The Life of David - Part 4
Copied from the Sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore
October 4, 2026
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 25:43, 44:
43) “David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel: and they were also both of them his wives.
44) But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Galim.”
Mormon Mafia
Before we begin today’s lesson, I will point out something that probably you didn’t know. Maybe some of you knew, but I know that not all of you knew that Las Vegas is/was owned by Jewish gangsters, the late Howard Hughes, and the “Mormon Mafia” and now Mormon/Jewish mafia-controlled corporations.
The Jewish gangster who famously started modern Las Vegas was Bugsy Siegel, though he did not single-handedly build the city. In 1946, Siegel used east-coast mob syndicate funds (they had a lot of money) to take over and finish building the casino/hotel, The Flamingo. This building introduced luxury, glitz, and a Jewish Hollywood touch to the desert. Siegel’s childhood friend and fellow mobster Meyer Lansky shared the vision of using Las Vegas as a legal gambling oasis for the National Crime Syndicate. Budget overruns and suspected skimming led to Siegel’s murder in 1947, (by Murder, Inc.), after which other mob figures took over his creation and expanded the Strip.
A desert metropolis built on gambling, prostitution, strip joints, slot machines, alcohol consumption, illegal drug vice, and other forms of ungodly entertainment. In just a century of existence, Las Vegas has drawn millions of visitors and trillions of dollars in wealth to southern Nevada.
The city was founded by ranchers and railroad workers but quickly found that its greatest asset was not its water springs but its casinos. Las Vegas’s embrace of Old West-style freedoms, like gambling, drinking alcohol, and prostitution, provided a perfect home for East Coast organized crime. Beginning in the 1940s, money from drugs, extortion, gambling, alcohol, and racketeering built casinos and was laundered within them. Visitors came to partake in what the casinos offered: low-cost luxury and the thrill of fantasies fulfilled.
Little had changed in the valley following the 1848 shift from Mexican to United States rule until 1855, when Brigham Young sent a group of Mormon settlers to the area. Their settlement was unsuccessful, but their abandoned fort was taken over by Octavius Gass, who named the area the “Las Vegas Rancho.” Las Vegas means “the meadows,” referring to the grassy wetlands fed by these underground springs.
The original fort the Mormons built in 1855
In 1905 the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroad arrived in Las Vegas, connecting the city with the Pacific Ocean and the country’s main rail networks. The future downtown was auctioned by railroad company backers, and Las Vegas was incorporated in 1911.
Nevada outlawed gambling in 1910 but the practice continued in speakeasies and illicit casinos. By the time gambling was legalized again in 1931, Organized Crime already had its roots in the city.
That same year construction began on the massive Boulder Dam (later renamed the Hoover Dam), drawing thousands of workers to a site just east of the city. Casinos and showgirl venues opened on Fremont Street, the town’s only paved road, to attract the project’s workers. When the dam was completed in 1936, cheap hydroelectricity powered the flashing signs of Fremont’s “Glitter Gulch.”
In 1941 the El Rancho Vegas resort opened on a section of U.S. 91 just outside the city’s jurisdiction. Other hotel-casinos soon followed, and the section of highway became known as “the Strip.” Most were built around the regional or Old West themes that were popular on Fremont Street.
Guests at the many hotels/casinos could enjoy a wide range of amenities such as an outdoor swimming pool, fitness center or gym, restaurant, bar/lounge, casino room, and gift shop. Top-drawer talent was booked for its lounges and dozens of celebrities came and performed at the hotels/casinos.
Siegel was murdered in 1947 (when I was five years old), but his vision for Las Vegas lived on: During the 1950s and 1960s, mobsters helped build other hotels/casinos: the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier and the Riviera. Money from organized crime combined with funds from more respectable investors—Wall Street banks, union pension funds, the Mormon Church and the Princeton University endowment. Tourists flocked to the resorts—eight million a year by 1954—drawn by performers such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Elvis Presley, and by rows of slot machines and gaming tables.
From the 1940s onward Las Vegas enjoyed a military boom as World War II bases gave way to Cold War facilities, most famously the Nevada Test Site, where over 100 nuclear bombs were detonated above ground between 1951 and 1963. Mushroom clouds were often visible from the hotels on the Strip, and postcards proclaimed Las Vegas the “Up and Atom City.”
The Jewish mob had so much money that they also helped create a nation, supported by a letter, the Balfour Declaration, i.e. the nation of Israeli in 1948. And afterwards, the criminal element supplied (which was forbidden by the United States) weapons of war; such as rifles, ammunition, submachine guns, machine guns, bombs, etc. which helped the Israelis defeat the Arabs in their battles over the land. Their armed force, the I. D. F., Israeli Defense Force was formed by combining the three terrorist groups of the Israelis: the Irgun, the Lehi, and the Haganah. Their future Prime Ministers came from these three groups. Israeli, like Las Vegas, is the country the Jewish crime syndicate made and still is in control.
