Lecture 33.docx

Alright, from the introduction we now move to the major themes of Samuel. And I refer to the first major theme as what I call the instruments of Yahweh. And certainly as we take a look at A and B, they go together, and also C and when we get to D, because here we're dealing with the individuals and...

Alright, from the introduction we now move to the major themes of Samuel. And I refer to the first major theme as what I call the instruments of Yahweh. And certainly as we take a look at A and B, they go together, and also C and when we get to D, because here we're dealing with the individuals and particularly their ministry, the ministry of the priests, that was focused at the tabernacle, the beginning of the book. And of course as they ministered before the Lord and in the midst of the tabernacle, the most holy place was the Ark of the Covenant. And as we go through the book of Samuel, we see that the Ark of the Covenant plays a very, very important role. It is taken into battle. It is captured. It shows its superiority over its sent back into Israel and becomes either a curse or a blessing, depending upon how the Israelites and the individual Israelites handle the Ark of the Covenant. But we have not seen the Ark of the Covenant mentioned in the book of Judges. We haven't seen much of this kind of priestly ministry that is going to be reestablished as we get into the narrative. Now I don't think it ever completely went away, but certainly it is not a vital part of the narrative of Judges, because Judges is emphasizing Israel's religious declension, how they turned away from Yahweh, how they turned to idols. And so therefore there is meager mention of anything to do with the central worship site and with the priests and the Ark of the Covenant. But now it comes right before us. In fact, as we get into Samuel, we are put right into the worship of Israel in 1 3, the fact that Alkanah, this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. And so as the book begins, we are taken right back into Israel's worship, and this man who leads his family in worship and sacrifices to the Lord as they come to Shiloh where the tabernacle had been taken and set up and actually a more permanent type of worship center had been developed there that was ultimately after the Ark of the Covenant was captured was destroyed by the Philistines, which means obviously that a new worship center, the place that Deuteronomy appointed to would ultimately be established. And of course that takes place in the book of Samuel. So they have the priests and certainly we see in this book, not only the beginning with Eli's priesthood, but then how God brings judgment upon Eli's house, and yet through Samuel, priestly ministry is reestablished, there is offering sacrifices. And interestingly, one of the great contrasts between Saul and David is going to be Saul's lack of concern for the priests, in fact his killing of the priests, 1 Samuel 21 and 22, and David's concern for the priests and for the reestablishment of the priesthood once he becomes king. So one of the great contrasts is going to be their response and by comparison as well, the fact that before Saul becomes king, even during the time of Samuel, the Ark is returned to Israel and comes and is in the Kiryat-Jerim where it stays during the rule of Saul, it is only David who ultimately will bring in 2 Samuel 6 the Ark of the Covenant from Kiryat-Jerim to Jerusalem. So that Saul has no concern about the Ark and David in fact is interesting tied into the narrative that as he defeats the Philistines, as he takes Jerusalem is now the way is open for him to bring the Ark to his capital, he does so in 2 Samuel chapter 6. And another key aspect in Samuel is the prophets, and I'll bring that all the way down for you, the prophets who bring the Lord. Once again this had been rare as far as the narrative of judges was concerned. The one time when a man of God confronts Israel in Judges chapter 10 there was repentance, but certainly we don't have an ongoing prophet who continually speaks to the people and the people respond until we get to Samuel. And we can tie the very end of chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4, 321 of 1 Samuel, the Lord appeared again at Shiloh because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord. Thus the word of the Lord came to all Israel. And all Israel knew, 320, from Dan even to Beersheba, that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. And so with Samuel we have a renewal of prophetic ministry and all of Israel knows that there is a prophet who is speaking the word of the Lord. Now there's a sense in which there had been no prophetic message to Israel since Joshua and Joshua 23 and 24. And even Joshua was not a prophet, Joshua was only reflecting and referring back to what Moses the prophet had said. That Israel was not able to follow the Lord, that they should recognize in humbleness their tendency toward disobedience and failure. And so he can be as brutally blunt as we saw in Joshua 24 as Moses had been in Deuteronomy chapter 31, you will not obey the Lord. All right, but since you said you will, this is what is required. And if you do so, if you fear the Lord and obey in this way, this is how He will bless you. If not, certainly judgment is going to come in them with that prophetic statement and it will come because you will be unfaithful. You are unfaithful, you will be unfaithful, the judgment will come. But really the last time that a prophet has assembled all of Israel to hear the word of the