Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church-PCA

Out of fear of the people, Saul disobeys God's plain command to him God rejects him as king. And he chooses a man to be king who will be after God's heart, and will put God first. David is sent by his father with provisions for his brothers who are serving in Saul's army. The Philistines are seeking to dominate and subjugate Israel. The giant Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, challenges Israel to single combat where the winner takes all. None of the Israelites are willing to face him, until David, who trusts God, offers to fight him. God and David see what others do not.

Many years pass and Samuel is now old. Who will lead Israel next-- Samuel has one solution and the people of Israel another. Events turn again in an unexpected way. The motives of Israel are exposed in their request for a king.

After the Lord struck down 70 people for looking into the ark, Israel mourns for twenty years and leaves the ark separated from the tabernacle. Samuel, as God's prophet, sees that Israel is ready to called back into a proper relationship. He seized the moment and preaches a piercing message about what it takes to be right with God.

Israel had used the ark by bringing it to the front lines of the battle only to discover that God was both unwilling to be used and willing to do the unthinkable by allowing the ark to be captured by the Philistines. The Philistines who thought the God of Israel was a minor deity, experienced the defeat of their national god in his temple. This led to two surprising developments as God displays his glory in Philistia and restores his glory in Israel as well.

This story at one level makes a mockery of Dagon, the chief god of the Philistines. A deeper look at will reveal God working through Israel's failures. There are lessons about God and how we respond to setbacks and failures to be found here.

Israel and the Philistines are both pressed for living space. This has led to war, but the Philistines have been dominating Israel from the time of Samson. When Israel experienced a fresh defeat on the battlefield, they decided to bring God's Box -The ark of the Covenant- to the front lines. It proved disastrous. As remote for our times as this story is, it has much to say to us about what it means to follow Christ.

Samuel does not yet know the Lord in a personal way. Now God calls to him and appears to him in a vision transforming him into a prophet. This is the next step in God working to bring light and hope to his people. His word brings hope to us in the darkness as well.

Two families are contrasted in this text. The family of Eli serves as a warning while Samuel's growth into a great man is the rising hope for God's people.

First and Second Samuel tell the story of how God provided a king for his people. While we think of them as two books, they are in fact a single book. Viewed this way, we can see that Hannah's prayer at the beginning and David's at the end -II Samuel 22 and 23- are book ends that help us to read and understand the message of Samuel. Hannah's prayer is filled with life giving truth for us.

First and Second Samuel tell the story of how God provided a king for his people. Three men dominate the story - Samuel, Saul, and David, but the book begins not with a man but a woman in deep distress. God wants to speak to us in our deepest distress.

Many people have thought and even felt that Mark's gospel shouldn't end at verse 8 of Chapter 16. It does not come across as positive as the other gospels. It bothered enough of those who copied the gospel to supply an ending that they thought was somehow lost. In most modern translations the other endings are printed in a different typeface and with explanatory notes. We will consider what Mark is saying by ending as he has chosen.

This text is both the climax of the passion narrative as well as visual theology. With great economy of words, Mark connects these events with its roots in the Old Testament and rounds off his presentation of Jesus whose identity cannot be known apart from the cross.