1 & 2 Samuel: Rise and Fall. And Rise.
Photo by Astrid Schaffner. Unsplash.
In term 3 at Hope Youth, we’ll be studying 1 and 2 Samuel at Hope Youth. Here is a basic introduction to the books.
Context
1 and 2 Samuel is set in the period from around 1100 BC to 970 BC. In the Bible timeline below, it fits into the earlier mauve “partial kingdom” section.
Previously in the Bible story, God has promised God’s people land, family and blessing. These promises were originally given to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3), and have been reissued to Abraham’s son Isaac (Genesis 26:3-4), and Isaac’s son Jacob (Genesis 28:13-14). This takes place in the “promised kingdom” part of the Bible timeline.
Source: https://visualunit.me/about/
By the time of Moses (partial kingdom, part 1), we see that God really has followed through on the “family” side of things. In Exodus 1:7 we read that “the Israelites [aka the direct descendants of Jacob who was renamed Israel (Genesis 32:28)] were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.”[1] Now it’s time for the land promise to kick in.
Sometime around 1400 BC, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt toward the Promised Land. But first they go into the desert for 40 years. During this time, God promises that his people will have a king:
14 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” 15 be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.”
Deuteronomy 17:14-15
Moses ends up missing out on entering the Promised Land. Joshua, Moses’ protégé leads them in. The takeover is slower than expected, and things get out of control for the Israelites, now in the Promised Land. In the book of Judges, we get into this cycle of the Israelites ignoring God, getting conquered by a foreign power, calling out to God for rescue, God raising up a judge, God delivering Israel from the foreign power, and the people have peace for 40 years (see, for example, Judges 3:7-11).
But, as I mentioned, this is a cycle. As soon as that judge dies, things go bad again. In fact, so bad, that you get one of the most disgusting stories in the Bible. There’s a gruesome gang rape of a Levite man’s girlfriend, the victim is dismembered into twelve parts and mailed out to the twelve tribes of Israel, a civil war erupts because the tribe of Benjamin won’t hand over the perpetrators, and the eleven other tribes nearly wipe out the tribe of Benjamin. It’s nuts. And we keep getting this refrain:
In those days Israel had no king.
Judges 18:1In those days Israel had no king.
And, even worse:
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.
Judges 21:25
By the time we get to 1 Samuel, the twelve tribes of Israel are a complete mess. Everyone “doing as they see fit” isn’t working heaps well. Perhaps it’s time to transition to a king.
Clark Young. Unsplash
Authorship
According to the Talmud, an ancient Jewish source:
Moses wrote his own book, i.e., the Torah, and the portion of Balaam in the Torah, and the book of Job. Joshua wrote his own book and eight verses in the Torah, which describe the death of Moses. Samuel wrote his own book, the book of Judges, and the book of Ruth.
Just as Moses and Joshua would have struggled to write the account of their own deaths (Deuteronomy 34:5-12, Joshua 24:29-33), one presumes Samuel might have struggled to write the 30 chapters of 1 and 2 Samuel following his death.
The Talmud suggests that “Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet finished it (Bava Batra 15a).”[3] But for whatever reason, we don’t call the books 1 and 2 Samuel, Gad and Nathan, as tempting as it may be.
More recently, a lot of scholars have come to think that the books from Deuteronomy through to 2 Kings were edited and smoothed out into a more cohesive, stylistically unified narrative (they call it the “Deuteronomistic History”). I suppose that this is possible.
However, my hunch is that any extra editing that took place must have reached completion during the exile. 2 Kings ends with Jehioachin chilling with Awel-Marduk in Babylon during the exile, but doesn’t mention the return to the Promised Land (2 Kings 25:27-30). 2 Chronicles ends with Cyrus letting the Jewish people return to the Promised Land (2 Chronicles 36:23). Cyrus’ decree (c. 538–537 BC) doesn’t get a mention in 2 Kings. You’d think that if this had happened by the time the so-called “Deuteronomistic History” had been completed, Cyrus’ decree would get a mention in 2 Kings. But it doesn’t. Therefore, I reckon it probably came into its final form sometime before Cyrus’ decree, but while God’s people were still in exile.
Roman Serdyuk. Unsplash.
Structure
Scholars always have a field day trying to structure books of the Bible. For 1 and 2 Samuel, I find it easiest and most helpful to track the structure following the major characters, namely Samuel, Saul and David. So here goes:
1. The rise, rule and fall of Samuel (1 Samuel 1–8)
Eli is priest in Shiloh, but his sons are morons. God answers Hannah’s prayer for a son, despite her barrenness. Samuel is born. Since Eli’s sons are morons, Samuel is called to become a prophet and judge. The ark of the covenant (golden box containing Ten Commandments and symbolising God’s presence) is stolen by the Philistines but is then recovered. When Samuel gets old he appoints his sons as judges, but they are morons, just like Eli’s sons. So the Israelites ask for a king, giving us some Deuteronomy 17 vibes.
