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Chapter 25: Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah.

The prophet Samuel dies.  He is the one that anointed David as King so now it will be David’s word against Saul’s word.  This will deepen his fears when being pursued so it will intensify the Psalms.  In the meantime, David is protecting a huge piece of property for a rich man named Nabal.  It was customary that during the shearing season, the servants would feast in exchange for their labor.  Nabal’s wife Abigail, may not like her scoundrel of a husband that she calls “fool”, but she does save his life (long enough for God to get justice, not David).

This was important because it states in verse 3 that Nabal was a “Calebite” (remember Joshua and Caleb),  so he is from the tribe of Judah and she points out taking revenge on a man from Judah will only tarnish his reputation when he is king.  She’s a smart woman!

Chapter 26: David took a wife….wait! Didn’t he have a wife (Saul’s daughter)?  Oh, wait he took another wife….will 3 be his lucky number? Nope.8 Wives and 10 concubines will be his lucky number.

Does David NEED to kill Saul?  No.  What we learned from the Nabal story is that if God wants Saul dead, he can handle it Himself.  So David continues to trust that he is not the hand that would kill one of God’s anointed kings.  He trusts!

Chapter 27:

Now that we are reading the Psalms, take in the whole picture.  He is being pursued by his OWN people, and fleeing and taking refuge in ENEMY territory.  Scary!

So David flees to the land of the Philistines, knowing this is such a risk that Saul would not follow him and give up. He is given a piece of land called Ziklag (technically a town listed in Judah but was never conquered, so the Philistines control it.  He lives there a year and 4 months.  While living there he continues God’s plan of conquering the land.  When Achish asked who he raided that day he answered with “white lies” when really he was attacking the Geshurites, the Girzites,  and the Amalekites.

Have a great great day!  Back into Psalms tomorrow.  Feel free to read ahead.

Click here.

• Lots of visuals today
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• The post is really just a “recap” of the reading today.

The next several years David is a fugitive.  He heads to Nob, where the Tabernacle is located.  David deceitfully lies to the priest telling him he is on a secret mission. David asks for food, and the priest feeds him from the sacred Bread of Presence (which is normally set apart for the Priests)

This is the story Jesus speaks of in Mark 2:25-

²⁵ He answered, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”

BUT one of Saul’s men is there, Doeg the Edomite, and overhears the lie as he takes the sword that has been set aside from killing Goliath.

Saul then travels about 12 miles to the Valley of Elah (very close to where he killed Goliath).  David knows that Saul is crazy and will eventually attack his family, so he asks the king of Moab to summon his family for safety.  In the meantime, David’s lie causes Saul to order the death of the priests since he assumed there was a conspiracy. The Benjaminites were smart enough to say “I’m not doing it…you do it”, BUT…. Doeg, the Edomite is willing to execute the priests.  His actions do not help relations between Edom and Israel and David will later remember this in 2 Samuel 8.  Not only does Saul order the death of 85 priests BUT the whole town of Nob is put to death, including women, children, and animals.  A “total destruction” usually reserved for Israel’s worst enemies.  BUT, ONE escapes, Abiathar.

Meanwhile,  even as a fugitive trying to save his own life, David still protects Keilah (in Judah)from the Philistines.

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Jonathon visits Saul and encourages him

Saul pursues David and they land in the same cave!  David cuts a piece of his cloak while he was “sitting on the throne”. 😷🚽🤮

 

David had the opportunity and received encouragement to cut off Saul’s life but chose to cut off only his robe hem. He ended up promising
not to spare Saul’s descendants and name.  The hem or edge of a person’s garment in the ancient Near East made a statement about his social standing. A king’s hem was especially ornate and identified him as the king. Almost immediately David realized that his clever trick was inappropriate. Since Saul was the king, David had no right to cut with his clothing. Furthermore, David realized that any attempt to take the kingdom from Saul, as he had taken the symbol of that kingdom, was contrary to God’s will.   (I have been there!  Well, not in the bathroom with someone, but taking action against God’s will). Since Saul was God’s anointed it was God’s place to remove him, not David’s.  David’s words and actions convicted Saul of his actions too, and the king wept tears of remorse.  Saul even called on the Lord to reward David with a blessing for his treatment of the king. ❤️

