I Samuel Chapter 2

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 11

Israel fights the Ammonites another time. One night he sees Bathsheba bathing and she is very beautiful. He knows she is married but he sends messengers to bring her and he has sex with her. She becomes pregnant. As her husband is one of his soldier, he asks him to come back from war and stay at his home with his wife but he doesn’t want because Israel is at war. Thus David organizes his murder on the battlefield. After the mourning period, Bathsheba becomes David’s wife.

- Before he was king, David used to follow God straight away!

- When he became king he took the woman of another man and mudered her husband!

- It is difficult to call such a man a man of God!

- Or is that when you get power it corrupts the mind!

- Thus Power is stronger that man!

- It happened with all kings in the Bible!

- A good lesson to remember!

- It is easy to turn one’s back!

- Humility vs pride!

- Goodness vs evil!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 17

Ahithophel asks Absalom to let him choose 12,000 men and chase after David to kill him then all the people will be at peace. But before to decide what to do, Absalom asks Hushai about his advice. He tells Absalom to lead all Israel and chase after David. So Absalom decides to follow Hushai’s advice because God wants to bring disaster on Absalom. Then Hushai tells Zadok and Abiathar the priests to go to David to warn him.

- God wants to give a lesson to David and he wants him to pay a high price for what he has done!

- But he has not forgotten David!

- And Solomon must become king!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 21
There is a famine in Israel for three consecutive years because Saul killed the Gibeonites who ask in exchange seven of Saul’s sons. War between Israel and the Philistines starts again. And each time Israel beat them.

- God never forgets!

- There is always a price to pay when someone is guilty!

- Israel’s history is always troublesome!

- People always die!

- No peace!

- When we our world, there is no great difference!

- War and violence!

- And Samuel is not here anymore!

 

[JLG]

1) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

- Hannah makes a deal with God!

- She is barren!

- If she gets pregnant of a son, she will give him to God!

- Thus Samuel spends his childhood in God’s house!

- Thus from the beginning Samuel has the privilege to start a special relationship with God!

- Many people think it is not necessary to teach their children about God when they are young!

- Man’s word against God’s word!

- The Israelites were supposed to teach their children about God when they are young!

- But the majority didn’t do it!

- They were rejected as a consequence!

- What a bad mistake!

- And people repeat such a mistake!

- They do it the easiest way!

 

[JLG]

5) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

A long time elapsed, 20 years in all, from the day of the Ark’s coming to Kiriath-jearim, and all the house of Israel began to seek after God. Samuel then said to all the house of Israel: “If you are returning to God with all your heart, put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth images from among you, and direct your heart unswervingly to God and serve only him, and he will rescue you from the hand of the Philistines.”At that the Israelites got rid of the Baals and the Ashtoreth images and served only God.

- Always the same story!

- The Israelites always go after foreign gods!

- And they always get into trouble!

- And you call them a chosen people!

- Good luck!

- Maybe we don’t read the same Bible!

- And Samuel has to tell them what to do as if they didn’t know it!

- Come on!

- It’s ridiculous!

- They never learn!

- Even children could do better!

 

[JLG]

9) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

In time all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. They said to him: “Look! You have grown old, but your sons are not walking in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the other nations.” But it displeased Samuel when they said: “Give us a king to judge us.” Then Samuel prayed to God, and God said to Samuel: “Listen to everything the people say to you; for it is not you whom they have rejected, but it is I whom they have rejected as their king. They are doing just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day; they keep forsaking me and serving other gods, and that is what they are doing to you. Now listen to them. However, you should solemnly warn them; tell them what the king who rules over them will have the right to demand.”

- Samuel doesn’t say anything about his children!

- God doesn’t say anything about Samuel’s children!

- But Samuel’s sons are the cause of the Israelites asking for a human king!

- The most important thing is that the Israelites have rejected God as usual!

- God is clear about it: “They are doing just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day; they keep forsaking me and serving other gods, and that is what they are doing to you.”

- And you call that a chosen people? Not at all! No way!

- In fact, they have never served God with all their hearts!

- Only when they were in big trouble!

- But after a while they would go back as usual!

- It is a joke!

- Remember what God said to Daniel about Jerusalem: it was going to be rebuild and destroyed again!

- Samuel was an exception!

- And as usual Samuel does according to God’s will!

 

[JLG]

13) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

“This is what God the God of Israel says: ‘It was I who brought Israel up out of Egypt and who rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you. But today you have rejected your God who was your Savior out of all your evils and distresses, and you said: “No, you should appoint a king over us.” Now take your stand before God by your tribes and by your thousands.’”

