You may subscribe yourself at the Ascension site here and receive notifications in your email, or just follow along on my blog. Bible in One Year Readings Index
Chapter 15: Israel's Holy War against the Amalekites
1 Samuel 15:1-9 ~ God Commands Saul to Punish the Amalekites
There is no indication how many years have passed since Israel's victory at the second Battle of Michmash Pass. The key Hebrew word in this chapter is kol/qol, which has the double meaning of "voice" and "sound." Saul has been commanded to literally listen to the "voice" of Yahweh (literal translation in Samuel's discourse in 12:14, 15). But now Samuel tells Saul that all that can be heard is the bleating and lowing "sounds/voices" of the flocks and herds which according to God's voice should have been destroyed in consecration to God in their victory of the Amalekite holy war. See the word kol repeated six times in 14:1, 14, 19, 20, 22, and 24.
Question: What is Samuel's point in verse 1?
Answer: In verse 1 Samuel reminds Saul that he is God's kingmaker. Even though Saul is the king of Israel who was anointed by Samuel, it is by Yahweh's divine will that his kingship was granted, and it is to the voice of Yahweh through His prophet that Saul must obey.
Question: Why were the Amalekites an exception? See Ex 17:8-14 and Dt 25:17-19
Answer: The Amalekites were an exception because of their attack on the Israelites as they fled out of Egypt, first attacking the defenseless women and children and the elderly in the rear of the column.
Israel's conquest of Canaan was not only to fulfill God's promise to the Patriarchs to give them the land, but the Israelites also become God's instrument of divine justice in destroying the depraved Canaanite population for their crimes against humanity which included the murder of untold numbers of children offered in sacrifice to the Canaanite gods (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5). The Amalekites were a violent people who showed no mercy to their enemies, including the disembowelment of pregnant women and children when they raided villages without provocation (Judg 6:1-6; 1 Sam 15:33; 30:1-20). God not only hears the cries of the Israelites when they are in despair but the cries of all peoples of every ethnicity who suffer as victims of injustice or oppression. It is the blood of the innocent that cries out to God for justice. For the Canaanites and the Amalekites, the army of Israel was the vehicle of God's divine judgment for sins against humanity.
Question: What was the first time that the blood of an innocent victim cried out to God for justice? See Gen 4:10.
Answer: God told Cain that He could hear the blood of Abel crying out from the ground.
Herem (the curse of destruction) was a form of proscription that was also practiced by other peoples of the ancient Near East. It was an act of consecrating the victory and all the fruits of the victory to the victor's deity, including all living things, livestock and people, and their belongings. However, in Hebrew the word herem had a double meaning. The verb he herim, "to put under the curse/ban (of destruction)," can also mean "to consecrate," "be separate," or "sacred." All the guilty were cursed but the innocent who lost their lives in a holy war were consecrated to God.
Question: What was the origin of the Amalekites? See Gen 36:15-16.
Answer: They were the descendants of Amalek who was the grandson of Esau (son of Isaac and Rebekah and twin brother of Jacob).
The Amalekites inhabited territory God assigned to Israel, principally the lands of the tribe of Judah in the Negeb, and the Transjordan tribes. They were probably nomadic or semi-nomadic. T
Saul gathered his army at Telaim. It may be the same site as Telem, a city in the Negeb that was given to the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:24). The thousands of warriors who deserted Saul at Gilgal (13:2, 15) have now returned after his victory at the Battle of Michmash. The Israelites were to ambush the Amalekites as they were coming to the north from the Brook of Egypt out of the Wilderness of Shur, a desert region in the Sinai Peninsula east of the present Suez Canal. The Brook of Egypt marked the traditional southern boundary of the Promised Land (Num 34:5). Today it is known as the modern Wadi el- Arish which drains into the Mediterranean Sea about fifty miles south of Gaza.
1 Samuel 15:10-23 ~ Saul is rejected by Yahweh
Samuel is devastated when God tells him "I regret having made Saul king, since he has broken his allegiance to me and not carried out my orders." This is not God's admission of having made an error in choosing Saul, but it is instead an expression of God's sorrow over the wrong choices Saul made and the condition of his relationship with God that has cost him the destiny God had planned for him. Samuel's grief shows that he saw Saul's failure as his own.
Question: The next day when Samuel goes to look for Saul where is he told Saul has gone and for what purpose? How does Saul's action compare to Moses and Joshua after military victories?
