W. Cleon Skousen Insights

Text: 2 Samuel chapters 15-24; 1 Kings chapters 1-3; 1 Chronicles chapters 28-29

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapters 7-8

BYU Lecture 31:  As David declines in life, his son Absalom conspires to kill David and take the throne, assisted by David’s traitorous prime minister Ahithophel. The rebellion becomes so threatening that David abandons Jerusalem to save the city from the ravages of civil war. Eventually, David’s army confronts the army of Absalom in the woods of Ephraim. David’s battle-tested “600 mighty ones” took control of the fight and Absalom’s army was devastated with over 20,000 killed.

Absalom flees for his life through the forest and is caught by the gnarling branches of a tree, jerked from his racing mule and is left swinging helplessly in the air. David’s commanding officer, Joab, finds and kills Absalom. David mourns over the loss of this rebellious son.

David now prepares all things to strengthen Israel, fortifies the government, gathers material for the new temple, reorganizes the lessor Priesthood into quorums, and establishes temple choirs and orchestras.

As King David weakens from old age, another son named Adonijah seeks the throne. The prophet Nathan, with the understanding that God named Solomon as David's heir, hastens to Bathsheba in hopes of convincing the ailing David of the crisis. Between the two, David was provoked and arose from his deathbed, calling for the prophet to anoint Solomon king of Israel. Hearing the trumpets and commotion of this great anointing, Adonijah and his supporters abandon their own feast of celebration and flee for their lives. For now, Solomon spares their lives. The great King David dies at the age of 70.

King Solomon rules the kingdom in righteousness and humility. The Lord appears to him in a dream and grants him wisdom, riches, honor and long life – as long as Solomon remains faithful to the Lord. In great appreciation, Solomon offers sacrifice and begins the task of building a magnificent temple to the Lord.

Text: 2 Samuel chapters 10-14

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 6

BYU Lecture 30 -  Now that Israel is united and has conquered the lands as prophesied, spread from the Euphrates River to the Egyptian border, King David spends his time putting down skirmishes from the neighboring Ammonites and Syrians.

While resting in Jerusalem, King David takes a stroll and looks upon Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his royal guard. David is struck by her beauty and invites her to the palace while her husband was away on the battlefield. They become romantically involved and commit adultery, in which Bathsheba becomes pregnant.

To cover his sin, David concocts a plan to send Uriah to the battlefront in hopes he is killed, which he was. David and Bathsheba are quickly married, but the Lord wasn’t going to let this behavior stay a secret. The prophet Nathan was sent to David and revealed Davd’s secret to him and prophecies that David’s house will be afflicted by the sword, that evil will dwell within his household and he will lose his wives to others.

Bathsheba has her baby and it dies. From this time forward, David writes his mournful psalms.

Evil prevails within David’s household, as his son Amnon rapes his own sister Tamar. Amnon’s brother Absalom is so enraged he murders Amnon and prepares to take the throne of his father David.

Text: 2 Samuel chapters 6-9

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 5

BYU Lecture 29: After battling Abner and the northern 10 tribes, King David unites all of Israel and moves the capital city from Hebron to Jerusalem. Peace in Israel, however, is short lived. The Philistines (Canaanites) rally their forces against Israel to attack King David – their Goliath killer. David inquires of the Lord what to do and is promised that the Philistines will be delivered into his hands. Sure enough, David’s army soundly conquers the invading armies.

Meanwhile, King Hiram of Lebanon (Phoenicians) sought a friendly alliance with Israel. He offers to build a fine palace for David, made from the famous cedars of Lebanon. He even provided the masons and carpenters to complete this beautiful, massive project.

With his palace completed, David desires to build a beautiful house of the Lord. In anticipation of this, he sends for the Ark of the Covenant to be delivered to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, the holy process of moving the Ark was neglected and David was careless. Rather than instructing the Priests of Aaron to carry the Ark on their shoulders, as commanded by God several hundred years earlier, it was placed on a cart pulled by oxen. Enroute, the cart faltered and the Ark itself appeared to be in jeopardy of falling. Uzzah, sensing a tragedy, reached up to steady the Ark. This was in violation with God’s command that no one but the Priests of Aaron may touch the sacred Ark. Immediately, Uzzah was struck dead.

Realizing his carelessness, David called and authorized Priests of Aaron to carry the Ark on their shoulders the remainder of the way to Jerusalem. An important lesson was learned that day; God will not be mocked.

In humility, David wanted to build a holy temple to house the Ark, but through the prophet Nathan, the Lord forbad him. He did, however, give David the pattern for the temple when it would be built by his son Solomon. The Lord also promised David that he would be the ancestor of the great Messiah.

David expands the might and strength of Israel until it borders the very lands as promised specifically by God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses.    

Join W. Cleon Skousen as he walks the room from history to the present, weaving dramatic Founding-era stories with a lawyer’s sober account of how the Constitution’s 248 principles were meant to protect liberty — and how many have been unraveled. Through vivid anecdotes about Jefferson, Adams, and Washington, he reveals the quiet, deliberate choices that created America and the slow shifts that have taken it off course.

Skousen’s talk becomes part memoir, part warning, and part blueprint: he explains the consequences of monetary change, federal overreach, and lost states’ rights, then sketches an unexpected hope — a restored system of law and community built on reparative justice and timeless principles called God’s law. It’s a passionate call to study, stand, and prepare, told with courtroom clarity, pioneer grit, and the conviction that a nation can be remade if enough people learn what the founders intended.

