1 AND 2 SAMUEL

Elke Speliopoulos Ventures February 26, 2012

CONTENTS

1 SAMUEL................................................................................................................................. 1 2 SAMUEL............................................................................................................................... 11 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 15 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 16

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1 SAMUEL When we left off last week, the book of Ruth left us in a hopeful mood, even though, as Gordon explained, timing-wise it is set in the time of the Judges, a period showing everincreasing speed of downward spirals of following the Lord, turning away from the Lord, committing evil and ultimately pleading for God to help, only to repeat the same pattern all over again. The great English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, As is usual with people on an incline, some who got on the down grade went further than they intended, showing that it is easier to get on than to get off, and that where there is no brake it is very difficult to stop.1 That seems to also hold true for the Israelites, the people chosen by God to whom He had said you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6, ESV). The book of Judges ends on a very somber note: In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.(Judges 21:25, ESV) <SLIDE 1> Today, we will be moving on to a more hopeful spot in the history of the Jewish nation. 1 and 2 Samuel cover a period of about 115 years. <SLIDE 2>The history of Israel centers around three personalities which divide the book: Samuel, the last judge and first prophet, Saul who will become Israels first king, and David, Israels greatest king. This book is a book of transitions as Israel moves from being a theocracy to being a kingdom. <SLIDE 4>1 Samuel highlights two major events: the establishment of the monarchy in Israel, and the preparation of David to take the throne after Saul, Israels first king who was found wanting by God as we will see. As we will see, this books themes are the kingship of God, his providential guidance, and his sovereign will and power. Lets take a quick look at what
1. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Exploring the Mind and Heart of the Prince of Preachers: Five-Thousand Illustrations Selected from the Works of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Oswego, IL: Fox River Press, 2005), 82.

the difference is in the biblical understanding between a theocracy and a monarchy. <SLIDES 5 and 6> So what is the book about? It is about transitions <SLIDE 7>. From a theocracy to a monarchy, from worship at Shiloh to worship in Jerusalem, from a league of tribes to a unified kingdom. The history of the early monarchy in Israel is viewed here from the moral or prophetic point of view: God was still the ultimate king with Israels king His representative concerning civil authority. The prophet was Gods representative concerning spiritual authority. The king was responsible for acknowledging the prophet who represented God. <SLIDES 8 and 9> The model is different from how we might view a monarchy today. <SLIDE 10> The book of 1 Samuel starts with the story of Hannah, a woman who is barren but goes to Shiloh each year with her husband Elkanah and his other wife, Penninah. Shiloh was the location about 20 miles north of Jerusalem where the tent of meeting and, of course, in it the ark, had been brought in Joshua 18:1: Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.(ESV) Hannah prays to the Lord and weeps bitterly because she cannot have a child. She prays specifically for a son, and she promises God that he will be a Nazirite. We see this in verse 11, where she prays that a razor shall not touch his head. A Nazirite was an individual who made a vow to separate himself to Yahweh. The vow consisted of three important abstentions: from consuming any products of the vine, from touching dead bodies, and from cutting ones hair.2 This is described in greater detail in Numbers 6:1-21, if you would like to understand it better. The vow of the Nazirite could be taken by a man or a woman, or even a slave, but not a
2. Allen C. Myers, The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987), 751.

Gentile. It could be made for a specific period (a minimum of thirty days) or be a lifelong commitment.3 At the time of her prayer, Eli is priest at Shiloh. He observes Hannahs silent prayer and her moving lips and accuses her of being drunk, which she vehemently denies. Eli listens to her, blesses her and prays that her request will be fulfilled by the Lord. Hannah does become pregnant, gives birth to Samuel, and as promised to the Lord brings him back to Eli after Samuel is weaned. Elis sons who serve alongside their father, are described as worthless men (1 Samuel 2:12). They pilfer from the sacrifices to the Lord what is rightfully the Lords, and they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Eli tries to coursecorrect them, but it is too late. 1 Samuel 2:25 tells us that it was the will of the LORD to put them to death. This is confirmed to Eli when an unnamed man of God tells him a message from God. Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded for my dwelling, and honor your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel? Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever, but now the Lord declares: Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. (1 Samuel 2:29-30, ESV) Elis and his sons disobedience is about to be severely punished by the Lord who will not put up with disrespect to Him. Hophni and Phineas, Elis two disobedient sons will both die on the same day as a sign to Eli of Gods judgment on the house of Eli. The man of God further declares to Eli: I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever. (1 Samuel 2:35, ESV) While Samuel is still a boy, the Lord calls him to become His prophet by disclosing Elis familys
3. Ibid.

