David vs. Saul, Part 1

Last week we talked about Jonathan, Saul’s son who should have been heir to the throne if God had not decided that he wanted David to be king instead. We saw how Jonathan chose his friendship and loyalty to David over power, and helped David escape Saul’s wrath.

Which means David is now on the run, and Saul wants him dead.

David’s been living in the palace up to this point, as part of Saul’s court. And he can’t go home to Bethlehem because that’ll probably be the first place that Saul looks for him. So he’s kind of lost and just running, not knowing where to go.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 21:1-6?

21  David came to Nob to the priest Ahimelech. Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” 2 David said to the priest Ahimelech, “The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, ‘No one must know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. 3 Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” 4 The priest answered David, “I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5 David answered the priest, “Indeed women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.

David—not knowing where to go—goes to a priest. And the priest is surprised to see him alone. David basically lies, afraid that he might get turned in or turned away, and says that Saul trusted him alone with an urgent matter of which no one is to know. And then follows it up with “I’m hungry.”

The priest is like, “We don’t have anything here except for holy bread.” This holy bread is basically bread that only priests can eat. David basically argues the priest into giving him the bread, saying that he’s not making himself unclean with women—but more importantly that a mission can be holy even if it doesn’t seem like it is on the outside. So the priest allows it and gives him the bread.

Someone read 1 Samuel 21:7-9 please.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.

8 David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no spear or sword here with you? I did not bring my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” 9 The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you will take that, take it, for there is none here except that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

David also asks the priest for a weapon, and turns out Goliath’s weapon is there! David takes it and it’s appropriate, because Saul is like a Goliath—in that he is very powerful and a man like David shouldn’t be able to take him down.

But the most important thing in this section is that a man named Doeg sees the whole thing, and that he works for Saul. What do you think a man loyal to Saul will do when he sees the man Saul wants to kill? Tell the king of course.

David leaves this place and goes to a couple of different cities, gathering to him men who are loyal to him. Meanwhile Saul is looking for him. Can someone read 1 Samuel 21:11-15?

11 The king sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and for all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob; and all of them came to the king. 12 Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, by giving him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as he is doing today?”

14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is so faithful as David? He is the king’s son-in-law, and is quick[a] to do your bidding, and is honored in your house. 15 Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him? By no means! Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any member of my father’s house; for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little.”

So Saul hears about this priest helping David out and basically is like “Why did you help David? Don’t you know he’s like trying to kill me?”

And the priest is like “Umm, no? David is your servant, and works for you.” He also points out David is his son-in-law, which is true. David is married to one of Saul’s daughters. The priest is just over all confused, because he didn’t know David was a threat. He thought David was a trusted member of the court.

Do you think Saul is going to accept this answer? That the Saul never actually told the priest that David was an enemy now? [Let them answer.]

Well let’s see what Saul does. Someone please read 1 Samuel 22:16-19.

16 The king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.” 17 The king said to the guard who stood around him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David; they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king would not raise their hand to attack the priests of the Lord. 18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You, Doeg, turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests; on that day he killed eighty-five who wore the linen ephod. 19 Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep, he put to the sword.

Saul orders the guards to kill the priest. Saul literally orders the priest to be killed because he did his job. The guards, however, are all like “Uhmm, this sounds like a bad idea. I’m not going to kill a priest of God!”

But Doeg is willing to kill the priests. The Bible points out every time this guy Doeg is mentioned that he’s an Edomite. Does anyone know what Edomite means? [Let them answer.]

Well first off it means he’s not an Israelites, which is why I think the Bible goes to great lengths to point that out, that only the non-Israelite is willing to kill the priests of God. But why is this non-Israelite hanging out with Israelites? Well becomes Edomites and Israelites are related.  Edomites are the descendants of Esau. So they live in the same area but aren’t considered outsiders like say the Philistines.

So all these priests are killed.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 22:20-23.

20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. 21 Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22 David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible[a] for the lives of all your father’s house. 23 Stay with me, and do not be afraid; for the one who seeks my life seeks your life; you will be safe with me.”

One of the priests escapes this massacre and goes to find David. And David actually blames himself for this. The reason why David blames himself is not because he killed those men, or even because he took refuge with them. But because he had known Doeg was there—and that Doeg was basically a spy of Saul’s—and he didn’t do anything about it. He could have stopped—whether by killing him or just taking him hostage. But David just saw him and did nothing.

The act of killing the priests is still Saul’s fault, but David knows he could have done something that could have prevented it.

Skipping ahead someone read 1 Samuel 23:1-5.

23 Now they told David, “The Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.” 2 David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” 3 But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of the Lord again. The Lord answered him, “Yes, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” 5 So David and his men went to Keilah, fought with the Philistines, brought away their livestock, and dealt them a heavy defeat. Thus David rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.

So the Philistines were attacking this city of Keilah, and David is told about it. He asks God what he should do—since he’s basically a fugitive in hiding protecting the city would definitely expose him to Saul, or at least let Saul know where he is. And God is like “Go protect them!”  

But David’s men are basically like “we’re scared” so David takes their concern back to God and God is just like “Dude, I have your back. If you fight I ensure you’ll win.” Which is exactly what happens. David leads his men, they go defeat the Philistines, and Keilah is saved!

Someone please read 1 Samuel 23:7-8.

7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given[a] him into my hand; for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” 8 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

So sure enough, Saul hears that David has rescued Keilah and is in that town. So he’s like “aha! Now I have David! He’s in a town so I will lay siege to that town until David and his men come out!”

If you don’t know what besieging or sieging or laying siege means, it’s basically surrounding a place and keeping anything or anyone from coming in or out, while also often attacking the town and trying to get in. The keeping anything from going in or out is the big deal though, because a lot of these towns relied on produce from nearby farms or water from nearby rivers, and if they couldn’t get those things the town would starve. So Saul is basically thinking that if he sieges Keilah, David will come out to save everyone. This is a brutal move, because the people who live in Keilah are Isrealites, and Saul is showing over and over that he is willing to kill his own people if that’s what it takes to get to David.

The people of Keilah didn’t pick a side in this war, not really. They were just being attacked by Philistines and it was David—not Saul—who came to their aid. And now Saul is basically going to punish them for nothing they did.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 23:9-14.

9 When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to the priest Abiathar, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, your servant has heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. 11 And now, will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord, the God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant.” The Lord said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” The Lord said, “They will surrender you.” 13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, set out and left Keilah; they wandered wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 14 David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but the Lord did not give him into his hand.

When David hears that Saul is coming to Keilah to attack him, he’s basically like “God, is Saul really going to kill this innocent city to get to me?” And God is like “Yep.”

And David is like “Well will the people of Keilah give me up to Saul to protect themselves from him or will they protect me?”

And God is like “They’re totally going to give you up.”

Now once again I don’t want you to think too poorly of these people here, because remember they were just being attacked by the Philistines and now their own king is coming to attack them. Giving up David is the move that will save the most lives. And David doesn’t really seem to blame them either, because basically they just escape before Saul and his army can get there.

And when Saul hears that David escaped before he even got there, he just gives up on the whole journey to Keilah. Instead they go back to this cat and mouse game in the wilderness, where David is in hiding and Saul is trying to find him. But God still has David’s back to Saul doesn’t find him.

In both of these stories we see that Saul is slowly losing touch with what it means to be a good king in his anger at David. He’s willing to sacrifice his own country, his own people, if it means taking David down. David on the other hand came to the aid of Keilah even though he knew that it meant Saul might find him. David is acting more kingly than Saul before he even becomes king.

Alright next week we’ll continue discussing this, and see how David and Saul’s battle continues.

Jonathan

Last week we talked about David being anointed king and then the famous story of David vs. Goliath. Today we’re going to back up a little bit, because we’re going to talk about someone else, someone who is about to be critical in David’s life. That is, Saul’s oldest son, Jonathan.

If Saul had remained king in good standing in God’s eyes, Jonathan would have been his heir and king after him. But we know God selected another to be king after Saul, David. You would think this would set up for David and Jonathan to be mortal enemies, rivals for the same throne. But we’ll see that’s not the case.

However, before we talk about Jonathan and David together, we need to back up and talk about Jonathan. So we’re going to flip back to a section in the Bible that’s actually before the section we read this week. Please turn to 1 Samuel 14:6-10.

The set up here is that Jonathan is out with his armor-bearer—the guy who carries his armor and helps him put it on. Nearby there is a Philistine garrison, and Jonathan is feeling bold so he wants to attack it. But he doesn’t want to tell anyone. He doesn’t tell Saul or any other of the troops. It’s just him and his armor-bearer. Alright someone please read 1 Samuel 14:6-10.

6 Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.” 7 His armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that your mind inclines to. I am with you; as your mind is, so is mine.” 8 Then Jonathan said, “Now we will cross over to those men and will show ourselves to them. 9 If they say to us, ‘Wait until we come to you,’ then we will stand still in our place, and we will not go up to them. 10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up; for the Lord has given them into our hand. That will be the sign for us.”

So Jonathan has this crazy idea, he’s like “Let’s the two of us attack this fully armed garrison, because you know what? God has our back!” And his armor-bearer instead of saying, “Dude, you’re crazy. God may have your back but there is two of us against a lot of them” instead he says “I am with you all the way, whatever you do, I will do.”

Jonathan suggests this crazy plan that’s basically like, “We’ll show ourselves to them. If they say “wait” we won’t do anything, but if they say “come in” we’ll know it’s a sign from God and we’ll go in and take them all down.”

A crazy plan.

And yet it works. Jonathan and the armor bearer go up to the Philistine garrison and they’re immediately recognized as Israelites. And the Philistines, assuming that this will be an easy kill, just invite them in. And then as Jonathan predicted, God hands the Philistines over to them. These two guys—a prince and an armor-bearer—kill twenty men and that throws everyone else into a panic.

Now Saul has no idea his son did this crazy thing. He just sees this like panic of Philistines leaving this town. Can someone read 1 Samuel 14:17-23

17 Then Saul said to the troops that were with him, “Call the roll and see who has gone from us.” When they had called the roll, Jonathan and his armor-bearer were not there. 18 Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God here.” For at that time the ark of God went with the Israelites. 19 While Saul was talking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of the Philistines increased more and more; and Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.” 20 Then Saul and all the people who were with him rallied and went into the battle; and every sword was against the other, so that there was very great confusion. 21 Now the Hebrews who previously had been with the Philistines and had gone up with them into the camp turned and joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. 22 Likewise, when all the Israelites who had gone into hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines were fleeing, they too followed closely after them in the battle. 23 So the Lord gave Israel the victory that day.

The battle passed beyond Beth-aven, and the troops with Saul numbered altogether about ten thousand men. The battle spread out over the hill country of Ephraim.

So Saul knows something is going on and he’s wondering if it was one of his men who called it, so he basically does this massive roll call. They realize that it’s Jonathan and his armor-bearer that are missing. And then Saul, being in this scenario a good king and dad, is basically like “Let’s go support him and wipe these Philistines out of existence!” So he calls for the priests and the arc of the covenant, and calls for the army and they defeat the fleeing Philistines. It’s a great victory for Israel.

Now the Bible does this weird flashback in the next section. It flashes back to before the battle. Can someone read 1 Samuel 14:24-26?

 24 Now Saul committed a very rash act on that day.[a] He had laid an oath on the troops, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before it is evening and I have been avenged on my enemies.” So none of the troops tasted food. 25 All the troops[b] came upon a honeycomb; and there was honey on the ground. 26 When the troops came upon the honeycomb, the honey was dripping out; but they did not put their hands to their mouths, for they feared the oath.

So before the battle Saul basically makes this crazy oath. He’s like “We will not eat until we win!” People make oaths like this all the time, and it’s not always crazy. Sometimes you might say “I won’t watch another episode of this show I’m marathoning until I’ve finished doing all my homework!” That’s a reasonable oath to yourself to like motivate you to get your homework done! Sometimes though we make silly oaths over things we can’t control. Like we really want to win a sports game, so we say something like, “I won’t read another book for fun until we’re through playoffs!” While you’re trying to motivate and hype yourself, those things are actually sort of unrelated. Your reading time and your sports time are unrelated and one doesn’t affect the other.

