Looking for Samuel

[JLG]

219) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- Then David goes to Jonathan!


- And Jonathan tells him he will be able to warn him if his father tries to do something against him!


- But David thinks that Saul won’t say anything to Jonathan!


- So David tells him what to do!


- And David waits for Jonathan’s answer!


- And Jonathan tells David to flee!


- Samuel was always there as judge till Saul became king of Israel!


- As Samuel had said, things started to go wrong and Saul was rejected by God!


- And God chose David as the new king!


- And Saul knew that God was with David!


- So he spent his time trying to kill him!


- But he never succeeded!

 

[JLG]

220) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- Then David goes to Ahimelech the priest and he tells him that Saul gave him a mission!


- So he asks the priest if he can give him some bread!


- So Ahimelech tells him there is only holy bread!


- And he gives them to David!

- And he also gives him Goliath’s sword at David’s request!


- Then David goes to the land of the Philistines acting as if he was insane!


- Thus God keeps protecting David even if Samuel is not there!


- But Saul can’t be compared to Samuel!


- Saul acts against God as Samuel had told the Israelites about the future kings!

 

[JLG]

221) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 22


- Saul now said: “Listen, please, you son of A·hiʹtub!” to which he replied: “Here I am, my lord.” Saul said to him: “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, by giving him bread and a sword and by making an inquiry of God for him? He opposes me and waits in ambush, as is now the case.” At this Ahimelech answered the king: “Who among all your servants is as trustworthy as David? He is the king’s son-in-law and a chief over your bodyguard and honored in your house. Was today the first time I inquired of God for him? What you are saying is unthinkable on my part! Do not let the king hold anything against his servant and against my father’s entire house, for your servant did not know a single thing about any of this.”


- Ahimelech tells Saul about everything but Saul doesn’t want to listen!


- We can see how Saul progressively goes away from God and from doing what is right!


- He is the king so he thinks nobody can oppose his will!


- Now he speaks against God’s priests!


- Once again Samuel’s words were too true!


- Saul lives in his own world away from reality!


- And it happens the same way with other kings when they don’t want to listen to anybody!


- You don’t care about your mistakes!


- You don’t learn from them!


- You make more mistakes and you go to a dead end!

 

[JLG]

222) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 22


- But the king said: “You will surely die, Ahimelech, you along with all your father’s house.” With that the king said to the guards stationed around him: “Turn and kill the priests of God, because they have sided with David! They knew that he was a runaway, and they did not inform me!” But the king’s servants did not want to lift their hands to assault the priests of God.


- Saul is completely blind!


- He doesn’t care about God anymore!


- He fights against him!


- He wants to kill God’s priests!


- But his servants are not crazy like him, they refuse to kill them!


- He acts like a stupid child!


- He doesn’t think about the high price he will have to pay!


- That is he and all his house are going to receive the same treatment that is death and not a peaceful one!

 

[JLG]

223) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 22


- Then the king said to Doeg: “You turn and assault the priests!” Immediately Doeg the Edomite went and assaulted the priests himself. He killed on that day 85 men wearing the linen ephod. He also struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the sword; man as well as woman, child as well as infant, bull, donkey, and sheep, he put to the sword. However, one son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, whose name was Abiathar, escaped and ran away to follow David. Abiathar told David: “Saul has killed the priests of God.” At this David said to Abiathar: “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would be sure to tell Saul. I am personally responsible for the death of everyone in your father’s house. Stay with me. Do not be afraid, for whoever seeks your life seeks my life; you are under my protection.”


- Thus 85 men are killed but also the women and the children!


- What an abomination!


- But God is patient!


- And he will strike Saul and all his house in due time!


- It was so different each time the Israelites opposed God!


- Then he wanted to destroy them completely and without waiting!


- Only Moses could prevent him from doing it!


- Let’s remember all these facts!


- And keep them in our mind!


- There is always a price to pay!

 

[JLG]

224) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 23


- According to God, David fights against the philistines who went against the city of Keilah!


- He does everything according to God’s will!


- And Saul goes after David!


- But David leaves Keilah!


- David and Jonathan make a covenant!


- Saul is about to capture David!


- But he has to leave him alone to go after the Philistines!


- Thus David listens to God and God helps him!


- But he will become king!


- And things will change as usual and as Samuel said!

 

[JLG]

225) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 24


- Saul goes to look for David!


- And David has the possibility to kill Saul!


- But he doesn’t do it because he is the anointed of God!


- When Saul realizes that David could have killed him, he goes back home!


- Thus David keeps being faithful to God!


- But things will change when he becomes king!