demise. During the night, three times he hears the Lord calling him, yet each time he believes it to be Eli calling him. Upon asking Eli, he advises him to reply to the Lord if He calls him again. God discloses to Samuel that Elis reign as priest is ending. In the morning, Eli presses Samuel to share what the Lord disclosed to him during the night. Samuel shares, and Eli accepts this. Disobedience to God indeed has significant consequences for Eli and his sons. As can be read in chapter four of 1 Samuel, Hophni and Phineas are killed on the same day in battle on the same day, the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines, in another sign that God has turned from Eli. Eli himself dies from the shock of getting the news of his sons death. Phinehas wife, pregnant with his child, goes into labor at the news of the death of her husband, and her brotherin-law and father-in-law. She dies in labor, and her child is named Ichabod, The glory has departed from Israel! Scripture gives the reason both in the death of her loved ones, but also in the capture of the ark of God. Dont forget that this is where the presence of God dwelled (remember back to Exodus and the description of the tabernacle). What this, in effect meant, was that their disobedience had caused God to leave them. Lets move on with Samuel. 1 Samuel 3:19-20 tells us that Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the Lord. (ESV) Samuel became the prophet of Israel but also acted as its judge, a transition point from the period of the judges to kingship in Israel. God chooses Samuel over the house of Eli (1 Sam. 1-7) because he was faithful in ministry (2:11,18,26; 3:1), he was eager to serve (3:3-4,10), and he was not eager to replace his masters leadership (3:15-21). Lets get back to the story of what happened after the ark of God was returned to Israel by the Philistines after seven monthsoh, small side note: you may want to check out chapter five of 1 Samuel to read the truly excellent story of Gods power on display as the false god

Dagons statue falls down repeatedly and eventually loses its head and hands when the ark is set up next to it.. Samuel charges the Israelites, If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. (1 Samuel 7:3) The Israelites vow to do so. In the midst of an assembly where Samuel wants to pray for Israel, the Philistines decide to attack. But the Lord routes the enemy as He throws them into confusion through a mighty sound. It is at this point that we find the explanation of a strange name that we sing about in the hymn Come Thou Fount of Every Blessings: Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. This indeed comes directly from 1 Samuel 7:12: Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, Till now the Lord has helped us. (ESV) What a wonderful moment in Israels story as they recognize that only their obedience to the Lord God of Israel will save and protect them. May we stop and be mindful regularly how far the Lord has brought us! May it spur us on to obedience! This wonderful moment lasts through Samuels reign as judge. Yet, the mood changed in the latter years of Samuels life. I want to read chapter 8 of 1 Samuel to you in its entirety because it contrasts the peoples desire for a king with the Lords reaction. This is from the ESV translation. When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge

us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him. He said, These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots. And he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants. He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants. He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. And when Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Obey their voice and make them a king. Samuel then said to the men of Israel, Go every man to his city.

