OT Survey I

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OT Survey I

• 1 Samuel

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Purpose of OT Survey

• This class is designed to survey the Hebrew
  Scriptures so as to give the student a good
  framework for understanding Gods plan and
  character as He deals with the nation of Israel.
  The Old Testament will be studied according to
  the division of the English canon Pentateuch,
  historical books, wisdom literature, and
  prophets. Emphasis will be placed on
  understanding the broad sweep of this
  portion of divine revelation, and particularly on
  how later revelation builds on earlier
  revelation. OT Survey I covers
  Genesis through Chronicles.

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Purpose of OT Survey

• This class is designed to survey the Hebrew
  Scriptures so as to give the student a good
  framework for understanding Gods plan and
  character as He deals with the nation of Israel.
  The Old Testament will be studied according to
  the division of the English canon Pentateuch,
  historical books, wisdom literature, and
  prophets. Emphasis will be placed on
  understanding the broad sweep of this portion of
  divine revelation, and particularly on how later
  revelation builds on earlier revelation. OT
  Survey I covers Genesis through Chronicles.

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Purpose of OT Survey (cont.)
Exodus 20
Hosea 41-2
1) no other gods before Me (v. 3)
Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel,
for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants
of the land, because there is no faithfulness or
kindness or knowledge of God in the land.
There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, an
d adultery. They employ violence, so that
bloodshed follows bloodshed
2) not make for yourself an idol (v. 4)
3) not take the name of the LORD your God in
vain (v. 7)
4) Remember the sabbath day (v. 8)
5) Honor your father and mother (v. 12)
6) You shall not murder (v. 13)
7) You shall not commit adultery (v. 14)
8) You shall not steal (v. 15)
9) You shall not bear false witness (v. 16)
10) You shall not covet (v. 17)
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Purpose of OT Survey (cont.)
2 Samuel 712-16
Psalm 8929-35
When your days are complete and you lie down with
your fathers, I will raise up your descendant
after you ... I will be a father to him and he
will be a son to Me when he commits iniquity, I
will correct him with the rod of men and the
strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness
shall not depart from him, as I took it away from
Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your
house and your kingdom shall endure before Me
forever your throne shall be established forever.
So I will establish his descendants forever, and
his throne as the days of heaven. If his sons
forsake My law, and do not walk in My judgments,
if they violate My statutes, and do not keep My
commandments, then I will visit their
transgression with the rod, and their iniquity
with stripes. But I will not break off My
lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My
faithfulness. My covenant I will not violate, nor
will I alter the utterance of My lips. Once I
have sworn by My holiness I will not lie to
David.
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Location of Samuel in Canon
English
Hebrew
Historical Books
Former Prophets

• Joshua
• Judges
• Samuel
• Kings

• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• Samuel
• Kings
• Chronicles
• Ezra/Neh/Est

Writings

• . . . Proverbs
• Ruth . . .

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Location of Samuel in Canon
English
Historical Books

• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• Samuel
• Kings
• Chronicles
• Ezra/Neh/Est

• During the time of the judges (Ruth 11)

• Salmon was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the
  father of Obed. Obed was the father of Jesse, and
  Jesse was the father of David (Ruth 421-22)

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Location of Samuel in Canon
English
Hebrew
Historical Books
Former Prophets

• Joshua
• Judges
• Ruth
• Samuel
• Kings
• Chronicles
• Ezra/Neh/Est

• Joshua
• Judges
• Samuel
• Kings

• Men worshipping elsewhere while House of God
  is at Shiloh (Judg 1831)

Writings

• Men instead going to Shiloh because they need to
  steal wives (Judg 2119ff)

• . . . Proverbs
• Ruth . . .

• Man with two wives going to Shiloh to worship
  he did it year after year! (1 Sam 11ff)

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Story of 1 Samuel
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Story of 1 Samuel (Cont.)