- It is as Samuel told the Israelites but they didn’t listen to him!


- And they paid the price!

 

[JLG]

226) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 25


- Nabal is a rich man!


- David sends some of his men to Nabal to ask for some food because he protected Nabal’s men!


- But Nabal doesn’t care!


- So David wants to kill him!


- But Abigail, Nabal’s wife, hearing about it, decides to take food for David and his men!


- And because of Abigail’s attitude he decides not to kill Nabal!


- But God strikes him and he dies!


- And David decides to take Abigail as his wife!


- Once again David shows himself as a man of God!


- But he is not yet king!

 

[JLG]

227) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 26


- Once again Saul goes after David!


- Once again David has the possibility to kill Saul but he doesn’t do it!


- When Saul hears about it, he returns to his place!


- So once again David shows himself as a man of God!


- But he is not yet king!

 

[JLG]

228) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 27


- Finally David decides to escape to the land of the Philistines because he thinks Saul will kill him!


- And he raids the Philistines and kill everybody to leave no evidence!


- And he tells Achish the Philistine king that he has raided the south of Judah!


- Whatever David does he does it according to God’s will!


- But he is not yet king!

 

[JLG]

229) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 28


- Time has come for the philistines and the Israelites to fight!


- Saul is afraid because God never answers him!


- So he asks his servants for a medium!


- Then Saul disguises himself and goes to see her!


- He wants to speak to Samuel!


- Then the woman realizes he is Saul, the one who put to death mediums according to God’s will!


- She thinks he wants to kill her!


- But Saul tells her not to be afraid!


- As a matter of fact, Saul keeps walking against God!


- First, he offers a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel!


- Second, he saves a king and possessions he was supposed to destroy!


- And he is rejected by God!


- Then Samuel never enters in contact with him till his death!


- Then he goes to see a medium whereas he shouldn’t do it because it is against God’s will!


- And he wants to speak to Samuel after his death whereas Samuel never did it when he was rejected by God!


- So of course, He can speak with a spirit but it can’t be Samuel!


- A spirit who is like Samuel!


- And this spirit tells him that he will die and lose the battle and David will get his kingdom!


- And in fact the medium speaks of the spirit as one like a god coming up out of the earth!


- What a lesson!


- Saul opposes God and he thinks he will escape!


- It is ridiculous!


- May we remember this lesson!


- We must look for God’s word and not man’s tradition!


- We must look for God’s will, not man’s will!


- Otherwise we will pay the price!


- But apparently the majority doesn’t care!


- They do like Saul and will get his fate!


- We should listen to Samuel who was faithful to God from the beginning to the end of his life!


- There is no secret, it is simple!

 

[JLG]

230) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 29


- The princes of the Philistines don’t want David to fight with them against the Israelites!


- And David leaves them


Chap 30


- When David comes back to Ziklag, the Amalekites have burnt it and taken captive all the inhabitants and the possessions!


- And he asks God what to do!


- God tells him to chase the Amalekites!


- And David strikes the Amalekites and gets everything back!


- And he comes back to Ziklag!


- Thus here we have two attitudes: David keeps obeying god and is blessed and Saul doesn’t and keeps being rejected by God and will end badly!


- David should have kept that way but he will become king!


- Let’s not forget it!

 

[JLG]

231) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 31


- The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines!


- Saul and his three sons die!


- The philistines cut Saul’s head!


2 Samuel


- David becomes king!


- Later he will commit adultery with Bath-Sheba!


- He has Bath-Sheba’s husband, Uriah, killed!


- Then he takes Bath-Sheba as wife!


- David will get into trouble for the rest of his life for what he has done!


- David will organize a census of the people against God’s will!


- The price: pestilence kills 70,000 Israelites!


- Just as Samuel said, human kings would bring big troubles without exception!


- And it isn’t different from Solomon with all his wisdom!

 

[JLG]

232)

- Saul and his three sons died in a battle as a consequence of God rejecting Saul: DETERIORATION!


- David was a faithful servant of God before becoming king but he got into trouble as a consequence of really bad deeds: DETERIORATION!


- Solomon received wisdom from God but he started to collect women and ended up badly serving false God: DETERIORATION!


- Abraham was a faithful servant of God!


- His son Isaac was a faithful servant of god!


- Jacob was a faithful servant of God!


- Then Dinah was raped and his sons killed men because of the deeds of one man: deterioration!

 

[JLG]

233) - First key: Samuel’s mother!


- If she hadn’t been barren she wouldn’t have done a vow to God!


- She wouldn’t have sent his son to serve God at God’s house!