So was it an act of rebellion or Gods will for Israel to ask for a king? After all, Genesis 17:6 has God saying: I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. Indeed, in Deuteronomy 17:14-20, God had already provided a model for what a king was to look like for Israel. The problem is that Israel was looking for a king for the wrong reasons. Gods design was for a human king to lead and administer the kingdom of Israel in accordance with the Mosaic Law (Deut. 17:14-20). God was to be the protector and deliverer of His people and to fight on her behalf. But Israel believed God was not able to protect them (1 Sam. 4-5; 10:18-19). Thus they traded God for a human leader (1 Sam 8:19-20). The demand for a king was also premature based on the false assumption that God was powerless to help them when Samuel was gone and his children were corrupt (1 Sam. 8:4-6). But God lets Israel have a king. God chooses Saul, the son of a wealthy Benjaminite, described as a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. (1 Samuel 9:2, ESV) Samuel meets with him, tells him he has been chosen king and tells Saul that as a sign, he will meet some prophets and that God will pour out His spirit on Saul at that moment and he will prophesy. It is important to note that in 1 and 2 Samuel, the phrase the Spirit of the Lord appears only in connection with His anointed ones, Saul and David. The Spirit comes upon these two men as God wants to equip and empower them in order to serve the interests of Gods people. Today, all believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, this was quite selective on Gods part. Saul is proclaimed king by Samuel and defeats the Ammonites as his first act. It is important here to note Sauls kindness and protection shown toward the people of Jabesh-gilead who were threatened by the leader of the Ammonites who promised them a treaty if they agreed

to all have their right eyes gouged out! Saul rallied Israel and defeated the Ammonites and protected the people of Jabesh-gilead. Keep this in mind as we move along. Samuel again challenges the people and the relationship to God and the king. If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. (1 Samuel 12:14-15) Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king. (12:24-25) Do you hear faint echoes of the promises and curses of Deuteronomy? Obedience: all is well. Disobedience: Fear the Lords consequences. Sauls reign as king comes to a crashing halt when he offers unlawful sacrifice. He had called for Samuel to come to Gilgal, but when Samuel had not arrived after seven days, Saul offered the burnt offering before the Lord, something only a man from the line of Aaron was allowed to do. Samuel tells him that the Lord would have made Sauls kingdom over Israel last forever, but because of his disobedience, God has chosen another man to lead Israel. Saul goes out to battle, and again, Saul sins against the Lord by not obeying the command to devote to destruction both people and livestock of the Amalekites. Instead, he spares the kings life and keeps the best of the sheep and oxen and the fattened calves and lambs for himself. Samuel conveys the Lords decision to not allow Saul to continue to be king. He admonishes Saul, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)

Again the theme is obedience, obedience to the Lord, obedience by the king. God does not care much about our religious behaviors. All the good works we do may be meant to honor God, and we know that they wont save us because we learned that from Ephesians 2:8-9, which says, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (ESV) But all these good works can simply not replace the obedience God demands of His children. This is a theme that is consistent from the beginning of Scripture to the end. We cannot neglect this. The next several chapters of 1 Samuel are probably some of the best known parts of the Old Testament. Samuels visit to Jesse the Bethlehemites house, his inspection of all seven sons present, and finally the realization that God had chosen the youngest son, David, who was out keeping the sheep. Samuel anoints young David, and instantly the Spirit of God rushes on him. It is important to pause here and reflect on what God values <SLIDE 11>: 1 Sam 16:7 Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Sauls was characterized by pride, trusting in his own ability, and never repented of his sin. He failed to realize that obedience was essential in the sacred and unique trust afforded him by God. David, on the other hand, was characterized by humility, obedience, and a repentant heart. On a trip to Israel, we were told by our tour guide that the sacrificial lambs for the Temple in Jerusalem were bred in Bethlehem. Isnt it just mind-blowing to think that we are currently reviewing events about 1,000 years before the birth of our Savior, yet here is Samuel anointing David, the son of Bethlehem, the keeper of sheep, the man who will rule Israel and who will be listed in the genealogy of our Lord.