Finally,  Saul asked David not to cut off his descendants when he came to power. It was customary in the ancient Near East for a new king to kill all the descendants of the ruler whom he replaced. This prevented them from rising up and reestablishing the dead king’s dynasty. David had already promised Jonathan that he would not kill his descendants (20:14-17), and he now made the same promise to Saul. 

So is David in the clear?

I know I am weird, but I can’t help but think that Doeg looks like “The Hound” on G.O.T.

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Chapter 15: I think this chapter is an easy read but I get a lot of texts about a “How can a Loving God, wipe out (completely destroy) women, children, and animals”.  Chapter 15 is a perfect opportunity to break that down.   In verse 3 the Lord gives the command:

‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Think of the Amalekites as cancer and Israel is the body.  Would a good Dr. say “take out most of the cancer, but leave a little in there”?  The Amalekites have been a cancer to the Israelites since day one.  They are brutal attackers that have a history of guerilla warfare.   They attack tribes, stealing their women and children (raping them), and their idolatrous religious practices will always be enticing to the Israelites.  I know if Merideth Grey was the Dr., she would get all the cancer from the body.

Saul disobeys God’s commandment (again).  Agag the king is captured and as Samuel points out “What is that bleating of sheep in my ears?” Saul did not come close to following God’s orders in this surgery!!

However, with love, I say:

Don’t throw a stone at Saul until you can read the Sermon on the Mount and see if you are Saul (do you pick and choose what to obey?  I am not talking about the subtitles: I am talking about the fine print) Click here.

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Saul: He is impatient, disobedient, dishonest, and arrogant. But here is the deal, God is never without a plan.  We knew from the beginning Saul was not going to work out because we KNOW that the kingship must go through the line of Judah, not Benjamin!  So if you are not happy when politicians get elected into offices, have heart, maybe God is giving us what we ask for to show us what we really need: The Lord.

Samuel’s response is very important for us to understand because it is said in Psalms 40, Psalms 51, Proverbs 21, Isaiah 1, Jeremiah 7, Hosea 6, Micha 6, Mathew 12, Mark 12, and Hebrews 10!

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”

Without question, the offering of sacrifices was an important part of worship in ancient Israel BUT it was an empty ritual without proper motivation and obedience.  Genuine repentance and obedience are necessary accomplishments to the presentation of the sacrifice.   When we deliberately disobey the Lord’s commands, he rejects the sacrifice, in Saul’s case: He rejected him as king.

Samuel ends the chapter as a Judge when he killed Agag.

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Chapter 16

At the anointing of David in front of his 7 older brothers, he is empowered with the Holy Spirit and it will remain with him forever.  Simultaneously, God chose to withdraw the Spirit from Saul. (Remember it isn’t until Pentecost in Acts that the Holy Spirit is promised to all believers, so don’t panic that the Lord will do this to you).  An evil spirit (lower case ‘s’) will torment Saul as a means to get David into the palace, sort of like an apprentice.  He is very young and has a lot to learn.

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

❤️

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Chapter 17- You can call it David and Goliath (I will call it God and Goliath).  I am going to say something true, ready?  Some of you have grown up in church or have attended church for a long time and you can “tell” this story.  Big guy..little guy…sling-shot… BUT I am betting that there are many of you that have NEVER actually read the whole chapter.  How do I know?  Because until recently I had never read it either (but I had seen veggie tales!)

(By the way, totally irrelevant but if you have HBO, watch the WWF Andre the Giant documentary, it’s fascinating) 😁.

Focus Szymanski!!

Let’s get our geography:

(I bet you were expecting the slingshot picture 😋). You know I stay away from making an application or message from the Lord, but I would love t hear what your ‘theme was.

