Current Series

1 Samuel tells us some of the most loved stories in history. These stories show tell us Israel getting it’s first king and along with him comes politics and all the chaos that disobedience brings. In the midst of this chaos God is still using his people (Samuel and David) and accomplishing his purposes.

The disorder of our present day isn’t new and neither is God’s heart to call and use people for his glory even in chaos. Join us on Sundays as we tackle the book of I Samuel and practice peace in Chaos.

Weekly Commentary

I Samuel 23

Davide's back!

After enduring the dark times and failing sinfully in chapters 19-20, David is finally back to his old self. Verses 1-14 show a new David, different from the scared deceiving David in chapters 20-21. We finally see David fully putting his faith back in the Lord. And the Lord is quick to answer David’s inquiries and order events so as to protect David and his men. Yes, there will be more trials and more failings by David in future chapters, but for now we finally see our old friend, valiant warrior, God fearing king-in-waiting David.

Chapter 23 begins with David hearing news that the Philistines are attacking the city of Keilah. Specifically, they are plundering the threshing floors. This would mean that the Philistines are softening up the city of Keilah in preparation for a larger attack. Plundering the threshing floors means that the Philistines were attacking the grain threshing and storage areas in order to limit the food available to the city. You see, Keilah was more like a fortress with one main gate that was barred. This means that there was only one way into the city, which would mean a costly attack by the Philistines. It was better to besiege the stronghold and wait out the inhabitants

Now the David of chapters 21-22 would have probably not done much about this threat to Keilah, but here we see David immediately inquiring of the Lord as to whether he and his men should attack the Philistines invaders. This is the old David...the one who puts himself last, the one who helps those who cannot help themselves and is a valiant leader. The Lord replies to David that he should go and attack the Philistines. But David’s men were not so sure that this was a wise move, and logic would dictate that it was not. Consider that David had only a rag-tag assembly of men that could fight, and they did not have the backing of Israel (since Saul was acting king and hated David). Last-but-not-least, Saul was making ever effort to find and pursue David and his men. Surely going to battle with the Philistines at this moment would not only reveal their position but also weaken them (from battle). So rather than attempt to persuade his men through fancy speech or to berate and goad them as his nemesis Saul would have done, David goes back to the Lord to ask a second question. We aren’t told what this question was exactly, but the answer was the same. However, with this answer there was now a more emphatic command to “go quickly” or “go at once” (which is what “Arise, go...” would have signified). And the Lord specifically told David that the Philistines would be given into David’s hands. Upon this second inquiry to the Lord and the Lord’s command to go quickly and defeat the Philistines (the Lord having already determined the outcome of the battle), David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

In verse 6 we have this brief interlude in the narration where we are told that now Abiathar fled Saul and came to David. This text mirrors what we just read in 1 Samuel 22:20:

But one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.

So the question is why is this story repeated? Did Abiathar flee twice or is the order of events jumbled up? Well, the Bible narrative isn’t always about getting the chronological events of the story in the right order as a history book might do. Rather, the Bible is telling the story of the Lord and His relationship to man. So in this narrative, we see Abiathar fleeing to David in chapter 22 in order to tell David about the great slaughter of his people through Saul and his henchman Doeg. But here in chapter 23 verse 6 we read of the same flight from Saul to David by Abiathar; however, we notice two pieces of information that were left out in chapter 22. The first is that Abiathar fled to David who was currently at Keilah, and the second is that Abiathar had an ephod with him. So now we know that the narrative in chapter 22 with Abiathar occured at Keilah and that David now has a priest with an ephod. Previously, David had the prophet Gad with him to inquire of the Lord. Now David has both priest and prophet (with an ephod, more about this in verse 9) with him. Contrast this to Saul who seems to be devoid of either priest or prophet. In fact, Saul has just recently killed everyone in the town of Nob that housed his priests. The tide is surely turning against Saul.

Now by defeating the Philistines and liberating the city of Keilah, David has created quite the commotion. Something that would not have gone unnoticed by Saul. In verse 7 we read that Saul did indeed hear about David’s conquest. But Saul’s response is quite telling. Rather than being glad that a city that Saul was king over had not fallen into Philistine hands, Saul was only thinking of killing David. Saul thought that, since the city of Keilah was built like a fortress (one way in and one way out for protection as we previously discussed), he had David trapped like an animal. So Saul planned one of the most audacious and ridiculous acts of his career as king. Saul, exactly like the Philistines, was going to lay seige to the city of Keilah. Not only was he going to do the exact same thing the Philistines were going to do, he was going to do it against his own city!

But in verse 9, we discover that David hears about Saul’s plan against him and the city. So it seems that both Saul and David had spies and people that sympathized with each of them. As we read much earlier, David’s army that he commanded early on in his career loved David and followed him anywhere. So it is no wonder that others in Saul’s ranks were giving David information. Now here is where the ephod that Abiathar brought with him to David would come into play. In verse 9 David calls for Abiathar, the priest, to bring him the ephod and in verse 10 it is used to make an inquiry to the Lord as to what David should do next. This is an amazing turnaround for David. You see, he is now looking to the Lord for answers and for safety. Before, David was on his own and relying on his wits (and deceptions) alone. Now we see a new David (or rather, I should say the old David), the selfless David who follows after God’s own heart.

So David asks the Lord two questions: “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his [Saul’s] hand?” and “Will Saul come down [to Keilah] just as your servant [David] has heard?” The Lord answers the second question first with a resounding “yes”. David reiterates his initial question about Keilah turning David over to Saul. The Lord again answers with a resounding “yes”. It’s this initial question of the town of Keilah surrendering David to Saul that I want to focus on. Why would David ask such a question? After all, David just saved the town of Keilah from the Philistines. You would think they would be more gracious to David than this. Turning David over to Saul seems like the worst treachery of all.

We need to put this question into its right context to understand it. Remember back in 1 Samuel 22:6-23 that Saul completely destroyed the priests of the Lord (except Abiathar), the priests town of Nob and all of their livestock. David knew that this retribution of Saul’s on the town of Nob was his fault and he did not want the same thing to happen to Keilah (David is still thinking of others). But David also knew the the town of Keilah had heard of Saul’s destruction of Nob and that Keilah, while they were indebted to David, did not want to die themselves over one man. So while David probably didn’t want to go back on the run, the Lord had other plans for him. But in David’s wise questions to the Lord, he discerned his true situation and did the only right thing, which was to leave the town of Keilah and draw Saul away from there.

Notice in verse 13 that David now has 200 more men than he started out with. I would imagine that many (if not all) of these men came from the town of Keilah or possibly the surrounding areas. This defense of the town did not go unnoticed by the people. Many of the people were drawn towards David and left their old lives to follow him. This almost seems to mimic Jesus going from town to town calling his disciples to him and them dropping everything to follow Him. Some towns would deny Jesus as Keilah denied David (the town’s savior), but there was always a remnant that would follow David or Jesus out of the town into the wilderness.

Now in verses 15-16 David becomes aware somehow of Saul coming for him while he was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. It seems like Saul had a bunch of information leaks within his organization since both David (in verse 15) was alerted that Saul knew where he was hiding and Jonathan (in verse 16) was alerted that David was at Horesh. In fact, Jonathan went to see his friend David at Horesh, yet his father Saul was unable to locate David in this same place (this is divine intervention, but more on that later). Jonathan would have had to have been known by David’s men as an ally since it seems that Jonathan simply had to show up at Horesh and most likely David’s men would have escorted him directly to David.

The meeting between David and Jonathan is recorded in verses 16-18. We only have a very short retelling of the meeting between these two men but what Jonathan says to David is incredibly important in building up and encouraging David and his faith in the Lord. There is a lot of information that Jonathan tells David, including:

* Do not be afraid.

* Saul will not find you.

* You will be king of Israel.

* I will be by your side.

* Saul knows all of this to be true.

This is the mark of a true friend. One that will drop everything and travel to aid someone even though the route may be treacherous (certainly if Saul caught Jonathan he would be put to death). Once the two friends are reunited, Jonathan shares some words of encouragement with David. First, he says, “Do not be afraid.” It is not just that Jonathan says not to be afraid, but that he does it in a way that strengthens David in the Lord (see verse 16). But Jonathan doesn’t stop there. He continues by telling David why he shouldn’t be afraid. The first reason is that Saul will not find David. Jonathan knows that the Lord will make David king (as he states next), and for that to happen Saul cannot catch and kill David. Now these two statements show a great faith in Jonathan, and isn’t it always encouraging for us when a friend who has such a great faith comes alongside of us in our most dire situations and expresses their faith to us. It’s almost like they are sharing a part of their faith that we embrace and use to encourage ourselves.

Next, Jonathan says that he will be by David’s side. Unfortunately, we know that this is not to be, which is heartbreaking to hear. But at this time what Jonathan is doing is pledging himself to the new king of Israel. Jonathan is saying that he will be David’s faithful second in command when David takes the throne. This is another supreme encouragement for David, knowing that his true friend who is faithful and also has a heart for the Lord is pledging to be by his side always. Jonathan’s actions towards David in 1 Samuel have always born this out to be true. He will stick by his friend faithfully no matter the cost. This is encouragement in the fullest.

Finally, Jonathan says that Saul, even Saul the king, knows that all of this is true (but he is still blinded by his own pride). David will be king and Jonathan will follow David, setting aside his own claim to the throne because the Lord has anointed David as king. Then the two parted ways.

In the last section of this chapter (verses 19-29), the Ziphites met with Saul to tell him where David was hiding. Now the Ziphites could have known this because of Jonathan going up to Horesh to meet with David. It does seem that the slaughter of the priests, their families and livestock at Nob would have put every city on alert that Saul would kill them too if they were found harboring David. So, maybe like the city of Keilah, the city of Ziph was simply trying to save their own skins by keeping the sitting king on their good side. However, if we read Psalm 54:1-3: we see a different view of the Ziphites:

Title: For the choir director; on stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Is not David hiding himself among us?”

Save me, O God, by Your name, And vindicate me by Your power. Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth. For strangers have risen against me And violent men have sought my life; They have not set God before them. Selah. From this Psalm that David wrote, we see from his perspective that indeed the Ziphites were a godless and violent people that sided with Saul.

Next we see Saul pursuing David yet again. But, as has previously happened numerous times, David was alerted to the danger and was able to flee and escape Saul’s hand. However, this time Saul was much closer to David and was able to pursue him as he ran. I would assume here that the warning to David must have arrived in the 11th hour just before Saul arrived. If this is true, David would not have had much time to prepare to flee. In verse 26 we get to the height of the pursuit where David is only a few steps away from Saul’s grasp. For someone not in-tune with David’s relationship to the Lord, it would seem like this may be the end for David. Saul, in verse 26, is on one side of a mountain and David on the other. Saul apparently is splitting his forces to go around both sides of the mountain in order to encircle David and his men, cutting off all escape. But the Lord has other plans for Saul and his men. In verse 27 a messenger tells Saul that the Philistines had raided the land. This causes Saul to break off the pursuit and turn to the Philistine problem. Now we could think (incorrectly) that this is a wonderful coincidence. Not so, this is the Lord’s providence at work helping to protect and sustain David in his persecution. Why is this not a coincidence? Well, we have just seen that Saul was more than willing to wipe out an entire town of the Lord’s priests as well as lay seige to any town where David would seek asylum. Saul has no love for the people of Israel; he only loves himself. So the Lord would have to intervene in some way to make the Philistine situation much more important than capturing and killing David.

Just as with David, the Lord is at work when we are pursued and persecuted. We may not see it, but the Lord’s hand is at work to bring about His good desires. We may see this as others coming to our side to join our battle or in good friends risking all to encourage us and to come alongside us, sharing their faith in order to build up our faith. Or perhaps, the Lord will work miraculously in our situation and with our persecutors to make the problem go away as He did with prompting the Philistines to attack just as when Saul was closing the noose around David and his men.

I Samuel 22

You may think that I’ve been overly hard on David throughout the last several chapters as I point out his failings and deceptions during this time when he has taken his eyes off the Lord and is focused on his dire situation. This is not to say anything less of David or to say that we (myself included) are better than he was. Surly not! I don’t think I would have the stamina to handle all that David has been through even half as well as he did. Also we should not take away the idea that David was a terrible person or no better than Saul. David was a man after God’s own heart after all. That makes all the difference in the world (and in heaven). You see, the Bible exposes people (especially David) for who they really are. When we truly understand the heroes and villains of the Bible, we see how they are like us (or different from us). This should give us reason to praise the Lord for His mercies and grace towards us. For just as his mercies and grace overflowed to David-even as he sinned-they will overflow to us. We have the same failings and some of the same strengths of the fallible David, so we can relate to him in deeper ways now that we know of his weaknesses and sins. But just as David failed in some things, we must also look at how he correctly dealt with these failings and sins and imitate him. Of course, we should always keep in mind the one from David’s line who was perfect and without sin, Jesus Christ our Lord.

One additional thing to keep in mind here is that when the Bible takes down the heroes of the Bible, such as David, a notch or two we understand that this adds to the Bible’s legitimacy. That is, the Bible will not hold back the humanness and fallibility of people in order to glorify the Lord. If the Bible were to have built up the heroes of the Bible to a point where they could do no wrong and the situations did not play out as they would in reality then maybe our faith would not be placed in the Lord but rather in the heroes that could not fail. However, by showing the fallibility of people like David in the Bible we can be more assured that the Bible speaks the truth and doesn’t hold back. And all glory can be given to the Lord of all.

Fortunately, it seems as though David turns a corner here and begins to take his eyes off of his dire situation and put them back onto the Lord. Chapter 22 begins with David still on the run, but gathering strength (verses 1-5). Then it switches over to Saul and his pursuit of David and the encounter with the priests at Nob (verses 6-19). And finally it ends back with David (verses 20-23) and him facing the consequences of his sin of deception in chapter 21.

Chapter 22 opens with David escaping to the cave of Adullam, which would be a good place to stay and probably easily defensible. In verse 1 it says that when David’s family heard that he had escaped to Adullam they met him there. This sentence is very telling of what is happening around David. It seems that people were talking about David and his flight to Adullam. Perhaps Achish the king of Gath and his servants were making it public that David was in their midst acting strange. Maybe others along the road to Adullam saw David and knew who he was (people would know the slayer of the tens of thousands of Philistines as the song goes) and were talking about it...especially since David was alone without the men of his army, which would naturally be strange so close to the Philistine border. Whatever reason or reasons, people were talking of David and that he was staying at Adullam. Surely this was news that would eventually reach Saul’s ears.

Secondly, and more importantly, we see that not only is David’s family seeking him out but also in verse 2 we see many people who are in distress, in debt and discontented (bitter of soul) all flocking to David in Adullam. Finally! This is what we’ve all been waiting for...a visible sign of Israel turning away from king Saul and towards Israel’s rightful ruler, David. In total there were about 400 men with David and it says that David became their captain. Now 400 men seems a small number and not much to protect David, but remember another faithful mans words back in 1 Samuel 14:6:

Then Jonathan said to the young man who was carrying his armor, “Come and let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; perhaps the LORD will work for us, for the LORD is not restrained to save by many or by few.”

So we know that from Jonathan’s faithful words that 400 men are more than enough to protect David. And surely this was a boost to David’s moral at this low point.

It seems from these first two verses that Saul’s awful rule was starting to wear on the people. People were not only bitter and distressed but also deeply in debt. This makes complete sense as we know that Saul is becoming more and more unhinged even to the point of publicly attempting to kill his son recently (and not for the first time either). But more to the fact if we go back to verses 1 Samuel 8:10-19:

So Samuel spoke all the words of the LORD to the people who had asked of him a king. He said, “This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us.”

All of this that Samuel spoke of to the people had now come to fruition. It’s no wonder that the people were becoming bitter towards Saul and deeply in debt towards the kingdom.

Then David and those that followed him went to Mizpah of Moab. Now this was a wise and calculated move unlike the actions David took in chapter 21. You see Moab was an enemy of Saul as it says in 1 Samuel 14:47:

Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, the sons of Ammon, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment.

However, the king of Moab was the great grandson of Ruth who was related to Jesse, David’s father. This family relationship along with the animosity between the king of Moab and Saul created the perfect mix for David to safely seek asylum in Moab. Finally, we see David starting to make some good decisions. But that’s not all. David asks the king of Moab if his mother and father can stay with them in their kingdom. David was not thinking of just himself anymore. He had family to protect and being on the run from a madman would have been extremely difficult for his old parents. So David sought a safe place to keep his parents away from harm and hardship. But there’s also a third point of interest here in verse 3, probably the most important line that David speaks. David asks the king of Moab to keep his parents safe with them...”until I know what God will do for me”. After a few chapters where David spoke little of the Lord, he is once again looking to the Lord for guidance. He seems to be repenting of focusing on himself and his dire circumstances and finally putting his gaze back on the one who can truly save his life.

We see in verse 5 that David did not have to wait long to hear from the Lord. The prophet Gad came to David and told him to “depart, and go into the land of Judah.” And, of course, we see David in that same verse immediately obey and go to the forest of Hereth southwest of Jerusalem.

Now the narrative switches over to Saul. In verse 6 it says Saul was in a familiar position. He was sitting under a tree with his spear in his hand. Saul was sitting, sulking and waiting for a word to come to him of David’s whereabouts. And, of course, he had his trusty spear in his hand. We all know what typically happens when Saul is sitting with his spear in his hands..nothing good, especially for the people around him. At this point a word came to Saul about David’s whereabouts. You would have thought that this would have been good news to Saul, but instead we see in verse 7 that Saul begins a tirade of paranoia directed towards the men (royal servants, guards, etc.) standing around him.

Upon hearing of David’s location and most likely that David now has a small garrison with him, Saul descended into even more paranoia and hate towards David. Presumably now that David had men following him, Saul thought that an attempt on his throne was immanent. Saul, in an attempt to head off what he thought was an immanent coup, decides to address those around him. In verse 7 Saul presents his men with two rhetorical questions, “Will David (still using the term ‘son of Jesse’) give you fields and vineyards? Will David make you commanders of hundreds or thousands?” These two questions were designed to get his men to think that with Saul they have it good and are doing well, but if David takes over then there is a huge question as to whether or not they will have it as good, seeing that they are the ones pursuing David. A future with Saul is safe, but a future without Saul is uncertain. This is typically what those in charge will attempt once they feel that their authority is slipping away as Saul’s authority is.

Next, in verse 8 we see Saul devolving more into paranoia and anger. This time it is directed towards his own men! As is the case with tyrants unwilling to repent and give up their self-serving lifestyle, so we see here Saul lashing out at his own men....men who he is supposed to trust, his servants, his men that he has gone into battle with and the men who he has hand picked to be his own personal bodyguards. Now verse 8 is a little more difficult to read in some translations such as NASB or ESV since these are formally equivalent translations or a word-for-word translation from Hebrew to English. What we need here is a translation that is more functionally equivalent, that is one that basically gives us the same meaning of the verse as it would have meant thousands of years ago to the original audience. For that we need a translation such as the NIV, CSB or LEB. The CSB begins verse 8 with Saul saying, “That’s why all of you have conspired against me!” Here we see that Saul is now twisting his own words in verse 7 to say that his own men are trying to dethrone him and replace him with David. But why? The rest of verse 8 answers this question. We see that Saul blames his own men for not telling him about Jonathan and David’s covenant and how Jonathan stirred up David to lie in wait for Saul to kill him (which was obviously false). Note also in between Saul’s falsehoods he says, “None of you cares about me...” Some translations say “are sorry for me” or “have sympathy for me”. This is another one of those “woe is me; the whole world is against me and I did no wrong” kind of statements. Saul is using every trick he knows to try to keep his men loyal to him in an effort to keep his throne.

It seems though that none of Saul’s men responded to the king’s tirade. That is, except one...Doeg. We met Doeg back in in chapter 21. Doeg sees an opportunity to get even closer to the king and possibly to make a name for himself. Doeg has fully bought in to what Saul is selling. Doeg answered Saul saying that he saw the son of Jesse (notice how Doeg is mimicking the manner in which Saul identifies David here) with Ahimelech in Nob and that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David, gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath. So if you go back to chapter 21, we do indeed see Ahimelech giving David provisions and the sword but we don’t read that Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for David. It’s possible that the author just decided to not record that part, or it may be that Ahimelech never inquired of the Lord for David this one time. Either way, Doeg begins his accusation of Ahimelech and David with this information. This turns Saul’s anger directly towards Ahimelech and he calls for Ahimelech and his priests to be brought to him.

In verse 13 Saul begins to accuse Ahimelech of conspiring with David against him. Ahimelech’s response to Saul’s charge follows in verses 14-15. It is interesting that Ahimelech’s response begins with an honoring of David. He says that David is a faithful and honorable person who is even honored in your house. These words are somewhat of an echo of what Jonathan said to his father much earlier, which caused Saul to relent and not to pursue David in order to kill him. But now these words have the exact opposite effect on Saul. Saul is so angered that he sentences Ahimelech and all of the priests to death. However, no one but Doeg would raise a hand against the priests of the Lord. Doeg does what no one else would dare and ends all of the priests’ lives. This fulfills the prophecy from the Lord that the house of Eli will end violently in 1 Samuel 2:31:

Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house.

Before we leave this section I wanted to note that in verse 15 Ahimelech says to Saul, “Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him [David]? Of course not!” The various translation use slightly different wordings for this rhetorical question but one that might help a little bit more is, “Did I begin that day to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me to do such a thing.” Ahimelech is claiming here that he has not just begun that day to enquire of God for David. In other words, he did not enquire and has not enquired of God for David. Why should he start doing so now? Also if we look back at the overall narration between David and Ahimelech in the last chapters, we know that David has spun a web of lies (with good motives, but a disastrous outcome) and needed to leave quickly before Saul found him (the mere sight of Doeg probably spurred David to move even more quickly). So it wouldn’t have made sense for David to wait around for Ahimelech to make inquiries of the Lord, but even more importantly David had lied to the priest and really wasn’t looking to make an inquiry of the Lord. David was afraid and knew the Lord wouldn’t be happy with his deception. So really, David had no reason to inquire of the Lord. This makes Doeg out to be a very devious one, bending the ear of Saul with lies probably motivated by a desire to get in the good graces of Saul. Whatever the reason, Doeg exposes himself as just as evil as Saul.

Once Saul had put the priests to death he turned his rage on Nob, an innocent village of the priests. Saul commanded that all the people and livestock of Nob were to be put to death. Here, in his fit of rage, Saul put to death everyone and everything but remember earlier that when commanded by the Lord to do the same to His enemies, Saul could not. See 1 Samuel 15:3:

‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’

Here Saul shows his true colors as anyone that tried to protect David would not only be destroyed, but their families and friends would also die. Even their livestock would pay the penalty of this affront to Saul. It seems that Saul would do this to protect his own name but not for the name of the Lord.

