1 Samuel | Hearing and Responding to God's Voice

What is the book of 1 Samuel about? 
What is the story of David and Goliath? 

In this episode of God's Whole Story, we explore the transition from the period of the judges to the era of kings in Israel, focusing on the book of 1 Samuel. We discuss Samuel's role as both the last judge and the first prophet, highlighting his significance in this critical shift in Israel's history.

We delve into the people's demand for a king, marking a turning point where they reject God's direct rule. This decision leads to the anointing of Saul, Israel's first king, and we examine the implications of this change in leadership.

Saul's rise to power and subsequent fall is a key focus, as we analyze how his disobedience to God ultimately leads to his downfall. We consider the lessons from Saul's story, particularly the importance of obedience and the consequences of straying from God's will.

The episode also contrasts Saul's leadership with that of David, the man after God's own heart. We discuss how David's humility, repentance, and reliance on God set him apart as a leader, providing a model for faithfulness in challenging times.

Finally, we reflect on the broader themes of 1 Samuel, such as the significance of divine guidance and the unfolding of God's plan through human choices, encouraging listeners to consider how these lessons apply to their own lives.

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Transcript

 1 Samuel

1 Samuel

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, welcome to God's Whole Story. This year, we are doing a journey through Scripture, book by book. Each week, you will get a deeper dive into one of the books of Scripture so that you can see God's whole story. If you like the content you're receiving, we would love to have you partner with us.

Look in the show notes for a way that you can support us financially so we can continue to provide this content for you. Hope you enjoy this episode. Today, we are jumping into the book of first Samuel. If you're tracking with us episode by episode, we are coming out of one really unique period in time, the period of the judges, uh, where everybody did what was right in their own eyes.

Uh, the book of first Samuel is going to help us bridge the gap between the judges. And the Kings, and one of the really interesting things about first Samuel is it, it's sort of tells this story of two Kings, um, one that is a righteous King and one that certainly is not. And obviously there's a lot more going on in the book of first Samuel, uh, [00:01:00] because it covers a lot, I think.

Um, but it is important just to call out from the top. We're moving from one significant point in Israel's history to another point in Israel's history. Yeah. Saul's a, Saul's a crazy guy. That's you're talking about him when you say the bad gang, right? Yes. He saw would be the option. Yes. Um, so, I mean, I guess from the top, we, we open up the book of first Samuel with the birth of Samuel, Samuel is going to be a very.

unique, uh, person, I think. Is this fair, Chris? That he, he's essentially a judge and a prophet and he's kind of the dude that bridges the gap. Is that fair to say? Yeah, he would be considered the last judge and the first prophet. Yes. Um, he's actually really, I like Samuel a lot. I think he's a great guy and he doesn't get his He doesn't get as much press as obviously David does, but he's really significant in kind of the journey of God's people in, from the [00:02:00] period of the judges where everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes to them having a King and trying to have that King follow the covenant and be a good King.

Uh, this is a huge transition in the nation. So speaking of everybody doing what's right in their own eyes, that is the period we've mentioned that a couple of times at this point. Um, The story of Ruth is Ruth is willing to serve God, uh, even though historically would not have been, he would not have been her, her God.

That's kind of one of the cool things about the story. Boaz is a righteous man amongst all this craziness that's happening in the land. Um, Hannah, who we're going to be introduced to at the beginning of first Samuel is also, I would say like a uniquely believing person at this point in time. And sometimes if you just pick up the story, starting in first Samuel, You'll miss some of the insanity that Hannah lives during, but there are some hints to it in that she's gonna commit her son, uh, to living with this priest and his sons, and they are [00:03:00] very, very terrible.

And Hannah would be taking, like, I would guess, um, on the surface, a significant risk. However, her faith is in God, that God will care for her son. Um, because he provided a son when she, you know, was pregnant. You know, didn't see a way forward. Did Hannah know that they weren't great guys when she, you know, dropped her son off at the temple?

I mean, I think Eli, he definitely knew God, but he was like, you see, he was very conflicted. His sons were incredibly wicked. He wasn't a great priest, for sure. But when, like, when there's interactions with, uh, God speaking to Samuel like Eli is aware that Lord is speaking to him and kind of guides him a little bit, but he definitely Sorry, go ahead.