2. The rise, rule and fall of Saul (1 Samuel 9–15)
The people ask for a king and get one. They get Saul. Interestingly, he’s from the tribe of Benjamin (remember the whole civil war thing at the end of Judges), and not from the royal line of Judah, the tribe where kings were meant to come from (see Genesis 49:10). He starts off well, gets some big wins against other nations, but then he starts doing dumb stuff like disobeying God, performing illegal sacrifices, and later consulting a witch (seriously, check out 1 Samuel 28). He does so badly that a new king is needed.
3. The rise of David and the fall of Saul cont. (1 Samuel 16-31)
Enter Shepherd boy, Dave from the Little Town of Bethlehem. He’s the youngest of Jesse’s sons. But,
The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
So David is chosen as Saul’s replacement.
We get to know David a bit better in the next chapter when he defeats the giant nine-footed Philistine, Goliath. Saul is still king at this time. He gets pretty jealous of David and starts trying to kill him, even though David is besties with Saul’s son Jonathan. David has to escape and for much of the rest of 1 Samuel, Saul chases him, fairly unsuccessfully. The book ends with Saul taking his own life.
4. The rule of David (2 Samuel 1–10)
There’s a bit of confusion over who is king next after Saul. The people of Judah anoint David as king, but then Saul’s old commander makes Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s son, the king. There’s a bit of fighting, but David wins in the end. He defeats the Philistines, conquers Jerusalem, makes it the capital city, makes himself some nice palaces, and brings the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem from Abinadab’s house.
Then David realises that the ark probably needs a better home, so he gets a conversation rolling about building a “house” for the ark. But God tells David that he will do the house-building for David, building David a kingdom that will last forever. This house will be established by David’s son. David goes on to have a few more successful battles, until …
5. The fall of David (2 Samuel 11–24)
Things take a turn for the worse. First, David commits adultery with Bathsheba, gets her pregnant, tries to cover it up making it look like her husband, Uriah, was the father, and, when that doesn’t work, sends Uriah to a place where he can’t avoid dying. After this, things get out of control in David’s house. One of his sons has a relationship with one of his daughters. Another son, Absolom, kills that son. Then Absolom tries to take over as king. It’s out of control. Then, as the book reaches a close, David conducts a census, which he wasn’t supposed to do. The book finishes with David on his knees, saying to Gad (not God):
Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.
Clémence Bergougnoux. Unsplash.
Key Themes
Here are some key themes to note as we work through 1 and 2 Samuel.
God remembers his promises. God remembers and follows through on the promises he made to Abraham. He establishes a people for himself, he directs them to the Promised Land, and he provides for them a king. This gives us confidence when we get to the big promise in 2 Samuel 7—the promised everlasting king from the house of David—that God will keep this promise too. As we look at 1 and 2 Samuel in the context of the whole Bible, we’re reminded that God keeps his promises most fully in Jesus, the promised king.
God exalts the lowly and humbles the proud. From Samuel to Saul to David, God raises up the lowly. This is a key theme in 1 Samuel 2 as well. But he also humbles the proud, especially Eli and Saul, but also Eli’s sons, Samuel’s sons, and, to some extent, David (in 2 Samuel 11-24). When we get to the New Testament, we see the king humbled in a way that we deserve, that he might ultimately be exalted, as he rules not just one nation, but all of heaven and earth, and under the earth (Philippians 2:5–11).
God chooses and uses the unexpected. We’re also reminded that God chooses and uses unexpected people. Who would have expected the son of Hannah to become a leader in Israel? Or the eighth-born shepherd boy from Bethlehem to defeat a nine-foot giant and rule the nation? Or the son of a virgin from Bethlehem to defeat Satan (Hebrews 2:14) and rule all of creation (Philippians 2:11)? If God chooses and uses these unexpected people, he can choose and use us too. As we’re reminded in our memory verse:
The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.
Leadership matters. Leadership really matters to God, especially when it comes to faithfulness in leadership. The unfaithfulness of Eli’s sons, Samuel’s sons, and Saul is what leads to their undoing. The LORD desires “a man after his own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). We find this, imperfectly, in David. And we find this, perfectly, in David’s descendant.
Personal holiness matters. Personal holiness matters. Living God’s way really does matter. Again, failure to do so brings down many of the main characters in this story, even David to some extent. We have to watch our lives closely. Forgiveness is available, but how we live still matters greatly to God.
Focus Passages
In this series, we will be focussing on these passages.
1 Samuel 1
1 Samuel 3
1 Samuel 8
1 Samuel 16
1 Samuel 17
1 Samuel 28
2 Samuel 7
2 Samuel 11
I’ll have more to say on these passages soon.
Notes
[1] This quotation and all following Bible quotations are from the NIV.
[2] Babylonian Talmud. "Bava Batra 14b." Accessed 25 June 2024. https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.14b?lang=bi.
[3] Babylonian Talmud. "Bava Batra 15a." Accessed 25 June 2024. https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.15a?lang=bi.
