ESV Chronological Plan, Day 96 | 1 Samuel 21-22, Psalms 34, 56, and 52

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 21:1-22:23 and Psalms 34, 56, and 52

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Praise in the hard times. Today's reading has the highest number of Psalms associated with it of any other historical reading so far, and at the same time it is also the most difficult time of David's life up to this point. I don't think that is a coincidence. When David was confronted with difficulties, betrayed by friends, humiliated by his circumstances, and cut off from support--there he became the most resolute in his conviction that God was good. It was in the cave of Adullam that David, while hiding out, attracted to him "everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul... And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men" (1 Samuel 22:2). God lifted David up in the midst of his descent out of the royal palace and into the place of wandering and darkness; and there, like his Promised Descendant after him, he would attract "all that are weary and heavy laden," (Matthew 11:28) to his cause, and they were able to find rest in him. So who did the people find rest in? David. Who did David find rest in? God. What was God's promise to David, that David could find rest in? That God would build David an everlasting house, and that a descendant of his would sit on his throne continually. To whom was this promise referring? To Jesus. The one that David rested in at this time was in God; and the one who provides the ultimate rest that David foreshadowed is Jesus. This is especially true in times of difficulty. So like David, we may also put our trust in God when things look bleak; and we can attach ourselves to the true and better David, the one who is truly worthy to be commander over us, who is Jesus Christ.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP AND ATTITUDES we can use times of hardship to point us back to God. We can pray, we can sing, we can write verses like David did, we can gather around other people who share the same hope, and we can attach ourselves ever more closely to Jesus in our wandering.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 95 | 1 Samuel 19-20, Psalm 59

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 19:1-20:42 and Psalm 59:1-17

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

How to avoid the hostile, harmful person. There are many times where we might misunderstand another person and their motives, and so we attribute harmful intentions to them that they don't have. But there are also situations where someone does genuinely hold bad intentions for us, and in that kind of situation we need to protect ourselves. But how can we discern whether this is the case? David was in this situation with Saul. On one hand, Saul put David at the head of his armies, made him his son-in-law, welcomed him into his court, allowed him to have a good relationship with his son Jonathan, and even allowed for the people to sing about David's accomplishments in more glowing terms than his own. By all accounts, Saul sounds like a pretty great guy! Privately, though, (1) Saul kept putting David in increasingly difficult situations where he was being set up to fail--that David succeeded through those attempts, gaining greater notoriety in the process, was no thanks to Saul. (2) In this reading we find that those close to the hostile person share that the person is expressing their hostility in private. Jonathan and Michal have no reason to lie, and so David should believe them. (3) David also has had to navigate repeated overt attempts to do him harm, as he has twice had to avoid Saul pinning him to the wall with a spear, despite whatever niceties happened between those two events, or possibly explanations after the fact that Saul was just playing around and knew David could get out of the way in time. (4) Things get to the point where the outward action of the secret hostility of the other party is predictable, as soldiers show up to David and Michal's apartment right about the time when they figured something was going to be done to David. In 1 Samuel 20, David actually starts using the predictable hostility of Saul to establish a test that makes this hostility fully apparent not just to him but to Jonathan as well. And finally, (5) David had finally realized that the hostile party was trying to control all of his movements and relationships, and keep him off balance, as he had to deal with men watching his house and making surprise visits to his apartment--likely for "security reasons," or having representatives come to observe him while he was spending time visiting with Samuel, or being welcomed into Saul's personal circle while at the same time having Saul speak negatively about him to others (1 Samuel 19:1), or extending kindness to him while suddenly withdrawing it in unpredictable ways, as when David had originally been set to marry Saul's oldest daughter Merab (1 Samuel 18:19). This is only taking into account what David himself would have seen, not including the words of the author who explicitly states that Saul "was David's enemy continually" (1 Samuel 18:29). Given all of this, David was justified in seeing through the fake niceness of Saul, and removing himself immediately.

God is our strength in the midst of hostility. In the midst of the confusion and mixed signals that David was getting from Saul, when he was pretty sure that he needed to get out, he wrote in Psalm 59 that God was his strength. Whatever we go through with other people, our relationship with God is the one that matters. He will make things clear in time.

