dust of the earth and all the land that he could see in all directions will belong to him and his offspring forever, in its length and breadth.
In the meanwhile, Sodom where Lot and his men were dwelling was attacked and looted by enemy forces who also took captive Lot and his men, along with all the provisions of Sodom and Gomorrah and went away.
When Abram heard that his kinsmen have been taken captive, he led forth his trained men 318 in number and went in pursuit as far as Dan. And he divided hi s forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them pursued them to Hobah north of Damascus. He then brought back all his kinsmen, women and the possessions. After the victory, Abram returned all the share of the king of Sodom back to him who in turn blessed Abram and praised the LORD.
Ishmael&rsquo;s birth
The word of God came to Abram in a vision, &lsquo;Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.&rsquo; But Abram said, &lsquo;O Lord what will thou give me, for I continue childless and a slave born in my house will be my heir&rsquo;. And behold. The word of Lord came to him and took him outside and said &lsquo;Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.&rsquo; Then he said to him, &lsquo;So shall your dependents be.&rsquo; And Abram believed the Lord; and he reckoned him as righteousness.
Now Sarai Abram&rsquo;s wife had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. She asked Abram to beget children with Hagar, so that she may obtain children. So after Abram had lived 10 years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, took Hagar her Egyptian slave and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. But when the marriage was consummated and Hagar conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress, Sarai.
Sarai complained to Abram about Hagar&rsquo;s behavior and Abram said to Sarai, &ldquo;Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.&rdquo; Then Sarai dealt harshly with her and she fled from her.
The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, and asked her to return to her mistress Sarai and submit to her. He asked her to name her son as Ishmael, because the Lord had listened to her affliction. He further said that he would be a wild donkey of a man and will always prevail against his kinsmen in battle. He further promised her that her offsprings will be multiplied so that they cannot be numbered by multitude.&nbsp;
Soon Hagar bore Abram a son, who was called Ishmael. Abram was eighty six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
When Abram was 99 years old God again appeared to Abram and blessed Abram to be the father of multitude of nations. No longer would he be called Abram but Abraham which means the father of multitude of nations.
Abraham was also asked by God to follow the tradition of circumcision of the flesh of foreskins of every male &nbsp;child born throughout his generations, as a sign of the covenant between God and him.
Then God said to Abraham, &lsquo;As for Sarai you shall not call her name Sarai but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her&rsquo;. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, &lsquo;Shall a child be born to a man who is hundred years old? Shall Sarah who is ninety years old bear a child?&rsquo;. God said, &ldquo;No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my everlasting covenant with him and his offspring. As for Ishmael I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.&rdquo;
Birth of Isaac
As Abraham was resting at the door of his tent he saw three men standing before him. Abraham recognized them as God&rsquo;s angels and served them bread and washed their feet with water.
They said to him that his wife Sarah will bear him a child in a year&rsquo;s time. But Abraham and Sarah were incredulous since she was too old to conceive a child. They assured him that nothing was hard for the LORD, and Sarah would bear a son the next year. God hid from Abraham that He had chosen him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he had promised him.
Then the angels went on to destroy the people of Sodom and Gomorrah whose sin was very grave. But on Abraham&rsquo;s intercession they saved Lot and his daughters for they were righteous.
Sarah gives birth to a son and they call him Isaac. As he grew he was weaned with a great feast. But Sarah saw Ishmael, the son of Hagar the Egyptian, laughing and teasing the young Isaac. She was very displeased and asked Abraham to cast the save woman and her son out. Abraham became very sad on account of his son, but God appeared to him and told him not to worry as he would make a great nation of Ishmael since he was his son.
So Abraham rose early in the morning and took some bread and skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder along with the child and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Soon they ran out of water and the thirsty child was about to die. Hagar sat opposite to the child, closed her eyes, unable to see the dying child, and wept profusely. And behold an angel from heaven called to Hagar and said to her, &rdquo;Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand for I will make him a great nation!&rdquo;. Then God opened her eyes and behold there was a well of water. She filled the skin with water and gave it to the boy. They lived in the wilderness and the boy grew up to become an expert with the bow. His mother found him a wife from the land of Egypt.
Abraham&rsquo;s Faith
After these things God tested Abraham, and said to him, &lsquo;Abraham!&rsquo; And he said, &lsquo;Here am I&rsquo;. He said, &lsquo;Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.&rsquo;
So Abraham rose early in the morning saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. Then Abraham said to his young men, &lsquo;Stay here with the ass; I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.&rsquo; And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, &lsquo;My father!&rsquo;. And he said, &lsquo;Here am I, my son.&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?&rsquo;. Abraham said, &lsquo;God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.&rsquo; So they went both of them together.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in orders and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. Then Abraham put forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, &lsquo;Abraham, Abraham!&rsquo; And he said &lsquo;Here am I&rsquo;. He said, &lsquo;Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, seeing &nbsp;you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me&rsquo;. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him was a ram, caught in the thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord will provide; as is said to this day, &lsquo;On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.&rsquo;
Sarah lived for 127 years and Abraham died at the age of 175 years, and was buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael.

