Bible In A Year: 1st & 2nd Samuel

1 and 2 Samuel record Israel’s transition from judges to kings. Samuel leads Israel, Saul becomes the first king and is rejected for disobedience, and David is chosen by God to rule. David defeats Goliath, becomes king, and receives God’s covenant promise that his kingdom would endure. David later sins against Uriah and Bathsheba and faces serious consequences. These books show both human failure and God’s continued faithfulness to His covenant promises.

Transcript

Mission And Resources

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Well, hello, everybody. Welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast, where we are walking through the story of the Bible in a year, book by book. And so my name is Alex Wolfe, and I'm here with Dr. David Klingler. Um, and uh want to encourage you before we jump in to hop on over to teachmethebible.com, where we have tons of other resources uh for you to continue to learn the Bible and to understand the Word of God. We have devotionals, we have study guides that go with other uh podcasts that have been done, blog posts, questions and answers, all kinds of resources for you uh to help you understand. And so uh that's our hope is that you will come to understand this book and understand uh the God of this book. And so um today we find ourselves in Samuel. So we're gonna pick up in 1 Samuel and start walking through. Um and so, Doc, if you would just take us through and begin telling us the.

Dr. David Klingler 1:26

So we talk about, you know, we'll do this by books and chapters, and and and really when we think about um the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible, uh, we need to think in terms of scrolls, right? But it's in terms of a of a story that began in Genesis, it's been flowing through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, right, uh, Joshua, Judges. Oh, by the way, um, you need to know this story over here about Ruth. Ruth, right. Now back to the story, right? Uh, and so this story um that that that is continuing from the judges, and it's flowing into first and second Samuel and first and second kings, right? Uh really it's taking you all the way to the exile, uh, to when Israel's expelled from the land. And so so it's this continuous story, and so it's arbitrary when we when we put these divisions in it. Yeah. Um, and and the the storyline flows across the book divisions, right? Right. And that's important to remember. So in the book of Judges, uh there uh there's this section in chapters 17 through 21 that people will call the epilogue or something like that. They're saying, you know, that's uh it's this these a few end stories that are kind of attached on to the end of the judges, right? Because it's not about judges anymore, it's about Levites or priests. Right.

SPEAKER_02 2:49

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 2:50

And so people don't understand what's going on there, so they call it a you know, kind of epilogue or things tacked on to the end. Right. But but back in chapter in Deuteronomy chapter 16, there were these officers that were uh appointed uh in Israel, they were uh assigned in Israel, and they were to ensure that Israel did what was good in the eyes of the Lord. They were uh in this is in 1618, you shall appoint judges uh and officers for yourself in your towns according to your tribes. Um uh they they shall not uh just to distort justice, they shall not be partial, they shall not take bribes. Um chapter 17, uh the priest, the Levitical priest, or the judge who's in office in those days, uh there to uh to execute judgment, they're to ensure that Israel did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 3:40

Uh later in chapter 17, you get the kings, uh, the instruction for the king. Uh, and then in chapter 18, the the the prophet. And so it's judges and priests and kings and prophets.

SPEAKER_02 3:51

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 3:51

They're presented in that order. And uh in the Deuteronomic history, what we talked about last week, this this story that's evaluating how Israel Israel is doing in regards to their how well did they listen to Moses' last sermon. Right. Find out not so good. No, uh and so uh they fail to to take the land, tribe by tribe. Yeah. Book of Joshua. It's chronicled uh or spelled out in the first couple chapters of of the book of Judges. You start to evaluate the judges, and as you evaluate the judges, everyone seems to be worse than the last. Uh there was no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes. Right. Then the the the camera kind of swings over and looks at the well, then how are the Levites doing? If the judges are failing, how are the Levites? How are the priests doing? Well, it's a wreck.

SPEAKER_02 4:38

Yeah.