Faithful is a friend in the midst of hostility. Throughout all of this, David also had his friendship with Jonathan tested. Because Jonathan committed to doing good to David even when it did not benefit him, and even continued when it created difficulty between Jonathan and his father, David had all the proof he would ever need that Jonathan was genuinely his friend. The tests for a genuine friend -which we can not engineer ourselves, or that would make us a bad friend- are the opposite of the tests of hostility above. Does that person set you up to do well? Do other people report that the person shares good things about you? Does that person do good to you even though they aren't getting anything out of it? Can you actually predict that that person will be helpful or kind when you need them to be? Does that person help you to feel stable, free, and well supported? Then keep that person around, as David did to Jonathan.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ACTIONS, we can remove ourselves from situations or relationships where repeated, covert hostility may be bringing harm into our lives. In doing so, we can lean on the strength provided by God, and on the genuine friendships that God brings our way.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 94 | 1 Samuel 17-18

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 17:1-18:30

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Rally in the Valley: David vs. Goliath. When I ran youth groups about a decade ago, I did a series that took our group through the entire Bible over the course of 12-15 weeks (I did it four times: once at each youth group, and twice more as two series of camp talks). The most intense of these was always the story of David. This shepherd-king represented the first time in *checks notes* 800 years, since the days of Jacob and Judah, that any significant progress seemed to be made towards the arrival of God's Promised Deliverer. And his public rise begins here in today's reading with his God-given victory over Goliath of Gath. Imagine what it would have been like to have front-row seats for that one!

The public intellectual figure Malcolm Gladwell actually has a very well-researched (and well told) presentation of this battle available on YouTube as a TED Talk which gets into the relevant geography, customs of warfare, the physiology of giantism (acromegaly), and the physics of stone slings, which I highly encourage you to check out. In Gladwell's words, "everything I thought I knew about that story turned out to be wrong." For one thing, "If you do the calculations on the ballistics, the stopping power, of the rock fired from David's sling, it's roughly equal to the stopping power of a .45 caliber handgun." It's fascinating. It was in writing his book David and Goliath about a decade ago that Malcolm Gladwell actually became a Christian--a commitment to which he still holds.

Are you and I David? There is a common application, and I think it's a mis-application, of this passage which encourages you to find the giants in your life (your difficulties) and battle them in faith like David. One problem is that we aren't David. David was able to meet the challenge of Goliath's stature because he stood on the shoulders of God's historical covenant promises. (1) He knew that God would not give Israel over to the Philistines; and (2) He knew that God had anointed him -through Samuel- as Israel's next king, and that God would keep him alive long enough for him to fulfill that promise. That's what he took into battle with him. But God has not made any such promise to you and me to make our business venture succeed, or to win a political campaign, or anything similar. Instead of seeing ourselves as David, it's better to see Jesus as David. Like David, Jesus is the one who wins the battle on behalf of his people, who are unable to do anything to assist him, and his victory is imputed to them, so that his victory becomes our victory.  I don't think it's an accident that the first significant story we have of David, who is the "type" or shadow of the future Messiah, is one of  a prophesied and anointed king, whose royal identity is unknown to all around him including his brothers, who appears to be lowly and humble, who comes to save his people as a shepherd saves his sheep, saving his people by accomplishing a vicarious victory on their behalf in the name of God.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP rather than seeing ourselves as the point of Scripture, and God's role in our lives as raining down various blessings on us, we can take a fundamentally God-first approach to all things. Rather than us being the point of Scripture, we can believe that Jesus is the point: As he says, "You search the [Old Testament] Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). These things are meant to show us Jesus. He is the key to the unfolding meaning of every book of the Old Testament; every significant story. God is not there to serve us by blessing our chosen paths, but we are here to serve God, and to trust him by walking the path that he lays before us--even if, like all the apostles, it brings earthly hardship. Because we will not find life in earthly accomplishments or in our social standing; instead, we find our life in him.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 93 | 1 Samuel 15-16

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 14:47-16:23 and 1 Chronicles 9:35-44

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The treatment of the nations by Israel. The details of the conquest of the Amalekites in 1 Samuel 15 are hard to stomach, and I won't pretend otherwise. Somehow we need to come to terms with a picture of God that is both righteous and just, and who would command this kind of action to be carried out. Here are a couple of things that might start to help: (1) This takes place around 400 years after Israel first began to conquer the land of Canaan. It is very possible that, in God's mercy, he allowed an extra period of time so that the Amalekites could have additional time to repent. (2) As we have seen with Rahab, Ruth, Caleb, and the Gibeonites (as well as among others Shamgar the Judge, who I didn't really put much focus on), God was more than willing to adopt the Canaanites and surrounding nations into his own people. These previous examples are just the highlights, and so we can expect that during the 1000 or so years since Abraham's time (see Genesis 15), as well as the 400 years since the battle of Jericho, God had allowed for many people of the nations to seek him and to make peace up to this point. It is very possible that many did so. (3) As we see in the time of the Judges, and later in Israel's history, the presence of the other peoples really was a corrupting influence that helped to ruin spiritual vitality of the project of Israel. God knew what he was doing here. (4) Israel did actually have the first code of conduct for carrying out war (Deuteronomy 20), and though some aspects of it were suspended specifically in the case of the people of Canaan (Deuteronomy 20:15-18), the presence of that code in Israel's law shows that God has compassion on the peoples of the earth. These lines of thought are just the beginning of an answer to this problem. But they blow some holes in the idea of Israel as monstrously and unfeelingly killing, indiscriminately, the peoples of the land. For the ancient world, they actually seemed unparalleled in their practice of making peace with the surrounding nations and adopting them into their own midst--with Caleb, Rahab, and Ruth as especially notable examples, given their role in the tribe of Judah.

Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head? Saul has a few troubling patterns, but among them is his fear of the people. He reacts to their desires and finds a way to look like the leader in the midst of doing so, but he is not a strong leader. He hides among the baggage, goes on plowing his fields instead of carrying himself as the king, does not deal with those who divide the people by speaking against his leadership, consistently blames the will of the people for what he allows to happen, and allows the people to make his decisions for him. That may look like humility, but God appears to see it as a breach of his responsibilities to lead: "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And the LORD sent you on a mission... Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD?" (1 Samuel 15:17-19). In fact, what appeared to the people to be a gentle and humble way of ruling was actually the pride of a man who wanted to be lifted up and celebrated by others. In doing so, Saul put his own glory before God's.

The LORD sees not as man sees. The introduction of David in 1 Samuel 16 could not be more different from the introduction of Saul. Saul looked like a leader, the tallest member of a wealthy family, but he was laying around in the house rather than looking after the flocks. David did not look like a leader. He was short, the youngest member of a poor family, and was too busy out among the flocks to be first noticed by Samuel. But he was a man of incredible ingenuity and productivity--as we see in his introduction to Saul at the end of this chapter (which, chronologically, likely takes place after 1 Samuel 17). We are prone to look at the surface to decide whether someone "looks like" a leader. Are they tall? Are the handsome? Are they poised? Do they speak evenly? Can they convey strength, warmth, and calmness all at once? Saul could check off all these boxes--and yet, spiritually, was a disaster of a king. David was none of these things, and he was God's man for the job. A more recent parallel for us might be Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill--Chamberlain was the more polished politician, but his policy of appeasement showed that he was not the right man to lead Britain through the second World War. He maintained the moderation and class of how a leader should look but was a failure. Churchill, the rougher, wilder, more uneven, more wild-eyed bulldog of a man (in appearance as well as disposition) turned out to be the far superior Prime Minister. In the same way the outward appearance of Saul does nothing for God, who sees deeper into David's heart. It would be better for us to have the character that God expects rather than the kind of appearance and mannerisms that endear us to other people.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ACTIONS we can begin to act more in light of what God says is important, rather than just trying to keep the peace and make other people think favorably of us. Many of us may confuse professionalism or good manners with godliness--yet Saul had more of these things than David, and God chose David over him. We could all use more of the characteristics that recommend people like David and Peter to the heart of God: enthusiasm, a willingness to jump into the action, an expectation for God to move, passionate worship, a desire for God to be glorified--these are things that God loved in these men, even when they also had significant ups and downs. God looks at the heart and loves it when he sees these things; but for God, the outward appearance of a man (or woman) does nothing for him.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 92 | 1 Samuel 12-14

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 12:1-14:46

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Samuel, the best of the Judges, is also a fallen man. The commentators Fix and Vannoy see in 1 Samuel 12:1-7 that Samuel, himself, has his own weaknesses which he is blind to as well. The human narrative in the historical books continues to tell us a story of sin, through which God is making clear how much greater his redemption story is. As for Fix and Vannoy's comments on the character of Samuel:

Samuel demands the people attest by oath that he has been faithful to serve Israel in administering God’s rule justly (1 Sam 12:1–3). Although they happily affirm Samuel’s faithfulness in leadership (12:5–6), there are hints here that Samuel has his own weaknesses and failures. For instance, he references his own sons (12:2) despite their dissolute behavior (8:1–5). He also seems to describe himself in royal, kingly terms as having “walked about before” Israel as the king would now do (12:2; cf. comments on 1Sam 8:6–9 above), further suggesting that he may have wanted the role of king for himself. His taking Israel’s request for a king personally may be implied in the fact that although he mentions Saul a few times, he never does it by name but only as “his (the Lord’s) anointed” (12:3, 5). Furthermore, Samuel couches this whole covenant renewal ceremony in the language of a civil case between him and Israel (“take your stand, so that I may enter into judgment with you before the Lord”; 12:6–7 NRSV). Samuel’s wounded ego may still be on display here, as he puts himself right into the list of some of the most major judges—Gideon or Jerubaal (Judg 6–8), Barak (Judg 4–5), and Jephthah (Judg 11–12)—specifically mentioning those who led Israel in mighty victories in battle (1Sam 12:11)... Samuel’s wounded pride may be further seen in his presentation of Saul as king: “Behold the king you have chosen, whom you asked for” (12:13, emphasis added). Finally, Samuel’s irritation seems to color his conveyance of the stipulations of the covenant. Ordinarily one can expect the promise of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedient breaking of the covenant (e.g., Deut 28). But Samuel stops short of communicating the blessings, though most translations supply the missing apodosis of conditional blessings with something like “[then] it will be well with you” (12:14; ESV).11 Instead, he seems to omit the promises, and jumps right to the “bad news” of promised curses for disobedience (12:15). [SEAN: I did not see this at first, so I checked the Hebrew. In the ESV, the words "it will be well" are added. Samuel literally just does not finish the thought, but jumps straight to curses for disobedience.]

