1 Samuel 9 & 10 Kingmaking

1 Samuel 9 +10

The tribe of Benjamin , if you have been following the story so far, was almost wiped out following an event toward the end of the book of Judges So it is quite interesting that God chose a man from this tribe to be Israel's first official king 
Saul, son of Kish enters the story having been sent by his father to track down some missing donkeys. His searchings take him through the hill country of Ephraim, and the land of Benjamin without success.

As they got near Zuph (Don't ask where that is 'cos I don't actually know!) Saul was ready to give up and was thinking that his Dad would stop worrying about the donkeys and wonder what had happened to his handsome son. But his companion mentioned that there is a man of God living in the next town, why not ask him?
They have nothing to offer for this advice in terms of food, or animals but Sauls companion has a quarter of a shekel of silver (approx 3 grammes) which is not really very much, but worth a go! 

The Bible says Saul was very tall (a head taller than most other people) and very handsome.
Reaching the town Saul asks for the seer and is told he has just arrived and is about to conduct the sacrifice and then join the feast.

God had warned Samuel the previous day that tomorrow he would send a man from Benjamin who was the chosen king of Israel. when Samuel caught sight of Saul, God told him that this was the man.

Saul asked Samuel where the seer was to be found and Samuel said "I am the Seer, as for those donkeys, they have been found." Samuel told Saul to wait at the top of the hill as he will be the guest at the feast.

Later Samuel asked for a private word with Saul before sending him on his way, having annotated him with olive oil as the king, with specific instructions - that sound a little like time travel advice 
When you leave me today, near Rachel's tomb (Outside Bethlehem) he will hear that the donkeys are safe and his father is wondering what has happened to Saul.

Going on from there to the big tree at Tabor you will meet three men going up to Bethel to worship, they will be carrying 3 young goats, 3 loaves of bread and a skin of wine. They will offer you 2 loaves of bread which you will accespt
After that you will go on to Gibeah and as you approach the town you will meet a procession of prophets coming the other way with lyres, timbrels, pipes and harps being played - the Spirit of God will come on you with power and you will prophesy  and be changed by this encounter into a different man.

Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever occurs to you to do.

These signs happened and it is a different Saul who is accosted by his Uncle. Saul recounted his tale omitting that Samuel had anointed him king 

To hurry things along - Samuel called an assembly of Israel at Mizpah to present themselves by tribe and family for God to choose by casting lots.

The lot fell to the tribe of Benjamin, the clan of Matri and the family of Kish - but Saul was trying his best to be inconspicuous and elsewhere by hiding in the luggage, from where he had to be dragged out.
Samuel set forth the rules for king and kingdom and laid them in a scroll before God, then he dismissed the people. having acclaimed Saul as king.

Saul went back home, now accompanied by valiant men pledged to his service.
Typically there were some unsavoury people who did not like Saul and refused to bring him gifts.
Perhaps Saul on this occasion was right to stay silent.

So Israel has now got a king 

1 Samuel 8 Government systems

1 Samuel 8

Samuel is now an old man and while he has been faithful in serving God and judging fairly his 2 sons are not following their fathers example.
The Elders of Israel ask Samuel to appoint a king to rule the country. They tell Samuel, in as many words, you are getting on and your sons are not like you, therefore we want a king like the other nations.

Samuel is not impressed by this and turns to God in prayer - I have to admit that far too often this is not my first priority, though I'm sure it would make me a better and more considered person, it is one of the many things I need to practise......

God tells Samuel that Israel has not rejected him, but they have rejected the rule of God, just like they had time after time since God led Israel out of Egypt.

Samuel give Israel of a what having a king will mean to them basically the king will have the right to -

• call up their children to be in his army  
• work his farms and gather his harvests
• work in munitions factories and make weapons
• make their daughters into cooks and perfumers and bakers
• commandeer the best of the land, fields, vineyards and olive groves and give them to his followers
• Impose a tax on the remaining harvest of grain, wine and olive oil and earnings
• take servants from the population for his service and the same with flocks and cattle
• basically turn the Israelites into servants of the state.

