caused a conflict between himself and the faltering leader. The Philistines were about to overrun all of Israel west of the Jordan River. Ultimately, the tale of King David is also the tale of the fall of the House of Saul, and the decline of the Philistines.

Because we look back in time, we see King David as a king forever. In actuality, in his early years, before he became king, he lived as a fugitive and an outlaw. This really speaks to our times, when the United States Government has over 2 million people in prison, AMERICAN people.  Today the Federal Government has more of its own citizens in jail and prison than any other country on the Earth.

David's intelligence and intuition endowed him with a talent for public drama, and Saul had premonitions that David would succeed him as king. David's popular success generated an obsessive jealousy within Saul, who felt instinctively that he was fighting for the survival of his dynasty. David's years as an outlaw in the Judaean desert, and as an exile at the court of Achish of Gath stimulated the refinement of his genius. As an outlaw he had no legal protection, and his physical safety depended entirely upon his wits. To become a political and military force, David had to win the loyalty of clan chiefs and towns that owed nominal allegiance to King Saul, always overshadowed by the possibility of betrayal.

The arid ranges and steppes of Judah formed a frontier, a no-man's-land where Saul's authority had no influence, where outlaws gathered. In the ancient world the worst penalty the state could exact was life in exile from one's native country, a fate considered at the time worse than death. When first put under the ban, David went into flight for his life. On his way he stopped at the shrine of Nob at Mt. Scopus, and obtained food and the sword of Goliath by implying that he was acting on behalf of King Saul. When it was reported to Saul that the priest Ahimelech had given aid to the fugitive David, the entire priestly community was massacred by the worried king. Only Abiathar was able to escape and join David in the wilderness, beginning a service that endured as long as David lived.

It was in the Judaean wilderness that David launched his movement for the national crown. "And every one who was in distress, and every one who was in debt, and every one who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them." (I Sam. 22:2)

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