- And God and Samuel used to speak with the same voice and the same mind !

- Except that Samuel expresses his anger all at once !

- With God, it takes time, but when the time has arrived, then his anger is multiplied to such an extent that it may be difficult to understand!

- Then you need to analyze the context!

- Revenge is a dish best served cold !

- Anger accumulates and accumulates !

- And men don’t understand that !

- They like it cold but then it’s burning !

 

[JLG]

17) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

Now take your positions and see this great thing that God is doing before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on God to make it thunder and rain; then know and understand what an evil thing you have done in the eyes of God in asking for a king for yourselves.”At that Samuel called to God, and God made it thunder and rain on that day, so that all the people were greatly in fear of God and of Samuel.

- Yes, God and Samuel show the same mind and spirit!

- Both according to God’s will!

- Discussion is impossible in front of facts!

- But it’s not the same with Israel!

And all the people said to Samuel: “Pray to God your God for your servants, as we do not want to die, for we have added to all our sins another evil by asking for a king.”

- Yes, it seems that God is Samuel’s God and not Israel’s God!

- Even the people say it!

- They need Samuel to pray for them not to die!

- What a chosen people!

- It’s not another sin, it’s a complete condemnation!

 

[JLG]

21) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

- Jonathan attacks the Philistines and later the Philistines kill each other!

- God gives the philistines in the hand of Israel!

- But Saul had told the Israelites not to eat!

- And Jonathan didn’t know it!

- So he eats some honey!

- Then the people keep striking the Philistines!

- And they get tired!

- And they kill animals with the blood!

- Thus they sin against God!

- So Saul stopped them and he builds an altar!

- But it’s their usual way!

- The answer will come soon!

 

[JLG]

25) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

- Samuel did what God said. When he came to Bethʹle·hem, 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]

29) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

- Saul wants to kill David!

- Jonathan warns David!

- And Jonathan speaks well of David to Saul so he renounces 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]

33) 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]

36) 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]

40) 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 becomes king!

- Let’s not forget it!

 

[JLG]

- Second key: Eli!

- Eli could have educated his two sons in a better way!

- Or he could have prevented them from doing what they did!

- Or he could have taken away their position as priest!

- Samuel could have had better examples!

- God could have not spoken to Samuel!

- He could have become just a priest but not a judge and prophet!

- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!

- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!

- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLG]

- Sixth key: Samuel as an adult!

1 Samuel 12:23:

As for
גַּ֣ם (gam)
Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

me,
אָנֹכִ֗י (’ā·nō·ḵî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 595: I

far be it from me
חָלִ֤ילָה (ḥā·lî·lāh)
Interjection | third person feminine singular
Strong's 2486: For, a profaned thing, far be it!

that I
לִּי֙ (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew

should sin
מֵחֲטֹ֣א (mê·ḥă·ṭō)
Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 2398: To miss, to sin, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, lead astray, condemn

against the LORD
לַֽיהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

by ceasing
מֵחֲדֹ֖ל (mê·ḥă·ḏōl)
Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 2308: To be flabby, desist, be lacking, idle

to pray
לְהִתְפַּלֵּ֣ל (lə·hiṯ·pal·lêl)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hitpael - Infinitive construct
Strong's 6419: To judge, to intercede, pray

for you.
בַּעַדְכֶ֑ם (ba·‘aḏ·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's 1157: In up to, over against, at, beside, among, behind, for

And I will continue to teach
וְהוֹרֵיתִ֣י (wə·hō·w·rê·ṯî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 3384: To flow as water, to lay, throw, to point out, to teach

you
אֶתְכֶ֔ם (’eṯ·ḵem)
Direct object marker | second person masculine plural
Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case

the good
הַטּוֹבָ֖ה (haṭ·ṭō·w·ḇāh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

and right
וְהַיְשָׁרָֽה׃ (wə·hay·šā·rāh)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 3477: Straight, right

way.
בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ (bə·ḏe·reḵ)
Preposition-b | Noun - common singular construct
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

- Samuel went straight away!

- Nothing would stop him from doing God’s will!

- He couldn’t prevent Israel from rejecting God!

- But he did his best to encourage them to follow God’s word!

- And it’s up to us to do the same or not!

- Just a question of free will!

 

[JLG]

2) Again in Chapter 1, we see the same insensitivity from Eli the high priest!

