I Samuel 4

[JLG]

The man of God asked Eli, why he kicked at my sacrifice and offering and honored who above God? (I Samuel 2:29)

His sons : they were more important to him, Adam chose Eve instead of God, always the human way ! Job chose God instead of his wife !

 

[JLG]

The man of God prophesied to Eli that God would raise up a faithful what who would do that which was in his heart and mind? (I Samuel 2:35)

And god will raise up a faithful priest and he will act according to god’s will and he will bless him. And we know that Samuel is one of the best example of faithfulness in the Bible and he din’t let himself be contaminated by Eli’s sons. Unfortunately Samuel’s two sons didn’t follow their father’s example and as a consequence the Israelites ask for a human king instead of God and things got worse !

 

[JLG]

When Eli grew old and his eyes were dim and as he and Samuel were sleeping what happened to the lamp of God located where the ark was? (I Samuel 3:2-3)

The lamp of God had not yet been extinguished.

 

[JLG]

How many times did Samuel think Eli called him the night the lamp of God went out before Eli perceived the Lord had called the child? (I Samuel 3:8)

- Three times !

- At first he can’t imagine it is God because God is away from Israel !

- And he has been away for a long time !

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 1
That is what she does year after year; whenever Hannah goes up to the house of God, her rival taunts her so much that she weeps and doesn’t eat. But her husband Elkanah says to her: “Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat, and why are you so sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

- Poor man, he has no idea of what happens in his own family!

- Does it remind you something?

- It usually happen that way among many families!

- And parents don’t understand when something happens because they don’t know anything!

- Well, their children have friends to communicate with or they spend a lot of time in front of TV, the internet or playing video games!

- And the children have nothing to say when they eat with their parents!

- And they want to go outside with their friends or back to the TV, the internet or playing video games!

- How do you call that? Modern life!

- Is that progress?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 1
Then Eli answers: “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.” To this she says: “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” And the woman goes on her way and eats, and her face is no longer downcast.

- Hannah speaks with God!

- Then she speaks with Eli!

- And she finds relief!

- The prayer is supposed to be for that!

- But we must be used to praying with our hearts!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 2
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel is ministering God before Eli, but word from God has become rare in those days; visions are not widespread.

- Thus Samuel’s arrival is a good one or comes at the appropriate time!

- The situation in Israel is too bad so God is absent!

- Samuel will be required to put a new start in Israel to improve the situation in a certain way!

- But he will also have to do with such a bad situation!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 3
So Samuel tells him everything, and he does not hide anything from him. Eli says: “It is God. Let him do what is good in his eyes.”

- Thus Eli knows definitely each word from God’s message!

- He knows it is too ate to change the situation!

- He knows he is going to die!

- And he knows his sons are going to die!

- He knows he is too weak!

- And he knows he is going to pay the price!

- He has no excuse!

- May we listen to this message from God!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 5
When the philistines capture the Ark of the true God, they bring it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. The Philistines take the Ark of the true God and bring it into the house of Dagon and set it beside Dagon. When the Ashdodites get up early the next day, there is Dagon fallen facedown on the ground before the Ark of God. So they take Dagon and return him to his place. When they get up early in the morning on the following day, there is Dagon fallen facedown on the ground before the ark of God. The head of Dagon and the palms of both his hands are cut off and are lying on the threshold. Only the fish part has been left intact. That is why to this day, the priests of dagon and all those who enter the house of dagon do not walk on the threshold of dagon in Ashdod. The hand of God is heavy against the Ashdodites, and he devastates them by striking Ashdod and its territories with piles. When the men of Ashdod see what is happening, they say: “Do not let the Ark of the God of Israel remain with us, for his hand has dealt harshly with us and our god Dagon. So they send for and gather all the lords pf the Philistines and ask them: “What should we do with the Ark of the god of Israel?” They reply: “let the Ark of the God of Israel be moved to Gath.” And after that they move it to other cities and each they get into trouble so they decide to give it back to the Israelites.

- So in time, as usual, the Israelites are struck by God because they don’t behave properly!

- But then it’s up to the Philistines!

- Nobody can go against God!

- For a certain time, he may wait, and sometimes it takes a lot of time according to human time but according to God’s time it’s nothing!

- It is always more difficult for us to wait because we don’t live long!

- And it is easier for men to look with man’s eyes rather than with God’s eyes!

- But thus we are always going to be wrong!

- The Israelites did, time passed and then they were destroyed!

- Do you think it is going to be better when God strikes human society in the near future?

- Remember the Israelites!

- Remember their false prophets!

- They were destroyed and their religious leaders and false prophets couldn’t do anything!