What Saul does is even worse than that, because his oath is endangering all of them. You don’t want hungry and faint troops before a battle! That’s like fasting going into a big sports event, that’s a recipe for disaster! People are going to be passing out all over the place!

These troops are starving and they come across like honey everywhere. But they’re afraid to eat it, because an oath isn’t a thing to be broken lightly. It’s a promise, not just between Saul and his troops, but usually the association of the word oath also means it’s before God. That’s why you take an oath of office, or you say an oath before getting on the witness stand. If you break that oath you don’t just have the judge or the people to answer to, you have to answer to God.

Which means no food for the troops.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 14:27-30?

27 But Jonathan had not heard his father charge the troops with the oath; so he extended the staff that was in his hand, and dipped the tip of it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened. 28 Then one of the soldiers said, “Your father strictly charged the troops with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who eats food this day.’ And so the troops are faint.” 29 Then Jonathan said, “My father has troubled the land; see how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. 30 How much better if today the troops had eaten freely of the spoil taken from their enemies; for now the slaughter among the Philistines has not been great.”

But Jonathan didn’t know this oath was made, because he was out fighting Philistines by himself before he joined back up. So he sees all this honey and he’s hungry so he eats it.

The other guys are all like, “GASP. Your dad said we can’t eat!” To which Jonathan responds by basically saying, “That’s stupid. Eating will make you feel better.”

Night begins to fall and Saul is trying to figure out his next move. As a good king should, he takes it to God. Can someone read 1 Samuel 14:37-42?

37 So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day. 38 Saul said, “Come here, all you leaders of the people; and let us find out how this sin has arisen today. 39 For as the Lord lives who saves Israel, even if it is in my son Jonathan, he shall surely die!” But there was no one among all the people who answered him. 40 He said to all Israel, “You shall be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” The people said to Saul, “Do what seems good to you.” 41 Then Saul said, “O Lord God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant today? If this guilt is in me or in my son Jonathan, O Lord God of Israel, give Urim; but if this guilt is in your people Israel, give Thummim.” And Jonathan and Saul were indicated by the lot, but the people were cleared. 42 Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan.” And Jonathan was taken.

So Saul asks God what he should do and God doesn’t answer. And Saul is like “If God’s not answering it’s because of some sin. So we’re going to figure out whose sin it is!” And then he gets really dramatic because he’s like “Whoever that sin belongs to will die, even if it’s my oldest most favorite son!” Now I’m pretty sure here Saul is just bringing Jonathan into this for like dramatic purpose, trying to give people confidence that everyone is being held to the same law, so that when a random soldier is the one with the sin Saul would be like “I’d do this even if you were my own son.” I don’t think Saul was actually expecting it to be his son.”

But it was his son that was indicated as having been the one to commit the sin.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 14:43-46.

43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I tasted a little honey with the tip of the staff that was in my hand; here I am, I will die.” 44 Saul said, “God do so to me and more also; you shall surely die, Jonathan!” 45 Then the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground; for he has worked with God today.” So the people ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die. 46 Then Saul withdrew from pursuing the Philistines; and the Philistines went to their own place.

Saul is all like, “Jonathan! What did you do???” And Jonathan is honest so he tells him that he ate the honey, which was technically breaking the oath that Saul laid on all the troops. And Saul is distraught because by his own words now Jonathan must die.

But when this is announced the army is like, “Heck, no. You can’t kill Jonathan! Look at this great victory he has given us! And if you touch one hair on his head, you’ll answer to us.”

This is like mutiny. The people rise up against Saul to protect Jonathan, and Jonathan doesn’t die. But it also means Saul backs down from chasing after the Philistines, because he’s unsure what to do. So the Philistines gain a foothold again.

I want to stop here for a moment because I think this story of Jonathan, a story that takes place before David is even on the scene tells us everything we need to know about Jonathan going forward. It baselines the most important quality of him.

Jonathan is a person that inspires a level of loyalty in people that we rarely see outside of fairytales, the kind of loyalty that the Knights of the Round Tables or the Fellowship of the Ring are known for. Jonathan says to his armor bearer “Let’s just the two of us go attack a whole garrison” and his armor bearer basically says “Where you go I go.” When his life is threatened by his own father, the people rise up against their king to defend.

People want to follow Jonathan, and as heir-prince of Israel, Jonathan could have easily become their king.

But that’s not what happens.

What happens next is actually the story of David and Goliath, which we talked about last week. Jonathan sees the events of that story and is basically like “Who is this David guy? I have to get to know him.”

Someone please read 1 Samuel 18:1-5.

18 When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. 3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. 5 David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him; as a result, Saul set him over the army. And all the people, even the servants of Saul, approved.

What does the word soulmates mean to you guys? [Let them answer.]

The word soulmate has a really romantic connotation in America, doesn’t it? But the definition of a soulmate is “a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner.” So yes, it can mean romantic, but it doesn’t have to.

A soulmate is simply someone that fits with you so incredibly well that it’s like you found a part of yourself. And for Jonathan, that’s what he found in David. You can think of this like King Arthur and Lancelot, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, Sherlock and Watson, or Captain American and Bucky Barnes. People whose friendship runs deep, deeper than almost any other relationship in their life. Friendships can be deep, meaningful, and life changing.

In American culture we tend to idolize romantic relationships as the supreme type of relationship, but that’s just not true. Friendships can be more lifechanging than romantic relationships, more steady than romantic relationships, and sometimes more fulfilling. Friendship is incredibly important, and David and Jonathan’s friendship—as we’re going to see--changes the course of history.

Because Jonathan was supposed to be king after Saul—if everything went in the normal way of sons inheriting from fathers. But David was the one God chose. That makes them rivals for the same throne. And Jonathan is beloved by the people. He could fight against David if he wanted to.

But Jonathan isn’t like that.

Meanwhile in wake of David’s victory over Goliath, Saul brings David into the court and makes him a leader in the army.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 18:6-9?

6 As they were coming home, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments. 7 And the women sang to one another as they made merry,

“Saul has killed his thousands,
    and David his ten thousands.”

8 Saul was very angry, for this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; what more can he have but the kingdom?” 9 So Saul eyed David from that day on.

So one day David and Saul are coming home from battle and people come out to greet them and basically call David a better warrior than Saul. This makes Saul jealous and angry, because Saul is king! Not David! People shouldn’t be praising him more than they praise Saul!

From that day forward, Saul basically starts planning on how to get rid of David, how to remove this interloper. He’s like “if I send David to more battles, the Philistines will kill him for me.” On the other hand, David has a habit of winning those battles and coming back a greater hero than when he left. Saul is getting more and more frustrated with him, and is basically to the point where he’s almost ready to just kill David himself.

Can someone please read 1 Samuel 19:1-7?

19 Saul spoke with his son Jonathan and with all his servants about killing David. But Saul’s son Jonathan took great delight in David. 2 Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you; therefore be on guard tomorrow morning; stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you; if I learn anything I will tell you.”

4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been of good service to you; 5 for he took his life in his hand when he attacked the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against an innocent person by killing David without cause?” 6 Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan; Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 So Jonathan called David and related all these things to him. Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.

So Jonathan hears his father talking about killing David, and what does Jonathan do? A politically smart move would be to let his father kill him off, then David would no longer be a threat to Jonathan politically. But Jonathan doesn’t care about politics, he cares about David. So he goes to David and says, “my dad wants to kill you, stay away until I tell you it’s cool to come back.”

Jonathan then goes to his dad and is basically like, “David has done nothing wrong, if anything he’s been very helpful to you. So why are you so mad at him?” And at this time, Saul listens to him, and is like “You know you’re right. I’m not going to kill him that would be crazy.”

So David gets to come back, and for Jonathan all is right in the world. Or at least his dad isn’t trying to kill his best friend anymore.

But it doesn’t last long. Just a few short verses later, Saul wants to kill David again. David escapes again.

Now you would think if you were David and the king was trying to kill you, you would no longer trust the king’s son. But David knew he could trust Jonathan. So eventually Jonathan and David meet up to discuss this rather chaotic and unsettling situation.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 20:1-4.

20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came before Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin against your father that he is trying to take my life?” 2 He said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!” 3 But David also swore, “Your father knows well that you like me; and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly, as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.” 4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

David doesn’t understand why Saul wants to kill him, and basically asks Jonathan what he’s done wrong. Jonathan is like, “Nothing, man, as far as I know, and my dad hides nothing from me! He would tell me if you had done something wrong.” David on the other hand is like “But your dad knows we’re friends, so if I’d done something horrible, he may not tell you to like protect you from that knowledge.”

Jonathan basically thinks that’s ridiculous but recognizes that David is in real danger. So he’s basically like, “What do you want me to do?”

So David makes a plan, and basically tells Jonathan that he’s going to skip a couple of meals and that if Saul misses him, Jonathan is just to tell Saul that David is visiting with his family in Bethlehem. Then if Saul is like “Okay cool,” David knows it will be okay for him to come back, but if Saul freaks out, David knows there is no place for David in Saul’s court.

Someone read 1 Samuel 20:12-17.

12 Jonathan said to David, “By the Lord, the God of Israel! When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or on the third day, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? 13 But if my father intends to do you harm, the Lord do so to Jonathan, and more also, if I do not disclose it to you, and send you away, so that you may go in safety. May the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 If I am still alive, show me the faithful love of the Lord; but if I die,[a] 15 never cut off your faithful love from my house, even if the Lord were to cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16 Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord seek out the enemies of David.” 17 Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own life.

Jonathan and Dave make a covenant. What’s important here is that Jonathan is basically pledging his loyalty to David over his father in the coming battle. But more than that, in saying “May the Lord with you, as he has been with my father” Jonathan is basically recognizing that it will be David and not Jonathan who will be king one day. Jonathan is basically ceding his right to the throne to David, because of his love for David and because he sees that David is the man God has chosen for this task.

In return Jonathan really only asks for one thing, that David not kill him or his descendants, as would’ve been common practice for new kings to do—to ensure their claim to the throne is secure. And well since David loves Jonathan just as much as Jonathan loves him, he promises that easily and more importantly David means it.

After this Jonathan goes to the feast and tries to feel out whether his father is still angry with David. To the surprise of no one Saul is still furious. And Saul for his part doesn’t understand why Jonathan is still defending David—why Jonathan can’t see what Saul does—that David means to supplant Jonathan as the next king.

The truth is Jonathan does see that David is meant to be king. He just doesn’t care about being king himself. He knows David being king is God’s plan.

So Jonathan leaves his father to go let David know what’s up. Jonathan has this whole scheme to let David know they can meet, which involves a boy shooting some arrows, which is the boy at the beginning of the next verse. Can someone please read 1 Samuel 20:41-42?

41 As soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He bowed three times, and they kissed each other, and wept with each other; David wept the more. 42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since both of us have sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.’” He got up and left; and Jonathan went into the city.

Why are David and Jonathan so upset here? [Let them answer.]

Basically they can’t be friends anymore. Jonathan is loyal to David, but if he leaves his father for David that would (a) just anger his father more and (b) keep Jonathan from being able to temper his father’s anger and advise him against war to David’s benefit. Jonathan needs to stay at court and with his father. And from this point on David must be on the run.

They do actually meet one more time much later while basically Saul is hunting David down. We’re going to take about David and Saul’s battles next week but I want to touch on this last encounter between these two men. Can someone please read 1 Samuel 23:17-18?

17 He said to him, “Do not be afraid; for the hand of my father Saul shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be second to you; my father Saul also knows that this is so.” 18 Then the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

Jonathan meets with David and basically says point blank, “I know you will be king, and that’s fine. I’m happy playing second-fiddle to you.”