Abraham

The first book of Samuel is largely the story of Saul, who was anointed by Samuel to be the first king of Israel. Yet for his continuous disobedience of God&rsquo;s word he was finally rejected, and the Bible pictures him as one of the most pathetic of God&rsquo;s chosen servants. Samuel is therefore commanded, as the Lord&rsquo;s prophet, to find and to anoint a new king in place of Saul - even though Saul still lived as king and clung to his throne. Samuel is asked by God to stop grieving over Saul and seek out the family of Jesse, the Bethlemite &rsquo;for I have provided for myself a king among his sons&rsquo;.
He therefore summons and inspects each son in turn, without discerning in any of them a sign of Lord&rsquo;s purpose. At last, In response to his enquiry, it transpires that Jesse has one more son, the youngest: and David is fetched from work. There and then no doubt to the dismay of his elder brothers David is anointed without further ceremony. A fine-looking country boy, he was not the tallest or the strongest: but Samuel had been warned already that &lsquo;the Lord sees not as a man sees&rsquo;. None of those who witnessed this family drama would have foreseen that the boy king was also the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, &lsquo;great David&rsquo;s greater Son&rsquo;.
Samuel asked God, &ldquo;How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.&rdquo; And the Lord said, &ldquo;Take a heifer with you and say, &lsquo;I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.&rsquo; And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said &lsquo;Do you come peaceably?&rsquo; .And he said &lsquo;Peacably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; consecrated your selves, and come wit me to the sacrifice&rsquo;. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons, and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, &lsquo;Surely the Lord&rsquo;s anointed is before him.&rsquo; But the Lord said to Samuel, &lsquo;Do not look on his appearance &nbsp;or on the height of this stature , because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees man looks on the outward appearance, &nbsp;but the Lord looks on the heart.&rsquo; Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, &lsquo;Neither has the Lord chosen this one.&rsquo; The Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, &lsquo;Neither has the Lord chosen this one.&rsquo; And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, &lsquo;The Lord has not chosen these.&rsquo; And Samuel said to Jesse, &lsquo;The Lord has not chosen these&rsquo;. And Samuel said to Jesse, &rsquo; The Lord has not chose these&rsquo;. And Samuel said to Jesse, &lsquo;Are all your sons here?&rsquo;&nbsp;
And he said, &lsquo;There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.&rsquo; And Samuel said to Jesse, &lsquo;Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.&rsquo; And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, &lsquo;Arise, anoint him; for this is he.&rsquo; Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
In spite of David&rsquo;s anointing and his own rejection by God, Saul continued as king. However the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. His servants suggested to him to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God was upon him, he would play it and the king would be well. Saul agreed and was informed by a young man of David, son of Jesse, who was skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence and the LORD was with him. Saul sent for David through his messengers who conveyed to Jesse, the Bethlemite to send his son who was with the sheep. Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul.
David found a new role at court, ministering to Saul&rsquo;s fits of violence and depression (perhaps with some of the Psalms sung today in Christian worship) and becoming his armour bearer, for Saul loved him greatly. For whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David would play the lyre with his hand, causing the harmful spirit to leave Saul, who would be get well and refreshed again.

