I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 1-3.

The book of 1 Samuel relates the great love which David had for Jonathan.  However, the song David composed upon learning of the death and King Saul and Jonathan suggests that David held Saul dear as well.  David felt this way about King Saul despite Saul’s repeated attempts to kill him.  The deep-seated affection which David apparently felt for Saul helps explain why he twice refused to take Saul’s life when presented with the opportunity.  Perhaps David’s love for Saul was partially a result of the reason David gave at the time for not killing Saul.  David may have felt love for Saul in part because Saul was God’s anointed king over Israel.  This should guide our feelings towards those whom God has given political authority over us, even when we dislike their policies.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 28-31.

In this passage we see examples of both King Saul and David seeking God’s guidance as to what to do.  However King Saul received no such guidance, while David did receive guidance from God.  The record we have here in 1 Samuel suggests that King Saul frequently sought God’s guidance and even generally sought to enforce God’s laws.  David also frequently sought God’s guidance and seems to have generally sought to enforce God’s laws.  Both King Saul and David after him violated God’s commands.  However, I noticed one difference, when David asked for God’s guidance he followed through completely.  Saul, on the other hand, followed through until his objective was met, then, if he felt there was advantage in not following the rest of God’s instructions, he would fail to follow through.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 25-27.

We think of the society in which David lived as being a patriarchy where women had limited rights, and we are not wrong.  But the story told in this passage reveals that women were not as powerless in that society as we assume.  When Nabal insulted David’s men, one of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail about it.  Clearly that servant believed that Abigail could do something, and he was right.  On her own authority, Abigail gathered supplies and sent them to David, following behind to make amends for her husband’s rudeness..  After Nabal’s death, Abigail married David in what appears to me to be a negotiated alliance.  At about the same time, David married Ahinoam from Jezreel and King Saul gave his daughter Michal, who had been married to David, to another man as that man’s wife.  Up until this point, David’s power as a national figure came from being King Saul’s son-in-law.  Even on the run from King Saul, David would still have had a certain cache as his son-in-law.  When Saul gave Michal to be the wife of another man, that ended.  By marrying these two women, David gained a new power base.  This is important because in a totalitarian system, the ruler makes sure that everyone’s power derives from their relationship to him.  King Saul worked to eliminate any power base which did not derive its power from him.  Here David is seeking to gain the support of such power bases.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 21-24.

I think that I have commented on this previously, but I always find it interesting that when David was fleeing King Saul and went to see the priest Ahimelech, the priest was frightened to see that David was by himself.  This suggests two things.  First, it suggests that King Saul sent men out to kill people he had decided were a threat to his power, and second that Ahimelech thought that David was one of those King Saul sometimes sent.  I am pretty confident that the first part of that was true: King Saul sent out men to kill those he had decided were a threat to his power.  Further, it seems likely that Ahimelech believed that some of those killed in that manner had no idea why King Saul wanted them dead.  I always find it enlightening to realize that such totalitarian behaviors go so far back into history.  We even have an informant who rats out Ahimelech to the king for aiding David when he thought David was still a trusted aid to King Saul.  Finally, we see Saul turning to a foreign mercenary to carry out orders his native supporters were unwilling to follow.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 18-20.

Once again we can be thrown off by our modern way of writing biographies.  The compiler of 1 Samuel takes a story about how David came into favor with Saul and then fell out of favor and weaves it into his account as if it was just a continuation from chapter 17.  Having written that, it does not really connect with the lesson I think we should take from the passage.  As David became more successful serving King Saul, King Saul became more and more jealous of him and sure that David would one day usurp the throne.  Despite this, King Saul arranged for David to marry his daughter.  I would like to note that if David had married King Saul’s older daughter that would have been a clear political move.  Instead, David later agreed to marry Michal, who the passage tells us had fallen in love with him.  This suggests that David married Michal because he was attracted to  her, not because of the political power which came with marrying the king’s daughter.  That is important because it tells us something about David: the people around King Saul who cared for Saul also loved David.  Despite how badly King Saul mistreated him, David never became disloyal.  David only left King Saul’s court when it became obvious that if he stayed, King Saul would have him killed.  This does not necessarily mean that we should stay in situations where we are mistreated.  It does, however, teach us that we should not strike back at those who have authority over us and treat us badly.  If we continue to faithfully serve God in such trying circumstances, others will see and be inspired to serve Him as well.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 16-17.

If you read today’s passage as a single narrative told in chronological order (which is how we would do this today) there seems to be a contradiction about David’s introduction to King Saul’s court.  However, if you read these thinking of chapter 16 as an account about David from one person and chapter 17 as an account from another person.  The first person is telling about how David was anointed by Samuel and entered into King Saul’s court.  The second person is telling about how David defeated Goliath and thus became a warrior in King Saul’s army.