But it does seem that one of the priests of Nob, Abiathar, did survive and fled and escaped to David. Abiathar told David what had transpired and David responded that all of this was his fault and that he brought about the deaths of all in Abiathar’s household. Here we see David continuing to do the right thing. Unlike Saul, David takes responsibility for his own failings. Rather than hide what he has done, David confesses his sin to Abiathar. Not only that but he takes Abiathar in and keeps him safe as now they both are running from Saul.

I Samuel 21

Can deception ever be justified?

In this chapter David deceives on not one but two occasions. First in verses 1-9 David deceives Ahimelech the priest and in verses 10-15 David deceives his mortal enemy Achish the king of Gath, a Philistine king.

David meets with Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Now Ahimelech was a priest of the line of Eli, actually Ahimelech was the great grandson of Eli. This would have made Ahimelech a disqualified priest according to verses 1 Samuel 2:30-36. Not only has David left the safe confines of Naioth in Ramah where Samuel and the prophets were and where the Lord supernaturally protected David from Saul, but now David is seeking Ahimelech a disgraced priest for provisions and a weapon.

Listen to the words of David as he speaks to Ahimelech in verses 2-6. David begins with a deceptive answer to Ahimelech’s question in verse 1 about why David is alone (not why David is showing up in Nob but specifically why he is alone). It is highly likely that Ahimelech knew of the king’s intent to kill David and was worried about his own life and possibly David’s too. But David tells Ahimelech a lie, a deception, in response. David tells him that he is on a mission from the king, a secret mission no less. Since David required secrecy in order to elude Saul, a secret mission from the king makes a lot of sense. No one would ever go against the king and reveal a secret mission for fear of death. But David doesn’t end the charade there. In order to make it more believable he tells Ahimelech that he has sent away the young men that were with him in order to keep this mission a secret. Since if David showed up with a garrison of men that might cause people to ask questions which would harm the secrecy of their mission. Now, of course, there were no men with David. This was just a ruse to make David’s story sound more believable.

David needed provisions for himself and his “men” who were in hiding. Normally a group such as this would be more prepared as they went out, but due to the urgency of the king’s “mission” they did not have time to adequately prepare. David asks for the consecrated bread that was on the altar normally only to be eaten by the priests. But that day Ahimelech was willing to give it to David and his “men” as long as they were ceremonially clean...specifically, that none of them had had sexual relations with women. David answers Ahimelech saying that they were all ceremonially clean and they had not had relations with women recently. This is probably the closest thing to the truth that David utters here. As David would be ceremonially clean at this point not having been with any woman for awhile. But this is really only a half-truth as the deception lay in the fact that David was also indicating that his “men”, who did not exist, were also clean.

In verse 7 we hear of an Edomite called Doeg who was a servant of Saul. Doeg was actually a chief shepherd of Saul who, for whatever reason, had embraced the Hebrew religion and way of life. Verse 7 says something quite out-of-place. It suddenly changes the focus of the story from David and Ahimelech to Doeg and then back to David and Ahimelech. These out-of-place verses are actually very important points in any Biblical story but the reason for their placement is not always apparent without further study. If we read ahead to 1 Samuel 22:22:

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household.

We get a big clue as to why chapter 21 introduces Doeg. David’s fear all along was that Doeg would speak of his not-so-secret meeting with Ahimelech to Saul, putting Ahimelech in harms way. But there is another clue here as to why Doeg was even around at all during David’s meeting. In verse 7 it says that Doeg was “detained before the Lord”. This could mean that Doeg was either forced to stay at the tabernacle to offer sacrifices and prayers or maybe he was paying some form of penance for a crime. Whatever the reason, the Lord in His sovereignty had caused Doeg to be there at the same time as David in order to witness this meeting. David, seeing that Doeg was there and perhaps being led by the Spirit of the Lord, was more than concerned that Doeg would rat him out to the king. I believe that this fateful run-in with Doeg was the Lord telling David that there would be consequences to his deceptive actions. David, however, ignored this warning and went ahead with the ruse anyway. Of course, later in the next chapter we see the fallout of his decision.

Now we get to the second part of chapter 21 in verses 10-15 where David flees from Saul once again. Saul must have found out about David’s clandestine (or really not-so-clandestine) meeting with Ahimelech and showed up in Nob soon after David fled. Now David does a rather dangerous and just mind-boggling act here. He goes to the one place where he knows Saul cannot follow him. David goes to king Achish of Gath, a Philistine. Wait, so David shows up at the home of his most hated enemy? Remember David killed Goliath (and he was wearing Goliath’s sword too) and won many many battles against the Philistines. The only thing that possibly could have driven David to the home of his enemies would have been a hopelessness in his situation alongside an immense fear of Saul’s pursuit of him. Indeed, not only is this chapter focused on David’s fear and hopelessness, but notice that the Lord is only mentioned twice in connection with the consecrated bread and as to why Doeg was detained at Nob. Not once does David mention the Lord. What we have here is a picture of David who has his eyes off of the Lord and squarely on his own desperate situation. This situation is hopeless and dire, but with our sovereign all powerful Lord all things are possible.

It’s not explained in the text as to exactly what David was thinking when he went to Achish king of Gath. Perhaps he thought that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. He knew Saul would not be able to follow him there and possibly he could keep his head down and the Philistines would not even notice he was there. But in verse 11 the servants of king Achish told their king that David, the one whom Israel sang and danced for and the one that slayed tens of thousands of their people, was in their midst. Did you notice also that the king’s servants also said that David was the king of the land of Israel? Now David wasn’t officially king, but this saying would make some sense in that David had been fighting all the battles against the Philistines and therefore the Philistine peoples would have probably recognized David as king of Israel since he was so prevalent on the battlefield. Remember Saul was usually behind the front lines, far behind. It seems that even Saul’s enemies knew that the throne had been taken from him. Saul seems to be the only one blinded to his own situation by his pride.

In response to the king’s servants revealing who David was to the king, David became greatly afraid. This causes David to deceive a second time. David pretends to be insane. In verse 13 we see David acting insanely and scribbling words (probably incoherent words) on the gate and drooling. All of these signs would have indicated insanity on the part of David. In fact drooling down one’s beard was considered extremely disgraceful so a king of Israel would never be found doing such a thing unless he was truly mad. So the deception worked and king Achish sent David away. It seems that king Achish had enough madmen in his presence (as he sarcastically says) and didn’t need another one.

So David got out of yet another precarious situation. But we should see the hand of the Lord working here. David was getting himself into a bigger and bigger mess and trying to lie his way out of it each time. But the Lord was working to save David from harm even though David had taken his eyes off of the Lord temporarily. You see, the Lord had established that a man after His own heart would ascend to the throne and that man was David. There is nothing that Saul nor anyone (even David, in his own misguided efforts) could do to thwart the Lord’s sovereign plan. So while David was running in fear of his life, the Lord was always there protecting him. And we know that the Lord protected David because he was a man after God’s own heart.

To answer the question of “can deception ever be justified?” I think the cut-and-dry answer would be a resounding “no”. Deception is sin and there is no sin in the Lord even though He allows this sin to happen. Exodus 20:16 says: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” But the Bible is full of stories where deceit is used as a means of escaping danger or harm. In fact, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen deceit used in this manner in 1 Samuel. Also, another famous story of deceit is the story of Rahab in Joshua 2 where she lies to the kings men that were searching for the Israeli spies in Jericho. Then we see in Hebrews 11:31 where it says:

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

and in James 2:25:

In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Notice that nowhere does the Bible praise Rahab for lying, but rather it lifts up her faith (read Joshua 2 again and notice all of what Rahab says in that chapter, not just the lie she told). While we mere mortals are not yet perfected as our Saviour is, we will fail and use things such as lies and deception to protect ourselves and our loved ones. But the important thing to focus on is the faith that was given to us by our Lord. Both David and Saul deceived, but what was the difference between these two men? The difference was their hearts. David’s heart was always towards the Lord and Sauls was always towards himself. You see, the Lord looks at our heart, our innermost being and thoughts, not at the outside like man does. Remember what 1 Samuel 16:7 says:

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

So no, we should not deceive even when it seems right or our only option. Instead we should rely on the Lord for our strength and safety. This is of course no easy feat. I fail in this as we all do...even as David did. But we know grace covers our sins and the Lord is quick to forgive us our sins as we confess them. Even if we fail in this we can be comforted in the mercies of the Lord and that His sovereign purposes will be established in spite of our failings.

In the next chapter (22) we will see the repercussions of David’s lie to Ahimelech and how he handles the fallout.

I Samuel 21

Can deception ever be justified?

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household.

By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.

and in James 2:25:

In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

In the next chapter (22) we will see the repercussions of David’s lie to Ahimelech and how he handles the fallout.

I Samuel 20

“Then David fled...”

These three simple words set the tone for the rest of this chapter. Did you read this opening phrase in verse 1 and ask yourself, “Why did David flee?” When I began this study I did not ask that question. It took quite a few readings of this chapter along with deeper observation of what was happening between all the characters before I started asking, “Why flee?” But to answer this question we need to back up to the previous verses in 1 Samuel 19:23–24:

He [Saul] proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

The word “Then” in “Then David fled...” (some versions use the word “And” here) shows that this verse connects back to 1 Samuel 19:23-24 where Saul was overcome by the Spirit of the Lord and ended up taking off all of his clothes (as we talked about last time, this showed that the Lord had removed Saul from the throne) and then fell asleep for an entire day. Knowing this and the previous context in which the Lord engineered David’s protection through Jonathan (his friend), Michal (his wife) and finally through explicit intervention (the Spirit of the Lord overcoming Saul) we know that David was under the Lord’s all powerful protection. In fact, all David had to do it seems was to stay in Naioth with Samuel in order to stay safe.

But then at the beginning of chapter 20 it says “David fled...”. Notice now that the phrase is not “fled and escaped” as it was in several instances with David fleeing and escaping those who would do him harm in chapter 19. It just states that he fled. It seems that there was nothing to escape in Naioth. To get a more clear picture let’s back up to the verses in 1 Samuel 19:2–3:

So Jonathan told David saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. Now therefore, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. “I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you; if I find out anything, then I will tell you.”

and in verses 1 Samuel 19:11-12:

Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.” So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped.

Both Jonathan and Michal acted wisely and with the best interests of David at heart. However, both tell David to basically flee and escape. I cannot say for sure what was going on in David’s head, but surely David would be worn down physically and mentally from Saul’s constant attacks. I know I would be worn down. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to say that all these events were building up to where David was beginning to take his eyes off of the Lord and focus on the hopelessness of his situation. In fact verse 1 of chapter 20 continues the idea of the beginning of David’s backsliding away from the Lord. David (the anointed David, mind you) now flees when the Lord has just shown him three separate times that He will save his life no matter who comes after him.

The unveiling of David’s mind continues in verse 1 as he asks Jonathan three questions: “What have I done?”, “What is my iniquity?” and “What is my sin?” Notice the “I”, “my” and “my” in those three questions. They are all about David but the Lord is never mentioned. Now, granted, these are legitimate questions for the anointed David to ask as all of this must have been intensely confusing. Why would the Lord anoint him and then allow the unhinged Saul to remain on the throne? Well, the short answer to this is that the Lord was not finished moulding David into the king that would continue to follow after God’s own heart. You see, character and faith are born in the fire of adversity. And even though we stumble, we repent and learn from our mistakes.

The fact remains that David’s faith was being intensely tested and he was beginning to take his eyes off of the Lord and focus on his situation.

The rest of this chapter can be divided up into three distinct acts:

David meets with Jonathan.
Jonathan confronts his father.
Jonathan responds faithfully to his dear friend David.

In the first act, David confronts Jonathan with the fact that Saul is still trying to kill him. Jonathan does not believe him saying, “Far from it, you shall not die.” Then continues by telling David that his father would never do anything (like killing David) without consulting him first. But it seems at this point in time Jonathan had not heard that Saul was still trying to kill David, and most likely Jonathan didn’t know the real reason Saul went to Naioth (which was to kill David). Possibly Jonathan was dealing with other matters of state or possibly Philistine raiders, but whatever the reason Jonathan was in the dark concerning his father.

David tells Jonathan in verse 3 that Saul is not only still trying to kill David but that Saul will not tell Jonathan about it because he knows that Jonathan is on David’s side. Then Jonathan does something that only one could do out of love for David and faith in the Lord. He says, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” There is no arguing, no pride involved, just a caring love that puts David first even over his own self.

Now in verses 5-7 David concocts a scheme that will uncover the truth about Saul to Jonathan. Basically David asks Jonathan to lie for him. Granted this deception is designed to uncover Saul’s deception, but it is a lie nonetheless. We again see small hints of David looking at his own situation rather than keeping his eyes on the Lord. David will continue deceiving others in upcoming chapters sometimes with disastrous results, see 1 Samuel 22:22:

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household.

In verse 9 Jonathan insists that he will tell David the truth about what he learns from his father once Jonathan tells him that David has gone home. But David, in verse 10, answers with, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” thus indicating that David is truly concerned about Jonathan’s well being. David is concerned that Jonathan may not survive this encounter with his father due to his father’s state of mind and anger towards David. Indeed, David is correct here as Saul attempts to kill his son with a spear later in this chapter in verse 33. To answer David’s question, Jonathan takes David out into a field, presumably so they will not be overheard, and swears an oath before David with the Lord as witness. Jonathan says he will do as David asks and report back to David. If Saul truly is set on doing David harm, Jonathan will help David escape from Saul and his men safely. At the end of verse 13 Jonathan says “And may the LORD be with you as He has been with my father.” Jonathan is blessing David saying, “May the Lord be with you like He has been with my father.” The verb “has been” is in the perfective aspect and as such indicates something that has been completed or has come to an end in the past. Jonathan knew that the Lord had removed His Spirit from his father, but he wanted the Lord to continue to be with David as it was when the Lord’s spirit came upon Saul back when Saul was at least attempting to follow the Lord’s will.

Next in verse 14 Jonathan says, “If I am still alive...” This shows that he’s in agreement with David at least in part that truly his father could be angered enough to try to kill Jonathan. It wouldn’t be the first time. Jonathan then asks David to make another covenant with him that he and his household will not die when David assumes the throne, providing Jonathan survives his father’s wrath. It was wise for Jonathan to make this covenant with David since David assuming the throne could be messy and Jonathan wants to make sure he and his house continue their relationship with David and his household. But there is also a very real sense of faith at work in this covenant as Jonathan states “when” the enemies of David are cut off, not “if” they are cut off. Jonathan’s faith rests in the knowledge that the Lord will put David on the throne in the future. Contrast this with David’s actions here.

Verses 18-22 detail the manner in which Jonathan will inform David of whether his life is in jeopardy or not. Notice that this involves no contact between Jonathan and David. This way Jonathan can be certain that no potential onlookers could see David and inform the king of his whereabouts. Again, Jonathan is putting David’s life ahead of his own as he is making absolutely sure that David’s life is kept safe at all costs.

In the second act, Jonathan goes to the feast as it is the New Moon (or the first day of the month). The first day of the feast Saul did not think much of David’s absence, but on the second day Saul inquired of David’s whereabouts to Jonathan. When asking about David Saul can’t even speak his name, probably out of anger and disrespect, instead calling him the son of Jesse. Jonathan proceeds to tell Saul the story that David concocted about going home to sacrifice with his family as David had asked Jonathan to do. But this angers Saul since he sees through Jonathan’s ruse. As the text says, “Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan.” This word for “burned” indicated that Saul’s anger was growing more and more inside of him.

Saul’s first attack was verbal, saying to Jonathan, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!” This was more of a Hebrew idiom insulting Jonathan through defamation of the character of his mother. Oddly enough it wasn’t an attack on his mother per se but a heinous insult to Jonathan himself. Next Saul makes it known to Jonathan in no uncertain terms that indeed he knows that Jonathan is siding with David and not his own father the king (as David intimated to Jonathan back in verse 3). But despite Saul’s anger, he seems to give Jonathan one last chance to make amends. Notice that he tells Jonathan, “as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established.” As long as David is alive Saul vows that Jonathan will not be king, but this means that if David dies then Jonathan may become king. This vow is followed up, by Saul, with the command to bring David to him in order to kill him. Even in his rage, Saul is somewhat calculating and manipulative.

What is Jonathan to do? If he brings David to Saul he goes back on his covenant vows to David and witnessed by the Lord. If he says, “No” surely Saul’s anger will grow towards him and he will be disobeying a direct order from the king and probably wouldn’t have the people on his side this time (like when he ate of the honey and battled the Philistines). So in an act of courage and lovingkindness towards David he asks his father saying, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Saul has no good and righteous answer for this question. Saul is done with words. In the very next verse (33,) Saul hurls his spear at Jonathan with the intent to kill him. This physical answer to the question, “What has David done?” shows Jonathan that truly Saul intends evil towards David.

Look in verse 34 how Jonathan reacted to his own father, the king, who besmirched his integrity, tried to coerce him into bringing David in to face death and then finally tried to kill him. I could empathize with Jonathan when it says that he arose in fierce anger, not just anger but fierce anger. Jonathan was a seasoned warrior who was probably a very large man (since it is said that his father was also a head in height above all the people in Israel). This was not a person you wanted to be fiercely angry unless you were fighting the Philistines. I could picture at least one table being overturned by Jonathan as he left in anger. Imagine all the people who were eating and serving and doing various tasks as they witnessed the king’s unbridled anger.

Notice that soon after Jonathan’s anger turned to grief in verse 34 (this was also mentioned by David earlier in verse 3). After all that his father did to him, Jonathan was only grieved for David. Forget the harsh words or the attempted murder, Jonathan was only concerned for his friend...even above himself. This is what Jesus meant by a self-sacrificial love towards others. Jonathan’s love for David (as their souls were knit together) is the best and most clear example of that message.

Now we get to the third and most heartbreaking act starting in verse 35. Jonathan faithfully arrived at the appointed time to meet with David in order to give him the terrible news that indeed Saul intended harm to David. Jonathan brought a little boy with him to help retrieve the arrows that he would shoot out into the field near where David was hiding. This was the sign in which Jonathan would secretly inform David as to the intentions of the king. The key word here is secretly for David was putting his life in Jonathan’s hands, and if any word got out about where David was hiding or that Jonathan was helping David then surely David would be caught and killed. So we see several places in this section where Jonathan made great efforts to keep this meeting secret. First, he arrived only with a young lad who knew nothing of what was going on. And most likely because he was young, the adults would not have paid much attention to him even if he did see David in the field. Second, in verse 38 there is strong emphasis on the commands that Jonathan gave the boy when he said, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!”. In the ESV it is even more pronounced, “Hurry! Be quick! Do not stay!” Notice all the exclamation points. Jonathan wanted to keep the boy’s attention on retrieving the arrows so as not to be meandering about, possibly running across David hiding. Third, the little boy could provide some means to witness that Jonathan had only gone out to the field for target practice and not to meet with anyone. Fourth, in verse 39 there is another emphatic phrase, “...only Jonathan and David knew...” showing that Jonathan had been successful in both keeping the meeting secret as well as David’s whereabouts. Because Jonathan had faithfully kept his promise (vow) to David, not only was David assured that Jonathan was truly a friend like no other but also that Jonathan now knew the full extent of his father’s evil heart.

But notice here that when the little boy departed with Jonathan’s bow and arrows that David came out of hiding and met with Jonathan. Earlier in their vow Jonathan told David to run away (verse 22) if the king meant to harm him. But David instead came out of his hiding place and bowed down to Jonathan three times in a sign of reverential deference to Jonathan (even though they both knew that David was anointed the next king of Israel). Then they kissed one another showing a deep sign of friendship between them. Finally, they wept together. But David wept all the more.

In the final scene of this act we see David departing and Jonathan going back into the city. The agony of David being cast out of his own country and hunted by the king who he once would pacify and sooth with his melodic playing in the courts must have been beyond words. But let us not forget Jonathan who left to go back into the city where his father, who had just attempted to murder him, was. Think of that pain and the anxiety of having to face his father. But we get the sense here that that pain was fully overshadowed by the pain of finding out that his father wanted to kill his friend David and that he had to let go of his friend and let him run from the danger that was Saul. Surely the pain of this deep friendship being torn apart was more difficult to handle than going back to face his angry, evil father.

I Samuel 19

What does the Lord’s intercession look like in your life?

Chapter 19 marks a big turning point in Saul’s actions towards David. Saul has already tried to kill David directly and indirectly but all attempts have failed. Now Saul, in his frustration and fear of David, decides to “take off the gloves” and verbally decree that David is to be killed. Saul tells all of his servants and his son Jonathan to kill David in verse 1. In fact, from this section of text we get the sense that Saul’s main desire in life is not the people of Israel or his family or servants, but to eliminate David. This desire is probably the only thing that Saul thinks of on a daily basis.

Chapter 19 begins the narration of Saul’s overt pursuit of David in order to kill him. We may not have an unhinged king pursuing us with a singular desire to kill us, but as Christians we will be persecuted in various degrees. This is a fact of life for believers. As Jesus said...if they persecuted Him, they will also persecute us as we are not greater than Jesus. But just like David, we are also not alone in this battle. The Lord sees all and intercedes for us. Let’s look at how the Lord interceded for David.

The Intercession Of True Friends

Immediately after hearing these evil words from his father Saul, in verse 2, Jonathan tells David what his father intends. Notice that once again the author spells out that Jonathan “greatly delighted” in David. This is not the first time we’ve heard how much Jonathan loved David. This is critically important as the author is explicitly telling us over and over again how strong the relationship between Jonathan and David continued to be.

Jonathan loved David so much that he placed himself between his father the king, no less, and David. Jonathan speaks with his father in the field (somewhat near where David was hiding, possibly so that David may hear some of the conversation and know what was spoken) on behalf of David. Listen in verses 4-5 as Jonathan pleads David’s case to Saul. Jonathan begins by “speaking well” of David to Saul. This must have been a very tense situation for Jonathan; just think of the thoughts that must have been running through his head. Will my father accept my words or kill me because of them? Will he even listen? Will I be ostracized from the royal courts? But notice that instead of letting these other thoughts compete for his attention drawing him into a deep anxiety, he decides to push forward with what is right (defending David who was innocent). Not only that but Jonathan picked his words wisely (similar to how David was acting). I could see Jonathan spending much time picking and choosing the right words for this situation (note that I don’t mean to state that Jonathan picked these words on his own strength, but rather on the strength of his faith). This is wisdom used to defend the righteous at the risk of sacrificing one’s own life. This is someone that we all should aspire to model our lives after.

The well thought out argument began with the appeal for the king (note that Jonathan uses his father’s title here out of respect, whereas earlier he called him his father) to not do wrong (or sin) against his servant (note the use of more titles here to describe David’s position as lower to the king) David. Next Jonathan gives reason for the king to stay his hand against David. Jonathan makes two distinct arguments for not killing David. First, David has not done anything wrong against the king. David always acted wisely and prudently even when the king attempted to murder him on multiple occasions. Secondly, David’s deeds were of much benefit to the king. Remember back in the last chapter when the king was unable to figure out a way to “fix” the Goliath situation, and David stood up and not only defeated Goliath but pursued the fleeing Philistine army. Well now these good deeds (done in the power of the Lord’s Spirit, let’s not forget) did serve to benefit the king. A defeat by Goliath and the Philistines would have surely caused Saul an early demise.