 

In this sense, the book of 1-2 Samuel continues on the tradition of the book of Genesis, where every likely candidate for the role of Promised Deliverer (first hinted at in Genesis 3:15) is shown to come up short. By their failings, each possible candidate for Promised Deliverer illustrates the need for a future Deliverer who will be greater than each of them. Throughout the books of 1-2 Samuel, the four figures who illustrate the need for Jesus to be greater will be the fallen characters of Eli, Samuel, Saul (and Jonathan), and David. In their own way, each of them will point us to our need for Jesus.

Jonathan, a man after God's own heart. Contrasted with Saul, Jonathan seems to be the person whose decision-making and character we are supposed to follow. Where Saul puts off the battle and hides in a cave, Jonathan goes forward and expects God to act. Where Saul places a rash vow on the people that nearly ends in disaster, Jonathan can immediately see the fallacy of such an action. Saul is easily turned away from doing what God requires; meanwhile Jonathan is willing to follow the Lord even if it results in his own death (1 Samuel 14:43). The one way that Jonathan falls short, where David will not, is in his disobedience of Saul. Though Jonathan is in the right, and though his father is foolish, Jonathan goes out on his own and he speaks against his father to the people. David will also have to contend with Saul, but in each case he will refuse to take action against him. In this way David will be shown to be a greater Jonathan, doing everything that Jonathan did but even better. Jesus is also a greater Jonathan, as in Jesus' earthly ministry he perfectly obeyed and submitted to the voice of the Father. Aside from this, though, Jonathan's actions and wisdom and godliness are examplary, and are worth imitating.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP AND ATTITUDES, we can look on our own guilt and shame and not be overwhelmed by them. We have no need to suppress the truth of our failure to do as we should, because we know that Jesus has won a victory over those failings in our place. Though they are real failings and must be addressed for our sake and the sake of those around us, they do not define our identity. Instead they point us to the one who is greater than our failings; who is Jesus Christ, the greater Samuel, the greater Saul, the greater Jonathan, the greater David, and the greater version of you and me. He wins where we lose, and his victory is given to us.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 91 | 1 Samuel 9-11

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 9:1-11:15

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Worrying signs for Saul, in the details. The commentators Fix and Vannoy, having taken some time to go through the text more slowly, see a number of worrying signs about Saul's character right from the start. Their comments are worth posting here at length: 

Despite Saul’s dashing good looks, his character comes into question as the story unfolds in both subtle and not-so-subtle ways. In the Ancient Near East, good kings were likened to shepherds (e.g. Hammurabi’s prologue), which is how we’ll meet David—keeping his father’s sheep (16:11). Furthermore, Israelite kings were forbidden from amassing horses (Hebrew susim; Deut 17:16). Though somewhat ambiguously, Saul’s character comes into question, as he not only comes from a family who is amassing donkeys (ʾatonot), but he also seems to be failing to “keep” them well. In fact, there may be a subtle indication that Saul is “lying about,” as his father has to go to him and tell him to “get up, go look for the donkeys” (1Sam 9:3), a job he doesn’t trust him to do alone (“take one of the young men with you”). It is not clear where Saul and his servant traverse, but it seems that they did not go too far before Saul was ready to give up out of “concern” for his father’s worry about him (9:5). It is no surprise that his servant knows of Samuel’s residence at Ramah (3:20; 7:15–17), but the fact that he has to inform Saul may further imply Saul’s lack of spiritual life, especially given Samuel’s “renown” (from Hebrew kbd) in Israel (9:6). Saul’s lack of ability to lead is further highlighted in his inability to problem-solve their situation, as he needed to be told of Samuel and then slowly persuaded to go to him by Kish’s nameless servant who even offers to pay for Samuel’s help with his own money (9:6–10)... Though some see Saul’s humble disclaimer (9:21) as genuine, in context it appears to be false humility given his good pedigree introduced in the opening of the narrative (9:1–2), and this may be confirmed by his not protesting his royal treatment at the feast (9:22–24). However he got to bed, Saul’s willingness to lay about sleeping seems to be highlighted by the need for Samuel to call up to Saul on the roof, and like Saul’s father in 9:3 he has to tell him to “get up” (9:26).8 As we meet Saul here in chapter 9, his characterization sets forth a stark contrast with the coming “king after the Lord’s heart” in David (13:14), who will better foreshadow the true Shepherd King of Israel, Jesus Christ.