- And history will repeat again and again!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 9
Saul belongs to a wealthy family, he is the most handsome man and the tallest in Israel. He meets Samuel who must anoint him as king over Israel. But before that, Samuel invites Saul to eat with him.

- God chooses Saul as king over Israel!

- He is rich, the most handsome and the tallest!

- Everything according to human standards!

- But not according to God’s standards!

- He is supposed to free the Israelites from the Philistines!

- But he will do the wrong choices and will oppose God!

- He will pay the price for it and so the Israelites!

- They will be defeated by the Philistines!

- Power corrupts man!

- it is true with religion, politics and trade!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 14
Jonathan decides to go against a garrison of the Philistines without telling his father and he won. And the Philistines are in great confusion and they fight against each other. And the Israelites who fled or went with the Philistines come back to Saul and they pursue the Philistines. And God saves the Israelites. But Saul had told the Israelites not to eat before the evening and having finished with the Philistines. But Jonathan doesn’t know so he eats honey and his face begins to shine and the people tell him. And Jonathan says it was a mistake from his father because the Israelites could have killed many more Philistines. But at the end the people are so hungry that they eat the cattle with the blood but it is forbidden by God. So Saul says to the Israelites to make sacrifices to be forgiven by God. And Saul wants to fight against the philistines so the priest tells him to ask God but God doesn’t answer so Saul wants to know who has sinned. And Jonathan tells that he ate a bit of honey. So Saul wants to kill him but the people oppose Saul because the victory was possible because of him. So the people rescued Jonathan and Saul stops pursuing the Philistines. Saul secures his kingship over Israel and fights all his enemies and he defeats all of them. There is fierce warfare with the Philistines all the days of Saul.

- We are told about a story of wars!

- Jonathan who eats not knowing his father said the Israelites couldn’t do it till the evening!

- As a consequence of Saul’s sayings, the Israelites are starving and they eat the cattle with their blood which is a sin!

- Bad decisions lead to sins against God!

- And sins accumulate to a great extent!

- When we look at today’s society, it is so far away from God that it is a nonsense!

- And the world is getting crazy!

- And the scientists are warning the political leaders!

- But political leaders are trying to survive now so they don’t care about what comes next!

- The problem is that everything accumulates and the pressure will become more and more unbearable!

- And history is a warning but they turned off the alarm a long time ago!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 18

Jonathan and David become close friends and they make a covenant. And David is successful wherever Saul sends him so he puts him in charge of the fighting men. But Saul becomes jealous at David because the people speak better of David than of Saul. So Saul tries to kill David twice with his spear. Saul is afraid of David because God is with him so he sends him away to lead the army into battle. And David keeps being successful. And Saul hopes that the Philistines will kill him. Saul wants David to marry his youngest daughter in exchange of 100 foreskins of the Philistines. So David and his men kill 200 Philistines. And Saul gives him his daughter Michal. Every time David goes against the Philistines, he wins.

- Saul keeps opposing God and acting badly and trying to kill David!

- On the contrary, David keeps acting according to God!

- And he is blessed by God again and again!

- And it will be so till he becomes king!

- Then he will start to forget God and tries to follow his own desires!

- How easy it is for man to change of attitude even if he knows it is stupid and it means getting into trouble!

 

[JLG]

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- Get away from this old world of Chaos and prepare for the New World!
- don’t do like the Israelites who stayed in the old world and died!
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Looking for Samuel

- In fact, we are not told a lot about Samuel!

- We know about his youth!

- We know God was always with him!

- We know he was a faithful servant of God!

- We know he was jealous for God against the Israelites!

- We know he was busy working for God!

- And it is a protection!

- We know Samuel’s sons didn’t choose the same way!

- They were corrupted!

- We know the Israelites asked for a human king because of Samuel’s two sons’ corruption!

- Life is not always easy even for a faithful servant of God!

- But at least he knows the way if he found the right one, he doesn’t have to look for it!
(Paul was lucky to be put into the right track, he didn’t know he was wrong but his heart was sincere)


- Of course, in God’s world, it will be possible to work with him to make things completely different!

- Something we can’t even imagine till we are there and till we work for it!

- But there will be nothing better than working for God in his world!

 

[JLG]

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- Get away from this old world of Chaos and prepare for the New World!
- don’t do like the Israelites who stayed in the old world and died!
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Looking for Samuel

1 Samuel 25

Samuel dies and all Israel mourns him. David sends some of his men to Nabal a rich man and asks him for food because his men protected his. But Nabal doesn’t care so David wants to kill him. So Nabal’s wife Abigail sends food to David and goes behind her servants. She asks David to forgive her husband and accept her gifts. Thus David listens to her. Later God kills Nabal and David takes her as his wife. And David marries other women.