Here is a Schedule to print: Click here.  We are going to start bouncing around quite a bit soon.  You may want to hang this on your refrigerator.

By the way, if you are keeping up with the reading I want to put in perspective what an amazing accomplishment so far.  It has been 100 days of reading.  14 consecutive weeks.  I hope that your view and relationship with the Lord have changed.  I hope that your view of the Old Testament has changed too. ❤️

I would love to hear what your view of the OT was before a chronological read, and your view now.  99% of you might be reading it for the first time word for word. (with some possible skimming 😂  at times like me 😂)

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• Sorry I am late this morning.

This section documents Saul’s disobedience that resulted in his disqualification as Israel’s king (well, he’s a Benjaminite and we know that is not the Covenant lines anyway).

This map shows that Saul’s KIngdom is quite large and maintains the inland portion of the Promised land.  What we find out in Chapter 14 verse 24 is Saul is a bigger idiot than we thought.  (I am not skipping ahead, just putting it in context).  So evidently, Saul made an oath that no one should eat until they win the battle.  Well, anyone that has played sports or kiddos that play sports KNOWS this is bad idea!  It all comes down to “Is that something the Lord commanded?”

So back to 13, this might explain why he started with 3,000 men and they scattered off and only 600 remained (probably the ones that had an energy bar for breakfast)

 

When Samuel anointed Saul, he said in 1 Sam 10:8

“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will surely come down to you to sacrifice burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, but you must wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”

Saul violates this command by “acting” like a priest and making his own burnt offering.

Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, ¹² I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³ “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. ¹⁴ But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”

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The Israelites continue to struggle between their empty stomachs, their lack of a good leader, and now we see they also don’t have weapons. BUT faithful Jonathon knew the Lord would win this battle for them and He did.  He used an earthquake to confuse them and they fight against themselves.

After the men eat and regain their strength, Saul is ready for his men to fight, but when Abijah the priest,  consults God through the Urim and Thummim, there is no answer.  Saul reasons with “someone has eaten!!”  Using the Urim and Thummim again he finds out it is his son.  But the army steps up and protests Saul’s decision to have Jonathan killed since they recognize it was Jonathon’s leadership and faith  (Not King Saul’s) that led the victory under God.

Because of Saul’s consistent lack of obedience to the commands, we will start our transition tomorrow to a new king from a new tribe.

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• I am sure if I have time to make another Trivia I will ask “who was the 1st king 😁

The Lord chose a tall handsome man from the tribe of Benjamin to be the first king. In Exodus,  it was the priests who were anointed with oil, now it will be the king.  A king would be crowned and anointed:

• crowning was a political act establishing king as ruler
• anointing was a religious act showing the representation of God (set apart)

Samuel has reserved him the “choice part”- the thigh.  (normally the thigh was reserved for a fellowship offering for the priest).

When Saul leaves,  Samuel gives him some signs that it was God who chose him to be king.  The events predicted when he left all occurred exactly as stated.  This also demonstrated that Samuel truly was a legitimate Prophet (one that speaks for the Lord).

Soon after becoming king, Saul had a chance to prove himself.

For Saul: The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person” 

For you: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! Cor: 5:17

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Ch 11-  Suddenly,  there is an attack that appears to pop out of nowhere.  The Ammonites were Israel’s enemies to the east. They were descendants of Lot whom Jephthah had defeated earlier (Judg. 11:12-33).  Nahash evidently sought revenge for Jephthah’s victory (Judge) over his nation.  The men of Jabesh-Gilead offered to surrender and serve the Ammonites provided Nahash would make a covenant with them rather than slaughtering them.

Nahash’s purpose to put out the right eye of his enemies was not uncommon in those days. This makes a conquered nation easier to control, and it testified to the conqueror’s superior power. Specifically,  it made aiming arrows with the right eye impossible—and it made looking from behind one’s shield, which covered the left eye, impossible.  Perhaps Nahash’s decision to attack them was because he assumed no one would come to their rescue.

