Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 10:1-27

Helpful thoughts:

• Saul came home a different man, because he had a different heart, because God gave it to him.
• When Saul was asked directly by his uncle to recount all that Samuel had said, he left out the most important part.  This may have been our first evidence of Saul’s fear of man.
• Samuel made clear to all Israel what they had done.  They rejected God.
  • Their response? “Long live the king!”

Questions to consider:

1. In light of God’s sovereignty over this situation, what does “Do what your hands finds to do” mean? (Verse 7)
2. What was Saul’s second example of his fear of man?
3. What is happening in this passage?  For example: Israel is rejecting God and also relying entirely on Him to choose their king?  How many strange ironies can you identify in this chapter?  How is God showing that the people of Israel are still very much His own?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 9:1-27

Helpful thoughts:

• Saul was a wealthy, handsome guy…just out looking for his father’s donkeys.
• God said of Saul , “He shall save my people from the hands of the Philistines.” And, “He it is who shall restrain my people.”
• Israel requested a shepherd, God gave them this handsome tall man, who was unable to find his animals.  Good-looking man, terrible shepherd.

Questions to consider:

1. Whose idea was it to ask the Lord for help, Saul or his servant?  What did Saul appear to know about Samuel (Who was known to all Israel)?
2. Who does Israel still belong to in this passage?  Even though Saul is about to become king, who does God call Israel? (Verses 16-17)  Whose sheep was Saul supposed to shepherd?
3. Knowing that God removes and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21) and that God can turn the heart of the king wherever He will (Proverbs 21:1), how should we look at our “rulers”?  Where must our hope be placed?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 8:1-22

Helpful thoughts:

• Samuel’s sons turned out to be much like Eli’s sons.
• Israel did not sin in rejecting the conduct of their new judges.  They sinned by rejecting their King (Verse 7).
• In a way, Israel was given this choice:
  • Have God as your king and deal with the sinful crooked judges who will be unjust and take your stuff, OR
  • Reject God as your king and deal with a man as your king…who will be unjust and take your stuff.
    • The nation weighed their options and chose to reject God.
    • The people that God had set apart from all the other nations (Leviticus 20:26) has now chosen to become just like all the other nations. (Verses 19-20)

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways does this chapter reminds us of the problem of sin?  From families, to government, etc.
2. What is ironic about the cause of Israel’s sinful decision?  What kinds of actions did they claim as motivation to reject God?
3. Is a leader (Outside of Jesus, outside of God’s gracious intervention) ever going to make a nation perfect?  What did the Israelites truly need to do in order to make their nation better?  How could we apply this to ourselves today?  What message do our neighbors need to hear?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 7:3-17

Helpful thoughts:

• After Israel’s lament (Verse 2), Samuel commands them, if they were going to follow the Lord, they must follow the Lord alone. (Exodus 20:3)
• God defeated the Philistines and gave Israel victory and peace in a way that could only be explained as having been His doing.
• Ebenezer means, “Stone of help”.  This is what we sing about in Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
• The greatest victory in this passage was not the defeat of the Philistines.  It was Israel’s repentance.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the putting away of other gods coincide with following the Lord with your whole heart? (Verse 3)
2. How was their repentance evidenced?  When they saw a need for prayer, to what power did they turn?  To whom did they ask Samuel to pray?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 6:1-7:2

Helpful thoughts:

• These diviners told the Philistines not to harden their hearts, and then proceeded to give them instructions for the ark that went against God’s instructions in every possible way.
  • And, to cover their bases in case this grand plan didn’t work, they threw in a big “perhaps”. (Verse 6)
  • God gave them an answer to their question anyway.  He used these untrained cows to show the Philistines that it was Him who had brought these plagues on them.
• When the ark returned to Israel, we should have seen a people who knew how to handle it…the opposite of the Philistines.  Instead, we find a people who seem to be just as ignorant.
  • Beth-shemesh was a city for the Levites.  Of all the people in Israel, these people should have known.  They didn’t.  (Numbers 4:5-6)
• When God showed Himself to be the true God in Philistia, instead of repenting, the people there became distressed by their consequences and tried to get rid of God’s apparent presence.
  • When God showed Himself to be the true God in Israel (Beth-shemesh), instead of repenting, the people there became distressed by their consequences and tried to get rid of God’s apparent presence.