Verse 5 lends details to David’s exploits against Goliath and the Philistines, further pushing the appeal. Then at the end of verse 5 Jonathan sums up his argument. Jonathan presents his final arguments saying, “Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?” This could have many ramifications for the king. By pursuing David, the king would be killing an innocent man. Jonathan loved David and so did the people of Israel. Important also is that the men of the army under David also seemed to admire and love David. There are so many ways this could go wrong for the king if he did indeed kill David. We know that from this wise argument that the king did listen to Jonathan and relent, taking a vow not to kill David but we’ll see how long that lasts.

Jonathan’s actions were not simple nor free of danger. Conversely, Jonathan was attempting to change the mind of a king who had consistently tried to kill David. Someone who was so unhinged that nothing else mattered to him but his throne, and he was convinced (rightly convinced) that David was the successor to his throne. But this was all made worse by the fact that back in chapter 14, Saul was intent on killing Jonathan, his own son, for the fact that he had eaten when Saul had expressly forbade eating until his enemies were vanquished. So Jonathan was in a very precarious situation and could not know if his words would calm or enrage the king. If his words enraged, then it was almost a surety that Jonathan would die. Fortunately, we know that Jonathan’s words had a more calming effect on Saul. However, this calm would not last.

The Lord will use trusted friends to intercede for us. However, the key word here is “trusted”. Jonathan proved himself a trusted friend as he sacrificed not only his title as successor to the throne to David but was also willing to sacrifice his very life if necessary to ensure David’s safety. Likewise we should not only seek out trusted friends but maybe, more importantly, we should BE that trusted friend to others!

The Intersession Of Family

After Jonathan’s intersession for David, we see an interlude in verses 7-10 where David is reinstated in Saul’s court (since Saul vowed not to kill him). But war breaks out again against the Philistines and David wins the day (in the Lord’s strength) once more. I’m sure this didn’t sit well with Saul as David was most likely getting more glory than Saul was for the defeat of the Philistines. Next we see the evil spirit from the Lord tormenting Saul as it was back in verses 18:10-11. We also see that the weapon of war (a spear) was in Saul’s hand while a weapon of peace (the harp) was in David’s hand. It doesn’t seem that the music was relieving Saul of the torment and Saul immediately goes back on his vow and attempts to murder David as before. This time though it does say that Saul did strike the wall. However, Saul still missed David as David was under the Lord’s protection.

Now it says in verse 10 that David “fled and escaped” from Saul that night. This begins a series of “fled and escaped” sections. This first is from Saul in his courts. The second is when David’s wife lowers him out of their window to escape Saul’s guards (verse 12). And the final one is when David runs to Samuel (verse 18). But back in verse 8 it states that the Philistines just “fled” David and his army. Notice it does not say “fled and escaped” since that would mean a successful fleeing from certain death. No, the Lord was with David and protected him at all times, unlike those uncircumcised Philistines! (note that this was taken from the NASB95 Bible, other translations may vary as to word interpretations)

In verses 11-17 we see Michal, David’s wife and Saul’s daughter, telling David (the one whom earlier we are told she loved) to escape since tomorrow Saul’s messengers will kill him. Michal let David out through their window (she must have been a strong woman) during the night so that David could successfully escape. Then Michal did the old “the one you are looking for is sick and in bed” ruse. Michal fashioned a household idol to make it look like David was sleeping in bed. Wait, did the author say “household idol” (or “image” in some versions)? This bears some explanation and to be honest, from my research, this is still debated as to what this word in Hebrew really means in this context. The Hebrew word terapim is typically translated here as “household idol” or “image” but it could also mean an “ancestor statue” or a “protective figure” of some sorts. From my study, I believe the translators are sensible in translating this word as “household idol”. My reasoning is as follows: Michal was the daughter of Saul who was not the most God obeying and God fearing person in Israel. In fact, he was starting to look like the kings of other nations. It would not be outside the realm of the possibility that Saul began to be influenced by other nations (in that he wanted to look as they did). One influence would have been idolatry. Let’s face facts; Saul worshiped himself over the Lord so it’s not a stretch to say that he would have also fell into idol worship. In 1 Samuel 15:23 it says:

“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”

We see Samuel chastising Saul here equating insubordination with the sin of idolatry (and yes, that’s the same Hebrew word terapim that we see in verse 13 in this chapter). Some theologians infer here that Saul was already caught up in idolatry. So we see that it is possible that Michal inherited her father’s idol worship and would have most likely brought these ideas and “idols” into her marriage with David. But wait, you say, what about the idol actually being in David and Michal’s house? Well, this could be explained with the inevitable absence of David from his own house while he carried on the war against the Philistines in verse 8. You see Saul wanted David to be away from him fighting his wars and when David was home, Saul wanted David in his courts so that he could keep an eye on him. So David wasn’t at home a whole lot and it would makes sense that Michal would fall into old routines with having idols around the house as she would have probably grown up with them around in Saul’s house.

But we must not miss one particular aspect of this story, that of how Michal treated this idol. It says she dressed it up and used it to deceive those lying in wait to kill David (Saul’s messengers). If Michal truly revered and worshiped this idol, it is highly unlikely she would have used it for such low purposes. Secondly, she used it for good to delay Saul’s men long enough for David to escape with his life.

Like Jonathan, Michal’s actions could have been seen as treasonous by her father Saul. She would have known that standing in the way of her father’s attempt to kill David would have surely lead to her death too. But here we see the Lord’s providential care over both David and Michal.

The Intercession Of The Lord

At this point David has fled and escaped Saul’s attempts on his life multiple times. Finally, he runs to Samuel at Ramah. After telling Samuel what Saul is trying to do to him, they both left for Naioth.

It is interesting that David ran to Samuel. Why did David run to Samuel? The obvious reason is that Samuel would have understood Saul’s mental state and would have offered David sanctuary, especially since Samuel had at this point separated himself from Saul. But there is another, more subtle, reason for David running to Samuel.

Samuel was the Lord’s prophet and judge. In fact we have already seen that Samuel feared and obeyed the Lord to the point that all of Israel listened to Samuel as if the Lord was speaking to them in their midst. In 1 Samuel 8:19:

Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, “No, but there shall be a king over us...”

Here the author of 1 Samuel uses the phrase “the voice of Samuel” in place of “the voice of the Lord”, showing the presence of the Lord in Samuel.

From this it’s no wonder that David ran to Samuel. Samuel’s relationship with the Lord was unshakable. It’s as if David was running to the Lord himself as represented in Samuel. Fortunately, today we don’t have to run to another physical location to meet up with the Lord. We have the Spirit of the Lord, the Lord himself, within us at all times.

Now Saul found out that David was with Samuel, and so he sent his men to capture David. The first group of men Saul sent came upon Samuel who was leading a group of prophets who were prophesying. That is, they were declaring and speaking publicly the Word of the Lord; contrast this to the evil spirit that tormented Saul causing him to rave. This is where the Lord steps in directly to prevent David’s death. As soon as Saul’s men came upon Samuel and the prophets, the Spirit of the Lord fell upon them immediately causing them to prophesy in the same manner as the prophets of Samuel. Saul’s men could no longer pursue and capture David as they had met the Spirit of the Lord face-to-face so to speak.

So Saul, hearing of this, was not deterred. He sent a second group of men after David. The Spirit of the Lord also fell on the second group. A third group was dispatched and the same occured to them. I wonder what happened to all three groups of men. Did they continue prophesying with the other prophets? Did each group return to Saul after prophesying before the next group was sent? I’m not sure, but we do know that each group was unable to capture David as they were stopped by the Spirit of the Lord.

After all three of Saul’s agents failed (in the same manner, nonetheless) Saul decided that he would go to kill David himself. As Saul proceeded to Naioth, the Spirit of the Lord fell on Saul as it had three times on his men before. I had to stop and wonder if Saul, upon hearing that even his own men were receiving the Spirit of the Lord, thought that he might go as well and also receive that which had been taken away from him. Of course this thought would have been rooted in selfishness, jealousy and pride and we know that is not how the Lord works. Note that the text does not explicitly say this nor does any of the commentaries that I read, so this idea should be taken with a grain of salt.

Lo and behold the Lord does send His Spirit on Saul in verse 23. Like his predecessors, Saul too prophesied as he traveled to Naioth. But this sending of the Spirit on Saul was not to empower him but for judgement. Once Saul arrived in Naioth, he prophesied in front of Samuel and then he took off his armor and royal robes and collapsed for a full day (24 hours). This removal of Saul’s armor and royal robes echos back to when Jonathan took off his armor and royal robes and gave them to David (1 Samuel 18:3-4) to show the transfer of Jonathan’s title as prince and successor to the throne to David. But here Saul simply removes his armor and robes under the overwhelming power of the Spirit of the Lord. This signifies Saul’s loss of his kingship.

Finally at the end of verse 24 it says “Therefore they say, ‘Is Saul also among the prophets?’” The people also asked this same question back when Saul was first anointed and received the Spirit of the Lord in 1 Samuel 10:11:

It came about, when all who knew him previously saw that he prophesied now with the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Back in chapter 10 this question was asked because the people were so surprised to see Saul prophesying as Saul was mostly unknown among the people at that time. However, here (after all that has happened with Saul between chapters 10 and 19) the people ask this same question but with a more critical eye towards Saul...essentially expressing their wonder as to why Saul, who was such a poor and faithless leader as compared to David, was now prophesying alongside Samuel and the other prophets. This seemed so out-of-character with Saul that the question of, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” is now a sarcasm instead of a rhetorical question.

I Samuel 18

Who do you think was the more difficult foe for David, Goliath or Saul?

It’s sometimes difficult to see but David had to face not one but two seemingly insurmountable foes in rapid succession, Goliath in chapter 17 and Saul here in chapter 18. It seems to me that the story of David vs. Goliath is one of the lesser winning out over the greater, which is highly valued in society...and makes for a great Hollywood movie. But that story always seems to overshadow another story in this chapter, David vs. Saul (as an aside it’s interesting to note that Saul too was of great stature, taller than any other Israelite by a head). If we listen carefully to the narration in this chapter of how Saul sought to kill David we can gain even more insights into both David’s faithfulness and Saul’s faithlessness.

Before we get too far into chapter 18 it would benefit us to revisit Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1–10:

Then Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; My horn is exalted in the LORD, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. There is no one holy like the LORD, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God. Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the LORD is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes. The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He set the world on them. He keeps the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a man prevail. Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed.

Notice how Hannah’s prayer was clearly praise to the Lord’s faithfulness and power but also notice how it is foretelling of the story of David vs. Saul, especially in verse 2:10.

Saul’s Worry

In verse 2 in chapter 18 we see that Saul “took” David and “did not let him return” to his father’s house where he would have most likely gone back to tending sheep (to which I’m sure one of his brothers was demoted to performing that duty). We may think that Saul here was being nice to David by taking him in and providing a much more lavish and comfortable lifestyle than David had before as a shepherd. But with the addition of Saul not letting David return to his father (as he did in 1 Samuel 17:15 when Saul let David go back and forth between the king’s court and his father’s house) we get the sense that this was not a good thing that Saul was doing for David. In fact, as we understand the escalating hatred of Saul towards David throughout this chapter we beginning to realize that this “taking in of David” by Saul was more so that Saul could keep a watchful eye on this new champion of Israel. Saul was concerned (even worried) that his kingship may be in jeopardy since this young boy defeated a giant while he did nothing. You’ve heard the phrase, “keep you friends close and your enemies closer”. Well, this is just what is happening here.

To make matters worse for Saul, Jonathan (Saul’s son) not only made a covenant with David but gave him his clothing, armor, belt and weapons. The covenant shows Jonathan’s love, devotion and loyalty to David. We are also told that Jonathan loved David as himself (sounds a bit like the golden rule). Now Jonathan could have stopped there but he strips down and gives David everything he is wearing. This is important to understand since Jonathan is basically relinquishing his title as prince (successor to Saul’s throne) and giving David this title. Jonathan sees who David truly is, the anointed king. It is interesting that Saul is also beginning to see this same thing. However, both Jonathan and Saul treat David in a diametrically opposed manner (i.e., one loves David and one hates him).

Saul’s Anger

In verse 8 we see Saul’s worry turn into anger as the women came out and sang that Saul had killed his thousands while David his ten thousands. This was a very true statement. While Saul was cowering and trying to come up with a plan to defeat the Philistines both Jonathan and David (at separate times) had taken the initiative and attacked the Philistines with the Lord’s help. Also, remember how Saul had made that silly oath that no one would eat until the Philistines had been defeated. Well, that oath prevented the army from doing just that, fully wiping out the Philistine threat. Now as David was returning from beheading the giant and defeating the Philistine army, the people were honoring David above Saul. I wonder if that song the women sang was intended as a direct stab at Saul.

Saul’s Suspicion

At the end of verse 8 and into verse 9 Saul, in his anger, basically says that the only thing left for David to have is to be king over Israel. This was cause for Saul to regard David with suspicion. Some translations use the term Jealousy instead of suspicion. Either way, Saul’s suspicion/jealousy would completely control his actions from here on. It is interesting how this section (verses 1-9) plays out. Saul first worries about this new upstart that has done what he could only hope to do (i.e., defeat Goliath). This worry turns quickly into anger as Saul sees that the people (correctly) give more credit to David. This anger forms into a seething suspicion (including jealousy) of David and his motives. Surely the words of Samuel were still reverberating in Saul’s ears from 1 Samuel 15:28:

So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor, who is better than you.

Now we have a very good picture of Saul and his mindset towards David. Let’s see how this begins to escalate throughout the rest of the chapter and how David responds.

David Physically Attacked (verses 10-11)

Now the next day we see the distressing (evil) spirit of God again beset Saul in a powerful way, much more so than when this spirit previously beset Saul. This spirit tormented Saul to the point he began to prophesy. We should look closer at this word “prophesy”; Although, some translations translate this word as “rave”. But prophesy in this context does not mean to foretell the future. Rather it means that Saul was speaking out loud before others who were in his house prompted by this evil spirit (note also earlier in this book that the Spirit of the Lord also caused people to prophesy in a different, non-raving, manner). Now we can better understand what this looked like by noting that once the evil spirit fell upon Saul then he began prophesying/raving in his house.

As an aside, you may be wondering why I made this last statement. That is, why did I say that the evil spirit fell upon Saul THEN he began prophesying/raving. Well, this warrants a brief look at conjunctions in Hebrew. Hebrew conjunctions are different from what we see in Greek and even in English. Many Hebrew conjunctions, such as the one here in verse 10, are actually a character attached to a word (the verb prophesy or rave in this verse). This particular conjunction in the Hebrew is called a Vav-Relative Imperfect (since the Vav-Relative conjunction is prefixed to the imperfect verb prophesy/rave). Anyway, what this means is that this conjunction “and” in verse 10 expresses temporal succession. And what that means is that this conjunction is basically saying, “The next thing that happened was...” So this word “and” here logically connects the evil spirit coming on Saul with Saul’s ravings. Actually, in 1 Samuel this type of conjunction happens quite a lot.

Now all we have to do is compare this to when the Spirit of the Lord fell on Saul back in verse 1 Samuel 19:23–24:

He proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Notice that Saul here prophesied (not raved in this context) before Samuel once the Spirit of the Lord was with him. Also of note is the first “and” in verse 19:24 that is also a Vav-Relative, attached to an Imperfect verb. So while the Spirit of the Lord caused Saul to prophesy in line with the Spirit’s leading, the evil spirit that the Lord sent cause Saul to rave as a lunatic. I could only imagine what Saul was saying out loud in his own house.

Of course, in good form, here was David right beside Saul trying to sooth him with his music. But it seems that this spirit was tormenting Saul so deeply that David’s music had no effect. And then you see in verse 10 that David had his harp in his hand and the narrator contrasts this with the spear that was in Saul’s hand. I love when the narrator in 1 Samuel writes in a way that allows easy comparisons and contrasts between each person in this book. You could simply do an entire study on each of the main characters in 1 Samuel and how they compare or are contrasted with others in this same book. But here we have what is in David’s hand (a harp) that is used to sooth Saul’s torment from the evil spirit contrasted with the spear in Saul’s hand, which is an implement of war and of killing. Never once does that change according to the narrator. We don’t see David exchange his harp for a weapon nor do we see Saul exchange his spear for an olive branch. This echo’s what David said to Goliath back in 1 Samuel 17:47:

“and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.” David knew (and lived by the fact that) his Lord would deliver him and that David did not have to pick up a spear or sword to defend himself. The Lord was his deliverer.

Next we see Saul using the spear in his hand in an attempt on David’s life. But this was not just Saul angrily throwing a spear at David to kill him. No, Saul was so enraged that he was thinking not only would he kill David with it, but he wanted to actually pin him to the wall with the spear. Not only was there murder in Saul’s actions, but he wanted to make a spectacle of David’s death, perhaps so that other’s wouldn’t get the idea to usurp Saul’s throne in the future.

What did David do? He never once attacked Saul physically or verbally. He simply escaped Saul, running from Saul’s presence. This echos the story of what Joseph did when confronted with Potiphar’s wife’s advances. Joseph like David simply ran from the enemy’s presence. But we know that David was not alone in this trial, his Lord was with him in His Spirit. The Lord’s providential care was over David as the Lord’s sovereign will had yet to be fulfilled.

David Exiled (verses 12-16)

Saul’s direct attempts to kill David had failed. This caused Saul to be afraid of David. This was no “fear out of respect” that we saw in 1 Samuel 12:14: “If you will fear the LORD and serve Him...” No, this was a dreadful fear that terrified Saul. Saul now knows for sure that the Lord has departed from him and was now with David. But do you see what Saul does because of this new revelation. In verse 13a it says, “therefore Saul removed him [David] from his presence...” Just as the Lord removed Saul from His presence (by removing His Spirit), Saul now removed David from his presence. It’s as if Saul is acting like a two year old (if I can’t have what I want than neither can you). What’s worse is that this is starting to sound as if Saul is thinking as if he is like God (this is not a stretch as many nations of this time viewed there kings as gods or like gods). Saul is doing to David what the Lord did to him.

So Saul came up with a new idea. Maybe he couldn’t kill David but he could send him far away. Saul basically exiles David in verse 13b when he makes David a military commander of a large number of men. This meant that David would be away from Saul, maybe permanently. But this too backfired on Saul. David acted wisely and the Lord was giving David success wherever he went. Not only that but the people of Israel all loved and respected David, unlike Saul.

What did David do? Again David never once attacks Saul physically or verbally. Instead David obeys Saul. This seems strange, why would David be so passive with Saul. David was the rightful ruler of Israel, he had Jonathan’s clothes, armor, belt and weapons, David also had the people’s love and affection. Why not just take what was rightfully his? Well, we have clues as to the mind of David. One clue is in the way David loved the Lord (the living God as he would say) and how he loved the people of Israel as we see in 1 Samuel 17:26:

Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?”

And in 1 Samuel 17:37:

And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

Now taking a king’s throne by force is a very messy business (not that I’ve ever done that). If David had risen up and taken Saul’s throne by force think of all the harm it could have done to the people of Israel. People would have died. Families would have to take sides, probably under the fear of death. Things would have been thrown into chaos. But most importantly the Lord would not have the glory. I believe David didn’t want to put the people through all of that but there is a greater reason than just this. David knew that the Lord would deliver him as He had done so many times before. David knew that his patience would allow the Lord to act. David loved the Lord so much that he would risk the throne just as long as the Lord would be glorified and honored first.

David Attacked By Proxy (verses 17-19)

Saul had now failed twice to kill or rid himself of David. He had to get a little more creative in his next attempt. Maybe Saul could find someone else to kill David.

Saul had earlier given out a reward to the man who defeated Goliath. Part of that reward was his daughter’s hand in marriage, see 1 Samuel 17:25:

The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel.”

So Saul thought that he’d give his daughter Merab to David. However, David came from a poor background and wouldn’t have anything to offer the king in return (i.e., a dowry used in Eastern countries as a way to purchase a wife). Saul, knowing this, told David to go out and be valiant and fight the Lord’s battles against Israel’s enemies (it is interesting to note that Saul now uses the phrase “the Lord’s battles” where before he would typically say “his battles” or “his enemies”). But Saul had an ulterior motive behind this. Saul was hoping that in one of the numerous battles David would be killed.

What did David do? David acted wisely. Not so long ago Saul tried to viciously kill David with a spear (actually more than once). This would have been something that David would have considered when Saul offered him his daughter. I believe that David’s line of reasoning was that of, “Why is Saul, the one who was just the other day trying to murder me at multiple times, now being so nice to me. Saul is graciously giving me his daughter’s hand in marriage and allowing me to pay him a dowry for his daughter by going to war with the Lord’s enemies.” This couldn’t have made sense to David. Surely Saul had a more devious desire in mind for him.

So David, through the Spirit’s guidance, had to have come to the conclusion that something else was at work here and it wasn’t the Lord. Through this straightforward observation of Saul and through the Lord’s Spirit’s prompting David to respond in such a way. David both did not provoke Saul and at the same time sidestepped this evil plan of Saul’s. David simply stated that he was nobody and that he was not worthy to become the king’s son-in-law. Notice that David even posed this as a rhetorical question to Saul, further limiting Saul’s response.

A Snare Set For David (verses 20-28)

The Lord was not with Saul, causing him to descend still deeper into despair and fear of David. While the Lord was with David, enabling him not only to successfully dodge Saul’s attacks but also to increasingly gain the favor of the people of Israel. The reason for David’s success is directly attributed to the Lord’s Spirit on David. Saul knows this but still hardens his heart towards both the Lord and David (sounds a bit like Pharaoh, doesn’t it).

In verse 20 Saul is told that Michal, his daughter, is in love with David. Rather that preventing the union Saul contrives another trap similar to the one he used with Merab. Saul would set Michal as a snare to David enticing him to take Michal as his wife (i.e., in other words, taking the bait). However, Saul knew David’s response would be the same as with Merab, that he had no dowry to give the king for his daughter. Knowing this, Saul was ready with a reply to David that all he had to do is give him 100 foreskins from the Philistines. This would have been a fairly easy feat for David to accomplish, however it was not without its danger. Saul couldn’t get David to fight battles (plural) when he offered David his daughter Merab but Saul in his deviousness thought that if he could entice David to go into a battle (or maybe 2 or 3 smaller skirmishes) with the Philistines and return a much more specific prize (i.e., 100 foreskins) that his trap would be sprung and David would die fighting.