Lord was Joshua in chapter 24. And as I said, he is not bringing his own prophetic message but just as restating the prophetic message that had been given to Israel by Moses. Now Samuel is raised up by the Lord first and foremost in the first three chapters dedicated by his mother to the Lord where he hears the word of the Lord and gives that to Eli and then ultimately to all Israel. Now once again, you know, Samuel has a precursor even in 1 Samuel. In 1 Samuel 2.27 a man of God came to Eli and said, so we shouldn't believe that alright, there were no prophets in Israel between Moses and Samuel. There was the man of God of Judges 10, there is the man of God of 1 Samuel chapter 2. But it's almost like they're just fleeting. They come, they deliver the word of the Lord and that's it. But an ongoing sustained ministry of a prophet called by the Lord, given the word of the Lord, we haven't had such a ministry in Israel since Moses. And we'll take a look at some of the similarities in just a few minutes between Samuel and Moses. And this then becomes a hallmark as we go through the book. God raises up prophets. Samuel. Samuel will be for a time a judge, but he is a prophet and even when no longer he rules, no longer is he the one who judges Israel, it turns to the rule to Saul and then to David. And yet until he dies, Samuel continues his prophetic ministry. And here again a great contrast between Saul and David. Saul ultimately disavows and disobeys the word of the Lord that comes to him through the prophet. So much so the very end of his life when he's looking for the word of the Lord, when he's seeking out a prophet, there is no prophet. And so he turns to a seer. He turns to a medium so that he can get divine revelation. And of course he does get divine revelation with a message that obviously was not what he was anticipating hearing. And David, that ultimately God gives today the first Gadd and then Nathan. So that the prophetic word of the Lord thus says the Lord continues to come in very interestingly as we take a look at David, David is responsive to the word of the Lord which comes to him. Again great contrast between Saul and David. So we have a renewal of priestly activity. We have a renewal of prophetic activity particularly Samuel, Gadd, Nathan. And certainly the book is known for the establishment of a new kind of leader. One who is at times referred to as the anointed one. Now up until this point anointed had been used of those things that had been used in the worship of the Lord that as part of their consecration anointed with oil. The vessel set apart for the tabernacle and the priests. Now the anointed one becomes a title from this point on particularly for the king and introduced to us by that great theologian Hannah in 1 Samuel chapter 2. The very end of her prayer, her praise, her song, she talks about Yahweh and says in 2 and he will give strength to his king and will exalt the horn of his anointed one. And by poetic parallelism, alright, give strength is synonymous with exalt the horn and king is parallel to anointed one. The king is going to be a messiah. He's going to be an anointed one. And significantly when first Saul and then David are initiated into the kingship, Samuel does what first? He anoints them. In fact it's interesting the king who is referred to more as an anointed one in Samuel is Saul because David recognizes he is the Lord's anointed one. But David also is the Lord's anointed. And of course then that title that was given to Israel's king, Yahweh's anointed one, his messiah, then particularly as we get into the latter prophets that term and the greater David is looked and used particularly not just the latter prophets but also in the writings in Daniel that this anointed one is none other than the king who is going to ultimately come in fulfillment of the Davidic promise. So the anointed one, but he is also referred to, Nagid, as a ruler, a leader, sometimes translated in the New American Standard as prince. But now the term which comes to dominate is the term melek, king. And this looks at the man's authority, the man's position. So anointed has the idea of the fact of his choice by Yahweh is setting apart. The fact that he was a ruler, a leader, that God has set him apart to stand before the people, to lead the people, yes to judge the people. And because Yahweh had chosen him and given him this position then he had ultimate authority over the nation. He had ultimate authority over the people. He was the authoritative one. He was the king. And you might want to take a look at the night articles on each one of these words and get within your mind somewhat of the similarity and yet distinction when the narrator refers to a king as an anointed one or as a ruler, as a leader, as a prince, as opposed predominantly to when he was referred to and looked at as king. So it was interesting again going back to Hannah that the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king. So the king's authority is going to come from his relationship with Yahweh. He's going to be an instrument of Yahweh and Yahweh displaying his authority and his control over the earth. And he will be able to exercise that kind of authority because he is uniquely Yahweh's anointed one. And of course the echoes of 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 10, going back to what we've seen in Genesis chapter 49, the ruler who is going to come from Judah, from the king who's going to arise from Jacob in Numbers chapter 24. These revelations that were given, kings who are going to