Is not the model citizen Eli is also the one that connects with Hannah in the first place Yeah, so like he notices her faith and who she is and stuff and so like Yeah, his sons aren't great and he does not do a great job of Um, but yeah, I was just curious about Hannah and where her situation, but I [00:04:00] don't like that you don't ever hear about Hannah again.

She kind of drops them off and yeah, I mean her, her experience would be wild. Um, but obviously her son plays a significant role. And what God is up to, not only sometimes we get laser focused on Israel, but actually what God is doing in the world. And she is helping to move that story forward. Um, one of the, the more interesting things I think in the story of Samuel is the call of Samuel, uh, where you have this situation, I think it's in first Samuel three, um, where Samuel is.

Sleeping basically, and God continues to call him. I'd love to get your feedback on this. I used to, I worked for a guy. Um, he thought it was very significant that every time the Lord spoke to Samuel, Samuel thought that Eli was speaking. So I'm not, uh, I'm not putting my stamp on this thought, but it was an interesting thought to me always that when, [00:05:00] um, God spoke to Samuel, Samuel assumed that it was Eli who was speaking to him.

He assumed that it was actually like the, the authority in his life. And it was. He, this guy that I worked for always thought was very interesting. Um, that Samuel connected like God's presence with the authority in his life. Now, the problem with that is Eli was not necessarily a great dude. Um, but it's also like, you know, if you're in a house and you hear a voice, most likely you probably think it's one of the people in the house and, and not God, um, what do you think of that?

Well, I mean, God speaking audibly would not be the most common thing. Uh, and so it probably. Would be somewhat natural to think it's someone that, you know, that is a similar sounding voice perhaps. Um, but that's one of the unique things about Samuel is the interaction that God did have with him, that it was very personal, uh, and very unique.

And that's, I think it's setting Samuel up for that [00:06:00] significant role where he needs to hear the voice of the Lord and eventually knowing who to anoint his King and things like that. So. It's kind of putting Samuel through hearing the voice of the Lord school. Oh, the Samuel school of ministry. I think we just came up with something right there.

Um, so he does, he, he responds to the Lord. Um, it is obvious that he's going to play a significant role in all of this. He, he. Starts out being a judge, he ends up being a prophet. I don't know if it's fair to say he starts and ends up. I think he's kind of doing both at once. Um, another very important part of this first Samuel book is that we get to this place where Israel demands a king and it all, I would say it all comes together pretty quickly.

I mean, Samuel is called in chapter three. I think Israel demands a king in chapter eight and by chapter nine, Saul is the king and he's anointed in 10. So. The, the rhythm of the way this story is unfolding is pretty quick. Now I'd love for us to have a, at least a short discussion about this whole Israel demanding a King situation.

Is this a good thing? Is this a [00:07:00] bad thing? Is it something God wanted? Is it not, how do we handle this? Yeah, I think there's, there's some different angles on this. I mean, if, if you look at it through Samuel's lens, uh, Samuel doesn't seem overly pleased that, that he's doing this. He actually kind of rebukes the Israelites a number of times.

He, he, he says some strong statements like, since you have rejected God from being your King, this is what's going to happen. So there, that's why it's a little bit of a challenge to figure out. Is this a good idea or not? Because Samuel has a lot of emotion against this, that he's, you know, it's. And it is when they demand a king, a human king, who had been their leader previously, it would have been God.

So there is a rejection of God as their king here. But at the same time, it's not something that Was a surprise that we've never heard of in scripture before right so that happens in Deuteronomy 17 Is that what you're referring to? Yeah, and for me growing up knowing these stories [00:08:00] I Feel like I always grew up hearing like they should have never wanted a king and then when I actually read the Bible through the whole Way, I was like, wait a minute.

Why is there rules for Kings in Deuteronomy? If they weren't supposed to have a King. So that's in Deuteronomy 17, the, uh, the rules for having a King are very clearly laid out. And also it's very clear that nobody actually follows those rules. So it's interesting to me that God made provisions for a King, or at least made clear what a King should be doing.

