365 Reflections

1 Samuel 17:55–56 (ESV)   As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” And Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” 56 And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” 1 Samuel seems to contain a contradiction. Earlier in 1 Samuel 16, when Saul's servants seek out a man to play the harp for his terrifying spirit, Saul is made well aware of whose son David is and he even sends word to Jesse to keep him in his service. So this question after the Goliath event sounds contradictory. Didn't Saul already know this?  This is not hard to explain, however. In the first instance, Saul was looking for relief for a terrorizing spirit. Now having received that relief he may have altogether forgotten how it came about that David was taken from Jesse's house. Another reason he asks for this information here is that of the promises he now has to keep for Dav...

Yes, we can also talk about the spiritual lessons from 1 Samuel 17 for our personal walk of faith. Namely, we should look at the weapons issue repeatedly discussed throughout the chapter. Goliaths' weapons are detailed. Saul's armor is offered. And the battle is won with the least expected items. 1 Samuel 17:40 (ESV) Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch . His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. 1 Samuel 17:50 (ESV) So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone , and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. The God we serve does not operate through the weapons we think are most powerful. We consider technological advances to be the greatest asset today. Yet God still works through the foolishness of preaching. We consider fame, notoriety, money, and charisma to win the day. God can take a southern boy from t...

1 Samuel 17:32–34 (ESV) And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” 33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father... For forty days Israel has failed the test of Goliath. They have hid from the uncircumcised giant and lost courage in the face of his incessant verbal opposition. This is the same army that experienced great victories over the Philistines previously. It wasn't long before in 1 Samuel that Saul's reign is described as follows: 1 Samuel 14:52 (ESV) There was hard fighting against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant man, he attached him to himself. Under Saul, the army has gone from fighting hard to weary hiding. David's words are poigna...

1 Samuel 17:17–18 (ESV) And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. 18 Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” 1 Samuel 17 could be studied for years. It empowers God's people who will regularly face the obstacles of institutionalized religious form represented by Saul's leadership AND the enemy of our souls represented by Goliath. In David, we have both a picture of Jesus and an inspiration to greater faith. Here in verse 17, David challenges the assumption that great moments are the result of great ambition. For his arrival on the field of battle that day was not because Saul needed his soothing songs and in no way did Saul expect David's sling ability to have any impact. No, David's arrival was because his three older brothers needed bread and cheese to ...

There's a difference between living under the spirit of our age and living in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. Goliath's question to Israel is important for many theological reasons. Notice how he sees the Lord's people: 1 Samuel 17:8 (ESV)   He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. "Are you not servants of Saul?" A question fraught with errors. The people of Israel were called to be servants of God. But Saul had so manipulated the circumstances for his authority and importance in the mind of the people they became associated with HIS servants instead of the Lord.  This passage paints a picture for us. You have the army of Israel as a shell of their calling. God called them to be a kingdom of priests to bless the Earth. Instead, Saul dragged them down into an abyss of confusion and fear. ...

1 Samuel 16:14 (ESV) Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him. 1 Samuel has a lot of passages that could trouble theologians. This is one of them. How can the Lord Who is good send a harmful spirit to torment Saul?  The spirit so troubled Saul that his court noticed its effects: 1 Samuel 16:15 (ESV) And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. Now some have chosen to believe that the Old Testament writers tended to see everything in the world as directly from God since God created all things at the beginning of the Biblical account. So what we would have here is the way those who saw it happening would have perceived this spirit. But such a view requires serious leaps of Biblical interpretation. Not to mention the scripture's own claim of authority (2 Timothy 3:16-17). If this passage is "God-breathed" then why the erred human perspective on what happens ...

1 Samuel 16:18 (ESV)   One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.” Where do we get the idea that a safe and conflict-free environment is the best arena in which to raise a child or grow ourselves? This is not how the Lord grows His children. Why do we kick against God's repeated manner of training in hopes that we can spare our loved ones and/or ourselves the hardship of conflict when we KNOW it will ultimately come our way? What does the servant of Saul say about David? Mind you, Saul is looking for someone to play the harp so he can get through wicked fits brought upon him for his rebellion. And you would have it in your mind (as I do I) that a harp player is someone who has not exactly had a rough and tumble upbringing. Surely the harp player in YOUR mind is someone with no callouses and smooth skin....

What is the measure of a man? If we take our cues from culture, we may miss the very man God would use! When I consider the choice of David in 1 Samuel 16 I am struck by how many different people groups overlooked him as God's man. This speaks to us today. For who has not been rejected by one of these groups at some point or another? 1 Samuel 16 is the proof text that the only measurement that matters in our lives the one God gives. Consider the groups: First, David's own father Jesse disregards him as a potential choice to succeed Saul. Jesse leaves David out with the sheep. Now I have heard some say that this was because David was the son of Jesse but perhaps not the son of his brother's mother. That is pure speculation and the text says nothing of the sort. But for whatever reason, Jesse is not able to see God's potential in David and leaves him out of the selection process altogether. Second, David's brothers reject him. This doesn't happen until...

It had to be painful for Samuel to watch Saul descend into the abyss of immoral leadership. The nation's hopes were placed in a king and the very first king they got led them into a national decline. Sometimes civil leaders will really let us down. They will follow paths of self-adulation or protection (see Saul here) or lead the nation to immoral decisions. They may overtax, overspend, or over engage in wars costing the nation years of work, stress, and worry. This is Israel's potential situation going forward from Saul. 1 Samuel 15:34–16:1 (ESV)   Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35 And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. 1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethle...

1 Samuel 15:10–11 (ESV) The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. Does God regret as we understand it? This is the great question of 1Samuel 15. Saul was commanded to utterly destroy Amalek and its king from under heaven. But he took God’s command only as far as he preferred. For this the Lord describes his feeling to Samuel as “regret.” Now scores of theologians have studied this chapter to reconcile what seems like God’s unexpected disappointment with Saul here and God’s knowledge of the end from the beginning. Many theories have resulted and even some resolve around “open deism” in which God discovers the end along with us and through our choices. This of course rejects countless texts on the sovereign knowledge of God. So how are we to take this? Simply. The Lord is responding to what He knew was going ...

Sometimes I think we imagine that God is mostly disappointed with us. That He puts up with us and bears with us because He has to (after all He is love), but most of the time our glaring weaknesses weary Him and make His day miserable. Of course, this is the devil’s doing in our minds. The truth of scripture bears out that the world has to get staunch-raving evil before God is totally weary of us. And the stories in the Old Testament remind us with each passing character that God is patient, loving and kind to His very flawed inconsistent servants. Saul is a case study of this. His lineage will not hold the kingdom, that has already been stated from the mishap of offering the sacrifice instead of waiting for Samuel to arrive in 1 Samuel 13. His next great gaff will happen in the chapter to come in 1 Samuel 15 where his own kingship will be taken from him and the anointing placed on one soon to come. Yes, God will regret making Saul king and we’ll talk about that next. But for now...