come from Abraham in Genesis chapter 18. Now we see how this is starting to become a reality within the history of Israel. So these instruments of Yahweh, and this again shows us where as Yahweh's work was more hidden in judges, we now see an emphasis upon the initiative and upon the involvement of Yahweh in the book of Samuel. Now as is many times brought out, Samuel is really a book of three men. The narrative concerning these three major men that God raises up. That as opposed to the judges whose ministry have been more tribal in orientations, we talked about last week, now these men once again establish as it were a ministry that is directed to all of the nation. Beginning with Samuel and then obviously Saul and then David. Now Samuel is one of those sung heroes of the Old Testament. The average believer doesn't know very much about Samuel at all. But Samuel played an important role. Now as you have just completed the reading of judges and you realize how desperate the situation was. The last two judges the Lord raised up in the chronology of the judges, Jephthah and Samson with the Ammonite and Philistine threats. And certainly as we come to Samuel we realize that judges is right, that Samson only began to deliver Israel from the Philistines. That that deliverance is not complete, in fact will not be complete. As far as the judges are concerned they will not finally have rest from the Philistines. Realize how judges really in chapters 13 to 16 in the Samson cycle has not brought the narrative full circle. Where a judge was both a deliverer who brought complete and total victory over the enemy and then judged over Israel, at least that portion of Israel and around his tribe. And so that the land had rest for X amount of years. That's been the narrative until you get to Samson. Now the Samson narrative ends on a great victory. The Samson narrative ends on a great victory. Where Samson in his death is able to put to death the leaders and the mighty men, the military leaders of the Philistines. But he dies with them. I mean he we can put this way Samson is the first judge to die in battle. And he only begins to deliver Israel from the Philistines. There's almost a sense when you get to the end of Judges chapter 16 you say and what's the rest of the story? All right Samson dies this is this is not the way the narrative is supposed to end. You gave us the paradigm back in chapter 2. You've shown us these these narrative cycles five times among the major judges as we've seen. Author, Holy Spirit, what happened with Samson? Well you read the story. Samson played games with his judgeship. That's the Essex interpretation, paraphrase. He toyed with Yahweh's calling. And so Yahweh did fulfill his calling through Samson but because of the lacks in Samson there is not a completion of the cycle. Brothers the the cycle doesn't get completed. Brothers the the cycle doesn't get completed that is left hanging at the end of Judges 16 until first Samuel chapter 7. And Samuel completes what Samson began. By the way there's a hint of that as Samuel begins. First Samuel 1.1 now there was a certain man from Rethathim, Zolophim from the whole country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah, etc. As you start reading Samuel that should that should immediately say I've read that kind of an introduction before. Where did you read that introduction before? Judges 13.2. And there was a certain man of Zorah of the family of the Danites whose name was Manoah. And by way interestingly Manoah has a wife who is barren. How does Samuel begin? There was a certain man from whose name was and he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah and the other Penena. Penena had children but Hannah had no children. You should read those two verses. I've heard this before. That's the same way the narrative of Samson began in Judges. It is the way the narrative is going to concentrate upon the son who's going to come from the barren woman, the woman who had no children, and Samuel. In other words Samuel completes what Samson began. And that's why we would we would say his his birth and his ministry as overlapping Samson's. As I said in other words we go back to his birth but that's filling in details because Samuel's going to become the completion of Samson's deliverance. What he began is what Samuel completes. And really the Samson cycle historically only comes to an end with 1 Samuel 7. With verse 13, So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come any more within the border of Israel and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Here is where the victory began with Samson ends. With Samuel's military victory, which of course was the Lord's victory. And verse 15, Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. However, his judging was on a circuit where he would leave Ramah and go to Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah. Basically he judged all Israel but he judged all Israel from Benjamin and Ephraim. In other words we still have basically a man who is more associated with the tribes living as with Israel as a whole. His impact upon Israel as a whole was not so much as a judge but as a prophet. And of course he is going to have individuals, sons who are going to be like the two sons of Eli, sons of Beel, sons of wickedness that is going to be the rationale for the victory. And he is going to have a son who is going to be like the two sons of Eli, sons of Beel, sons of wickedness that is going to be the rationale for Israel's seeking a king. But here is Samuel. Now Samuel