1 Samuel is the first of the historical books (I think), so there is a whole lot of story to it with bits and pieces of implications scattered everywhere. It starts out with the birth of Samuel, who becomes God's instrument, as a judge, for quite awhile in Israel. The next big thing that happens is Israel demands a king for their nation. Samuel warns them about all the things that will happen, but they still want one and God tells Samuel to go ahead and do it. So God anoints Saul as the first king of Israel. Saul is a man's man. The way they describe him makes him sound very kingly. Saul sticks with God for a little bit, but after awhile you can see that he starts to do things his own way. Finally, Saul messes up again and God tells Samuel it is the last straw. God rejects Saul as the king. Right after that you have the anointment of David as the new king, which is interesting because Saul continues on the throne for a long time after that and it kind of sound like Samuel didn't tell anyone that David was actually anointed as the next king. David works for Saul though and then starts to do some great things. Very soon you have the story of David and Goliath, which I will talk about later, but that kind of jump-starts Saul's jealousy of David. Basically all the rest of the book is David running from Saul as he tries to kill him. Two times when Saul is pursuing David for his life, David has the chance to kill Saul, but he doesn't take it because Saul is the anointed of the Lord. In the last chapter, Saul dies, which leads right into 2 Samuel.
Now for all of the implications of things that I read. There are quite a few so follow closely. The first and most obvious thing was this repeat of God using the weak to show His strength. Hannah's (Samuel's mom's), prayer in chapter 2 is all about that very thing. She is praising God that He makes what the world think is strong, fail and uses what the world thinks is weak, succeed. It got me thinking about how obvious this theme has been in the Bible so far. We see barren women (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson's mother, and Hannah) give birth to the patriarchs and judges of Israel. Jacob was the weaker, younger brother; Joseph was the 11th out of 12 boys born to Jacob; even Seth was chosen after Cain killed Able; Gideon was scared, weak, and doubtful; and finally David in chapter 16. David was the youngest of eight brothers. The Bible describes him as ruddy. Yet, the Lord chose him. He also chose him over Saul, who was the "perfect" king. Do you think God purposely made the one who looked like the best king fail immediately and the scrawny little guy succeed? I do. I also think that this theme continues in scripture so we will be talking about it later on.
The next thing is the confusing one. It is some of the things that the write attests to the Spirit of the Lord. I'm just going to list the things that the book says. In chapter 10, He rushes upon Saul and it says he will be "turned into another man." In 11:6, Saul hears the news of Jabesh being captured and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, "and his anger was greatly kindled." Then he tool a yoke of oxen and cut them up and sent them to all of Israel. After David was annointed it says, "the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward,' like it was continually happening after that. The very next verse says the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, "and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him." Three more times in that chapter it mentions this harmful spirit and says it is from God every time. Again, in 19, this harmful spirit from God came upon Saul. In the same chapter, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Saul's messengers, so they prophesied, and then on him, so he prophesied! In chapter 28, this witch brings up Samuel's spirit from the dead and he talks to Saul. WHAT?! I thought that only happened in movies. This is the Bible. All of this is extremely weird because they are things that I've never heard before. God doesn't put spirits on people to torment them; the Holy Spirit doesn't cause people to get angry and kill animals just to gross people out; and spirits definitely can't come back from the dead to talk to people. Obviously I've been mistaken in what I believe about God and His Spirit.
What I cannot afford to miss is the most important thing in this book, chapter 12. In Samuel's farewell speech, he rebukes the Israelites for asking for a king. He goes through and mentions fearing the Lord a few times, but then he says this in 12:22, "For the Lord will not forsake His people, for His great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for Himself." It's all to make His Name great! It's obvious that the people deserve for God to forsake them, but He won't. Why? So His Name is glorified. Also I see God's pleasure and his election both right here. It has pleased Him to make this a people for Himself. They are a people set aside by Him for Him. And that gives Him pleasure. Now 12:24 "Only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things He has done for you." Do you see how the two are connected? Fearing God comes from remembering the great things He has done and remembering that He was the one who did them. Oh I love this!
Two more quick notes. One is the whole time I was reading about David running from Saul, I couldn't help but think of the Psalms. It's like reading David's biography and then going and reading his journal after. I can't wait. The other thing is that I went through and counted just for fun. Since the exodus from Egypt, God has reminded Israel of it 52 times now (through 1 Samuel). Do you think He cares that His people remember His great works?
Ok I realize that was a lot, but it is totally worth it. It's the Bible. It's God's word. Of course it's worth it. Hopefully this has challenged you and made you realize that you don't understand God or His Spirit, because I know that's what it did for me. So go and read more so that you can understand Him better. I'll try to get to 2 Samuel today. It's a mouthful and difficult to get through so I'll try.
All for His glory,
Mitchell
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