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<SLIDE 12-15> When Gordon and I were on a trip to Israel together, we got to visit the Valley of Elah, where David fought Goliath, a story we wont spend time on you all know it. But I thought it would be fun to show you where this battle took place. <SLIDE 16> While David serves Saul faithfully, Saul develops a loathing for the young successful warrior whose praises are being sung by the ladies of the land. David develops a beautiful friendship with Jonathan, Sauls son, yet he has to flee from Sauls attempts on his life repeatedly. On one occasion, he hides with his men in a cave near the Dead Sea at Ein Gedi, an oasis in the wilderness. I wanted to show you this as well. It is here that David has a chance to kill Saul while he relieves himself in the same cave David and his men are hiding, but David will not raise his hand against the anointed of the Lord. <SLIDES 17-20> This is what obedience looks like trusting that God will fight the battle for us. <GO DARK> Saul is still king of Israel, but the downward spiral continues as he pursues David who has to flee with his men time and again. Samuel dies, and in order to gain a strategic advantage over David, Saul consults the Witch of Endor who conjures up Samuels spirit. Samuel tells Saul that he and his sons will fall at the hands of the Philistines the following day because of his disobedience to the Lord. In addition, Israel would be defeated by the Philistines. Indeed, this is exactly what happens. The Philistines overtake Saul and his sons and the Israelite army on Mount Gilboa. Sauls sons are killed, and Saul commits suicide by falling on his sword when he is badly wounded by Philistine archers. The following day, the Philistines decapitate the corpses of Saul and his sons, strip them of their armor and hang them on the walls of Beth-shan. I wanted to close the book of 1 Samuel not simply with this tragic story, but with sharing with you how it ends: the men of Jabesh-gilead whom Saul had saved from having their eyes gouged out and becoming slaves, come to Beth-shan, retrieve the bodies and burned and buried them in a sign of

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respect and tribute. While Saul dies because of his disobedience to the Lord, this story to me is a beautiful side note to loyalty and honor in Scripture. 2 SAMUEL <SLIDE 21> 2 Samuel has one emphasis: the reign of David, a man after Gods own heart. It begins with David hearing about the death of Saul and ends just before Davids death, covering a period of 40 years. 2 Samuel describes Davids triumphs (1-10) and his troubles (1124). While the kingdom is a united one under Davids reign, it is not free from sin and the strive that follows it. The two overarching themes of 2 Samuel are the Davidic Covenant and the Messianic Promise. <SLIDE 22 > When David finds out that Saul and Jonathan have been killed, his grief is overwhelming for both his king and his best friend. It is truly astounding to me that David laments Saul the way he does after all the hardship Saul has caused him. Again we see a display of loyalty that would be almost unthinkable in our day and age. The men of Judah anoint David king, but right away one of Sauls sons, Ish-bosheth, challenges his rule when he is crowned King of Israel. Ish-bosheth can be translated as man of shame. Well, Ish-bosheths reign is ended two years later when he is murdered and ultimately David is crowned ruler over Israel as well. David had married before Sauls death, but now he adds many more wives and concubines. In the united Israel, the ark is brought back to Jerusalem, which David conquers from the Jebusites. David is so excited over the ark of the Lord coming to Jerusalem that he dances before the Lord with all his might, much to the disdain of his wife Michal, who views this as ridiculous behavior for a king. God is pleased with Davids fervent love for Him, and tells Nathan what He has planned for David. <SLIDE 23> This is an extremely important part of the Scripture we are studying today, as chapter seven describes the Davidic Covenant, as it is commonly called, the promise the Lord

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makes to David: Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. This covenant is an unconditional, Royal Grant Covenant, but it has a conditional component as well. While David wants to build God a house, the temple, God promises to make David a house, not a residence but a dynasty, a dynasty, which will endure forever. The unconditional aspect of the Davidic Covenant is that Davids family will rule forever. This means God can never change his mind. God promises David a dynastic lineage, a kingdom, and a throne (7:13). The LORD would be as a father to Davids son, the LORDS representative in the earth (7:14). If Davids descendants sinned, the LORD warned of chastening. But He promised never to annul His covenant (7:1516).4
4. David S. Dockery, Trent C. Butler, Christopher L. Church et al., Holman Bible Handbook (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992), 237.