Still, even with these things being true, Saul starts off well. He scores a major military victory and gives credit to the Lord, and he seems to be genuinely humble as he is still working his field after being selected as king. He is merciful towards those who insult him. He inspires his people. What we see is a figure who appears to be a genuinely good king... except Saul continues to have significant character issues which repeatedly pop up. In his own leadership he fears the people and does not fulfill his responsibilities to the Lord; and in his relationship with David we will later find him to be a mad king, wild with growing jealousy.

How many of us have significant character issues that, if they had the opportunity to be expressed, would be as damaging or more damaging than Saul's? Imagine you had to write an autobiography of The Rise and Fall of (Insert Your Name Here). What part of your story, currently, would make sense as the beginning root of that fall? These would be important things to begin to deal with now. Saul did not become a bad king overnight; he merely had some character flaws that finally had a chance to be expressed.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ACTIONS we can ask a few trusted people, known for their honesty and bluntness, to give us their feedback about troubling issues that they see with our character. Things that may not be a problem now, but that you need to watch out for. Rather than becoming defensive, write those bits of feedback down. Then ask a second person. Then a third. Start with any common areas of concern and then work from there. You might be glad, when you have larger responsibilities or a bigger platform, that you did this kind of work now.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS, CALL, and PRAY methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 90 | 1 Samuel 7-8

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 7:2-8:22

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The problem with kings--right as we're finally about to get one. 

From Genesis up until now, there has been a consistent thread that shows God's plan for a Promised Deliverer from the line of Judah, who will reign as king over his people. Then throughout the book of Judges, we saw that for nearly 400 years the nation was divided and wayward because they did not have such a king. The book of Ruth then showed the story of how God was watching over the line that would eventually produce God's chosen king, from the line of Judah, to rule over the people. But then, all of a sudden, these chapters show us the problem with kings. There are two problems that are shown to us: (1) Like Eli and Samuel, other godly leaders and kings may have children who do not follow in their ways, and who may become corrupt rulers. (2) A human king, to secure himself and safeguard his administration, will take from the people to further his own ends. He will take the peoples' sons, daughters, produce, servants, and flocks, and put them to use--he will provide stability, but the costs of supporting his administration will be significant, even if he is a good ruler. 

It's interesting to look at this. We're about to get David, who seems to finally be the Promised Deliverer. But the narrative is already getting us ready to see that even David has problems. Because David will die, and leave his kingdom to less godly leaders. And David is just a man whose administration has the same drawbacks as anyone else's. And, as we will find out in the coming chapters, David is also a broken and sinful man in need of someone greater to deliver him. Something more is needed.

We need one from the line of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David who will not die, and who has no need of anything. We need him to be something greater than a man (like David) who is after God's own heart. We need someone who will not be overwhelmed by the darkness of sin as David was, but who can be a light in the midst of that darkness, to bring us to the light. We need the true and better David--Jesus, the Messiah, the Rescuer, God-man, the true and rightful King.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP we can look to Jesus, who does what nothing else in the Old Testament narrative has done up until now. We can't get rid of all the bad people as in the Flood, because we are all touched by brokenness. We can't just wait for a better method or system of rules to follow, or Moses' law would have done the trick. We can't hope for the will of the people and decentralized government to act as checks and balances against corruption, otherwise the time of the Judges would have been peace on earth. And here we are finding out that we can't simply wait for a good human ruler either, because they will die or be tempted to lose their way. We are finding out that the solution to our brokenness, and the state of the world, can only be for God himself to come and to rule as King in our midst. And so in our worship, we can pray and long for him to do so. And we can start by allowing God to rule in us, in our hearts, and in our midst.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 89 | Judges 14-16

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Judges 14:1-16:31

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Put emotions in their proper place. Throughout the account of Samson, we see someone who is passionate and fiery, who goes with the flow and does what he feels in the moment--a description that these days, we find troubling when applied to a man, and empowering when applied to a woman. But the truth is that for both men and women, for all Christians alike, Samson's story is a cautionary tale. The person who reacts out of hot anger, falls madly in love at first sight, satisfies their urges whenever they have them, reveals sensitive information to get people off his back, shoves people away and becomes bitter when they don't respond to him afterwards, wanders the land without commitments like a free spirit, and likes to blow off steam by picking a good fight--these are all character traits of Samson's, and all of them are negative things that need to be avoided. Emotions are God-given parts of our humanity that deserve to be acknowledged in their proper place. But we don't live out of our emotions. We live out of what God has revealed to us, what he's shown us, and what we know to be right. Then we lean into the way of life that we have chosen, with all of our emotions and passion and excitement. We can celebrate, laugh, love, and wonder better than Samson could ever dream of! But we don't lead ourselves out of our eyes, our stomache, or our hearts--we follow God first, and then we let all those other things come in afterwards.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ATTITUDES we might respond to this reading by being a little more reflective, choosing not to say or do what we feel in the moment, but first seeking the Lord. However, emotions are a big part of who we are. Once we know the direction that God is pointing us in, we should enjoy that with all the emotion and passion that God has given us.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), CALL (Confess, Ask, Love, Listen), and PRAY (Praise, Repent, Ask, Yield) methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 88 | Judges 19-21, 12-13

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Judges 19:1-21:25 and 12:8-13:25

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The chronology seems a little strange here. One of the parenthetical remarks in Judges 20:27 says that Phinehas the son of Eleazar was the High Priest at this time--this reflects a time not long after the wilderness journeys had been concluded, and is obviously much earlier in Israel's history than the "300 years" between the conquering of the land and the time of Jephthah that we saw in previously in Day #86. Steinmann seems to have made some kind of mistake here.

