Looking for Samuel

[JLG]

5) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- First they get their roadmap engraved in their hearts!
- Second, they constantly act to stay on the road!
- Third, they keep away from man’s corruption and spiritual prostitution!
- Fourth, they get a constant connection to Yah.weh!
- Thanks to Hannah, Samuel is sent to Yah.weh’s house!
- There he can get his roadmap engraved in his heart directly from Yah.weh!
- There he learns to keep away from man’s corruption and spiritual prostitution from Yah.weh!
- But it is a personal choice: he could have chosen Eli’s sons’ bad choice!
- There he get a constant connection to Yah.weh!

 

[JLG]

105) 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]

6) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- ISRAEL is CORRUPTION!
- As a consequence, Yah.weh has left ISRAEL!
- Through Hannah, FAITHFULNESS will be reintroduced into ISRAEL!
- Yah.weh will start again from scratch!
- Think about:
- Even Yah.weh’s house is corrupted because of Eli and his two sons!
- And SAMUEL will be FAITHFUL all his life!
- FAITHFULNESS VS CORRUPTION!
- And SAMUEL’s sons will also be corrupted!
- YAH.WEH’s kingdom will put an end to CORRUPTION by cleaning the earth and human society!
- WE CAN IMAGINE THERE WILL BE A LOT TO DO!
- AND WE MUST PREPARE OURSELVES WHEN IT IS STILL TIME!
- NOT WHEN IT IS TOO LATE!

 

[JLG]

106) 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 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 offered a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel!


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


- And he was rejected by God!


- Then Samuel never entered 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 could speak with a spirit but it could be Samuel!


- A spirit appearing like Samuel!


- And this spirit tells him that he will die and loses 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]

107) 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 becomes king!


- Let’s not forget it!

 

[JLG]

108) 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 wasn’t different from Solomon with all his wisdom!

 

[JLG]

109)

- 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 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]

110)

1) - 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]

111)

2) - 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]

112)

3) - 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]

113) Geographical locations in the book of Daniel​

Daniel 1:


- Kingdom of Judah:

Foundations​

The Kingdom of Judah's foundation is traditionally dated to the point at which Israel and Judah divided, shortly after the reign of King Solomon, which ended in 931/922 B.C.E.

However, it should be noted that King David had earlier been anointed king of Judah at Hebron (2 Sam 2:4). A period of civil war followed, with a unified kingdom emerging under the monarchy of David and Solomon, according to the biblical account.

After the end of Solomon's reign, a dispute arose between his son, Rehoboam, and northern leader, Jeroboam, who had been a minister of forced labor under Solomon. Jeroboam urged the young king to relax the labor requirements that Solomon had imposed on the northern tribes, saying, "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." Rehoboam harshly rejected the request, and the northern tribes revolted (2 Chronicles 10).

While such may have been the political and economic realities, the author of Kings makes it clear that the root cause of the division was spiritual, resulting from King Solomon's sin of idolatry. The Southern Kingdom thereafter represented his better half, demonstrating a greater degree of faithfulness to God, while the Northern Kingdom fell into a consistent pattern of tolerating and practicing idolatry.

 

[JLG]

113) - 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]

114)

- Fifth key: Samuel’s sons!

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

- He was a high priest, judge and 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]

7) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- 1 Samuel 2:17

Thus the sin
חַטַּ֧את (ḥaṭ·ṭaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 2403: An offence, its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, expiation, an offender

of these young men
הַנְּעָרִ֛ים (han·nə·‘ā·rîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5288: A boy, lad, youth, retainer

was
וַתְּהִ֨י (wat·tə·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

severe
גְּדוֹלָ֥ה (gə·ḏō·w·lāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 1419: Great, older, insolent

in the sight
פְּנֵ֣י (pə·nê)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

of the LORD,
יְהוָ֑ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

for
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they
הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים (hā·’ă·nā·šîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 582: Man, mankind

{were treating} the LORD’s
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

offering
מִנְחַ֥ת (min·ḥaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 4503: A donation, tribute, a sacrificial offering

with contempt.
נִֽאֲצוּ֙ (ni·’ă·ṣū)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5006: To spurn, treat with contempt

- Israel is corrupt!
- Yah.weh’s temple is corrupt because of Eli and his two sons!
- It can’t be worse!
- And once again, Yah.weh is extremely patient!
- But as usual it will end really badly!
- And Samuel is raised in such a mess!
- In fact, it is a mess everywhere in Israel!
- As usual!
- And Yah.weh is completely away!
- And Samuel is but a child!
- But Yah.weh cares for him!

