Bible Journey: 1 Samuel February 21/22, 2021

The Big Picture Deuteronomistic History 1 Samuel continues the Deuteronomistic History that started back in Joshua and Judges. We saw that Judges was episodic rather than a comprehensive history of that time. 1 Samuel picks up in that same time period of the judges. In his farewell address in 1 Samuel 12, Samuel even summarizes the main part of the book of Judges. For more information about the author and date of composition, refer back to what we discussed the first week with the Deuteronomistic History. As with Joshua and Judges, some of the material here may be earlier sources that were pulled together into this final form of the narrative. So, some people attribute authorship to Samuel for some of this material, but clearly he didn’t write the portions that came after his death. Also, keep in mind that this is a collection of sources, brought together into this final form, rather than a single narrative composed from beginning to end by one person. This may help to explain some of the repetitions in the text, or the fact that some materials are placed together in a more thematic way rather than in a strictly linear narrative. The fact that these books went through at least a final edit during the time of the exile continues to color the themes of which accounts are preserved here and how they are told and interpreted.

Transition from judges to the monarchy The final chapters of Judges repeatedly commented on the fact that there was no monarchy in Israel, during the time when things were spiraling out of control. As 1 Samuel opens, the people explicitly ask for a king, and God responds. Samuel himself serves the pivotal role of transition between the judges and the kings. Samuel and his sons will serve as the last of the judges, although Samuel is a much more positive figure than most of the judges we encountered previously. Samuel will then anoint the first king (and the second king). So, he closes out one era and ushers in the next.

1 Samuel-2 Kings Even though we refer to this entire set of books as a longer history, there is a sense in which Joshua and Judges can each stand alone as independent books. With 1 Samuel, however, we start a new, four-volume work, often referred to as Samuel-Kings. (In fact, in Greek, these four books are treated as a single work, 1- 4 Kingdoms.) These four books tell a continuous narrative of the time of Samuel down through the exile of the southern kingdom. The main theme of these four books is the monarchy, from beginning to end. In the spring, we’ll get into the books of Chronicles, and we’ll spend some time then comparing those books to Samuel-Kings, since the time periods covered by these two histories overlaps. But we’ll note right now a couple of key things about the history in Samuel-Kings. First is the simple fact that these books cover the history of both the northern and southern kingdoms, through their parallel monarchies and the time of their exile. (Chronicles covers only the south.) Second is the connection to the book of Deuteronomy as a standard of evaluation. The point of the Deuteronomistic History is to explain why God’s people ended up in exile. Since that was the result, the history isn’t sugar-coated. Samuel-Kings puts the monarchy fully on display, warts and all. So even and Solomon, for as great as they come across, are still shown quite honestly to be sinners (unlike in Chronicles). But we will also see the emphasis on God’s covenant and commitment.

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Dates and Chronology (r. ca. 1020–1000 BC); David (r. ca. 1000–960 BC) (see Enter the Bible) Up to this point, we have avoided dates for people and events, simply because the further back we go in time, the harder it is to pin down those numbers. On the flip side, the more we progress in time, the more archaeological and historical information we have available to corroborate names and places and to date them. For 1 Samuel, think simply in terms of date ranges, so that we have a concept of when we’re talking about. Most broadly, the events of 1 Samuel most likely take place during the 11th BC. More specifically, Saul reigned roughly between 1020 and 1000 BC, and David reigned roughly between 1000 and 960 BC. (Those are the dates given at Enter the Bible, by a professor at Luther Seminary. However, other scholars give different dates, within a range of about 30 to 50 years of that.) So, as we read these stories, we’re talking about things that happened 3000 years ago. But for as long ago as that was, it is amazing how little people have changed. Even if you move that date forward, because these books were composed in their final form in the exile, which was about 500 years later, still—in 2500 years, people haven’t changed much.

The Monarchy 1 Samuel 8:10-18 Why did the Israelites want a king so much? They first ask for a king when Samuel is older and his sons are not faithfully following in his footsteps as judges (ch. 8). The main reason they give is that all the surrounding nations have kings. They specify two things that a king does: he governs, and he leads in battle. So, a king could bring the tribes together as a unified force in a way that no leader had since Joshua. With a leader, they also gain a central capital and a standing military. A king therefore represents power and strength in ways that other nations will understand.