Text: 2 Samuel chapters 1-4

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 4

BYU Lecture 28: David learns of the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan. Rather than rejoicing from the news that his tormentor Saul was dead, he went into fasting and mourning. David writes a sad song lamenting the passing of Saul, the Lord’s anointed, and of Jonathan, his dear friend. But even with the death of King Saul, it wouldn’t be for nearly 8 years before David was recognized as the anointed King of all twelve tribes of Israel.

Once recognized as King, David moves the capital of Israel from Hebron to Mount Moriah, known later as Jerusalem. Now that Israel was united with their new king, Israel begins preparations to arise to her greatness. However, their dreaded enemy, the Philistines, were preparing to destroy this new threat.

Text: 1 Samuel chapters 22-31

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 3

BYU Lecture 27: King Saul, bitter and feeling rejected by nearly all he trusted, sought the life of David in a tirade. He calls on the prophet Ahimelech, accusing him of treason for siding with David. Saul has the prophet killed along with 85 temple priests.

David and his army of 600 loyalists continually flee from Saul and his vast armies. At En-geti, David has the opportunity to kill Saul while asleep in the very cave David is hiding. Instead of killing the man who sought madly to take his life, David recognizes the divine anointing of Saul as King by the prophet Samuel and merely cuts off a piece of his cloak, showing he had power and opportunity to kill Saul, but chose not to. David uses this as a negotiation tactic to find peace with Saul. This works, but only for a short time.

Saul again launches a new war on David. Marching his army and obsessed with the task of killing David, Saul is caught off guard when attacked by the Philistines. The war goes poorly for Israel, and Jonathan, Saul’s son and beloved friend of David, is slain. When Saul realizes all is lost, he falls on his sword and takes his own life.

Text: 1 Samuel 18 - 21

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 2

BYU Lecture 26: David exercises his faith in God and confronts Goliath, killing him with a rock and sling. David suddenly becomes a military hero to the people of Israel. He meets and befriends the crown prince of Israel, Jonathan – son of King Saul. With all the praise for David from the people of Israel, Saul becomes jealous and feels his power threatened, especially since the prophet Samuel informed Saul that God is planning to replace him with another man, a king worthy of God.

King Saul becomes psychotic and makes five failed attempts to kill David.

As tension rises, David slips through the land of Israel – seeking refuge in priestly tents, feigning madness in enemy courts, and secretly settles within his own homeland, the land of Judah. David begins to gather followers and allies. As counseled by the prophet Gad, David stays in Judah waiting upon the Lord until circumstances allow him to rise as king of Israel.

Text: 1 Samuel 16-17

Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 1

BYU Lecture 25: The Jews use different names for some of their scriptural books than do our Bible scriptures. The following reference table shows these differences:

                  JEWISH                                 KJV Bible

            1^st Book of Kings                    1^st Samuel

            2^nd Book of Kings                   2^nd Samuel

            3^rd Book of Kings                   1^st Kings

            4^th Book of Kings                    2^nd Kings

            5^th Book of Kings                    1^st Chronicles (parallels 1^st Kings)

            6^th Book of Kings                    2^nd Chronicles (parallels 2^nd Kings)

All the history and prophecy during this period of time was originally recorded by the prophets Samuel, Nathan and Gad, but the writings were tragically lost. Fortunately, scribes and scholars had extracted some material from the original writings which we have today in these 6 books. It’s important to keep in mind that these writings we have today were not recorded by prophets of God, but rather by scribes.

Near the beginning of the fourth thousand years (about 1,100 BC) the slothful high priest was Eli. His student Samuel was called by God to replace Eli, to be the new prophet and High Priest of Israel.

Samuel’s prophetic voice shapes the nation. But Israel eventually rejects Samuel as their leader and demands a king. Distraught by failure, Samuel is reassured by God that Israel has not rejected Samuel but has rejected God. Meanwhile, a humble shepherd boy named David begins life’s journey in the shepherd fields.

 

Text: The Old Testament Summary

Supplemental Text: Finish up the Third Thousand Years chapters 21-26 from last semester. The Fourth Thousand Years text begins next week.

BYU Lecture 24: This is the "thundering thousand years" from David down to Christ. This is the thousand years of Bible history in which you have all prophets, not the Patriarchs. Programmed learning includes memorizing the “hook dates” in biblical history so the doctrine of the gospel can be connected to its history and context. For example, 1776 is a hook date that can be related to all the American independence and revolutionary war activities. By memorizing hook dates, the entire Old Testament will come alive and piece together the events, patriarchs, prophets, and kings.

Old Testament Hook Dates, simple and worth memorization:

4,000 BC Fall of Adam and Eve

3,500 BC Enoch

3,000 BC Noah

2,344 BC The Great Flood (just remember 1-2-3-4....4)

2,000 BC Abraham

1,900 BC Isaac

1,800 BS Jacob

1,700 BC Joseph

1,500 BC Moses

1,400 BC Joshua

1,100 BC Samuel and Saul

1,000 BC David and Solomon

   922 BC Division of Israel

   900 BC Elijah

   800 BC Elisha

   700 BC Isaiah

   600 BC Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekial, Lehi and Nephi

   589 BC Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem

   538 BC Jews return to Jerusalem

   516 BC Dedication of the new temple in Jerusalem

Join Dr. W. Cleon Skousen on a sweeping, personal journey through the birth of the United States—where battlefield drama, prophetic vision, and a small band of determined leaders collide to forge a Constitution which ultimately bears the hand of God. Through vivid anecdotes—from Yorktown’s storms to the tense debates in Philadelphia—Skousen brings the Founders to life and reveals why the document they wrote contain principles for all mankind, no matter the time, place or circumstance. 

Part history lesson, part sermon, this episode is a heartfelt call to action: learn the rules that made freedom possible, teach them to the next generation, and take up the unfinished work of exporting constitutional liberty to a troubled world.