Hannah And The Birth Of Samuel

Dr. David Klingler 4:38

Uh and and so when the the curtain, you know, the curtain kind of goes down in judges uh and the the priests are failing, and when the curtain comes up in first Samuel, uh the guy who's running the nation is is this high priest whose name is is uh Eli or Eli, uh Eli, the the high priest, and he has two sons, Hafni and Phineas. Uh but the story kind of starts with this man uh who had two wives, and one's name was uh was Hannah, and the other's name was Penana. Uh and and so you're going, okay, why do we care? Right? It's kind of you know, there's kind of the camera goes off to the side. Oh, by the way, there's this guy and he has two wives. Yeah, why why why do I have any and and uh the one uh Penanah had children, but Hanah, Hannah, hadn't had no children. So uh he'd go up every year to worship and to sacrifice uh in Shiloh, uh and uh uh and the two sons of Eli, uh Eli the priest, Hophni and Phineas, were priests to the Lord there. Uh and when the day came that Elkanah, that's this man's name, would sacrifice the uh he would give portions to Penanah, his wife, uh, and to all her sons and daughters, but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb. And uh and so um here here he is uh um you know bringing these sacrifices every year. Uh Hannah uh goes, she's uh she's praying before the the the priest, and the priest sees her praying and says, What are you doing? Um are you drunk? You know, she's moving her lips, you know, what are you drunk? No, no. So she's uh no, my lord, I'm a woman oppressed in spirit. I have not drunk either neither wine nor strong drink. I'm pouring out my soul to the Lord, right? Uh and so she um she she prays and God heard, right? Um and so Samuel's name that she's gonna be Samuel's mother. This is saying she's gonna have a child, named him Samuel, and Samuel's name means God heard. Yeah, right? God heard her prayer, and so uh he hears her prayer. Um then Hannah prays again in in chapter two, one of the best prayers in the whole Bible. My goodness, Hannah's prayer in chapter two. Um, and um, and you you're you're presented uh with uh then the camera say, okay, so you got this Samuel guy, and you know, okay, I don't know how he fits into the story, but whatever. Right. Right? And then you start, and then the the camera kind of goes back and it starts following Eli's house again or Ellie's house again, and and his sons we learn are worthless men. They're sons of Belial, they're worthless men. They they eat the fat portion, they they they you know, they take bribes, they're worth they're worthless, uh they're they're terrible. You know, the the priests are just as bad as they were at the end of the book of uh judges. Right. Uh and uh and it's the father's job to judge these kids, the priest's job to judge these kids. He doesn't preach, uh doesn't judge them.

Eli’s House Falls As God Speaks

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 7:59

Uh and so so you know, judgment is pronounced on him and his family. In fact, yeah, um uh let's go back. Um so Hannah dedicates Samuel to the Lord. So Samuel's gonna stay with the priest, he's staying with the priest, he's living with the priest, um, and and you know, the priests are wicked. Uh and then there's this uh one night where um you know the the Samuel's there in the presence of the Lord and and he hears the voice of the Lord and call him Samuel, he says he goes into Eli and says, Yes, Lord, you called me. He said, No, no, no, I didn't call him. Go back to sleep, right? And uh happened several times, and and finally Eli figures out what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

I know what's going on here, right?

Israel Demands A King Like Nations

Dr. David Klingler 8:44

The Lord's calling him. Now, what's ironic is Eli or Eli is supposed to be the one who's um who's hearing from the Lord, but now Samuel. So the Lord is now going to uh speak through Samuel, uh work through Samuel, uh, and uh the the Lord tells Samuel that I'm going to judge Eli in his house, and uh and and you better tell me what the Lord said to you, you know, and and well uh the Lord said he's gonna wipe you off the map. And he does. And so so it's the transition from these wicked uh priests to this Samuel who's a prophet, uh, he's a priest, uh, he's a judge, yeah. Um he delivers Israel, um, but uh but Israel rejects him. I mean, we're kind of speeding along the in the story pretty quickly. Uh, but Israel rejects uh his sons uh and they want a king. So uh so they ask the ask God for a king like the nations to fight their battles for them. And uh and so they ask for a king, and God's gonna grant what they ask and give them give them Saul, and you know, and the Lord's gonna say, they didn't reject you, uh they rejected me for being king uh over them. And so what's interesting is they ask for a king, and uh God gives them uh uh doesn't give them a king, he gives them uh a restrainer, really is the word. Uh one to restrain them. Wow, yeah. Uh to uh uh but he warns them, yeah. A ruler, a a a uh uh uh uh uh a Nageed uh ruler is the I've anointed you so he's not anointed as uh as you know the mashal, which is what they're looking for, yeah. Uh or um or even really a king. Um he's uh he's a restrainer, he's a prince, he's a nageed, he's uh it's it's it's not the right words, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:47

It's just the lord over you type of uh leadership.