- Samuel wouldn’t have existed or would have lived a different life!


- He wouldn’t have become a high priest and prophet and judge!


- God would have chosen somebody else!


- Imagine a road with more judges instead of kings!


- It wouldn’t have changed because Israel acted according to its judges!


- Sometimes following God but mostly away from God!


- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!


- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!


- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLG]

234) - Second key: Eli!


- Eli could have educated his two sons in a better way!


- Or he could have prevented them from doing what they did!


- Or he could have taken away their position as priest!


- Samuel could have had better examples!


- God could have not spoken to Samuel!


- He could have become just a priest but not a judge and prophet!


- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!


- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!


- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLG]

235)

- Third key: Eli’s sons!

- If they had listened to their father and to God, God wouldn’t have spoken to Samuel!

- And he wouldn’t have told him about the condemnation of Eli and his sons!

- And he wouldn’t have seen Eli and his sons’ death!

- It wouldn’t have been a warning!

- It wouldn’t have impressed his young mind!

- He could have become just a priest but not a judge and prophet!

- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!

- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!

- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLG]

236)

- Fourth key: Samuel as a child!

- God spoke directly to Samuel!

- He was taught by Eli!

- He saw the bad examples of his sons!

- He saw their deaths!

- He could see good and bad!

- He could have chosen good or bad!

- And he chose good!

- And it shows the importance to be told when young!

- Remember Jesus when he was 12!

- His parents found him in the temple!

- He said I must be in the house of my Father!

- And he was only 12!

- Is the message clear to you?

- The decisions you take or not will influence your children’s future!

- They may react positively or negatively!

- In the Bible, God told the Hebrews to teach his word all the time in any situation!

 

[JLG]

237)

- Fifth key: Samuel’s sons!

- Samuel spent his whole life at God’s service!

- He was a high priest, a judge and a prophet!

- We are not told about the education of his sons!

- We know that Eli was condemned!

- God doesn’t say anything about Samuel’s sons and their misconduct!

- As a consequence, Israel asks God for a human king!

- In fact, it doesn’t change anything!

- The result was negative!

- It was written at the beginning!

- Israel ended badly!

- But God kept his promise to Abraham!

- Well, he needed Moses’ help not to eradicate Israel!

- And he needed it twice!

 

[JLG]

238)

- Sixth key: Samuel as an adult!

1 Samuel 12:23:

As for

גַּ֣ם (gam)

Conjunction

Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and


me,

אָנֹכִ֗י (’ā·nō·ḵî)

Pronoun - first person common singular

Strong's 595: I


far be it from me

חָלִ֤ילָה (ḥā·lî·lāh)

Interjection | third person feminine singular

Strong's 2486: For, a profaned thing, far be it!


that I

לִּי֙ (lî)

Preposition | first person common singular

Strong's Hebrew


should sin

מֵחֲטֹ֣א (mê·ḥă·ṭō)

Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct

Strong's 2398: To miss, to sin, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, lead astray, condemn


against the LORD

לַֽיהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)

Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular

Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


by ceasing

מֵחֲדֹ֖ל (mê·ḥă·ḏōl)

Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct

Strong's 2308: To be flabby, desist, be lacking, idle


to pray

לְהִתְפַּלֵּ֣ל (lə·hiṯ·pal·lêl)

Preposition-l | Verb - Hitpael - Infinitive construct

Strong's 6419: To judge, to intercede, pray


for you.

בַּעַדְכֶ֑ם (ba·‘aḏ·ḵem)

Preposition | second person masculine plural

Strong's 1157: In up to, over against, at, beside, among, behind, for


And I will continue to teach

וְהוֹרֵיתִ֣י (wə·hō·w·rê·ṯî)

Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular

Strong's 3384: To flow as water, to lay, throw, to point out, to teach


you

אֶתְכֶ֔ם (’eṯ·ḵem)

Direct object marker | second person masculine plural

Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case


the good

הַטּוֹבָ֖ה (haṭ·ṭō·w·ḇāh)

Article | Noun - feminine singular

Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good


and right

וְהַיְשָׁרָֽה׃ (wə·hay·šā·rāh)

Conjunctive waw, Article | Adjective - feminine singular

Strong's 3477: Straight, right


way.

בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ (bə·ḏe·reḵ)

Preposition-b | Noun - common singular construct

Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action


- Samuel went straight away!

- Nothing would stop him from doing God’s will!

- He couldn’t prevent Israel from rejecting God!

- But he did his best to encourage them to follow God’s word!

- And it’s up to us to do the same or not!

- Just a question of free will!