- As a religious leader, he should be supposed to be closed to the people and to God!

- But in both cases, he is far away!

- When Hannah prays, he thinks she is drunk in the house of God!

- How is it possible to be so insensitive?

- While she expresses her deep feelings to God!

- Unbelievable!

- But that’s how it is!

- Once again this type of insensitivity is the rule among men!

- And it has always been so!

- The real disciples of Jesus should show a different behavior if they really want to look like him!

 

[JLG]

6) In 1 Samuel 7, we can hear another warning!

- Samuel tells Israel that serving God is not a part-time job but a full one!

- It is not how we want but how he wants us to serve him!

- Israel listens to Samuel and they get rid of the Philistines!

- It was possible because of Samuel who was a faithful servant of God!

- Before that, they had been in big trouble and they were the slaves of the Philistines!

- Just because they were doing it their way not God’s way!

- Thus we can understand that this man was important for God!

- Thus because of him they could live in peace!

 

[JLG]

- May I ask a question to everybody ?

- I will let people time!

- Then I will answer too!

- There is no trap!

- WHAT IS ALL THE BIBLE ABOUT EXCEPT THE FACT THAT IT IS GOD’S WORD ?

- There may be different answers depending on the elements we have!

 

[JLG]

https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Ezra.html


WHO WAS EZRA IN THE BIBLE?


Ezra was the second of three key leaders to leave Babylon for the reconstruction of Jerusalem. Zerubbabel reconstructed the temple (Ezra 3:8), Nehemiah rebuilt the walls (Nehemiah chapters 1 and 2), and Ezra restored the worship. Ezra was a scribe and priest sent with religious and political powers by the Persian King Artaxerxes to lead a group of Jewish exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:8, 12). Ezra condemned mixed marriages and encouraged Jews to divorce and banish their foreign wives. Ezra renewed the celebration of festivals and supported the rededication of the temple and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall. Ezra 7:10 describes a shaping of the community in accordance with the Torah. Ezra’s goal was to implement the Torah, and his impeccable priestly and scribal credentials allowed him to remain the model leader.


The book of Ezra continues from where 2 Chronicles ends, with Cyrus, king of Persia, issuing a decree that permitted the Jews of his kingdom to return to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. God is universally sovereign and can use a polytheistic king of Persia to make possible His people’s release. He used Artaxerxes, another Persian king, to authorize and finance the trip and Ezra to teach God’s people His Law. This same king also helped Nehemiah restore some measure of respectability to God’s holy city.


Ezra’s effective ministry included teaching the Word of God, initiating reforms, restoring worship, and leading spiritual revival in Jerusalem. These reforms magnified the need for a genuine concern for reputation and for public image. What must the world think of God’s people with dilapidated city walls? What would distinguish God’s people who were guilty of intermarriage with those not in proper covenant relationship with the one true God? Nehemiah and Ezra were then, and are now, an encouragement to God’s people to magnify worship as their top priority, to emphasize the need for and use of God’s Word as the only authoritative rule for living, and to be concerned about the image God’s people show to the world.


Ezra came back from captivity in Babylon expecting to find the people serving the Lord with gladness, but upon his return to Jerusalem, he found the opposite. He was frustrated and sorrowful. His heart ached, but he still trusted the Lord. He wanted the Lord to change the situation and blamed himself for not being able to change the people’s hearts. He wanted the people to know how important and essential the Word of God was. Nothing must supersede worship of God, and obedience is not optional. The sovereign God looks over and protects His children, always keeping His promises and providing encouragement through those He sends (Ezra 5:1–2). Even when His plan seems to be interrupted, as with the rebuilding of Jerusalem, God steps in at the appropriate time to continue His plan.


God is as intimately involved in our lives as He was in Ezra’s life, and like Ezra we are sometimes enabled to do the impossible. Ezra did the impossible, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him (Ezra 7:9). Every believer is a living temple (1 Corinthians 6:19) in which the Holy Spirit dwells. The opposing forces in Ezra’s day were people with evil in their hearts. The opposing force in our Christian lives today is evil himself, Satan, who has come to destroy us and in turn destroy God’s temple (John 10:10). Our goals should be worthy in God’s eyes as well as our own. Yesterday’s sorrows can be today’s successes if the hand of the Lord is upon us. Ezra’s goal was worthy in God’s eyes, and he effectively used the returning Jews’ sorrows for the success of rebuilding God’s city and restoring worship.