Why didn’t God want the Israelites to have a king? God gives Samuel the words of warning to pass on to the people, in 8:10-18. The bottom line in this warning is that a king will use the Israelites for a standing army and for labor, and he will tax them for his own wealth and the wealth of his friends. In other words, a king will exploit the poor to line the pockets of the rich. But God is also warning the people not to call out to him for help when that happens, because all he’s going to do is say, “I told you so.”

We see especially with David and Solomon how even good kings can go bad. Both of them abuse their power in a way that exploits their fellow Israelites. With David, we see this especially with Bathsheba and Uriah. With Solomon, we see it especially in his use of forced labor for his own luxury and building projects. In contrast to this, the book of Ruth stands as an example of how God intended for things to work: he gave the people the laws they needed to live by that would protect the people. If they would live by those laws, like Boaz did, they wouldn’t need kings over them to enforce the laws. The problem is that the kings were ultimately better at forgetting the laws and breaking them than they were at modeling them or enforcing them.

So, if even good kings can go bad, then why did God give in and let the Israelites have a king when they demanded one? • God lets humans make our own choices, even bad ones, and when we insist on doing things our own way, God has a history of letting us try it our own way, so that we can find out for ourselves it was a bad idea. In a positive sense, God lets us learn lessons the hard way, if that’s the only way we’ll learn, with the end result that we’ll come back to God in humility and try his way instead.

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In a negative sense, God hands us over to the consequences of our own sins, so that if we insist on doing things our own way, God allows us to suffer the negative results, and essentially we end up punishing ourselves. We saw that at the end of Judges, and Paul talks about the same thing in Romans 1. • In the larger scheme of salvation history, the monarchy points us forward to Christ the King and the kingdom of God, so the fact of monarchy was not necessarily bad in and of itself, and it did move forward the story of salvation history.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20 Before they even enter the land, Deuteronomy anticipates the day when they’ll have a king. They’re told that it’s okay, as long as they follow certain restrictions: • The king must be an Israelite, not a foreigner. • He shouldn’t acquire horses. (This relates to military might and the fact that God wanted the kings to rely on God for their success, not on chariots or the strength of a standing army.) • He shouldn’t acquire many wives, “or else his heart will turn away [from God].” (This is exactly what is later described as Solomon’s greatest downfall.) • He shouldn’t acquire too much wealth. • He should keep a copy of the law on hand, and regularly read it and follow it. (We will later see that this is not maintained over time, since in Josiah’s day they rediscover the book of the law, indicating that it has long been forgotten and is no longer followed.) • He is also not to exalt himself over his fellow Israelites (and God is warning here through Samuel that this is exactly what the king will do).

We could pretty much go through point by point and show how almost every one of these points is violated by the kings. Again, Deuteronomy serves as the standard of evaluation of what has gone wrong and how the people ended up in exile. Even their leaders didn’t follow God’s commands.

Outline (Adapted from Enter the Bible & NIV Study Bible)

I. Samuel (1:1-7:17) A. The Rise of Samuel the Prophet (1:1-4:1a) B. The Adventures of the Ark (4:1b-7:1) C. Samuel the Judge (7:2-17) II. Samuel and Saul (8:1-12:25) A. Israel Demands a King (8:1-22) B. Saul Becomes King (9:1-10:16) C. Saul Chosen by Lot (10:17-27a) D. Saul Defeats the Ammonites (10:27b-11:15) E. Samuel's Farewell Address (12:1-25) III. Saul and David (13:1-31:13) A. God Rejects Saul as King (13:1-15:35) B. Introduction to David (16:1-17:58) 1. David anointed as king (ch. 16) 2. David and Goliath (ch. 17) C. David and Jonathan (18:1-4) D. Saul Becomes Jealous of David (18:5-16) E. David Marries Michal (18:17-30) F. Saul Pursues David (19:1-28:2) 1. Jonathan protects David from Saul (ch. 20) 3

