Looking for Samuel

[JLGJLG]

5) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- First they get their roadmap engraved in their hearts!
- Second, they constantly act to stay on the road!
- Third, they keep away from man’s corruption and spiritual prostitution!
- Fourth, they get a constant connection to Yah.weh!
- Thanks to Hannah, Samuel is sent to Yah.weh’s house!
- There he can get his roadmap engraved in his heart directly from Yah.weh!
- There he learns to keep away from man’s corruption and spiritual prostitution from Yah.weh!
- But it is a personal choice: he could have chosen Eli’s sons’ bad choice!
- There he get a constant connection to Yah.weh!

 

[JLGJLG]

105) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 27


- Finally David decides to escape to the land of the Philistines because he thinks Saul will kill him!


- And he raids the Philistines and kill everybody to leave no evidence!


- And he tells Achish the Philistine king that he has raided the south of Judah!


- Whatever David does he does it according to God’s will!


But he is not yet king!

 

[JLGJLG]

6) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- ISRAEL is CORRUPTION!
- As a consequence, Yah.weh has left ISRAEL!
- Through Hannah, FAITHFULNESS will be reintroduced into ISRAEL!
- Yah.weh will start again from scratch!
- Think about:
- Even Yah.weh’s house is corrupted because of Eli and his two sons!
- And SAMUEL will be FAITHFUL all his life!
- FAITHFULNESS VS CORRUPTION!
- And SAMUEL’s sons will also be corrupted!
- YAH.WEH’s kingdom will put an end to CORRUPTION by cleaning the earth and human society!
- WE CAN IMAGINE THERE WILL BE A LOT TO DO!
- AND WE MUST PREPARE OURSELVES WHEN IT IS STILL TIME!
- NOT WHEN IT IS TOO LATE!

 

[JLGJLG]

106) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 28


- Time has come for the philistines and the Israelites to fight!


- Saul is afraid because God never answers him!


- So he asks his servants for a medium!


- Then Saul disguises himself and goes to see her!


- He wants to speak to Samuel!


- Then the woman realizes he is Saul who put to death mediums according to God’s will!


- She thinks he wants to kill her!


- But Saul tells her not to be afraid!


- As a matter of fact, Saul keeps walking against God!


- First, he offered a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel!


- Second, he saved a king and possessions he was supposed to destroy!


- And he was rejected by God!


- Then Samuel never entered in contact with him till his death!


- Then he goes to see a medium whereas he shouldn’t do it because it is against God’s will!


- And he wants to speak to Samuel after his death whereas Samuel never did it when he was rejected by God!


- So of course, He could speak with a spirit but it could be Samuel!


- A spirit appearing like Samuel!


- And this spirit tells him that he will die and loses the battle and David will get his kingdom!


- And in fact the medium speaks of the spirit as one like a god coming up out of the earth!


- What a lesson!


- Saul opposes God and he thinks he will escape!


- It is ridiculous!


- May we remember this lesson!


- We must look for God’s word and not man’s tradition!


- We must look for God’s will, not man’s will!


- Otherwise we will pay the price!


- But apparently the majority doesn’t care!


- They do like Saul and will get his fate!


- We should listen to Samuel who was faithful to God from the beginning to the end of his life!


- There is no secret, it is simple!

 

[JLGJLG]

107) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 29


- The princes of the Philistines don’t want David to fight with them against the Israelites!


- And David leaves them


Chap 30


- When David comes back to Ziklag, the Amalekites have burnt it and taken captive all the inhabitants and the possessions!


- And he asks God what to do!


- God tells him to chase the Amalekites!


- And David strikes the Amalekites and gets everything back!


- And he comes back to Ziklag!


- Thus here we have two attitudes: David keeps obeying god and is blessed and Saul doesn’t and keeps being rejected by God and will end badly!


- David should have kept that way but he will becomes king!


- Let’s not forget it!

 

[JLGJLG]

108) God and Samuel / Samuel and God

chap 31


- The Israelites are defeated by the Philistines!


- Saul and his three sons die!


- The philistines cut Saul’s head!


2 Samuel


- David becomes king!


- Later he will commit adultery with Bath-Sheba!


- He has Bath-Sheba’s husband, Uriah, killed!


- Then he takes Bath-Sheba as wife!


- David will get into trouble for the rest of his life for what he has done!


- David will organize a census of the people against God’s will!


- The price: pestilence kills 70,000 Israelites!


- Just as Samuel said, human kings would bring big troubles without exception!