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There is a conditional aspect of the Davidic Covenant: Gods promise that Davids throne will be an eternal one is not a guarantee that every occupant of the throne of David will himself enjoy the blessings without regard for his own piety. God will bless or judge individual kings based on obedience to law of Moses. It looks as if God has not forgotten about the obedience theme when it comes to blessings. <GO BLANK> Davids triumphs are described in chapters 1-10. This is a time of great joy for David and his family. Davids troubles, however, fill chapters 11-24. The Bible does not glorify the heroes of the faith to the neglect of their sin. We are all familiar with the story of Davids sin with Bathsheba. He was guilty of gross lust which led to adultery and premeditated murder (11). David was truly sorry for his sin (12:13; Ps. 51), nevertheless he suffered the consequences of his sin. He unwittingly pronounced judgment on himself in response to Nathans parable (12:6). His daughter Tamar is raped by his son, a sad case of sexual immorality. His first son dies, and his next two sons are murdered. There are two revolts against his kingdom, and disloyalty becomes a theme through the rest of the book. <SLIDE 24> However, because of Davids constant seeking of Gods examination and forgiveness, God was gracious to David and restored him to his throne. We can take away a universal truth, which we find described in Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. David sang praise to the Lord for His deliverance (chapter 22), which is also preserved for us in Psalm 18: 2 Sam 22:1-3 And David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said, The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior

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2 Samuel closes with another mind-blowing episode. David buys the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite in order to build an order to the Lord, the same place on Mount Moriah where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac, the place where the Temple would be built, and the place where Jesus ultimately would be crucified. Looking at the second theme of 2 Samuel, the Messianic Promise, it becomes clear from the rest of the Bible that this passage means that the Messiah, Israels Savior, will come from Davids family! This promise serves as a theme that unites the Old and New Testaments because it eventually leads to Jesus. We can see this, e.g. in Luke 1:32-33, Gabriel announces to Mary, He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. (ESV) Paul writes in Romans 1:3 that Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh. (ESV). As a result, the covenant, which has primarily Israel as its focus, takes on a universal aspect and fits within the wider framework of the Abrahamic Covenant. The universal blessing of the nations, which we saw in Genesis 12:1-3, will come about through the universal reign of God and His anointed. David is the model or prototype of the King of Kings who will one day rule the world and whom the New Testament identifies as Jesus. Psalm 2 is a passage you may want to follow up with. Matthew 1:1 tells us A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham In Revelation 5, we read: Weep no more; behold,the Lionof the tribe of Judah,the Root of David, has conquered. (Revelation 5:5, ESV) The root of David has fulfilled the promise to Abraham. The cross of Jesus is the key to all Gods plan in history. The mission of God is complete!

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CONCLUSION The books of 1 and 2 Samuel are important to our understanding of Gods redemption plan. If you were there when I spoke about the history of the Israelites, you will remember the covenants that take us from the Fall back to restoration with God. Today, we have learned about the Davidic Covenant. More importantly, we have seen that God does not simply appreciate obedience in His people, but He demands it. Before we can expect blessings for obedience though, we need to first be in relationship with God. This relationship was broken when Adam and Eve sinned, but through the redemptive history that is unfolding before us in this series, God ultimately fulfilled the promise of the New Covenant in Christ. Christs death, burial and resurrection were sufficient for fallen man to come back into relationship with God, as Jesus paid the cost of sin, which the Bible tells us is death. The Bible also tells us that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14-15, ESV). So anyone who believes in Jesus has been promised eternal life. It is only then that we can go back to listening to this admonishment tied to a sweet promise we find in the 1st book of Samuel: Do not be afraid...do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. (1 Samuel12:20-22) My prayer today is that you know the Lord and that you walk obediently, so he can bless you.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Exploring the Mind and Heart of the Prince of Preachers: FiveThousand Illustrations Selected from the Works of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Oswego, IL: Fox River Press, 2005. Dockery, David S. Trent C. Butler. Christopher L. Church et al., Holman Bible Handbook. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 1992. Myers, Allen C. The Eerdmans Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1987.