Looking for God’s Hand

1 Samuel 27-29

            Chapters 27-29, as so often in 1 Samuel, present two contrasting stories. On the one hand we have the story of David, who seems to have had enough of being chased around and being betrayed by his fellow Israelites. He seeks refuge among Israel’s mortal enemies, the Philistines. He had tried that once before, but they weren’t ready to accept him. Now, his troubles with Saul are well-known, and Achish of the Philistines gives David a permanent home. David knows he is in a tricky spot; the Philistines only see him as an enemy of their enemy; they don’t know that David has been picked by the Lord to be the next king of Israel, where all of his loyalties lie. For a while he is able to keep his secret safe, but as chapter 28 opens, it seems like the jig is up: he is called to prove his loyalty and go to war with Israel.

            The story breaks to look at Saul—desperate, hopeless, and without the word of the Lord. In his despair, he turns to a medium to summon the spirit of Samuel. This part of the story raises some really hard questions. Did (do?) mediums like this really call up spirits of the dead? Is this a regular occurrence? Are the spirits of our dead available to us? I have two thoughts. My first is an insight I have about miracles in general: the Bible is filled with miracles because they are the exceptions to how the Lord works, not the normal way He works, in the same way a newspaper reports extraordinary events, not mundane ones. (An hours-long traffic jam because of a terrible accident is worthy of the 10 o’clock news; ordinary rush hour is not.) My second is Revelation 14:13, “Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” They rest from their labors… Revelation 6:9-11 suggest that the saints in heaven are aware of the spiritual conditions on the earth, but even there they are given a white robe and told to wait a little longer, as if to say, “Remember you are redeemed by the blood of Jesus; don’t worry about it.” So, I think we need to think of this as a one-time action from the Lord to allow Samuel’s spirit to deliver one final message to Saul. Which also means we should remember the explanation of the 2^nd Commandment in Luther’s Small Catechism and flee anything that smacks of “satanic arts.”

            I think the larger point to see, though, is how desperate Saul is for a word from the Lord. He has had a history of ignoring or outright disobeying God’s words already, but now he is desperate.

            David, on the other hand, has been a model of a believer, trusting the Lord through very difficult circumstances, and somehow the Lord delivers him from his conundrum through the intervention of the other Philistine commanders, who don’t trust him at their backs. There’s no explicit word from the Lord for David, but his habit of trusting Him pays off yet again as the Lord provides a way out from a real dilemma.

            I’m not quite sure how to summarize all of this. It’s not like the simple fact of being in God’s Word, listening to it, applying it will automatically solve all of life’s problems. And I don’t think we should expect that the Lord will deliver us from every challenging thing as smoothly as He delivered David. However, it does seem like the contrast between David and Saul is seen in the ways they trust God’s Word: Saul has had a lot of words from the Lord’s and hasn’t taken them seriously. David has the promise of his anointing and that single promise has seen him through.

David Spares Saul, Again

1 Samuel 26

            Today’s reading seems like an almost exact repeat of Monday’s reading: Saul pursues David; David has a chance to assassinate him; but David spares him instead. I find myself pondering two things. First, this is the second time that the Ziphites have told Saul where to find David. It seems like David is being regularly betrayed by the people who should protect him. Of course, as far as Israel is concerned, Saul is the king, not David. No one even knows that Samuel anointed David. So, no matter what their personal opinions of David, their first loyalty is to the king, who has declared David an outlaw. I see a Jesus connection here. The religious leaders of Israel basically declared Jesus a danger to the true faith. Jesus had done an awful lot of good for the people, especially with His healings, but the people cast their loyalty with their leaders. I think this explains how the crowds could turn on Jesus so quickly between Palm Sunday and Good Friday. It’s so easy to judge those crowds and ask, “Why would they do that?” and imply, “I would never do that!” But the fact is, we very well might have, not realizing that sometimes what seems right is actually wrong. The good news in both cases—David and Jesus—is that the Lord saw things through and worked all things for good: the good of Israel in the first place, the good of all humanity in the second.

            The other thing I notice in this reading, which I didn’t comment on on Monday, is David’s insistence that he would not raise a hand against the Lord’s anointed. There is also a significant Jesus connection here. Jesus bears the title Christ, and Christ literally means “the anointed One.” With that in mind, don’t David’s words, “Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and remain guiltless,” take on a different meaning? No wonder that in his famous Pentecost speech Peter says, “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.” The guilt must be insane! They laid hands on the Lord’s ultimate anointed one and killed Him! Yet, in an act of divine judo, the Lord uses the weight and momentum of human sin to destroy that very sin! The Lord turns humanity’s assassination of their true King into salvation for humanity. “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” The merciful ways of God are astounding!

