1 Samuel: Jesus the Shepherd King
Chp. 1-7 Samuel: The heart of God towards man
Chp. 8-15 Saul: The heart of man after the flesh
Chp. 16-31 David: The heart of a man of faith
You will recall that the book of Judges covered the events of Israel lasting 335 years and based upon the content of those 21 chapters these were definitely the “dark ages” a time in which, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) It was into this setting that we read of God’s wonderful work of redemption in the little four-chapter book of Ruth a story of love, friendship, redemption, and romance reminding us that even during the darkest of days of our rebellion when we have turned our back on God He is still at work winning those from idolatry to a relationship with Him. At the end of those 335 years, 1 Samuel takes place. Samuel was the last of the Judges and the first of the prophets and this book serves as a transition from the time of the judges to the time of the kings. This book is a tale of “Three Men” and the nation’s response towards three kings:
- God: Whom they reject
- Saul: Whom they receive as he is a man just like them
- David: Who God places upon the throne because he had placed the Lord on the throne of his heart
The time of 1 Samuel was still a time when the people had walked away from God they were:
- Politically a mess
- Socially in chaos
- And all because they were religiously into idolatry
Folks every idol we place before us is a testament to our need for God. It is this fact that Paul attested to in Acts 17:22 when he stood amid the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious”. The lack of God in our lives creates the necessity of putting something or someone in His place. It is in this context that Samuel is written but like every other book of the Bible it is not just about man’s failure it is also about God’s heart to love those who have rejected Him. G. Campbell Morgan said, “It is one thing to reject God and quite another thing to dethrone Him!” God can never be dethroned and though mankind may for a season be successful at removing Him from the throne of their heart He will never be removed from His rightful place.
The books of 1 Samuel and 2nd Samuel were originally one book in the Hebrew Bible known simply as Samuel. The name Samuel in Hebrew has several meanings, “The name of God”, and “Asked of God”. When the books were translated into common Greek they were given the title “Books of the Kingdoms” and it is here that they were divided into 1st Samuel or 1st Kingdoms and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings were called 2nd, 3rd, and 4th kingdoms.
The author of 1st Samuel like Judges and Ruth is anonymous but Jewish tradition attributes it to Samuel. He may have written most of it but the fact that chapter 25:1 records his death makes the writing of the final 7 chapters impossible. It is most likely that the other two prophets around during this time were also involved in its writing Nathan and Gad. These 31 chapters cover a span of time of 94 years from Samuels’s birth to Saul’s death.
Chp. 1-7 Samuel: The heart of God towards man
The book begins with Samuel’s story during a turbulent time for the nation when Eli was judge and priest for the nation. The first three chapters record his birth and early life but the 4th chapter details the timing of his birth. In the 4th chapter we are told in verses 2-3 that Israel was defeated by the Philistines and the people came to Eli and his sons to request the use of the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh “that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.” Ah, but in verse 11 we read that “the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas, died.” Then upon hearing that his two sons had died and the Ark had been captured “Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy.”
Fittingly as Phinehas’ wife who was ready to give birth heard the news the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead started her labor pains and just before she died soon after giving birth managed to name her son Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” Think of this my friends, the presence of God, the place where the glory of the Lord came upon the mercy seat that had been sprinkled with the blood of the lamb had been taken. Oh, how foolish we are when we reduce the presence of God to a mere “good luck charm”!
As only God can, He makes the truth a metaphor for where the nation is at. Samuel was born to the 2nd wife Elkanah who was barren and ridiculed by the first wife. Her barrenness was a symbol of the nation as the people had become infertile and barren spiritually. Ah, but it is to this barren woman and her faith year by year as she went into the house of the Lord that God would open her womb. One day as she wept bitterly she prayed in 1:11 “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”
Dear ones never forget that more and greater fruitfulness will be brought forth in our lives during times of brokenness and surrender than will ever happen without them. And when she had weaned him she brought him to the house of the Lord with an offering and said in verses 27-28 “For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord.” So they worshiped the Lord there.” The 2nd chapter records Hannah’s song where she writes in verse 3, “Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.”
This song reveals the eternal conflict between the proud and self-confident and the broken and contrite. It was the arrogance of the nation that was causing its downfall and to this woman, God brought for the king maker. And as a young boy, it would be Samuel, not Eli that God would speak to as we are told in chapter 3:1 that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” But in chapter 3:19 that the Lord would not “let one of his words fall to the ground”. And what a message as the Lord spoke to Samuel that he would judge Eli and his sons for the sins had committed. Oh, the wonders of God who took this man, a child of a barren woman’s faith, and trained in the temple courts and called him to service while yet a boy.