We see in verse 26 that David, upon hearing that Saul only wanted 100 foreskins for his daughter’s hand in marriage, was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Wait! What!?!? Saul earlier tried to use the same basic trap to entice David to go to war for him and hopefully die in battle. But David saw through that scheme and wisely walked away. Now David is (probably) knowingly walking into Saul’s snare. How could this be! Well we know that Mishal loved David and that love was most likely reciprocated. And this time, with Michal, the “dowry” required by Saul was limited. Previously, Saul required David to go out and fight his battles, that is “battles”, possibly without limitations, whereas here there was a specific limit which was easily attainable by David. most importantly, we know (and David knew) that since the Lord was with David that he would be victorious in his battles against the Philistines. So David must have thought that this was a perfectly satisfactory and easily to satisfy request from the king.

In verse 27 David proved that this was a easy feat for him to accomplish, having the Sprit of the Lord on him. In fact David doubled the request from the king and brought back 200 foreskins instead of the required 100. Further proving that the Lord was with David.

Conclusion

Notice the progression of both Saul and David throughout this chapter. Saul progressed deeper into fear and desperation as he tried progressively more devious methods to murder David. Throughout this chapter three times it is said of Saul that he feared David (verses 12, 15 and 29). In verse 29 it says that Saul was even more afraid of David showing the deep progression of his fear. Contrary to that David progressively grew more loved and esteemed in the eyes of the people. David’s success grew in spite of the fact that Saul tried to kill or exile him. You see with the Lord we, like David, are protected under His sovereignty. This doesn’t mean we will not encounter danger (remember how David had to dodge Saul’s spears and go into battle to acquire the 200 foreskins). Nor does it mean that we will not be exiled or persecuted (remember how Saul removed David from his presence and in a way exiled him). But in all of this that David suffered he always acted faithfully and wisely, and we can’t forget patiently as well.

I Samuel 17

When faced with a dire situation where do you place your faith?

In chapter 17 the Philistine and Israeli armies had gathered together to fight, but each army held high ground with a deep valley separating the two. In order to attack each other, one army would have to come down in to the valley and then fight an uphill battle against the opposing army. This was not an enviable situation for either army. Let’s examine how each side dealt with this situation.

The Philistine Strategy

The Philistines came up with an interesting strategy to win the war with minimal casualties (actually no casualties...if the plan succeeded). They took their largest most impressive warrior (a fighter from youth, large in size), outfitted him with armor from head to toe and gave him several weapons (javelin, spear and sword). Then they had this warrior stand in the valley between the two armies and taunt the Israeli army mercilessly. This warrior gave Israel an ultimatum: fight me and win and we will be your servants or fight me and lose and you will be our servants.

The Philistines had obviously placed their faith in what they saw. On paper, Goliath was an unstoppable force. He was large and imposing, armored with the best armor (the scale armor weighed in at an impressive 126 lbs...imagine the strength necessary to walk around in that) and arrayed with powerful weapons. But that wasn’t all that Goliath brought to the table. He also was adept at psychological warfare. Notice how he taunts the Israeli army. First Goliath mocks Israel saying, “Why have you come out to line up for battle?” Earlier (in previous chapters) we saw most of the Israelites run and hide in caves before the massive Philistine army. Surely Goliath is bringing this stinging truth back to Israel’s mind. Then he continues with, “Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul?” This is a remark directed at Israel’s turning from the Lord and desiring to set up an earthly king for herself. Remember earlier in 1 Samuel that there were times that the Philistines knew of the Lord’s protection of Israel? One specific case of this is when the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant and the Lord’s judgement fell on the Philistines. Now Goliath is specifically attacking Israel saying in effect, “Where is your God?” Now is where Goliath presents the challenge for Israel to send out a warrior to face him in combat...the loser subjecting his nation to servitude.

It seems as if the Philistines had done their homework and had created a situation where they could not lose. In fact, the narration bears this out. Saul and the people (remember the Lord took His spirit away from Saul at this time) were dismayed (having no courage) and terrified of Goliath and his challenge. Saul was pretty much useless as king. There was no enabling Spirit of the Lord to guide him and give him courage. Not only was Saul useless but his troops did nothing out of fear. This went on for 40 days. It seemed as if all hope was lost.

David’s Strategy...Faithfulness

Then David enters the scene. Directed by his father to go to the front lines to give his brothers food and to give their commander a spread of cheeses (perhaps to entice the commander to keep Jesse’s sons safe or to put them in the commander’s good graces), David does as his father asks and meets up with his brothers. It is interesting here that the author specifies that David went back to his shepherding duties while his three eldest brothers followed Saul into battle. The three brothers that the Lord had rejected were following the one that the Lord had rejected as King. All of this happened after David had been anointed instead of his brothers. Not only were the brothers still following a man who made (and is making) poor decisions (remember the fiasco with Saul’s oath for no one to eat until he had his revenge on the Philistines) but later in verse 28 we see David’s oldest brother chastising David saying that he has an evil heart and is arrogant. So David’s brothers were showing their hardened hearts, a further vindication of the Lord’s rejection of them.

David’s Discourse With His Brothers And The Army

As David was dropping off the supplies for his brothers on the front line in verse 22, he went out to greet his brothers and see how they were doing so as to bring back word of them to their father. Goliath once again showed himself in defiance...ridiculing and challenging the Israeli army. The Israelis once again fled and were greatly terrified. They told David of Goliath and the reward that Saul would give to the man who defeated Goliath. This is an interesting dichotomy between David and Saul right here. David is literally on the front lines seeing first hand what is going on while Saul is way at the back away from the battle. Saul is not acting to defeat Goliath (Saul’s “valiant” acts have now ceased); rather, Saul is encouraging someone else to defeat Goliath by offering a prize to whomever defeats the giant (including money, his daughter and to live free in the land forever, that is to not pay any more taxes).

So now David knows of the reward for killing Goliath, but in verse 26 David spoke again to the fearing men of the army of Israel reiterating the question of what Saul will give to the man who kills Goliath. David is not asking a question here. He is presenting a rhetorical question designed to boost moral and make the men on the front lines consider taking action rather than cowering. And then David says something very wise thus showing his faithfulness. David asks another rhetorical follow up question, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?” It’s as if David puts Goliath on one side of a scale and the living God on the other side. The scales will always tilt towards the living God and never towards a man. David is comparing the evil unclean Goliath to the living God. There can be no comparison; God always is victorious. But did you see that David also describes God as the living God, further showing David’s faith in God. David viewed the Lord as active and living, not as the Philistine idols that were made of wood and metal, totally dead.

David was now doing what the king should have been doing...standing with his men at the front line facing the enemy, bolstering his troops and not hiding behind the lines where it was safe. We are seeing verses 1 Samuel 12:24-25 being played out right before our eyes:

“Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. “But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.”

King Saul and his army were performing wickedly, fearing man (Goliath) and disobeying the Lord. Whereas David was doing the opposite, fearing the Lord and obeying. Like Jonathan and Samuel before him, the Lord was about to use one man who is faithful to carry out His will. And like Jonathan as with David, the entire army of Israel was left behind not to participate in the Lord’s will (that is, until after the Lord gave the victory to both Jonathan and David, then the armies found their courage).

But even after all of this encouragement by David the army of Israel would not cease to fear Goliath. In verse 27 the men of the army replied to David that yes, whomever defeats Goliath will get a reward. They would recognize that the man who defeats Goliath would get a reward, but none of them were willing to be that man! Then we see Eliab’s anger towards David for trying to encourage the troops in verses 28-29, thinking that David just wanted to be a spectator with a front row seat to the fight. Of course we know this couldn’t be farther from the truth. But David continued to bolster the troops as we see in verse 30 as he left his brothers.

David And Saul’s Discourse

Now during this time, someone told Saul what David was saying to the troops. Saul in the excitement of his cowardice, thinking that he’d finally found his champion who might defeat Goliath, calls David to his presence. Let’s break down the conversation between Saul and David in verses 1 Samuel 17:32–37:

David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

First David shows real concern for the troops. David does not want their hearts (courage) to fail them because of Goliath. David then states that he will step into the gap between the troops and Goliath and fight Goliath (knowing this would be a fight to the death). Saul replies as one would who is walking by sight. Saul sees Goliath and David in comparison and immediately states that David is no match for Goliath. Imagine Saul’s elation descending back into fear at seeing David.

In response to Saul’s “fear of man” response, David assures him that indeed he has fought beasts of the field (possibly even more significantly dangerous than Goliath) such as bears and lions with nothing but a Shepard's staff and a sling. Notice also in David’s description of battling bears and lions that David sought them out and attacked them, killing them if they turned and attacked him. David was no weakling, no underdog. The Lord had raised David from a youth to be a leader and fearless warrior. Now, since Goliath had disrespected the armies of the living God (here we see David specify “living” to describe God), David would see and contend with this Philistine just as he saw and contended with the bear and lion. David was not afraid of Goliath or what he saw Goliath to be. David loved and adored the Lord so much that to even disparage the people of the Lord was a sin that necessitated the death of Goliath.

David’s final response to Saul showed the full depth of his faith. David says that the Lord delivered him from the bear and the lion and He will deliver him from Goliath. Compare this to what Jonathan says in 1 Samuel 14:10:

“But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, for the LORD has given them into our hands; and this shall be the sign to us.”

Jonathan states that the Lord “has already given” (a verb in the past tense of a perfective aspect) the victory. In other words, Jonathan’s faith knows that the Lord has already given the victory. Whereas David says in verse 37, “He will deliver me from the hand of the Philistines.” David is using the future tense “will deliver” to show once again that his faith in the Lord to save him from yet another seemingly overwhelming problem is firm. With both men there is no hesitation, there is no questioning and there is no fear. With Jonathan’s faith he knows the Lord has already given him the victory, but with David’s faith he knows that the Lord will indeed give him the victory. Their faith has set in their minds that the Lord provides the victory.

David And Goliath’s Discourse

Next we see David preparing to do battle with Goliath. David grabs his staff and some choice rocks for his sling and proceeds to meet Goliath on the battlefield. Let’s examine how David handles Goliath’s taunts in 1 Samuel 17:42–47:

When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

Goliath obviously has no respect for David (or the Lord for that matter) as Goliath sees a much smaller, weaker, younger and less armed opponent. Goliath probably saw David being sent out to battle him as an insult by the Israelis. Then Goliath cursed David by his gods. Finally, Goliath says to David to “come to me”, which evokes the image of Jonathan asking for a sign from the Lord that the Philistines would also call him to “come to them”, and that Goliath would feed the birds of the sky and beasts of the field with David’s body.

Then David replied. David acknowledges Goliath’s power but does not respond in kind. Rather, David responds that he comes in the name of the Lord of hosts. David associates himself with the almighty Lord, emphasizing that it is not that he comes in his own earthly power but in the power of the Lord, the Lord who is the God of the armies of Israel. This is in direct contrast to how Goliath addressed the army of Israel in verse 8 where he called the army of Israel the servants of Saul (not the Lord). David is setting the story straight. Goliath wasn’t just taunting the army of Israel but the Lord Himself.

Then David not only tells Goliath that he will kill him but how (that the Lord will deliver Goliath into David’s hands) and the result (Goliath’s head will be removed from his body). But David doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say that not only will Goliath die right here but that the army of the Philistines will feed the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field (echoing what Goliath said about David). Notice that Goliath only sought to kill a single man but David empowered by the Spirit sought to kill Goliath and the rest of the Philistine army. This was all for the Glory of the Lord as David said this would all be done to let all the earth understand that the God in Israel is real and that the Lord saves His people.

David had experience going up against bigger, stronger foes such as bears and lions. Without a doubt David could have “borrowed” a sword or spear from Saul’s extensive armory, but David decided not to. Saul wanted to clothe David in his best armor and give him his best weapons but David says, “No.” Instead David goes out to meet Goliath just as he would go out to protect his sheep...with his simple clothes (offering no real protection), a staff and a sling. All this was seemingly insignificant compared to what David would go up against. This is yet another example of David’s faith in action. David didn’t give himself every advantage that he could find. Rather, David humbly gave room for the Lord to work. Without this room for the Lord to work, less glory would have been given to the Lord and both armies would not have witnessed the overwhelming power of the Lord working through David.

The last line of David’s discourse with Goliath is probably the most important for us to clearly understand. David says that the Lord does not deliver (save from destruction) by man made weapons like the sword or spear; rather, the battle itself is the Lord’s and the Lord will make David (and Israel) victorious. David, by not bringing a sword or spear to the battle, was showing literally that the Lord, through David, does not battle as man battles. (This also echos the idea in verse 16:7 when the Lord says that He does not see as man sees.) Whatever disadvantage David was at, it did not matter because the battle was the Lord’s. This is important for us to understand today. Do we try to fight with the sword and spear...cutting words and flaming darts sent towards our enemies? Or do we, like David, show up to the battle without armor and with only simple common weapons...wisdom and faith. If we truly know and understand that the battle is (and always has been) the Lord’s, we might do as David did.

Listen again as David speaks:

1 Samuel 17:32:

David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:36–37:

“Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

1 Samuel 17:45–47:

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

I Samuel 16

With what measure do you judge others, especially leaders?

With elections upon us, 1 Samuel 16 is a most relevant message for us today. How would you judge a person worthy as a leader or elected official? It is so easy to look at the outside of the person: are they good looking, charismatic, an effective speaker, do they say what you want to hear? But how do we look at their character, their heart as the Lord does? As it says in 1 Samuel 16:7:

How do we look at the heart of a person rather than the external appearance? Well, let’s start with what not to look at.

But first a quick note on the structure of chapter 16. Verses 1-13 narrate the choosing and anointing of David as the Lord’s new king for Israel. Whereas the rest of the chapter (verses 14-23) narrate the fall of Saul as king of Israel. But these two sections have a common thread between them, the person of David. We see the Lord’s providence at work as He raises up David while simultaneously rejecting Saul as king. The Lord’s providence is even more clear in the second part of this chapter as David is invited into king Saul’s court, thus beginning the establishment of David’s rule under the nose of Saul.

Chapter 16 begins with The Lord instructing Samuel to go to Bethlehem and anoint the new king that the Lord has chosen. Samuel obeys, somewhat reluctantly due to a fear of reprisal from Saul. Upon Samuel’s arrival in Bethlehem he prepares Jesse the Bethlehemite and his sons for the sacrifice. As Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice they entered in a certain order. The firstborn of Jesse entered first followed by the second born and so on until the next to youngest son entered (the youngest son seems to have not been invited).

Then in verse 6 we see that Samuel looked at Eliab the firstborn and thought that surely the one that the Lord wants Samuel to anoint is Eliab. But in verse 7 the Lord says to Samuel that this is not the one to be anointed. It’s interesting that the Lord also says to not look at Eliab’s appearance or his stature. The Lord does not tell Samuel that because of Eliab’s appearance He is rejecting him but simply to not take into account external appearances. This becomes important as David enters the scene.

Verse 7 continues with explaining that the Lord looks at a person’s heart. The Lord does not look upon a person as we do. We look at the physical or outward appearance. And we tend to be drawn to people by their outward appearance, not so with the Lord. But how do we look at a person’s heart as the Lord does? First we need to define what “heart” means to the Hebrews at this time. The heart was a concept that consisted of a person’s intellect, emotions, will and desires. The heart was what was inside a person, unseen by all but the Lord. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. We cannot physically “see” intellect, emotions, will and desires but we can see the outworking of those things. Remember back from the study on Matthew in Mt 12:34-35:

“You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.”

From this we can infer that we can “see”, in a manner of speaking, a person’s heart. If the person’s heart is filled with good then what that person says and does will align with goodness. Likewise, an evil person will speak and act according to the evil that fills his/her heart. But it takes time to discern a person’s heart. Yes, the Spirit of the Lord is there to help us and guide us on these matters, but sometimes the Lord will be silent in this matter in order to possibly teach us a valuable lesson. I remember there was a person in a church that I attended a long time ago in another state. This person did all the right things and said all the right Christian words, but his heart was not right with the Lord (in fact I doubt that he was ever a Christian due to the outpouring of his heart). I considered this person a friend and brother in the faith, but soon his heart was let loose. It started slowly, a few odd things were said and maybe some out-of-place behaviors came out, nothing too terrible, just odd. But then things grew out-of-hand and his mouth could not hold back the vitriol that was overflowing in his heart. Long story short, this created a huge rift in the church and we all parted ways. Maybe I didn’t listen closely enough to the Spirit’s leading or maybe the Lord wanted me to go through this for some greater good, maybe just such a time as this where I can use this lesson from the Lord to more clearly present Gospel truth. I should really pray for him right now...

We must always keep in mind that the Lord knows us better than we can even know ourselves as it says in Jeremiah 17:10:

“I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

And in 1 Chronicles 28:9:

“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.”

Back to Samuel…we see in verses 8-10 that all of Jesse's sons passed before Samuel and the Lord rejected each in turn. That must have been a little confusing to Samuel. The Lord sent him to anoint the next king of Israel and the chosen one never showed up. What Samuel didn’t know (until he asked Jesse) was that there was an eighth son that was out in the fields tending the sheep.

Jesse here was also looking at the external. He probably thought that his firstborn Eliab was the best looking and had the best pedigree as he was the firstborn, which was a big deal in the Hebrew culture. So he put Eliab first in line to show off to Samuel. Surely David, the youngest, was not important enough to warrant him being present for the sacrifice, plus the sheep needed tending. But the Lord saw not as Jesse saw. The Lord wanted the youngest son, whose heart was aligned with His, to become the next king. Who does David sound like? Someone who faithfully tends his father’s sheep and who also is king...Jesus Christ our Lord! In fact, Jesus would be a descendant of the line of David thus fulfilling prophecy.

Already we see certain aspects of David that show he has a good heart. He obeys his father even when that means that he won’t be attending an important event (an event designed for him, no less). He works as a shepherd which requires a great amount of humility as shepherds were usually dirty and smelly since they spent most of their time close to the sheep out in the wilderness. But did you notice in verse 12 that David’s external appearance was handsome? Wait, didn’t the Lord just reject Eliab, Jesse’s firstborn, because of this? Well, no...the Lord does not see as man sees. The Lord sees the heart, and David’s heart was much better than his brothers’. Just read any of the Psalms that David wrote (Psalm 27, for example). It just so happened that David’s appearance was pleasing. However, it’s always the heart the Lord is concerned with.

>Then in verse 13 the Lord told Samuel to anoint David. This would be the first anointing of 3. This first one would be done in secret. Well, sort of in secret since David’s family was present and probably a number of the elders that Samuel encountered as he entered Bethlehem. Some semblance of secrecy was necessary as Saul was still acting king of Israel and would continue to be for some time. The Lord would use this time to prepare David for his kingship.

Now this anointing was done in the midst of David’s brothers. Right here I’m reminded of the story of Joseph (in Genesis) and how his brothers conspired to kill him since he was his father’s favorite and how he had prophetic dreams of all his brothers bowing down to him. I can picture the scene with all David’s brothers thinking they were going to be a part of something important and special and then David, who wasn’t even supposed to be there, gets the prize, the golden ticket (as his brothers probably saw it). Can you imagine the jealousy? The youngest, who probably got all the hand-me-down clothes, was to be king. In fact, we read in 1 Samuel 17:28:

Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger burned against David and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle.”

We see that indeed Eliab (and possibly his other brothers) was jealous of David. It’s important to note that Samuel doesn’t mention that he’s anointing David to be king but just that he’s anointing David for some important future duty. However, they would have all recognized the Holy Spirit descending on David making this anointing clearly the Lord’s doing. And, as we all know from other OT narratives, the Lord anoints a person in order to have them perform spectacular tasks for the glory of the Lord.

However, Eliab and the other brothers were also seeing David through the eyes of man. They looked on the external and probably thought, “How could this be? I’m better than David! He’s just the youngest.” They were not seeing David as the Lord saw him.

Now in verse 14-15 we switch to Saul and see the Lord rejecting him as king. Notice that this appointment of David as king so far only involved the Spirit of the Lord being given to David and removed from Saul. David did not actually assume the throne at this moment. It actually takes quite a bit of time for David to assume the throne as we shall see in the upcoming chapters. But the Lord in His providence would work all of these things for His sovereign good.

Moreover, the evil spirit that the Lord allowed to torment Saul was for the purpose of giving David access to the king’s court. This would place David in the eyes of the king (and David would become another one of Saul’s armor bearers) as well as all of Israel. As the Spirit of the Lord guided David to act faithfully, the people of Israel would grow to love their new king.

From this point on we see Saul’s power and influence wane due to the Sprit of the Lord leaving him...essentially leaving Saul powerless. Then the tormenting spirit that the Lord allowed to terrorize Saul further deepened his depression, fear and mental imbalance. We will see in the next chapter that Saul becomes even more powerless as a leader and unhinged as a man. But through all of this we see David’s Spirit enabled faithfulness bring victory for Israel when Saul’s inactivity only brings consternation to the people.

We must do better at examining other’s hearts while asking the indwelling Spirit to guide us and teach us in all wisdom how to do better at this task. Understanding a person’s heart allows us to set up God fearing, God obeying (1 Samuel 12:14-15) leaders, which in turn enables us to enjoy peace between us and God. Think of it this way...if we only look at the external, we are doomed to set up Sauls as leaders. However, in listening to the Spirit and examining the heart of a person (granted this second part is not an easy task), we will set up Davids as leaders in our lives. Which one sounds more peaceful to you?

Read Older Commentaries

1 Samuel 14:48

Before we go further, I want to go back to chapter 14 where a question came up about how Saul was described. The question revolves around Saul being characterized as valiant in 1 Samuel 14:48:

He acted valiantly and defeated the Amalekites, and delivered Israel from the hands of those who plundered them.

The question was posed at the Wednesday night service as to why Saul was described as acting valiantly when a better description would be acting prideful or self-serving. I really love questions like this as they focus in on only a single word or two and why the word or words were chosen instead of another that we might think was more appropriate. Typically in these situations understanding these words will expose a deeper meaning in God’s word.

In looking at this word “valiant” in the Enhanced BDB Lexicon, we find this more specific definition of valiant as it is used in verse 14:48: “of result or display of strength achieve might = do valiantly”

1 Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 298.

Essentially this gives us the sense that the author of 1 Samuel was saying that Saul’s actions were the result of a display of his strength. Or in other words Saul achieved mighty works...and he truly did achieve mighty works. But this is still a description of how Saul looked to the people of Israel. It is not how the Lord saw Saul’s heart. An external description verses an internal understanding of Saul’s heart.

But within the context of the entire book of 1 Samuel we know that the people wanted an earthly king that could fight against their enemies, similar to how they saw other nations act (this is worldliness). So the Lord granted the people of Israel their desire, even though they were rejecting the Lord. But the Lord was determined to anoint Saul as king and to use Saul to defeat Israel’s enemies who surrounded Isreal. And, as we know, the Lord is not a man that He would change His mind (see verse 15:28). So the Lord would still use Saul in a valiant manner, to achieve mightily, in order to bring forth the Lord’s sovereign will, which was to defeat and drive away Israel’s enemies.

Even a despot such as Saul could act valiantly in the eyes of his people. But we all know that the victory behind Saul’s rule was truly the Lord’s doing and the Lord’s will.