Um, if they weren't supposed to have one, which seems like even that creates problems. Yeah. Well, and I was, I, I kind of thought that Samuel was speaking

I just kind of got a new, a new view of it in chapter eight, because the Lord is very matter of fact saying they've rejected me. That's why they're doing this. He's not surprised. He's not like angry. He's just like, just warn them what's going to happen. And Samuel goes into a long description of [00:09:00] what's going to happen to the people when they have a king.

And the people are like, no. We want a king. Yeah. And one of the reasons that they specifically demand a king is because they say, we want to be like the nations around us. Right. Which is what they're not supposed to be like. All throughout the covenant, the Pentateuch, it's don't be like the nations around you.

Be different. Uh, and so there, it is one of these things where I don't think God was up there surprised that, oh, they're demanding a king. What do I do? No, of course he knew they were going to do this. And he's not even like burning in anger or anything. He's just like. Yeah, this is what's gonna happen. But it is a rejection of God.

Mm hmm. And it is saying, we want to be like these other nations with a king to lead us in battle. Which probably also is why they chose Saul. Because he was that figure, that tall, uh, typical A Benjamite. leader kind of figure on the outside that could lead his people into battle. But as we will see very quickly, he didn't have the character to support it.

So, it, it's Such a bummer that they demand a King. [00:10:00] Also, many of the things that Samuel says will happen, obviously happens and many worse things happen. And it's just, it's just another disappointing case of like, Oh, Israel, like, why'd you do that? But there's. We should always be ready for the timely reminder that we oftentimes are very similar, uh, in that we tend to desire, like we, we go in the same kind of cycles that we like really are passionate about following God, that we kind of get comfortable doing our own thing that we like get into some kind of trouble, then we call out to God.

So every time I find myself thinking like, Oh, Israel, they're so dumb. It's like, yeah, but Ryan, you're also dumb. It's just, I don't know. It's good for me. Just to get a glimpse into the inner monologue in your head. That is the inner monologue in my head. It's very illustrative of the tension that we see throughout scripture all the time where it's like there's actually we have kind of Two different truths here.

It's like did israel reject god as their king? Yes [00:11:00] Did god give stipulations and what the model for a king was? Yes Even here in the next couple chapters did god Uh, say go and anoint Saul, yes, but then God knew that Saul was going to be an idiot. Kind of like sometimes Ryan thinks he is, but Saul was a bigger idiot.

I don't think I actually said that. I think. Okay. Well, anyway, that inner monologue. But then God rejects Saul as king and chooses David. And it's like, of course God knew that was all going to happen, but it's, it is like, we have things that Mutual things that are true here and I think there's also an illustration of here's what a bad king looks like and here's what a Yeah, good king looks.

Yeah So speaking of bad kings dear soul. He actually starts out pretty well, like like it seems like it's gonna work and he's anointed in chapter 10 and like He just goes downhill real fast and it seems like everything goes to his [00:12:00] head and he very quickly Sees himself as The guy, instead of the guy that should be following God's direction and leading the people according to God's will.

Um, there's, we'll get into David, of course, as well, but there's so many interesting studies, I think, on who Saul is and how he led versus who David is and how he led. And sometimes we can be tempted to be like, well, Saul was bad and David was good. That's not really fair either. Cause David did a lot of very stupid things and very evil things.

Um, Saul also did a lot of very evil things. And I think the, the difference is the repentance piece. Even when Saul tries to repent, it's like, yeah, but are you really though Saul? Yeah. I think that is the key difference between Saul and David. There's repentance and restoration. I think one thing too, is like this idea that Saul thought he was the man.

At the same time, we have that, that. [00:13:00] Confidence was kind of misguided that I think Saul is also one of the best portraits in the Bible. We have of an insecure leader Because we we see him waffling and wavering when he feels the people are slipping away or when when Samuel doesn't show up fast enough To do certain things.

He tries to he does something rash and takes him into his own Like he is he is constantly afraid that what he has Will take be taken from him if he doesn't continue to perform the way that people expect and he kind of goes forward with that closed fist. Like this is mine. And he, I mean, that just comes out more and more wicked.

