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

This passage contains a lot about the power of God and the honor He demands.  The Israelites attempted to use the ark of the covenant to manipulate God.  Their reasoning appears to have been that if they brought the ark to the battlefield, God would be forced to bring them victory.    God does not work that way.  We cannot tell God what to do.  In a way, the Israelites were attempting to use the ark as their god.  Then after the Philistines captured the ark they thought their gods were more powerful than God.  The symbolism was quite clear.  They set the ark of the covenant beside their god, Dagon, as if it was tribute to him.  The following morning they found their image of Dagon prostrate before the ark of the Lord.  After they set the image back up, they found it prostrate the following morning with its hands and head broken off…almost as if they had been cut off for not honoring God.  In addition, a plague broke out among the Philistines.  All of this led the Philistines to conclude that they must return the ark, but they realized that they had no way of determining where to return it.  They also wanted to be sure that the plague was not just a coincidence.  So, they placed the ark on a cart and yoked two cows which had recently given birth to it.  The normal expectation would be for the cows to head for where their calves were.  These cows instead headed for Israelite territory.  The Israelites rejoiced at the return of the ark.  Some of them could not resist their curiosity and looked inside the ark, despite not being properly consecrated to approach the ark.  Those who treated the ark of the Lord like a carnival attraction died.  All of these events led the people of Israel to return to worshiping the Lord. When they did so, Samuel told them that it was not enough to start worshiping God again.  They needed to give up their various idols as well and worship only God.  Samuel had they gather to rededicate themselves to God.  When the Philistines attacked this gathering, the Israelites continued to worship and only responded to the threat after God had acted on their behalf.

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

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

I noticed something in the passage today that never registered to me before.  After Samuel’s birth, Elkanah, his father, went up to offer his annual sacrifice and fulfill his vow.  Now, the fact that Elkanah went up to offer an annual sacrifice was mentioned in the introduction to the book, but nowhere does it mention that he took a vow.  So, is this vow which he was fulfilling related to Samuel’s birth?  Had Elkanah taken a vow similar to the one which Hannah had taken regarding the birth of Samuel?  I do not know the answers to those questions and am not sure that it is important, but I thought it was interesting that Elkanah had taken a vow which he fulfilled shortly after Samuel’s birth.

Of greater interest to me is, how and why did Eli fail so miserably to raise his sons to be God-fearing, yet succeed so outstandingly when it came to Samuel?  Obviously, the first piece of that puzzle is to be found in Samuel’s mother, Hannah.  Every year, she made Samuel a robe and brought it to him when she came to offer sacrifices with her husband.  I am sure that at the same time she reminded Samuel of how God had honored her by giving her him as her son.  It is worth noting that Samuel would have witnessed the sins of Eli’s sons, and would have had the example of his father, Elkanah, faithfully offering his sacrifices despite their blasphemy.  And yet, we cannot discount the influence which Eli had on young Samuel.  After all, it was Eli who told Samuel how to respond when God called out to him in the night.  Eli had failed to raise his sons to fear God.  To what degree that was Eli’s fault is open to question, although the passage does indicate that God placed at least some of the blame on Eli.  However, we can also see that Eli sought to correct whatever mistakes he had made with his own sons in the raising of Samuel.  And this is a point we should take to heart: whatever mistakes we have made in the past, we do not need to continue to make those some mistakes today and going forward.

I use 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.

Every time I read the story of David and Nabal, David’s reaction seems excessive.  Yet, it is clear that Nabal’s men expected that reaction.  At one time I thought that Nabal’s answer was a deadly insult which just does not translate into modern language and culture.  However, I have come to believe over time that David had an agreement with Nabal, whether it was an agreement they had entered into, or one which was understood from common usage, to protect Nabal’s men and herds from raiders and bandits (which were apparently fairly common in that area and time as we will see later).  Reading it in that light, Nabal’s response to David’s request for payment for having performed his side of the bargain can be read as Nabal telling David, “I’m not going to honor our agreement.  What are you going to do about it? Ask King Saul to enforce it?”

So, here is the situation.  David could have taken everything from Nabal in the first place, but instead entered into an agreement to protect Nabal’s property from others who might try to take in return for supplies.  When it came time for Nabal to fulfill his part of the bargain, Nabal reneged and David gathered his forces to take everything Nabal owned.  Abigail, Nabal’s wife, gathered the supplies which David was owed (and perhaps a bit more, but we have no way to know) and took them to him.  When Nabal learned of what Abigail had done, he had a stroke (or perhaps a heart attack), and ten days later dies.   Shortly after which David marries Abigail and gains ownership over Nabal’s property..  This story gives us a hint that the role of women in that society is more significant and powerful than a cursory reading of the Old Testament might lead us to believe.

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