is first introduced in chapter 2 as a righteous contrast to the sons of Eli. The sons of Eli were worthless men, sons of El, and only were going to bring God's judgment. And Eli's problem was he did not judge them, he did not discipline them, he allowed them to bring this credit and this favor upon the tabernacle, the house of the Lord. So first Samuel is associated with, as we might put it this way, a renewal in the priesthood. He becomes as a leader, as a Levite but not a priest, as in the line of Levite but not in the family of Aaron. But the family of Aaron has been bankrupt at this point spiritually through Ahophniah and Phineas, these two worthless sons of Eli. And so Samuel is the anti-house of Eli. And basically leads Israel religiously and becomes the conduit for reform in the house of Eli. And becomes the conduit for reform in the priesthood. Then he is a prophet and in his prophetic ministry with an impact upon all Israel, he leads them to repentance. In 1 Samuel chapter 7, as a repentant people, God gives them the victory over the Philistines and he becomes the judge. So he renews the priesthood, he restores the prophetic word to Israel, and he is their culminating and in many ways their best judge. Except he is not a very good dad. But then neither will David be a very good dad. It goes back to Judges chapter 2, the Achilles heel of Israel in the Old Testament was not being able to pass on faithfully what they had learned from Yahweh to their children. It can be true of Samuel, it can be true of David. The grandson of Moses probably was also true of Moses as well. By the way nothing is said about Joshua's son so I don't know whether he was a good father or not in a religious sense. But I get this from Bergen's Cowboy, the Cowboy of the Old Testament. He was a good father or not in a religious sense. But I get this from Bergen's commentary and it is interesting because Deuteronomy 18, Deuteronomy 17 had predicted the king, Deuteronomy 18, Moses had predicted an ultimate prophet like himself. And it is interesting that Samuel becomes in many ways a second Moses. Moses had led the people, judged the people, had led the people in victory by his direction, not by his direct involvement in military activities, and had been the Lord's prophet who spoke the Lord's word to Israel, who himself was the one that the Lord used to establish the priesthood. You see all then the similarities is basically that what God does in Samuel is raise up another Moses for Israel, for the whole nation. And Bergen brings up the many echoes of Moses that is seen in the Samuel narrative. Particularly as you read the first seven chapters of 1 Samuel you keep hearing these echoes that remind you of the first seven chapters of the first Samuel. You keep hearing these echoes that remind you of Moses. And particularly down here he functioned as a judge, he functioned as a prophet, he built an altar to Yahweh. He was not a priest but performed priestly activities. He had two sons. He set apart non-family members to lead Israel. He functioned as a transitional figure in Israel's history. And many other characteristics that Bergen shows that you should read the Samuel account, particularly the first three chapters of 1 Samuel and then chapter seven, and you should be saying this sounds a lot like Moses because he was a lot like Moses. And is really responsible for Samuel chapter seven for establishing, well reversing, judges chapter two. First Samuel chapter seven verses three and four, Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the astra from among you, and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him alone, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the sons of Israel remove the bales and the astras, and serve the Lord alone. There is the reversal of what had taken place in judges chapter two that has led to the whole period of judges, where they had turned away from the Lord and embraced the bales and the astras. Now here is Sam, Sam, Samuel. That was a slip of the tongue. Samson did no such thing. He toyed with his position. Samuel very, very seriously here confronts Israel. Here's your problem. There needs to be a reversal. First Samuel seven is a reversal of judges chapter two. Don't get so involved in all of the outward display that you miss the inner importance of what has taken place here. And so Israel repented. They removed the bales and the astras and served the Lord alone. And so it leads through Samuel's life. Israel embraced the Lord, turned away from idolatry. And Saul in the next generation becomes the heir of Samuel's religious renewal, and so does David in his reign as well. And the first part of Solomon. And in fact the idols are put away. The idols do not become center once again in Israel until you get to first Kings chapter 11. Saul as unfaithful as he was and disobedient to the Lord, nevertheless maintained the ban on idolatry so much that when he wanted to find a medium he had a hard time finding one. Now they were still there. Now don't get me wrong. Mikal had family gods, family idols. Saul's family was affected by idolatry and through me. And so he was a man of the word. Saul's family was affected by idolatry and through Mikal it also came into David's family as well. But again this is this is secret. It's not open. It's not displayed as it was before Samuel and will once again be true after Solomon. So Moses, Samuel likened the Moses is a very important individual. Now he's ultimately not the prophet like Moses because he will not do the same kind of miracles and