I think so. I mean, I, I, if I, if there's things you want to talk about with Saul, there's plenty of things we can talk about with Saul. I think to me, what, what it gets my attention is just like, he has some pretty big misses and in my mind, some of the biggest misses are he's, he's offering sacrifices that he is not allowed to offer.

Cause he's not a priest. He's not a [00:14:00] priest. He's not allowed to do it. Samuel is literally on his way, I think, to be able to do it. And he's not coming fast enough. So Saul, again, I guess that kind of that closed fisted, like, this is how we're going to do it. Do it. Um, he disobeys God in pretty significant fashion there.

Um, and then where is it? Is it 16? Um, No, it's not 16. It's a little bit before, uh, where he's supposed to, he's supposed to like utterly destroy the people. This is 15. He's supposed to utterly destroy the people. This is a chapter that we can dive into. So this is exactly first Samuel 15. He has instructions from the Lord.

He's supposed to destroy these people. And he doesn't, he keeps a lot to himself and allows even the, the leaders of the people to keep a lot for themselves. And that seems to be the, the tipping point, I think, does that seem fair? Um, for Saul and it's all like, Samuel's also very involved in this story. Um, just [00:15:00] basically calling attention to the incredible myth.

So there's, there's a couple. Issues here. One, how do we handle the devote to destruction language? Do you want to throw in on this at all? I mean, I think it's similar to what we discussed earlier with Joshua and some of the other books that if you want to hear our longer discussion on God wiping out these different people, I think we touched on it in Deuteronomy and in Joshua.

Um, I think we have kind of a continuation of like that plan that God was helping Israel take the land and take possession of it and protecting them from. Falling into idolatry in the future. So what's funny is Saul clearly does not do what God has told him to do. And if you really want the comedy of this section, if you look at, uh, verse 13 in chapter 15, and Samuel came to Saul and Saul said to him, blessed be you to the Lord, I have performed the commandment of the Lord.

And Samuel said, what then is this bleeding of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear? What version are you [00:16:00] reading? This is the ESV. Okay. Um, whoa. No offense. Uh, it's just funny. Like, I think it's funny because Saul seems ridiculous. He clearly has not done what God has said. And the way that he chooses to handle it when he gets caught is he's like, hello, Samuel, I have done exactly what God has said.

And again, I think I very easily fall into that. Like, man, I am, I am doing this the Lord's way. And then it's like, yeah, but except for you're not. Yeah. Well, and it's, it's the same thing that goes back to what prophets will say over and over and over again, that we'll see like the Lord desires your heart.

Not just the outward thing. And that, this is an example of Saul's heart, even though he didn't actually do the outward thing. Anyway, um, you see where his heart is. It's not turned towards the Lord. It's not humbled. He wants to do his own thing. And I love in verse 20 when he's like, but I did obey the Lord.

I just like makes me think of my kids. We're just like, but I did obey. And I'm like, did you really? Our phrase that we say in our house is, Obey all the way. [00:17:00] Saul did not obey all the way. You know what? If only Saul had you around. I know. I think about that a lot. We could have a very different discussion right now.

Wow. History could be different. Probably not.

It's kind of a foreshadow, though, of Saul's future erratic behavior, though, too. Because if you think about everything that he does, he is like, one side then the other. It's like, David, I'm trying to kill you. Oh, you're playing the music. I'm so sorry. David, you could have killed me in the cave. Oh, you had mercy on me.

You're better man than I, like, he's so erratic. He's crazy. He's very, really the rest of his life. Yeah. And you see that in verse 27, Samuel turns to leave and Saul tears the hem of his rope, like he's desperate. I think it's what you guys are saying that he's like, he's sensing it being pulled away from him.

He's like, I got to get it back. And it's like, how often do we do that? We do that all the time. So bottom, bottom line is we're all saw. And I mean, a lot of the book of first Samuel, when we do start to get introduced to [00:18:00] David is David waiting patiently for the appointed time. David's not seizing the kingdom by force, which would have been rare in this kind of a culture.