David - The Shepherd King

David sprang to this new prominence by his single-handed defeat of the Philistine champion, the giant Goliath.&nbsp; It so happened that that the Philistines gathered their armies against the Israelites led by their king, Saul. The Israelites and Philistines each stood on a mountain facing each other with a valley between the two armies.
And there came out from the Philistine camp, a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. He had a helmet of bronze and was armed with a heavy coat of mail around his bust and legs. He had a great spear and his shield beard walked before him.
Goliath challenged the Israelite army to produce a champion who would fight with him in single combat. &lsquo;If he wins we will be your slaves; but if I win and kill him, you will be our slaves&hellip; I dare you to pick someone to fight me.&rsquo; David meanwhile, a shepherd boy rather than a soldier, had been sent by his father to the front line to bring rations to his elder brothers who fought in Saul&rsquo;s army. He heard the giant&rsquo;s boast, and offered to be the one to fight him while everyone else was afraid and fled, much to the ridicule of this own brothers who scoffed at him.
When Saul was told of the boy&rsquo;s suggestion, he sent for him. And David said to Saul &ldquo;Let no man&rsquo;s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.&rdquo; But Saul discouraged him saying he was but a youth before Goliath who was a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, &ldquo;Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered it out of his mouth. And his he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. I shall kill Goliath like the same lions and bears and the LORD will deliver me from the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine, just like He delivered me from the paws of the beasts&rdquo;.
Saul was not convinced, yet for want of anyone better and persuaded by the boy&rsquo;s faith and courage, King Saul agreed. &lsquo;Go,&rsquo; he said to him, &lsquo;and the Lord be with you.&rsquo;
Then David took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd&rsquo;s bag, in his wallet; his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistine.&nbsp; And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth ruddy and comely in appearance.
And the Philistine said to David, &lsquo;Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?&rsquo; And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, &lsquo;Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the beasts of the field.&rsquo; &nbsp;Then David said to Philistine, &lsquo;You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down, and cut off your head; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with the sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord&rsquo;s and he will give you into our hand.&rsquo;
When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine, And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine with a slink and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and, and killed him; there was no sword n the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
David achieved immense popularity with the people of Israel. Saul fired by jealousy and fighting for his throne, pursued him relentlessly. Finally when David was thirty, Saul was killed in battle and David&rsquo;s kingship was at last established.