be the same kind of ruler over Israel as was Moses. But he is Moses like and God uses him basically to revive and restore basically a mosaic pattern within Israel. So that's why we have again the priesthood and the prophets and the rulers. I think when we get to David who are going to be more Torah like. And they have been during the period of the judges. Saul will say a little bit more about him as we as we get into the the narrative and the interpretive issue concerning the kingship. He obviously is the central character from chapters nine to fifteen then plays a central role in the interaction between he and David in chapter 16 to 31. David is cannot exercise the kingship while Saul is alive because Saul resists the prophetic word. But the interesting thing is and I get this chart out of the chart book of the Old Testament. It is significant that that Saul when it came to being a king the spirit of the Lord did come upon him and I know that's very hard to read. Okay let me just do that. I know it's still hard to read but this chart gives us the wall the wars of Saul 1050 to 1010 BC during the approximately 40 years of his reign. And it is interesting that until you get to chapter 31 of first Samuel. Saul when he is battling the enemies of Israel he is always victorious. Now sometimes that victory came chapter 14 because of the faith of Jonathan or chapter 16 from the faith of David but nevertheless he was still the general he's still the king he was still the one who only got credit for the victory. And so beginning with the Ammonites in first Samuel 11 and there is a summary of his opponents. We have nothing about the battles with the Moabites, the Edomites, the Zolabites. Actually David will also have combat with them as well but as brought up he did protect and enlarge the borders of the city of Israel. He also was victorious over the Amalekites and the Philistines until chapter 31 till his final battle. So this is a testimony not to Saul's military genius this is a testimony to God's faithfulness. This is a testimony not to Saul's military genius this is a testimony to God's faithfulness. God raised them up as a king. Israel said we want a king to fight our battles. We want a king who will lead us in the battle, a king who will be victorious over our enemies. By the way the author points out very very definitely that Saul did not fail because Yahweh in some way deserted him. In fact Yahweh doesn't desert him until Saul makes it very very clear in first Samuel chapter 28 he has deserted Yahweh. And he shows that desertion by turning as I said to the medium. If I can't hear the word of the Lord through a God ordained prophet I'll take a satanic directed one. And the Lord does give him his word and his word is the word ultimately of disaster. But Saul was on the human plane an effective king. And of course he's followed by David and we're going to come back to David. And on page 261 one of the hard things about David is putting together his life because there's some chronological hopscotch just as there was in the Torah. Old Testament historical narrative does not follow a strict chronology. We've already seen that and so I just have reproduced in the notes the chart that is on page 261 that you have in Meryl's book as he starts to introduce you to David and gives you some idea of when seeking to unravel the text when the different major events in David's life took place. And there is a chart and all I did was a couple of places I would see the chronology as being a year difference. But I don't consider a year to be important among friends at this point in Israel's history. So you have this chart on the charts that you downloaded and I would see David living 70 years being born right around 1040 and dying in 970. And we'll come back and talk about David. So renewed initiative of Yahweh in Israel's history and a renewal emphasis upon that initiative in the text of Samuel. The importance of these three key men. But another major theme, a third major theme in Samuel as a whole is this theme of exaltation and humiliation. I go back to Hannah's song in the first Samuel chapter 2. After the narrative and we realize that God has given her victory over an enemy, Penena, her enemy who had provoked her because she did not have children. And so the Lord had taken that away from Hannah that that sorrow and that burden that hardship in response to her prayer. And here's the thing is in chapter 2 as she prays and praises the Lord for what has taken place, she sees what has transpired in her relationship with Penena as the way God deals in Israel among the nations and in history. Penena had been the proud arrogant one who had been humbled. Hannah was the humble one who through the birth of Samuel had been exalted. So Hannah speaks in praise about how how the Lord had exalted her. My horn, my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. I've been delivered from my enemies. I've been delivered from Penena. I've been delivered from her onslaughts against me by the Lord answering my petition and giving me a son. I've learned there's no one like Yahweh. Now I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm going to be able to do that. There's no one like Yahweh. There's no rock like our God. And then she broadens this out to this is the way God acts verses 3 through 6 to bring salvation. And ultimately in verses 7 to 9 this is the way he is working in history. He brings low and he exalts. All pointing ultimately to his ultimate exaltation. When he sends his king, his anointed one, to bring victory over