• : 1
  • Samuel
  • Chapters 12,
  • 15
  • :1
  • -3
  • 16
  • , 18
  • :1-10,
  • 21
  • :1-
  • 28
  • :3-19,
  • 31
  • :1-7
  • Samuel's speech at Saul's ordination
  • God desires obedience first & foremost
  • The Lord looks at our heart
  • David flees from King Saul

Saul's descent into evil & sin, leading to his death

  • Discussion Questions
  • IN ORTHODOX BIBLES, 1 & 2 SAMUEL = 1 & 2 KINGDOMS

1 Samuel 12

In Samuel’s address to the people at Saul’s coronation, why is he giving a panegyric about himself? (Why is Samuel praising himself?)

It seems like Samuel is boasting about how good he has been, but that’s not his goal. Samuel asks the Israelites to witness against him, but no one finds fault with him, and Samuel knew they wouldn’t, so he did it because he was going to appoint a king, and under the pretense of defending himself, he instructs Saul to be meek and gentle like him.

So Samuel is demonstrating to Saul how to act via the admission of the Israelite people “See, I am so well-respected by these people because I never dealt dishonestly or unfairly. Imitate me to achieve the same result”

St. Paul similarly employed this type of rhetoric occasionally, like in

  • Acts 20:33-25

when he gives a farewell address to the elders in Ephesus, or like in

2 Corinthians 7:2

. We know St. Paul instructed the Corinthians to be like him because he said it too,

  • 1 Corinthians 11:1

What do the results of Samuel’s prayers show?

  • Just like we read and discussed in

Exod. 32:10

with Moses, the intercessory prayers of Samuel have the power to protect the people from the wrath of God. Samuel, like Moses, were truly servants of the Lord, in that they were holy and pleasing men to God, so much so that when they fervently prayed on behalf of the people, God pitied them, and turned again to His mercy and compassion, relenting from His righteous wrath.

So when we constantly ask for the prayers of our prelates, it’s not just a cliche. When old people constantly stress for things to happen “by the prayers of so and so” maybe they don’t

why they do that

, but we can examine Scripture and see that they are absolutely right, and they are more blessed because they do so out of pure faith!

And our prelates are truly shepherds if they have the same love for their flocks as Samuel, who said “God forbid that I should sin by ceasing to pray to the Lord for you!”

But we have to take action too, as St. John Chrysostom makes plain “prayers indeed cooperate and assist, but a man cooperates with one that is operating, and assists one that is himself also working. But if you remain idle, you will receive no great benefit.”

1 Samuel 15:10-END

***In chapter 13, Saul makes an unlawful sacrifice as he became impatient and did not wait for Samuel to arrive.

It seems yet again God changed His mind in V.10, and this time V.29 of the very same chapter appears to point out a contradiction in Scripture. Did God regret His decision?

Since we have faced so many of these questions, I believe that we know by now that God does not change His mind. We

could

revisit these reasons, but let’s just recall them and focus on a new one. Sometimes God uses human language to make it easier for us to understand Him.

As we read last week, Saul was chosen from among many thousands of Israelites and anointed as king. God had rewarded him for his deserving life at the time without taking into consideration the sin of his future transgression. And so after Saul became sinful complained of him with, so to speak, human words and feelings.

V. 22 depicts a very important aspect of our relation with God. What is it?

That God wants us to obey Him and His Word first and foremost, and that everything boils down to that. Everything that comes with Christianity, i.e. love, worship, sacrifice, or any “Christian” trait is all born from obedience to God.

All the Prophets and Scriptures indicated that God did not need slavish obedience from the Israelites, but that it was for their own good that God set certain observances in the law pertaining to sacrifices, but when He perceived that they were neglecting righteousness, and abstaining from the love of God, and imagining that God was to pleased only by sacrifices and other typical observances, Samuel spoke thus to them.

  • God explicitly re-states this in

Hosea 6:6.

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings”, and Christ references this in

Matthew 9:13.