Cause that's how you did it. Um, we, we definitely, there is a definite character contrast here between these two. Okay. So basically the way the narrative works is we see saw being. Less and less obedient to God. Um, kind of like the tension comes to a peak and, and Samuel is asked to anoint David. Uh, this is another thing that never really dawned on me.

I always kind of saw things chronologically, like while there was. You know, like Saul was the king and then David was the king. That's not true. Actually. Uh, Israel had two anointed Kings at the same time. Um, one was able to be the acting King and one was not. So David is anointed, but kind of put on hold, which is really interesting.

And in that same chapter, that's chapter 16. Uh, there is a problematic verse. And I want to talk about this a little bit. Um, if you look [00:19:00] at. Verse 14, this is chapter 16, now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him and Saul's servants said to him, behold, now a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you.

Let the Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the liar. That's David. So how do we handle this situation? Um, God apparently put a harmful spirit in Saul. Is this like, he's even allowed to do that.

I mean, I guess the simple answer is God can do whatever he wants, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's not, I think the bigger picture here is that God is withdrawing his blessing and his anointing from, from Saul, and it is going on David, uh, And I think Saul's doing his own damage, uh, that by inviting things in and outside forces of sin and the flesh, uh, that it's kind of the opposite of having [00:20:00] God's provision and anointing on him.

I think that would be the bigger picture, but when we look at that at face value, it does look a little bit problematic or like, wait a second, what's going on here? Um, but I think that's how we can look at it a little bit clearer. It's. Like, I know having, um, taught a couple of different times, some of this Samuel stuff, it is usually that passage that people have a significant problem with.

And it is also that passage that people like to highlight and be like, really? Your God is good. Like, how can your God be good? He like purposely tormented this guy. And I think it is important, basically what you're already saying, like. God kind of handed him over to his own nonsense. You know, one of the verses that just popped into my head is like, uh, in Romans chapter one, when it talks about the wrath of God, it's not so much that God is giving people wrath, but he's allowing them to experience the consequences of their decision.

He's giving them over to their desires. And if we look at, Where Saul was heading [00:21:00] based on his character and based on his decisions, he, he is heading towards a bad place and it's like God gave him over to that rather than in some ways protecting him from it or with stopping that from happening. So that happens to Saul, um, all while David is fighting Goliath, probably, probably the most well known part of First Samuel, I would guess.

Uh, it's probably also one of the. least well taught sections of First Samuel, I guess. Wait, wait, I need to, I need to know more about that. Why would you say that? Listen, your, your problems are not Goliath and you are not David. What? Okay, just to, just to be clear. You ruined my day. Um, yeah, it's not a great way to handle it.

Um, also like the, the, the, Point of the story is not that David is amazing. The point of the story is that God is amazing. And one of the things that makes David pretty cool is that he is not shy about recognizing that God is amazing and that God is capable of [00:22:00] doing exactly what God has said. It's notable that nobody in Israel is willing to do that.

Well, Who should have been there? Well, Saul should have been there. Yeah, because what did the people want? We want to be like the nations around us, and the nations would have their king go out and represent them against Goliath as the greatest warrior. Tall should, uh, tall Saul should have been out there.

Tall Saul. But here is short little David, but skillful with the sling. Unfortunately, I cannot think about David and Goliath without thinking about Dave and the giant pickle. Same here. Like, literally, we're talking through this story, and I was like, yeah, that's when the, uh, asparagus gave his armor to the, uh, Smaller asparagus.

So, um, that's the well known thing. Chris is pointing out the clock now, which means we need to keep moving. Keep going. Keep going. Um, okay. When we start talking about David and the giant pickle, I just had to listen. That is critical information. Um, I guess the story of David is wild because David is the anointed king of Israel for a very long time [00:23:00] before he is allowed to actually act as the king of Israel.

And also, like, even when it's finally time for him to take the authority, he still has to kind of put it all together and help to unite the people. There's a lot of really interesting things, um, across the story of David. Basically, I would say the bulk of the second part of first Samuel is kind of this cat and mouse situation between David and Saul, and it is, you know, Really, really incredible that David is leading essentially this giant army of guys and refuses to take authority on his own.