David and Nabal (and Abigail)

1 Samuel 25

            This story begins with the death of Samuel. Samuel had been the transitional figure between the chaos of the judges and the era of the kings. Although Samuel seems to have entered a semi-retirement (he hasn’t been mentioned since chapter 19), he still seems to have been the power behind the throne, and Israel assembled and mourned for him. For David, the death of Samuel means he is more and more on his own. The focus of the story is now completely on David. (If you’re a fan of King Arthur, it’s a similar transition as when Arthur lost the services and advice of Merlin…)

            In his first post-Samuel David gets mixed reviews. On the one hand, he has been building good will, especially in his native Judah, by protecting flocks and properties. For this service, David asks Nabal, a wealthy landowner, for support, which Nabal refuses, thinking it’s just some sort of shake down scheme and portraying David as some thug. David flies off the handle and threatens to destroy Nabal. That was not his finest moment! His pride certainly got the better of him in that moment!

            Enter Abigail, described as beautiful and intelligent. She sees things clearer than both men. She labels her husband a fool. (The word nabal literally means “foolish” in Hebrew; I hope that wasn’t’ the name his parents gave him!) She doesn’t call David a fool, but she kind of implies it in her speech in verses 28-31, a kind of this-is-beneath-you thing. And disaster is averted.

            David had been acting kingly, protecting his people, and he returns to a kingly demeanor by not using his power to avenge a petty cause. Nabal, on the other hand, has no claim to royalty but according to verse 36, he was partying as if he was a king. Here was a man who did not learn humility. Being a king doesn’t mean self-indulgence; it means protecting one’s people, sometimes even from oneself. That’s a lesson that rings forward to Jesus, when He is described as a king in the Gospels: what kind of king? A king like David, a king who is humble, a king who works for His people.

            One last thing: after Nabal dies, David marries Abigail. This is a smart move politically, because it gives him a connection to one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Judah. But it also gives David a sort of replacement for Samuel, a wise woman who sees things clearly.

David Spares Saul’s Life

1 Samuel 24

            There are a couple of notable things here. First, David’s men see an opportunity. “Let’s end this thing,” is their attitude. David, on the other hand, recognizes Saul as his master and as the Lord’s anointed. Some commentators think that David is thinking about precedent: David himself is also the Lord’s anointed; does David really want to start his reign with the idea that you can just assassinate the Lord’s anointed? Those commentators argue that David is acting out of self-interest. To be sure, because of our sinful natures, humans always have mixed motives. But I do think in this instance we’re supposed to think of David as having an extraordinary respect for Saul because of Saul’s calling, and I do think that we’re supposed to think of David as being extraordinarily patient, trusting that the Lord will do for David what the Lord promised in the Lord’s own time.

            David’s good intentions are shown in his promise to Saul that he would not kill Saul’s family. Purging any threat to one’s reign by killing one’s predecessor’s family has been pretty standard through human history. We saw that in Judges 9, when Abimelek killed all of Gideon’s sons. We’ll see it often in the books of 1 and 2 Kings. We even see it today wherever despots and tyrants rule. Remember David’s oath. He keeps it in 2 Samuel 9.

He'll Be Coming Round the Mountain

1 Samuel 23

            There’s a certain humor in today’s reading—Saul chasing round one side of the mountain; David fleeing round the other.

            Of course, it’s no joke to David, who is fleeing for his life, and who, we’ll find out Monday, still honors Saul as the Lord’s anointed.

            As I was reading this chapter, I was thinking about Jesus. In His earthly ministry, what we call His state of humiliation, Jesus said that foxes had holes and birds had nests but that He had no place to lay His head (Matthew 8:20). He was a king with none of the kingly trappings—no palace, no army (just a misfit bunch of followers), no royal robes. Right to the cross, Jesus’ kingliness is a matter of mockery. Yet, he walks all around the countryside, saving people from their troubles, just like David saved the people of Keilah. Ultimately, on Good Friday, He’s betrayed by the very people he had saved. The whole story just sort of swirls around Jesus, our great and good King.

A Tale of Two Kings

1 Samuel 22

            David’s star is rising; Saul’s is sinking. It doesn’t look like that at the beginning. At the beginning, David is a fugitive, an outlaw, and Saul is king. David has a rogues’ gallery of misfits—distressed, indebted, discontented, desperate men. Saul has an army, to whom he can give fields and vineyards. But there are two clues about David’s ascendancy, one in the beginning and one at the end. And there is a clue about Saul’s decline in the middle.

            The first clue about David is that he has a prophet with him—Gad. Between assembling an army and having a prophet to speak the Word of the Lord to him, David is assembling the trappings of a royal court. Indeed, Gad will stay with David for years, well into his reign (2 Samuel 24). And the men who we will meet in his ragtag army of 400 will form the backbone of his royal army for years to come. Saul, on the other hand, seems to be barely holding his army together, cajoling and threatening. Then, he orders the execution of the priests of God! The rupture between Saul and the Lord could hardly be more obvious! Finally, the lone remaining priest, Abiathar, escapes to David’s protection. In some ways, all the pieces of David’s royal court are not in place: he has military advisers, religious advisers, cultic advisers. It will still be years until David is officially king, but we can see him building the support necessary for when it happens.