David and Goliath

The next few years of David&rsquo;s life were spent is evading Saul&rsquo;s attempts on his life. However, he was saved with the help of Jonathan, who would intimate David in advance about his father&rsquo;s plans to kill him.
Jonathan also tried dissuade Saul to spare David&rsquo;s life by speaking well of David to his father. Some time later there was a war again with the Philistines and David fought bravely again and struck them a blow, before they fled. And the harmful spirit again came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with a spear in his hand. While David played the lyre as usual, Saul again tried to pin him to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
Saul then sent his messengers to David&rsquo;s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David&rsquo;s wife, let him down the window and he fled away and escaped.
Now David fled and escaped to Samuel the prophet, but when Saul came chasing him, the spirit of God came upon him and he stripped off his clothes, and he too began prophesying before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night.&nbsp;
David fled from there and met Jonathan who promised him to disclose Saul&rsquo;s intentions to David, whenever Saul would plan an attempt on his life, for he said &ldquo;Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me, And why should my father hide this from me&rdquo;.
The next say was a new moon day and as a custom David was to sit on the table with the king, but David fled and hid himself in the field. When Saul did not find David in his seat he enquired Jonathan about his whereabouts but Jonathan replied saying David had to meet his brothers for a sacrifice. Saul became furious at Jonathan and began cursing him. He then thew his spear at him to strike him. However Jonathan, rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had disgraced him.
He signaled David hiding in the field to flee away from the city. Both hugged and kissed each other, wept with each other, before departing with David weeping the most.
Then David came to Nob, where the priest offered him the holy bread to eat. He also gave him the sword of Goliath which was wrapped in a cloth there ever since David killed Goliath. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul &nbsp;was there that day, who later snitched to Saul about the priest of Nob giving refuge to David.
From there David fled to Achish the king of Gathe, but the servants of Achish recognized and held him, but later let &nbsp;him go because he pretended to be insane with spittle running down his beard.
David then departed and escaped to the cave of Abdullam. There many distressed people gathered to him, and he became the commander over them. His brothers and his clan also came there to join him. And there were with him about four hundred men.
Now, when Saul discovered that the priest of Nob had given provisions to David, and had also given him the sword of Goliath, he asked the same snitch to kill all the priests of the LORD who numbered eighty five. Not just the priests, Saul ordered the entire city of Nob to be put to sword, with all its men, women, children and cattle.
David was informed of the massacre by one of the sons of the priest who escaped and took refuge with David.
Now David and his men fought one more battle with the Philistines to defend the city of Keilah, but Saul followed him even there continually seeking his life. But God did not give him to Saul&rsquo;s hand.&nbsp;
David then fled to the wilderness of Horse, where Saul followed him with three thousand of his men. Here Saul went to relieve himself in a cave all by himself, n the innermost parts of which David and his men were sitting. &nbsp;David&rsquo;s men said to him, &ldquo;Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you,&rdquo; &nbsp;But he didn&rsquo;t want to kill the Lord&rsquo;s anointed servant, so he arose and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul&rsquo;s robe.&nbsp;
When Saul arose and began going his way, David also went out and called after him, &ldquo;My lord the king!&rdquo;, bowing down before him. And David said to Saul &ldquo;Why do you listen to men who say, &lsquo;Behold David seeks you harm&rsquo;. &lsquo;Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD&rsquo;s anointed.&rsquo; See my father see the corner of your robe in my hand. Out of wickedness comes wickedness&rsquo;. But my hand shall not be against you. And whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea! May the Lord therefore be the judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand&rdquo;.
As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, &ldquo;Is this your voice my son David?&rdquo; And Saul lifted up his voice and wept. You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good whereas I have repaid you evil. And you have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the LORD put me into your hands. For if a man finds his enemy will he let him of away safe? So may the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now, behold , I know that you shall surely be a king, and that kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. Swear to me therefore by LORD that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father&rsquo;s house.&rdquo; And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

David spares Saul’s life

When David returned to Saul with the head of Goliath in his hand, Saul inquired of him &ldquo;Whose son are you, young man?&rdquo;. And David answered &ldquo;I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.&rdquo;
Saul took him that day in his army and would not let him return to his father&rsquo;s house. This event also marked the beginning of his friendship with Jonathan, the son of Saul, who loved him as his own soul from that day on. He stripped himself of his own robe and gave it to David along with his sword and his armor, to mark his covenant with David. David was successful wherever Saul sent him for war, and this was good in the sight of Saul and his servants.
However, when they were returning home after their victory, the people of Israel welcomed King Saul, singing with musical instruments and dancing with joy. The women sang to one another as they celebrated,
&ldquo;Saul has struck down his thousands. And David his ten thousands.&rdquo;
This caused envy in King Saul who said &ldquo;They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?&ldquo;. Saul eyed David from that day on.
The next day when Saul was tormented by a harmful spirit from God and raved within his house as David played the lyre, Saul hurled his spear towards him, for he thought, &ldquo;I will pin David to the wall.&rdquo; But David evaded him twice.
Saul knew that the LORD was with David and had departed from himself, so he removed David from his presence and made him the commander of a thousand men, hoping to get rid of him through the Philistines. &nbsp;But David was successful in all his undertakings for the LORD was with him. While all of Israel and Judah loved David, Saul stood in fearful awe of him.
Saul also gave his daughter Micah in marriage to David, for she loved him and Saul thought, &ldquo;Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him&rdquo;. As David attained success after success against the Philistines, Saul fears also grew continually.