• Deuteronomy Great and precious promises!
• Joshua
• Faithfulness of God giving land
• Faithlessness of Israel
• Joshuas Charge (As for me and my house)
• Judges
• 7 cycles, downward spiral
• Dreadful Appendix
• In those days . . . Judg 176
• Micahs idol, Dan migration, Gibeahs wickedness
• In those days . . . Judg 2125

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Story of 1 Samuel (Cont.)

• 1 Samuel 1 -

Another judge? Another Samson?

• 1 Samuel 2 - (Hannahs Prayer)

Divine reversal based on godliness
Mention of a king!

• 1 Samuel 2-3 -

Elis family down Samuel up

• 1 Samuel 4-6 -

A Battle! But, wheres the judge?

• 1 Samuel 7 -

The judge leads in repentance, not battle, but
the battle is won

• 1 Samuel 8 -

The lesson has been taught, but has it been
learned? The test!
They failed!
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Structure

• 1 Samuel 1- 7 The Ministry of Samuel
• 1 Samuel 8 Israel Rejects God
• 1 Samuel 9-11 Saul becomes king
• 1 Samuel 12 Gods Promise of Grace
• 1 Samuel 13-15 Saul rejected as king
• 1 Samuel 16 David Chosen as king
• 1 Samuel 17 David defeats Philistines
• 1 Samuel 18-27 David flees from Saul
• 1 Samuel 28-31 Saul defeated by Philistines

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Purpose Statement

• God responds in grace to Israels wicked request
  for a king and demonstrates the righteousness He
  desires in a king by contrasting Saul and David.

Notes

• As in Judges, Israel rebels as the judge passes
  of the scene.

• Here, their rebellion is not disciplined by
  another nation but rather by God (in anger, cf.
  Hosea 1311) granting their request! (cf. Rom 1)

• As with Joseph, God uses the evil intent of the
  Israelites to work His own purposes which He had
  already foreordained (cf. 1 Sam 2 et. al.)

• Purpose statement highlights three key chapters
  Ch. 8 Israels wicked request ch. 12 Gods
  grace ch. 16 Davids righteousness

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Major Themes

• Kingship
• God is the true king over Israel
• Israel wants to be like the other nations
• God uses kingship for His own glory
• God had already foreordained kingship
• Divine Reversal
• Prophesied by Hannah (Peninnah Hannah)
• House of Eli, Samuel
• The Philistines, The Ark
• Saul, David

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Major Characters

• Samuel
• Last and greatest judge
• Prophet (319-41a)
• Priest (31)
• Blameless (121-5)
• David and Saul
• David wont strike the Lords anointed Saul
  will.
• David can defeat Philistines Saul cant.
• Davids modest in stature Saul magnificent.
• Davids heart seeks God Sauls doesnt.
• David inquires of God through ephod Saul
  inquires of Samuel through medium.
• David turns to God in fear of people (296) Saul
  turns away from God in fear of people (1524).

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Major Characters (cont)

• The Philistines
• Nemesis of Israel at end of 2nd Millennium
• Exodus 1317 Reason for Israels detour
• Joshua 132 People still needing to be
  conquered
• 1 Samuel 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19,
  23, 24, 28, 29, 31 A perpetual enemy in the
  time of Samuel
• 1 Samuel 1319-22 An unfair advantage
• 2 Samuel 28 Fully inhabiting the hill country
• Cf. 1 Kings 2028 God of the hills?