This is Jonathan. Loyal to the point of willing to give up his own claim to power for his best friend, who he knows God has chosen to lead Israel. He’s truly remarkable, and we should all aspire to be as loyal and selfless.

Next week we’ll see how this David vs. Saul thing starts to play out.

David and Goliath...and Saul

Last we left off, Saul was made king of Israel. He had his doubters, who he proved wrong by being successful in battle. It seemed that maybe everything was going to be okay, that Israel would unite under a king who was faithful to God and everything would be good!

Then Saul got impatient and committed an act only allowed to priests, disobeying Samuel and more importantly God. As if that wasn’t bad enough—later in a story we’re going to skip—Saul defeats the Amalekites but instead of completely irradiating them as God commanded, he allowed their king to live and basically looted their town—which God has specifically instructed them not to do. It’s becoming very clear that as king, Saul does what he wants and not what God wants.

A new king must be found, but this is easier said than done. For Israel already has a king. Even if God has decided that Saul isn’t to be king anymore, the people still like him as king. The people aren’t ready for a new king. So anyone identified would have to be extraordinary but also will have a difficult road ahead of them, fighting against Saul and his followers. This is not going to be an easy transition of power.

So one would think God would choose a great general, someone who is even more tall and mighty than Saul. But as we’ll see God doesn’t always think along the lines we do.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 16:1-5.

16 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” 2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” 4 Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

Samuel is very upset over this whole Saul disaster. Sure Samuel was opposed to Israel having a king at all, but once God chose Saul, Samuel put his whole support behind him. Samuel invested in him, guiding and leading him as a spiritual leader to him. To see Saul turn away from God again and again, well it was very difficult for him. But here God is like “Samuel, it’s time to get out of your funk. We have a new king to find.”

Samuel is hesitant, because if Saul knows Samuel is out looking for a new king—well the old king isn’t going to allow a new king, is he? So if Saul knows, he’ll kill Samuel. But God gives Samuel a plan, saying he should take a cow with him and then say he’s going to sacrifice the cow and invite this dude Jesse of Bethlehem. And then from Jesse’s family, God will show Samuel which is meant to be king.

So Samuel does as God instructs him. He goes to the town, and the townspeople are worried, worried that Samuel might start something and bring Saul’s attention there. But Samuel tells them he’s just there for a sacrifice and they are relieved.

Samuel invites Jesse and all of his sons to this sacrifice. One of Jesse’s sons will be the new king.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 16:6-7?

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Jesse and his sons arrive, and Samuel looks at the oldest Eliab and think “Surely this is the one!” Eliab is probably 30 years old or older, so established in life, his appearance seems to be handsome and impressive to Samuel. But God reminds Samuel that God doesn’t judge people based on the outside. He sees what’s in their heart. And for whatever reason, Eliab doesn’t make the cut.

But Eliab is not Jesse’s only son. He has eight sons. Someone please read 1 Samuel 16:8-11.

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

Son after son Jesse parades before Samuel, but each one Samuel is like “newp, this isn’t the one.” And finally the seventh son—the last son present—goes before Samuel and Samuel is like “Not him either. Are you sure all of your sons are here??”

Jesse didn’t know Samuel was going to pick a king from his sons. He just got an invitation from the prophet of God to come with his family to sacrifice to God. But the home front needed to be taken care of—so he left his youngest, who was probably a teenager while the rest were adults—back home to take care of the sheep.

After all, surely a prophet of God didn’t need to see the youngest and by law least of Jesse’s sons.

But Samuel says to bring him.

Can someone please read 1 Samuel 16:12-13?

12 He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” 13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

David is brought before Samuel. He’s described as “ruddy” which if you remember means “red” but basically means “very handsome.” And God identifies that this boy is the one, the one who will be king.

David, the least of Jesse’s son, who when Jesse one day dies would get the absolute smallest inheritance of all of his brothers, if he gets anything. David, who Jesse didn’t really think was important enough to come meet Samuel. David, a shepherd boy is chosen to be king.

This isn’t the first time God has favored or chosen the younger son. Cain was the oldest, but God favored Abel. Ishmael was older, but it was Isaac who was chosen. Esau was the older brother, but it was Jacob that God chose to be the father of Israel. Joseph and Benjamin were both the youngest of Jacob’s sons but his most favored.

God constantly turns human expectations on their head, and it’s no different here with David. This youngest of Jesse’s sons is to be the one favored by God, the one who will be king.

But he’s not king yet.

Now we’re going to read what is probably the most famous story about David, that is David and Goliath. Can someone please read 1 Samuel 17:1-7?

17 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul and the Israelites gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and formed ranks against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. 4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six[a] cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 He had greaves of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron; and his shield-bearer went before him.

The Philistines are at it again, gathering in lands that belong to Israel—for remember Judah is a part of Israel. The Israelites obviously can’t allow this so they form an army as well and these two armies are basically camped across from each other, staring each other down.

Then this huge Philistine comes out, a man called Goliath. He’s huge, has super impressive armor and a huge javelin. He’s basically the scariest dude the Israelites have ever seen.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:8-11?

8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 10 And the Philistine said, “Today I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

So Goliath basically challenges the whole Israelite army, throwing the proverbial gauntlet if you will. He’s basically like “We don’t need to go to a full on battle. Just send out one champion! If he defeat me, we will be your slaves, but if I win you will be our slaves.” Seems like an okay deal, only risking one man’s life instead of many, except Goliath is huge and terrifying and there is no one in Israel even close to his stature. These men are shaking in their boots, all like “What the heck are we going to do?”

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:12-16.

12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. 13 The three eldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle; the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest; the three eldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers fare, and bring some token from them.”

19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry.

So three of David’s older brothers are in this army. David’s dad, Jesse, is worried about his sons, so he basically donates food to the army as an excuse for David to go check on them. So David leaves his sheep behind, takes the food, and goes to the battle.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:21-27.

21 Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. 22 David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks, and went and greeted his brothers. 23 As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.

24 All the Israelites, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very much afraid. 25 The Israelites said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. The king will greatly enrich the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter and make his family free in Israel.” 26 David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 27 The people answered him in the same way, “So shall it be done for the man who kills him.”

So David drops his food off with the quartermaster and goes to see his brothers and as he’s talking to them Goliath steps out and gives his challenge.

Everyone is terrified of Goliath but also talking about it. They’re like “Whoever kills this dude, the king will be so grateful too forever, and probably like make him a noble.” And David is like “Yeah, something should be done for whoever puts this dude in his place, because by going against us he’s going against the army of God!” And the others agree and are like “Yeah, whoever kills him will be an amazing dude and get lots of stuff.” But notice, despite this promise of rewards, none of them are really eager to do the task.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:28-30.

28 His eldest brother Eliab heard him talking to the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. He said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart; for you have come down just to see the battle.” 29 David said, “What have I done now? It was only a question.” 30 He turned away from him toward another and spoke in the same way; and the people answered him again as before.

David’s oldest brother hears him talking and he’s like “Dude, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at home watching the sheep. Instead you just want to see battle and glory. Stupid kid. Go home.”

Notice that Eliab immediately jumps to the worst conclusion. We know that David was actually sent here by his father, that he has his father’s permission to be away from the sheep and that his father directly asked him to go check on his brothers. But sometimes we don’t give our siblings the benefit of a doubt when we see them somewhere we assume they’re not supposed to be. So Eliab is doing the age old practice of yelling at a younger sibling as if he is David’s parent, when he is in fact not.

This happens all the time, it still happens today. Sometimes we think it’s our job to yell at our younger siblings and discipline them for our parents. But Eliab is wrong here, which David points out. David has done nothing wrong. So David basically ignores Eliab and goes back talking to the other dudes.

Imagine if David had listened to Eliab and went home with his tail between his legs instead of doing what we know he is supposed to do in this battle—that is defeat Goliath. It’s something for us to remember. We don’t always know everything, and sometimes just because a person isn’t where you think they’re supposed to be, doesn’t mean they’re not where God wants them to be.

Alright can someone please read 1 Samuel 17:31-37.

31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father; and whenever a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth; and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. 36 Your servant has killed both lions and bears; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” So Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you!”

Saul calls for David, and David is like “Don’t worry, my king, I’ve got this. I’ll fight him.”

Saul basically responds, “Are you insane? You are a teenager. This guy is a full grown killing machine. He will cut you down like grass.”

But David is very confident in his own ability, claiming he’s fought lions and bears when they came for a lamb in the flock. Now it’s true that we modern people tend to think of being a shepherd as a very easy gig, just chilling out with some sheep. Maybe whistling at a dog who helps you herd them. But things were different back then. It was a shepherd’s job to protect the sheep from all sorts of animals who might threaten it. Often we Americans think of that as wolves—but that’s a very British/European threat. In Israel it seems that there are bears and lions who might also threaten sheep. So David would have to learn how to fight them to protect them. So David has probably fought a few animals, and this is probably not just the claim of an overconfident teenage boy.

So Saul basically gives him the okay to try to take down Goliath.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:38-40.

38 Saul clothed David with his armor; he put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped Saul’s sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these; for I am not used to them.” So David removed them. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch; his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

Saul doesn’t want to send David out unprotected, so he gives David his own armor—since David has known of his own. A bronze helmet, a chainmail coat, a huge sword, and David tries to walk in this but can’t. Saul is a full grown man, old enough to have a son who’s David’s age or older. Saul is a warrior, a king who has led people in many battles. David is a teenager and the stuff is way too big for him. But even when it’s strapped down to size, David is just not used to moving about in this stuff. It’s like putting football pads on someone who has never worn them before. Sure they might protect David, but if he can’t move in it, he’s going to be dead anyway.

So David removes the armor and instead takes a shepherd’s weapons: his staff, five stones, and a sling.

Now when we say sling I don’t want you to think a slingshot. These are not the same thing. This is not something where you create a projectile by fulling back on it and then releasing it. This is more like  a device where you put a rock in it, then you like whip it about in a circle until it reaches the velocity you want and then when you stop the circular motion it shoot the rock out of it. These are also highly inaccurate weapons, generally speaking, but they can be deadly. Because you can put some big rocks in them.

So David goes before the Philistines like this, an unarmed boy. Needless to say they are not impressed. But David is confident, because he knows he has God at his back.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:48-51.

48 When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, striking down the Philistine and killing him; there was no sword in David’s hand. 51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine; he grasped his sword, drew it out of its sheath, and killed him; then he cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

Even if David only seems like a boy, Goliath is still going to fight him. It’s not his fault the Israelites sent someone wimpy looking to be their champion. So they face each other, and before they’re even close enough for Goliath to be able to use his sword, David uses his sling, shoots out a rock, and hits Goliath in his head, knocking him out or at least knocking him down.

Which is an impressive and impossible shot, because remember a sling is a very inaccurate weapon. So yes David was skilled, but really without God I find it highly unlikely he could have made such a shot.

David then runs forward, takes Goliath’s sword and cuts off Goliath’s head.

This causes the Philistines to run, for not only is their champion dead, but if such a small wimpy boy could do it, how ruthless must the rest of the army be?

Someone please read 1 Samuel 17:55-58.

55 When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” 56 The king said, “Inquire whose son the stripling is.” 57 On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

David defeats Goliath, and Saul says to his commander, “Who is this kid?” And his commander is like “Yo know I really don’t know.” But they find out, that he is the son of Jesse from Bethlehem.

At this point, David has impressed all of Israel, including Saul. We’ll see next week that David will be brought into court, trusted by Saul, and becomes best friends with Saul’s son Jonathan.

But it doesn’t last, because it turns out, Saul doesn’t like when his people view someone other than him as the hero of Israel. Especially when Saul knows God no longer supports his position to king. Saul doesn’t see that David is a threat to him yet, but he quickly will. And that will not be an easy time for anyone in Israel.