Saul tries to kill David

Meanwhile Samuel passed away and all Israel assembled and mourned for him and buried him in Rama.
David kept wandering in the wilderness, where a man named Nabal did business. Nabal was very rich with three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. Nabal was badly behaved and harsh while his wife, Abigail was discerning and beautiful.
When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep there, David sent him ten young men and said to them - &lsquo;Go to Nabal and greet him in my name. Say unto him, Peace be upon your house. Your shepherds have been with us and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they sheared in Carmel. Therefore let my young men find favour in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.&rsquo;
However, when David&rsquo;s men greeted Nabal with these words, he railed at them harshly and turned them away.
This annoyed David who strapped on his sword along with four hundred of his men to avenge the insult. When this news reached Abigail, who was informed of both David&rsquo;s and Nabal&rsquo;s conduct towards each other&rsquo;s men, she hastily loaded her donkeys with loaves, meat and wine and came along with her men to David.&nbsp; She got off her donkey and fell at David&rsquo;s feet and said, &lsquo;On me alone my lord be the guilt. Please forgive thy servant Nabal for he is a worthless fellow, as is his name. Let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to his young men. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD and evil shall not be found in you as long as you live. And when the LORD has appointed you as the prince over Israel, then remember your handmaid&rsquo;.
David was pleased and said to Abigail, &ldquo;Blessed be the LORD and blessed be you and your discretion, for unless you had hurried and come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal so much as one male. Go in peace to your house.&rdquo; David then received from her hand what she had brought him.
Abigail returned to Nabal who was holding a feast like a king. He was drunk with wine and was making merry. She told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning when the wine had gone out of him, his wife told him all these things and his heart died within him and he became as a stone.&nbsp; And ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal and he died.
David blessed the LORD for avenging his insult&nbsp; received at the hand of Nabal and sent his servants to Abigail to take her as his wife. She bowed her face to the ground and said, &ldquo;Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.&rdquo; She followed Davids with her servants and became his wife.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;

David and Abigail

While David was hiding himself in the wilderness, Saul came chasing after him with three thousand chosen men of Israel. When he saw that Saul was camping on the hill, he sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come. Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and saw the place where Saul lay with Abner the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment while the army was encamped around him.
David along with his trusted commander Abishai sneaked into their camp at night and beheld Saul sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him.
Then Abishai said to David, &ldquo;God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice&rdquo;. But David refused Abishai saying &ldquo;Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD&rsquo;s anointed and be guiltless?&rdquo;. David further said that God might strike Saul or his day would come to die, or he might go down into battle and perish, but God forbade him to put out his hand against the LORD&rsquo;s anointed.
But they took the spear the was at his head and the jar of water and left. During this act no man saw it or knew it&nbsp; nor did any awake because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them.
Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill with a great space between them. David shouted to Abner saying, &ldquo;Will you not answer, Abner? Are you not a man? Why have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy the king your lord. You do not deserve to live, see where the king&rsquo;s spear and the jar of water that was at his head are?&rsquo;
Saul recognized David&rsquo;s voice and said, &ldquo;Is this your voice my son David?&rdquo;. And David said &ldquo;It is my voice, my lord O king. Why does the lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD. Let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.&rdquo;
Saul was overwhelmed by David&rsquo;s actions and feeling extremely guilty promised David to cause him no more harm. David then returned the spear to one of Saul&rsquo;s young men, saying the LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness for the LORD gave you into my hand today, but I would not put out my hand against the LORD&rsquo;s anointed. Saul replied, &ldquo;Blessed be you my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.&rdquo;&nbsp; So David went his way and Saul returned to his place.