his foes and establish his ultimate salvation in the future. And that's how the song ends. The prayer ends. And what had taken place in Hannah's experience is only what God is doing, has done, is doing, will do, which will culminate in the ultimate exaltation of his Messiah, his king in the future. And I believe she is a great person. She's a great person. She's a great person. Of his Messiah, his king in the future. And I believe she is reading her experience against the backdrop of Torah. And she understands that her exaltation is just a reminder of how God is going to ultimately exalt his name through the Messiah in the future. She is a woman of deep faith. But she sees in her experience, chapter 1, the Lord's humbling of the exalted and his exalting of the humble. Well this basic principle, and I relay the Bibsak article by Martin in the notes back in 1984, but he shows how this basic concept of whoever is, if I can put this way, exalting themselves in Samuel ultimately is humbled. Now it was Peneneh humbled and exalted in chapter 1, but when you take a look at chapters 2 and 3, and it begins with Eli. Eli was so unused to someone having passion of the Lord, zeal for the Lord, that he actually questions, and his sincerity in chapter 1 shows a dullness within the priesthood that is then amplified by his relationship with his sons. And so we have in the first three chapters we see Eli's line where he was the judge, he was the leader in Israel as well as being the high priest, and yet his line, chapter 2, is judged, and it is Samuel who takes the place of his sons as we have seen, who is exalted. Chapter 4 through 7, that story of the ark in the Philistines. It's the Philistines who are exalted, we got the ark! We got the ark. Yeah, let's get rid of the ark, this is not good for us. So the exalted are humbled, and the humble ark is exalted. Chapter 7 through 15, we have Samuel anointed Saul, and Saul gets the exalted position as king, and ultimately through his disobedience, chapters 13 and 15, he is humbled and will be humbled. Chapter 16, and through the lament of 2 Samuel chapter 1, Saul and Jonathan associated with him, though he doesn't exalt in that position, but only they're humbled, and David who was humbled, allowed by Yahweh to be under Saul's thumb for these chapters, ultimately is the one who's exalted. Even with Saul's death, his kingdom continues until ultimately it is David's kingdom that is exalted, and ultimately he brings the ark into Jerusalem. But then significantly it is David himself, and then his sons Amnon and Absalom, who are humbled and God says, Jedidiah, Solomon will be my beloved one, and only he will become the king. And it's interesting that in 2 Samuel 21 to 24, it's the enemies of God, and yet David and his men are exalted, yet at the very end of that appendix, it's interesting who is the one who exalts himself through the census in 2 Samuel 24? David. And so David is humbled, that ultimately the one who is exalted as Samuel comes to an end is the Lord himself. Even David has to be humbled by the Lord. Yet the Lord is going to fulfill his plan and purpose in the stopping of the plague associated with the census leaves to David's buying of the threshing floor that will become the foundation of the temple. So even David ends up at the end of the book being humbled, and it's the Lord and his plan that will be exalted. And then as we've already brought up, the fourth major theme is the Davidic covenants. And again we'll see this as we go through, that even the introduction of the Lord's anointed as ultimate king prepares us for David. That even the introduction of the Lord's anointed as ultimate king prepares us for David, who is going to be God's ultimate choice, who is better than Saul, and ultimately the one through whom God is going to bring the Messiah, and he enters into a covenant with David to that effect in 2 Samuel chapter 7. When we get to chapter 23, David realizes he is not that ultimate anointed one. The anointed one still has to come in the future. That prepares us for our reading of kings. If it wasn't David, David anticipates this one through the Davidic covenant coming in his line, who will it be? And the purpose of the text, here's the historical narrative where we see Yahweh established a human monarchy over his theocratic nation Israel, and guaranteed its future, that is of the human monarchy and his covenant with David. So Samuel, here's the vital role Samuel plays. Number one, God establishes a human kingship over Israel and through the covenant of 2 Samuel 7. By covenant oath he promises that there will be the ultimate human king who will come from that human kingship that he has established over Israel. And so certainly Samuel is about kingship and ultimately about the establishment of David, and by covenant oath David's seed as human king over Israel. Alright, any questions about the themes? John? Two questions, is the manifestations of God's glory present in the tabernacle at this point? And, while the chance of that one first? Yes, that is, we do not know. The second question is about Phineas, faction numbers 25, when they are committing when they are committing wickedness with the Moabite women. Phineas, because of his zeal, is promised an everlasting priesthood. What is the time between that to where we are at now? That promise was made to him in 1407 BC, and with Eli we would be at a time around 1190 BC. So we are approximately 300 years advanced from the promise made to Phineas and here. And you bring up a very important point, so since