Answer: Saul has gone to raise a personal monument to his victory. It is another demonstration of putting himself before God by claiming the victory as his alone. His action is in contrast to Moses and Joshua who always gave God the credit for the victory and raised no monuments to themselves.
Carmel is not Mt. Carmel in the north near the coast of the Mediterranean. This Carmel is a town to the south of Hebron on the way back from the Negeb to Gilgal.
Question: Samuel's question: "Why did you fall on the booty and do what is wrong in Yahweh's eyes?" recalls what command of Yahweh in Deuteronomy 12:28 and 13:19 and what failure repeated eight times in the Book of Judges (Judg 3:7; 12 twice; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1)?
Answer: The Israelites were commanded to obey the "voice of Yahweh" and to "do what was right in the eyes of Yahweh your God" but instead the Israelites like Saul in this episode continued to do "what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh."
Without the genuine offering of a humble and contrite heart, sacrifices become meaningless and contrary to God's will: Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire. Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn (Ps 51:16-17). To practice only the outward form of offering sacrifices without the inner surrender becomes an act of rebellion and presumption. Such an act involves a rejection of God's sovereignty over one's life and is equivalent to a pretense at righteousness that is equal to an act of apostasy.
1 Samuel 15:24-31 ~ Saul begs Samuel to Pardon Him
Saul Tears the Robe of Samuel
In verse 24 Saul tires for a second time to offer an excuse for his behavior by shifting the blame from himself to the people.
Question: What is Saul's admission of guilt in his excuse that is another use of the key Hebrew word kol and another example of his failure? What is required in a sincere admission of sin that leads to forgiveness that Saul lacks?
Answer: Saul admits that he listened to the people and "obeyed their voice" instead of the voice of God. Saul acknowledges his sin but without taking full responsibility and then asks for forgiveness. Therefore, it is not a valid act of contrition.
Question: But instead of being filled with fear and sorrow for offending God what seems to be Saul's main concern?
Answer: Saul more is fearful of losing the people's respect if they see that Samuel no longer supports him.
Verses 25-28 are heart-breaking. In asking forgiveness, Saul hopes the judgment will be revoked. Saul does acknowledge his sin. However, that Saul still doesn't understand the full extent of his failure is obvious in his refusal to accept responsibility and accountability for the sin and in his request to Samuel not to disgrace him in front of the people by refusing to stand by him in the religious ceremony. In desperation, Saul reaches out to grab the hem of Samuel's cloak. His is probably grabbing hold of the tassels on the corners of Samuel's cloak (the tzit-tzit of the tallit). All men of the covenant were commanded to wear tassels on the four corners of their cloaks as a reminder of the sacred character of the community (Num 15:37-39; Dt 22:12).
Question: When the piece of the cloak Saul grabbed tore off, what symbolic interpretation did Samuel give to the torn cloth?
Answer: Samuel said it was symbolic of the kingdom being torn from Saul and given to another.
Samuel tells Saul: "Today Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you and given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. This is the second allusion to David of Bethlehem (see 13:14). Bethlehem is located about ten miles south of Saul's hometown of Gibeah. Another comparison can be made between God's judgment in the sin of Adam and the sin of Saul. After Adam and Eve's sin of rebellion in eating from the forbidden tree, they were turned out of Eden and their access to the garden Sanctuary and intimate communion with God was forever blocked (Gen 3:23-24). As in the case of Adam, Saul's punishment is also severe. His sin of rebellion and rejection of the sovereignty of God over his life (15:23) has resulted in the loss of his kingdom and God's continuing presence; and there will be no going back (15:26).
In verse 30 Saul does not shift the blame to others, but he still accompanies his confession with a personal request to prevent his public humiliation. Samuel compassionately relents and accompanies Saul to the altar, but this does not mean that Saul is forgiven because confession must be sincere and must be accompanied by a demonstration of repentance.
Saul and the people he is responsible for leading have failed to implement herem in the holy war against the Amalekites, even though their motive may not have been to deprive Yahweh of sacrifice but, as Saul argues, to offer God the best of the animals in a religious ceremony. Saul argues that he has tried to act in good faith, and it is in this that his tragedy lies.
Question: What is the root of Saul's sin in this action and in the earlier clash with Samuel resulting in Saul's rejection in 13:8-14? What commandment has he broken? See Dt 6:5 and 11:13-16a.
Answer: His sin consists in choosing his individual way of honoring God with a view to his own popularity with the people. He sought to compromise between Yahweh who had chosen him and commanded him to perform a mission in a certain way and his desire to please the people who have acknowledged him as their king. He has not fulfilled the commandment in declaring his allegiance to Yahweh alone.