More on Jonathan and David

1 Samuel 20-21

            Yesterday, I likened Jonathan to Jesus, and today’s reading just confirms the point for me. Philippians 2:6 says that Jesus “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,” but “that he took the form of a servant and humbled himself.” Isn’t that what Jonathan does? He willingly gives his royal heritage away for David’s sake. Interesting, too, that we can take Jonathan as a type for our lives, giving up everything for our king Jesus.

            A second connection to Jesus is in the story of David and his men eating the sacred bread. In Matthew 12, the Pharisees were angry that Jesus’ disciples were breaking the Sabbath, and Jesus referred to this story from 1 Samuel 21. Jesus’ point was that in an emergency, some of the laws of Moses could be set aside; they weren’t the ultimate thing in one’s relationship with the Lord. Similarly, we want to do good and right by the Lord, and many people make our righteousness the measure of Christianity. Yet, important as obedience is, the heart of the faith is the mercy God has shown in Jesus. We want to keep that straight!

Saul, Jonathan, and David

1 Samuel 18-19

            What an interesting reading! The first thing it’s about is friendship, specifically the friendship between Jonathan and David. I don’t have a study Bible or any commentaries near me, but it sure seems like giving David his royal robe and his kingly weapons is Jonathan’s way of calling David his superior. I don’t know about that. But I do appreciate that Jonathan loved David like himself.

            Jesus named loving one’s neighbor as oneself as the second commandment, second only to the command to love the Lord with one’s whole being. Tellingly, Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13), and then, of course, Jesus goes and lays down His life for His disciples. In the love that Prince Jonathan showed to his servant and friend, David, he was foreshadowing the love of Jesus. And in some ways, all friendships are that way. After all, friendships are relationships independent of family ties and obligations. Friends are friends purely from love.

            A second thing I note is the jealousy of Saul. This was foreshadowed earlier in the reading. We’ve all heard that power corrupts, and we see it at work with Saul. He does not want anyone encroaching on his throne. So, because David receives such praise and threatens to overshadow Saul, Saul decides to kill David. (It’s a theme we’ll see played out through the rest of 1 Samuel.)

            The most interesting thing in the text, at least for me, is tied to Saul’s jealousy, because it says, “The Lord sent an evil spirit to torment Saul.” Interesting, but also very difficult. Some things we can say for certain. 1) The Lord God controls all things, even his enemies. For example, in the Old Testament, He regularly uses pagan kings to punish Israel and call her to repentance. And Jesus commands demons and they obey. It’s not so strange that he would co-opt even the evil spirits for His purposes. 2) The Lord is not vindictive. He is not tormenting Saul for kicks. Saul has been willfully disobedient, making sacrifices he shouldn’t have and sparing lives he should have taken. I think it’s a good conclusion that the Lord is afflicting Saul to call him back to faithfulness. It might be too late for Saul to remain king, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late for Saul to be a faithful Israelite.

            The Bible is clear that the Lord will use life’s afflictions to move us to repentance and faith. Of course, it doesn’t always work out for the good. Sometimes people experience life’s troubles and reject the Lord altogether. If there’s a lesson here, perhaps it's just that the good father disciplines his children for their good. If we don’t always understand the discipline, that just reminds us we children in the presence of God, not adults. It reminds me of something my dad used to say when I was a child. I’d justify my behavior, saying, “But I thought…” at which he would cut me off and tell me, “You’re not paid to think.” Not the nicest thing in the world to say, but it drives the point home: children don’t always know what their parents are up to or why, but we trust our parents to know better than we.

David and Goliath

1 Samuel 17

            David and Goliath. A classic story. To quote the musical Les Miserables, “It only goes to show what little people can do!”

            Except it’s not really about the power of the little guy; it’s not about the arrogance of strength. It’s a story about trusting the Lord. The key line in the story is verse 45-46, “David said to the Philistine, ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.’”

            Saul had lost his faith in God, or, at least, he seems to have been in the process of losing it. The army of Israel thought the situation hopeless. But little David said, “The Lord will give the victory.” And the Lord did.

            Listen, you’re the little guy in the fight against sin, death, and the devil. You can’t beat them. But you don’t have to. Your job is simply to say, “The fight is the Lord’s,” and to trust the God who sent His Son to die for you and who, by raising Him from the dead, knocked over those terrible giants as with a stone. The fight is the Lord’s.

Introducing David

1 Samuel 16

            Enter David. We first heard his name in Ruth, but he’s been nowhere to be seen since. Understandable since he is just a child. He is so young and insignificant that his dad, Jesse, doesn’t even bother to call him in from the field when Samuel shows up. He is the 8^th of 8 sons; seven being the meaningful number, David is one son too many. He’s not even a spare; he’s an afterthought.

            But the Lord doesn’t look at appearances like humans do. He looks at the heart. Way back in 13:14 the Lord had said He would snatch the kingdom from Saul and give it to a man “after His own heart.” David isn’t perfect. We’ll find that out in the next few weeks. But he is pious and faithful to the Lord. (Witness the sheer number of psalms credited to him—73, almost half!)