you are dealing with Phineas and the covenant made in Numbers 25, take a look at 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 2, here is the man of God giving the message to Eli. Verse 34, Now this will be a sign to you which shall come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, on the same day both of them shall die. But I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and in my soul, and I will build him an enduring house. Now so many people read that and think, this is the Messiah, this is Christ and his priestly ministry, it is where most of the commentators land, because they haven't read carefully the last statements. And he, this faithful priest, will walk before my anointed one always. He is not the anointed one, he is not the king, he is the one who is going to go before the king. The idea is that going before the king, in other words, he points back to bring honor to the king before whom he goes. He is like a courtier, he is like a watchman who is declaring the supremacy, the glory of the one who is coming after him. He goes before to point the respect and the honor of the people to the one who is coming after him. He will walk and conduct his life before my anointed ones. He is going to have a priesthood which ultimately brings benefit and glory and honor to the Lord's anointed. The gentleman Jesus Christ is a priest, but he is not a priest in the order of Aaron. He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek. His king priesthood is based upon his antecedents. And interestingly Melchizedek had been king priest of Salem of Jerusalem, Genesis, and David becomes the king and realizes in his line there is going to be a king priest. Because his city of rain becomes Jerusalem. And in fact David is already ready, is able to see and anticipate this in Psalm 110. That the king priest who is going to come from him is not going to be in the line of Aaron, he is not going to be the family of Aaron, he is not even going to be the fulfillment of the covenant that was made with Phineas because he is not in the line of Phineas. And a number of pre-Mills have pointed out that the covenant with Phineas is in many ways the Achilles heel of an all millennial position that says all of the promises of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Christ. There is no way the promise to Phineas, the covenant with Phineas, the priestly covenant is fulfilled in Christ. So if it wasn't fulfilled in Christ at his first coming it has to be fulfilled at his second coming. It is one of the greatest arguments for pre-millennialism there is in Scripture and usually overlooked even by pre-Mills. So this faithful priest, he will do according to what is in my heart. He will follow my calling, he will be my chosen one. In other words here is I think again an echo going back to Numbers chapter 25. Here is my chosen one and Eli it won't be your sons and it won't be your line. So under David there are two priestly lines from Aaron's family, the one of Eli through Abba Athar and Zadok. When we get to 1 Kings chapter 2 Solomon is going to cast aside the line from which Eli and his family comes and establish Zadok as the ministering priest and it is through Zadok and I know that because I have read Ezekiel 44 and 45 that this promise is going to be fulfilled through the Zadokian priesthood in the future. So this is not the Messiah being priest it is the priest who is going to minister when Messiah reigns. So 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 35. Now I forget what question you asked that led me to that lengthy discussion. You talked about the covenant of Numbers 25. The covenant of Numbers 25 is echoed here in 1 Samuel 2 35 and reading it rightly you should say alright I am going to read all this about David and the Davidic covenant but it is not tied into the covenant of Numbers 25. It goes back to the promise of Genesis 49 and Numbers 24 on the king who is going to come to Israel. That is going to be in the line of Judah not in the line of Levi. Now I saw a couple of other hands. The first question would be so you have Phineas who the promise was made to who is the son of Aaron and then he had sons and eventually came Eli and his sons and then but not through Phineas. They did not. Okay so they were different from Aaron so Aaron had multiple obviously multiple sons. There is Aaron and then there is Eliezer and Eliezer had other sons and then you have Phineas all right and we will get to that when we get to you know to Chronicles and so Elie is not the one who is going to fulfill the promise to Phineas it is going to be this is going to be Zadok. So then with that is what line lineage then is Samuel is he even from Aaron? No he is just like you. He is like Moses he really is like Moses all right he reforms the priesthood and reestablishes the priesthood but he himself is not the priest. So how how is he allowed to do that because he is like Moses. He is basically restoring Israel to its mosaic antecedents. Do you think verse 34 applies to Samuel? No okay. Well the reason is is because there is no enduring house built for Samuel. His priests not maybe his priests his sons number one he is not a priest. He himself is not in the line of Phineas. There is no way he can be a fulfillment of numbers 25. Second of all his sons are worthless men who are removed from their leadership in Israel. There is no lasting dynasty of Samuel. Samuel basically his his mental state is not the same ministry comes to an end with him. So there is no priesthood which comes from Samuel and