They did what they thought was the right thing. One interesting thing to me is the constant refrain, repeated after the most horrible episodes in Judges, that the people were doing what they thought was right. The absolute worst things in the entire book of Judges were done by people who were trying to be moral. Isn't that horrible? Jephthah's tragic sacrifice of his daughter was based on what he culturally believed was the right thing to do. The leaders' convoluted decision-making, which resulted in the "best solution" being to slaughter an innocent village and abduct their daughters in order to provide wives for the wicked people of Benjamin, was similarly tragic. If they continued on this way, they would have eventually killed the whole project of Israel on their own, and the epitaph on their national tombstone would have been, "they were trying to do the right thing." This is what the result is for us every time that we try to proceed from something other than the Word of God which he has given to us. We do not have the wisdom apart from God that we think we do. Knowing this should make us, as a group, a "Bible people"--people who put a premium on seeking God through accurate knowledge of his Word (worship through learning), putting what he has revealed into action (worship through morality), and then thanking him for his guidance (worship through experience)--with all of these put together, all defined by God, and not by us. This is how we find God's blessing: by seeking a tombstone that says "he sought the Lord all his days," instead of one that says "they were trying to do the right thing."

"We shall surely die, for we have seen God" (the Angel of the LORD). In Judges 13, the identity of the stranger is slowly revealed. First he comes as a "man of God." Then we are told that he is "the angel of the LORD." Then when asked, he says that his name is "too wonderful" to speak--which is strange, because we know the names of at least two biblical angels, those being Michael and Gabriel. Something is going on here. Finally when he goes up with the flames to heaven, those who see him announce that "we have seen God" and that the man/angel is to be identified as "the LORD... [who] announced to us such things as these" (Judges 13:22-25). The text allows this identification to stand, and provides no corrective comment asserting the contrary. This means that not only did Manoah and his wife think that God physically appeared to them as a man, but so (apparently) did the final author/editor of the book of Judges. This is the one who is with God (distinct from him), and yet mysteriously is God (identified as him), who many years later would eventually "become flesh and dwell among us" (John 1:14). GotQuestions.org states that "The precise identity of the 'angel of the Lord' is not given in the Bible. However, there are many important 'clues' to his identity. There are Old and New Testament references to 'angels of the Lord,' 'an angel of the Lord,' and 'the angel of the Lord.' It seems when the definite article 'the' is used, it is specifying a unique being, separate from the other angels. The angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities of God." How this works would eventually give rise within Judaism to "two powers" or "Jewish binitarian" theology in the time before Jesus, and within the Christian Scriptures would become the foundation for the doctrine of the Trinity. He is present, not just in the pages of the New Testament, but also pops up and makes appearances throughout the Old Testament as well.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP this reading should cause us to turn to God and seek his wisdom, his presence, his blessing, and his Word. Let's not just merely settle for doing whatever we think is best. Let's seek the Lord together.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS, CALL, and PRAY methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 87 | 1 Samuel 4-6

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 4:2-7:1

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

God is sovereign; he will not be controlled by us. In 1 Samuel 4-6, I see an attempt by a spiritually confused people to try to summon God and get him on side with their plans. But don't we still do this today? So often, we relate to God as if we have a contract, dictated by us, under which God is supposed to to render physical and spiritual blessings in return for some form of worship to be determined by us (moral worship, conditioned by our own personal or cultural standards, if we are fairly conscientious people; emotional worship, centered around the music, art, geography, and expressions that we connect to best, if we tend to lean more towards the experiential; worship through study and learning, if we prefer to pull things apart and put them back together, the final form of which will be determined by us and what we find sensible). We determine what battles God should bless, and then we haul our own personal emblem of God's iron-bound duty to us -whether that be our Greek Bible, our church tax receipt, or our tambourine- onto that battle field and expect God to do what we require. But God is sovereign. God is self-determining. God sees more than you and me. God will not be contained in a box, or summoned by us. He will show himself to be God in allowing our defeat for trying such a thing, and then he alone will win the day over the forces of Satan, sin, death, and hell, in ways that will show that he alone is mighty to save. This is what he does in the reading above. It shows us that God will indeed win the battle, but not on our behalf, when we insist on setting the terms. So let's come to God in humility, with a posture of submission based on a foundation of trust. When we acknowledge God as sovereign -as King- we will see him move forward, with us following in his trail, to see him do more than we would have ever even thought to ask.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR WORSHIP this reading shows me how completely in control of things God is, even when we don't see that in real time. In the world of the Israelites, they probably thought that God had lost: after all, he didn't come through by fighting their battle for them. The truth is, God was more victorious than they ever imagined: in time God would show himself to be miraculously victorious over Israel's enemies and oppressors--and victorious over Israel as well.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS, CALL, and PRAY methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 86 | Judges 10-12