Question: If God is all powerful and all knowing, why did He choose Saul to be king in the first place, knowing that Saul would fail? See Jam 1:12-15; 1 Cor 10:6-13; 1 Tim 2:4 and 2 Pt 3:9.
Answer: The destiny God has planned for all mankind is to live with Him in eternity. Unfortunately like Saul, not all men and woman accept His gift of salvation and through their own free will choices they fall prey to sin which separates them from God. When they cannot acknowledge their sins and sincerely repent their transgressions, they shut themselves off from God's mercy. God knew Saul's potential for greatness, but Saul was not willing to fulfill that destiny.
The story of Saul is a cautionary tale for all of us. His destiny was greatness. He was to establish the kingly dynasty from which the Messiah would eventually come to redeem all mankind and to establish His eternal kingdom. Saul forfeited that destiny through his lack of trust and faith in God and his determination to use his own understanding instead of living as Samuel warned him and the Israelites: to fear offending God, to serve God faithfully and to be obedient to God's commands (1 Sam 12:14).
1 Samuel 15:32-35 ~The Death of King Agag and the Departure of Samuel
Saul has spared the life of Agag, king of the Amalekites, and therefore Samuel will carry out his just execution. Agag, who thought he had been spared, now realizes that he is about to die and says: "Truly death is bitter!" Samuel's words to King Agag in verse 33 recall the abomination of the Amalekite practice of cutting the babies out of the bodies of their pregnant mothers. It is for this and other sins against humanity that God condemned the Amalekites to herem. Samuel justifies Agag's punishment in verse 33 by stressing its correspondence with his sins. Agag's execution should have been carried out on the battle field (1 Sam 13:3). It is an uncomfortable truth that those who are merciful to the cruel (like Saul sparing Agag) often end up being cruel to the merciful. In Saul's case this maxim will come true in 1 Samuel 22.
Verse 35 seems to suggest that Samuel died without seeing Saul again. However, that interpretation conflicts with another passage. Perhaps the interpretation of this verse should read that Samuel did to go to see Saul again; meaning that Samuel no longer sought out Saul to counsel Saul as his spiritual advisor. Saul will go to see Samuel one last time at Ramah in 1 Samuel 19:24.
The word used in verse 34: Samuel did not see Saul again till [until] his dying day is in Hebrew the word ad and in the Greek translation the word heos. These words are not used in the same way we use the word "until" in English. They are used to mean an event did not occur up to a certain point and also continued beyond that point.
King Saul of Israel is a tragic figure in Biblical history. He seemed to have every advantage for success. He was tall, handsome, and from a good family (1 Sam 9:1). His father was a mighty warrior from the tribe of Benjamin who loved his son (1 Sam 9:1; 10:2). Saul married a woman named Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahjimaaz (1 Sam 14:50) who bore him healthy children (1 Sam 14:49; 1 Chr 8:33; 9:39). Everything seemed to be in his favor, and at first his character showed that he was humble and self-effacing, qualities of which God approves, but he also lacked self-confidence.
It was not a problem for a divinely chosen agent of God to lack confidence so long as the person had faith and trust in God and was obedient to His commands. This, however, was Saul's failure. He wanted to do what was right, but in a crisis of decision he was incapable of trusting God by meekly placing himself in the hands of the divine King. The tension between wanting to do what is right, his lack of confidence, and his inability to trust Yahweh as his God and not just Samuel's God (14:30) contribute to his undoing. In the end it is, however, Saul's lack of trust in God demonstrated by placing his will over God's commands that led God to reject Saul. The loss of God's favor resulted in a tortured man who slowly declined into depression and mental illness.
Chapter 16: Samuel and David
1 Samuel 16:1-5 ~ Samuel is ordered to go to Bethlehem
The life of a prophet of Yahweh was filled with great highs and great lows. He had the honor being in a uniquely close relationship with God, but he also experienced suffering and great sorrow only to discover that no one understood his grief except God.
Question: This is not the first time the inspired writer has told us that Samuel experienced distress over the events of his ministry. What are the three times the inspired writer tells us Samuel either cried or was deeply distressed? See 8:6-8; 15:10-11; 16:1
Answer:
- When the Israelites asked for a king other than Yahweh Samuel was deeply offended by the people lack of gratitude to God.
- When God told Samuel He was not only withdrawing Saul's dynasty but that His divine Spirit would no longer continue with Saul, Samuel cried and prayed for Saul all night but in the morning submitted to God's will.