On that day they may regret their choice but God will not listen to them.

Israel responded that, thank you very much, but we still want a king.

Samuel dismissed them back to their homes and we will take the appropriate action.

As you probably know I live in the UK where we have a constitutional monarchy - the Queen is our head of state and she is advised and relies on the government and ministers to rule, manage the armed forces and generally run the country led by the "Prime Minister" (Which was originally a term of disdain and mockery) 

A parliamentary democracy with constitutional monarch seems to have similar powers to the king in this chapter - at least they tax double what the king did in this chapter!

Winston Churchill once said "Democracy is the worst form of Government except all the others that have been tried" - I hope one day to live in a theocracy where God is truly king and all people in the kingdom will serve and worship him with all our hearts, minds and souls and loving each other as ourselves.

1 Samuel 7 Philistines

1 Samuel 7

From the last chapter the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Keriath Jearim where it stayed secure for the next 20 years.

Samuel challenged the nation of Israel to worship only God and to get rid of all their idols, ashtoreths and foreign gods. Which they did.

He then called an assembly at Mizpah where he would pray for them.
While they were at Mizpah the leaders of the Philistines take an opportunity to attack and try for a once and for all victory.
Israel hear of this and are alarmed but tell Samuel to not stop crying out to God on their behalf.
God thundered from heaven against the Philistines and threw the attacking army into a panic.
Israel rushed out of Mizpah and chased down the fleeing Philistine soldiers.
On that day Samuel raised a stone between Mizpah and the town of Shen. which he called "Stone of help" or Ebenezer (Famous as the given name of Scroodge in Dickens story A Christmas Carol)

This supernatural defeat proved decisive and the Philistines did not raid Israel again. Captured towns were repatriated to Israel and there was also peace with the Amorites.

Samuel led Israel as Prophet and Judge all his life making an annual circuit between his home of Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah.

1 Samuel 6 Returning a gift

1 Samuel 6 

Trying to find a way into this chapter I was reminded of a Bob Newhart sketch called returning a gift, where a customer is trying to return a Christmas present of a toupee given to him by his wife. If you have not heard of this sketch of Bob Newhart - look him up.

Anyway the Philistines are in the position of being rather unhappy that they captured the Ark of the Covenant from Israel - things have not gone at all well, gods are falling over, people are getting tumours and rats are ruining everything.
After 7 months - hardly quick of the mark these Philistines - they decide that they have had enough and ask their priests for advice in giving the Ark back to Israel.

They are advised to not just send back the Ark but to include some kind of offering to appease the God of Israel and hopefully stop the plagues. I'm not a medical person, but I read about tumours and rats and wonder if they are connected in any way?
Perhaps is somebody medically or biblically traines can comment - I'd for one be interested in the theories.

Anyway the Philistines make representative tumours and rats out of gold to symbolise their offering. They put the Ark onto a wagon hitched to 2 cows that have given birth but have never been used to pull a wagon or anything in the past along with a small chest containing the tumours and the rats.
The take the calves away and pen them up and see what the cows do pulling the cart - if it went straight back to Israelite land it was a sign that the difficulties had come from God, but if not then it was just bad luck.

The cows make an immediate bee line for Israel and does not stop until they reach the field of Joshua at Beth Shemesh. The Philistine rulers follow the cart to the border.
The locals are in the fields harvesting grain and see the return of the Ark. They immediately chopped up the cart and sacrificed the cows.

However some locals were too inquisitive and they  died for looking inside the Ark, and they asked Kiriath Jearim to come and take responsibility for the Ark.
It seems a bit harsh for God to kill 70 people for looking inside the Ark - but according to Moses law nobody could even see the Ark under normal circumstances and it was only to be carried by Levites, so looking into the Ark of the Covenant was showing a profound disrespect for God.

1 Samuel 5 Biting off more than you can chew!

1 Samuel 5

In the last chapter the Philistines have captured the ark of the covenant - now they have to decide what to do with it.