In 1966 Howard Hughes checked into the penthouse of the Desert Inn and never left, preferring to buy the hotel rather than face eviction. He bought other hotels too—$300 million worth—ushering in an era in which mob interests were displaced by corporate conglomerates.
In 1989, longtime casino developer Steve Wynn (Jewish) opened the Mirage, the city’s first mega-resort. Over the next two decades the strip was transformed yet again: Old casinos were dynamited to make room for massive complexes taking their aesthetic cues from ancient Rome and Egypt, Paris, Venice, New York and other glamorous escapes.
Casinos and entertainment remained Las Vegas’ major employer, and the city grew with the size of the resorts and the numbers of annual visitors. In 2008, even as residents faced recession, rising unemployment and a housing price collapse, the city still received nearly 40 million visitors.
Why was it that the gangsters (many of them Jewish), and pseudo-Christian Mormons who operated under Howard Hughes, bought most of the casinos in Las Vegas? Mormons ran most of the casinos at one time. They were called the “Mormon Mafia.” I thought Mormons were honest, respectable people, not gangsters who entice people to smoke, drink alcohol, gamble, seek prostitution, and other sins.
Why would any respectable Christian go to Las Vegas? Does he want to gamble, play cards, visit the slot machines, go to strip joints, get drunk, visit a prostitute, see one of the outstanding performers like the Osmonds, All Motown, Prince, Elton John, Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club, etc? The money goes mostly to the gangsters, Mormons, and other notorious evil groups.
Let’s see, the President of the United States’ top donor runs a gambling empire. Ben Shapiro is urging his listeners to gamble. Sports gambling is now big business. Over 70 million Americans are now betting online.
The Mormons also believed in and practiced polygamy. In response to anti-polygamy legislation passed by the federal government of the United States, Wilford Woodruff, president of the Latter-Day Saints who had about 10 wives and 34 children, issued a proclamation in 1890 saying he would submit the Church to the law of the land and end the practice of plural marriage. Most did, but a few continued the practice.
David had eight wives and about 20 children plus many concubines. But that is where the similarity ended. He wasn’t a gambler, he didn’t stay in luxury rooms, he didn’t smoke or take illegal drugs, so I don’t think that David would be interested in going to Las Vegas if he were alive today.
So, let’s get back to the Life of David.
1 Samuel 25:43, 44:
43) “David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel: and they were also both of them his wives.
44) But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which was of Galim.”
What is David doing? Why does he marry Abigail now? He was a homeless wanderer and in no condition to give unto a wife the care and devotion to which she is entitled. Should he wait a little bit, after the death of her husband, before he asked her to be his wife? Doesn’t the Scripture teach “to everything there is a season” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
And how did David know Ahinoam? What happened? The Bible does not tell us anything about their relationship. He was still homeless and in no way to provide for her. When did they meet? How soon after he asked Abigail to marry him did, did he ask Ahinoam? How long did they know each other? The Bible doesn’t tell us.
Would he be chastised for these marriages?
1 Samuel 26:1-3:
1) “And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon?
2) Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
3) And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.”
This was the third time that David was betrayed by his own countrymen. The first time by the residents of Keilah and this was the second time that he was betrayed by the Ziphites.
Once again Saul reverted to his old depraved, jealous disposition, and began to seek the life of David after vowing once that he would not do so and after having his own life spared by David. This was the twenty-first (and last) attempt by Saul to kill David.
Remember, right after David was anointed king by Samuel in the home of Jesse, his father, Saul no longer had the Spirit of God with him. Saul was declared to be no longer the king of Israel, and he had an evil spirit given to him that troubled him.
1 Samuel 16:14:
14) “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD, troubled him.
His servants told him that he needed to find a good harpist who would help him with this tormenting spirit. David was the one that they found and when he played, Saul was refreshed, and he became well and the evil spirit departed from him.
1 Samuel 26:4:
4) “David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed [ascertained that Saul was come prepared out of Keila, Septuagint].
David heard that Saul had come to the wilderness of Ziph, David sent out spies to see for sure, so he would not be taken unaware.
1 Samuel 26:5-6: (The Septuagint)
5) “And David arose secretly, and goes into the place where Saul was sleeping, and there was Abenner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul was sleeping in a chariot, and the people had encamped along round about him.