            Ironically, the Lord places David right under Saul’s nose. The Lord removed His spirit from Saul, and an evil spirit tormented him. Music seemed the right answer to Saul’s advisors. Two things to note: first, yes, even the evil spirits are at the command of God. Notice how often the demons must obey when Jesus commands. That insight probably raises more questions than it answers, and maybe we can address it in Bible class one of these days. Second, whatever David’s role in Saul’s court, Saul does not recognize David in the next chapter, so it must have been rather minor.

The Lord Rejects Saul

1 Samuel 15

            We’ve encountered herem before. That’s when something or someone is supposed to be completely devoted to the Lord, that is, absolutely destroyed. The Amalekites were ancient enemies of Israel, all the way from the days of the Exodus, and the Lord wanted to fulfill his threat that He would destroy them for their cowardly attack on Israel. Problem is: Saul kept their king Agag alive, probably so he could get a ransom for him, and the Israelite army was “unwilling to destroy completely” and kept the best for themselves. Of course, when Samuel confronts Saul about this, Saul pivots and says, “It’s for an offering to the Lord.” That’s so obviously a lie it hardly bears pointing out. They wanted the profit. Samuel doesn’t argue the point but he does declare that obedience is what the Lord wants. Caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, Saul again pivots, “The men made me do it!” And so the Lord rejects Saul as king. His sons will not inherit his throne. (As I said yesterday, Saul doesn’t like to share his glory; now he will be especially paranoid about possible usurpers!)

            I find the last verse touching. No matter how cantankerous their relationship, Samuel still mourns for Saul. Nothing good will come of this for God’s people for a long time. But more than that, one senses that Samuel legitimately feels bad for Saul. Mercy and justice can live in the same heart. I also find it telling that the Lord regretted making Saul king. The Lord, too, doesn’t punish without feeling sorrow over the necessity.

A Tale of Contrasts

1 Samuel 14

            Today’s reading begins with a sharp contrast between Saul and Jonathan, his eldest son. Yesterday, Saul proved himself faithless, but today Jonathan takes on an entire garrison because he believes the Lord can deliver them. And the Lord does just that.

            Again today we see Saul’s foolishness, again from the human level: he forbids his men from ceasing the pursuit to eat. Common sense would say that a well-fed, well-hydrated soldier will fight better, but Saul forbids all food. We can understand that Saul didn’t want the whole army from stopping for a two-hour meal break, but to forbid food altogether just weakened his men. When finally they stopped for the night, the men were so famished they didn’t even wait for the animals to be slaughtered in accordance with the Lord’s command against eating blood.

            Finally, the Israelites lose the chance to really hurt the Philistines. Saul looks to the Lord for permission to continue the pursuit and plunder the Philistines, but the Lord is silent. There is the matter of Saul’s foolish oath, reminiscent of Jephthah’s similar oath. Again it looks like a child will pay the price of a father’s foolishness. But this time the army itself intervenes, recognizing Jonathan as the true hero of the day. (We’ll find out in a few chapters that Saul really hates sharing the glory.) No wonder Jesus tells us not to take oaths, but to let our Yes be Yes and our No be No (Matthew 5:33-37)!

Foolish and Outmanned

1 Samuel 13

            Saul’s behavior in this chapter is foolish on two fronts. First, on a human level, he has no business attacking the Philistines. (Technically, Jonathan attacked them, but Saul was the king after all.) The end of the chapter describes a decided technological disadvantage on Israel’s part: they had no ability to make iron implements. Israel was still in the Bronze Age; they even had to use the Philistine blacksmiths to sharpen their agricultural implements. The fact that only Saul and Jonathan had iron weapons should have been a clue. Rank and file Israelites knew this: the complained that Saul had made them obnoxious to the Philistines and hid from the coming battle.

            Of course, the Lord had proven himself completely capable of delivering a technologically superior power into the hands of His people. Witness what He did to the Egyptians, to Jericho, to the Canaanites during Deborah’s time! But here’s Saul’s second foolish act: he usurps Samuel’s priestly role and makes a sacrifice for himself. To hear Samuel tell it, this is the real problem. We’ll see that Saul often has a justification for his actions, and it usually goes something like this, “I thought I was doing right.” But the Lord favors obedience; He doesn’t want us to do what we think is right; He wants us to do what He says.

            If Saul had trusted the Lord, if he had waited for Samuel and the Lord’s blessing, maybe, probably, the Lord would have delivered the Philistines into his hands, technology be damned.

            We’ve encountered this over and over again. How do you balance using the brain God gave you with trusting Him completely? Jesus tells us to “count the cost” (Luke 14); yet we’re called to trust the Lord. Saul would tell you that he was just using his brain; Samuel says he was being unfaithful. Maybe the clue is to ask, “Does the course of action I’ve decided on run afoul of anything the Lord has said?” It’s a constant challenge.