- And it wasn’t different from Solomon with all his wisdom!

 

[JLGJLG]

109)

- Saul and his three sons died in a battle as a consequence of God rejecting Saul: DETERIORATION!


- David was a faithful servant of God before becoming king but he got into trouble as a consequence of really bad deeds: DETERIORATION!


- Solomon received wisdom from God but he started to collect women and ended badly serving false God: DETERIORATION!


- Abraham was a faithful servant of God!


- His son Isaac was a faithful servant of god!


- Jacob was a faithful servant of God!


- Then Dinah was raped and his sons killed men because of the deeds of one man: deterioration!

 

[JLGJLG]

110)

1) - First key: Samuel’s mother!

- If she hadn’t been barren she wouldn’t have done a vow to God!

- She wouldn’t have sent his son to serve God at God’s house!

- Samuel wouldn’t have existed or would have lived a different life!

- He wouldn’t have become a high priest and prophet and judge!

- God would have chosen somebody else!

- Imagine a road with more judges instead of kings!

- It wouldn’t have changed because Israel acted according to its judges!

- Sometimes following God but mostly away from God!

- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!

- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!

- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLGJLG]

111)

2) - Second key: Eli!

- Eli could have educated his two sons in a better way!

- Or he could have prevented them from doing what they did!

- Or he could have taken away their position as priest!

- Samuel could have had better examples!

- God could have not spoken to Samuel!

- He could have become just a priest but not a judge and prophet!

- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!

- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!

- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLGJLG]

112)

3) - Third key: Eli’s sons!

- If they had listened to their father and to God, God wouldn’t have spoken to Samuel!

- And he wouldn’t have told him about the condemnation of Eli and his sons!

- And he wouldn’t have seen Eli and his sons’ death!

- It wouldn’t have been a warning!

- It wouldn’t have impressed his young mind!

- He could have become just a priest but not a judge and prophet!

- At the end of the road, Jesus had to come and God’s word had to spread all around the world!

- But we would have lost an incredible source of faithfulness and it has no price to guide us to a basic relationship to God or to a stronger one!

- That’s a big difference!

 

[JLGJLG]

113) - Fourth key: Samuel as a child!

- God spoke directly to Samuel!

- He was taught by Eli!

- He saw the bad examples of his sons!

- He saw their deaths!

- He could see good and bad!

- He could have chosen good or bad!

- And he chose good!

- And it shows the importance to be told when young!

- Remember Jesus when he was 12!

- His parents found him in the temple!

- He said I must be in the house of my Father!

- And he was only 12!

- Is the message clear to you?

- The decisions you take or not will influence your children’s future!

- They may react positively or negatively!

- In the Bible, God told the Hebrews to teach his word all the time in any situation!

 

[JLGJLG]

114)

- Fifth key: Samuel’s sons!

- Samuel spent his whole life at God’s service!

- He was a high priest, judge and prophet!

- We are not told about the education of his sons!

- We know that Eli was condemned!

- God doesn’t say anything about Samuel’s sons and their misconduct!

- As a consequence, Israel asks God for a human king!

- In fact, it doesn’t change anything!

- The result was negative!

- It was written at the beginning!

- Israel ended badly!

- But God kept his promise to Abraham!

- Well, he needed Moses’ help not to eradicate Israel!

- And he needed it twice!

 

[JLGJLG]

7) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- 1 Samuel 2:17

Thus the sin
חַטַּ֧את (ḥaṭ·ṭaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 2403: An offence, its penalty, occasion, sacrifice, expiation, an offender

of these young men
הַנְּעָרִ֛ים (han·nə·‘ā·rîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5288: A boy, lad, youth, retainer

was
וַתְּהִ֨י (wat·tə·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

severe
גְּדוֹלָ֥ה (gə·ḏō·w·lāh)
Adjective - feminine singular
Strong's 1419: Great, older, insolent

in the sight
פְּנֵ֣י (pə·nê)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

of the LORD,
יְהוָ֑ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

for
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they
הָֽאֲנָשִׁ֔ים (hā·’ă·nā·šîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 582: Man, mankind

{were treating} the LORD’s
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

offering
מִנְחַ֥ת (min·ḥaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 4503: A donation, tribute, a sacrificial offering

with contempt.
נִֽאֲצוּ֙ (ni·’ă·ṣū)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5006: To spurn, treat with contempt

- Israel is corrupt!
- Yah.weh’s temple is corrupt because of Eli and his two sons!
- It can’t be worse!
- And once again, Yah.weh is extremely patient!
- But as usual it will end really badly!
- And Samuel is raised in such a mess!
- In fact, it is a mess everywhere in Israel!
- As usual!
- And Yah.weh is completely away!
- And Samuel is but a child!
- But Yah.weh cares for him!

