Guide to Samuel

From RationalWiki

The books of Samuel deal with the changing of Israel's relationship with God. Israel starts to question the laws laid out by God in the book of Deuteronomy. They didn't just question them, they flat out rejected them.

1 First Samuel
2 Samuel throws a fit
3 Footnotes

[edit] First Samuel

[edit] Judgment of Eli's sons and Hannah's miracle

Hophni and Phineas pissed everyone off because of their conduct. Eli, a god fearing man, has maintained no order in the priestly family. At the same time, we pan out to Hannah, who cannot have a child. She tells God that if he blesses her with child, he will be dedicated to Him. She prays and prays, and God, through the blessing of Eli, delivers her a child, named Samuel. Chronicles tells us that he is of the tribe of Levi.

Years go by, and when Samuel is old enough to travel to Shiloh with Hannah, Hannah "gives him back" to the Lord.

Meanwhile, Hophni and Phineas are boiling meat in pots, having sex with women who served at the entrance of the house of the Lord, and many other "terrible" acts. Eli, who is now an old man, asks his sons "Why do you do these things?" His sons did not answer, and continued their evil deeds to the point where God takes away the guaranteed priesthood of Eli's family.^[1] God begins talking directly to Samuel, and makes sure all of his visions come true, and when Samuel spoke, "all of the Israelites listened."

[edit] Battle with the Philistines

The Israelites go to battle with the Philistines, and the Philistines steal the Ark of the Covenant. They also managed to kill Eli's two sons.^[2] Eli falls out of his chair, cracks his neck, and dies. For some reason, the Philistines begin to fear God's wrath, and return the Ark with a large offering to God. After it is returned, some of the Israelites look into the Ark of the Covenant, and 70 men are struck dead—only the High Priest is permitted to look upon the ark, and only once a year.

There is peace for 20 years, during which time the Israelites are "sad" that the Lord has struck them down for disobeying His laws. The Philistines then hear of a gathering at the town of Mizpah, and attack. During the attack, Samuel — who has now attained even greater stature amongst the Israelites — appeals to God, and the Philistines are beaten. With this victory, Samuel reclaims territory for Israel.

[edit] The king has arrived

Samuel has appointed his sons as leaders in Israel. They are corrupt, and tried to get money in ways that were not honest. The people came to Samuel and said, "We want a king." Samuel asked the Lord, and He said do what the people said.

This is where we find Saul, searching for donkeys in the town of Zuph. As Samuel approaches Saul, he realized this is the man God wants to be king. He tells Saul of three prophecies he has seen for Saul's journey home, all of which come true. This is all the "proof" Samuel needs, and announces Saul the king of Israel in the city of Mizpah. The people were largely dissatisfied: the did not give him any gifts, they did not think Saul could save them, and they would not even speak to him.

[edit] Samuel throws a fit

1 & 2 Samuel are such perfect pictures of Christianity as it is practiced today they should be moved into the New Testament.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, ... Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." 1 Sam. 15:1-3

And when did Amalek sin against Israel? Back in the Sinai days, probably 250 years before the days of King Saul.

There are basic principles at play when you punish someone. One, it has to be timely in order to correct the behavior at hand. Two, you have to leave the punishee alive, or the correction is a waste of time. Three, the punishment should be proportional to the offense...you don't cut off someone's hand for flipping the bird. Since the Amalekites did not wipe out the Israelites but only discomfited them, it's not logical to wipe them out down to the last man, woman, child, and head of cattle 250 years later. In fact, it smells like nothing more than vengeance.

Saul went ahead and did it anyway, because Samuel said that God said to do it, but he spared the Amalek King Agag.

Fundies like to say Exodus 20:13 means "do not murder" rather than "do not kill". Well, okay, let's play that game. It's just killing to slay a soldier on the battlefield, and it's just killing to slay all the women and children, but to kill an unarmed man after the battle (the King) is murder. On judgment day, Saul could point to the Law and say, "I slew those fierce babies and women in the heat of the battle, but not the King because I didn't want people to think I was a cold-blooded murderer."

This wasn't good enough. Samuel rebuked Saul in the name of the LORD for sparing King Agag. And here's the part that makes this whole tale resemble modern Christianity: Saul repented, acknowledged his sin, and begged for forgiveness. And it was not forthcoming! Then Samuel himself finished the job on Agag, went away, and never saw Saul again.

[edit] Footnotes

↑ About this time, in 1 Samuel 3:1, it mentions "In those days, it was rare for the Lord to speak directly to people." This must be where he started shunning us.
↑ Eli is "now 98 years old and blind."

Guide to the Bible