The 5th through 7th chapters record for us the return of the Ark of the Covenant from the hands of the Philistines to Kirjath Jearim to the house of Abinadab (my father is willing) to be kept by Eleazar for 20 years all of Israel lamented after the Lord. Again we can not miss the truth that “our Father is willing” to bring back His presence to us if we will but head the words of Samuel to the nation in 7:3 “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
Chp. 8-15 Saul: The heart of man after the flesh
Now we move to Saul but before we do we are told of the circumstances in the hearts of the nation that brought about his reign. First, we are told yet again in 8:3 that Samuels’s “sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.” And it was this fact that brought the elders of the nation to come to Samuel and say in verse 5 “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” Dear ones let us not forget the lesson of Israel’s repeated failure of not reaching the next generation! Let’s get this straight, the nation’s complaint was that Samuels’ sons didn’t walk in their father’s ways but they were blind to the reality that they were not walking in the FATHER’s ways! And what do they request of Samuel seeing that his boys don’t walk in his way?
Well, a king who will walk in the ways of the world!! Ray Stedman well said, “The desire of the flesh is to be religious in a manner accepted by the world, to conduct business as the rest of the world!” They asked for a man after his own heart instead of a man after God’s heart and they got what they asked for. So in verse 7 God utters one of the saddest verses in the Bible, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.” Let this be a warning to us all that if we want something bad enough God will let you have what you want but you will also have the consequences of your choice as well!
And where would this “man” they would make king come from? Well according to the 9th chapter he was in the “donkey” business. Oh how fitting this is!!! They wanted a “man” to be king, someone who would be stubborn you know someone who at times would be a real _____! And because God gives us what we think we want at times we see that Saul has lost his_____, a donkey, and is out searching for it. Oh, when we want the things of the flesh we often lose our “donkey” as they are prone to stray. Saul would have returned home but one of the servants of his father pushed him to go look for them. Ah but our God is waiting for Saul even though he has lost his “donkey” and sends them to Samuel who has been told by the Lord of his arrival. Imagine Saul’s surprise when he comes to Samuel’s house to ask him for help only to find according to 9:22 that he was the guest of honor. After the dinner, Samuel took Saul aside in 10:1 and “took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said: “Is it not because the Lord has anointed you, commander, over His inheritance?”
Wow, from losing your donkey and being a donkey to king in only a few days! When Saul got home he didn’t want to even mention what Samuel had told him about being the king and lied to his uncle as to what Samuel had told him and when it came time to anoint Saul before the nation he was “hiding among the equipment”. Why was he hiding when the people wanted to make him king? Well because he wanted to live his life his own way and wanted to hide from God’s call upon his life.
According to chapter 11, Saul had some success as king as he defeated the Ammonites but it was still the Lord working not Saul. It was only a matter of time before Saul a man of the flesh attempted to do the work of the Lord in the energy of the flesh. It came about as they were ready to go to battle against the Philistines and waited for Samuel to arrive to offer a sacrifice and became impatient and decided to do without him. Listen to the words of Samuel to Saul in 1 Samuel 13:11-14 “Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.” “But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”
God in His mercy enabled them to win the battle and Saul built his one and only altar to the Lord as a mark of faith but such an outward sign apart from an inward lifestyle is nothing more than a fool’s religion. That altar was nothing more than a place of self worship and God gives him one more chance to truly worship and trust him in the 15th chapter. All Saul had to do was trust the Lord and obey His word but chose to again do things his way after his heart, not God’s. But true to his character he was determined to find something good in what God had already declared to be bad. Listen my friend; the man of faith makes no compromise or peace with the things of the flesh or this world they must die.
“No one can walk in the Spirit while serving the interests of the flesh” and this is the lesson learned by Saul’s life. You look the part of a person of God (head and shoulders above the rest) but a man’s stature is measured by who is on the throne of their heart! The outcome of such action is forever recorded for us in Samuel’s words in 15:22-23 where Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
Chp. 16-31 David: The heart of a man of faith
We will be covering David much more as we come into 2nd Samuel but these chapters deal with the different ways in which David became king as compared to Saul. David was the least of all, the youngest in his family, a shepherd boy. He was rejected and lived in exile and seclusion. From the human standpoint, 7 sons passed by and each of them had outwardly real potential to be king but not one of them had the heart for God that little David did.
The fact of the matter we are all prone to such human evaluation even Samuel has to be told by God in 16:7 “Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Neither was David placed upon the throne immediately but was proven for 30 years as learned over and again to walk by faith, not by the flesh. No, David must learn the secret to success, “We can do nothing in our own strength, and only in complete brokenness and surrender to the Spirit of God will we accomplish God’s purposes and plans!”
Why David had written that while still a shepherd tending his father’s sheep “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.”
- It was in this truth that David slays a giant named Goliath and kills his 10,000s.
- It was in this truth that David though given the opportunity twice to take the kingdom from Saul refused to do so.
- It was this David who was given the bread of the presence of God to sustain Him when he had nothing to eat.
- It was this truth that enabled David to love his enemy Saul and be best friends with his son Jonathan.
Ah, to be certain David made his steps in the flesh but he did not make it his practice, no his practice was to be a man after God’s heart. In the end, we see Saul seeking a medium to hear from Samuel who is told of his death the next day and David we are told in the first chapter of 2nd Samuel writing a song with the stanza “Saul and Jonathan were beloved and pleasant in their lives.” Oh to have such a heart for God that we even see those who hate us with His eyes!