 

[JLGJLG]

8) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

- 1 Samuel 2:26

And the boy
וְהַנַּ֣עַר (wə·han·na·‘ar)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5288: A boy, lad, youth, retainer

Samuel
שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל (šə·mū·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 8050: Samuel -- 'name of God', a prophet of Israel

continued to grow
הֹלֵ֥ךְ (hō·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in stature
וְגָדֵ֖ל (wə·ḡā·ḏêl)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1432: Becoming great, growing up

and in favor
וָט֑וֹב (wā·ṭō·wḇ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

with
עִם־ (‘im-)
Preposition
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

the LORD
יְהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

and with
עִם־ (‘im-)
Preposition
Strong's 5973: With, equally with

men.
אֲנָשִֽׁים׃ (’ă·nā·šîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

- Thus Samuel is behaving properly in front of Yah.weh but also in front of men!
- Yah.weh is looking for a change!
- Thus Job, Daniel and Samuel are three similar examples of faithful servants of Yah.weh among corruption!
- And they keep faithful whatever happens!
- So it doesn’t matter if corruption is everywhere!
- Yah.weh always expects his faithful servants to get away from corruption!
- Thus they show us the way!
- And they will always show us the way if we read and study their books again and again!

 

[JLGJLG]

9) Samuel - comparing faithfulness to Yah.weh

1 Samuel 2:30

Therefore,
לָכֵ֗ן (lā·ḵên)
Adverb
Strong's 3651: So -- thus

the LORD,
יְהוָה֮ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

the God
אֱלֹהֵ֣י (’ĕ·lō·hê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

of Israel,
יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

declares:
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

‘I did indeed
אָמ֣וֹר (’ā·mō·wr)
Verb - Qal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 559: To utter, say

say
אָמַ֔רְתִּי (’ā·mar·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

that your house
בֵּֽיתְךָ֙ (bê·ṯə·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1004: A house

and the house
וּבֵ֣ית (ū·ḇêṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of your father
אָבִ֔יךָ (’ā·ḇî·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1: Father

would walk
יִתְהַלְּכ֥וּ (yiṯ·hal·lə·ḵū)
Verb - Hitpael - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

before Me
לְפָנַ֖י (lə·p̄ā·nay)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 6440: The face

forever.
עוֹלָ֑ם (‘ō·w·lām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5769: Concealed, eternity, frequentatively, always

But now
וְעַתָּ֤ה (wə·‘at·tāh)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb
Strong's 6258: At this time

the LORD
יְהוָה֙ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

declares:
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

Far be it
חָלִ֣ילָה (ḥā·lî·lāh)
Interjection | third person feminine singular
Strong's 2486: For, a profaned thing, far be it!

from Me!
לִּ֔י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew

For
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

I will honor
מְכַבְּדַ֥י (mə·ḵab·bə·ḏay)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 3513: To be heavy, weighty, or burdensome

those who honor Me,
אֲכַבֵּ֖ד (’ă·ḵab·bêḏ)
Verb - Piel - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 3513: To be heavy, weighty, or burdensome

but those who despise Me
וּבֹזַ֥י (ū·ḇō·zay)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 959: To disesteem

will be disdained.
יֵקָֽלּוּ׃ (yê·qāl·lū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 7043: To be slight, swift or trifling

- Quite simple!
- Yah.weh will honor those who honor him and despise those who despise him!
- Here we get a definition of faithfulness!
- And Job, Daniel and Samuel always keep faithful to Yah.weh!
- It is as clear as crystal for them!
- What about you?
- There won’t be any exception!

 

[JLGJLG]

115) - Sixth key: Samuel as an adult!