Saul, Israel's First King

Last week we talked about how Israel demanded a king. The judge system didn’t seem to be working for them, sons were not being as just as their fathers, and they wanted something different—something that seemed to be working for the other nations around them. If you’ll remember, Samuel who was the judge of Israel at the time was not too keen on the idea.

However, God listened to Israel and decided to give them what they want, for good or for ill. He told Samuel that Israel would have a king, and God would pick them man. Then God revealed to Samuel that the chosen man was Saul, a man of the tribe of Benjamin.

Samuel hadn’t yet told the people of Israel that God had decided they would get a king, but when he identified Saul, he told him and anointed him. Samuel then sent Saul on his way home with a prophecy of different signs he would see on his way home. Lo and behold, Saul encountered every single one of those signs.

When Saul got home though it’s important to note that he did not tell a single soul about his destiny. His servant didn’t know—because Samuel had sent him on ahead—and Saul does not tell any of his relatives. He keeps it a secret. Not because Samuel asked him too--Samuel didn’t really say anything on that matter—but for other reasons. Maybe despite everything he still didn’t really believe it? Or maybe he just didn’t want the job. We don’t know. We just know he didn’t tell anyone.

Israel however had not been told yet that they would have a king or that that king would be Saul. Today we’ll see how Samuel breaks this news, how they accept Saul, and what king of start Saul’s monarchy gets off to.

So please turn your Bibles to 1 Samuel 10:17-19.

17 Samuel summoned the people to the Lord at Mizpah 18 and said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ 19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said, ‘No! but set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans.”

Samuel basically calls a huge meeting of all the Israelites. Not just the elders, but every single person. That would be like the largest church meeting you could ever imagine. Then the first thing he does is lecture them. He reminds them of everything that God has done for them and that be demanding a king they are rejecting God. Because remember it is God who is supposed to be king over Israel. They have rejected this Godly kingship and are demanding a human king. But Samuel tells them that God is going to give them a human king.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 10:20-22?

20 Then Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. 21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the family of the Matrites was taken by lot. Finally he brought the family of the Matrites near man by man, and Saul the son of Kish was taken by lot. But when they sought him, he could not be found. 22 So they inquired again of the Lord, “Did the man come here?” and the Lord said, “See, he has hidden himself among the baggage.”

Okay so before we get to deep into this what does taken by lot mean. Well let’s demonstrate.

[Hand out slips of paper to everyone. One slip of paper should say something like “KING.” Don’t let them look at the papers at first and then have them all turn them over. Have whoever’s paper says king come forward.]

There you are now the king of all Israel. You were just chosen by lot. Basically lot means lottery, and sort of like choosing the short stick.

Why do this? Why choose king by lot when God already chose the king? [Ask the class, let the student who was chosen sit down.]

Well Samuel already knew God has chosen Saul but the people didn’t know that. And sure Samuel could have just gotten in front of everyone and said “God decried Saul to be king!” But I think Samuel did this so people would see it was clearly God’s will. Lotteries are generally viewed to be about luck, but they would have viewed it as God’s will. Only the man God could have chosen would be the one who gets the slip of paper, or whatever it was that said King! Otherwise they might think it’s Samuel choosing the king, instead of God.

So first Samuel had each tribe take a lot, and that chose the tribe of Benjamin. Then he had every man in Benjamin take one, and then that chose Saul. But did Saul who had had time to think about being king and what that meant, did he gallantly step forward and assume his position as the first king of Israel?

No. He ran away and hid.

This is directly in line with Saul not telling anyone he got the job, and this makes it clear, Saul doesn’t want the job. Now some of the best leaders in history come from people who didn’t want the job. They didn’t want power or wealth. But they still—when push came to shove—did the job. There’s a famous story about one of the early Roman dictators. He was called into duty to be dictator over Rome while they were at war, and then as soon as the war was over he gave up his absolute power—letting Rome go back to being a democracy and then he went back to work his fields. We laud these sorts of stories. However, the difference here is the Roman realized he did need to do the job first. Saul doesn’t want this job at all and he hides—not just from Israel but tries to hide from God—God who gave him this destiny.

But can we hide from God? No. So his hiding is not successful and he is found among the baggage. Let’s see what Israel thinks of this man who would be king, after he hid from them. Can someone read 1 Samuel 10:23-25?

23 Then they ran and brought him from there. When he took his stand among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one whom the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

25 Samuel told the people the rights and duties of the kingship; and he wrote them in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Then Samuel sent all the people back to their homes. 

Saul is brought before the people. Once again it’s pointed out how tall Saul is compared to everyone else. Tall and kingly perhaps. However, my commentary when I was reading this section also mentioned that to this point in the Bible the only people who had been mentioned as being tall were enemies of Israel. So perhaps this is foreshadowing that Saul’s kingship will not be quite in Israel’s best interest.

However, Samuel declares Saul king, declares how there is no one like him, and the people seem to accept Saul.

Samuel then lectures everyone on the duties of a king, because remember to this point, Israel hasn’t had a king, and it’s not like they have a constitution or anything. So how would the average person even know what a king should do? Well turns out the Israelites have these whole books of laws that we’ve talked about before, the law in the first five books of the Bible, mostly found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.  And turns out there is a whole section on kings! Can someone flip back to Deuteronomy 17:14-20?

14 When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” 15 you may indeed set over you a king whom the Lord your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community. 16 Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the Lord has said to you, “You must never return that way again.” 17 And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself. 18 When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests. 19 It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.

This section starts with talking about the people arriving in the promised land and then demanding a king like all the other nations. That sure does sound familiar doesn’t it? That’s exactly the situation we’re in now, turns out God knew this would happen. And so he was able to set up some limits to royal authority from the beginning. First, he tells them they must choose a king from among Israel, they can’t choose a foreigner. Makes sense, if the person is to be the king of Israel and since Israel is God’s chosen people.

But the section also goes on to say that the king basically shouldn’t hoard wealth for himself. Horses. Wives. Gold. Having much of these things is against the law. And as king, it says, he should also be very familiar with the law, the scripture of God, and read it all the time and learn from it, and realize that he is second to God.

That is the key part here, that the king realize he is no better than any other citizen of Israel and that is too is answerable to God.

As far as laws that are in place to limit authority this isn’t much. The constitution is actually a lot longer when describing presidential power. Those verses we just read are less than 300 words when translated into English. The section of the Constitution describing Presidential Power—Article II—is around 1,000 words. That’s over three times as much. And our constitution is not super detailed on things. It’s a pretty high level document.

God goes even higher level with the kings. Because ultimately it all boils down to one thing: the King should obey the greatest commandment: Deut 6:5, Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind. If the king does that he won’t acquire wealth for himself. He won’t abuse his people. And he will love God. It’s that simple.

And yet as we’ll see it’s very hard. There are many temptations in being king, and almost every single king of Israel will fall prey to at least one of them. Saul, David, Solomon, and all the kings described later, none of them are perfect because they were only human. Some though certainly do a better job than others.

Moving on can someone read 1 Samuel 10:26-27?

26 Saul also went to his home at Gibeah, and with him went warriors whose hearts God had touched. 27 But some worthless fellows said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

Now Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had been grievously oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites. He would gouge out the right eye of each of them and would not grant Israel a deliverer. No one was left of the Israelites across the Jordan whose right eye Nahash, king of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But there were seven thousand men who had escaped from the Ammonites and had entered Jabesh-gilead.

After being declared king Saul goes home. There really isn’t a royal city or a palace or anything like that at this point. He just has his family home he lives in. Some warriors are called by God to go with him, to protect him, sort of like a secret service I imagine as well as being the base for his army. People immediately begin talking smack about Saul. And to be fair, Saul’s hiding in the baggage didn’t exactly start him out on a great foot with everyone.

The Bible indicates Saul knew people were speaking poorly of him, but that he held his peace, i.e. he didn’t do anything about it. Saul probably knew he needed to prove himself—not just to them but to himself. After all this is the man who hid from being king. Saul might secretly on the inside agree with them. How can he save them?

Meanwhile, the Bible switches to telling us about these people called Ammonites. They were oppressing two of the tribes of Israel, Gad and Reuben and they were making people gouge out their right eye, which is weirdly specific and awful. But some men from the oppressed tribes did escape, and get the message of what was happening to the rest of Israel.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 11:5-8?

5 Now Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen; and Saul said, “What is the matter with the people, that they are weeping?” So they told him the message from the inhabitants of Jabesh. 6 And the spirit of God came upon Saul in power when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled. 7 He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen!” Then the dread of the Lord fell upon the people, and they came out as one. 8 When he mustered them at Bezek, those from Israel were three hundred thousand, and those from Judah seventy thousand.

So Saul is out working his field when he sees a whole bunch of people crying. When he asks they tell him what’s going on in Gad and Rueben. This makes Saul angry! The spirit of God comes over him, and he kills his own oxen. He then sends bit of the oxen all over the kingdom saying, “If you do not come out to help fight this atrocity, then your oxen too will die!”

Why the threat? That doesn’t seem very nice, “come with me or else we will come kill your very valuable animals that you need to survive.” Well remember that before Saul becomes king, Israel was just a coalition of tribes. And this treat of the Ammonites is only against two specific tribes of Israel. Back then, other tribes didn’t always go to the help of each other. Israelites really only rose up in mass to form a national multi tribe army when it was a threat that affected every single tribe. In cases where it affected one or two tribes, the other tribes would just shrug their shoulders and say “eh, that’s their problem.”

God through Saul is trying to form a cohesive nation here. And in this case only the threat works to bring everyone together to fight against the Ammonites. Also note that Saul says “Saul and Samuel” are calling for an army. That’s because Saul’s kingship is so new he’s not sure people will answer just to him. But Samuel is known throughout the land as the prophet of the Lord, and his name carries more authority than Saul’s at this point.

In the end a large army is pulled together.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 11:11-14?

11 The next day Saul put the people in three companies. At the morning watch they came into the camp and cut down the Ammonites until the heat of the day; and those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

12 The people said to Samuel, “Who is it that said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Give them to us so that we may put them to death.” 13 But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has brought deliverance to Israel.”

14 Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingship.” 15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly.

Saul forms his people into three companies—basically three divisions of the army—and then they attack the Ammonites and they win. Those they don’t kill they scatter so they can’t band together and form an army.

It’s a great victory, and Saul’s first real act as king. Everyone is suitably impressed. And someone is like “Hey remember those dudes who doubted Saul would be an awesome king? Let’s put them to death!”

Seems a little extreme and thankfully Saul is like “No let’s not do that. God has delivered us all this day so let’s show mercy to everyone.” Showing mercy is definitely a quality you want in a king.

Now that everyone is impressed by Saul and thinks he’s going to be an awesome king, Samuel is like “Let’s redo this whole making Saul king thing.” So they go and basically re-king Saul, this time without Saul running away and with all the people of Israel thinking he’s an awesome choice.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 13:2-7.

2 Saul chose three thousand out of Israel; two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; the rest of the people he sent home to their tents. 3 Jonathan defeated the garrison of the Philistines that was at Geba; and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!” 4 When all Israel heard that Saul had defeated the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel had become odious to the Philistines, the people were called out to join Saul at Gilgal.

5 The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. 6 When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. 7 Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

During this time there were Philistines still in Israal. They had a garrison—basically an army camp—at a city called Geba. Saul created an army to fight this threat and split them into two. He took most of the army and then gave the rest to Jonathan. We haven’t been properly introduced to Jonathan in the narrative at this point, but for your knowledge he is Saul’s firstborn son. And we’re going t ohave a whole lesson just to steady him later.

So Jonathan takes his smaller group of men and defeats the Philistine garrison at Geba. And the Israelites are ecstatically happy about this. But when the Philistines here about it they are completely enraged and basically call up their whole army in retaliation. Chariots, horsemen, troops so many that they’re compared to the amount of sand on a beach. The Israelites don’t have the numbers to counter this sort of army, so the Israelite army just like disbands and hides, trying to do their best to stay alive in the face of this massive threat.

