Meridian Magazine--Come Follow Me Latter-day Saint Podcast

Join us with guest Patrick Degn who has been an instructor in the Seminaries and Institutes of Religion for more than 25 years. In this episode we will explore the story of King Ahab and Jezebel and the abrupt introduction of the man who tried to counteract their influence: Elijah.

These are chapters that are enough to break your heart. I have always loved David, and I thrill to the things he writes about the Lord and his love for the Lord. So. to see the events of his life unfold have truly always been personal to me. I feel a personal loss when we're thinking about David. So let's talk a little bit about his background.

We have with us today a special guest, Mark Matthews. Together we discuss Israel’s desire for a king and Saul’s rise to the position, and how he loses his way. We also discuss the story of David facing Goliath and how it can represent much more than we often think about.

Ruth is a happy interlude in these chapters. It's not a story of a prophet, a war, or a dramatic intervention by the Lord, but it's a family story, a private story in some ways, but it's the family story of the family of the Savior. We love it because we are seeing really good people who are living the covenant at work. So this is a book that brings us joy.

As I study the Old Testament something comes to me over and over again. When Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me,” he was sending the people to the Old Testament to find Him. When Lehi opened the Plates of Brass for the first time and searched them from the beginning (see 1 Nephi 5:10) and then he “was filled with the Spirit, and began to prophesy concerning his seed (see 1 Nephi 5:17) he was immersed in the Old Testament. When Nephi says, “For my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth them…” he was talking about the Old Testament. When Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni converted seven cities of the Lamanites and brought untold thousands to the Savior, they were using only the Old Testament in their teaching! What a treasure we have in the Old Testament!