The First Book of Samuel: The First Book of the Kings, Chapters 16-31

It was a bit confusing to start the book in the middle of it, and since I'm a lazy bum I didn't go to the bother of reading the first part of it, but the story didn't base itself upon the first 16 chapters so I understood most of it.

This is basically the story of David, who is picked by God to go live with King Saul, and he becomes his armorbearer (I have no clue what that is). At first they really like each other, but then David slays Goliath, and Saul becomes jealous and starts chasing him around. Eventually they make peace, and then Saul dies.

One of the things I find strange about the Bible is how short some of its most famous stories are. Noah's Ark, for example, or Adam & Eve, were barely a page long, yet everyone knows the stories, talks about them constantly, and find them to be truly inspiring passages of the Bible. I'm saying this because whenever I read old books, people are always taking about David and Goliath, and I find this rather strange since the passage is only half a page long and really not that interesting.

And something else that's related to that:

"And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." (The First Book of Samuel, Chapter 17, Verse 47). David says this to Goliath when he jeers at him that there's no way a boy can beat a giant.

I find this quote interesting because what I interpret it to say is that God can just beat anyone without any trouble.

So then why did God let the Crusades happen? Why doesn't He just kill anyone who doesn't believe in him? Is it because he wants people to repent and change their minds about their paganism or atheism so that they don't go to hell? Is He averse to killing? But he does it all the time! Like that genocide in Noah's Ark, or all those Egyptian babies, and the giant Goliath.

Actually, I answered my own question. He kills people that He hates, or that try to get in His way, but He leaves the unbelievers alone in the hope that they will change their mind about Him.

Or at least that's what I think (on a completely irrelevant note, I just learned something funny. Apparently, not capitalizing your Is when referring to yourself is a sigh of low self-esteem. Which means I must hate myself since whenever I IM or write e-mails i write like this. I thought it was just me being lazy. Little did i know that it's my subconscious trying to tell me about the deep and secret scorn of myself I labor under. I should go see a therapist).

I found out something funny. Bob Marley has a song called Exodus. It's a very weird song, and it basically talks about "the movement of Jah people, yeah!" and "leaving our Father's land." Leaving the Garden of Eden? We didn't exactly have a choice, Bob.