What’s a king like Saul to do in the face of this? Well he decides to call Samuel—the prophet of God—so Samuel can make a sacrifice to God on their behalf, give the people some hope, and maybe tell him what God wants him to do. All in all it’s not a bad plan.

Someone please read 1 Samuel 13:8-12.

8 He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul. 9 So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering. 10 As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived; and Saul went out to meet him and salute him. 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the Lord’; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.”

So Saul is waiting and waiting and waiting for Samuel. Apparently Samuel had said he’d be there in seven days, but the people are scarred so the army is just slipping away in the time passing. Finally Saul gets impatient and is basically like “Why do I need a prophet to do the offering? I’ll just do it myself.”

Which he does.

Is Saul a priest? No. Is Saul even a Levite? No! He’s a Benjaminite. It’s his job to study God’s law, to know what it says, and to lead his people, but he is king not priest. And he doesn’t care and just does it anyway.

And like as soon as he’s done it Samuel arrives. Samuel’s not even really late. He said he would be there on the seventh day and he shows up on the seventh day, just later in the day than Saul would have liked.

Saul goes out to great Samuel and Samuel is just like “What on earth have you done?’ And Saul just makes excuses. People were leaving. Samuel was late. The Philistines are coming. HE didn’t have time. So he was *forced*, he says. FORCED with no choice but to do the offering himself.

No choice but to break God’s law and do it himself instead of waiting for God’s prophet.

Do you think Samuel is going to accept this answer? [Let them answer.] Do you think God is going to accept this answer? [Let them answer.] No. Saul has majorly overstepped his bounds as king, he has overstepped the law, and God is not going to let that stand.

Can someone please read 1 Samuel 13:13-15?

13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, 14 but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” 15 And Samuel left and went on his way from Gilgal. The rest of the people followed Saul to join the army; they went up from Gilgal toward Gibeah of Benjamin.

Samuel yells at Saul, rightfully so. He tells him he has done wrong—he went against God’s commands. He says God would have made his kingdom last forever—not that Saul would live forever but rather that his son would be king after him and his sons son after him. And so on and so forth, and if Saul hadn’t broken this law Jesus might have been descended from Saul instead of David to be king forever, as a descendent of the house of Saul! But no. Saul broke the law, he broke the commandments, and thus his kingdom will not continue.

Samuel tells him that God just wanted a man who would seek after God to be king, and that Saul was clearly not that.

So Samuel leaves Saul here.

Saul still has an army, Saul is still king in the eyes of the people, but he is no longer king in the eyes of Samuel or more importantly God.

Samuel is about to find a new king, an unexpected boy, one who will seek after God. And we’re about to enter a period of not just war with external nations, but a period of Civil War in Israel’s history.

Because a kingdom cannot have two kings.

Samuel and Israel's Demand for a King

Last week we talked about Eli, his two sons, and Samuel. If you’ll remember Eli was the head priest, and he had two wicked sons who were doing a lot of terrible things. For this God punished them. The two sons both died on the same day in the same battle, and the Ark of the Covenant—the symbol of God’s presence in Israel—was taken out of Israel by the Philistines.

Meanwhile, Samuel grew up to be a righteous and true man. He answered God’s call, delivered some unpleasant news to Eli, and served as a prophet of God and a judge over Israel.

So today we’ll start with what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. Did it just stay in Philistine forever? Let’s find out. Please get your Bibles and turn to 1 Samuel 5:1-4. Before you read just know that Dagon is one of the Philistine’s gods and when they say “Dagon” they mean a statue of Dagon.

5 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod; 2 then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

The Philistines take the Ark and put it in the house of Dagon. Dagon would be a god they would worship for weather and military success, so it makes sense that Dagon is the god the military people would worship and take the Ark to. Bringing the Ark there would symbolize to the Philistines that their god defeated the Israelite God. So they put the Ark next to the statue of Dagon. Then the next day they come into the temple, and Dagon’s statue is on the ground face down “before the ark” almost as if the statue of Dagon is in a submissive or worshipful pose before the representation of Israel’s God.

Now I’m sure the Philistines were just like “This is a fluke” which is why they put the statue back up and let it be. But then the next day when they come in not only is Dagon back face down on the ground before the ark but his head and hands have been cut off. To say this unnerved the people is a bit of an understatement.

After this there was sickness and boils in the town, as long as the Ark was in the town, they felt physically ill. Because the Ark did not belong there, and it did not belong to them. They even tried moving it to another Philistine town, but that just moved the sickness and oppressive feelings to the other town. Can someone read 1 Samuel 6:1-3?

6 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 Then the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us what we should send with it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and will be ransomed; will not his hand then turn from you?”

For seven months, the Philistine deal with the bad presence of the Ark of the Covenant in their midst and finally they’re like “enough is enough! How do we get this thing away from us?’ To the surprise of no one, their priests are like “the answer is send it away, but with extra presents!” After all if someone is going to steal something and then return it to you, extra presents can only help.

We’re going to skip through this fast, but basically what they do is load up a cart with the ark and some presents and then just let the animals go. They’re basically like “We’re not going to take it back by hand, that would be suicide, but if this God is all that powerful, then he’ll lead the animals to the right place.”

And lo and behold, that’s totally what happens. The ark shows up in a town called Beth-shemesh. And everyone is super thrilled the ark is back. And they all lived happily ever after!

Except not quite. Cuz the book doesn’t end here.

Samuel is the judge of Israel during all this time. As we read last week, he was a very good and righteous man, who followed God. He leads Israel from the time Eli dies until he is very old. And that is where we’re going to pick up now. So this is many years later. Can someone read 1 Samuel 8:1-3?

8 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice.

Samuel is old but still judge over all of Israel. He also sets up his sons as judges but like Eli’s sons they are not righteous. As judges they take bribes, letting that influence their decisions, instead of meting out justice. Why is this? Is it simply that every next generation is inherently worse than the one before? Well Samuel defies that because he was young and more righteous than Eli. However, Samuel wasn’t related to Eli. Samuel was called by God to be a prophet. So perhaps that is more the issue. People being handed jobs due to having a legacy that they did not deserve. This inheritance system was simply not working when it came to priests and judges.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 8:4-6?

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord,

The elders come to Samuel and basically say “hey this judge system isn’t working for us anymore. We need a king.” And Samuel is not happy about this at all. Why isn’t he happy? Well they’re basically saying he’s not good enough for them. They’re basically firing him, after he’s been their prophet for decades. But more importantly he knows they are not trusting in God. Because it’s God’s current plan for them to have prophets.

As for the people, why did they even want a king? What good is a king anyway?

Well one reason they say right in their statement. Samuel’s sons have failed them. So it’s less an indictment of Samuel and more of one of his sons. The system for raising up new judges is not very good. It’s spotty at best. Sure God calls people, but he only calls people when he thinks Israel needs it. What about the times in between when people are just having normal disputes? Well that’s where we have these sons of judges covering the gaps and they’re just not doing a good job, whether it’s Samuel’s sons, Eli’s sons, or even going back into Judges you can see this with some of the other sons of Judges.

The other reason they say in their statement is they want to be like other nations. Every other nation has a king, so why don’t they? In reality God is supposed to be their king, but in the day to day, it probably didn’t feel like that to the average Israelite.

And Israel back then wouldn’t have been a nation like we think of them. At best it was twelve loosely connected clans, who all went to the same judge/prophet to settle disputes. But a king! A king would bind them all together into a “real” nation, like the other nations around them. In many ways, I think they’re asking for a sense of national identity. They have a religious identity, as Israelites and God’s chosen people, but basically they’re saying that religious identity is not good enough. They need a patriotic one too.

Also as we’ve read there have been a lot of battles in Israel’s history. They would look to a king to be a military leader—a consistent military leader that they could look to for protection. That would mean a lot to them back then, when they’re constantly getting attacked and taken over by some bordering nation or another.

These people didn’t just wake up one day and say to themselves, “We should get a king.” I think this was a thought out request. Just perhaps not all the way thought out. Perhaps they were only thinking of the benefits of a king and not the downsides.

Well let’s see what God will have to say about their request for a king. Can someone read 1 Samuel 8:7-9?

7 and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. 9 Now then, listen to their voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”

God says “Give them a king.” He also points out that it’s not Samuel as prophet they have rejected but rather God as king. God is supposed to be their king, but that sort of less physical kingship is not what they desire. They want someone physical, who walks among them, that they can point to and say “that’s our king.” One might argue they’re unhappy with how God is ruling them. They want something different. And God’s going to let them have what they want—for good or for ill.

Though he does at least tell Samuel to warn them first, that kings may not be all they’re cracked up to be.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 8:10-17?

10 So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; 12 and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. 13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 15 He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. 16 He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. 17 He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

So Samuel warns them. Basically up until this point the Israelites have never had a real government. They’ve had elders, priests, and judges, but not an honest to goodness structured government. Things have been more loosey goosey. And Samuel here is basically warning them about kings and well government. When you have a government, you need a standing army. Your sons go to battle. When you have a government, you have to pay taxes. When you have a government, that needs property. To give you an idea the US government owns 28% of the nation’s land. Now in the US, because we have a democracy, a lot of that land is state parks that you and I can use, and walk in. But a king could declare something like a state park for his use only. In fact that was a thing Kings of England did back in the day. They had the king’s own forest, which no one was allowed to go in without his invitation. If you were starving and saw a deer on the king’s land and went to kill it to feed your family—that was considered poaching. And until the 1700s, poaching was generally considered a death sentence.

Now, I don’t know if Israelite kings had their own national parks and forests, but what Samuel is saying here is that they will need land. They’ll need a palace. And they’ll need you the people to build it and serve in it, to serve the king. They’ll tax you to pay for their new palace, and they’ll make you build it.

Even a good king needs these things.

Let’s see if the people take his warning to heart. Can someone read 1 Samuel 8:19-22?

19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are determined to have a king over us, 20 so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 21 When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. 22 The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and set a king over them.” Samuel then said to the people of Israel, “Each of you return home.” 

The people are still determined to have a king. Samuel is still distressed about it, and God is still like “Let them have a king.”

God is going to give these people what they want.

Question: Is what we want always best for us? [Let them answer.]

No, it’s not. We may want to never sleep, but if we never slept, we’d eventually die. We may want to eat chocolate cake for every meal, but that would not be healthy. God is letting them have what they want, but it’s not the system he would have preferred for them. He’s going to give them what they want and let them live through the consequences of their decision.

Interestingly, Samuel doesn’t tell the people here that God is going to let them have what they want. Instead he sends them home. Maybe Samuel is hoping after a good night of sleep they’ll change their mind. But…they don’t.

Israel is going to have a king, for better or for worse.

Can someone please read 1 Samuel 9:1-4?

9 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the boys with you; go and look for the donkeys.” 4 He passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

Suddenly we’re introduce to a young man named Saul. A very handsome and tall young man according to the Bible’s words. Some donkeys that Saul’s dad own get lost and so Saul is sent on a wild-goose chase for donkeys through the lands of Benjamin.

Now why do you guys think we’re being introduced to Saul right after all this discussion of kings? [Let them answer.]

That’s right. Saul is going to be the king they are given. Whether they like it or not.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 9:5-10?

5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.” 6 But he said to him, “There is a man of God in this town; he is a man held in honor. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out.” 7 Then Saul replied to the boy, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?” 8 The boy answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer”; for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) 10 Saul said to the boy, “Good; come, let us go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.

They’ve been wandering and looking for these donkeys for a while and Saul is like “We better go back soon or else my dad is going to think we’re lost.” But instead his servant says to him, “Hey Samuel lives near by—you know Samuel the prophet—why don’t we go see what he has to say?”

Then Saul is like “But I have nothing to pay him with.”

And then his servant is like “I have a piece of silver. No worries.”