They took the Ark to Ashdod and placed it in the temple of Dagon. 
To say I don't know much about the god Dagon would be kind of understating the situation, but I'm pretty sure that the God statue in the Temple does not regularly fall over.

When the Ark of the covenant was placed in the temple of Dagon the statue fell over during the night.
Next morning they put the statue back but the next night if falls over again and this time the hands and the head fall off and land up on the doorstep - which led to a tradition in that town, the priests refused to step on the threshold of the door.

After this the people in Ashdod started to develop tumours - at which point they decide that the ark of the covenant should not stay there so they move it to Gath.

Once it gets to Gath the people there start getting tumours as well which caused rather a panic amongst the population.

They then move the ark of the covenant Ekron where there is very strong opposition,one can almost hear the cry of "Don't bring it here!". While the Ark is there the town is infected with rats and the people are getting tumours which seem to be fatal in many cases

Eventually the Philistines come to the decision that the Ark must be returned to Israel, before they all die.

1 Samuel 4 Disaster!

1 Samuel 4

Do you ever get those days where you wonder if it was worth getting up? 
Israel and the Philistines never seem to have got on all that well and in this chapter Israel and the Philistines have gone to war again, this time the Philistines get the upper hand and gain victory inflicting about 4000 Israelite casualties.

The army commanders request that the Ark of the Covenant be bought forward to the Israelite camp and boost morale in the army.
The Philistines hear the uproar in the Israelite camp and when they ascertain that the Israelites have bought their god to the battle are quite worried, they have not had to face this before.

The Philistines, in spite of their misgivings, put on a brave front and, guess what, beat the Israelites who lost all discipline and the whole army ran for cover. The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant - the gold overlaid chest that represented the most holy item in Israel - the place that God spoke from to Moses and Joshua.

Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who we have seen were not model priests, are both killed in the battle 
When a messenger from the battle arrived at Shiloh where the Ark had come from, Eli had been sitting by the road as he was uneasy about the Ark of the Covenant being at risk and heard the news that his sons were dead, the Ark of the Covenant had been captured he fell off his chair and broke his neck 

The tragedy does not end there - Phinehas it appears was about to become a father, but hearing the news of his death his wife goes into premature labour.
AS she gave birth to her son, she too died and they called the young boy Ichabod which means "No glory".

In one day the Glory of God had left Israel in the form of the Ark of the Covenant. The high priest had died along with both his sons and his daughter in law.

If you have ever seen the movie Indiana Jones - Raiders of the lost ark they show a picture of Israel carrying the Ark of the covenant into battle and fire and lightening coming out and destroying their enemies.
Raiders of the Lost Ark is an excellent film, but biblically it is extremely inaccurate, as we have seen.

1 Samuel 3 What does God sound like?

1 Samuel 3

I've been a practising Christian since I made a decision to follow Jesus Christ at the age of 9. I am now nearly 42,. Over the last 33 years God has undoubtedly spoken to me through a variety of methods and people, however somehow this is the exception rather than the rule.
I rarely receive guidance  on what to wear, how to do my job, which route to take if i visit somewhere etc.

In this chapter it seems that God is being not very communicative, few people have messages or visions.

Eli, the priest is now very old and nearly blind, and the young boy Samuel is still staying in the Tabernacle close to the ark of the covenant, when God spoke directly to Samuel calling him by name. Apparently to Samuel God sounds like the old man Eli, as he went and asked Eli what he wanted.

After telling Samuel to go back to bed twice, Eli figures that it is actually God speaking to Samuel and tells Samuel to listen to God.

God told Samuel that he was going to do something shocking and bring down judgement on the house of Eli for his refusal to stop the unacceptable actions of his sons.

In the morning Eli demanded that Samuel tell him what God had said to which Eli says "He is the Lord, let him do what is good in his eyes" 

As Samuel grew into manhood, God was with him, and spoke to Samuel. He ensured that Samuels words had power and did not fall to the ground 
The people from the South (Beersheba) to the North (Dan) recognised that Samuel was a prophet who had the message of God.