Samuel’s Speech

1 Samuel 12

            My Bible labels this Samuel’s farewell speech, but that’s not right. Samuel is not going anywhere for a while. Who would keep an eye on Saul if he went away? Frankly, who would keep on an eye on the people. Samuel seems to resent losing the ruling office. Samuel identifies himself with the judges, but it’s his role as prophet where he makes his greatest impact. With Samuel, as with Moses, the ruling office is combined with the preaching office, and even in some ways the priestly office. (Moses didn’t make sacrifices as Samuel does, but he often stood before the Lord on behalf of the people.) I have mentioned this combination of offices before, but it really is remarkable, and it makes Samuel, as Moses, a major type of Jesus, in whom these three offices of prophet, priest, and king fully and perfectly cohere. The separation of the offices here in 1 Samuel is because the holders of these offices are all imperfect humans and the three serve as a check on the others. The prophets often correct the kings; we’ll read of several times when the kings call the priests to reform. Only in Jesus, the perfect Son of God, do all these offices work together.

Saul’s First Kingly Action

1 Samuel 11

            Saul’s first kingly action is forced on him by the Ammonites, who threatens to destroy Jabesh Gilead. It is interesting that Saul’s first battle is to defend that particular city because of its role in Judges 21. The men of Jabesh Gilead had not come out to fight against the Benjamites, so the rest of Israel had put the city to death and given the 400 virgin daughters still found there to the remaining Benjamites as wives. Now, here comes a Benjamite king, rallying all Israel, to defend this previously despised town.

            Saul’s leadership inspires through fear. In anger he butchers a team of oxen and threatens the same to anyone who refuses to help. Specifically, the terror of the Lord fell on Israel. It smacks a little of Samson. Although the text doesn’t explicitly criticize Saul, I do have to wonder if it damns with faint praise. Wouldn’t it be better to inspire action through the righteousness of the cause? However that may be, Saul does have a moment of wisdom after his kingship is confirmed: he refuses to punish those who had resisted his reign.

The Anointing of Saul

1 Samuel 9-10

            What are we to make of Saul? His first introduction tells us that he is searching for his father’s donkeys, animals known to be stubborn. Perhaps something like Isaiah 1:3, “The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand,” is in the background. Saul is responsible for donkeys and he will in some ways be a donkey as king: regularly going his own way. (Contrast David who is introduced as a shepherd, tending the flock, and apt metaphor for his kingship.) Saul does not come across as particularly decisive: his servant suggests consulting the prophet and finds a way to pay him. Twice in our reading, Saul resists Samuel’s offer of the kingship. First, he objects that his tribe Benjamin is the smallest of the tribes. (Remember the events of Judges 20-21.) Then he hides among the baggage carts when all Israel is assembled to choose the king. Finally, he seems a bit irreligious. As noted, he doesn’t think of going to the prophet, nor does he seem to know who Samuel is. And the surprise of the people when he joins the company of the prophets, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” may suggest that this religiosity is a new feature of Saul’s life.

            Oh, dear, I just noticed one more thing: 1 Samuel 10:26 says that Saul’s home was Gibeah, the scene of that horrible incident in Judges 19-20. That can’t be good!

            Some of this is supposition; some of it is reading between the lines. Still, I think it paints a picture: rebellious Israel is getting the king they asked for, but he is himself not everything a king needs to be. He physically looks the part, but as we will read next week, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Samuel and the Desire for a King

1 Samuel 7-8

            After the sad incident with ark, we read a summary of Samuel’s work. As a prophet, he calls the people to repentance and they put away (for a time, at least) their idols. Now, don’t quote me on this, but watch for it as you read: it seems to me like during the reigns of Saul and David, idolatry does not trouble Israel. Samuel’s leadership keeps them on the straight and narrow for about 100 years. We notice, too, that Samuel is said to judge Israel for many years. He is almost as effective as a judge as he is as a prophet and the Philistines were subdued for a long time. (They became a bigger problem again at the end of Samuel’s life, and Saul and David fights against them regularly.)

            Things go well under Samuel, but Samuel’s sons don’t follow his ways, and the people see the writing on the wall. They ask for a king. Now, I don’t understand them. They’re worried that Samuel’s sons aren’t going to provide good leadership, but they think that magically even if their king is good his sons will be good leaders too? It’s like they’re saying, “We can’t trust your sons, Samuel, but a king’s sons—we know we’ll be able to trust them.”

            Samuel gets the dig, and he takes offense. But the Lord reminds Samuel: “It’s me they’re rejecting.” That’s the real problem, and it’s wrapped up in Israel’s statement that they want to be like the other nations. That’s a rejection of the special status they have had since Sinai, when the Lord named them His treasured possession out of all the nations (Ex. 19). They don’t want to be uniquely the Lord’s anymore. Samuel warns them: a king will conscript their children into his army; he will conscript them into forced labor; he will tax them. But, no, Israel wants a king.

