Liam Hungate
This week in the Redemption Series, we started a new section of Scripture: the book of 1 Samuel. Last week we finished Ruth, where Boaz became Ruth and Naomi's kinsman-redeemer (a relative responsible to provide for and protect his family, especially widows and orphans). Ruth and Boaz had a son, Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of King David.
1 Samuel follows three main characters: Samuel, Saul, and eventually David. The story is about Israel's move from the time of the Judges to the time of Kings, and Samuel is the man God uses to make that move.
Passages: 1 Samuel 1-3, 7-13, 15
Elkanah had two wives. One had many children. Hannah had none. Year after year, she was desperate, and she did the right thing: she took her frustration straight to God. God rewarded her faithfulness with a son, Samuel. Hannah kept her promise and dedicated Samuel to the Lord's service for as long as he lived. This was not just a baby dedication. It was a sacrifice. She left Samuel with the priests to grow up and serve, and she likely only got to see him a couple of times a year.
Samuel grew up as a young priest under the head priest, Eli. God began to speak to him, and Samuel faithfully listened. Everything he prophesied came true. He was widely considered Israel's last Judge and its first Prophet.
Samuel was the bridge between a time of chaos and a time of order, calling the people back to obedience. Because he was a prophet of God, the people listened. They turned from their false gods and idols, and God rescued them from the Philistines. Samuel was not a military man. He was just as successful as the other judges, if not more, because the Lord fought for him.
By chapter 8, Samuel was old and appointed his sons as judges. They were not faithful like their father. They took bribes and twisted justice. The elders came to Samuel with a legitimate concern, but their request was not for deliverance. It was: give us a king like everyone else has.
Samuel was disappointed, but like his mom, he took his frustration straight to God. God told him something important: the people were not rejecting Samuel. They were rejecting God's rule. And it was not new. They had been doing it since Egypt. Sinful humanity will always reject the rule of God.
Was having a king the sin? No. God had always planned for kings. He promised them to Abraham, and he told Jacob a ruler's scepter would come from Judah. The sin was the heart behind the request. They wanted a king instead of trusting God as King, and they wanted to look like everyone else.
Samuel warned them what a king would cost: your sons, your daughters, your fields, a tenth of everything, and "you shall be his slaves." They asked anyway. It is ironic, because God had just fought the Philistines for them with thunder in chapter 7. They already had a King fighting for them.
It is not much different from us. We want what everyone else has, the things we can see that make us feel secure, like approval, popularity, and success. We put them where God belongs.
In chapter 12, Samuel officially passed the baton to Saul. In his farewell speech he reminded Israel of their history and called them out: they had begged for a king when the Lord was already their king. God sent thunder and rain in the middle of their wheat harvest, and the people panicked and confessed.
Samuel's response includes some of the best verses in the book. The people rejected God, and he still did not walk away. He stays with them because of who he is, not because they did anything to deserve it. Samuel called both the people and the king to obey the Lord, and said that if they did, it would go well.
Saul's son Jonathan attacked a Philistine outpost, and the Philistines gathered a huge army. Israel was afraid. Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days for him before making a burnt offering. When Samuel had not arrived at dawn on the seventh day, Saul offered the sacrifice himself. Samuel showed up right as he finished.
Saul made excuses: the people were scattering, you did not come, the Philistines were gathering. Samuel was blunt: "You have not kept the command of the Lord." Saul trusted what he could see, an army and a big enemy, over what God had said. Samuel's verdict: Saul's reign would not last, because God would replace him with a man after his own heart. That man is David, and we pick up with him next time.
Samuel gave Saul a clear command from God: destroy the Amalekites and everything they have. The Amalekites were the group that attacked Israel in the battle where Moses had to keep his hands raised. This was God's judgment on a people who had been hostile to him for generations. Saul's job was simply to obey.
Saul won the battle, but he spared King Agag and the best of the livestock. He destroyed only what he considered worthless and kept the good stuff for himself. He even built a monument to himself, then told Samuel, "I have performed the commandment of the Lord." Samuel's reply: "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears?" Saul blamed the people and tried to make his disobedience sound spiritual by saying the animals were for sacrifice.
Then came the key verses. Partial obedience is still disobedience. God does not want just religious activity. He wants a heart that listens. Samuel even compared rebellion to idolatry, because at its root rebellion says, "I know better than God."
Saul finally said, "I have sinned." But the next thing he said was that he feared the people and obeyed their voice, followed by "honor me now before the elders." He was sorry he got caught and worried about his image. That is regret, not repentance. Saul grabbed Samuel's robe to keep him from leaving, and it tore. Samuel told him God had torn the kingdom from him. Samuel dealt with Agag himself, and the two parted ways for good.
Saul looked like a king. He had the height, the crowd, and the victories. But looking the part is not enough. God wants obedience.
Samuel's story is a bridge from Judges to Kings. God used a faithful prophet, born from a desperate prayer, to move Israel from chaos to monarchy. God was always going to give Israel a king, but the king they wanted was not going to be enough. Three questions came out of that:
Saul had the Spirit, the crowd, the victories, and even Samuel's prayers, and he still could not obey. If Saul could not do it, how are we supposed to? That is exactly the point. Saul is "the Lord's anointed," but he is a messiah with a small "m." He shows us what happens when a human king tries to do it on his own. God had already said where the true King would come from: not Benjamin, but Judah.
And remember Samuel's words in chapter 12: God does not abandon us when we fail. We obey out of gratitude for the grace we have received, not to try to earn it.
These are the questions the students worked through in their small groups.
A few easier openers if you want to start smaller:
God goes looking for David, the man after his own heart, and he looks nothing like a king.