- When Samuel continued to mourn for Saul, feeling responsible or Saul's failure.
It was necessary that David be physically anointed to receive the Spirit of God in preparation for his mission as God's messiah ("anointed one") king. Jesus was also publically anointed by God's Spirit at His baptism by St. John the Baptist (Mt 9-11; Mk 3:16-17; Lk 3:21-22). The difference between David's anointing with oil and the Spirit and Jesus' anointing with water and the Spirit is that Jesus' anointing fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet, and king (CCC 436, 695, 783).
Samuel has already recognized that Saul can be a violent and vindictive man (as in the case of Jonathan, Saul's son, who narrowly escaped death at his father's command in 14:44-45). He is therefore concerned that anointing another man will cause Saul to seek his life. God, however, has a plan. Samuel regularly visited villages and took part in village feasts (9:13, 22-24), and so God tells Samuel to take a heifer and celebrate a feast in Bethlehem. Once again Samuel demonstrates his greatness in that despite the risk to his life, he trusts God and is obedient to God's command.
Question: How is this restriction similar for those who come forward to receive Christ in the sacred communal feast of the Eucharist?
Answer: Christians can only come to the feast if they have purified their souls in the Penitential rite for venial sins or in the Sacrament of Reconciliation for mortal sins. One must be in a state of grace to come forward to receive the Eucharist.
1 Samuel 16:6-13 ~ Samuel Anoints David
Jesse presents his firstborn son, Eliab (his name means "God is Father"). He is also mentioned in 17:13, 28; 1 Chr 2:13; he is called Elihu in 1 Chr 27:18.
Question: When Samuel saw Jesse's tall and handsome firstborn son why did he immediately assume Eliab was God's choice for the next anointed king of Israel? See 9:2; 10:23.
Answer: Eliab was physically impressive like Saul who was handsome and stood head and shoulders above other men.
Question: What lesson does God teach his prophet?
Answer: God is not interested in physical attributes but in interior purity of heart.
In fact God tells His prophet that it isn't that He hasn't "chosen" Eliab but that he has "rejected" him.
Only four of Jesse's sons are named in this passage. It is significant that the passage says Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel and David is understood to be the eighth son.
It is possible that the allusion to David as the "eighth" son is meant to be symbolic. In the significance of numbers in Scripture, eight is the number of redemption, salvation, and re-birth. David's kingship will signal a new era of Israel's Davidic kings, and David's descendant, Jesus of Nazareth, will establish an eternal kingship that will bring about mankind's salvation and the birth of a new age. Seven is the number of fullness, completion, and spiritual perfection. It is also possible that one son died young and his absence is reflection in the list in 1 Chronicles.
There is a connection between David "shepherding the sheep" and the way David will describe his God as shepherding the flock of His people (for example see Ps 23:1; 80:1). It will become a repeated image of the role of Israel's kings and priests as the good shepherds or failed shepherds of their people (1 Kng 22:17; 2 Chr 18:16; Jer 23:1-4; Ez 34:5, 8), and of the Messiah who the prophets promised will come to be the Shepherd of His people (Is 40:11; Ez 34:12, 23-24). This is one of the reoccurring symbolic images of the prophets. One of the most famous passages is from the 6th century BC prophet Ezekiel who lived four centuries after David: I shall raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and put him in charge of them to pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd (Ex 34:23). See the chart on the symbolic images of the prophets.
Question: How will this same "shepherd" imagery be used in the New Testament to describe Jesus' role as the Redeemer-Messiah? See Mt 15:24; Jn 10:2-27; 21:16-17; Heb 13:20; 1 Pt 2:25; 5:4.
Answer:
- Jesus identifies Himself as the Shepherd sent to find the "lost sheep" of His people (Mt 15:24).
- Those who belong to Jesus recognized His voice and are obedient in the same way sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd (Jn 10:1-3).
- Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11, 15, 17)
- Jesus is the Divine Shepherd of the sheep by "the blood that sealed an eternal covenant" (Heb 13:20).
- Jesus is the Chief Shepherd who seeks the lost who have "gone astray like sheep but who are returned to the Shepherd and guardian of your souls" (1 Pt 2:25) who will return to give the faithful sheep of His flock the crown of glory (1 Pt 5:4).