So what aspect of our relationship with God does it depict? That we cannot ignore love, mercy, compassion, patience, humbleness, modesty, etc., just because we go to vespers, or go to Bible studies, or donate a lot of money to church. These things are good,but they won’t make up for ignoring the other things. That’s why God doesn’t say he isn’t delighted in the sacrifices, but that these other things are MORE pleasing to Him. We will also cover this in-depth one day.

Why does Samuel still mourn for Saul?

Samuel is a shepherd as we mentioned, and He still desires that Saul had not gone down this path, even after God’s judgement over Him.

1 Samuel 16

***Note that we see David anointed with oil here just like Saul was last week, and that He receives the Spirit of the Lord upon the anointing just like Saul did.

What does V.7 mean to you?

OPEN-END DISCUSSION… —The verse is straightforward. Look at the apostles for an example; they were not the tallest, best-looking, most educated, and wealthiest, but they still transformed the entire world with the Gospel.

What does Saul having an evil spirit show?

Recall that Saul received the Spirit when he was anointed.

So as evidenced by Saul’s torment by and evil spirit and David’s harp playing, we are shown that the Holy Spirit does not continually remain with those who receive the Spirit. In Christ’s baptism, we see “ the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove”,

Mark 1:10

, and we know that the dove is used to represent the Holy Spirit. Well, one characteristic of a dove is that they will not stay in a filthy and foul-smelling place. So too the Holy Spirit departs from dwelling in filthy and foul-smelling persons, that is those who are in CONTINUOUS sin.

Like we have mentioned, in the O.T. the Spirit was not as “full” per se as it was after the Pentecost, being sort of intermittently given out, especially for roles or positions, like it was given to Saul as king. So the Spirit departed from Saul here because of his persistent wickedness, but we don’t “lose” the Holy Spirit when we sin. We can grieve the Holy Spirit, but “losing” it would be a result of continuously choosing evil and sin and refusing to repent, becoming hardened in sin like we saw with Pharoah.

***David kills the Philistine giant, Goliath, in ch. 17, which is what the following reading is following up.

  • 1 Samuel 18:5-9

What did Saul become of David?

Jealous/envious. Saul will try to kill David many times from this point on and hunt him down, which makes David flee.

  • 1 Samuel 19:1-10

What happens in these verses?

We see that David is building a reputation for being a mighty warrior, particularly against the Philistines, and Saul continue to try and kill him. In V.10, we see David flee from Saul.

  • 1 Samuel 21:1-6 (2-7 Orthodox)

What did David and his men eat (while in flight from Saul)

They ate the “showbread”, or “bread of presence”, which was only for priests as outlined in

  • Lev. 24:5-9
  • . This is what Christ references in

Matthew 12:3-4

when the Pharisees ask why the disciples were plucking grain on the Sabbath. We will cover this when we read the Gospel 😀.

  • 1 Samuel 28:3-19

Why did Saul expel the divining spirits/wizards/mediums from the land?

  • Because we have read in

Deuteronomy 18:10-12

that such people and practices were abominations to God. So Saul then consulting one is not only abominable in and of itself, but he is also being a hypocrite! These things all tell us just how wicked Saul had become.

How was the medium able to bring up Samuel?

Most C.F. agree that God allowed this to happen, not that this was some sort of demonic power that was able to overpower Samuel and bring him up. That medium would be used to contact evil spirits, but she was scared this time, which proves it was out of her control.

God allowed Samuel to appear in order to pass His judgement on Saul. Saul came seeking advice, but was left with a statement that had 3 main parts: God has rejected you, the kingdom will pass to David, and you will die tomorrow.

Also we learn a few things about the afterlife from this.

The soul lives on after death.

  • The dead have a
  • semblance

(NOT resemblance) of a body still.

1 Samuel 31:1-7

Just noting Saul’s death and Samuel’s prophecy from earlier being fulfilled. This ends 1 Samuel.

  • This Week's Study

Review!!!