Questions to consider:

1. How might the excitement of the people of Beth-shemesh to get the ark back cause us to be confused or distressed by the judgment they experienced?  Why might it feel unfair?  Why was it perfectly just?
2. How could reading verses like 2 Timothy 3:16-17 give you a sense of gratitude and eagerness to faithfully continue studying the Word of God?
3. Knowing of the righteous justice of God, how should our praise and thanksgiving to Him increase? (Romans 3:21-26)

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 5:1-12

Helpful thoughts:

• The statue of Dagon suffered the same fate as Eli.  They both fell over and broke their necks.
  • Dagon was a god of weather and warfare.  Dagon’s “decapitation” before the ark of God was a sign of God’s superiority.
• The ark went on a tour of Philistia, resulting in the people wanting to give it back!
  • They came to understand they had defeated the Israelites, but not their God.
  • We are reminded that Dagon did not give the Philistines their victory (He can’t! He doesn’t exist!), God did.
• Without a single Israelite around, God showed His power over the Philistine people and over their “god”.  They were fearful of Him, but they did not repent.  They only wanted to remove the ark so that they could carry on the way the had been.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways was God’s power and holiness put on display in this chapter?
2. Did God need Israel (Or us) to display His power and glory?  Who all benefits from our obedience and witness?
3. Are there ways we look at God the same way the Philistines looked at Dagon?  How might we be thinking about Him as a God of weather and warfare?  Or a God of finances and physical health?  God is able to do ALL things, but in what ways is He superior and all-together different than the idols we might stack up against Him?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 4:1-22

Helpful thoughts:

• It appears the Philistines (In their ignorance) had more respect for God and for the Ark than Israel did.
  • Whether the Philistines did show more respect or not, the Lord was sovereign over that day (Leviticus 26:17)
• God is not a lucky trinket you can carry around to make things go “your way”.
  • The Israelites decided that God’s presence was what they needed to win the battle, but they failed to remember it was their fellowship with God that mattered.  They thought they needed the Ark to win, when what they needed was to repent.
    • It is better to lose a “battle” and repent than to win a “battle” and remain in your sin.  Knowing Jesus is better than anything that can be gained in this world.
• Eli fell over backward from “his seat by the side of the gate”.  Since Eli was also judging Israel at this time, this seat would have served as his “throne”.  Eli’s death was quite symbolic of Israel as a nation and all that had transpired that day.

Questions to consider:

1. In what ways had the glory departed Israel on that day?  In what ways had the glory already been missing?
2. How would the Philistines have viewed their military power and the strength of their gods after defeating Israel with their Ark of the Covenant?  How would they have viewed God?
3. How does our life (Our words, our actions) affect the views of those around us concerning Jesus Christ?  How does your walk portray the magnificence of Christ?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 3:1-21

Helpful thoughts:

• This chapter details the transition of Samuel the boy to Samuel the prophet (The first prophet on a national scale since Moses).
• God speaking to people in those times (Prior to the ministry of Samuel) was rare.  It was more common during the days of Moses, in contrast.
  • This passage should not serve as a proof text for us to expect to hear things from God.  It should reaffirm that hearing from God is not something we should expect and not something that should be sought out, especially because we now have the finished written Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
• God must have used Eli’s instruction and response to encourage Samuel’s ministry.
  • Samuel was to accurately and exhaustively communicate the Word of the Lord, even if he thought the listener might not like what he/she hears.
  • The Lord is holy and righteous.  What He declares He will do must be understood as right and just.
    • Strength in the message communicated does not come from the response of the hearers but in the holiness of it’s origin, God.

Questions to consider:

1. God’s act of speaking to people through Samuel made him a prophet.  If a person today claims that God is speaking to them and sharing with others through books, TV shows, etc. they are claiming to be prophets (Whether they admit it or not).  What instruction does Deuteronomy 18:20-22 give concerning people who believe God is speaking to them and through them?  Since we are in the New Covenant (Christ has fulfilled the Law), how should believers today (The Church) respond to these false prophets?
2. How does knowing who God is help us to receive what He has said to us in His Word?  How do the attributes of God give us great reason to trust Him?
3. Why might it have been tempting for Israel to idolize Samuel as he grew in “publicity’?  Who was Israel to turn to as a result of Samuel’s ministry?

Today’s passage: 1 Samuel 2:12-36

Helpful thoughts:

• Right after Hannah’s prayer exulting in the Lord (See verse 9), we learn that Eli’s sons were “worthless men” who “did not know the Lord.”
• That Eli’s descendants would cease to serve in the priesthood because of their disobedience was not unprecedented.  See Leviticus 10:1-11.
• “It was the will of the Lord to put them to death” could be taken as God’s sovereign plan, or as God’s desire for justice due to the nature of the sin of Hophni and Phinehas.  Either interpretation could be justified.

Questions to consider:

1. Compare and contrast the description of Hophni and Phineas with Samuel.  Who was Samuel being trained under?  What influences surrounded him?  Why did Hophni and Phineas go the direction they did and Samuel the way he did?
2. What was Eli specifically rebuked for doing (Verse 29)?  How might his sons have heard Eli’s rebuke of them in verses 22-25 if he had “fattened” himself through their sinful actions and honored them over the Lord for all those years?
3. How important is it for parents to back up their teaching of the Gospel to their children with Gospel-centered living?  Why is “perfect” parenting (Which none of us can do) still not enough to guarantee a certain outcome?  What has to happen in the heart of the children?