Jesus identifies Himself as the Shepherd sent to find the "lost sheep" of His people. Those who belong to Him recognized His voice in the same way sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd. He shows His "sheep" the way to the sheepfold/heaven. The inspired writers of the New Testament epistles present Jesus as the divine Shepherd of the sheep by "the blood that sealed an eternal covenant" (Heb 13:20), and Chief Shepherd who seeks the lost who have "gone astray like sheep but who are returned to the Shepherd and guardian of your souls" (1 Pt 2:25) who will return to give the faithful sheep of His flock the crown of glory (1 Pt 5:4).
It is both significant and climactic that David's name is not mentioned until he receives God's Spirit. Is this when he is no longer is known by his Hebrew birth name but becomes David the "beloved" of God? The Spirit of Yahweh came upon David in the same way God's spirit came upon Saul (10:6, 10); however God's spirit came upon David immediately whereas Saul did not receive God's Spirit until the signs Samuel promise him were confirmed.
After anointing David, Samuel returns home to Ramah where he is the leader of a community of prophets (18:20).
1 Samuel 16:14-23 ~ The Young David Enters Saul's Service
Question: As the Spirit of Yahweh descends upon David (16:13), what happens to Saul?
Answer: Saul feels the effects of the departure of God's Spirit and is "afflicted with terrors."
Later, humbly confessing his sins, David will write about the necessity of being blessed with God's Spirit to fulfill his destiny and will pray that he will not be deprived of God's Spirit like Saul: God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit, do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness. Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit. I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you (Ps 51:10-11). Even though David knows that he has replaced Saul as God's anointed to be king of Israel, and despite Saul's future enmity toward him, David will remain loyal to Saul's kingship for as long as Saul lives. It is another aspect of David's good character.
... an evil spirit from Yahweh afflicted him with terrors. God is holy and therefore to afflict Saul with an evil spirit is contrary to God's nature (Wis 15:11-20), but because everything is attributed to God's cause, the spirit that God allowed to bring Saul discomfort and which replaced God's divine Spirit is also attributed to God. God allows it because it will be part of the formation of God's divine plan. Realizing he has been rejected by God and deserted by Samuel, Saul suffers attacks of "madness." The illness that tormented him was probably episodes of severe mental depression that incapacitated Saul to the point of not being able to perform his duties as Israel's king.
Jesse obediently sent his youngest son to Saul's court with a gift to curry the king's favor and express his loyalty. Saul's fondness for David at this point may not have been for David personally but for the effect David's music had on calming Saul. Most Biblical scholars suggest that David played a lyre and not a harp. It is interesting that it has only been in modern times that music therapy has been recognized as a therapeutic treatment for the mentally distressed.
Scripture tells us that David composed music (2 Sam 1:17-27; 22:1-51; 1 Chr 16:7-42) and is believed to have written many of the psalms which bear as a title "psalm of David" (Ps 3-41, 51-70, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 133, 139-144). The prophet Amos writes that David also invented musical instruments (Amos 6:5). When he is king, David will introduce musical instruments and choirs of Levites into the daily liturgy of worship (1 Chr 6:31; 23:5; chapter 25).
CHALLENGE: “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John didn’t really write the Gospels. We have no idea who actually did. They are anonymous, and names weren’t attached to them until the second century.”
DEFENSE: The evidence suggests Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John did write the Gospels.
Ultimately, the important thing is not who wrote the Gospels but whether they are reliable. Anonymity is no barrier to reliability, and there are many anonymous works that scholars rely on for knowledge of the ancient world.
For example, scholars use the Itinerarium Burdigalense, an important travel narrative from A.D. 333–334 that was written by an unknown individual called only “the Pilgrim of Bordeaux.”
The names of the Gospel authors may not be listed in the text of the works, but the Gospels were not anonymous in the sense that their authors were unknown to the original audience.
Luke writes to his patron Theophilus (Luke 1:3, Acts 1:1), and Theophilus knew who Luke was. John expressly identifies its author as the beloved disciple (John 21:20–24), whose name was known to the intended audience. Similarly, the authors of Matthew and Mark were known to their original audiences.
The names attached to the Gospels were not of second-century origin. They were in use in the first century. Had the Gospels circulated without names for an extended period, they would have come to be called different things, the same way that there are multiple titles for many ancient works.
However, they didn’t. In ancient documents they are always referred to as the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
When the Gospels were read in church, the congregation needed to be told what was being read, and there needed to be a way to distinguish them from each other, since so much of their content was similar, with each telling the story of Jesus.
The churches chose to refer to them by their authors. This need to distinguish them existed as soon as there was more than one Gospel, and so the names were used immediately, not at a later date. This is a strong indication that the names are accurate (see also Day 146).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
No comments:
Post a Comment