- Abigail is a good and intelligent woman!

- David listens to her and doesn’t kill her husband!

- Later when God kills Nabal, David marries Abigail because he knows she is a good and intelligent woman!

- In fact, he takes care of her!

 

[JLG]

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Get away from this old world of Chaos and prepare for the New World!

don’t do like the Israelites who stayed in the old world and died!

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Looking for Samuel



1 Samuel 29-30

- Because of the other Philistine Lords, Achish tells David to go back to his city and not to fight!

- When David goes back to Ziklag, the Amalekites have made a raid against the city and have burnt it and taken captive the women and all the inhabitants in it!

- And David’s men want to stone him because of their sons and daughters!

- Then David asks God if he must chase after the Amalekites!

- And God tells him to go after them!

- David fights against the Amalekites and recovers everything!

- And God keeps blessing David who walks in God’s path!

 

[JLG]

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Get away from this old world of Chaos and prepare for the New World!
don’t do like the Israelites who stayed in the old world and died!
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Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 4

Jonathan has a son, Mephibosheth who is crippled. Ishbosheth is killed. And David kill the men who have just killed Ishbosheth.

- Things are not going better!

- On the contrary, we are told about murders!

- And it will be so during all the story of the kings of Israel and Judah!

- It happened as God told them!

- Bad actions lead to bad actions!

- It is a magnet attracted by the negative pole!

- We also understand why David couldn’t build God’s temple!

- He spent his life fighting and killing people!

 

[JLG]

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Get away from this old world of Chaos and prepare for the New World!
don’t do like the Israelites who stayed in the old world and died!
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Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 8

David defeats the Philistines, the Moabites, King Hadadezer of Zobah and the Syrians and the Edomites. And David administers justice and righteousness for all his people.

- David keeps looking for God and he is blessed for that!

- He is successful against all his enemies!

- He becomes powerful!

- No nation can contest his power!

- Anybody would be happy!

- But when man is too successful, he starts to think he can do whatever he wants!

- And then the problems start!

- Every man will always find his master, sooner or later and death can happen at any time!

- Can we say that PRIDE is man’s worst enemy?

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 13-15

One of David’s son, Amnon, falls in love with his sister Tamar and he rapes her then starts hating her. Two years later, Absalom organizes the murder of Amnon to avenge Tamar. Later Absalom starts opposing David and he organizes a conspiracy against David. Then David decides to run away. So he goes away with all his household except ten concubines. And Absalom enters into Jerusalem.

- David really despises God by what he has done!

- So he begins to have trouble in his own family!

- One of his daughter is raped by one of his son!

- Then the same son organizes a conspiracy against David!

- David has to run away!

- Absalom takes his place in Jerusalem!

- What unconsciousness!

- But man is unconscious!

 

[JLG]

Looking for Samuel

2 Samuel 19

David is sad because of his son’s death. Joab is angry at the David because of David’s attitude saying:
“Today you have put to shame all your servants who this day saved your life and the lives of your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your concubines. You love those who hate you and hate those who love you, for you have made it clear today that your chiefs and servants mean nothing to you, because I am sure that if only Absalom were alive today and the rest of us were dead, it would be all right with you. Now get up, go out and reassure your servants, because by Jehovah I swear that if you do not go out, not a man will remain with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the injury that has come upon you from your youth until now.”
So he does according to Joab’s words. And the people bring back David to Jerusalem with a little dispute between the men of Israel and those of Judah because those of Judah are the first to bring back David.

- Joab has to tell David how to behave properly!

- And David listens to Joab!

- And David just wants to go back to Jerusalem!

- He doesn’t want anymore people to be killed!

 

[kaylagrl]

There is a battle between Israel and the Philistines who killed 4000 men. The Jews don’t understand why God let them be defeated. So the next day they decide to take with them the Ark of God’s covenant. The two sons of Eli are present. Once again the Jews are defeated: this time the Philistines killed 30 000 men. They also captured the Ark and the two sons of Eli are killed. When he gets the news, Eli falls and dies.


That’s the traditional chorus in the Bible: when Israel forgets the covenant with God, they are struck, when they follow it, they win. The problem is that most of the time, they don’t follow it! After a long period of time and the misbehavior of Israel, the Jews lose God’s approval. End of the story! And this modern world follows the same pattern! We had two world wars and now scientists have been warning the world leaders but they don’t care! Same chorus! The so called human authorities always start to act when it’s too late. But God’s patience has its limit: he won’t let them destroy his Earth we are just renting!

Sorry, the Jews have never lost God's approval. They are still the chosen people.