            Two things: first, I get it; it is hard to be unique. Peer pressure is a real thing among adults as much as among youth. I remember after my dad died, my mom tried to date again, and she regularly found herself out of step with culture she was in. To her credit, she didn’t compromise her beliefs and start sleeping around. But the pressure was real. Another example: we live in a highly politicized age; the sheer amount of time we spend thinking about the government is astonishing. Even small-government Republicans seem to think that the government is key to solving the nation’s problems—in their case it’s getting rid of an overreaching government. I just cannot see how the government is the Church’s concern, but here we are… I understand Israel’s weariness with trying to be the Lord’s unique people against the pressure of a world whose ways have always made the world seem stronger.

            Second, the idea that they want a king who can lead them into battle is just reflective of Israel’s constant desire for a god they can see. All the way back to the golden calf, the idea of an invisible god has bothered them. It’s less of a problem for us in our day, because the world around us has become accustomed to the idea of an invisible god. But for Israel, as for the earliest Christians, it was a very counter-cultural way of thinking. For us, we may be accustomed to an invisible god, but we often would like visible results from that god. It’s kind of the same thing. So, for us, as for Israel,  2 Corinthians 5:7 bears reflection, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”

A Plague on the Philistines

1 Samuel 5-6

            The Philistines captured the ark and set it in front of their chief god, Dagon. In ancient paganism, gods were tied to a locality, and, if one group defeated another, they believed that their god had defeated their opponents’ god. So, just like the defeated Samson was hauled into the Philistine temple to be mocked, so the ark was put in Dagon’s temple as a sign of Dagon’s victory over Yahweh.

            The problem, of course, is that Dagon had no such victory. Yahweh was and remains the only God. And the statue of Dagon fell prostrate before the ark. Just who has to pay homage to whom? Just who is victor here?

            Further, the Lord sends a plague on each of the Philistine cities that in which they try to keep the ark. Most modern translations simply say the Lord afflicted the Philistines with tumors. I remember reading an older translation in my youth and noting, to my horror and delight, it translated the as hemorrhoids. Most scholars think that the plague was bubonic plague, although in a 2007 paper the National Institute of Health identified it as tularemia, a deadly disease carried by rodents (treatable now by anitbiotics).

            So, the Philistines send the ark back, having been warned not to harden their hearts as the Egyptians did. No historical record outside of the Bible records the devastation of Egypt, but apparently the neighboring nations remembered it for a long time! Israel may have lost a battle, but Yahweh is not defeated, and His plans and purposes for Israel and for the world’s salvation will carry on.

A Talisman?

1 Samuel 4

            Before I get underway, I just want to rave about the study Bible I use, The NIV Study Bible (New International Version), Fully Revised, 2020. (Here’s an Amazon link.) It is simply a wealth of information and connections. So, credit where credit is due, sometimes my insights in this blog come right out of things that study Bible says—not always, but sometimes. If you’re in the market for a new Bible, I highly recommend it.

            Anyway, 1 Samuel 4: Israel and the Philistines are at war—again. Israel often found herself at a technological disadvantage. With the Canaanites it had been iron-fitted chariots; with the Philistines it was all sorts of other iron weapons. The Israelites seem to have come late into the iron age. (See 1 Samuel 13:16-22.)

            After yet another defeat at the hands of their chronic enemy, the Israelites decide they need the Lord on the battlefield with them, so they haul the ark of the covenant from the tabernacle at Shiloh to Ebenezer where the army is gathered. Unfortunately, their action has no effect: the army suffers a worse defeat and the ark is captured. Now the story goes on and narrates the death of Eli, who seems much more concerned for the ark than for his sons. He seems to have know that hauling the ark to the battle was a bad idea, but, as he has consistently shown, he is too weak-willed to say, “No,” event though he is the priest.

            Why was it a bad idea? The story says that the Lord is enthroned between the cherubim (v. 4). Wouldn’t it be good, even an act of faith, to have the Lord present with them?

            Like many well-meaning actions, the Israelites turned the gracious gift of God into a talisman, a good luck charm, a superstition. So, first, they misunderstood the presence of the Lord, who had been with them in countless battles, without having his throne unceremoniously hiked around. (The only time I can think of that the ark was ever used in a battle was at Jericho, where it led the procession around the city before the Lord knocked the walls down. And that seems like an exception. At Jericho the Lord established a beachhead, a foothold, so that Israel could set up His tabernacle in their land.) So, there was a lack of faith in the Lord. Second, they treated the Lord like the could move Him at their own desire; they forgot who was God and who wasn’t! The Lord is enthroned in the heavens (for example, Psalm 103:19). He graciously condescends to dwell on earth. (Check out Solomon’s prayer of dedication in 1 Kings 8.)

            Turning the gifts of God into a superstition… What does that look like among Christians? We often treat Baptism that way. Many years ago, a grandmother told me that she had baptized her grandbaby in the sink, even though the Baptism was already scheduled at church. While well-intentioned, that smells of a weak faith that doesn’t believe the Lord will preserve the baby’s life until the official day. I’ve dealt with people who don’t understand Baptism as a gift of new life and adoption into the family of God, but saw it simply as some kind of divine life insurance policy. I’ve seen similar abuses of the Lord’s Supper. Then, there are the more run-of-the-mill occasions. I’m often bothered to see athletes cross themselves before an at-bat or some other kind of attempt, and I’m bothered when they point to heaven when they score. Where’s that piety when they lose? If the Lord grants victory, surely he also causes defeat? Few praise God in the loss.