David spares Saul Again

David decided to escape from Saul to the land of the Philistines, hoping for Saul to despair seeking him any longer the land of Israel.
There David soon found favor in the eyes of the king of Gath, Achish for whom he won many battles against his enemies. Thus he along with his wives and men lived with Achish for a year and&nbsp; four months, who gave David a town named Ziklag.
The Philstines along with David decided to fight against Israel, causing great fear in Saul. Saul called upon a woman who was a medium to talk to the soul of Samuel who had passed away. When the woman summoned Samuel, Saul was clearly informed of his impending death as he had sinned against LORD by disobeying Him. Saul was grief stricken and fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel.
However in the battle between the Philistines and Israel, David was seen by the Philistine soldiers with suspicion as they feared him to become their adversary who would side with his old lord Saul during the fight. They sent David back to the land of the Philistines, while they proceeded with the attack.
Here David finds himself in a face off against the Amalekites who raided Ziklag and burned the city and took captive all the women who were in it, including the wives of David.&nbsp; However David struck them all down from the twilight until the evening of the next day, and rescued all his wives and the women and sons and daughters and nothing was missing, whether small or great. He also captured all the flocks and herds of the enemy and distributed a fair share of spoil among his men.
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Now the Philistines overtook Saul and struck down Jonathan and other sons of Saul, who himself was badly wounded by the archers who found him.
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Then Saul said to his armor bearer &ldquo;Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and mistreat me&rdquo;.&nbsp; But his armor bearer would not for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.
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When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. Thus Saul died and his three sons and his armor bearer and all his men on the same day together. The Philistines captured the cities of the Israelites who fled.
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The Death of Saul