There are a couple of things in this passage. 1) Why didn’t Saul know Samuel is near by? Even if Samuel didn’t permanently live there, he’d be so famous by this point that everyone would know his movements and where he is. It’s sort of like in the New Testament how crowds showed up everywhere Jesus went. The land of Israel is not that big and they don’t have that many celebrities. People usually know where their most religious person is. Sort of like how Catholics generally know whereabouts the pope is.

And if Saul’s servant knew than there is no way it’s because Saul’s home is to far in the boonies. So maybe Saul just doesn’t pay attention to these things.

Seems like a bad sign for a king.

The other than that gets me is: why does he need to borrow money from his servant? Even if Samuel required a payment—which I’m pretty sure as a prophet he does not—Saul borrowing money from his servant is kind of sketchy. He better pay that kid back.

Moving on, they go into town looking for Samuel. Can someone read 1 Samuel 9:14-17?

14 So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the shrine.

15 Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have seen the suffering of my people, because their outcry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man of whom I spoke to you. He it is who shall rule over my people.”

As soon as Samuel sees Saul, Samuel knows this is the guy. This is the guy who’s going to be king.

Considering Saul is tall and handsome, he certainly looks the part. Maybe Samuel was a little impressed by this and was like “Well God sure does know how to pick them.” Or maybe Samuel grumbled because of course a king would be tall and handsome and isn’t that sooo superficial. We don’t know. We just know that the moment Samuel laid eyes on Saul he knew this was the guy God had picked.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 9:18-21?

18 Then Saul approached Samuel inside the gate, and said, “Tell me, please, where is the house of the seer?” 19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer; go up before me to the shrine, for today you shall eat with me, and in the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is on your mind. 20 As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, give no further thought to them, for they have been found. And on whom is all Israel’s desire fixed, if not on you and on all your ancestral house?” 21 Saul answered, “I am only a Benjaminite, from the least of the tribes of Israel, and my family is the humblest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then have you spoken to me in this way?”

So Saul approaches Samuel and doesn’t even know it’s him. Samuel then provides Saul with everything he wanted and more. He tells him that his donkeys have been found and not to worry about them. Then he tells him that he is going to fix all of Israel. To Saul’s credit, he replies humbly. Basically saying, that it can be him because the least of people.

Humbleness is definitely a quality you want in your king, so maybe this Saul guy is going to turn out alright after all.

Or maybe not.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 9:27 – 10:2?

27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the town, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the boy to go on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” 1 Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler over his heritage: 2 When you depart from me today you will meet two men by Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; they will say to you, ‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now your father has stopped worrying about them and is worrying about you, saying: What shall I do about my son?’ 

Samuel anoints Saul before he leaves town. Anointing basically means putting oil on him and saying like a blessing or prayer over him. And Samuel tells Saul that God has chosen him to be king, to rule over Israel. And should Saul not believe him, as a sign he will meet two guys who have found his donkeys and they will tell him that their dad is worry about them now.

He also tells him some other things that will come to pass, that he’ll meet some other men on the road who will offer him gifts, that he’ll run into a group of prophets playing musical instruments, and guess what it all comes to pass.

Because this guy, Saul, is the one God has chosen to rule over Israel. For better or for worse.

Now what’s interesting in all of this—to me—is that Samuel hates the idea of Israel having a king, but does he try to argue God out of his decision? No. He tries to talk Israel out of it, but not God. Because he knows God’s plan is for the best—even if it doesn’t always seem that way. So even though Samuel could’ve ignored the request or even turned a blind eye to seeing Saul in the town and just pretended like he never saw him, he doesn’t. He acts on God’s commands, even when he doesn’t like them.

Samuel is a good prophet. It remains to be seen whether Saul will be a good king.

So next week we’ll talk about Saul, about how the news of him being king is broken to Israel, how they take it, and what kind of start his kingship gets off to.

Eli and His Sons

Two weeks ago, we studied Hannah, a woman of faithfulness and strength. She prayed to God for a child, and he gave her a son, Samuel. When Samuel was old enough she took him to the temple to be raised there and to learn the ways of God, under the tutelage of a man named Eli. Today we’re going to talk about Eli and his sons, and tangentially a little bit about Samuel.

Remember to be a priest in the Temple was no small matter. Only very specific people, directly descended from Aaron—Moses’s brother—could be the high priest who went to the most of Holy of Holies. Therefore these things tended to run in the family. If your dad was high priest, you were probably going to be high priest one day.

When Samuel is brought to the temple the current high priest is named Eli, and he had two sons named Hophni and Phinehas. Eli was the guy who saw Hannah praying in the temple and automatically assumed she was drunk instead of giving her the benefit of a doubt. Eli is at this time a very old man and his sons are full grown men, unlike Samuel who is a boy.

And that’s sort of how we open up this part of the story. Samuel is living in the temple, under the tutelage of Eli and the other priests. Can someone read 1 Samuel 2:11-17?

11 Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the boy remained to minister to the Lord, in the presence of the priest Eli.

12 Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord13 or for the duties of the priests to the people. When anyone offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, 14 and he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. 15 Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the one who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” 16 And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take whatever you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now; if not, I will take it by force.” 17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord; for they treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt.

To say the sons of Eli were scoundrels is probably a bit of understatement on the Bibles part. There are many aspects to what they are doing wrong here. First off, when they steal a piece of the sacrifice, they are stealing from God. The people were bringing their sacrifices for God, and the priests were taking parts of it for them. Secondly, the taking of the meat with the fat still on it is in direct contradiction to the laws given in Leviticus. In Leviticus 7:25 it says “If an one of you eats the fat from an animal of which an offering by fire may be made to the Lord, you who eat it shall be cut off from your kin.” Cut off from your kin, as in exiled from your family. That’s a big deal. But these priests are just ignoring that. Finally, it says that if a person tried to go against them and was like “no, we have to burn the fat first” these priests would threaten violence—and probably follow through with it—to force people to do it their way.

These two priests, Hophni and Phinehas, were abusing their position in every way they possibly could. Did they care that they were supposed to be working for God? No. They completely ignored God’s law, did whatever they wanted, and abused God’s people.

Do we think God is going to be happy with this? [Let them answer.] No he’s not.

Alright can someone read 1 Samuel 2:22-26?

22 Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24 No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear the people of the Lord spreading abroad. 25 If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord; but if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father; for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.

26 Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people.

Eli was old but he wasn’t stupid. He knew what his sons were doing. Turns out they weren’t just stealing but also were sleeping around with the women who came to serve at the temple. That’s just despicable. This would be an opportunity for Eli—as the head priest here—to do more than just yell at them. He could have fired them or at least given them some sort of punishment. Instead he just yells at them and he doesn’t even really yell at them about specific sins. Instead he’s more like “People are talking! We can’t have that!” Which sort of shows that even Eli is not as pure and faithful as we might like.

However, Eli does at least warn his sons, saying that there is no one to advocate for them between them and God. And then the passage makes it clear that God has already decided judgement on them. For their sins against God and Israel, Hophni and Phinehas will die.

Then we have verse 26, which is sort of all by itself and about something completely different. Here the writer is directly contrasting the evil behaviors of Hophni and Phinehas with Samuel. Where Hophni and Phinehas are destined to die, Samuel has found favor with God.

Alright can someone read 1 Samuel 2:27-36?

27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus the Lord has said, ‘I revealed myself to the family of your ancestor in Egypt when they were slaves to the house of Pharaoh. 28 I chose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to offer incense, to wear an ephod before me; and I gave to the family of your ancestor all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. 29 Why then look with greedy eye at my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ 30 Therefore the Lord the God of Israel declares: ‘I promised that your family and the family of your ancestor should go in and out before me forever’; but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. 31 See, a time is coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your ancestor’s family, so that no one in your family will live to old age. 32 Then in distress you will look with greedy eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed upon Israel; and no one in your family shall ever live to old age. 33 The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep out his eyes and grieve his heart; all the members of your household shall die by the sword. 34 The fate of your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you—both of them shall die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever. 36 Everyone who is left in your family shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and shall say, Please put me in one of the priest’s places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.’”

An angel appears to Eli. In the past when we’ve seen angels they’ve generally been the bearers of good news. Telling Abraham he will have a son in his old age! Or blessing Jacob! But in this case, this angel does not have good news for Eli. He tells him that God has seen the wickedness of his sons, and that Eli will live to see his sons die—both on the same day. And that Eli’s house will fall, none of his descendants or relatives will be priests anymore, and instead a new priestly line will be raised.

However for Samuel things are different. Can someone read 1 Samuel 3:1-9?

3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the Lord called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The Lord called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

Samuel is a boy living in a temple. He’s sleeping where the ark of the covenant is, which seems strange to me because that’s a rather holy place to be sleeping in! At this time Samuel is still a boy, a kid, so probably under the age of 13, and probably near to many of you in age. So Samuel is dozing and he here’s someone call his name. He runs to Eli because who else is around to call for him? And Eli is like “I didn’t call you, go back to sleep.” Eli is probably cranky that Samuel even woke him up.

Why doesn’t Samuel recognize it’s the voice of God? Well the section opened with telling us that the word of God was rare in those days, and remember anyone who heard the voice of God was considered a prophet, so it would be few people indeed who could claim such a thing. Samuel probably never met a prophet, and may not even known it was possible to hear such an audible call. It’s completely rational for him to assume it’s his master and teacher Eli who is calling him.

Samuel goes back to sleep and it happens again! Once again he runs to Eli, once again Eli sends him away. Then it happens again, and once again Samuel goes to Eli! That’s three times Samuel heard his name called and three times he responded.

Now I think most of us, if it was the middle of the night and our parents called us out of bed, we would grumble and moan and complain. And then if we responded and they said “No I didn’t call you” and then we heard our name again? What would you do? IF you kept hearing your name and your parents kept sending you back to bed? [Let them answer it.]

Frankly I would ignore it probably the first time and my parents would have to come physically get me out of bed. If I did respond the first time and they said it wasn’t them? And then it happened again? I would definitely ignore it. So Samuel already is demonstrating way more obedience, promptness, and respect than I probably demonstrated on a daily basis as a kid. Samuel is ready and willing to serve—even when he doesn’t know it’s God calling him.

The third time Samuel goes to Eli, Eli realizes what’ sharpening. Eli tells Samuel it’s God calling, and that he doesn’t need to get up, he just needs to respond to God and see what he has to say.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 3:10-18?

10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle. 12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. 13 For I have told him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them. 14 Therefore I swear to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be expiated by sacrifice or offering forever.”

15 Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.

16 But Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.” 17 Eli said, “What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, “It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.”

God calls Samuel again and this time Samuel answers as Eli told him to “Your servant is listening.” Then God tells Samuel what’s up with the house of Eli. Literally the first thing God tells Samuel is that Eli’s family is doomed.

Now it’s unclear how much Samuel might have interacted with the corrupt priests or even known they were corrupt. He’s a kid, and as you guys know, adults try to shield kids from a lot of stuff. So Samuel may have been completely oblivious to what was happening with Hophni and Phinehas. On the other hand, it’s not a large temple he’s living in, so maybe he knew exactly what was happening. Either way, it is no wonder he would be scared to tell Eli.

Samuel is just a kid, Eli is his master. And God really expects him to go before Eli and be like “Hey Eli, just fyi, your family is corrupt and God will never forgive you. You’re all doomed.”

Yeah, not exactly a cheery message. I would be scared to tell Eli that myself, even as an adult. Being a kid in his care, I would be scared out of my mind. Cuz even though we know an angel has already told Eli all of this, Samuel doesn’t necessarily know that.

So if Eli already knows this information, why does God require Samuel to tell it to him? [Let them answer.]

Well as a prophet of Israel, Samuel will have to be strong. He will have to tell very powerful men bad news. As we’re later going to see, Samuel is going to be instrumental in both setting up kings and taking them down. This is a man who can’t be afraid of the reaction of a king when he goes to tell him God’s news. So I think this isn’t a test so much as it’s good training. Samuel is afraid, God knows that, and God created this safe environment for Samuel to work through that fear of telling an authority figure bad news.