Memory recall: the other day we read about a concubine being cut into 12 pieces, go back in your Bible and look at Judges 21:8

⁸ Then they asked, “Which one of the tribes of Israel failed to assemble before the Lord at Mizpah?” They discovered that no one from Jabesh Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly. ⁹ For when they counted the people, they found that none of the people of Jabesh Gilead were there.

The people from this town did not come to fight against the Benjaminites.  What tribe is Saul from?? 😜

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Samuels’s Farewell speech

Just like Moses and Joshua, Samuel did not relinquish his leadership without challenging the nation to be faithful to the Lord.  He challenged them to point out his wrongs to provide an example of future kings.  He reminds them of the past: Egypt, Moses, Aaron, and the Judges.  God would have saved them from the Ammonites even if no king had been appointed.

Will the people put their trust in a human leader at their expense of their faith in the Lord?

“If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against his commands, his hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.”

“Serve the Lord with all your heart.”

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Most people think David was the 1st king.  Now you know…it was a Benjaminite.

Trivia:  If the Lord is going to continue the scarlet thread to the Messiah, will the kingly (is that a word) line stay Benjaminite, or will a different tribe take over the reign?  Let’s do an analogy:

Priests : Levites : KIngs: __________

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This map might help you follow the reading.  We know the Philistines control the south region, mainly Judah,  but now they are extending north.  The Tabernacle is in Shiloh.  The Phiipstines control 5 major cities-

• Ashdod,
• Gaza,
• Ashkelon,
• Gath,
• Ekron.

As the Israelites get defeated they decide to bring the Ark of the Covenant like a “good luck charm”.  We really need you to stop and think about the scene on a personal level.

ONLY 1 day of the whole year (the Day of Atonement) the Hight Priest would go behind the curtain in the tabernacle to make an atonement for all the people. God is HOLY!  HERE we have “scoundrels” Hophni and Phineas with the ark bringing it into the battle scene.  As if God is a genie in a bottle…”ok come out and fight now”.  Good grief!

The ark is captured, the prophecy of Hophni, Phineas and Eli are fulfilled from yesterday’s reading.

(it wasn’t the death of his sons that made him fall back in despair, it was the capturing of the ark ❤️)

If you have any interest in following the Priestly line, feel free to print this.  Remember High Priests only come from Aaron’s line. (It reads from the bottom up).  Click here.

Chapter 5: Use the map above to follow the Ark. It is then placed in the pagan temple next to their head god (no pun intended), Dagon.😂. I am a little unglued about this scene.  Our Holy God is set in a pagan temple. 😢😢😢.  How far have they fallen! Dagon was the chief deity of the Philistines.   According to ancient mythology, Dagon was the father of Baal. He was the fish god (dag in Hebrew means “fish”), and he was represented as a half-man, half-fish creature.  Dagon may also have been the provider of grain. So Dagon was similar to many other idols in that he personified natural forces that had supposedly produced all things. Dagon is brought to humiliation by the True God of the Israelites.

Chapter 6: Meanwhile, the Lord is afflicting the people in the cities with tumors, diseases carried by rats, and death through Ashdod, Gath,  and Ekron.  So let me ask you: if any of their gods are so great…why don’t they help!  They KNOW that LORD is stronger and they want to return their stolen property. To ensure that it is received they send it with gold gifts.  The implications of the cows’  actions would have been obvious to the Philistines that the Israelite God had indeed been inflicting them.  They travel to Beth Shemesh,  a town of Priests (Josh 21:16) who can take the Ark off their hands.

BUT the people in Beth Shemesh (so fun to say) “peek” inside the Tabernacle and 70 people drop dead (as warned in Numbers 4:5).  Distraught at the death of these men they follow the example of the Philistines and send it to Kiriath Jearim to stay in Abinadab’s house. Imagine if someone knocked on your door and said can you watch this for me!  NOW put in your head Kiriath Jearim.  The ark will stay here UNTIL the Lord chooses the place for it’s final rest.