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read Judges 10:6-12:7

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Piecing together the story of Israel's wandering from God. It seems noteworthy that during the time when the priesthood was corrupt (see yesterday's reading in 1 Samuel 1-4) and around the time when King Jerubbaal and his men were leading Israel into idolatry (Judges 8:27), in that context "the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth" (Judges 10:6). I can understand why they wandered in the context of that kind of spiritual climate at that time in history. By this time it had been over 300 years (Judges 11:26) since Israel had entered into the Promised Land--which is a very long time; it's almost twice as long as Canada has been a country all the way from its beginning up until our own time. But alongside all the religious corruption, there had been no Promised Deliverer, no final victory over the people of Canaan, no king from the line of Judah, and for the people it might have been thinking, "so, is this all there is?" about the Promised Land. They had grown to forget the troubles of slavery, and had reached dissatisfaction, and in the context of a broken religious system that did not reflect God's wishes -they did not know that God was actively dealing with the corruption at the heart of it, or that he was slowly raising up the family of the coming King- they wandered. A couple of things: (1) What we're seeing here is some of the downstream impact of the decisions of Jerubbaal, Hophni, and Phinehas--when we see the spiritual impact that their actions had on the people, it becomes clearer why God dealt with them, noticeably, as he did. (2) The responsibility is not solely on the bad leaders, though. God holds the people personally accountable for their actions regardless of what other factors are involved (Judges 10:10-14). We might share the blame when we do wrong, but though we might be able to justifiably spread the blame, that does not mean that God considers it any more diminished in our own case.

In the absence of God, unity breaks down. It is during this time of religious breakdown that Israel fights its first real, protracted civil war. There had been close calls before which had always been averted by a shared unity around an identity of being God's people. But now when that bond is the weakest we see the ambitious Ephraimites, jealous for their own glory, going to war with the people of Gilead, leading to a death toll that was in the tens of thousands. When we lose our unity around God, we begin to compete with each other for the glory that should belong to God, or which can only be given by God. We compete with and battle against one another, and fight battles of personality over who gets the most recognition or whose authority should be the most respected. Without the Lord, God's people -all people- are a people divided.

In the absence of God, what makes sense to man ruins many lives. There are many decisions in today's reading, and throughout the book of Judges (as well as beyond), which demonstrate unbelievable decisions that made sense to people who weren't working with God's Word. Jephthah's decision to maintain his integrity and morality by burning his daughter alive is high up there on the list--there is a certain amount of inspiration because of the dedication of both Jephthah and his daughter to attempt to honor the Lord, but it is mixed with sadness and horror combined with the knowledge that this was an abomination that God never wanted.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ATTITUDES I think that this chapter helps to illustrate pretty well what is also true in our own day. There have been some things in North American Christianity that have led a whole generation to walk away from Christianity as a bunch of controlling nonsense used by people in power, who don't apply its commands to themselves, regarding a God who hasn't done anything interesting lately (unless, like in the days of the Judges, you happen to take the time to look). The result is a fracturing of society, socially and morally, and a sense of restlessness and anxiety as people wander around aimlessly and try to do the best they can with the insight that they have. What is the solution? It's to return to God, regardless of what might be done by people who seem to be his major representatives (like Eli and his sons, God is likely dealing with the modern equivalents in ways you and I can't see). As we come closer to him, he brings us closer to each other as well. As we seek him, he gives us wisdom that is better than our own. It all starts with leaning in to God and casting our cares on him.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS, CALL, and PRAY methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

ESV Chronological Plan, Day 85 | 1 Samuel 1-4

LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?

