Weekly Sermons

I Samuel Overview

The book of I Samuel is the 9^th book of the Bible.

I Samuel marks the transition from the days of the Judges to the days of the Kings.

Samuel, in addition to being a priest and prophet, was the last legitimate judge; Saul was the first King.

Key Verse:

Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and defiance is like wickedness and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you (Saul) as King.           -I Samuel 15:22-23

I really love it when you are reading through the Bible and get to these passages. You often see things that remind you of something you have already read in the Torah (the first five books), or in the historical books Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

The first five books let us know what God expects of His covenant people; the historical books show Israel being blessed when they worship and obey God, and being judged when they disobey God and turn to idolatry and immorality.

Outline:

The rise and ministry of Samuel                                                           Chapters 1-7

The rise and predicted fall of the first King Saul                              Chapters 8-15

The anointing and character development of King David            Chapters 16-31

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Let’s dig in!

Chapter 1 gives us Samuel’s family history.

Samuel’s dad was from the tribe of Ephraim.

What do we know about Ephraim?       A son of Joseph!

Sam’s dad Elkanah had two wives. Hannah was childless, and heard about it all the time from “what’ her name.”

We learn in chapter one that Elkanah and Hannah were in the habit of offering sacrifices to the Lord annually at Shiloh in Ephraim, where the Tabernacle was and had been since Joshua had subdued the land (Joshua 18:1).

Read 1:9-18

Why would she promise his hair would never be cut?

The Nazarite vow, like Samson.

God hears Hannah’s prayer, and she names the lad Samuel, which means “requested of God.”                    

Samuel is left at the tabernacle to serve God; later she has 3 more boys and girls.

Chapter 2 gives us Hannah’s beautiful prayer and praise!

Hannah predicts the coming Messiah in 2:10.

In a way her son Samuel is the last legitimate judge of Israel; but the Final Judge is yet to come! Hannah speaks of the Lord’s King judging the ends of the earth BEFORE Israel has her first king!

Also in chapter 2 Eli hears from the man of God about judgment coming because of how his sons were sinning as they served as priests. They were not offering the sacrifices the way they were supposed to, which God had earlier killed Aaron’s two sons for, and they were also committing adultery at the Tabernacle.

Verse 25 literally says that the Lord was pleased to kill them.

Read 2:34-35

The man of God lets Eli know the priesthood is about to be ripped from him, but he also predicts that a truly faithful priest is coming one day (2:34-35).

In chapter 3 Eli hears from the boy of God!

The story of Eli teaching Samuel to listen to the voice of God is among the Bible’s most memorable.

We too should do what Eli advised Samuel: Say to God, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening!”

Samuel the boy of God tells Eli the same thing he just heard from the man of God.

Chapters 4-7 let us know why some churches have Ebenezer in their name!

What happened at Ebenezer?

Israel suffered a crushing defeat and the ark was captured.

Think of it! The ark had been at Shiloh for a long time, surviving even the wild west days of the judges. But now it has been captured by the Philistines and Eli’s sons have died. Eli is so upset, he falls backward and dies. His daughter-in-law is so upset she names her child Ichabod in childbirth.

What does Ichabod mean?         The glory has departed!

So why do churches call themselves Ebenezer?

Read 7:2-17

Ebenezer means “Stone of Help.” The place of one of Israel’s worst defeats became the name representing God’s deliverance!

When the old hymn says, “I will raise mine Ebenezer,” it is referring to giving God glory for His help and deliverance!

Chapter 8 starts in a sad way

Read 8:1-9

We’re reminded that each generation needs to make their own decision to follow the Lord. Samuel’s sons turn out like Eli’s sons, and the people demand a king.

The sad reality is that the nation is like the sons – not serving God.

What are some of the things Samuel tells them will happen if they have a King?

He’ll draft your sons; He’ll date your daughters; He’ll imminent domain your property; He’ll tax you to build things for himself (a second tithe); One day you’ll regret you asked for him.

Read verses 19-20, which shows where the people’s hearts are at.

Ironically, they think the King will fight their battles; unfortunately, too often, they will fight his!

And that brings us to Saul. We find out in chapter 9 that future king Saul is impressive and tall.

What tribe is Saul from?                         Benjamin

How do we see God’s mercy in that?

Because of the devastating circumstances at the end of the book of Judges (9:21)!

God confirms in multiple ways in chapter 10 that Saul is the guy. Read 10:9-11

Read 10:20-27

Note the Bible calls those who would not support their God-given leader wicked men, contrasting them with brave men whose heart God had touched.

They al saw Saul hiding under the equipment afraid to be king; some despised him for his shortcomings while the other said, “Let’s help our God-given leader.”

Now what is so significant about Saul and these brave men being from Gibeah?