2. David continues to elude Saul (21:1-22:5) 3. Saul kills the priests at Nob (22:6-23) 4. Saul continues to pursue David (ch. 23) 5. David spares Saul’s life (ch. 24) 6. David threatens Nabal’s life (ch. 25) 7. David spares Saul’s life again (ch. 26) 8. David enters Achish’s service (ch. 27) G. Saul's Last Days (28:3-31:13)

Highlights (list compiled during classes) Birth of Samuel, and dedication by Hannah Hannah’s song (ch. 2) // Mary Samuel//Samson Samuel’s call Eli’s sons corrupt Adventures of the ark Samuel’s sons corrupt Israel asks for king Saul selected as king God warns them about king, rejection of God as king Steel hadn’t been invented yet David anointed as successor Saul loses the kingship, disobedience David and Goliath David and Jonathan Jonathan and Saul (relationship and contrast) David marries Michal David doesn’t kill Saul at En Gedi David’s cunning with Saul Meaning of Ebenezer (ch. 7) Jonathan ate honey, Saul’s vow David and Abigail (ch. 25)

Key Themes Hannah The book of Samuel opens first, in chapter 1, with Hannah and her request for a son. Even before she has received the answer to her prayer, she has committed this child to the Lord. After Samuel is born and weaned, she follows through with her vow and makes the difficult choice of handing her child over to serve the Lord. This might remind us of the mother of Moses, who gave her child over to be raised by someone else, in this case to save his life. But this narrative marks Samuel as a special child from before birth, set apart for a special role.

Chapter 2 then opens with Hannah’s prayer, or Hannah’s song. For Christians, this should remind us of the song of another mother, much later: Mary (we will come back to her at the end). Hannah’s song is also seen as a theological or thematic introduction to the book, bringing up themes that will play out later. One of the themes in this song is reversal: the Lord brings low, and he also exalts (v. 7).

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Samuel Samuel serves the important functions of a prophet and a judge, and he also serves some priestly functions. In some ways, Samuel comes across as the anti-Samson (but don’t make too much of the similarities in their names, because they are more similar in English than they are in Hebrew). Both have birth narratives and miraculous births; both are set aside as Nazirites; and both serve as judges. However, Samuel is a much more positive figure, with a genuine and obedient relationship with God. He also behaves much differently than Samson does. Samuel is also set up in contrast to Eli, who shows the corruption of the priesthood.

After the story of Samuel’s birth in chapter 1, Samuel is raised by Eli. First we hear about the problems with Eli and his sons, in the second part of chapter 2. Then, in chapter 3, is Samuel’s call narrative, when God speaks to him directly and he begins his career as a prophet. Eli and his sons die, as was foretold to Eli by a prophet, and by Samuel. In the close of Eli’s story, he is described the same as the judges, that he had judged Israel for 40 years (3:18), but clearly Eli’s role as a priest had been different from most of the judges we encountered in the book of Judges.

Samuel then serves as the next judge, in chapter 7, and his first task is to turn the Israelites away from false gods, as we sometimes have seen the judges do. Instead of being a military leader, Samuel leads the people in repentance and offers sacrifices, but this also leads God to deliver them, as he has done under the different judges. Samuel also seems to be similar to Deborah, in the description of him traveling around and administering justice for the people. In chapter 12, Samuel closes out his term as judge with a farewell speech, similar to the farewells of Moses and Joshua. Samuel doesn’t die until chapter 25, but he has become a minor character by this point, as Saul and David have become the main focus.

But, for all of Samuel’s success, he has the same problem as Eli: Samuel’s sons do not serve the Lord faithfully. This is the same problem we saw at the beginning of Judges, calling us back again to Deuteronomy, where they were told to teach the next generation. Even obedient men like Samuel have the same disconnect, that they haven’t passed on their faithful obedience to their children. This problem will continue throughout the monarchy, as even the reforms of kings like Josiah won’t last beyond his own generation.