During the final attack on Mathura by King Jarasandha, Krishna received a letter from Rukmini the exquisitely beautiful and delicate daughter of the King Bhishmaka of Vidarbha Kingdom, requesting Him to accept her as his wife. Thus Krishna and Balarama decided to leave the battlefield and climbed atop the mountain Pravarsana pretending to be afraid of the Jarasandha&rsquo;s military. Jarasandha followed them and set it on fire from all sides hoping to kill his enemy. However the two brothers jumped off from the 88 miles high mountain and escaped to Dwarka unscathed, where Balarama married Revati the virtuous daughter of king Raivata of Anarta province. The story of Krishna&rsquo;s marriage to Rukmini is as follows: The king of Vidarbha had 5 sons eldest being Rukmi and a precious daughter named Rukmini, an incarnation of Goddess Laxmi, who was sought after by many princes for her godly qualities. However, Rukmini had heard of the super excellent qualities of Lord Krishna and had secretly desired Lord Krishna as her husband. Krishna also decided that she was fit to be his wife. King Bhishmaka as well as all his relatives also decided that she should be married to Krishna, the prince of Dwarka. However Rukmi, the elder brother of Rukmini, had arranged his sister&rsquo;s marriage to Sisupala, a sworn enemy of Lord Krishna. King Bhishmaka blinded by affection towards his son could only comply. On hearing, the black eyed Rukmini was heartbroken but decided to send a letter to Krishna, via a messenger, confessing her feelings for Him and requesting him to kidnap her the very next day before being touched by the evil Sisupala. She besought Krishna to fight and conquer Sisupala, knowing well that Krishna was undefeatable. The intelligent Rukmini Devi who was also well trained in diplomacy, suggested that Krishna kidnap her while she with her family visited the Goddess Durga temple the next day before the consecration of the marriage ceremony. She wanted to prevent an unnecessary bloodshed of innocent family members in a skirmish within the palace premises. Rukmini also made known her determination to win Krishna&rsquo;s favour in her next life, through severe austerities and fasting unto death,&nbsp; if it was not possible to have His favour now. On hearing Rukmini devi&rsquo;s message, Krishna was overwhelmed and professing his own love for his beloved devotee, left immediately from Dwarka, on his chariot to teach a lesson to Sisupala and his company. Krishna&rsquo;s charioteer Daruka took Him to Vidarbha within a night, to find the city fully decorated and lit up for their princess&rsquo;s wedding. Sisupala&rsquo;s father, Damaghosa who had already anticipated Krishna&rsquo;s intervention was prepared to receive Him with hordes of cavalry and infantry. Meanwhile Lord Balarama also reached the spot with his strong divisions of military, out of affection for His younger brother, on learning about Krishna&rsquo;s adventure. As the time was the marriage drew closer, with no signs of Krishna or her messenger appearing, Rukmini devi felt despondent and began to shed tears helplessly and praying to God. Just then she saw her messenger and Krishna arriving on the scene, and in her elation wanted to give in charity everything she possessed to her Brahmana messenger, but had to content herself with offering only her respects. King Bhishmaka also welcomed Krishna and Balarama to witness the royal wedding of his daughter without having any hint of what was going to come. Soon after Rukmini devi along with her bridesmaids started walking towards the Goddess Durga temple, praying all the while to get Krishna as her husband. While in temple she offered many royal items to the deity such as incense, garments, garlands and foodstuffs, which were later distributed to her and her bridesmaids as prasadam. While she departed from the temple all the princes who had assembled to witness her wedding fell unconscious on seeing her beauty, elegance and humility. While she was thus walking towards her house she happened to gaze at Krishna present among all the princes and had no difficulty in recognizing him since she was always absorbed in his thoughts. Losing no time Krishna grabbed her by her hand and placed her on his chariot and began to slowly drive away without any fear of anyone, exactly as a lion takes a deer from the midst of jackals. Meanwhile Balram along with his Yadu soldiers gave a cover to Krishna and Rukmini. The belligerent princes who could not see Rukmini carried away by Krishna began to attack the Yadu soldiers who made a short work of them killing them in huge numbers. Rukmini Devi looked at Krishna with feelings of gratitude and felt sorry for all the risk Krishna undertook for her. Krishna reassured her of his love and her safety expressing his confidence in the Yadu soldiers. Sisupala, the groom-to-be, who himself had no courage to face Krishna and Balarama, returned home in despair like one who has lost his wife.&nbsp; However, the envious Rukmi who was frustrated on witnessing the insulting defeat in the hands of Krishna, decided to teach Krishna a lesson. Rallying his troops he began to follow the couple towards Dwarka, and with fake bravado proclaimed before the assembled princes - &ldquo;You could not help Sisupala marry my sister, Rukmini, but I cannot allow Rukmini to be taken away by Krishna.&rdquo; He further began boasting of his commandership and vowed to not return to his capital city Kundina without killing Krishna and freeing his sister from His clutches. In his stupidity he reached where Krishna was and began threatening Him repeatedly with foolish insults. A short battle ensued when Krishna dexterously aimed arrows and cut off all his weapons reducing him with just a sword. Then just as soon as Lord Krishna withdrew his sword to sever his head, Rukmini devi fell to the ground and implored her husband as Yogeshwara &ndash; one who possesses all energy and opulence &ndash; to spare her brother who after all was just wishing the best for his sister. Krishna immediately became compassionate on his young wife and left her brother unscathed but in order to teach him a lesson, He tied him up and sniped at his moustache, beard and hair leaving some spots here and there as a reminder of his transgression. Lord Balarama who returned to the along with the Yadu soldiers scene after making a short work of Rukmi&rsquo;s army could not see the pathetic condition of Rukmi and in order to pacify his sister-in-law, chastised Krishna before her, for His un-hero-like towards a Kshatriya prince for whom the shaving-off of hair at the hands of an enemy was worse than death. Balaram further consoled the crying Rukmini devi with some enlightening instructions on ethics of war and of the temporary nature of bodily relations, highlighting the permanency of relationship with God only.&nbsp; Rukmini was pacified but her brother, granted life, in anger decided to stay put at the same spot in a cottage never to return to his kingdom. Krishna brought his newly wedded wife to Dwarka where they were crowned the king and queen to the joy of all the citizens. A great festival was celebrated by the inhabitants to commemorate this special occasion, decorating the city with the auspicious banana and betel nut trees. A large number of elephants carrying the friendly kings who came over, began uprooting and throwing the trees in frivolity hither and tither. King Bhishmaka also happily joined the marriage celebrations and everyone was excited to see the Goddess of Fortune, Laxmi united with the Supreme God Vishnu.