Gibeah was the place back in Judges 19 that the woman was violated, precipitating the nation gathering to fight against it and its tribe, Benjamin. Now it’s the home of the first King. God had restored Benjamin!

In chapter 11 we see Saul get a good start as king, defeating Ammonites and rescuing the city of Jabesh Gilead. He also refuses to be petty with those who had questioned him as their leader. If only he could have kept that spirit going!

No let’s go forward to David.

Interestingly, even though David will be anointed as the future king in chapter 16 of first Samuel, it will take years before Saul’s fall is complete and David is crowned King. You never know what God is preparing you for!

After God tells Samuel he has rejected Saul as King for disobedience, in chapter 16 God sends Samuel down to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint the next king.

All of Jesse’s sons come before Samuel except David, who is out tending the sheep. Even though Eliab impresses Samuel he is not the Lord’s pick.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”           -I Samuel 16:7

Read 16:11-13

In an ironic twist, young David is summoned to Saul’s court to play his harp for the king as music therapy!

In verse 13 we learned that the Spirit of the Lord was with David. But in verse 14 we learn the Spirit had departed from Saul.

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit would come for a time, for a task, usually to a prophet or leader. There was no permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit until after Jesus rose from the dead (John 7:38-39; Eph. 1:13-14).

Chapter 17 has the great story of young David taking on Goliath and by faith beating him.

David was Israel’s champion the day he defeated Goliath: Israel won because he won. Christ is our champion: we have defeated death because Christ did!

David is shepherd, he is musician, he is a giant-killer, a great warrior!

Chapters 18-31 are full of success and sorrow for David.

We read of his beautiful friendship with Jonathan, and more military success.

But we also read of an increasingly paranoid Saul hating David’s successes.

Read I Samuel 18:5-9

Human jealousy is rarely rational!

Saul should have understood that having successful people on your team also makes you look good, Israel look good, and ultimately, God!

But Saul was not walking with God in these days, so instead of glorifying God for the team’s victory, Saul was upset that David got more credit than he did.

The rest of I Samuel is David suffering one indignity after another from Saul.

Saul tries multiple times to kill him with a spear; He promises daughter Merab to David, then marries her to Adriel. Saul promises Michal to David if he will kill 100 Philistines, hoping David will die trying. David brings back 200, and his fame grows

Saul orders his servants to kill David, Jonathan saves David by talking to his father. Saul sends agents to David’s house to kill him, Michal helps him escape.

Saul sends agents to kill David at Naioth in Ramah, but they start prophesying when they see a group of prophets! The same thing happens to Saul when he goes there!

David flees to Ahimelech the priest at Nob; Saul later has Doeg the Edomite kill all the priests there except Abiathar.

David has to fain being insane before King Achish of Gath to avoid reprisals from them for all the Philistines he had killed.

David hides in the cave of Adullam, but takes his parents to hide with the King of Moab so Saul won’t kill them!

Despite delivering the city of Keilah, David becomes aware that they will hand David over to Saul if he comes there.

David refuses to kill Saul when Saul relieves himself in the very cave David was in.

Read 24:1-7

David’s respect for Saul’s positional authority should humble our tendency to disrespect the authority figures in our lives. We must respect the position of authority even when we don’t respect the deeds of the person in authority.

Saul gives Michal to a man named Palti.

David again refuses to kill Saul at Gibeah despite Saul’s continual pursuit of David with troops outnumbering David 5 to 1.

Read 26:21-25

Saul acts sinfully against David 20 recorded times in I Samuel.

And you thought you had a bad boss!

David suffered many indignities from Saul; but think of the indignities the Son of David has suffered from us!

Through all these adversities God is developing David’s faith and his character and his perseverance. And even though David is not King of Israel yet, he does what he can to advance Israel’s cause.

In chapter 27 we learn that David lives among the Philistines for 16 months.

Read 27:5-8

Do you see what David is doing?

He is not attacking fellow Israelites on these raids, but Israel’s enemies living among them!

Like David we should work at what we can while we wait for God’s ‘higher’ calling in our lives!

Be faithful in little things, God will give greater responsibilities!

In Chapter 29 we see God’s sovereign hand at work, when the other Philistine kings refuse to let David go with them to attack Israel! If he had been part of attacking Israel, the people would have never accepted him as king.

We skipped over the sad event in chapter 28 when desperate Saul consults a medium to contact Samuel.

Saul’s end is so sad.

Read 31:1-13

The men of Jabesh get to repay Saul for his help of their city in chapter 11.

The events of David’s life(shepherd, musician, warrior, betrayal, suffering) serve as the inspiration for many of the Psalms, half of which David wrote!

Read Psalm 18:1-3