Looking for Samuel

[JLG]

212) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- When Samuel anoints Saul as king, he tells him to destroy the Amalekites because they opposed Israel when they were coming from Egypt!


- So Saul goes after the Amalekites but he doesn’t kill their king Agag and keeps the best of the flock and all that is good!


- They did not destroy everything according to God’s will!


- God tells Samuel that he regrets that he has made Saul king!


- Samuel becomes very upset and keeps crying out to God all night long!


- And Saul rejects the mistake on the Israelites!


- Thus Samuel tells Saul God has rejected him as king of Israel!


- Thus another one will be anointed as king over Israel!


- And Samuel kills Agag the king of the Amalekites!


- Samuel never sees Saul again!

 

[JLG]

213) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


God eventually said to Samuel: “How long will you mourn for Saul now that I have rejected him from ruling as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, because I have selected from among his sons a king for myself.”


- God is fast in choosing a new king over Israel !


- No one can change his mind!


- Once again, it shows the special relationship God had with some faithful servants because when he wanted to annihilate Israel they were able to make God not do it!


- But each time Israel would pay a high price for their rebellion against him!


- They would never escape punishment!


- Twice Jerusalem was destroyed and Israel was sent to exile!


- After they killed Jesus, Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah disappeared!

 

[JLG]

214) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- Samuel did what God said. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city were trembling at meeting him, and they said: “Does your coming mean peace?” To this he said: “It means peace. I have come to sacrifice to God. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.”


- The Israelites know that God is against them!


- That’s why they tremble when Samuel come to them!


- We can imagine that they are really surprised at Samuel’s answer!


- It is difficult to know if they believe Samuel!


- Maybe they understand he has come for something special!


- The question is for what!


- They can’t imagine he has come to anoint the new king of Israel!

 

[JLG]

215) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- Finally, Samuel indicates he has come for the youngest son of Jesse!


- And Samuel anoints David as king of Israel!


- And God’s spirit leaves Saul!


- And God terrorizes him with a bad spirit!


- So his servants look for someone who can play the harp and calm Saul down!


- So Saul is told about David!


- And Saul sends messengers to Jesse so David can come to him!


- And David begins serving him!


- And David becomes his armor-bearer!


- And Saul starts to love David a lot!


- When a bad spirit from God comes upon Saul, David plays the harp and it goes away from Saul who feels better!


- Thus God prepares David to become a king!


- His will is effective!


- It doesn’t matter how Saul acts, David will become king of Israel!

 

[JLG]

216) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- The philistines and the israelites assemble to fight!


- Then a giant named Goliath defies the Israelites!


- He proposes a fight between him and an Israelites!


- Whoever loses will become the servants of the other side!


- But the Israelites are terrified!


- Then Jesse tells David to bring food to his brothers who are in Saul’s army!


- When David hears Goliath, he asks Saul for permission to fight Goliath!


- Then David kills Goliath with his sling and a stone which strikes Goliath in his forehead!

- And David cuts off his head!


- And the philistines flee!


- And the Israelites pursue them!


- Thus God’s will is in action and nobody can stop it!


- It is evident that God was with David!


- He was but a boy against a well-armed giant!

 

[JLG]

217) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- David and Jonathan, Saul’s son, develop a strong relationship!


- They make a covenant between each other!


- David stays at Saul’s service!


- Saul puts him in charge of his fighting men!


- David is more celebrated than Saul!


- So Saul becomes jealous of David!


- And he becomes to suspect David!


- On two occasions Saul tries to kill David with a spear but David escapes!


- And he is afraid of David because he is successful!


- He wants David to be killed by the Philistines!


- So Saul proposes to one of his daughters to marry him!


- But he must give Saul 100 foreskins of the Philistines!


- So David and his men kill 200 Philistines and bring their foreskins to Saul!

- Thus Saul gives his daughter Michal as a wife to David!


- Saul realizes that David is with David so he becomes more afraid of him and he becomes his enemy for the rest of his life!


- As we can see, Samuel was completely right, Saul is a human king and he acts according to his will!


- And he wants to get rid of David and he is ready to do anything!


- It has nothing to do with God’s will!


- And God won’t let him succeed!

 

[JLG]

218) God and Samuel / Samuel and God


- Saul wants to kill David!


- Jonathan warns David!


- And Jonathan speaks well of David to Saul so he refuses to kill David for the moment!


- Later Saul tries to kill David another time!


- But he escapes!


- So Saul sends messengers to kill him!


- But Michal tells him to escape otherwise he will be killed!


- So David escapes once again!


- And he goes to Samuel and tells him everything Saul did to him!


- They both go away!


- So Saul sends messengers to kill David!


- But every time, the messengers behave like prophets!


- So Saul decides to go there personally!


- And he too behaves like a prophet!


- So every time Saul tries to kill David, God prevents him to do it!


- And where does David go? To 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!