Krishna and Rukmini

Govardhana-dharam vande gopalam Gopa rupinam
gokulotsavam-isanam govindam gopika priyam
&nbsp;
I worship the lifter of Goverdhan, who is the maintainer and protector of the cows, Goal, who has the form of a cowherd boy. He is the festival of Gokula, the Supreme Controller of all, He is Govinda and the beloved of the gopis.
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Garga Samhita first gives a description of how Krishna manifested Goloka in the spiritual world. After he manifested the entire Goloka, casting Her sidelong glance, Srimati Radharani made a request to Krishna, who is more charming than many millions of Kamadevas and who generously gives the sweetest nectar. She spoke to Him the following words, &ldquo;O Lord of the worlds, if You are pleased with My love in this rasa dance, then there is a desire in my heart I would like to place before You.&rdquo;
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Krishna fondly replied, &ldquo;You may ask for whatever your heart desires. O beloved I will lovingly give you whatever you wish, if I have not already given it.&rdquo;
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Saying &ldquo;So be it&rdquo;, the Lord meditated. With his lotus eyes He looked inside His heart. As the goips watched Krishna&rsquo;s love, in a form of fire and water, came from His heart as a sprout comes up from the ground. Falling onto the ground of the rasa dance circle, that love grew into a great mountain filled with many caves and swiftly moving streams, beautiful with kadamba, Bakula, and Ashoka trees and a great network of flowering vines, opulent with mandala and kunda flowers and filled with graceful birds. In a single moment that mountain became eight hundred thousand miles wide and eight billion miles long. It was like another Ananta Sea. It was four billion miles tall. It was like a gigantic elephant.
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Some called this mountain Goverdhan and others called it Satasrnga (a hundred peaks). The mountain expanded as much as its heart wished. As the mountain expanded, Goloka became filled with fear and there was a great uproar. Lord Krishna at once stood up and slapped the mountain with His hand. He chastised, &ldquo;Why do you expand so much? You have covered the entire realm! Why do you not stop at once?&rdquo; In this way he stopped the mountain from growing any further.
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Gazing at this best of mountains, Lord Krishna&rsquo;s beloved Radha was very pleased. She enjoyed pastimes with Krishna in a secluded place on that mountain. In this way, Goverdhan Hill, which is the best of mountains, which is dear to the Lord, which is as dark as a monsoon cloud, and which contains within itself all holy places, was manifested by Lord Krishna. This is the most ancient history of Goloka. When one hears it, all his sins are destroyed.
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Garga Samhita also tells the story of the appearance of Goverdhan in the material world. At the end of the Dvapara Yuga, it was time for Shri Krishna to descend on the earth planet and perform his pastimes. Shri Krishna asked Sri Radha to accompany him to Earth. Sri Radha replied,
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Yatra vrindavanam nasti
Na yatra yamnuna nadi
Yatra goverdhano nasti
Tatra me na manah sukham
&nbsp;
&ldquo;My heart cannot be happy in a place where there is no Vrindava forest, no Yamuna River, and no Goverdhan Hill.&rdquo;
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Sri Krishna immediately sent a portion of His Goloka to Earth, along with Yamuna and Goverdhan.
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