If you are wondering why I call Saul a despot see verse 1 Samuel 47a where it says, “Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel...”. There is a lot of information in this simple phrase. We know that after the people sided with Jonathan that Saul realized that everyone saw through him and he was at risk of losing his kingdom. So in this one short phrase we see Saul forcibly regaining control of his kingship over Israel. I would imagine if a book or books were to be written about the one short phrase on how Saul took back the kingdom it would fall under the genre of political intrigue and cover many months or maybe years of drama. Imagine the fights, deception and subterfuge that would entail this story of Saul battling not only for his political status but also battling against the will of the Lord.

1 Samuel 14

What does it look like for a person to walk by faith and not by sight?

To answer this question we’re going to compare Jonathan (Saul’s son) with Saul himself.

Chapter 14 begins with Jonathan and his armor bearer approaching the Philistine outpost.

Verses 1-3

Jonathan’s Example
In verse 1 Jonathan tells his armor bearer to come with him to face the Philistines’ garrison. Jonathan is being pro-active in this story, he is being intentional and methodical. This was not a reckless wild act done without thought or care. This was done in faith (as we shall see later) and with thought. Notice that it says, “But he [Jonathan] did not tell his father.” In fact, in the Hebrew, this phrase has a different word order than it normally would have (i.e., the verb “did not tell” was after the direct object “his father” not before as it would typically be). What this means is that this phrase was emphasized. Why? Well, Saul would never have allowed his son to go into battle against a much larger force. So Jonathan had to keep his plans secret even from his father. It’s starting to become clear that Jonathan either could not trust his father or saw that his father was only interested in his position as king, or both. Jonathan had to make the hard choice here and keep his father in the dark. But it didn’t end there. Jonathan didn’t even tell the people what he was about to do (remember earlier that Jonathan was even given 1000 men under his command). This makes a lot of sense since the people were running and hiding from the Philistines. To keep his plan secret none of the people could know. If they did, either his father or the Philistines might find out (as some Hebrews were in the Philistine camp). However, he did trust his armor bearer with his plan to go over to the Philistine garrison. We’ll see why later.

Saul’s Example
Now let’s switch over and examine Saul in these verses. Saul was not being active. He was stationed in Gibeah under a pomegranate tree (some historians believe this may have been the location of a specific cave where Saul set up his headquarters and not a tree). Either way Saul was not doing much of anything and staying away from the threat of the Philistine army. Whether this was a tree providing shade or a cave providing safety, Saul was attempting to remain safe away from the real threat.

Notice in verse 3 it says that Ahijah was with Saul. Now Ahijah was wearing an ephod, which is a robe that the priests wore. It is also very telling to point out that Ahijah was the great grandson of Eli. Remember Eli from earlier in 1 Samuel and the curse that the Lord put on Eli and his family 1 Samuel 3:11–14:

The LORD said to Samuel, “Behold, I am about to do a thing in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.”

And here we see one of Eli’s great grandsons attempting to fill the duties of the priest. But wait, wasn’t Samuel supposed to fulfill the priestly duties? Yes, but as we saw in chapter 13 Samuel pronounced judgement on Saul and left him to fend for himself. Saul was attempting to set up for himself a priest who could intercede with the Lord on Saul’s behalf. Here again Saul is being rash and impetuous in replacing Samuel with Ahijah. I’m sure Saul was thinking, “What’s the worst that could happen? At least I have a priest.”

Verses 6-20

Jonathan’s Example
Again in verse 6 we see Jonathan going to face the Philistines saying, “perhaps the Lord will work for us, for the Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.” This clearly shows us the mindset of Jonathan. His faith showed that the Lord would bring the victory, if it were His will. And to add to that, Jonathan knew that it did not matter that there was only he and his armor bearer going up against a far superior force in both size (about 20) and skill (these were not just any band of Philistines, but well equipped raiding parties sent out from the Philistine army). This is probably the most poignant moment showing how deeply Jonathan is walking by faith and not by sight.

Also notice Jonathan’s armor bearer in verse 7. His armor bearer is with Jonathan til the end. He does not abandon Jonathan but follows him into the teeth of the lion. Those who show true faithfulness tend to draw others of faith to them. Unfortunately, those that are drawn to those who show faith are usually few in number. In Jonathan’s case it was only one person. Granted, this was Jonathan’s armor bearer who’s duty it was to stand by Jonathan, but consider how many had already fled Saul the king. The armor bearer could have fled with the others, but chose to stay by Jonathan’s side, even to death.

In verse 8-10 Jonathan seeks the Lord’s will through a sign from the Lord. The sign that the Lord had given the victory to Jonathan and his armor bearer rested in how the Philistines reacted to Jonathan’s appearance to them. If they called Jonathan to come to them then the Lord had given Jonathan the victory. But notice something even more telling is the verb “has given” in the statement “for the Lord has given them into our hands” is conjugated in the perfect, which means that Jonathan is expressing that the Lord has already completed this action but its impact has not yet been felt. You could think of “the Lord has given...” as “the Lord has already given...”. In other words, Jonathan knows that if the Philistines call him up to come to them, it is a simple immutable fact that the Lord has already given Jonathan the victory. Now all Jonathan has to do is obey, which in verses 12-14 we see that he indeed does.

In verse 15 we see the results of Jonathan’s faith. The Lord intervenes and sends a panic into the Philistines’ camp and all of the raiders that were sent out. Not only that but there was a great earth quake. All these were signs that the Lord was working. The victory over the garrison through Jonathan and his armor bearer and the ensuing panic that engulfed the rest of the Philistine army is the result of true faith. Faith that is expressed not by an overwhelming army but expressed by a single man and his servant. With these two men of faith the Lord caused the downfall of an entire army that, as the text says, numbered as great as the sands of the seashore.

The result of walking by great faith is great victory.

Saul’s Example
Now let’s return to how Saul acted in comparison to Jonathan.

In verse 16-17 Saul’s watchmen saw the panic in the Philistine army’s ranks, but it doesn’t sound like they knew exactly what was happening. So what does Saul do? He did a role call of sorts to identify who was missing from his camp. He must have thought that whomever was missing was responsible for the turmoil in the Philistines’ camp. As we know, Saul wanted to establish his authority over Israel and this sneak attack on the Philistines could undermine his authority. His eyes were only upon himself and not on the Lord, which is where they should have been.

But now in verse 18 we see a glimmer of hope for Saul. He asks for the priest, Ahijah (we’ve discussed how Saul replaced Samuel with Ahijah who was under a curse by the Lord), and begins the process to seek the Lord’s will as to what to do next. But this glimmer of hope soon fades away when, in verse 19, Saul tells the priests to “withdraw their hands” or stop seeking the Lord’s will. This is in response to the increasing commotion in the Philistines’ camp, which as we find out in verse 20 was a great confusion brought on by the Lord causing them to attack one another.

Again, we see Saul thinking rashly and impetuously. He stops the priests from seeking the Lord’s will and rushes headlong into battle. This sounds a little like the situation where Samuel didn’t show up after 7 days so Saul decided to disobey the Lord and offer the burnt offerings himself. Saul can’t help but to walk by sight.

III. Verse 23

I want to pause briefly on verse 23, which begins with, “So the Lord delivered Israel that day...” Understand that all of this is happening under the Lord’s sovereignty. The Lord is willing all of this to happen. It isn’t that Jonathan suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline and “felt” like he should attack the Philistine garrison. It was that the Lord gave Jonathan and his armor bearer the faith necessary in order to act within His will, giving the Lord the glory.

The victory is always the Lord’s. We are simply serving Him in fear (see 1 Samuel 12:24-25 and the commentary on that verse).

Verses 24-45

Saul’s Example
Let’s start out with Saul’s example first this time around.

Saul made a rash oath that no one would eat until Saul (not the Lord) had been avenged on his (again, not the Lord’s) enemies, the Philistines. Saul probably made this oath both out of fear of losing his authority (since Jonathan, not he was the instigator of this victory) and to try to gain back the Lord’s favor. He probably thought that by forcing his army to sacrifice the need to eat, that would somehow gain back the Lord’s favor. Of course we see later how badly this oath backfired on Saul by limiting his army from pursuing and fully wiping out the Philistine army and by almost causing the death of his son Jonathan. In fact Saul’s oath caused the Israelites to sin by eating the sheep, oxen and calves without removing the blood from the animals first (verse 32).

As it says in Matthew 5:33–37 (NASB95)

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is THE CITY OF THE GREAT KING. Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.”

Obeying the Lord is far better than making oaths, especially rash oaths. But Saul is in too deep now and he will not relent nor repent out of selfish pride, jealousy and fear.

Another sign of walking by sight and refusing to walk by faith that we see in verse 37 is the refusal of the Lord to guide and direct (essentially removing His presence). This is a most severe problem as the Lord is now refusing to guide Saul due to Saul’s refusal to obey Him. Saul’s response here is very telling. Saul never takes responsibility that he may have made mistakes since that would weaken his authority as king. Rather he decides to point the finger at everyone else. Saul has so deceived himself, thinking that he is right and everyone else is wrong, that he actually calls on the Lord to give a perfect lot in verse 45 (now a lot was sort of like flipping a coin to determine the next course of action or, in this case, who was at fault, but the results were given by the Lord so it was not random chance). The outcome of this lot would point to who was at fault. We would have thought the lot would have singled out Saul for disobeying the Lord, but instead it falls on Jonathan since he unknowingly disobeyed his father’s command. The Lord in His sovereignty used this lot to further undermine Saul’s kingship and to protect Jonathan. You see, if the lot pointed to Saul as the one who sinned, he would have simply redirected the blame to another or maybe have swept the whole thing under the rug hoping no one would call him on it. But by pointing to Jonathan as the one who sinned, the people stood up and aligned themselves with Jonathan, effectively giving Saul a vote of no confidence. This result was a far greater act than simply having the lot point to Saul as the one who sinned. Now Saul knew that the people he ruled saw through his act and knew that Jonathan was the one who was truly faithful to the Lord.

Jonathan’s Example

In contrast we see Jonathan eating honey and gaining strength, since he did not hear his father’s edict that no one shall eat until the battle is done. Here we see a faithful man making a sensible decision. An army needs to keep up their strength to continue the pursuit of their enemy. Otherwise, as we see later in this chapter, enough of the enemy will escape and regroup to begin renewed attacks.

We see another example of the sensibility of Jonathan when he states in verse 29, “My father has troubled the land.” Jonathan knew that his father was not leading by faith but by sight. These rash acts of his father were hurting the nation of Israel. And notice in verse 30 that Jonathan has the foresight to say that if the people had only been allowed to eat and keep their strength the Philistine slaughter would have been great, so great perhaps that the Philistines would no longer have been a threat to Israel. But as we see in verse 52, Saul fought against the Philistines all the days of his life. This oath would continue to haunt Saul to the end of his days.

Finally in this section we see that even though the lot cast had pointed to Jonathan as the one who sinned, the Lord would indeed save him from death that day. This is certainly reminiscent of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (represented by Jonathan) taking on others’ sin in place of those who truly deserved the full weight of their sin (which would be Saul and the people for rejecting their Lord and asking for an earthly king). And like Jonathan, we are saved from the death that we are due from our sins. For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Summing Up
What does walking by faith look like? Well one thing we can say for sure is that king Saul provides an example of walking by sight, and that is definitely not what walking by faith looks like. But this chapter gives us more. It allows us to contrast Jonathan with king Saul his father. In Jonathan we see:

A man who’s confidence is in the Lord
A man of confident action who is intentional in what he does
A man who is sensible
A man who knows who to confide in (his faithful armor bearer) and who he cannot confide in (the king and the rest of the people)
A man who understands his Lord to the point that he knew that even the overwhelming size of the enemy he was confronting was no match for the strength of the Lord
A man who understands that the Lord works through weakness in order that He man glorify Himself
A man who surrounds himself with other faithful people (i.e., his armor bearer)
A man who first seeks the Lord’s will...
...and receives an answer from the Lord (as when the Philistines told Jonathan to come up to their camp)
Victory (Jonathan defeated the Philistine garrison through the Lord’s hand)
A man who humbly seeks justice and truth (as Jonathan showed when he did not stop his father from sentencing him to death)
A man who places himself in the Lord’s hand even when it comes to a situation where death may come upon him
A man who speaks the truth (as Jonathan did many times, including when he said that this father, the king, was bringing trouble to the people of Israel)
A man who obeys the Lord
A man who fears the Lord

Let’s contrast this with what we see in Saul:

A man who’s confidence stems from himself (not the Lord)
A man who is inactive and is worried about future events and his own safety
A man who is rash and impetuous
A man who has no understanding of the Lord’s strength and how the Lord operates (i.e., using the weak to defeat the strong)
A man who is focused on self
A man who surrounds himself with others who are unfaithful and even under a curse from the Lord (i.e., Ahijah of the line of Eli)
A man who is unconcerned with the Lord’s will as we saw when Saul told the priests to remove their hands from the ark, effectively ceasing to seek the will of the Lord
A man who the Lord will not respond to (as when there was no response from the Lord to Saul’s question of whether or not they should attack the Philistines)
A man who invites failure (as when the people sided with Jonathan when Saul sought to kill him)
A man who seeks to establish his own authority
A man uninterested in the Lord’s protection, rather gathering the strong to his own side (as we saw when Saul hand picked the strongest for his personal guard)
A man speaking evil (as with Saul’s oath that no one should eat until the Philistines were beaten)
A man who blames others for his own failures/sins
A man who disobeys the Lord
A man who fears people

What category do each of us fall into?

I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of areas to work on to be more like Jonathan. Thankfully, we have a gracious Lord who knows our weaknesses and sufferings better than anyone. And we have the Holy Spirit who is even now molding us into the image of Christ. Our responsibility is to fear, serve and obey the Lord as it says in 1 Samuel 12:24-25.

1 Samuel 13

What is walking by sight and what does it lead to?

The Fear of the Lord (Walking by Faith)

In chapter 12 we read the main idea of 1 Samuel (which was also the covenant the Lord made with not only His people, but also with Israel’s king). I’ll repeat 1 Samuel 12:14–15 here:

“If you will fear the LORD and serve Him, and listen to His voice and not rebel against the command of the LORD, then both you and also the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God. “If you will not listen to the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the command of the LORD, then the hand of the LORD will be against you, as it was against your fathers.

Additionally, we see this covenant repeated in a more simplified form in 1 Samuel 12:24–25:

“Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. “But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.”

The Israelites in 1 Samuel (as we today) are to fear and serve the Lord in faithfulness and with all our being so the we will be followers of the Lord our God. One implication of this being that we would be seen as the Lord’s people thereby glorifying Him. A second implication (although not spelled out here) would be future blessings as followers of the Lord. Failure to do this was spelled out. The hand of the Lord would be against the people of Israel (and us today) and everyone would be swept away.

The Fear of Man (Walking by Sight)

As we will see in chapter 13, after only 2 years (the exact number is not in the original text, but the best estimate is 2 years) Saul violates this agreement with the Lord and pays a harsh penalty. It’s important to note that the Lord holds those in leadership positions with more strictness. This results in more harsh punishments for those in leadership that make seemingly less significant sins. Take note of Moses, who struck the rock in anger in response to the people demanding water. He didn’t follow the Lord’s instructions to the letter and paid a heavy price for it, that is of not being able to enter the promised land. Yet the Lord never stopped loving Moses.

So back to our question, “What is walking by sight and what does it lead to?” To answer this let’s go back to chapter 9 of 1 Samuel. Saul is immediately described by his outward appearance but not by his inward appearance...or was he? in 1 Samuel 9:5–10:

When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, “Come, and let us return, or else my father will cease to be concerned about the donkeys and will become anxious for us.” He said to him, “Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor; all that he says surely comes true. Now let us go there, perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have set out.” Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sack and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” The servant answered Saul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand a fourth of a shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us our way.” (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is called a prophet now was formerly called a seer.) Then Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.

Notice how Saul acts. In verse 5 he wants to give up the search for the donkeys and return home. Saul and his servant have been looking for a long time for these donkeys and they have yet to find them. Saul is only considering what is before him...what he can see. Whereas his servant says let’s inquire of the Lord. But Saul immediately responds with, “we have nothing to bring the man of God.” Again his servant replies that he will give his own money (a fourth of a shekel of silver, perhaps all he had left) to the man of God. Saul finally sees that his servant has more faith than he, and they head off to see the man of God.

In these verses, Saul is walking by sight. What he sees in front of him is more meaningful to him than to simply inquire of the Lord (who is unseen and less meaningful to Saul). We also see a bit of fear in Saul when he says in verse 5, “let us return home in case my father is no longer concerned about the donkeys and is anxious about us having been gone so long.” Saul longs to cut the search short and instead return home where it is safe. But this was not the Lord’s plan for Saul.

Again in 1 Samuel 10:16 Saul does something potentially out of fear:

So Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him about the matter of the kingdom which Samuel had mentioned.

Saul intentionally does not tell his father that he is to be the next king of Israel. Possibly because Saul did not believe it himself and did not want to be ridiculed by his family for making up stories. So here again we see a pinpoint of fear (specifically a fear of others and what they might say) breaking through the curtain of Saul’s life.

Finally in 1 Samuel 10:20–22:

Thus Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken by lot. Then he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its families, and the Matrite family was taken. And Saul the son of Kish was taken; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. Therefore they inquired further of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?” So the LORD said, “Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage.”

Saul was hiding from the Israelites because he knew from Samuel that he would be chosen as king over Israel. Why was he hiding? This was a monumental occasion for him as he would be set as king by the Lord. Well, we know that Saul had asked Samuel why he was to be king since he came from humble means and the smallest tribe of Israel. This sounds like humility, and I do believe there was humility in that statement. However, it seems that there was an equal amount of fear in that same statement: fear of not measuring up (even though he was literally a head taller than everyone else), fear of leading poorly and being seen as an inept leader, fear of the nations surrounding Israel and their large and well equipped armies (especially in comparison to Israel’s army). And I’m sure there were many other fears as well.

Again, due to walking by sight, fear resulted. And this was not the righteous fear of the Lord. This was simply a fear of man and the situation(s) surrounding Saul.

Walking By Sight Leads to Fear

Now that we have established that there was some semblance of unrighteous fear in Saul that lead to his walking by sight in these three situations, we can see what this leads to in chapter 13.

In 1 Samuel 10:8:

“And you shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. You shall wait seven days until I come to you and show you what you should do.”

Samuel tells Saul to go to Gilgal and wait for him seven days and then Samuel will offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. Only after that will Samuel show Saul what he is to do. But we see in 1 Samuel 13:8–14 that Saul disobeyed:

Now he waited seven days, according to the appointed time set by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal; and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, “Bring to me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him and to greet him. But Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, for now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. “But now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

Samuel told Saul to wait seven days, but Samuel didn’t arrive at the arranged time. This could have been a test from the Lord and Samuel to see if Saul truly feared the Lord and was serving the Lord faithfully. Instead of waiting patiently, Saul took matters into his own hands. He immediately took both the burnt and peace offerings and offered them to the Lord. This was in direct violation of what Samuel told Saul to do. The problem was not that Saul made these offerings to the Lord (there is evidence of other kings making offerings to the Lord, 2 Samuel 24:25) but that he did not wait for Samuel to make the offering.

But you may be asking, “Why was this so bad? Saul only failed to wait a little while longer?” Well the root of the problem lies in the text preceding the accounting in verses 9-14. Notice in verses 5-8 what is happening. Here we see the Philistines drawing up battle lines with Israel, and the Philistine army was composed of a very large contingent. The people of Israel saw the Philistine army and became distressed and very troubled by the sight (here is our first encounter with walking by sight). In fact, they were so troubled that they ended up hiding from the Philistines. It says they hid in caves, in thickets and in holes in the ground and some even ran away to the land beyond the Jordan river. They weren’t just distressed; they were terrified of what might happen to them if the Philistines attacked. But Saul did wait seven days for Samuel to return; however, during this time the people who were with Saul were also terrified and began to leave Saul to go hide and run away with all the others (here Saul’s entourage, seeing the others fleeing, also thought it best to flee). To put this in perspective, in verse 2 Saul chose for himself 2000 men of Israel but by verse 15 there were only 600 left.

Now it begins in verse 9 that Saul, seeing that the people were leaving him, became fearful himself and decided not to wait for Samuel as he was instructed to do (as a note, remember here that what the Lord spoke and commanded and what Samuel spoke and commanded were considered by the Israelites to be one and the same). Saul, in fear, took on the role of Samuel intentionally in order to offer both the burnt and peace offerings to the Lord. But when Samuel finally showed up, he rebuked Saul for walking by sight and not by faith. In fact, Saul’s explanation gives further proof to this statement. Saul says to Samuel, “Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were assembling at Michmash, therefore I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not asked the favor of the LORD.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.” Notice that Saul begins with “I saw...”. Saul was walking by sight and not by faith. Walking by sight leads to fear, not the righteous fear of the Lord but the unrighteous fear of man. In this case fear lead to Saul making a rash and poor decision to usurp Samuel’s responsibility for the offering, and for this sin Saul would pay dearly. The Lord would eventually remove Saul as king (even though Saul desperately tried to hold on to it) and replace him with David, a man after the Lord’s own heart.

Finding Peace

1 Samuel 12

So what is the point?

Ok that might be too general of a question. Maybe I should ask, “What do you think is the whole point of 1 Samuel?” I ask this question so that you’ll be looking for the main idea in 1 Samuel that answers this question. [Hint #1] In chapter 12 you will find the answer. [Hint #2] The main idea is repeated.

The reason I ask this question is that usually each book of the Bible has a verse or verses that summarize the main idea or overarching theme of the book. In some books the main idea is easier to find. For example in John the main idea is found at the end of the book in verses John 20:30–31:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

The book of John was written so that you may believe in Jesus and that this belief will give you everlasting life. When you read the book of John the next time remember this verse as you read and you will gain a better understanding of the book as a whole. This can be a very powerful technique to use when studying the Bible. Likewise, we’re going to discuss the verses in 1 Samuel that will supply the main idea of the book and lead us into a deeper understanding of the Lord’s word. But before we get into that, I want to quickly cover this whole “king” problem that has recently been brought into the narrative.

The King

So what’s the deal with Israel wanting an earthly king? Ultimately, as we have seen in earlier chapters, Israel’s sin lead to idolatry, which lead to worldliness. In their state of worldliness, they wanted to be like the other nations around them. These other nations had earthly kings. So Israel’s sin ultimately lead to their desire to abandon the Lord and set up for themselves an earthly king. But as we’ve seen before, Israel’s sin and stubbornness lead to the Lord chastising them many times severely. In this case, the Lord gave them what they wanted. This seems odd. Was the Lord just tired of Israel’s constant falling away and turning towards idols? Was the Lord giving up on Israel and giving them what they wanted just to show them what a bad decision it was? I don’t think so because it says in 1 Samuel 12:22:

For the LORD will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the LORD has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.
Rather, the Lord was picking out a person specifically to lead Israel and remove the Philistine threat.