Read 1 Samuel 1:1-4:1

THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The value of reading chronologically. There are a lot of ways to read through the Bible in a year, and each of them brings out something a little bit different. It's good to mix it up each year because each plan will help you see different things. Reading canonically (from Genesis straight through to Revelation, in order) will give you the chance to form a little bit of a relationship with each book of the Bible at a time as you walk through the plan. It will also keep you from bouncing around between genres too much; it will give you most of the history first, then the devotionally rich wisdom books, then the more difficult to understand prophets, and then finally the New Testament Gospels, Acts, and Letters (and Revelation, whose final chapters are a fantastic send-off). You could also go through a themed plan that will generally try to break up the Old Testament, with some New Testament material stuck in between. This keeps you from having to go 2/3rds of the year before you get to the Gospels. I like this, and I have my own plan that usually starts with Mark, goes into the Torah (Genesis-Deuteronomy), uses that material to help us understand Hebrews and Matthew, goes back into the Old Testament histories, then hits the four major prophets before jumping into Revelation, the Gospel of John, and John's letters, then finishes up the minor prophets before hitting Luke and Acts (with the rest of the New Testament letters inserted or coming afterwards, chronologically). There is also a great value to doing what we are doing here, reading the Bible chronologically. In this plan, we are starting to see how different events relate to each other in a way that we wouldn't understand any other way. So the idolatrous and fratricidal legacy of the maniacal King Jerubbaal (otherwise known as Gideon!) and his son -who he named "my daddy's the king!" Abimelech- in Judges sets the stage for the love story of Ruth, through which God is slowly bringing to fruition the bloodline of his chosen King, the initial representation of which will be David who will be raised up by Samuel, who we are just now meeting in 1 Samuel, which will bring an end to the leaderless days in which "everyone did what was  right in his own eyes, for there was no king in Israel" (Judges 17:6). Doesn't that just enrich the story in an entirely different way from what you normally get? Then when we jump back into some of the really dark stories ahead in Judges, we'll read them in a different way knowing that God is already at work at this time getting people ready for David. This format will also be very helpful for putting the prophets and their ministries in context, which Steinmann's chronological Bible reading plan does better than any of the other ones, as well as giving us a fuller picture with information from all the Gospels of Jesus' earthly ministry and the situations that gave rise to Paul's letters.

Eli breaks my heart. To me, Eli is the most tragic out of all of the people in the Bible, because he falls under the clear judgment of God even though it is clear that he loves the Lord very much. But after Eli rebukes his sons for their awful corruption (1 Samuel 2:22-25), God confronts him for still being too "hands off" in dealing with his sons, saying "you scorn my sacrifices... and honor your sons above me... those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed... [so] the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house... in distress you will look with an envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants of your house shall die by the sword of men" (1 Samuel 2:29-33). So, this is not just a light sort of judgment. In fact, the text goes on to imply that the surviving line of Eli's house will not only universally die young, but that they shall be continually despised and impoverished. And Eli, because he loves the Lord, humbly accepts this judgment: "It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him" (1 Samuel 3:18). Why is the judgment so severe on someone who clearly loved the Lord so much? Because Eli, as the high priest, had the authority to deal with his sons in the manner that was appropriate for two corrupt, sexually predatorial, thieving, abusive leaders who were (under their father) occupying the highest office in the land--the sentence was death, which would have been personally painful for him. It also likely would have wiped out his own blood line, and necessitated adopting someone to raise up in their place--someone like Samuel, who God had already provided. (1 Chronicles 6:16-29 already considers Samuel, descended from the tribe of Ephraim, to be a Levite based on his relationship with Eli.) But Eli, in not dealing with the situation for personal reasons, showed in his actions that despite his deep love for God, in practice he valued his sons, and his own continued family name, above the wellbeing of the people and above the name of God. I think there's a good caution here for leaders in the church, and for parents, and for anyone in significant areas of responsibility--God will not hold those guiltless who turn a blind eye to the evil done by others, especially when they are in the position to do something about it.

DO | HOW DO WE RESPOND?

How can we respond in our worship, attitude, and actions? IN OUR ATTITUDES I think that the first reflection would give us more of a hunger to read through the Bible, not just once but many times, knowing that there are a whole variety of ways that we can glean new things from what we see in there. The second reflection would also make us more wary of keeping our mouth shut and averting our gaze when it is in our power to make a difference for good--God may hold us personally responsible for the brokenness that we permit to continue, especially when it is in our power to change it. IN OUR WORSHIP the first reflection would increase our sense of awe that God, through multiple different authors, languages, genres, locations, and times, would weave such an intricately structured book that we could draw so much from it by looking at it in so many different ways--and yet be completely unified, without error or contradiction. The second reflection would give us a healthy respect for God. He does not hold us guiltless when it is within our power to do right. IN OUR ACTIONS the first reflection would cause us to make time to read Scripture more eagerly. There are many plans and systems that work for different people, so you can find the one that works the best for you. The second reflection may lead you to think of a situation that you can deal with that you know you've been putting off. If you can make a difference, but you have been neglecting to do so for personal reasons (i.e. you know you would succeed but you're not sure you want to disappoint/offend/hurt someone or be thought of negatively), ask whether God might be holding you responsible to do something about it.

PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US TO GOD?

Whether in response to anything pointed out here, or to something else in your Bible reading time, take a few moments before you close up your Bible to pray in response to God. If you need a format for prayer, both the ACTS, CALL, and PRAY methods are helpful ways to stay consistent.

-Sean

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P.S. Whether or not you are regularly following along with this reading plan, I hope that the LOOK, THINK, DO, PRAY format is helpful. If you decide to adopt this in your own reading practice, let me know how it works for you. If you change it up, let me know what you've found helpful in adapting it!