certainly there is no kingship that comes from Samuel. Now he is important in the prophetic tradition. All right he is a prophet like unto Moses. He is not the prophet you know of Deuteronomy chapter 18 but he is in that line and of course we are going to see that the mosaic antecedents are seen to a greater or lesser degree in all of the prophets that God sends to Israel. But Samuel preeminently because of the role that he plays. You got to realize that okay you know this in church history we love the reformers. Well we love Samuel because Samuel the great reformer in the former prophets. He is the one who reverses you know the attitudes and actions which brought about the period of the judges and so his reformation of the priesthood is bringing prophetic word to the people so there is repentance the putting away the gods reversal of their their idolatry can can now you know be used by God to to really bring you know through Saul David and Solomon till the last half of his rule can bring a golden age. I mean Israel was more like Israel will be in the millennium during the time of Saul David and Solomon that that than it ever was in the past. In fact once all of them passes away the kingdom is divided you know and you know goes from from riches to rags you know you know that's that's what we see in the book of Kings. So and interestingly I mean Saul prepares the way for David. David passes on the kingdom to Solomon. Solomon loses the kingdom through his you know through his idolatry in the sense of of the glory of the kingdom and and Israel and we hear the echoes of this when we get the first Kings four is more like the millennium in the Old Testament during the period from Samuel to Solomon that will ever be until Messiah comes and establishes the kingdom itself which will be far greater than obviously what took place. He's going to be the great reformer and and you know certainly is a priest and certainly it is through his priesthood and his sacrifice that that that the glory will come. He is priest he is prophet he is king he is wise man. You know these these four major components of the Old Testament I mean he fulfills each one of them but he does not fulfill the priesthood by being an Aaronic priest and fulfilling the covenant of Numbers 25. All right the other questions read Samuel carefully. Okay one more. I was wondering because I saw on the chart that you had put up from the individual from 1984 how he displayed first Samuel chapter 20 all the way up until second Samuel chapter one as a period of exaltation for David in a sense. Yes. The arrow was going up. Yeah there okay. So I was just curious because when I read through this I noticed a consistent pattern of what seems to be an extreme low point in David's life that starts in verse chapter 20 and goes on all the way until he finally calls on the Lord again. When they're despairing he didn't think that he'd ever become king. Uh you're right I and that would say it's the overall tenor that he had been anointed to be king and only God was with him to deliver him so that only he is going to exercise that kingship. He will be exalted and was exalted because you know but by the time we get to you know second Samuel chapter one Saul is dead and David is alive. All right so that and and in chapter two at least the tribe of Judah comes and recognized him as king. All Israel will not until chapter five but in that sense we're talking about and Saul is being humbled by the Lord. What we see is a deterioration in Saul and from chapter 16 all the way to chapter 31 and and it's very very interesting that the spirit of the Lord left him and departed from him and the ultimate result of that is his despair and his defeat and his suicide you know in in battle. So so there's a sense in his shaft of 16 to 31 you really are reading the the the step by step you know cycle down the deterioration of Saul not only spiritually but also psychologically and ultimately physically. I mean when he gets the word from the from the medium I mean he has spent there is no more strength in him. We see we see a man who's completely devoid now of any spiritual energy any emotional energy any physical energy kind of like a seminary student. No hopefully not the spiritual and emotional. I'm sure there's I'm sure you're you're about that time in the semester you're feeling it physically if you feel like I'm just kind of like Saul. Well hopefully not quite like Saul. You haven't departed from the Lord there's still a spiritual energy a spiritual vigor. I really do want this Lord I really am here for a purpose but physically right now and and maybe some of you are feeling you know some emotional I you know David thought he'd never become king. Some of you at this point think you're never going to graduate. All right I'm here to tell you Saul David became the king and you will graduate. But right now you're in a period of intense. Lord are you really with me or are you against me and so so be a David don't be a Saul there there is my there is my allegorical interpret application for the day. But seminary students come in two varieties Saul's and David be a David. You might despair but ultimately you will be exalted don't be like a Saul where the spiritual deterioration ends up in in the emotional and physical collapse and suicide. By the way no student before you has ever ever ever died. Don't be the first all right so might take me eight years to graduate but they didn't die. All right so I'm trying to give you encouragement I know it sounds doesn't sound that way I know. All right.