It is also important to note that the Lord chose the king, sent His Spirit on him and allowed him to be inaugurated as king. So the Lord didn’t just throw up His hands and give Israel what it wanted. There was intent on the Lord’s part to do this to save Israel from the Philistines through their earthly king they asked for. But there were also consequences if Israel and her king were to rebel against the Lord. And we shall see later that Saul indeed rebels.

The last thing I want to point out is that the Lord intended for Israel to have a king, but this wouldn’t be apparent until the NT. Jesus was to be Israel’s king and saviour. So we shall see that even though Israel rebelled and did evil in the Lord’s sight by demanding an earthly king, the Lord eventually brought about Israel’s real king through the line of David (Israel’s next earthly king and a man after God’s own heart).

The Point

This is a great place to segue into the main idea of 1 Samuel.

In verse 12 Samuel restates that Israel demanded an earthly king because of the ever present threat of the surrounding nations. But Samuel follows this statement up with the fact that the Lord your God was already your king! Samuel didn’t end his proclamation against Israel for her sin here but also added in verse 13, “behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked..” and then followed up with, “behold, the Lord has set a king over you.” Notice how these two statements seem at odds. Samuel says, “the king whom you have chosen...” immediately followed by “the Lord has set a king over you.” It seems like Samuel had a mental hiccup when, in fact, he was making it brutally clear to Israel that even though they rebelled and chose to elect an earthly king, the Lord was sovereign over this entire matter and the reality was that the Lord chose Israel’s king. The Lord was (and is) sovereign over all. We would do well to keep that in mind.

Regardless of Israel’s rebellion, the Lord in His grace and mercy would still make a covenant with Israel. In 1 Samuel 12:14–15 Samuel explains the Lord’s covenant with His people going forward:

This is the whole point of 1 Samuel; it is the main idea!

Additionally, we see this covenant repeated in a more simplified form in 1 Samuel 12:24–25:

“Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. “But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.”

This repeated covenant appears at a central point in 1 Samuel where Israel now officially has her first earthly king. But even though this covenant appears mid-way through 1 Samuel, all of 1 Samuel can/should be read in light of these verses. We can see from chapter 1 through 11 how the Lord dealt with those people (Samuel and Eli, Hannah and Peninnah, Israelites and Philistines, etc.) Some who feared the Lord and listened to the Lord and served Him only were blessed beyond measure and continued to serve the Lord, but those that did not fear the Lord were cursed and the hand of the Lord was against them.

As we continue on in 1 Samuel it is just as important to read the rest of this book in light of these verses (14-15 and 24-25). In doing so we will gain a new, deeper understanding of what it is to fear and serve the Lord in truth and with all of our heart, soul and mind.

Now let’s dive a little deeper into these covenant (main idea) verses.

The Fear of the Lord

So what does “the fear of the Lord” mean and why is it mentioned first?

We see the word “fear” used 4 times in chapter 12. The first and fourth time are found in the covenant verses (14-15 and 24-25). But there are two others. Once in verse 18 where the text says that the people of Israel greatly feared the Lord (and Samuel) and again in verse 20 where Samuel tells the people not to fear. Wait, didn’t Samuel tell the people to fear the Lord in verse 14 and then in verse 18 the people greatly feared the Lord (because this is what Samuel told the people to do, right?) and then next in verse 20 Samuel tells the people to not fear. And, oh by the way, this word “fear” in all 4 instances is from the same root word in the Hebrew.

To understand this we first need to understand how words were used in ancient Hebrew (this also applies to ancient Greek) and how they are translated to English. If you look up a Hebrew word in a Bible dictionary, you’ll find several definitions. For example, if you look up the definition of the Hebrew word that is translated as “fear” in this chapter you will find:

translates as “fear” 188 times, “afraid” 78 times, “terrible” 23 times, “terrible thing” six times, “dreadful” five times, “reverence” three times, “fearful” twice, “terrible acts”1

1 James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1995).

In looking at these definitions, it becomes apparent that we cannot simply pick and choose the word we want. If I chose to translate this word as “reverence” and someone else chooses to translate it as “terrible thing”, then both of our interpretations would be different and at odds with each other. So how did the original translators decide which definition of a word to use? Well, it starts with an understanding of the context. The context of the text will determine the correct definition of the Hebrew word (it’s the same with Greek too).

In this case, the translators decided that “fear” was the best translation for all 4 Hebrew words. Now the onus is on our shoulders to read these words in their correct context.

As we read through these verses (14-25), we see that the Lord requires us to fear Him in verses 14 and 24. But in verse 18 we see that the people greatly feared the Lord, not because they were told to in verse 14, but (as you can read in verses 16-18a) because the Lord demonstrated His power in front of their eyes. And from this demonstration the people knew that their sin of demanding an earthly king was very great. Now it starts to make sense. The people in verse 18 were terrified of what they had just done. In fact they asked Samuel to pray that the Lord wouldn’t kill them all. In verse 20 we see Samuel tell the people not to fear, or not to be terrified of, the Lord punishing them that day for the evil that they had committed. Rather, Samuel calms the people down and again instructs them to fear the Lord....that is, to fear the Lord in the right way.

You see there are two ways that we can fear the Lord. In the positive, we fear the Lord by displaying faithfulness, reverence and a devotion to serving Him and only Him. This leads us to obey His commands (as was also commanded in the covenant in verses 14-15). Conversely, the negative of fearing the Lord would mean a dread of punishment as was displayed in verse 18.

Proverbs 9:10:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

And as for the question about why “fear” is mentioned first in the covenant (main idea) verses, it is simply because all of the acts that follow (serving, listening, obeying and not rebelling) will flow from a healthy fear (faithfulness, reverence and devotion) of the Lord. If you properly fear the Lord, then you will want to serve Him. Additionally, you will want to listen to Him and keep His commandments. You will do this all, not out of a fear of punishment but, out of reverence and devotion to Him.

You and Your King Will Follow the Lord

Did you notice one other thing about the covenant (main idea) verses, that is the result of fearing and serving the Lord in verse 14? The result was that both the people of Israel and their king would follow the Lord your God. Some versions add an extra phrase to the end of this sentence, something like, “all will be well.” This phrase is not found in the original texts. It was added to some translations. This is not necessarily bad since to keep fidelity between the original language and the language it’s being translated into (e.g., English) it is sometimes necessary to add a simple phrase or extra word to give the full meaning of the original text. But here, I don’t think it is necessary. We can infer that it will be well if Israel and her king continue to fear and serve the Lord. If we read this in context though, it makes more sense to focus on the result of fearing the Lord is following the Lord.

The reasoning for this is that Israel was sinning and that sin lead to the nation wanting to look like their neighbors (worldliness). The Lord wanted His nation to return to Him in repentance so that He could once again make Israel holy and separate from the other nations. You see, the Lord wanted Israel to follow Him, to represent Him, to be separated from the other nations as a nation set apart to the Lord. The way forward for Israel AND her king (remember both were called out in this covenant) was to recognize the Lord as their sovereign ruler over all (over even their earthly king). So it’s obvious that it will be well for Israel if they continue to fear and serve the Lord, but the main thrust of this covenant, first and foremost, was to get Israel back to a right relationship with the Lord.

Finding Peace

While the title that Trev chose for this study on 1 Samuel, “Finding peace in the chaos”, refers to the events involving the Israelites at this time, it is upon reflection just as applicable for us today. We too can find peace in the chaos of our lives and in the times we are living in. How do we do this? Simply put, fear the Lord! Revere and respect the Lord and His word. Be in awe of the Lord daily. Let the proper fear of the Lord guide you in obeying His commands. This is a difficult undertaking but 1 Samuel gives us a road map to follow. Early in chapter 1 we saw the fruit of prayer and sacrifice. In chapters 2-3 we saw the effects of sin and that we must kill sin in our lives. In chapters 4-7 we saw the effects of idols and the need to remove the idols of our heart so that we can clearly see the Lord. In chapter 8 we saw worldliness as the result of idolatry and how it leads to Christians looking no different from the world. Now in chapter 12 we see the culmination of all these things as the command to fear the Lord. Simply put...fear the Lord, find peace.

1 Samuel 11

Where did Saul’s confirmation of king ultimately come from? What has the Lord confirmed in your life?

In chapter 11 we again hear of the Philistines and how they are again aggressors towards the Israelites, this time at Jabesh Gilead. Even in chapter 10 we heard of a Philistine garrison. The Philistines seem intent on taking the land that the Lord had promised the Israelites back from them. The Israelites attempted to make peace with the Philistines encamped against them, but the Philistines were brutal towards the Israelites and told them that they must gouge out their right eye. This would have left the Israelites unable to wage war as their depth perception would have been compromised. Instead the Israelites at Jabesh Gilead asked for some time (7 days) to call for help. The Philistines didn’t seem too worried since they allowed the Israelites to send out a call for help. Granted, it had been some time since the Philistines had captured the ark and suffered greatly for it before returning it to Israel. Maybe the Philistines had a short memory of the events that took place back then. Regardless, the Philistines were back to their old ways of harassing and attacking the Israelites.

Now we have to understand that there were typically 3 stages to place a king over Israel. The first stage was designation. In chapter 10 we see Saul designated by the Lord as the next king. Here in chapter 11 we get to the second stage, which is confirmation (or a testing to prove one is fit for the position of king). The third part is the inauguration, which happens later in 11:14-12:25.

The situation is setup for Saul to prove himself as king through a confirming act. This confirming act would be to meet the Philistine army at Jabesh Gilead and drive them away. But Saul was an unproven leader and he had never commanded an army in battle. Even some of the people of Israel denied that he was their true leader.

When we are at our weakest, the Lord can empower us to be at His strongest. This is what gives glory to the One who deserves glory upon glory. This is how we give glory to our Lord: at our weakest we seek His direction and follow Him into battle.

Notice in verse 5 the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul suddenly and mightily. Saul in his own strength was woefully unprepared for this situation, but the Lord’s Spirit was all that was needed for Saul to rise to the moment and be empowered to correctly handle this situation. This is the beginning of Saul’s confirmation as king. But it was not a confirmation based on who Saul was, how he looked or how rich his family was. This was the Lord beginning His confirmation of Saul through His Spirit.

Now Saul immediately had some oxen cut into pieces and the pieces sent out to the various cities in Israel with the message, “If you don’t answer this call to arm, this will be the fate of your oxen.” Having your oxen killed would have been a huge hardship on the people as oxen were used in various duties such as plowing fields, pulling carts and other useful things.

But the Lord’s working was not finished simply by empowering Saul through His Spirit. Additionally, in verse 7 it says that the fear (some translations use dread) of the Lord fell upon the people of Israel, further moving them to answer the call to battle.

Finally in verse 11 we see the final act of the Lord’s confirmation of Saul. Saul split his army into 3 groups. This was a wise tactical maneuver as it afforded greater mobility and flexibility to his army. Saul then attacked during the morning watch (2-6 am) surprising the Philistines and causing confusion as they awoke to battle. Saul and his army ended up decisively winning the battle against the Philistines and driving them off.

I say that Saul and his army won the battle, but is that what we are supposed to take away from this? It is true that Saul commanded his army skillfully and the Israelites fought bravely, but who empowered Saul to act decisively and wisely? Who caused fear to fall upon the people of Israel so that they would heed the call to battle...the Lord, of course.

Saul even recognizes this fact in verse 13 as he says, “today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel.”

So in the battles we wage, not against flesh and blood but against the principalities and powers of this present darkness, who will we say confirmed us to accomplish this powerful work? Will we say that we did it in our own strength or will we humbly give glory to the Lord as Saul did?

1 Samuel 10

Do we as Spirit-filled believers embrace the Spirit of the Lord fully and without abandon or do we embrace the Spirit with apprehension and uneasiness?

This may seem to be a silly question; of course we all fully embrace the Spirit with joy and excitement. But do we always? I imagine everyone embraces the Spirit with a fullness at the point of conversion when an unbeliever becomes a believer and the Spirit is placed within them. But as time marches on, do we continue in that full embrace of the Spirit or does that embrace wax and wane?

I can only speak of my life. When I became a believer I embraced the Spirit fully and joyfully. But as life continues and the devil places obstacles in our way and as sin reared its ugly head in my life, I don’t think I embraced the Spirit as I first did. Don’t get me wrong. I love the Spirit and He is the great helper given to us in a grace that we cannot fully comprehend. I know that the Spirit is part of the triune God and is God. However, in my humanness (fleshly sinfulness) that wages war within me, I have not fully embraced the Lord at all times as I should. Thanks be to the Lord’s unbridled grace and mercy which are always larger in proportion and fuller than my sin. His grace is enough.

So what I’m saying here is that once we receive the Spirit of the Lord, we cannot just simply coast through life thinking I’m good now. Rather, we have a responsibility to continually embrace the Spirit fully on a daily basis. When we read of the Lord changing Saul’s heart and placing His Spirit on Saul, we may be lulled into the false sense that all is good now with Saul and he will do as the Lord commands and the story will have a happy ending. But that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Yes, Saul was a new man (transformed by the Lord) with the Spirit on him, but the old Saul still coexisted with the new Saul. This is similar to how it works today. We are transformed into a new person, but our old person still wages war inside of us. It is our duty to continually put that old person to death daily.

So far we have been given some insights into Saul’s personality in chapters 8 and 9. Saul was the best of the best from an outward appearance and he came from a wealthy and powerful family. But we also see signs of timidity, fear and trepidation at the thought of becoming king over Israel. Some of what we read about Saul does seem to be humility and that may be true, but as we read the whole story of Saul we do see the darker parts of Saul coming to the forefront. It is good to note that the darker parts of Saul’s personality (as with us too) were always there. They didn’t suddenly come into being once Saul was transformed and the Spirit was received.

It seems as though the author of 1 Samuel 9-10 is dropping small hints that while Saul looked great on the outside, on the inside Saul had flaws. And these flaws would later be his undoing.

Now we cannot discuss chapter 10 without an understanding of the similarities and differences of the Lord bestowing His Spirit on that person between the OT and the NT.

We understand the Spirit of the Lord in the NT as the One given to us, to dwell within us, to act as our helper and to intercede for us. In the NT as in the OT the Spirit of the Lord is part of the triune Godhead..the Father, Son and Spirit. Also in the NT, as in the OT, the Spirit empowers us to be holy as the Lord is holy.

In the OT, unlike the NT, the Spirit of the Lord is given by the Lord and can be taken away by the Lord. But in the NT the receiving of the Holy Spirit is permanent. That is, we cannot lose our salvation.

We can see in this story of Saul that the Lord caused His Spirit to come upon Saul in verse 10. However, in the OT the Spirit was given to empower a person to fill a role such as rule Israel or perform a task, such as to remove the Philistines from the land. So in this way, the Spirit was not given in these instances for salvation but to do the work of a sovereign God through these people.

The bad news was that the Lord in His sovereignty could also remove His Spirit from a person. We will see this with Saul in 1 Samuel 16:14:

Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.

And in 1 Samuel 18:12:

Now Saul was afraid of David, for the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.

There is also the Psalm in Psalm 51:11 which says:

Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Usually, the act of the Lord removing His Spirit from someone was preceded by sinful acts by that person. This wasn’t to say that the Lord made a mistake by giving His Spirit to someone but that it was within His sovereign plan that all of this would come about.

I know for sure that I am glad that I live in the NT times where the Spirit is a permanent gift, given for salvation and for the furtherance of our sanctification.

1 Samuel 9

Have you ever been in a situation where things started out great, but quickly deteriorated? Have you ever known someone who on the outside seems like a great person but as you get to know the person you start to see who they are on the inside and the inside does not match the outside?

1 Samuel chapter 9 begins with the narrative of how the Lord through His sovereign leading gave Israel exactly what they wanted, an earthly king. Things start out well for this new king, but all that glitters is not necessarily gold as the saying goes.

Now the story of how the Lord brings Saul to rule over Israel as their first king begins in chapter 9 and extends through chapter 11. Then in chapter 12 everything culminates in judgement by the Lord. But the Lord has mercy on Israel even though they supplanted Him with an earthly king. In chapter 12, as we shall see, the Lord gives Israel a choice: follow the Lord and have blessings or reject the Lord and be cursed. But more on that later.

Verses 1-2 give an apt description of Saul and his father Kish. Saul’s father Kish was a son of Benjamin and it says in verse 1 that he was “a mighty man of wealth”. Some translations use “power” or “valor” instead of “wealth”. From the Hebrew this wording gives the sense that Kish was a very great man of wealth, power and importance in the tribe of Benjamin. So Saul already came from a family of great wealth, power and importance.

Next, the text describes Saul who was choice or in the prime of his life and who was more handsome than any other among the people of Israel. Additionally, he was tall, very tall, much taller than any other Israelite. Already, Saul had just about everything going for him. He lacked nothing.

Now we come to verses 3-4 where the Lord is moving in Saul’s life in order to bring him to Samuel. We see that Kish tells Saul and his servant to look for their lost donkeys. Saul begins to search for the donkeys, but by verse 5 Saul is ready to give up the search and head home. But in verse 6 Saul’s servant speaks wisely saying that they should consult a prophet of the Lord before they give up the search. In verse 7 Saul answers his servant (with a slightly defeatist attitude) saying that they have nothing to give the prophet since they had no food or gifts. But the perseverance of Saul’s servant prevails in verse 8 as he says that he has a forth of a shekel of silver that he will willingly give to the prophet. Finally in verse 10 Saul approves of his servant’s plan and they proceed to seek out the prophet (who is, of course, Samuel).

I thought it odd that Saul, being from such a wealthy family, would not have any money on him. Rather, his servant had to offer up his money in order to get a meeting with the prophet. Did Saul just want to give up the search and go home to where things were probably easier and more comforting?

At this point Saul and his servant go up to a city in Zuph to seek out the prophet Samuel. They are guided towards where Samuel was in verses 11-13 by some women that were going out to get water. And in verse 14 the Lord’s providence again came into play as Saul and his servant were coming into the city, Samuel was coming out towards them.

Now we take a brief interlude in verses 15-16 where we return to the previous day where the Lord spoke to Samuel and told him that He is sending someone on the very next day to Samuel to become the next leader of Israel. It is important here to examine how the Lord describes Saul. He describes him as a man from Benjamin who will deliver Israel from the Philistines. But notice in between this is the fact that the Lord calls Saul a prince (or in some translations, a commander or leader or ruler). The Lord does not specifically call Saul a king. The Hebrew words for king and prince are different. This shows that the Lord in His sovereignty continues to set Himself as the true king over Israel.

Notice at the end of verse 16 that the Lord says that Saul will deliver Israel from the Philistines because He has heard the cries of His people. Remember in chapter 8 when the Lord explains that in the future He will not hear the cries of His people. These are two separate events. Currently, the Lord is still being merciful and listening to His people over the Philistines’ oppression. It was the will of the Lord that Israel would be victorious over the Philistines (although this doesn’t fully happen until David’s rule). So the Lord was bringing His sovereign will to fruition by calling Saul to lead Israel against the Philistines. Now the second event, where the Lord will cease to hear the cries of Israel, is in the future when Israel’s leaders begin to take from the Israelites more than they should.

There is one last part that I want to point out, Saul’s reply to Samuel in verse 21. In verse 20 Samuel states “And who does all Israel desire but you and all your father’s family?” (from the CSB version, which seems to be the most understandable translation). Basically Samuel is saying that Israel desires a king and you are that king. But Saul’s reply is one that sounds like humility. Saul says, “Am I not a Benjaminite from the smallest of Israel’s tribes and isn’t my family clan the least important of all the clans of the Benjaminite tribe?” But didn’t we just hear in verse 1 that Saul came from a family of wealth and power? These two things are difficult to reconcile. There is a story in Judges 20:46 that may help understand this discrepancy:

So all of Benjamin who fell that day were 25,000 men who draw the sword; all these were valiant warriors.

But surely Kish would have had time to build up his family and wealth at least to some degree after this battle.

Another explanation could be that Saul was just being timid after hearing this overwhelming news that all of Israel wants him to lead them. Saul was a farmer and wasn’t a trained leader, politician or commander of great armies. It was probably less humility and more timidness that caused Saul to respond to Samuel in this manner.

In chapter 10 will see how the Lord prepares Saul to rule over Israel.

1 Samuel 8

Where does worldliness lead us?

Chapter 8 of 1 Samuel teaches us about worldliness. There are some key verses that define what worldliness is and where it leads to. I’ll cover each of these verses in turn.

Before we jump into chapter 8 I wanted to head back to chapter 7, specifically verse 7:12 when Samuel set up a stone in remembrance of the Israelites’ victory against the Philistines which was inscribed with the words, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” Or in other words, up till now the Lord has helped us. Now in chapter 8 we get more of an understanding of why this inscription begins with the words “Thus far...”. In chapter 8 we see the sin of worldliness creep into the nation. This begins a similar cycle of sin and the Lord’s dealing with Israel’s sin. To get a clearer picture of the Lord once again bringing judgement against Israel we see in verse 8:18 that the Lord says that the people will cry out to Him for help, but He will not answer. Thus refusing to help the people.

Back to the theme of worldliness. A good definition of worldliness is to be indistinguishable from the world and its ideals, thoughts and outward appearance. As Christians we are called to be sojourners in this world (aliens to this world). To be separated as those who follow the Lord’s ways and not the world’s ways. Following the Lord’s ways in thought, action and appearance immediately makes us distinguishable from the world. Once we are distinguishable from the world we are useful to the Lord. But as we see here and in subsequent chapters, Israel chose to look like the world and became enslaved by their worldliness and not useful to the Lord. But there is a small glimmer of hope here in that the sovereignty of the Lord (a common theme throughout 1 Samuel) is still at work to bring His plans to fruition.

Worldliness is pressure exerted by the world (through people and ideas) to conform to what the world says is right and good. But we know that ever since the fall in the garden of Eden, sin has entered the world and corrupted its goodness for which the Lord created it. Worldliness says do what the world does; holiness give us a desire to follow Jesus.

If you’re struggling with distinguishing yourself from the world (a struggle that myself and all Christians endure) think about this, “Where does worldliness lead us to?” Chapter 8 really spells out where worldliness leads to. It leads not to freedom and peace, but to servitude. Worldliness draws in the person with promises of better times and of a better life but only takes from you (notice how many times the word “take” appears in verses 8:10-17, no less than 6 times). Worldliness leaves the person chained to the ideas and the appearance of the world. To go against the world’s views will cause the full anger and hatred of the world to fall on you. But the absolute worst thing that will happen above all else is that the Lord will remove His presence from you. As Christians the fact that the Lord would draw back from us due to our sin of worldliness should strike fear into us.

This verse from 1 John 2:15–17 provides a striking image between the love of the world (worldliness) and the love towards the Lord:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

Let’s get a deeper sense for worldliness and its effects through the scripture in chapter 8. In verses 1-3 we see the setup or rather the reason why the nation began its decent into worldliness. First, Samuel was old (possibly in his 60s) prompting the elders of Israel to want to get out from under the old ways and embrace the new way (i.e., having an earthly king rule over them instead of the Lord appointed judges). Second, it seems that Samuel appointed his two sons as judges but they were indistinguishable from Eli’s corrupt sons. These are the two arguments that the elders of Israel used to demand a king, but these are flimsy arguments. For one, old age typically indicates wisdom which results in good leadership. And second, just because Samuel’s sons were corrupt did not mean that an earthly king would do better. In fact, this king could be even worse. This is an indication that worldliness rests on flimsy, illogical arguments.