David Is Anointed And Faces Goliath

Dr. David Klingler 10:50

Yeah, and um and so but Saul starts out pretty good. Um you know, Israel's in trouble, uh and uh uh and there's this um this king, Nachosh the Ammonite, um uh came up uh and besieged uh Jebesh Gilead uh and said to all the men of Jebesh, uh, make a covenant with me, uh, and we will uh with us and we will serve you. And Nakosh the Ammonite uh said to them, I will uh uh I will make it uh on this condition, right? You gouge out your right eye. Uh Nakosh, what's that? Well, Nakosh means serpent, right? This goes back to the serpent in the garden, right? This this king, and of course Saul comes and delivers Israel, uh delivers them, uh, you know, saves them. So he starts off great. Yeah, he starts off well, he's doing well, taking out serpents. Um yeah, um, but but he's going to disobey uh the Lord, disobey Samuel, and he's going to have his um his kingdom removed from him, his anointing removed from him. And this is this is in chapter 16. And and so in chapter 16, uh, because of Saul's rebellion against the Lord, he has his his uh uh his um anointing removed, and uh a new uh kid, son, is anointed from the tribe of Judah, from the house of Obed, from the house of Jesse, um, the youngest, and his name is David, right? Uh and uh and so David is anointed in chapter 16, and in chapter 17, you get David and Goliath, right? And so this is the this is the David and Goliath, you know, uh the the the Philistines show up, choose one man from among yourself to fight your battles, and of course you that's why Saul was chosen, you know. King to fight our battles for us, right? That's what they want. He saw Europe, and Saul's I ain't going out there.

SPEAKER_02 12:54

Uh-oh.

Dr. David Klingler 12:55

I know it's I know how this goes, right? The Lord's gonna kill me. Um, and so you know, there's this uh this one who's covered from head to toe with uh Nahashit with bronze, he's uh scale armor, yeah. All of it. He's uh uh he's you know, it's uh and now playing for team serpent, you know, you know, Goliath, and and uh David goes out, um strikes him uh with a blow to the head, uh kills him with the sword, the small numbers chase large numbers. All of this is coming right out of the law. This is yeah, this is uh Leviticus chapter 26, verses 6 and 7. If you're uh faithful, then these things will happen. And yeah, they do. And so uh and so you watch this transition between Saul, who's a started off pretty good, becomes Saul, the enemy of David, the Lord's anointed.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Wow.

Dr. David Klingler 13:51

Uh and so you see this, you know, Saul kind of changing sides, and yeah, uh, and uh, and uh but at the end of the story, yeah. Um David has uh uh uh ascended to king. Saul dies uh at the end of the uh the the book of first Samuel, and David comes to uh to power, comes uh to be king um in uh in the land of Israel. Um uh he conquers uh Jebas, uh which we know as Jerusalem uh in uh second uh Samuel chapter 5. They bring the ark in uh to uh to Jerusalem, yeah. Um and uh the Lord uh uh David wants to build the Lord a house, wants to build the Lord a temple. And so we get the Davidic covenant. Yeah, uh huge passage in 2 Samuel chapter 7. Um I, you know, uh the the Lord promises that a uh a descendant of David will reign on the Davidic throne forever.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 14:58

Um ultimately this is going to be Christ.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

Right.

Dr. David Klingler 15:01

And uh and then chapter 8, off he goes into you know, winning all kinds of battles. Chapter 9, you know, that this is the story of David Mephibosheth, this this amazing story of David's covenant faithfulness uh to a descendant of Jonathan. Jonathan was a a son of uh of um of Saul and and and Saul um aligned himself against David, against the Lord's anointed, but Jonathan, the son of Saul, who had the right for the throne, he had a heir to the throne, he aligned himself with David as well, and they made a covenant. And and uh Saul was from the the the tribe of Benjamin, and so you again you're seeing this Judah-Benjamin relationship come together, and and you're gonna see it again later. But anyway, so so in chapter nine, you see David keeping his covenant faithfulness relationship to Jonathan, Mephibosheth, a descendant of Jonathan, and you just see this character of God uh played out through David, and you just love this guy.