Each of these stories contain a valuable lesson for us.  In the account of Samuel anointing David when Samuel first saw David’s oldest brother Eliab, he thought him the very image of what a king should be, much as Saul had been the very image of what a king should be.  Eliab almost certainly had the command presence that many oldest sons have.  He expected people to do as he said, and as a result they usually did.  But God looks for more than that, and after King Saul Israel needed more than that.  In the second story we see what God saw in David.  In David’s confrontation with Goliath, Goliath began by trying to intimidate David.  Goliath was arrogant and sure of himself.  David was confident and sure of God.  In his reply to Goliath, David says, “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies…” which is a precursor to what the prophet Zechariah says in Zechariah 4:6, “Not by force, nor by strength, buy by My Spirit says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”  David recognized two important truths.  First, Goliath was defying God, not merely David.  Second, David knew he would not defeat Goliath by his own strength or skill.  Let us also face our enemies in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and trust Him to defeat them.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 14-15.

The New Living Translation, which I primarily use for these studies, uses the Septuagint to translate 1 Samuel 14:18 as “Then Saul shouted to Ahijah, ‘Bring the ephod here!’ For at that time Ahijah was wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites.”  However, in the notes they mention that the Hebrew reads “Then Saul shouted to Ahijah, ‘Bring the Ark of God.’ For at that time the Ark of God was with the Israelites.”  Now you may ask why that is significant.  It shows us that Saul sought to make God the center of his kingship.  Here, and again at the end of the battle when he had this soldiers bring the beasts they were going to butcher to eat to be ritually killed so as to meet God’s dietary commands, Saul turned to God.  Yet, here we also see the root of Saul’s failure.  When he saw how things were going with the Philistine army, he decided that he did not have time to wait for the Ark to be brought, he did not have time to wait for God.  This follows what happened in yesterday’s passage where Saul became impatient waiting for Samuel to come to offer the sacrifices and did so himself.  We need to wait for God, even when it seems that we do not have time to do so.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 11-13.

Yesterday’s passage indicated that not all of the Israelites agreed with the idea of making Saul king.  In light of the thoughts I expressed about the government, or lack thereof, of Israel before they had a king, I suspect they disagreed with the idea of appointing a king, of establishing a government.  Also, in Samuel’s address to Israel after Saul’s victory Samuel puts the Israelites request for a king in a different light than yesterday’s account of it.  Samuel says that the Israelites requested a king because they were afraid of Nahash, king of the Ammon.  Samuel spells out for them what their request for a king really meant.  Previously, when oppressors threatened the people of Israel, God raised up someone to lead them through the crisis.  This time they did not wish to wait for God to act  They wanted someone to take charge and rescue them immediately.  We too are often like that when we are frightened about the future we often seek someone, or something, to rescue us rather than waiting for God to deliver us in His time.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 8-10.

Usually when I read this passage I think about what it says about Saul.  However, today I felt compelled to write about the warning Samuel gave the Israelites about their desire for a king.  When we read what Samuel said that a king would do it reads very much like what every government does.  I realized today that until Saul was anointed king, Israel had no government.  When the Israelites asked Samuel to give them a king, they were asking him to give them a formalized government.  They asked for a king because that was the only type of government they knew.  God’s response to Samuel’s request for guidance gives us a clear insight into God’s preferred form of governance.  By seeking a king, seeking a government, the Israelites admitted that they were unwilling, or unable, to obey God without the threat of force.  They were unwilling to wait for God to deal with those who chose to violate His commands and thus disrupted the peace of the land.  The Israelites wanted a king who could “do something” about the problems they faced instead of needing to put their faith in God.  In the same way, many people today want the government to “do something” about the problems we face rather than put their trust in God.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 4-7.

This passage shows us that it is not sufficient to call on God in our times of trouble.  We must also stop calling on other gods and serve only the Lord.  At the beginning of this passage the Israelites called on God and thought that by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into the battle God would have to give them victory.  However, it does not work that way.  We cannot force God to act according to our desires, we must act according to His will.  The Philistines learned a lesson we need to learn as well: just because we are successful does not mean we are doing the right thing.  The Philistines thought that capturing the Ark of the Covenant meant that their god(s) were more powerful than God.  God quickly disabused them of this notion.  After the return of the Ark to Israel, Samuel called on them to give up their idols and worship only the Lord.  The Israelites followed Samuel’s direction and he led them to victory over the Philistines.  We should note that while Samuel united the Israelites to follow God and to fight against the Philistines, he does not appear to have been their military leader.