As an aside, I thought it was interesting how Samuel (who was more godly than Eli) also raised sons that were as corrupt as Eli’s sons. I would have thought that at worst Samuel’s sons would have been upstanding and righteous. But that was not the case...why? There are a lot of questions we can ask such as: Did Samuel seek the Lord before appointing his sons as judges? Was there some outside influence that seduced his sons into corruption? Did Samuel fail to teach his sons how to walk in the way of the Lord? There are many questions that arise but no immediate answers from scripture as scripture is mostly silent about Samuel’s sons. Rather than speculate, what we do know is that the elders of Israel used Samuel’s sons as a pretext to demand a king. After much research and prayer on this topic of Samuel’s sons, I’ve come to the conclusion that we should read this as the Lord’s sovereign action. The Lord knew the hearts of the people of Israel. They rejected the Him (v7) and were actively looking to replace the Lord as their rightful king with an earthly king (sounds a lot like idolatry, which likely leads to worldliness). The Lord used this to expose Israel’s desire to “look like” the rest of the world (v5). The Lord then used this to place a king on the throne (Saul) that would eventually reject the Lord and cause Israel great pain. Afterward, the Lord would place David on the throne who was a man after the Lord’s own heart. Additionally, this story teaches us now about worldliness and how it affects us and our relationship to our Lord.

In verse 5 we see the elders of Israel demanding that Samuel appoint a king over them. But did you notice what they said when they asked Samuel? They said they wanted a king “to judge us LIKE all the nations.” That is they wanted to look like the other nations that had earthly kings to rule over them. All the other nations that surrounded Israel had kings. Why shouldn’t Israel look like all the other nations? Well, the answer is that you begin to look more like the world and less like the godly nation that the Lord had claimed as His people. Godly people should not look the same as the world that surrounds them.

We see in verse 6 that this displeased Samuel and, as any godly many would do, he went to the Lord in prayer. But we see a very different response from the Lord than we would have expected. It would make sense that the Lord would have been angry with Israel but here He decides to allow Israel to have a king. In verse 7 the Lord tells Samuel to listen to the people and give them what they want. This response from the Lord reminds me of the old saying “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.” The Lord adds that the people are not rejecting Samuel; they are rejecting Him (the Lord). The Lord reveals that the hearts of the people have turned away from Him and towards the world and while it may seem to Samuel that they have rejected him, in truth they have really rejected the Lord. Jesus even echoes this in the NT when He states that if they reject you then they have first rejected Me (Jesus) in John 15:18–21:

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”

So the Lord tells Samuel to do as the people ask but to warn them (or admonish them) that their new king’s rule will not be so pleasant. In fact in verses 11-17 the Lord described in detail the behavior of this king that will rule over them. Notice as you read these 7 verses the number of times the word “take” is used. The king will take your sons and daughters. He will take the best of your fields and herds and on and on. This section ends at verse 17 with “And you will be his servants.” They would not be the Lord’s servants anymore, but an earthly king’s servants, who takes from them.

In verse 18 the Lord continues His admonition towards Israel by explaining that the people will again cry out to Him, but He will not hear them (some translations use the word “answer” here). This word “hear” or “answer” is a verb that means to act in response to something. The Lord will obviously hear their cries, since He is omniscient, but He will not act on their request for help.

Let’s take a little closer look at verse 18:

“Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.”

Notice that the Lord says “your king whom YOU have chosen for YOURSELVES”. In reality (as we shall see in chapter 9) the people did not chose for themselves their king. Rather, the Lord showed Samuel who would be their next king, which was to be Saul. But what the Lord was stating here was that Israel had chosen for themselves to reject the Lord and follow in the path of other nations to set up for themselves an earthly king. In other words, Israel was going to do what Israel wanted to do.

This is summed up in a great quote from one of the commentaries that I read:

There is no compulsion to accept the rule of God, yet ultimately there is no escaping it, for he appoints the king.

Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 91.

But even with all that warning in verse 19 the people refused to obey. Notice it says they refused to obey “the voice of Samuel”. This follows from earlier when we saw that the voice of the Lord and the voice of Samuel were used interchangeably, showing that what Samuel said was equivalent to what the Lord said. Not that Samuel’s words were of equal value to the Lord’s, but rather that Samuel conveyed the exact meaning of the Lord’s words to the people. Hence, what Samuel said was accepted as coming directly from the Lord.

Next in verse 20 we see again the echo of verse 8 previously. The people wanted to be LIKE all the nations. They desired to be worldly. They wanted an earthly king to judge them and fight their battles even though they knew that if they would only draw near to the Lord, serve Him and obey Him, their battles would be won through Him. I can’t help but think about how the Israelites treated the ark of the Lord earlier in 1 Samuel as their lucky charm. It was their idol. They thought the ark would save them in battle when it was the Lord who would save them. Then in verse 8 the Lord spoke about Israel forsaking Him and serving other gods (idol worship). From this it seems that Idolatry leads to worldliness. Idolatry takes our eyes off of the Lord and on to a useless idol that can do nothing for us. Well, it can do nothing for us but it can do something to us. That is, it can cause us to fall into the lie of worldliness and farther away from our loving Lord.

While the title that Trev chose for this study on 1 Samuel, “Finding peace in the chaos”, refers to the events involving the Israelites at this time, it is upon reflection just as applicable for us today. We too can find peace in the chaos of our lives and in the times we are living in. How do we do this? Well this section in 1 Samuel clearly talked about worldliness and its destructive effects. So to find the peace in the chaos we must first put away our idols whatever they may be (this we learned in chapter 4-7), but to follow this up we must not succumb to what the world looks like. We must separate ourselves from the world, not that we go live out in the wilderness as a hermit but that we live in the world and interact with others all the time remaining holy, separated to the Lord for His use. Inevitably this will bring on challenges, persecutions and even cause us to have to sacrifice in order to keep ourselves separated to the Lord. Remember in chapter 1 how Hannah gave up her son Samuel to be placed in the service of the Lord at an extremely young age even though Hannah wanted nothing more than to simply have and raise a son. Now that is sacrifice.

1 Samuel 4:1–7:17

What are the idols of our heart today?

1 Samuel 4:1-7:17 is a long section that looks specifically at Israel’s sin of idolatry.

It is interesting that Samuel is only mentioned once in verse 4:1 and then not again until chapter 7. There is a long narrative in between concerning Israel and their sin of idolatry before the Lord. Typically I would break this up into separate chapters, but since the theme of idolatry runs throughout these four chapters I am clustering them together.

The word of the Lord, the word of Samuel

At the end of chapter 3 verse 21 says that the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord. In chapter 4 verse 1 we see that the word of Samuel came to all of Israel. Because of the chapter divisions it isn’t as obvious, but we see here that the word of the Lord and the word of Samuel have become one in the same. Obviously Samuel isn’t God and the origin of Samuel’s words was with the Lord and not Samuel. We see here that Samuel in humble submission to the Lord is passing on the Lord’s words to Israel. Samuel is acting as the Lord’s spokesperson and by using the phrase “the word of Samuel” all in Israel were regarding Samuel’s words as the Lord’s words.

Many theologians see Samuel as a type of Christ in the OT. There are many parallels between Christ and Samuel. They both grew up in humble terms fully submitted to their Lord and now we see Samuel’s words as coming straight from the Lord, just as Jesus’ words were straight from His Father.

Israel vs. the Philistines

After speaking about how the word of Samuel had come to all of Israel, verse 1 immediately jumps into the battle between Israel and the Philistines. The battle was decisively won by the Philistines. Here in verse 3 is the reaction of the elders of Israel, “Why has the Lord defeated us today?” So the elders rightly realized that the battle was the Lord’s to win or lose. But the Lord had chosen to allow the Israelites to lose this battle along with 4000 men that fell in battle that day. But while the elders correctly realized that the battle was the Lord’s, their answer to this problem was wholly incorrect. Notice the second part of verse 4:3 where the elders say, “Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord”. Ok, this makes sense, the elders knew the Lord’s presence was not with them, so they wanted to bring the ark of the covenant into battle. This is where their thinking starts to go wrong. Let’s read the rest of what the elders say in verse 4:3, “that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” Notice that they say that “it” may come among us. The “it” being the ark of the covenant. They were focused on the ark as being more of a magical box that would cause the Lord’s presence to be among them and therefore give them victory in battle against the Philistines.

In verse 4:4 we see Eli’s two evil sons bringing the ark of the covenant into the Israelites’ camp. As we all know all the people and Eli knew of the evil acts of both Hophni and Phinehas, yet they allowed these two to be near the ark. Just having these two in the presence of the ark would have been a serious affront to the Lord.

We see the people of Israel in verse 4:5 let forth a great shout when the ark appeared in their camp. Yet again, Israel sees the ark as their magical box that will win the battle for them, rather than understanding that the Lord’s presence was not with them.

But wait a minute, you might say, we know the word of Samuel came to all of Israel, why aren’t the people doing the right thing? Well there are probably a couple of things to understand here. First, Eli is still technically the judge of Israel (and as we know a very weak judge) and as such Israel is probably following what he says. As a judge over Israel, Eli would also have influence and leadership over military matters. Second, the people of Israel are still obstinate and refusing to follow the Lord (although they do repent under Samuel’s leadership in chapter 7, but more on that later).

Now let’s compare the Israelites’ to the Philistines’ reaction. The Israelites were confused, worried and saddened that they had lost, but were not in fear of the Lord as their actions showed. Contrary to this the Philistines’ reaction was one of abject fear (verse 4:7). The Philistines had heard of the Lord’s dealings with pharaoh in Egypt and how the Lord had freed His people from bondage. To the Philistines this was now a different kind of battle, one that would be waged against the Lord. Nevertheless, they bolstered themselves and again went to battle. This time, like the last time, the Philistines emerged victorious. In fact, the slaughter was much worse for the Israelites. This time 30,000 were slain.

Once the battle was over, a man (of Benjamin) ran from the front lines to give word to the people of Shiloh (where the ark of the covenant had come from) of the defeat and that Eli’s two sons had died that day (as the Lord had foretold) and that the ark was captured by the Philistines. In verse 4:13 it says Eli was worried over the ark. Eli seems to be more worried about the ark than his sons or even the Lord. We even see this in more clarity when the man who came from the front lines tells Eli in verse 4:17 several things: the battle had been lost, a great number of Israelites were killed and both of his sons were killed. But upon hearing that the ark had been lost to the Philistines he fell off of his seat and broke his neck and died. It seems that the people of Israel all believed that the ark was some magic talisman that brought the Lord’s presence to Israel, whereas the ark was really just a symbol of the Lord’s presence and not His actual presence.

While the Lord had removed both His protective hand from Israel and the ark of the covenant (the symbol of His presence), we must understand that the Lord’s sovereign will was still at work in Israel. However, Israel’s sin was so great that they could not see the Lord’s sovereignty working.

Idols

The ark of the covenant of the Lord had become an idol to the Israelites. They viewed the ark as something of more worth than the Lord Himself. The Lord chastised Israel for this mistake by removing their idol from them...the ark. This seems odd that such a holy item could become an idol that eclipses the Lord and become more meaningful that the Lord Himself. But this is exactly what happened.

In our lives idols can creep in from all sides, even innocuous things can become idols if they replace or even begin to minimize the Lord in our lives. Some idols are easy to see such as money, power, pleasure or material things such as cars and houses. But there are other idols that can subtly begin to shift our focus away from the Lord and His word to something else of less or no value. These things can come in the form of health, education, work, success, influence or even celebrities (even christian celebrities). I’ve even see people treat their pastor as an idol (this was in a different church that I attended). Certain congregants in that church would heap praise on the pastor instead of giving the glory to the Lord. They would respond much more eagerly and faithfully to the pastor’s commands than the Lord’s commands. They would also idolize and seek out praise from the pastor more than from the Lord. Now I am not saying that we should be indifferent to or minimize our pastors in any way, but we should never let anything become so important in our lives that it makes us indifferent to or minimize our Lord.

In chapter 5 we switch from the Israelites to the Philistines. The Philistines have just captured the ark and have brought it back to their city. It is interesting that the same Philistines who were so fearful of the ark and the Lord’s presence are now treating the ark as if it is just another spoil of war. Their fear has turned to pride.

I’ve always loved the story in chapters 5-6 about how the Philistines thought that they had beaten the God of Israel and began to mock the Lord by placing the ark of the covenant in their temple beside their idol (Dagon). In doing so, the Philistines were saying that Dagon was superior to the Lord. This did not end well for the Philistines. The next morning the statue of Dagon had fallen face down on the ground before the ark, in a sense showing Dagon bowing before the Lord. The Philistines put the status of Dagon back up and the next day the statue had not only fallen over again but it’s head and hands were broken off. A breaking off of the head and hands would have signified the death of an enemy.

It seems that the Philistines did not understand that the Lord had warned them. They must have continued down the road that they were on as the Lord next divinely struck the Philistines with a disease that must have killed many and those who survived suffered with tumors (perhaps sores or boils). There is an indication that this disease was probably similar to the bubonic plague that was carried by rats (note that the Philistines create gold rats along with gold tumors to send as a compensation offering to the Israelites in verse 6:5.

Here’s where we begin to understand just how devoted the Philistines were to their idol Dagon, even though the Lord was showing His immense power and sovereignty over their lands and their people. In verse 5:7 it says, “they [Philistines] said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” Not only were the Philistines saying that Dagon was still their god (their idol), they also wanted to send away the ark which symbolized the presence of the Lord. They wanted nothing to do with the Lord. They just wanted to go back to their idol.

The Philistines tried to move the ark to their other cities, but the same plague broke out everywhere that the ark went. Finally after about 7 months the Philistine kings got together and called on their priests (pagan religious leaders) to figure out how to deal with the ark (chapter 6). The priests told them to send the ark back to the Israelites with a trespass offering of five gold tumors and five gold rats. The priests had understood that they had offended the Lord and that He was mightier they they were, yet they were still unwilling to give up their idol. They were more intent on getting rid of the ark than repenting from their sins and turning towards the Lord.

While it does say in verse 6:5 that the priests told the Philistines to give glory (high honor) to the God of Israel, this was simply an acknowledgement that the Lord was superior and that they could not stand against Him, not an acceptance that He would now be their only God. Right after that statement in verse 5 we see in the same verse that the priests also say that perhaps the Lord will ease up on the Philistine people and their gods and their land (as the rats must have also been destroying crops and land). But notice that the priests intent on “glorifying” the Lord was so that they could get back to their idolatry, not so that they could follow the Lord.

The Philistine leaders did what the priests told them and sent the ark along with a trespass offering back to Israel. Now when the Israelites at Beth-shemesh saw the ark returning they rejoiced. It is important to note here that these Israelites were Levites, those chosen by God to handle the ark of the covenant. But in verse 6:19 we see that a large number of these men were killed because they handled the ark without respect. They committed the sin of presumption, that is some of them looked upon the ark in a presumptuous or prideful manner. They did not look upon the ark with proper respect but with a boldness that indicated they were only joyful that the ark was back, not that the Lord’s presence was back.

Note that some translations say that the Israelites looked into the ark and others say they looked upon the ark. This Hebrew word can be translated as either into or upon (or several other words for that matter). I think the word “upon” makes a lot of sense here since the Israelites saw the return of the ark as a return of their idol, a magical box that could fix all their problems. They still had not learned from their mistake in bringing the ark into battle with the Philistines. The ark was simply a symbol of the Lord’s presence. Just because the ark was in their midst did not mean that the Lord had changed His mind about the Israelites and had returned His strength to aid them. Rather, the Israelites were still regarding the ark as an idol (based on the fact that they had looked upon/into the ark in a prideful irreverent manner). The Lord regarded this act as heinous enough to warrant the death of many of the people there.

Israel’s repentance of their idols

Finally we come to chapter 7 where in verse 7:3 we see Samuel again after a long hiatus. It seems that the Philistine threat was back and Israel was again faced with war. Here Samuel is speaking to all of Israel and telling them that in order for the Lord to deliver Israel from the hands of of Philistines, they would have to repent. But before we get into the repentance, let’s ask “why now?” Why did Samuel choose this time in which to call Israel to repentance? Well we can find clues in verse 7:2. The ark had indeed been returned and this should have revived the people of Israel (since they idolized the ark), but we see at the end of verse 7:2 that Israel lamented after the Lord. This means that they went after the Lord mourning over their sin. That is, their hearts and minds had changed from one of pride (we can defeat the Philistines because we have the ark) to one of utter humility (the Lord’s presence is gone). And indeed this happened over a 20 year time span. We can discern from this verse that yes, Israel had truly had a change of heart and that this was no temporary state, it was true and ongoing.

Now Samuel is in the perfect position to lay out what true repentance looks like. [As an important note here, this is all happening under the Lord’s sovereignty. Understanding that the Lord is in complete control here is vital to understanding 1 & 2 Samuel.] Samuel says that everyone (the word “you” here in verse 7:3 is plural) must return to the Lord with all their hearts, this is explained in the following commands in verse 7:3:

Everyone must remove the idols.
Everyone must direct (here “direct” means to intentionally move their hearts towards the Lord) their hearts to the Lord.
Everyone must serve (here “serve” means to worship) the Lord and just the Lord.

To sum up, the people of Israel repented. They turned away from idol worship and intentionally turned towards the Lord. And as we see in verse 7:4 the nation of Israel followed Samuel’s commands and repented by removing their idols and turning back to worshipping the Lord only. Notice here we don’t see the nation of Israel saying that they were sorry or that they didn’t mean to offend the Lord. Rather, they showed their sorrow and disdain of their sin through their actions. It’s easy to say “Sorry Lord”, but it is much more difficult to back up those words with actions.

But that was not all. In verses 7:5-6 Samuel calls the Israelites to gather at Mizpah and pour out water before the Lord. This was an action designed to signify repentance and sorrow over their sin. Additionally, they fasted that day, denying themselves to focus on the Lord in worship. A confession of sin follows this in that they say “We have sinned against the Lord.” But note that it also says that Samuel prayed for the Israelites near the beginning of verse 7:5. Samuel is interceding on behalf of the Israelites to the Lord. This seems to be missed in several commentaries that I read through. We as believers should intercede through prayer on behalf of other believers mired in sin. The Lord wants to restore all believers who are caught in sin back to holiness. We also have a responsibility to pray on their behalf to ask the Lord to restore them.

We know from the rest of chapter 7 that the Lord restored His people and His presence due to their repentance. Now the Lord confused the Philistines through thunder allowing the Israelite army to drive back the Philistines beyond Beth-car.

One thing that stood out to me was that in verse 7:12 when Samuel set up a stone in remembrance of their victory the stone said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” Or in other words, up till now the Lord has helped us. I was wondering why it said “thus far...”. So the answer lies in chapter 8. Basically, the Israelites repented and began to worship only the Lord as it should be. But would this last? Will we see another type of sin begin to blossom? These questions will be answered in chapter 8. Read ahead and see what the Israelite leaders asked for in chapter 8. More on this will be in the next post.

I’ll leave you with this. In looking back at the title that Trev chose for this study on 1 Samuel, “Finding peace in the chaos”, we can find peace in the chaos of our lives and in the times we are living in. How do we do this? Well this section in 1 Samuel clearly talked about idolatry and it’s destructive effects, including how the Lord deals with those (both the Philistines and Israel) with unrepentant idolatry. So to find the peace in the chaos we must first put away our idols whatever they may be. Understand that idols nowadays are more than just images of what people think of as their gods (with a little ‘g’) such as the little Buddha statues that you can buy at a trinket store. Idols nowadays are more subtle and insidious but they still have the same effect, that is to eclipse the Lord (to place something that we value more than the Lord in the place of the Lord...His rightful place). And these idols can be anything (remember the ark was an idol to Israel). An Idol could be wealth, power, lust or even more specific things like TV, children (think back to Hannah’s prayer for a child), music, cars or even your job. I think a good test of what is an idol to you and what isn’t would be to ask yourself, “Would I sacrifice (give up) this thing for the Lord’s glory seeking nothing in return?” And that is a very difficult question to answer always with “Yes!”

1 Samuel 2:12–3:21

Do we truly believe the Lord works sovereignly over evil in the world today?

This is an easy question, of course the Lord works sovereignly over evil, we see the Lord’s triumph over evil throughout the Bible. “Give me a harder question” you say. Well ok, here’s the follow-up question, “How do we express that belief?” What is the outward working of the Spirit in your life that says, “God is in control and not me.” Is it truly a peaceful, patient faithfulness or is it anxiety and fear of the future? I hate to admit but the more I read about what’s going on in the world and even in some of the churches in the US and abroad, I start feeling that sense of anxiety and fear of the future. What we need is the constant reminder that the Lord is sovereign over ALL, not just some things. This reminder comes from His word.

As you read through 1 Samuel 2:12-3:21 you might notice that it talks a lot about Eli and his faithless, evil sons. But interleaved between these narratives about Eli and his sons we see Samuel quietly growing up in both stature and in the knowledge of the Lord. Notice how Eli’s evil sons are mentioned in stark contrast against Samuel in this section.

Throughout 1 Samuel 2:12-3:21 the idea of unrepentant sin is discussed and how the Lord deals with this sin. As you read through this section you might think that since the priests (Eli and his sons) were sinning that they should be judged harsher (by God) than a person who was not a priest. This makes sense, but when applying this to our lives we must also understand that we are of a priesthood to the Lord. As it says in 1 Peter 2:9:

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

And in Exodus 19:6 (NASB95)

‘and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

As God’s word states, we are a royal priesthood for God. With this in mind, as we read through this story of how the Lord dealt with the unrepentant sins of His priests consider how He will act towards us and any unrepentant sin we harbor, now that we are filling those same shoes

The first sin against God (verses 2:12-21)

The very first verse of this section describes Eli’s sons in no uncertain terms. They were sons of Belial. In other words they were worthless, corrupt, wicked and of no value to the Lord. As they were described as sons of Belial, their allegiance was not to the Lord, but to Belial. This verse continues to explain that these two sons did not know the Lord and as such they had no respect for the Lord or regards towards His statutes. This paints a horrible picture of the corruption that existed at the top of the spiritual ladder in the priestly order of Israel. As we shall see later, Eli was no righteous man either. Eli had more regard for his sons and the people of Israel than he did for the Lord. It does seem that Eli knew the Lord, but he had fallen into such deep sin of which the Lord would judge him.