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Time Period

• Solomon ruled from 970 BC onwards (to be
  discussed later)
• David ruled for 40 years (2 Sam 55). Therefore,
  his reign was from 1010 BC until 970 BC.
• Saul ruled for 40 years according to Acts 1321
  (but see interpretive issue below). Therefore,
  his reign was from 1050 BC until 1010 BC.
• Samuel was born sometime before that, perhaps
  around 1100 BC.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 131
• Literal Saul was one year old when he began to
  reign, and he ruled over Israel two years
• Acts 1321 And then they asked for a king, and
  God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the
  tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
• NAS Saul was forty years old when he began to
  reign, and he reigned thirty-two years over
  Israel.
• NAU Saul was thirty years old when he began to
  reign, and he reigned forty two years over
  Israel.
• ESV Saul was ... years old when he began to
  reign, and he reigned ... and two years over
  Israel.
• KJV Saul reigned one year and when he had
  reigned two years over Israel,

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 131 (cont.)
• In an effort to remain congruent with the Hebrew
  text, a targum stated, Like a one-year-old who
  has no sins was Saul when he became king
  (Bergen, 1 Samuel, NAC)
• Especially in light of Acts 1321, it is best to
  regard the extant Hebrew text as corrupted at
  this point and avoid speculation regarding Sauls
  age at the time of his ascension to Israels
  throne (Bergen, 1 Samuel, NAC).

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 162-3
• Samuel recognizes the ominous nature of the
  venture (v. 2a). It is hazardous to anoint a king
  when there already is a king! There is no vacancy
  in the office. Samuel by now is surely identified
  as a traitorous enemy of Saul, and he knows any
  overture toward a new king is high risk. Yahweh
  does not blink at Samuels fear but instructs him
  precisely on how to skirt the problem. Samuel is
  to say that he is on a mission to offer a
  sacrifice (vv. 2b-3).

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 162-3 (cont.)
• This may not be a blatant lie authorized by
  Yahweh, for Samuel does take an animal for the
  occasion, but this is clearly an authorized
  deception. Yahweh will lie, if necessary, in
  order to move the kingship toward David. We have
  read in 1521 that the God of Israel will not
  lie. Here Yahweh is very close to falsehood for
  the sake of David.
  
• Walter Brueggemann,
  First and Second Samuel, Interpretation
  (Louisville, Ky. John Knox Press, 1990), 121.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 162-3 (cont.)
• The Lord gave Samuel an additional task that
  would help mask the central purpose of his trip
  to Bethlehem (Bergen, 1 Samuel, NAC)
• See W. C. Kaiser, Jr., Toward Old Testament
  Ethics (Grand Rapids Academie, 1983), 22527.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 288ff
• Questions naturally arise at this point Did the
  medium actually make contact with a living
  spirit-being, and if so, was it really the
  prophet Samuel?? While this matter is not likely
  to be settled to everyones satisfaction, the
  following observations can be made.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 288ff (cont.)
• First, the plain statement of the Hebrew text is
  that she did in fact see Samuel. Second, the
  medium reacted to Samuels appearance as though
  it was a genuineand terrifyingexperience she
  cried out at the top of her voice. Her strong
  reaction also suggests that Samuels appearance
  was unexpected perhaps this was the first time
  she had ever actually succeeded in contacting the
  dead.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 288ff (cont.)
• Third, the speeches attributed to Samuel
  contained allusions to a prior interchange
  between the two, allusions that would have been
  appropriate only for the real Samuel to have
  made. Fourth, Samuels role and message as a
  prophet, so much a part of his ministry in life,
  was unchanged in his encounter with Saul here.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 288ff (cont.)
• Indeed, a straightforward reading of the biblical
  account suggests the possibility that mediums may
  possess the capacity to contact dead persons and
  establish lines of communication between the
  living and the dead. This view is not explicitly
  rejected elsewhere in Scripture the Torah
  prohibits necromancy not because it is a hoax but
  because it promotes reliance on supernatural
  guidance from some source other than the Lord.

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Interpretive Issues

• 1 Samuel 288ff (cont.)
• An alternative reading of this passage suggests
  that it was not the skill of the medium but
  rather a unique act of God that brought Saul into
  contact with Samuel. The medium did not possess
  the capacity to disturb a dead saint but God, as
  a sign of his grace,? permitted Saul to have
  one last encounter with the prophet who had
  played such a determinative role in the kings
  career.
• (Bergen, 1 Samuel,
  NAC)

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Next Week
2 Samuel