1 Samuel 4-26 with Gary Torian

1 Samuel 4-26 with Gary Torian

Prior to this week’s scripture readings in our Walk Thru the Bible, we have heard that Samuel was dedicated to the Lord by his mother and given to Eli the priest to serve in the house of the Lord in Shiloh. There Samuel received his calling from God. Soon, we are told in the beginning of Chapter 4, Samuel’s word (from God) came to all of Israel. He was the primary prophet to Israel of this time.

The highlights of this week’s readings:

First, during the time of Samuel as prophet, the time of the judges came to an end.
The Israelites had gone out to fight the Philistines and the Philistines won the battle. The people went down to Shiloh and brought back the Ark of the Covenant, accompanied by Eli’s sons, who were not faithful to God. Although the Philistines were terrified when they heard Israel’s God had come into the camp, the Philistines rallied and defeated Israel and took the Ark of the Covenant. (Things did not go well for the Philistines with the Ark in their presence, including diseases and death among the Philistines, so they ended up returning the Ark to the people of Israel.) Under Samuel’s leadership, Israel defeated the Philistines, and there was peace for a while.

As Samuel was growing old and his sons were not following in his ways, the elders of Israel came to Samuel and demanded a king, like all the other nations have (emphasis is mine). This hurt Samuel and he took it before the Lord. The Lord told Samuel, “It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” The Lord told Samuel to warn the people about what the king will claim as his rights, including taking their sons to serve in his armies, their daughters to serve in his courts, their land to give to his officials, a tenth of their harvest to feed all his officials, and the best of all they have. But they demanded a king over them, like everyone else, “He will lead us and go out before us and fight our battles.” The Lord told Samuel to give them a king.

Then, the Lord sent a man to Samuel to be anointed as king.
Saul looked like everything we would expect in a king—handsome, taller than anyone else. Though he considered himself the least among the least clan of the smallest tribe among the twelve tribes, the tribe of Benjamin, God chose him to lead the people. And Samuel anointed him. When Samuel finally got Saul to come before the people gathered at Mizpah, he was a head taller than anyone else. Samuel said to the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen?”…the people shouted “Long live the king!” Soon, he was leading the people of Israel to victory over their enemies.

Saul loses favor with Samuel and God
However, after some time, Saul’s army, led by Saul’s son, Jonathan, attacked the Philistine outpost at Geba, and the Philistines gathered a strong army to face the Israelites. Samuel had told Saul to wait for seven days, but his soldiers were so frightened by the Philistine army that they began to desert. When Samuel had not arrived on the seventh day, Saul offered up the sacrifices to God. As he was finishing, Samuel arrived and asked, “What have you done?” Samuel rebuked Saul for not keeping the Lord’s command. He told Saul his kingdom would not endure. Indeed, Samuel tells him that the Lord has already “sought a man after his own heart.” Still, Saul and Jonathan were able to rout the Philistine army.

A second time, the Lord, through Samuel, told Saul to destroy the Amalekites completely, leaving no humans or animals alive. Saul does defeat the Amalekites, but instead of totally destroying them, he takes the best of the livestock and spares the Amalekite king as well. The Lord comes to Samuel and tells him he regrets making Saul king, because Saul had turned away from Him and not carried out the Lord’s instructions. This angers Samuel. He goes to Saul and confronts Saul because Saul had not carried out the Lord’s instructions. When Samuel left Saul, he never saw Saul again, though he mourned for Saul.

The Lord sends Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem
The Lord comes to Samuel in his time of mourning and tells him to get up and go to Jesse of Bethlehem, for the Lord has chosen one of Jesse’s sons to be king. When Samuel meets Jesse, he is introduced to the first of his sons, who again looks like everything one would expect in a king. However, the Lord rejects him, telling Samuel that “People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Seven sons of Jesse come before Samuel and the Lord rejects them all. Finally, Jesse is told to send for the youngest, who has been caring for the sheep, to come before Samuel. This son, David, looks healthy and handsome, but, basically, just a kid, and yet, this is the chosen one. And Samuel anoints him as king.

Rather strangely, David enters into Saul’s service. First, through music, he comes to bring comfort to Saul during times when an evil spirit from the Lord torments Saul. Then, follows the well-known story of David’s defeat of the giant, Goliath. Soon after, David becomes part of Saul’s army and, through the many victories under his leadership, he quickly rises in rank in Saul’s army.

Saul has a love/hate relationship with David, though David and Saul’s son, Jonathan, have a beautiful relationship. Saul loves that David brings him comfort in those times Saul is troubled, but Saul is also jealous of the admiration David receives because of the victories of the army under David’s leadership. Saul even gives one of his daughters to be a wife to David, but turns around and keeps trying to kill David.

We encourage you to continue in your journey through the Walk Thru the Bible. We are nearing one-quarter of the way through the Scriptures. Keep up the good work.