The next few verses (13-17) describe the first of the unrepentant sins that Eli’s sons were responsible for. Simply put the priests would send their servants to take a portion of meat from where it was being boiled. But the priests didn’t want the boiled meat that was not as tasty, they wanted the raw meat before it was boiled. The problem was that the fat on the meat, which was the good and tasty portion of the meat, was to be burnt in sacrifice to the Lord. The best of the meat, the fat, was given as a sacrificial offering to the Lord. However, the priests wanted the best portion of the meat, along with the fat, for themselves. The priests were dishonoring the Lord by taking for themselves (by force I might add) what was due the Lord. This was a terrible sin towards the Lord. As a result of the priests forcing those sacrificing to give over their best portions of meat, the people despised (or looked down with contempt on) the offering to the Lord.

This was no minor or ordinary sin, this was a sin against the Lord Himself. As a result, the Lord was angry with the priests. Because of their sin towards the Lord and His sacrifice, the people were also tainted and acted sinfully towards this offering to the Lord.

But then we get to the last section (verses 18-21) where it begins with:

Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord

and ends with:

And the boy Samuel grew before the Lord

This is in stark contrast to Eli’s sons. Eli’s sons continued in their depravity allowing the people of Israel to be caught up in their sins against the Lord, while Samuel continued to minister to the Lord. To understand the depth of the contrast between Eli’s sons and Samuel, we need to understand what “minister to the Lord” means in this passage. Ministering to the Lord meant that Samuel was serving the Lord by performing the various rites, ceremonies and practices for the Lord. Samuel was humbly performing his duties with respect, regard and honor towards the Lord. We can see that this was indeed true by the last statement in this section that Samuel grew before the Lord. As Samuel performed his duties to the Lord, he grew and matured in the Lord’s presence.

In addition we also see the Lord blessing Hannah and Elkanah with even more children as they continued to be faithful to the Lord.

Note that it says Samuel’s mother would bring him a little robe every year when they would arrive for the yearly sacrifice. This garment would be worn under the ephod. This not only shows the continued love an affection of Samuel’s mother towards him but also displays Samuel’s mother’s continued sacrifice of giving her first born son to be in the service of the Lord.

The second sin against God (verses 2:22-26)

In this next section we see Eli hearing from others that his sons were having illicit sexual affairs with women at the entrance to the house of the Lord (this is where Moses had consecrated Aaron and his sons to serve as priests to the Lord). Not only were the two sons sinning, but they were sinning in the house of the Lord. This was an arrogant lack of regard for the Lord and what is His that should be kept holy.

Notice the way that Eli came to know about his two sons. He heard it from others. He didn’t seem to know firsthand that his sons were sinning. That shows a great lack of oversight with his sons. Eli was a much older man at this point in time, but that should not be an excuse to allow sin to run rampant in God’s house.

Eli did have an opportunity to fix the problem in verses 23-25, but Eli ended up only verbally chastising them. Eli did nothing to stop the sin that his sons were committing. His sons continued in their unrepentant sinning towards the Lord.

Notice that not only the sins that Eli’s sons committed in both cases were directly against the Lord but that their actions ended up causing others to sin as well. In the first case the people ended up disrespecting the sacrifice to the Lord and in the second they enticed the women serving at the tent of meeting to sin. Not only that, but the people who knew of this sin were gossiping and circulating this among the people of Israel.

Again we get to verse 26 where it says:

Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men

While Eli’s sons were rapidly growing out of favor with the Lord and with the people of Israel, Samuel was growing in favor of both the Lord and the people of Israel.

Eli is confronted with he and his sons’ sin (verses 2:27-36)

The rest of chapter 2 contains the narrative of a prophet of the Lord confronting Eli with the sins of his sons and also with Eli’s own sin of not respecting the Lord’s commands and placing his sons first above the Lord. This prophet is unnamed, but his words show the anger of the Lord not only with Eli but with his sons and his entire family. Notice how this unnamed prophet expresses the Lord’s displeasure at blessing Eli with being His priest and how he pronounces the curse upon Eli and all of his family. This is again in contrast to how we just saw Eli handle his two sons’ sin in verses 2:22-26. Eli confronted and condemned his sons’ actions but did nothing to stop them from continuing their sin. However, God not only confronts and condemns Eli’s actions (as he is the chief priest and has the responsibility to keep the Lord’s house holy and free from sin) but He also pronounces judgement on Eli and his family

This judgement might sound harsh, but consider Eli’s actions. Eli allowed sin to enter the Lord’s house and did nothing to stop it once he was aware of what was going on. In fact, Eli wore a head dressing that had a gold plate fastened to it with the inscription “Holy to the Lord”. The Lord had set aside Eli and his family to be His priests, ministering to Him. But Eli and his family had not fulfilled their duties to the Lord and had let sin run rampant in the house of the Lord.

Remember at the beginning when I mentioned 1 Peter 2:9 where the Lord had made us a royal priesthood (with Jesus as our chief priest). Now also understand that the Lord is unchanging. He is the same now as He was in the Old Testament. This should cause us to have a holy fear within our hearts. If the Lord dealt harshly with Eli and his household (including future generations) then it only stands to reason that the Lord will also deal harshly with us, His priesthood in this world, if we continue in unrepentant sin. 1 Samuel 12:24-25 says it well:

“Only fear the LORD and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you.
But if you still do wickedly, both you and your king will be swept away.”

Yes we live under grace. And yes, Jesus continually intercedes on our behalf. And yes, the Lord is patient. But it is our responsibility to obey the word of the Lord. And the best example of this humble submission is Samuel. While a large amount of chapter 2 is spent describing the sins of Eli and his two sons only a small portion of dedicated to Samuel. But in these short simple sentences about Samuel we see a quietness, a humbleness, a willing to serve the Lord, turning his back to sin while sin yet raged around him growing in favor both with the Lord and with the people of Israel. It never ceases to amaze me that the word of the Lord can say so few words about something or someone yet speak endless volumes on that same topic.

Samuel’s call (chapter 3)

Now we arrive at the turning point in the story. So far sin has raged out of control in the house of the Lord but Samuel, in contrast, has been quietly growing in favor of the Lord and continuing to serve the Lord.

Chapter 3 begins with Samuel still serving the Lord faithfully. Note that these are the same words that initially described Samuel’s actions in 1 Sam 2:18. We also know from this same verse that it was very rare that the Lord would speak to the people or give visions. Although, we did see this late in chapter 2 where the unnamed prophet spoke a word from the Lord to Eli.

Now we finally see the calling of Samuel in verses 4-10. There are a few things to note here. In verse 7 it states that Samuel did not know the Lord. This isn’t the same “know” as we would see in the New Testament. Here “know” means that the Lord had not yet revealed Himself to Samuel nor had the Lord given Samuel any divine revelations (remember in verse 2:1 it says that Eli’s two sons did not know the Lord...nor would they ever because of the hardness of their hearts). Samuel did not know the Lord, but because of his humble ministry to the Lord he was about to know the Lord.

Next we should note that Eli totally missed what was going on here. The Lord was calling Samuel audibly and Eli was completely missing what was happening. This speaks to how bad Eli’s sin was and how the Lord took His presence away from Eli. Again, we are also a royal priesthood to our Lord. When we know that the Lord’s presence is far from us we need to ask ourselves what caused this. Is it some unrepentant sin or is it possibly a time of trial from our Lord?

Finally, notice in verse 10 that Samuel says, “Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.” Some translations replace “listening” with “hears”. This Hebrew word for listening gives the sense of listening with all attention (attentively). Knowing Samuel and how he has ministered so well to the Lord up till now, we can also interpret “listen” to also give the sense that Samuel was going to obey the words of the Lord and not just passively listen.

At this point the Lord tells Samuel that He is about to judge Eli and his entire household. This includes the death of Eli’s two sons. To put it simply, the Lord was about to clean house and do away with Eli and his household, thus making way for Samuel to become a prophet and the last judge of Israel.

The next morning Eli came to Samuel and implored him to tell everything that the Lord had said to him. In fact, Eli sought to use God’s wrath against Samuel in order to coerce Samuel to tell him all that the Lord had spoken. Imagine the fear that Samuel must have been going through. Samuel was to tell Eli, whom had basically raised him from a young boy to serve the Lord, that the Lord’s judgement was about to occur on Eli. However, Samuel remained honest, obeyed Eli and told him all that was about to occur even though the outcome could be bad for Samuel.

Eli resigned himself to the Lord’s judgement as he said, “It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.”

And we see at the end of chapter 3 (verses 19-21) that Samuel is beginning to take his place as prophet and judge over Israel. Looking at these verses starting with verse 19 we see that Samuel continued to grow. This Hebrew word for grow gives us the sense of maturing, not just to grow in stature. So as Samuel continued to mature the Lord was with him, that is the Lord’s presence was continually with Samuel. And since the Lord was with Samuel none of Samuel’s words “fell to the ground” or as some translations put it “He [the Lord] fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied”, which is a little more meaningful to us.

We see Samuel maturing and the Lord’s presence settling on him, which is in extreme contrast to Eli and his sons who the Lord cursed and removed His presence from. We have already seen that Eli did not discern that the Lord was calling Samuel until the third time the Lord called out to Samuel. This shows a serious negligence of faith on Eli’s part towards his Lord.

With Samuel we also see that with the Lord’s presence Samuel’s prophesies would always be fulfilled. Samuel’s faithful submission to the Lord qualified him to be a prophet of the Lord. And as such the Lord fulfilled every word that Samuel would say (prophesy) to the people of Israel. Remember in verse 3:1 where it said “the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there was no frequent visions.” Well, under Eli’s priesthood there was very little prophesies but under Samuel’s the Lord began to prophesy again through His faithful servant.

Now in verse 20 we see see that all the people of Israel were aware of and understood that Samuel was the Lord’s prophet. In fact it says that all of Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew. This is placing emphasis that all of Israel knew by reiterating the fact of “all Israel” by also stating “from Dan to Beersheba”. The statement “from Dan to Beersheba” is a more precise way of saying all of Israel because this covers the northern most limits to the southern most limits of Israel. This emphasized the completeness and extent of Samuel’s confirmation as a prophet of the Lord. This is where we see Samuel begin to take over as prophet and judge of Israel and the decrease of Eli and his sons.

In looking back at the title that Trev chose for this study on 1 Samuel, “Finding peace in the chaos”, we can find peace in the chaos of our lives and in the times we are living in. How do we do this? Well this section in 1 Samuel clearly talked about sin and it’s destructive effects, including how the Lord deals with unrepentant sin. This section also contrasted Samuel’s life with that of Eli and his two sons. In chapter 1 we saw the first step in finding peace in the chaos as pouring ourselves out in prayer. Now in this section we see the effects of sin, which do not bring peace. However, we catch important glimpses into the life of the faithful and humble Samuel. It’s in these glimpses we can see how we are to overcome sin. As Samuel did we are to serve our Lord unswervingly, faithfully. As Samuel did we are to grow in maturity before the Lord...that is to walk with our Lord daily, studying His word and meditating on who He is. As Samuel did we are to stay holy even though sin surrounds us. And as Samuel did we are to humbly and eagerly say, “Here I am” when the Lord speaks to us through His word.

How do you pray?

It’s a simple question, but one we have to understand and get right first. Prayer is important, it’s what we all do in order to commune and worship God or to ask God’s blessing on something we are about to embark on or in response to a situation that needs God’s merciful intervention. Hannah was a person in desperate need of God’s merciful intervention. Let’s explore what Hannah was experiencing and how she brought this need before the one true and holy God.

1 Samuel begins with a short overview of who Elkanah was. He was a man with two wives. The first being Hannah who had no children and the second, Peninnah who did have children (v2).

In verses 4-5 we begin to see that Elkanah’s wives were not on the best terms. Peninnah was adversarial to Hannah and is described as being her rival and as one who would provoke Hannah mercilessly.

We also see in verses 4-5 the reason that Peninnah was so mean to Hannah. When Elkanah would sacrifice as a peace offering, Elkanah and his family would also eat a portion of the sacrificial offering. But not all family members would be served from the offering equally. Peninnah and her children would each get a single portion, but Hannah alone would get a double portion. The author explains this by saying, “for he loved Hannah”. In the Hebrew, the words are ordered in such a way that Hannah precedes the verb loved. So it gives the sense that Elkanah loved Hannah instead of Peninnah. Not only that, but Elkanah still loved her even though she could not bear children. And bearing children was incredibly important for a wife and her husband.

It is critically important to understand and remember that God had closed Hannah’s womb in verse 5. God did this in His sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is a theme that runs throughout 1 & 2 Samuel. God’s sovereignty is His kingship or rule over all things. God can rule as He pleases and can do what He wants; However, we can take comfort that He is a loving, merciful and gracious king. As we read in Matthew, God knows how to give to His children so much better than even us, if we ask according to His will, Matthew 7:7–11:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”

However, we must understand that God is working out His sovereign plan over all of creation. Therefore, it may look as though God’s plans are not merciful, nor gracious, nor loving. But we must remember that God is creator and ruler of all and we must trust that even though we go through times of distress and anguish, He is working all things together for good according to His will. Just think of how this story of Samuel’s birth and life may have gone differently if God had allowed Hannah to bear him earlier. Would Hannah have set aside (vowed) Samuel to do God’s work? And if there were no vow by Hannah, would Samuel have even been able to be used by God to change a nation? Plus we never would have the wonderful prayer of thanksgiving given as a model to us for how to give thanks to God in prayer (verses 2: 1-11).

Next, in verse 6 we see Peninnah would bitterly provoke Hannah specifically targeting her inability to bear children for Elkanah. But we can see the real underlying motive was that Elkanah did not truly love Peninnah and did not honor her as he did Hannah. So Peninnah attacked Hannah in the worst manner possible, targeting her inability to bear children.

In verse 8 we see the result of Peninnah’s merciless attacks on Hannah. Hannah wept and was broken hearted, grieved to the point that she could not even eat. After Elkanah was able to get her to eat and drink, they then went to the temple of the Lord to worship. Even in verse 10 Hannah’s deep distress was apparent (some translations use the words “bitterness of soul” here).

This is where we see Hannah at a crossroads, she could have allowed the bitterness, depression and grief overcome her or she could take this to the Lord in prayer. Thankfully in verse 10 we see her taking this burden to the Lord. Let’s look into how Hannah prayed in her distress.

Verse 10 begins with her attitude of prayer. It says Hannah prayed while in great distress and as she wept bitterly. God will sometimes bring us to the point where we cannot bear the load, and as we pray in our distress and weeping we are to give our problem to the Lord in prayer. However, Hannah did not stop there, she continued by making a vow to God. This is important since Samuel was, in the sovereignty of God, to be a great man that would change the course of a nation. This vow placed Samuel squarely in God’s hands, 1 Samuel 1:11:

She made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.”

She begins her prayer with “O LORD of hosts”. This is another acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty over all and is in keeping with one of the main themes in 1 & 2 Samuel. Hannah continues by asking God to look upon her and remember her. This is a cry of humility from Hannah to express her submissiveness and humility before God. Then we come to her request for a son. But she adds that once God answers her prayer that she will give him to the LORD for the rest of the child’s life. This last part of the vow is also important as she gives him to the LORD for the rest of his life, not just a portion of his life. This is going above and beyond what is required in Numbers 6:4, 5 and 8. Hannah had vowed the ultimate vow, that she would fully give up what God had given her. This is to glorify God.

But during her prayer Eli was watching her and thought that she was praying while drunk (verses 1:12-15). We see that in verse 15 we get an answer as to why theses verses are here, to explain in more detail what Hannah has done. Indeed she was not drunk as Eli had thought, rather she was pouring out her soul to the Lord in a deep and personal way. Additionally, we can get a small insight into Eli’s relationship to God. He doesn’t seem to have a very solid relationship to God as he couldn’t distinguish between a drunk woman praying and a woman in distress pouring her heart out to a sovereign God.

In verse 18 we see Hannah leaving and it says she ate and she was no longer sad. This is a great indication that she indeed left her burden at God’s feet and did not take it with her. When we can truly lay our burdens at God’s feet and leave them there, we too will also lay all of the baggage that comes with our burdens such as anger, sadness, hopelessness, and other such emotions. We see with Hannah that she was able to eat. Hunger must have returned to her indicating that her distress and anguish were also poured out before the Lord during her prayer starting in verse 10. The second thing mentioned about her is that her face was no longer sad. This is an obvious outward sign that she had indeed fully laid her burden at God’s feet, but it also indicates that she continued to trust in the Lord. Laying our burdens at God’s feet is meaningless if we do not also trust Him. Trusting God allows us to walk away from our burdens that we laid at His feet. If we fail to trust then we simply pick up our burdens along with all the emotional baggage that comes with our burdens and we are no better off than before.

Verse 19 says that Hannah rose early in the morning and worshiped the Lord. Another aspect of laying our burdens at God’s feet while trusting Him is that we can come back to true worship of our God. Our burdens and the emotions that are attached to our burdens do not hinder us from worship, which requires a focus on God and not ourselves. With our burdens it is difficult to focus on God centered worship. But after laying our burdens at His feet and trusting Him, we can then focus on truly God-centered worship.

I want to mention something about God’s answer to prayer in verse 20. It says that, “in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son”. God did not answer Hannah’s prayer right away. Rather, in God’s perfect timing her prayer was answered. Again we have to go back to the issue of do we trust God, do we truly understand that God is all knowing (he does not forget or fail to hear even our smallest quietest prayers) and do we know that God is all powerful (able to answer any prayer no matter the request...assuming it is within His will, of course). Our trust we have for God and our knowledge of who God is will be apparent as we wait on His answer, in the process of time. As Hannah has shown us, the way to trust and know God is to learn how to pour our soul out to Him and continue to worship Him regardless of our situation.

Now once God answered Hannah’s prayer, the first thing she does is to honor God and His answer to her prayer by naming the boy Samuel, which literally means “name of God”, but the way it is pronounced in Hebrew means “heard of God”. This was to signify that God had heard her prayers and had answered them.

Hannah continues to honor God through a sacrifice of a bull, flour and wine (verse 24). But the most important part is Hannah fulfilling her vow to the Lord to give her son to the Lord for all the days of his life (verse 28). Here Hannah is giving back the gift that God has given her. This must have been one of the most difficult things that she had done up to this point. She had prayed and desired a son with all her heart, praying in distress and with many tears. Now that she had what she wanted all this time, she could have just kept her child and not fulfilled her vow. But rather she did the righteous thing and denied herself of her desire to keep her child and raise him to adulthood. Instead she gave her son over to the Lord to be used by Him.

This is a magnificent picture of the Lord answering prayer, giving a holy gift to us. Then we, in faith, turn around and give that gift back to the Lord for His purposes and His glory. This is what Hannah did. This is a great example of how we should respond to answered prayers. In fact, God blessed Hannah even more that she honored her vow to Him by giving her more children (as we’ll see soon in her prayer).

Then at the end of verse 28 it says that Elkanah and Hannah worshiped the Lord. Worship should be something we always do regardless of our situation. And as we see here answered prayer should cause us to worship just as our persecution should cause us to worship (verse 19). Hannah is a fine example for us. Let us never forget to give thanks and to worship God regardless of our situation.

Finally we get to Hannah’s prayer in 2 Samuel 2:1-10 which exists as a model for us. This prayer is in stark contrast to the prayer she uttered in 1 Samuel 1:11 where she was in sorrow and distress. But notice that in both prayers Hannah never questioned God but rather she always honored Him in her prayers.

Her prayer of thanksgiving begins with 1 Samuel 2:1–2:

Every part of Hannah’s being is rejoicing in the Lord delivering her from this trial and persecution. She says that her “horn” is lifted up in the Lord. A horn was a symbol of strength to the Jewish people. So her strength was lifted up or supported by the Lord. Also she is free to speak out boldly against her enemies (of which her principal enemy/rival was Peninnah). But notice that she doesn’t leave it there, she continues by saying that she can speak out boldly against her enemy because she is rejoicing in the Lord’s deliverance (salvation here means a physical deliverance or saving one’s life). She isn’t speaking out against her enemies because she won or because she sees herself as better than her enemies, but rather it is all due to the Lord’s work in her life to provide her with a son. This speaks of Hannah’s desire to glorify the Lord and put Him above all in her life, even her own fleshly desire to (possibly) give back to Peninnah what Peninnah gave to her (i.e., to get revenge). But rather Hannah leaves that up to the Lord.

She continues to glorify the Lord in verse 2 by calling to mind that there is none like the Lord, no one that is holy like the Lord and no one that is a rock (i.e., strong, stable, unchanging and unmovable) like our Lord. These themes of the Lord’s strength, holiness, ability to deliver from evil and persecution neatly flow into the next section of Hannah’s prayer concerning the Lord’s humbling of the proud and lifting up of the humble (this has a certain familiarity as we look back to our study in Matthew where Jesus spoke several times of the first shall be last and the last first as well as how the proud will be brought low and the humble will be exalted).

In 1 Samuel 2:3–8:

Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the LORD is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes. The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, And He set the world on them.”

This section begins with the proud and arrogant and how the Lord knows who they are and what they have done. The Lord will weigh (judge) their actions and act appropriately. Keep this verse in mind as we look at Eli and his two sons and their arrogance towards the Lord in chapter 2-3. The rest of this section considers how the Lord lifts up the humble and brings down the proud. Notice all the contrasts: mighty vs. weak, full vs hungry, barren vs fertile and the others.

I think it’s important to look a little closer at the second part of verse 5. This verse could easily be interpreted as specifically talking about Hannah and the fact that the Lord gave her children while Peninnah, who had many children, was languishing (becoming feeble). However, in 2 Samuel 2:21 we see that the Lord continued to bless Hannah by giving her 3 more sons and 2 more daughters. These along with Samuel makes 6, not 7 as mentioned in her prayer. So verse 5 in this prayer is more of a general prayer about all women who are barren that are blessed with children. The number 7 means full or complete, that is, these mothers were fully blessed with children.

In the final part of this prayer, 1 Samuel 2:9–10:

"He keeps the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a man prevail. Those who contend with the LORD will be shattered; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed.”

Verse 9 is a comforting verse that not only states that the Lord keeps (guards or watches over) His godly people but also that the wicked do not have this luxury, they are in darkness and silence (they are done away with). This verse ends with a reason that the godly are guarded while the wicked are left in the darkness. This is due to the fact that man’s might shall not prevail over the Lord. The godly are guarded by the Lord’s strength, not by their own. The wicked are silenced in darkness by the Lord’s might as well. But no strength of the wicked can prevail over the Lord. This is a prayer of full faith in the Lord as Hannah is stating that the Lord is sovereign over both the godly and the wicked (as I’ve mentioned, a common theme in 1 Samuel).

In verse 10 the prayer takes a turn as it looks to the future. Notice the verbs: will be shattered, He will thunder, the Lord will judge, He will give strength and He will exalt. They are all future tense verbs. Faithful prayer should (although it doesn’t have to every time) look towards the future with faithful assurance of who the Lord is and what He will do in His sovereignty.

In looking back at the title that Trev chose for this study on 1 Samuel, “Finding peace in the chaos”, we can as Hannah did find peace in the chaos of our lives and in the times we are living in. How do we do this? Well we need to ask the question, “where do we start?”. We start where Hannah did, with prayer.