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Chapter 7.  Finally, a Judge calls them to repentance and the Israelites rid themselves of the chief pagan gods:  Baals and Ashtoreths.  NOW the Philistines were subdued (not permanently).

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Chapter 8-  HUGE MOMENT.

• God as KIng (the 1st five books of the Bible taught this was God’s plan)- Theocracy
• Foreign gods were worshipped- Anarchy
• The Israelites want a human king- Monarchy

⁴ So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”

Wait?  What??   Isn’t the Lord enough??

⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.

Verse 9 God says “warn them before we go forward with their plan”.  So Samuel warns them!

• a king will draft people into an army (this will happen in ch. 14 with Saul)
• a king will have young men run in front of the chariots (Abselon will do this in 1 Sam 15)
• a king will make you slaves (Solomon does this to build the temple and his house_
• a king will steal your fields (Jezebel will steal Nacoth’s Vineyard in 1 Kings 21)
• a king will use your property for his own personal gain (Solomon will give land away in Tyre)
• a king will demand a tenth of your harvest/flocks (Rehoboam wants to tax the people MORE than Solomon)

So after that speech…the people say “We want to be like everyone else…we will take it!!”

Finally,  in verse 21 the Lord says to Samuel “Listen to them and give them a king”.

Buckle up kids!! We are about to be a Monarchy with the 1st king.

I posted an overview last night.  Scroll down below this one to see it.

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The story of Samuel’s birth is a testimony to his Mother’s faith.  Elkanah had two wives:.  Hannah and Peninnah (Peninnah not nice!).  Hannah is a better person than me and takes her problem to the Lord (I probably would have punched her in the face).

Where is the Tabernacle right now? (Jerusalem has not been chosen yet)  It is sitting in Shiloh.

Eli is now the High Priest at the Tabernacle in Shiloh.  Praying so hard that Eli assumed she was drunk she says:

 “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”

Trivia:  What’s that vow called?  Extra credit: without looking can you name the book/chapter it is from? 🤪

When God gave a barren woman a child it was with a huge purpose.  Well, Samuel is the last Judge to be raised. True to her promise, she gives him to the Lord

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Hannah’s Praise in Chapter 2 has the same Praises that Mary verbalizes in Luke 1 when she conceives.

• God is solid as a Rock
• He knows what we do
• Sovereign over all
• Supreme Judge with perfect justice

Eli’s house is a hot mess! The priests at the tabernacle were provided for but under strict restrictions.  The Lord gets the best part of the offering Leviticus 7:28.  Yet Hophni and Phineas ignored all the restrictions and acted like they were at a buffet.

Faced with mounting reports about the wicked deeds Eli’s sons were committing, he confronts them.  Among other things, they were even having sex at the entrance of the tabernacle.  (The women may have been practicing pagan rituals as temple prostitutes like the Canaanites would do at their shrines). As we learned earlier, ignoring the sins of a few affects the whole community.  Eli should have handled it, but chose to ignore it.

God does not let Eli nor his sons go unpunished.   A prophet comes and reminds Eli of his heritage:

Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh?  I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites.  Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’

As High Priest, Eii was just as responsible for ignoring the Law as his sons.

 “‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day.  I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always.

This Prophecy will be fulfilled (obviously) in 1 Kings 2 when Solomon removes Eli’s line from the priesthood and raises up a new priest Zadok. (I am sure there is Messianic prophecy here too)

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Chapter 3

Samuel begins his relationship with the Lord.  (I cannot even begin to tell you how similar the “calling” is to my own life.  At 33 years old I heard the Lord for the first time, thinking it was people around me too.  Samual affirms the prophecy for Eli.  The Lord was with Samuel and all the people attested Samuel as a prophet to the Lord.

What is the one part of this reading that you underlined (with a pen or with your brain)?  Please share.