6) And David answered and spoke to Abimelech the Chettite, and to Abessa the son Saruia the brother of Joab, saying, Who will go in with me to Saul into the camp: and Abessa said, I will go in with thee.”
Instead of fleeing from Saul, David arose and went boldly to the place where Saul had pitched his camp. Saul and his best advisors did not expect this, so the bold move caught them wholly unprepared. David found Saul and his army in a deep sleep; not one man was awake to guard the king.
No doubt David had perhaps inquired of the Urim and Thummim which were in his company, and not Saul’s. He acted at the precise moment when the LORD had caused a deep sleep to fall upon the enemy and the army.
How were three thousand men all in a deep sleep at the same time? It was one of the greatest miracles that had ever occurred. Three thousand men all in a deep sleep. No one was awake. No one guarded King Saul. Where was the watchmen?
1 Samuel 26:7-8:
7) “So David and Abishai [Abessa, Septuagint] came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench [chariot, Septuagint], and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner [Abenner, Septuagint] and the people lay [slept, Septuagint] round about him.
8) Then said Abishai[Abessa, Septuagint] to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day; now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth [with the spear that was stuck in the ground near Saul, Septuagint] at once, and I will not smite him the second time.
Abishai [Abessa] was the son of David’s sister, Zeruiah, and brother of Joab and Asahel. He was one of David’s mighty men. He offered David that he would kill Saul with the spear that was stuck in the ground next to the chariot where he was sleeping in. He would only smite him once. What did David answer?
1 Samuel 26:9-12:
9) “And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?
10) David said furthermore, As the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.
11) The LORD forbide that I should stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’s anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that is at his bolster, and the cruse [pitcher, Septuagint] of water, and let us go.
12) So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.”
It was a custom to stand a tall spear at the entrance of the leader’s tent in any army, tribe, or other encampment. The bolster was the pillow of Saul’s in this case. To take the spear from here was sufficient proof that Saul could have been easily killed. The cruse was a flask of some kind, that probably also contained honey.
David told Abishai [Abessa] that it would be sinful to lay violent hands upon one whose person was sacred, for Saul had been appointed by God to his office. He also told him that it was unnecessary: God would, sooner or later, cut him off just like he did Nabal. So, David left it to God to avenge his cause.
David and his nephew went to where Saul and his army were located and they find everyone in a deepen sleep. All 3000 of the men in his army. No one was awake. Most armies always have several people assigned to watch duty (they stay awake all night; sometimes they split the shift; but there are always the watchmen who are awake). I wonder what would have occurred if David and his nephew went to where Saul was and there were watchmen who were awake?
1 Samuel 26:13-16:
13) “Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space being between them:
14) And David cried to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that criest to the king?
15) And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king [why then dost thou not guard the lord the king?, Septuagint] for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.
16) This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster.”
David goes to the other side and stands on top of a hill far off. Then David reproaches Abner [Abenner] when he shows him Saul’s spear and pitcher of water that was at his pillow. What could Abner answer?
1 Samuel 26:17:
17) “And Saul knew David’s voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.”
Saul recognized David’s voice and was once more brought to his senses by realizing how close to death he had been.
1 Samuel 26:18-20:
18) “And he [David] said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in my hand?
19) Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee against me, let him accept an offering; but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.
20) Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth [ground, Septuagint] before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.”
Saul had no answers to these questions. But all Israel knew that it was jealousy in Saul that he battled against David. It was wise of David not to mention that it was Saul’s jealousy, but rather it was evil men who stirred up that attitude that he had.
What did Saul say next?
1 Samuel 26:21-25
21) “Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day; behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
22) And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
23) The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’s anointed.
24) And behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of the LORD, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation.
25) Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So David went on his own way, and Saul returned to his place.
David spared Saul a second time. Saul confessed to David that he had sinned and that he would do no more harm to him. At the end, David returned the spear and the cruse of water that he had taken and David left and Saul returned to Gibeah.
Did this finally end it all? No! There was more to happen. And most Christians would find it hard to believe where David went to next.
1 Samuel 27:1-2:
1) “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
2) And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.”
What is going on? What is David thinking? Didn’t God anoint him as the next king of Israel? So how could he “perish one day by the hand of Saul,” the present king of Israel? And where does he go? He goes for the second time to Achish, the king of Gath!
Remember, Gath was where the family of giants (Goliath and his four brothers) had lived and some were still alive. The Philistines were the enemy of Israel and were constantly in battle with them. David, the first time that he went to Gath, saved his life, by acting like he was crazy in order to get sent away.