1 Samuel 12:23:

As for

גַּ֣ם (gam)

Conjunction

Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and


me,

אָנֹכִ֗י (’ā·nō·ḵî)

Pronoun - first person common singular

Strong's 595: I


far be it from me

חָלִ֤ילָה (ḥā·lî·lāh)

Interjection | third person feminine singular

Strong's 2486: For, a profaned thing, far be it!


that I

לִּי֙ (lî)

Preposition | first person common singular

Strong's Hebrew


should sin

מֵחֲטֹ֣א (mê·ḥă·ṭō)

Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct

Strong's 2398: To miss, to sin, to forfeit, lack, expiate, repent, lead astray, condemn


against the LORD

לַֽיהוָ֔ה (Yah·weh)

Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular

Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


by ceasing

מֵחֲדֹ֖ל (mê·ḥă·ḏōl)

Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct

Strong's 2308: To be flabby, desist, be lacking, idle


to pray

לְהִתְפַּלֵּ֣ל (lə·hiṯ·pal·lêl)

Preposition-l | Verb - Hitpael - Infinitive construct

Strong's 6419: To judge, to intercede, pray


for you.

בַּעַדְכֶ֑ם (ba·‘aḏ·ḵem)

Preposition | second person masculine plural

Strong's 1157: In up to, over against, at, beside, among, behind, for


And I will continue to teach

וְהוֹרֵיתִ֣י (wə·hō·w·rê·ṯî)

Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular

Strong's 3384: To flow as water, to lay, throw, to point out, to teach


you

אֶתְכֶ֔ם (’eṯ·ḵem)

Direct object marker | second person masculine plural

Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case


the good

הַטּוֹבָ֖ה (haṭ·ṭō·w·ḇāh)

Article | Noun - feminine singular

Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good


and right

וְהַיְשָׁרָֽה׃ (wə·hay·šā·rāh)

Conjunctive waw, Article | Adjective - feminine singular

Strong's 3477: Straight, right


way.

בְּדֶ֥רֶךְ (bə·ḏe·reḵ)

Preposition-b | Noun - common singular construct

Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action


- Samuel went straight away!

- Nothing would stop him from doing God’s will!

- He couldn’t prevent Israel from rejecting God!

- But he did his best to encourage them to follow God’s word!

- And it’s up to us to do the same or not!

- Just a question of free will!

 

[JLGJLG]

116)

1) We can also see the books of Samuel as a warning for us!


- In Chapter I, Samuel’s father has two wives!


- God says one man and one woman!


- Man has always done his best to do it his own way opposing God in everything!


- And in everything we can see that man fails!


- Man has never enough with one woman so he takes as much as he wants!


- It brings instability in the family or can we speak about a family?


- As a consequence, the woman and mother always does the job alone!


- Man is often a bad father and husband!


- It is also easy to become insensitive!


- Samuel’s father doesn’t know what’s on in his own family!


- So he is a failure in this sense!


- We see the same in the Bible with the Israelites!

- We see the same in the history of humanity with a climax today!

 

[JLGJLG]

117)

2) Again in Chapter 1, we see the same insensitivity from Eli the high priest!


- As a religious leader, he should be supposed to be closed to the people and to God!


- But in both cases, he is far away!


- When Hannah prays, he thinks she is drunk in the house of God!


- How is it possible to be so insensitive?


- While she expresses her deep feelings to God!


- Unbelievable!


- But that’s how it is!


- Once again this type of insensitivity is the rule among men!


- And it has always been so!


- The real disciples of Jesus should show a different behavior if they really want to look like him!

 

[JLGJLG]

118) Again in Chapter I, we have two types of women!


- Hannah is the good one!


- And not only for women and mothers but also for men and fathers!


- She shows us the right way!


- She gives a good education to her son!


- She brings him to the temple to serve God!


- She visits him regularly every year!


- We don’t have any information about the quality of the relationship between Hannah and Samuel!


- It would have been quite interesting!


- We can only imagine!


- We only know that she was a good example for Samuel!


- And she kept her word to God!


- The Bible doesn’t have many good models to follow!


- Thus they are more precious!


- On the contrary, there are a majority of bad examples we must avoid if we want to develop a strong relationship to God!

- Thus it is quite easy to follow a bad example!

- There is such a big range!

 

[JLGJLG]

119) Then in Chapter 2, we have the bad examples of Eli’s sons who are wicked ones!


- They are supposed to serve God in his temple!


- And they do everything wrong in front of him and Israel!


- Everyone can see their bad behavior!


- Well, it is quite normal among men who are supposed to serve God to behave like that!


- Thus many men think they can do whatever they want because of such examples!


- As if it was an excuse!


- And not only because they behave in a bad way but also what they say is wrong!


- On the contrary, the true disciples of Jesus should show they are different from the rest!


- But history of man shows that they are usually not different and thus not true disciples of Jesus!


- But saying doesn’t mean we really are!


- It is only by the way we behave, with words and deeds!


- And doing nothing is not better!