Ark of the Covenant In chapters 4-7 the ark is taken into battle and lost to the , then it wreaks some havoc, and they send it back. The ark is a sacred object, stored in the holy of holies, that houses important objects and represents God’s footstool on earth. Back in Joshua, the ark led the way as they entered the promised land and marched around Jericho. But the Israelites treat the ark like a magical object that will win the battle for them, possibly based on the history with places like Jericho. Nowhere in the narrative do they ask God what to do, and nowhere does he tell them to lead the way with the ark. So, it is not the ark itself but obedience to God that is key in the ark’s effectiveness. God allows the ark to be carried off by their rivals because if they wouldn’t respect it, they didn’t deserve to have it. Whether intentionally or not, this capturing of the ark does foreshadow what would happen much later with the temple. We catch a glimpse of this when Phinehas’s wife names their son Ichabod, “The glory has departed from Israel.” This is the same thing that happens in the book of Ezekiel, when he watches God’s glory rise from the temple and leave Israel, at the time of the exile. Just because this is where God resides with his people on earth does not mean that this is invincible or can’t be captured. God’s presence and God’s deliverance still comes down to human obedience and right relationship with God, not magical formulas or raw power that they can manipulate any way they want to. 5

Prophet & King From the beginning of the monarchy we see a special relationship between the king and one or more prophets. Sometimes it is a positive relationship, in which the prophet is a confidante and conscience for the king. At other times it is a contentious relationship, and some of the prophets were persecuted or on the run from the king. This generally says a lot about the king, since a true prophet is the mouthpiece of God, so if the king is rejecting the prophet of the Lord, then the king doesn’t want to hear what God has to say. Here, we see how Samuel the prophet functions to anoint first Saul and then David, and we see how Samuel has an advisory role with Saul, at least for the time when Saul is willing to listen.

Saul Saul’s story starts out like a Shakespearean comedy and ends like a Shakespearean tragedy. Saul starts out with potential, but his final years end up in a tailspin, leading to the tragic end of both him and his heirs. From a human point of view, Saul was tall and handsome (9:2). He stands out, which makes him seem like he has no rival (10:24). At the beginning he’s not power-hungry (he’s actually hesitant to take the job), so whether you call that cowardice or humility, at least he starts off in a lower place, not with greed and exploitation in mind. The narrative doesn’t tell us much about Saul’s reign before things go south. He has one great military success, and then by the next account of his military leadership, problems start to emerge. However, the fact that he goes from a younger man to a father of grown sons suggests some time has elapsed in between. In the narrative, this downturn comes immediately after chapter 12, when Samuel has just said that if the king and the people obey God, all will go well for them, but if they don’t, it won’t.

Saul’s downfall resulted from his disobedience, both in offering a sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to do it, and in not following God’s instructions in warfare. First, in chapter 13, when Saul gets impatient with Samuel and offers the sacrifice himself, Samuel says that God will take away Saul’s legacy and raise up a man after God’s own heart to reign after Saul. Then, in chapter 15, Saul disobeys God again. God has told Saul, through Samuel, to institute herem, the policy of devoting everything to destruction, against the Amalekites. (Notice in this story that Saul warns the Kenites to leave first, so that they will be spared, because they are not under this policy of being devoted to destruction.) But Saul doesn’t completely obey. Because of this, the second part of God’s judgment comes down on him, and God rejects not just Saul’s legacy but Saul himself as king. At that point, Saul loses God’s favor, and he also loses Samuel’s guidance. Saul becomes increasingly erratic in his behavior, especially toward David. When the Lord will no longer answer Saul, he goes to seek a medium and ends up having an interesting encounter with the ghost of Samuel. Eventually Saul dies in disgrace on the battlefield, along with his sons.

Obedience, not Sacrifice In chapter 15, when Samuel is pronouncing God’s judgment on Saul for his disobedience, Samuel makes a statement that is a theme we find in other places, especially in the prophets and Psalms and again in the New Testament. He says, in verses 22 and 23: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.”