            Let Israel’s loss of the ark, then, be a cautionary tale, and let it spur us to consider, “Am I acting in faith, or am I turning the gifts of God into so much superstition.”

Evening and Morning

1 Samuel 3

            The falling darkness is an underlying theme of 1 Samuel 3. We are told, “The word of the Lord was rare.” Prophecy was failing; God’s people increasingly lived with God’s silence—quite a shock after the Lord had spoken so much in the first several books of the Bible. Second, we are told that Eli’s eyes were “so weak he could barely see.” The priest himself was both literally and spiritually losing his sight, the latter reflected in his unwillingness or inability to do anything about the corruption of his sons. Finally, we are told, “The lamp of the Lord had not yet gone out.” It would, of course, be a violation of the Levitical law to let the lamps go out in the tabernacle. Rare, dim, and flickering: things looked grim for Israel. Darkness was threatening to engulf them.

            But there are indications that the dawn is coming, too. The Lord calls to Samuel. Samuel misunderstands, but blind old Eli gets it: “It’s not me. It’s the Lord.” The word of the Lord might be rare, but He still speaks and even Eli understands. And even if no one else in Israel is listening, Samuel is. Eli plays on the dark/light theme when he says that t the Lord will do what is right in His own eyes: the Lord always sees. Finally, we are told that Samuel is attested as a prophet: the word of the Lord is back in Israel. Samuel’s prophetic status is confirmed by the Lord who will not let Samuel’s words fail.

            Samuel tells us that it is a new day in Israel. After hundreds of years of falling apart, things are going to start changing for the good.

            You know, we might be tempted to think that we are in an evening time in our day and age. It certainly seems that the word of the Lord is rare. But that’s simply not the case. In hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands, of churches, the word of the Lord is preached every week. (We might wish they preached it a little more clearly, but it is preached.) The difference, I suppose, is not that the word of the Lord is rare; it’s that no one wants to hear it. A different problem. But our comfort is that the word of the Lord is still unbound and that the comfort of the Lord’s good intentions towards us are still given each and every week. 

Hannah’s Song

1 Samuel 2

            The first half of 1 Samuel 2 records the song Hannah sang when she brought little Samuel back to the tabernacle to serve the Lord. In itself, we might gloss over it as just one more song/psalm in the Bible (and there are a lot of them). This one is important, though, because it is so clearly the model for Mary’s song after she finds out she is pregnant with Jesus. The themes are very similar: that the Lord is worthy of praise because he brings down the proud and arrogant and raises up the lowly. Hannah, because of her inability to have children, would have been scorned; people would have wondered what she had done wrong to deserve such a fate; she would have borne a shame that we cannot quite understand in our day and age. Similarly, Mary, a young, unmarried girl, would have had no standing of her own; her whole identity would have been wrapped up in being someone’s daughter. Their songs reflect the dignity and honor that the Lord gives the individual, even the individual that the world counts as nothing. There’s a beautiful message about the Gospel there. “The Lord raises the poor from the dust.”

            In contrast to the gratitude and faith of Hannah, chapter 2 continues with the misdeeds of Eli’s sons, who were priests and yet are described as scoundrels. (It’s different Hebrew word than in Judges 11:3.) They are said, literally, not to know the Lord, which doesn’t mean ignorance but a willful refusal to submit to him. They are not content with the priest’s assigned portion of the offering, but they extort a better portion before the sacrifice is even completed.  We find out toward the end of the chapter that they have sex with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting, making the tabernacle little better than a shrine of Baal.

            But even here the echoes with the story of Jesus are replete. Contrasting Samuel, the Ephraimite, with the sons of Eli, the Aaronic priests, the author notes that little Samuel “grew in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people,” a phrase used almost identically of John the Baptizer (Luke 1:80) and especially Jesus (Luke 2:40, 52). And there is the promise that the Lord will raise up a faithful priest. In the nearer context, that will be Zadok, who served as priest for David, but ultimately it will be Jesus, who will offer the final sacrifice, his own body, for the salvation of all humans.

Introducing Samuel

1 Samuel 1

            The books of 1 and 2 Samuel carry us through the establishment of Israel’s monarchy. Yet the books are named after Samuel, who is not even named in 2 Samuel, having died in 1 Samuel 25. This seems to point to the ambiguous place that monarchy has in Israel. On the one hand, the Lord is supposed to be their king, but we saw all through Judges how often they rejected that kingship and chased after other gods. We saw, too, especially in Gideon’s story, that they wanted a king they could see. (It’s similar to the golden calf incident: they wanted a representation of their god, trying to have it both ways.) The Lord had seen this coming and in Deuteronomy 17 and he had given regulations about what kind of king they were supposed to choose. But a king was always going to be only an accommodation to their sinful desires. This will come to a head in 1 Samuel 8.