 

[JLG]

8) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- 1 Samuel 2:26

And the boy
וְהַנַּ֣עַר (wə·han·na·‘ar)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5288: A boy, lad, youth, retainer

Samuel
שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל (šə·mū·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 8050: Samuel -- 'name of God', a prophet of Israel

continued to grow
הֹלֵ֥ךְ (hō·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in stature
וְגָדֵ֖ל (wə·ḡā·ḏêl)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1432: Becoming great, growing up

and in favor
וָט֑וֹב (wā·ṭō·wḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

with
עִם־ (‘im-)
Preposition
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

the LORD
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

and with
עִם־ (‘im-)
Preposition
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

men.
אֲנָשִֽׁים׃ (’ă·nā·šîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

- Thus Samuel is behaving properly in front of Yah.weh but also in front of men!
- Yah.weh is looking for a change!
- Thus Job, Daniel and Samuel are three similar examples of faithful servants of Yah.weh among corruption!
- And they keep faithful whatever happens!
- So it doesn’t matter if corruption is everywhere!
- Yah.weh always expects his faithful servants to get away from corruption!
- Thus they show us the way!
- And they will always show us the way if we read and study their books again and again!

 

[JLG]

9) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

1 Samuel 2:30

Therefore,
לָכֵ֗ן (lā·ḵên)
Adverb
Strong's 3651: So -- thus

the LORD,
יְהוָה֮ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

the God
אֱלֹהֵ֣י (’ĕ·lō·hê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

of Israel,
יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

declares:
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

‘I did indeed
אָמ֣וֹר (’ā·mō·wr)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 559: To utter, say

say
אָמַ֔רְתִּי (’ā·mar·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

that your house
בֵּֽיתְךָ֙ (bê·ṯə·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1004: A house

and the house
וּבֵ֣ית (ū·ḇêṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of your father
אָבִ֔יךָ (’ā·ḇî·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1: Father

would walk
יִתְהַלְּכ֥וּ (yiṯ·hal·lə·ḵū)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

before Me
לְפָנַ֖י (lə·p̄ā·nay)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 6440: The face

forever.
עוֹלָ֑ם (‘ō·w·lām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5769: Concealed, eternity, frequentatively, always

But now
וְעַתָּ֤ה (wə·‘at·tāh)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 6258: At this time

the LORD
יְהוָה֙ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

declares:
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

Far be it
חָלִ֣ילָה (ḥā·lî·lāh)
Interjection | third person feminine singular
Strong's 2486: For, a profaned thing, far be it!

from Me!
לִּ֔י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew

For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

I will honor
מְכַבְּדַ֥י (mə·ḵab·bə·ḏay)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 3513: To be heavy, weighty, or burdensome

those who honor Me,
אֲכַבֵּ֖ד (’ă·ḵab·bêḏ)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 3513: To be heavy, weighty, or burdensome

but those who despise Me
וּבֹזַ֥י (ū·ḇō·zay)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 959: To disesteem

will be disdained.
יֵקָֽלּוּ׃ (yê·qāl·lū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7043: To be slight, swift or trifling

- Quite simple!
- Yah.weh will honor those who honor him and despise those who despise him!
- Here we get a definition of faithfulness!
- And Job, Daniel and Samuel always keep faithful to Yah.weh!
- It is as clear as crystal for them!
- What about you?
- There won’t be any exception!

 

[JLG]

115) - 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!

 

[JLG]

116)

1) We can also see the books of Samuel as a warning for us!


- In Chapter I, Samuel’s father has two wives!


- God says one man and one woman!


- Man has always done his best to do it his own way opposing God in everything!


- And in everything we can see that man fails!


- Man has never enough with one woman so he takes as much as he wants!


- It brings instability in the family or can we speak about a family?


- As a consequence, the woman and mother always does the job alone!


- Man is often a bad father and husband!


- It is also easy to become insensitive!


- Samuel’s father doesn’t know what’s on in his own family!


- So he is a failure in this sense!


- We see the same in the Bible with the Israelites!

- We see the same in the history of humanity with a climax today!

 

[JLG]

117)

2) Again in Chapter 1, we see the same insensitivity from Eli the high priest!


- As a religious leader, he should be supposed to be closed to the people and to God!


- But in both cases, he is far away!


- When Hannah prays, he thinks she is drunk in the house of God!


- How is it possible to be so insensitive?


- While she expresses her deep feelings to God!


- Unbelievable!


- But that’s how it is!


- Once again this type of insensitivity is the rule among men!


- And it has always been so!


- The real disciples of Jesus should show a different behavior if they really want to look like him!

 

[JLG]

118) Again in Chapter I, we have two types of women!


- Hannah is the good one!


- And not only for women and mothers but also for men and fathers!


- She shows us the right way!


- She gives a good education to her son!


- She brings him to the temple to serve God!


- She visits him regularly every year!


- We don’t have any information about the quality of the relationship between Hannah and Samuel!


- It would have been quite interesting!


- We can only imagine!


- We only know that she was a good example for Samuel!


- And she kept her word to God!


- The Bible doesn’t have many good models to follow!


- Thus they are more precious!


- On the contrary, there are a majority of bad examples we must avoid if we want to develop a strong relationship to God!

- Thus it is quite easy to follow a bad example!

- There is such a big range!