You've already talked about that, Chris, but I can't imagine cause it's not just David, it's like David in this giant army. And I'm sure even his army is like, dude, just do it. Like we've been living in caves away from our wives. Like what is going on here? But we do get a window of how important serving the Lord is to David.

And it shows us that. Character is actually more important than appearance, more [00:24:00] important than influence, like David's relationship with God is going to be the highlight of who David is. Yeah. Agreed. That's why he's one of the good guys. Uh, I would, I would also say like another notable piece of his story is that he is a really, really good guy.

Good friend with Jonathan. It's one of the most powerful stories of friendship in the Bible. Um, and, and Jonathan is Saul's son. Like they have for all intents and purposes, they should hate each other. They'd actually be, they should actually be trying to kill each other. Um, but the fact that they are both appearing to be fully committed to serving the Lord and what the Lord wants to accomplish allows them not even, not, not only to have a solid friendship, but to strengthen each other's faith and resolve through a lot of really challenging circumstances.

Um, so the friendship of. Saul and Saul of David and Jonathan. Um, it is a great example of what God centered friendship can look like today. That's cool. All right, so I will wrap this up, um, with one more very weird [00:25:00] thing that is in First Samuel. I love talking about it. First Samuel 28, uh, is about Saul going to the medium at Endor, a.

k. a. Which? Which? Yes. Medium at Endor sounds like a scene in a Star Wars movie. It is! Endor is the Endor isn't. Is in Star Wars. That's why. That's the Ewok planet. Yes. Thank you. Look at you, Chris. Um, it's because it is in Star Wars. I got him there. So this is another, I would say problematic passage in the Bible.

It's something that I know for sure that people hear and they're like, wait, what that's in the Bible? Like, is that what, what is going on there? So Saul, unfortunately Samuel has died and, and Saul wants to know what to do. And so Saul goes to a witch and asks a witch to contact Samuel. dead Samuel, and she is successful in her mission.

That's probably the weirdest part of the story for me personally. Um, it very much appears that this is authentically Samuel and [00:26:00] Samuel is not happy, like he's like very annoyed. Samuel's not happy. The witch seems very surprised. Like, Oh, what? It worked.

No, this is, it's bizarre. I mean, the big, big thing here, we, we have the contrast. David is trusting God. Who is Saul trusting, and he's, he's trusting in evil, he's trusting in a witch, he's trust, trying to get reassurance and wisdom from something that he's not supposed to do, cause also Irene here is, uh, Saul has already basically said that all the witches should be expelled and anyone who goes to them is going to be punished, so it's, it's like he is Totally like making laws and then breaking them as a king.

Yeah. It's so interesting. I know from my experience of having taught this before, like usually. People are not aware that, like, this contacting the dead thing is in the Bible. And even though this is a story, it is [00:27:00] prohibited in the Bible. So even though Saul did it, it's actually an example of how evil Saul is.

So the takeaway from this story is not like, Whoa, we can do that? It's actually like, Whoa, you should never do that. Uh, I, I mean, I spent a lot of years in Africa. And so that's a part of a lot of the religions. In Africa and many Christians actually even mix in contacting the ancestors in their Christianity, which would not advise, but, um, when, when we're discipling African people who are trying to figure out the truth, like this is the only place really in scripture that we go to, to address, like, do you contact the ancestors and again, there's mystery in here.

You cannot say everything definitively, but something happened here. It. Sure seems like it was Samuel. And, and I would say something kind of the effect of one thing that we clearly say here is we can't answer the question. Is it possible to talk to the dead? But we can clearly answer the question. You're not supposed to try to do it.

You're not supposed to do it. If [00:28:00] anything, Samuel's real mad about it. I think that's the best part of that, of the story. Don't make Samuel mad. He shows up and he's like, what the heck? Why have you disturbed me? Leave me alone. Well, I mean, he probably was disturbed. Enjoying life a lot more than getting called back to Endor.

He's like, this again? It's all again. And why are there Ewoks here? All right, guys. Uh, the Star Wars jokes probably mean that we have reached the end of the episode. Uh, that's, that's the end of signing off on First Samuel. Uh, we'll be back again next week, jumping into Second Samuel. We'll see you then.