            Today, the story begins with a miraculous birth, but not of Saul, who will be the first king, nor of David, who will be the best king. No, the story begins with Samuel—a priest (though not a descendant of Aaron; 1:1, 2:11), a judge, and a prophet (3:20). In this, as in other ways, Samuel is clearly prefiguring Jesus, the great prophet, priest , and king. Samuel is born to a barren mother, like Isaac was born to Sarah and Samson was born to Manoah’s wife. This, too, prefigures Jesus, who is born unexpectedly and even more dramatically to the virgin, Mary. (Mary’s song in Luke 1 is likewise very similar to Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2.)

            The message seems clear: these are books that will introduce kingship to Israel, but the one that really matters, the one that sets the stage, the one that keeps priorities clear is the man of God. Israel would get their king, but their king was always supposed to be subject to the Lord.

Promises Fulfilled

Ruth 3-4

            Naomi knows a good thing when she sees it and she sends Ruth to Boaz in order to appeal to his obligations as her kinsman-redeemer, a phrase which occurs 9 times in this short book. A kinsman-redeemer (guardian-redeemer in the NIV) was a close relative who would assume something approaching levirate responsibilities. We bumped into levirate customs earlier in the Bible (see Deuteronomy 25:5-10; also Leviticus 25:47-49, where land is concerned, and Numbers 35:19-21, where the word is translated ‘avenger.’) Levirate obligations were a custom whereby a living brother marries his deceased brother’s widow in order to provide children for his deceased brother and to keep his line alive.

            Ruth’s actions of finding Boaz at the threshing floor, uncovering his feet, and asking to be covered with the corner of his garment are all ways to suggest marriage, a request for Boaz to act as redeemer and provide for her. A couple of language notes add depth to the account. In Hebrew, ‘feet’ can be a euphemism for ‘genitals.’ Her uncovering his feet may be more explicitly a reminder of his levirate responsibilities than we first think. Second, the Hebrew phrase is very similar to Ruth 2:12, where Boaz had blessed Ruth with the words, “May you be rewarded by the Lord, under whose wings you take refuge.” In chapter 3, Ruth literally asks Boaz to spread the wings of his garment over her. She is asking him to provide the protection the Lord has assigned.

            Chapter 4 tells about a hiccup in the plan: there’s a more closely related kinsman, and he is interested in getting Elimelek’s land. (Elimelek was Naomi’s deceased husband and Ruth’s father-in-law.) This unnamed man has no interest, though, in the widow, Ruth; he doesn’t want to put his own estate at risk. So, Boaz becomes Ruth’s redeemer and later her husband.

            It’s a beautiful story. Here is faithful Ruth, who will reject everything about her former life in order to take care of her mother-in-law. Here is faithful Boaz, who will risk his own good fortune in order to take care of Ruth and Naomi. In chapter 1, Naomi tells Ruth to go home because she will not have any more sons that Ruth could marry and she introduces herself as Mara, because she is bitter. In chapter 4, she has the descendant she never expected and her joy is complete. (Interestingly, no one ever calls Naomi Mara in this book. Her bitterness will not endure!)

            Finally, significantly, the son of Boaz and Ruth is listed as the director ancestors of King David. After all the nonsense in Judges, we have a family who is faithful to the Lord, and we see that the story of redemption has not been abandoned. The Savior is still on his way!

Heroes, At Last!

Ruth 1-2

            When I was in middle school, I remember an assignment to illustrate a story, and I chose Ruth. It’s a beautiful little story of people doing the right thing by each other and by the Lord. And in contrast to Judges, well, it’s just delightful.

            The two main characters in Ruth are everything we would hope to see in Israelites: kind, generous, faithful. We first meet Ruth when she is young, first married; then she becomes a widow, probably still in her twenties. Her faithfulness to her mother-in-law, Naomi, is remarkable. Even when Naomi is filled with bitterness and casts aspersions on Ruth’s motivation (did she really think that Ruth only stayed around to score another husband from her?), Ruth sticks with her. Ruth’s little speech is an absolute gem: “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth—who isn’t even an Israelite; she’s from Moab—surrenders her home, her people, and her religion in order to take care of Naomi.

            Over the years, I’ve used Ruth 1:16 as a wedding text a number of times. It captures so beautifully the full commitment that husband and wife make to each other. Many years ago I was considering a divine Call to a place far, far away. I was really struggling and I wasn’t sure my wife wanted to go, but all she said was, “Where you go, I’ll go,” and I knew whatever I decided would be ok because my Ruth would come with me. (I didn’t take the Call.)

            In chapter 2, we meet Boaz, a genuinely nice guy. He helps Ruth out of the goodness of his heart and because he sees in her someone who is worthy of help. He’s impressed with the way that she has stayed with Naomi in Naomi’s old age (old age, for those days…), and he goes out of his way to make sure that they are both taken care of.

            We’ve spent a lot of time talking about Israel’s failures. We’ve seen a lot of faithlessness. We’ve seen a lot of horrifying behavior all the way back to Genesis. Enjoy this moment when two of God’s people act like God’s people!