Eli already knows this news. So when Samuel goes before him and tells him what God told him, Eli is not going to get angry. He already knows. Samuel isn’t the bearer of bad news so much as he’s the bearer of redundant news. But this helped Samuel get over that fear of being a bearer of bad news in a safe environment where the authority figure isn’t going to get mad at him. We’ll see this training come into use much later.

The end is near for Eli’s family. Can someone read 1 Samuel 3-19-4:4?

19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. 21 The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. 4 1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

In those days the Philistines mustered for war against Israel, and Israel went out to battle against them; they encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek.2 The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle was joined, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 3 When the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that he may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

So Samuel grows up, God is with him and let’s “none of his words fall to the ground.” What does that mean? My Jewish Bible translates that sentence as “He did not leave any of Samuel’s predictions unfulfilled” and my NIV translation commentary says that it means that Samuel’s words were authoritative and trustworthy because they were God’s words. I think these things basically mean the same things. If Samuel predicted something, it happened. If Samuel said something was a certain way, it was that way. Because Samuel was trustworthy and relied on God, and God had his back.

Shiloh—the place referred to here—is just the location of where the current temple—which I believe is the tabernacle—resides. It’s a city. At this time the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle were in Shiloh and not Jerusalem as they would come to be later.

But basically this little section is set up. Samuel grows up and continues to have God’s favor, the Lord continues to reveal himself to Samuel, and meanwhile a war is brewing between the Philistines and the Israelites. Remember the Philistines are the guys who conquered Israel way back in Samson’s time, so they would have been fighting on and off with the Israelites for a while. So the two have a little skirmish, and the Israelites lose. They’re all like “Why would God let the Israelites win???” And then suddenly, they remember they have a silver bullet—a nuclear option. If they bring the Ark of the Covenant into battle surely they will win! Just as Joshua won all those battles back in the day, and Moses, and even more recently the Judges. Because if the Ark of the Covenant is with you than God is with you!

Right here they’re treating the Ark of the Covenant like it’s a magical object that if brought into any battle, without direction or guidance from God, will result in an auto-magical win for the Israelites. But that’s not how the Ark works. It’s not a magical object. It’s a symbol of God’s presence. And if there is one thing we know in this story it’s that God is not with Hophni and Phinehas, the priests who bring the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelites.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 4:10-11?

10 So the Philistines fought; Israel was defeated, and they fled, everyone to his home. There was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

The Israelites don’t just lose, they lose bad. 30,000 men die, including Hophni and Phinehas, who the angel said both died on the same day here in this battle. Worst of all though, the ark of the convenant is captured. The thing that symbolizes God’s presence in Israel is gone.

Now had God left Israel? No. The Ark of the Covenant in the end is just an object, and God was using this defeat to his purposes. The deaths of Hophni and Phinehas were punishment for their wickedness, and likely the defeat for Israel’s wickedness as well as their pride in thinking the Ark would magically save them.

I think this is the first time the Ark of the Covenant is captured by enemies, but I could be mistaken. That would mean this is the first time the Ark is out of Israelite possession, so this would be a huge blow, and as we’ll see people did not take it well.

Someone read 1 Samuel 4:13-18. The “he” arriving in the first sentence here is an Israelite man who ran from the battle to deliver the news of what happened to the city of Shiloh.

13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man came quickly and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set, so that he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli, “I have just come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” He said, “How did it go, my son?” 17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the troops; your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” 18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

As the man spreads the news, the people cry out. When the man tells the news to Eli, he is so shocked he falls backwards and breaks his neck and dies.

This is all as God predicted, God’s judgement on the house of Eli.

Samuel’s rise and faithfulness here is directly contrasted with the wickedness and fall of Eli’s family. It didn’t matter that Eli’s family had been in that job for a long time and Samuel was a nobody. Eli’s family had disobeyed God.  God doesn’t care who your parents are, or if you’re born into a powerful job. He cares that you are faithful and true, obedient to him and good to his people, like Samuel.

Next week we’ll continue this story—see what happens to the Ark of the Covenant and Samuel.

Hannah

Today we’re going to start one of the most epic books of the Old Testament, and that’s saying something considering we’ve already had plagues, parting of seas, invasions, and conquering. So what’s the books of Samuel about then?

A mad king. A small shepherd boy who seems unlikely for anything great—takes down an enemy twice his size and then goes on to lead an army against the mad king. A friendship forged with the mad king’s son, in which both risk their lives. The rightful king ascends the thrown and his dynasty will reign forever!

This is the stuff of the stories we still tell: King Arthur, the Lord of the Rings, a hundred different tellings and re-tellings. So if you want kings and knights, loyalty and oaths, romance and violence, heroes and villains, all told with the backdrop of the fate of an entire nation, this is the book for you.

However, this book doesn’t jump straight into this business of kings. Because when we last left the people of God, the Israelites, did they have kings? [Let them answer]. No! They had something else. Who were the leaders of Israel? [Let them answer.] That’s right! Judges. So the first part of this book that we’ll be looking at today it bridges those stories between how we go from Judges to Kings and the way it does it is with, surprise, a guy named Samuel. Today we’ll be studying Samuel only a little, because we’ll be focusing on his mother, Hannah.

Please go get your Bibles and let’s open up to 1 Samuel 1:1-8.

1 There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

3 Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. 4 On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; 5 but to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. 7 So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

We’re introduced to a lot of characters right here, but the most important is Hannah. Hannah is married to a man who also has another wife. The other wife has many children, Hannah does not, but the man favors Hannah. We’ve seen this before haven’t we? Who remembers the similar story to this? [Let them answer.]

That’s right, Rachel and Leah. Leah had many children, but Jacob loved the childless Rachel. Seems to be a theme here.

Like Jacob, the husband thinks his love for her should be enough. That as long as he loves her she shouldn’t want children. But I think this is the case of a man missing the point, and not understanding this woman’s pain.

Having a child meant a lot to women back then. Nowadays it still means a lot, emotionally. It means the start of a new family, the start of a new life, and for some women it’s all their dreams coming true. But back then it was more than that. It wasn’t just your dream coming true—it was your purpose coming to fruition. An ancient woman’s only role back then was to produce an heir, and to fail to do that? To fail to do that was to fail your purpose in life.

Personally I am grateful we live in a world that has moved beyond this. Babies and children are great, obviously. You guys are kids and we love you! But women are capable and able to do so much more. Unfortunately the patriarchy and misogyny of the time didn’t really allow for women to reach the full capabilities. It pinned them into this one purpose, this one job. Reproduction. So if you failed at that one job? Things were not good for you.

It also put them in a precarious position—as we saw with Ruth—if your husband dies. Remember Ruth had no heir, and because of that she was a poor widow with no way to make her life better. She needed a son to claim her husbands inheritance, she couldn’t claim it legally as a woman. She had no way to make her life better without a man of some sort—husband or son in it. So while not being able to have kids today can be sad, it’s not nearly the big deal it was back then.

So every year Hannah goes to the Tabernacle and makes sacrifices with her husband and her family. Remember the Tabernacle is the tent where people worshiped and where the Ark of the Covenant was kept and sacrifices was made. There was no Temple yet. The Bible refers to it as lower case “temple” of the Lord as opposed to Temple with a capital T. Because it is not *the* Temple. That has not been built yet. So anytime in this section it uses lowercase temple, just imagine in your mind the Tabernacle—which is like a ten church.

At the Tabernacle is where we’re introduced to Eli and his two sons. They are the priests and will be important shortly. And as we’re going to see this year Hannah goes up to the Tabernacle and prays. Can someone read 1 Samuel 1:9-11?

9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the Lord. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. 10 She was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. 11 She made this vow: “O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirite until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As a woman I don’t believe Hannah would have been allowed in the Tabernacle proper. She might be allowed in the Tabernacle’s courtyard but maybe she could only come to the gates, I’m not sure. But she gets as close as she can, where she is allowed to go as a woman and prays. She is very emotional and prays to God, basically just like “Oh God if you would just give me a son and I will dedicate him to you.” Remember from our study of Samson, being a Nazirite was basically being a layman priest. Only Levites could be priests—and Hannah and her family are not Levites. But anyone, even women, could become a Nazirite and serve God in this way.

Eli the high priest at the time sees her. It says he’s sitting at the doorpost of the Tabernacle. Let’s see what Eli thinks of Hannah’s pray. Can someone read 1 Samuel 1:12-14?

12 As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14 So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.”

Does Eli see Hannah praying and think “Oh my what a pious woman praying to God?” Nope. Does he see her and think “Oh my, this woman is very emotional right now and sad and maybe I should comfort her?” Nope. Eli’s mind goes immediately to the worst case, cynical situation. This woman must be drunk, he thinks to himself. As if there is no other reason a woman might want to come and pray. Now it’s possible that drunk people stumbling around happened a lot, but I think it also says a lot about Eli that he went for the cynical, little faith in humanity first thought. People do this a lot. We see someone looking sick and throw up into the bushes and we think “They must be drunk!” instead of maybe they’re honestly sick and need help. We see someone acting strange and we think “they must be high” instead of maybe there is something wrong. We write off people as the worst examples of humanity instead of giving them the benefit of a doubt we’d give ourselves.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 1:15-18?

15 But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord. 16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17 Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18 And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and her countenance was sad no longer.

Words like Eli’s could have scared Hannah off. It could have made her feel ashamed, that he thought she was drunk instead of just trouble. Sometimes we feel that way when wrongly accused of something, as if we did something wrong even though we didn’t. And if Hannah was left she would never had a chance to talk to him and actually feel some relief in her soul. It’s not our job to scare people away from church, away from God, and Eli should have known better. Thankfully, Hannah does not go away ashamed. Instead she corrects him and tells him how troubled she is. Eli then basically says he hopes God grants her request. This makes Hannah feel better—maybe because she thinks Eli’s words might mean more to God than hers, since he is the high priest. We know that’s not the case, but that is a misconception people often have, that pastors and priests have God’s ear more than the rest of us. So maybe that is why Hannah felt comforted. Or maybe it was just she was done praying and felt as if she had given the problem to God. We don’t know.

Alright let’s see what happens next, can someone read 1 Sam 1:19-23?

19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

21 The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. 22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the Lord, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a nazirite for all time.” 23 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the Lord establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh; and the child was young. 25 Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26 And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the Lord. 27 For this child I prayed; and the Lord has granted me the petition that I made to him. 28 Therefore I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.” She left him there for the Lord.

Hannah has a son and she names him Samuel. The next year when it’s time to go back for the yearly sacrifice, Hannah doesn’t go. She says she is waiting until she can offer him as a Nazirite, before she takes him. Basically she’s waiting until he’s old enough that he doesn’t need to be breastfed, which back then could be fairly old, three or even four.

Then when he’s old enough she takes him to the Tabernacle and they make their sacrifice and then they go to Eli. She’s basically like “I was that woman praying all those years ago and look how God has answered my prayers! Now I give him to God.”

The implication here is that she actually leaves him at the Tabernacle to be raised by Eli.

Why? Samson didn’t have to be raised at the Tabernacle to be a Nazirite. But Hannah wanted to fully give her son back to God, because she knew her son didn’t belong to her. He belonged to God. So she gives him to God’s house—the Tabernacle—where he will be raised by the priests so that he can fully serve God.

This child was the only thing Hannah wanted in her entire life. It would be very easy for her to keep him, for her to say that being a Nazirite doesn’t really require him to be fully God’s. She can raise him and keep him home. But Hannah is a woman of great faith and she knows that it was God that gave Samuel to her. So she doesn’t take the easy route. Instead she gives up her son. She gives back to God what God has given her, probably the hardest thing any mother can do.

Can someone read 1 Samuel 2:1-10?

