1. & 2. SAMUEL

What do you see in this book that tells you about the original readers?

The original readers were the Israelites, but they probably didn’t read this until after they had been divided into two kingdoms - the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. The books tell how the monarchy began in Israel. But the Israel-people were not obeying God, and most of them had been pagans and were worshiping other gods. The books of Samuel tells the original readers about the difference between Saul (as a bad king) and David (as a good king).

What do you see in this books that tells you about the author?

It’s not certain who wrote the books, but most likely it is Samuel who wrote down what happened while he was alive, then may others like Nathan and Gad have filled in more – because in 1.Cronicles 29:29 it says that both Samuel, Nathan and Gad wrote down David's works - from first to last.
The book was written between 931-722 BC.

I think the author wants to tell the original readers something about what a kingdom led by a man of God could look like - as opposed to a kingdom led by a man who trusts in his own power and strength.

What are the main themes, and repeated ideas in this book, and what is a one sentence summary of the “Main Idea”.

The books of Samuel shows us the difference between a land that is ruled by a king wanted of the people (Saul) and a country ruled by a king chosen by God .

The books tell us about the childless Hannah who prayed to God about a son. God heard the prayer and she borne a son, whom she named Samuel. Samuel grew up in the temple, under the supervision of the priest Eli and became a great leader of Israel. He led the people to follow God's ways .

Although Samuel was a good leader, his sons didn’t follow his example. The Israelites were therefore very sceptical of  if these men were going to take over leadership after Samuel's death . In spite of God's warnings, they would rather have a king like all the other neighboring nations had.

Then Saul became the first king of Israel (1. Sam. 10:24). Unfortunately, he was so selfish and afraid of public opinion that he turned out to be a bad king. God therefore asked Samuel to anoint a new king over Israel. Although David was not equally experienced , well-trained and handsome like Saul, God was looking after the inner quality (1. Sam 16:7).

David is perhaps best known from the story of David and Goliath, where David beats the tall giant with only a stone and sling. Although Goliath had all the physical abilities to beat David, it did not help when David had God with him.
David replied to Goliath: "You come to me with sword, spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies - the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. " (1. Sam 17:45)

David was very popular among the people for his brave style, which made Saul very envious (1. Sam. 18:6-8). He pursued David, but David didn’t retaliate in the same way (1. Sam. 26:9-11 ). Saul ended even to die in battle against the Philistines .

The fight for the throne is an important theme – but here we see David waiting patiently on the Lord while Saul defends it in his own power. This fight also leads to bad relations between fathers and sons – as we see with David and his sons (Absalom tries to kill David) and between Saul and Jonathan (Saul tries to kill Jonathan).

One sentence summary of the “Main Idea”:

The books of Samuel tell about God’s faithfulness to David and David's trust in God - even when everything seems to go against him.
                                                      

What is the primary reason this book was written?

The main reason this book is written is to show God's faithfulness to “those with integrity” - the believers (2. Sam 22:26). The author shows us the contrast between Saul's way of leading on from his sinful nature and the way David led - assume that he was a man after God's heart and therefore led by justice.

God anoints David as king, but he must endure trials and have to wait long to see the promise fulfilled. David had chances to take things into his own hands, but he trusts God's ability to make him king despite of the enemies around him.

I also believe that these books want to show us that we as God's people - at all times – can put our trust in God's character and nature, even when everything around us is chaos. Trusting God gives us God's blessing (as David), while our own strength and selfishness leads to the opposite (as Saul).

What does this book show about the character and nature of God?

The Books of Samuel shows following character and nature of God:

- In 1. Sam 2:02 Hannah says: "No one is holy like the Lord!"

- In 1. Sam 16:07 God says about himself that "the Lord looks at the heart". He doesn’t pay attention to fine surface.

- 1. Sam 15:22 - where Saul is trying to make amends for sin, but Samuel tells him that "Obedience in better than sacrifice." Shows us that God wants obedience.

- 2. Sam 12:13: God is quick to forgive those who sin, if we return to Him with a repentant heart. We see this when Nathan confronts David, Bathsheba incident, but he tells David, "The LORD has forgiven you."

- 2. Sam 7:22: God is great, there is no one like Him

- 2. Sam. 14:14: God wants to bring us back to him.

- 2. Sam 22:48.: God takes revenge

What does this book show about God’s redemptive plan for mankind?

2. Samuel 7:12-16 contains a prophecy about Jesus - although this chapter also tells of David's desire to build a more permanent house for the ark and worship of God. He wanted to build a temple in Jerusalem (7:1-3).

However, through Nathan the prophet, God said that He would build a house for David, in the sense of a royal family or dynasty (7:11). This is God's covenant with David (7:4-17) and the promised peace for the people of God (7:10-11). And for David himself this means that there forever would sit a descendant of him on the throne (7:12-13 and 7:16).

This immediately began to be fulfilled in the reign of David's son, Solomon (7:12), which would eventually build the temple in Jerusalem. But this was fulfilled in Jesus Christ - as humanly came from the tribe of Judah and the house of David (Isa. 9:7, Lk 1:32 to 33 and Acts 13:22-23).

Personal Application:

After I have read about the Israelites in the wilderness where the Lord provided for them with manna from Heaven in a miraculous way, I have been reminded on the expression “Living from hand to mouth”.

This principle means a life where you constantly need, but you are just able to pick up a little here and there to cover the daily and most necessary needs.

But God's original purpose for the Israelites was not to live at a minimum level by miracles from heaven, but to live in a land where there was more than enough, so they could be "a blessing to all nations."

One of the biggest miracle God had in his sleeve for them, was not to over-focus on their own needs, but to be a blessing to the nations around them.

2. Corinthians 9:8 says: "And God is able to make all his gifts abundantly, so you always and under all circumstances have enough of everything, indeed, have an abundance for every good work."

For me today this can also means that I shall not live “from hand to mouth”, but “from me/us to the next generation”!

Point of passion:

As mentioned in my POP after read Leviticus that we were challenged to make a sacrifice as a part of our homework. After my wife and I had prayed about what we shall do in this connection, we got an idea about supporting our nephew with a fairly large amount to make it possible to arrange Christmas-festivals among the Shan-people in Thailand.

We have now got a newsletter from the Shan-ministry, and we read:

Next week we will begin as slowly to prepare for our Christmas celebrations. In fact, it is just a month until we start with all Christmas parties. One day we sat and was slightly concerned about how to get money for the Christmas celebrations this year. It is often a challenge, but then I get a mail from a relative of mine saying that he and his family will give a certain amount for our Christmas celebrations. This was really specific answer to prayer!

What a pleasure to be someones prayer-answer!