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Here, the prophet Samuel is stating something that other prophets will later emphasize, including the prophet Jesus. This summarizes so much of religion, and it even extends to the law: what God wants above all is obedience. He wants us to trust and obey. God desires this from us more than he desires our rituals or even our legalism. And it is true today. We can go to church every Sunday, we can volunteer for ministry, we can go through all the right motions, but if we’re not obeying God by loving God and loving others, then none of the motions we go through are pleasing to God. We heard a similar text on Ash Wednesday with the reading from Isaiah 58 about the fast that God chooses. No amount of fasting or surface repentance before God matters if we persist in violating God’s laws about caring for one another. What it boils down to is hypocrisy, the very thing that Jesus continually criticized the Pharisees for. What God wants is our honesty and humility with our hearts in the right place. So, this lack of obedience was Saul’s downfall, as it was for Moses, and as it was for Adam and Eve. Our forms of worship may have changed since Samuel’s words, but the principle remains the same for us today.

The Holy Spirit and Evil Spirits [This section was not covered in class, because of time.] We didn’t talk about the spirit of God much in Judges, but the Spirit does make several appearances there. We see in these events the difference between the Spirit in the Old Testament and the Spirit in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Spirit functions like a raw source of power, God’s power, that is sent down to fill someone for a purpose. But it is a temporary filling, with no direct evidence of spiritual fruit in a person’s life. Samson is the best example of this. In contrast, in the New Testament, especially at Pentecost and beyond, the Holy Spirit becomes an indwelling force, with the emphasis there on holy. The Holy Spirit makes people holy, from the inside out. It is the same Spirit of God in both places, but the Spirit serves different functions and is more fully revealed in the New Testament.

In 1 Samuel, we hear about the Spirit of God in the same sense that we did in the book of Judges. Saul has two unique encounters with a band of prophets and the spirit of the Lord. The first is in chapter 10, as one of the signs Samuel foretells to indicate that Saul will be king. Then later, in chapter 19, when Saul is seeking David to kill him, not only Saul but his messengers have a similar encounter. These stories seem to serve the function of explaining a saying in circulation about Saul being among the prophets. This doesn’t mean that he was a prophet himself, but he seems to gain a reputation for spiritual possession, both positive and negative.

We also see the spirit of God come upon Saul to strengthen him for battle, similar to what happened on a few occasions in the book of Judges (11:6). At David’s anointing, then, we’re told that the spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward (v. 13). And in just the next verse, the spirit of the Lord leaves Saul, while “an evil spirit from the Lord” comes to torment Saul. This evil spirit comes and goes through the rest of Saul’s reign. This evil spirit is understood in different ways. In modern interpretations, some people see it as a spiritual way of describing his descent into mental illness. The bottom line with describing the evil spirit as from God is to recognize God’s sovereignty. That is, if there is an evil spirit, or the effects of what appears to be an evil spirit, afflicting Saul, it could only happen because God allowed it. The departure of the spirit of the Lord from Saul thus represents God’s removal of his blessing, which opens the way for an opposite spirit to take up residence in Saul.

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New Testament Connections

Hannah & Mary (1 Sam. 2:1-10; Luke 1:46-55) In Luke’s Gospel, when we hear the song of Mary, that young woman with an unexpected pregnancy, we should be reminded of the song of Hannah, another woman with an unexpected pregnancy and a special child. There are similar themes between the two songs, especially praising God’s work on behalf of his people, and the theme of reversals, that God brings down the proud and lifts up the lowly. This connection puts Mary in good company with women like Hannah who came before her, and the common themes are one of the connections in Luke 1 back to David’s story and the anticipation of God’s anointed king.

David and the Bread of the Presence (1 Sam. 21:1-6; Mark 2:23-28; Matt. 12:1-8; Luke 6:1-5) In the Gospels, when Jesus is criticized for gleaning in the fields on the Sabbath, he refers to this incident from David’s life, in 1 Samuel 21, to point out that things that are set aside for holy purposes can be used for ordinary purposes when necessary. In David’s story, he asked for bread, and all that the priest had on hand was the bread used in the tabernacle as part of their daily rituals. Jesus is saying that if it was okay for David to eat this bread that was otherwise set aside for worship and the priesthood, then it is okay for the Lord of the Sabbath to take the gleanings of the field, out of necessity, even on the Sabbath.

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