2 Hannah prayed and said,

“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength is exalted in my God.[a]
My mouth derides my enemies,
    because I rejoice in my[b] victory.

2 “There is no Holy One like the Lord,
    no one besides you;
    there is no Rock like our God.
3 Talk no more so very proudly,
    let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
    and by him actions are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
    but the feeble gird on strength.
5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
    but those who were hungry are fat with spoil.
The barren has borne seven,
    but she who has many children is forlorn.
6 The Lord kills and brings to life;
    he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
    he brings low, he also exalts.
8 He raises up the poor from the dust;
    he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.[c]
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
    and on them he has set the world.

9 “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones,
    but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
    for not by might does one prevail.
10 The Lord! His adversaries shall be shattered;
    the Most High[d] will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
    he will give strength to his king,
    and exalt the power of his anointed.”

Giving up a child is one of the hardest things a mother can do and yet as we see in this prayer, Hannah does it with exultation for God. Hannah’s prayer is not one of despair, even though it would be easy for her to do so. Instead she praises God for his great strength and power. There are few people with faith like Hannah. So many of us want to keep close to us the things God has given us. We think the thing—whether it’s money, a talent, or whatever—is ours. We earned it. We produced it. We worked for it. We forget that it is God who gives and takes. But Hannah doesn’t forget. She does what most of us can’t.

Now we’re going to skip forward slightly. The section we’re skipping we will come back to next week though, because it’s important. But for now let’s skip ahead to 1 Samuel 2:18-21.

18 Samuel was ministering before the Lord, a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 His mother used to make for him a little robe and take it to him each year, when she went up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, “May the Lord repay you with children by this woman for the gift that she made to the Lord”; and then they would return to their home.

21 And the Lord took note of Hannah; she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.

Even though Hannah gave Samuel to the Tabernacle, she does not forget him. She makes him a little robe every year, it says, and brings it up to the Tabernacle to him. Now when you think of making a robe, you’re probably thinking going to the store to buy a bolt of cloth and then coming home to sew it into a robe. Not too hard. But that’s not what this would be. There weren’t really stores where you could just buy a bolt of cloth. You generally had to weave your own cloth. So imagine it to be much more painstaking. Hannah weaving individual threads until they from a cloth which she can then make into a robe. This was her labor of love, her way to remember her son every year and to remind him, when she came to the Tabernacle for her yearly sacrifices that she still loved him.

I don’t want you to think Hannah gave up her son because she did not love him. That is not the case. As we see from this Hannah greatly loved Samuel. That’s what makes the sacrifice all the more poignant. It’s not really a sacrifice to give up something you don’t love. That’s why your parents don’t ground you from things like school or vegetables. They ground you from things you like. That’s why for Lent you’re supposed to give up something you love. So it means something. You feel the pain of it’s loss.

Hannah would feel the pain of Samuel’s loss keenly. Her firstborn son, the son who fulfilled her life’s purpose, but she knows he belongs to God.

God sees Hannah’s faithfulness and he rewards her. He gives her three more sons and two daughters.

Hannah’s story is generally revered and taught for two reasons: one being this idea of sacrifice and giving back to God what is his. If Hannah can give up her son, how much easier should it be for us to give up our tithes, or to give up candy for Lent. But the other is her prayer. Hannah didn’t hide her emotions from God. Hannah didn’t pretend with God that everything was fine. In the beginning when she was praying, so hard and fervent that the priest thought she was drunk, she was not hiding. Was her prayer angry or just sad? We know it was anxious and she was greatly troubled.

God doesn’t want us to hold back from him. He wants you to take your requests and emotions—yes even anger—to him.

So remember Hannah when you pray. Remember you can take anything to God, and you can take any emotion to him, and you can pray as calmly or emotionally as you like. God hears you. And he will answer—though perhaps not always the way we want.

And with that we’ll end here. Next week we’ll talk about Samuel himself.

Ruth

Note: When I did this lesson I was pressed for time. Also the teacher of the other hour of Middle School Sunday School was not going to be there, so I taught both hours, so there wasn't as much reason for me to write up a pretty post explaining all my notes. So this post is basically just my notes. Next time I do this set of lessons I will come back and pretty this up, but for now, I present my notes.

Ruth 1:1-5

• The set up.
• This story takes place during judges. There is a famine so a Hebrew man leaves Israel with his family and goes to Moab, where there is presumably food.
• Everyone dies. Poor Naomi left alone.

Ruth 1:6-9

• Famine is over, Naomi wants to go home, but she tells the girls not to come with her.

Ruth 1:14-18

• Ruth is all like “I’m not leaving you!!!”
• Naomi is like “okay”
• Greatest example of female friendship in the Bible.

Ruth 1:19-22

• Naomi is basically upset with God here. She has lost everything and come back with nothing.

Ruth 2:1-3

• Widows basically have no way to make money. And no one to look out for them. So to provide food for them, Ruth goes to glean in the fields.
• Lev. 19:9-10: 9  ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

Ruth 2:4-7

• Boaz notices Ruth.

Ruth 2:9-15

• Boaz talks to Ruth and lets her eat dinner with his other people.
• And tells his people to let Ruth do her thing and not bother her.

Ruth 2:17-23

• Ruth tells Naomi everything that went down and Naomi is like O.O This man is our nearest kin. Depending on your version of the Bible different words can be used here but if you look in your Bibles there is a footnote symbol and if you look down it says “one who has the right to redeem.” What does that mean?

What is redemption as we think of it? [Let them answer]

• The word redeem can mean many things. You can both redeem a coupon and the Star Wars story can redeem the character of Darth Vader. How can that be? Well it has to do with the meaning of the word. Redeem basically means to compensate for or save something from it’s faults…such as Darth Vader being redeemed. His character is saved—brought back to the light if you will—after a history of doing bad things. It can also mean a thing regaining or gaining value. You could argue Darth Vader regained his value when he came to the light, but a coupon definitely gains value when you actually use it. Before that it’s just a piece of paper.
• In Ruth and Naomi’s case, redemption would mean they would be saved from their destitute lives as childless widows.
• In these ancient times, a A kinsman-redeemer was a relative who could redeem a poor person’s inheritance (Leviticus 25:25). In certain circumstances, where there was no heir, a near relative could act as kinsman-redeemer by marrying the relative’s widow to redeem the inheritance. A relative was not obligated to act as kinsman-redeemer, however. If no relative chose to help, the widow would probably live in poverty.
• Lev 25;2525 “ ‘If one of your fellow Israelites becomes poor and sells some of their property, their nearest relativee is to come and redeemf what they have sold.
• So what Naomi is hoping for Ruth is that Boaz will “redeem” them by marrying Ruth. And even though Boaz isn’t Naomi’s son, Ruth’s first child would be as Ruth’s first husband’s child—for the sake of inheritance laws, meaning legally that child would basically be Naomi’s grandchild. Both women would be rescued out of their poverty and obscurity by this plan.

Ruth 3:1-5

• Naomi then suggests a crazy plan, of Ruth basically sneaking into Boaz’s bed that night. I mean that’s not literally what happens but it’s basically what the plan is. Lie down at his feet while he sleeps and see what happens when he wakes up, is what Naomi says.

Ruth 3:6-9

• Naomi had told Ruth to wait and see what Boaz would do. Instead Ruth says something once Boaz sees her “I am Ruth, your servant; spread your cloak over your servant, for you are next-of-kin.” Right here, Ruth is basically proposing to Boaz. I know it doesn’t read that way to us with our modern eyes but the whole “spread our cloak over me cuz you’re my next of kin” is basically Ruth asking him to marry her and redeem her as her kinsman-redeemer.
• “Spread your cloak over your servant, for you are my redeemer.” That also sounds like something people today might say when praying to God, which we’re going to get to that. Save that in your minds. 😊

Ruth 3:10-13

• Boaz basically agrees with her proposal but he is like “I’m actually not your nearest relative, so we’ve got to check with this other dude first and then if he takes you in, you’re covered. If not, I’ll cover you.”
• Boaz praises Ruth for her loyalty and diligence and also for choosing him over the young men which is a little egotistical. But what I think he’s getting at is that she was smart enough to realize he was her next of kin instead of trying to track down some younger man. This also implies that Boaz is not in fact, a young spring chicken.

Ruth 3:14

• I want to pause on this verse for a minute, because when we read a story of a woman of the Bible doing something like sleeping at a man’s feet, sometimes our first reaction is “that’s so scandalous!” quickly followed by “Well it can’t be that scandalous if a virtuous woman of the Bible did it.” But I want to stop on this verse because no, indeed it is *that* scandalous. Ruth is taking her reputation, Boaz reputation’s, everyone in hand by basically sneaking into his bed at night. However, nothing they did was actually a sin or wrong. She just went into his room and slept at his feet.
• There is this idea in most societies of something called “propriety” which means basically “conforming to conditionally accepted standards of behaviors and morals.” Sometimes we confuse societal standards with sins or things that are wrong in God’s eyes. But…sometimes societal standards are just that…societal standards. And to follow God’s plan for our lives, sometimes we have to break them. Jesus did this when he hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors. Those were the types of people good Jewish people didn’t hang out with. But Jesus did it, because he knew these were the people who needed him. In Ruth’s society, sneaking into a man’s bedroom in the middle of the night would be seen as basically an act of prostitution, even though we the reader know she didn’t “sleep” with Boaz in a sexual since.
• I’m not saying sneak into people’s beds or hang out with people you shouldn’t. What I’m saying is that sometimes following Jesus requires us to do things we know to be right but society views as wrong. The ultimate authority we follow is not society’s view of politeness but rather God’s views. This is also why we shouldn’t be so quick to judge people when they seem to be going outside of what we think is appropriate for society. You don’t always know what’s really going on. Just like an outside observer would have mistaken what was going on with Ruth and Boaz.

Ruth 3:16-18

• Ruth goes back to Naomi.

Ruth 4:1-6

• Boaz gets down to business and meets with the other people of the city and sees what is to be done with Ruth.

Ruth 4:7-12

• Boaz pledges to marry Ruth and his decision I sblessed.

Ruth 4:13-17

• Boaz and Ruth get married and have a baby named Obed. Naomi is basically the grandmother of this baby.
• Remember how at the beginning Naomi was bitter against God for everything had been taken away from her? Here her family has been restored. She didn’t give birth to Obed, but he is as her grandson would be, if Boaz was her son. God has completely restored Naomi. In another word….her life has been redeemed. It has regained the value it had at the end.
• This also directly sets us up for King David.

Conclusion:

• What’s so important about Ruth? Why is there an entire book of the Bible dedicated to her?
• Well she directly sets up for King David, who is basically the Biblical King Arthur which is kind of important.
• Her story also directly reflects how the laws to protect and redeem the poor are used to do just that, an example of faithful men and women following God’s laws and their faith being rewarded.
• Perhaps the biggest thing from a Christian sense, is that Christians often view this story as a metaphor for our relationship with Jesus. Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer, he is the person who redeems us:
  • Dr. Leggett goes on to explain: “As Boaz had the right of redemption and yet clearly was under no obligation to intervene on Ruth’s behalf, so it is with Christ. As Boaz, seeing the plight of the poor widows, came to their rescue because his life was governed by Yahweh and his laws, so also of the Messiah it is prophesied that his life would be governed by the law of God and that he would deal justly and equitably with the poor and with those who were oppressed (Ps. 72:2, 4, 12, 13; Isa. 11:4)” (The Levirate and Goel Institutions in the Old Testament With Special Attention to the Book of Ruth,Mack Publishing, 1974, p. 298). https://www.gci.org/bible/hist/ruth3
• And that’s it! For the summer this is the end of our people of the Bible. Next Sunday we’re going to do a lesson to help prepare you guys for school and the Sunday after that is the party, if you guys have memorized the books of the Bible. Then the eighth graders will go to confirmation and the rest of us will continue with one of the biggest characters of the old Testament. King David.