Now he returns to the land where he was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Philistines with his six hundred men army and I would suppose two of his three wives. Maybe that was the problem. His two wives. Look at what verse three says.
1 Samuel 27:3:
3) “And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife.”
David and his six-hundred-man army and their wives and children were there. How did they get to King Achish? Did they just march through the town of Gath with no opposition? David’s army was the enemy of the Philistines too. I have no idea how they pulled this off.
1 Samuel 27:4:
4) “And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath; and he sought no more again for him.”
Saul heard that David and his army had fled to Gath and Saul was not going after him in the middle of the Philistine territory. So, David thought that his plan was succeeding. Especially when he received what he asked of the king of Gath.
1 Samuel 27:5-7:
5) “And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?
6) Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.
7) And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistine was a full year and four months.”
David was slowly digging himself into a hole. He dwelt in Ziklag with his men and their families for sixteen months. What did he and his men do all this time?
Ziklag was a town about ten miles to the north of Beersheba and about 20 miles to the southwest of Hebron. It was first given to the tribe of Judah and then to Simeon (Joshua 15:31 and 19:5). The Philistines had taken it in a battle and made it an outpost. It was given to David and his men where they could live in safety, especially from King Saul.
Ziklag was the place Satan planned for David’s destruction. David suffered one of his most devastating defeats which turned into perhaps the greatest victory of his life. David the Giant killer became David the Nation Builder.
How did all this come to pass? It is another amazing event in David’s life. It didn’t start off well.
1 Samuel 27:8-12:
8) “And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gerzrites, and the Amalekites; for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
9) And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.
10) And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day [On whom have ye made an attack to-day?, Septuagint]. And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
11) And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.
12) And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.”
David lied to Achish and the king of Gath believed his lie. There is no excuse for David’s behavior. Achish thought that David had raided David’s own country and thereby caused the people to hate him. Therefore, he thought that David would be his servant forever.
This brought on the next big problem for David:
1 Samuel 28:1:
1) “And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shall go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.”
We have gone full circle. For the Philistines and Israel were now back in the same position facing each other, as when David first entered the life of Saul as a young teenager and met the challenge of Goliath. But this time David is on the Philistine’s side, not on Israel’s side.
1 Samuel 28:2, 3:
2) “And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever.
3) Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.”
David was caught in his lies to Achish, king of Gath. On the one hand, to refuse the king’s request would not only be to run the danger of angering him, with what that would most likely entail, but would appear the height of ingratitude in return for the kindness and protection which had been given to him and his men. It might even cause the king to kill David because of betrayal. On the other hand, to accept Achish’s proposal meant being a traitor to Israel. The future king of Israel fighting against his own people!
David is caught. No matter which way he goes, he loses.
And Saul also had put away the people who were practicing the occult. People who had familiar spirits and the wizards. This serves to note the inconsistency of Saul. It is like people who temporarily clean up their lives using religion but were never genuinely regenerated. It is like a pig that can be scrubbed clean on the outside, but its fundamental nature remains that of a pig. If it is released, it will naturally seek out mud because its desires were never altered.
1 Samuel 28:4:
4) “And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa.”
1 Samuel 28:5, 6:
5) “And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.
6) And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.”
Saul was possibly a little bit older than seventy years old when this occurred. The LORD answered him not by the Urim because the one remaining priest took the Urim and Thummim to David. The LORD did not answer Saul in his dreams or send him any prophets.
What did the king do? He would contact the dark side. He would contact the side he ordered to be kicked out of the land of Israel. Now, he would oppose his own order and seek out a witch!
Saul was going to go to people whom he kicked out of his nation. Are the witches real? Are people with familiar spirits real? Are there witches and familiar spirits in today’s world. I certainly believe so.
Here we behold the fearful wickedness of one who was righteously abandoned by God. Fearful presumption was it for Saul to deliberately and definitely resort unto one who practiced diabolical arts. Only a little before, he had banished from the land those who had “familiar spirits,” known today as “mediums.” It illustrates the fact that apostates frequently commit those very sins which they once were most earnestly opposing.
This is the chosen nation of God? Its first king, the LORD God, was told to abdicate the throne of Israel. Now Israel’s first king after God, was seeking a member of the occult to learn his future in the upcoming battle with the Philistines? The other anointed king (future king) is on the side with the Philistines, the people that he fought against many times, and is preparing to fight now against his own people.
What are the nations of Israel doing now? They are in the control of their crime syndicate mafia enemies and don’t even know it. Zionist Christians are the supporters of the enemies of Jesus Christ and His followers. Can you believe it; we are in a worse situation, not much worse than the situation that King Saul and David were in approximately three thousand years ago!
To be continued.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.