SPEAKER_02 16:05

It's almost like a I mean, I don't I'm hesitant to say it, but it's almost like a climactic moment. Oh, yeah, in a lot of ways. Saul's on his way out, the David comes up, there's this great covenant, he's conquering Jerusalem, he's establishing it.

Bathsheba Uriah And Nathan’s Confrontation

Kings Fail And Prophets Rise

Dr. David Klingler 16:19

Yep, every everything is is uh literarily it's putting David, building David up as high as it can. He's conquered Jerusalem. His desire is to build a house for the Lord, right? He's winning all the battles, he's keeping covenant with Jonathan uh through Mephiboshe. Uh he's winning more battles. Right. So far, this has broken the bowl. And it just keeps getting higher and higher and higher, and then you get David and Bash People. Right. Oh boy. Uh and um and uh and and it everything um comes crashing down for David. Uh and uh and and ironically, um so you have this great literary contrast between chapter seven, uh, you know, uh who am I that I uh dwell in a uh live in a house when my Lord and his army dwells in a tent? I want to build a house for the Lord. And and you're gonna hear almost those same words said by Uriah the Hittite, right? Um the the story that we we heard back in uh uh in Ruth, um where Naomi's plan is to get uh let's get Boaz drunk and let's go sleep with him, right? Well, so David commits adultery with uh with Bathsheba. She's uh she's pregnant, and so David says, I got a plan. I'll get uh Uriah, her husband, drunk, and I'll send him in and let him sleep with her. It's just this is a you know, just the irony keeps coming back. And so what happens is Uriah the Hittite, you know, you Israel was to utterly destroy the Amorites, Hittites, Canaanites, Jebusites. There aren't to be any Hittites in the land. Wow. Uh, but here's a Hittite who's supposed to be a member of Satan's team, um, becomes this faithful one, uh, and you hear his words, the words of David back in chapter 7, who am I that that I would sleep in my house when my Lord and his armies dwell in tents? Uh you know, the um the ark in Israel, uh uh uh of Israel uh in Israel and Judah are staying in in tents, and my Lord Joab and his servants, uh, and my uh Lord, uh uh the servants of my Lord are camping in the open field. Shall I then go to my house and eat and drink and lay with my wife? By your life and by the life of your soul, I will not do this thing, says Uriah the Hittite. I mean this guy's integrity is unbelievable. And you see this this shift, this this dramatic uh failure uh between uh where David was in chapter chapter 10, chapter 8, 9, 10, and now it comes crashing down, and and uh Nathan the prophet shows up, tells David a story. David becomes enraged. Uh this one who stole, he tells him a story, the theft of a ew lamb. He says, This one who stole the ew lamb, Exodus uh 22, verse 1, uh he must repay fourfold. He's a son of death. Wow. And Nathan, you know, you can see him point his finger at a whole king and say, You're the man. Wow. And it just you could hear a pin drop. I mean, just the yeah, where does the story go from here? And so this is the one who's carrying the promise, the Davidic covenant. One will always be on the throne, yet there's this judgment pronounced for fourfold death, that that four of your sons are going to die. The sword will not uh leave your house until you return uh to the grave. And uh and so the rest of Samuel, the rest uh, and actually into kings. So the rest of 2 Samuel in the beginning of 1 Kings is the death of four sons. It's the the death of the son from David uh and uh Bathsheba. Uh then it's Amnon and Absalom uh through uh uh through incest that that happens in the house. Uh they had a sister whose name was Tamar and uh and um uh and so Amnon uh um in Tamar and Absalom, this there's this rape, and and both Amnon and Absalom uh die. Uh and uh and then the story continues, and Adonijah in 1 Kings chapter 1 uh dies as well, and then Solomon, the the the story, the camera comes to Solomon. So uh so for chapter after chapter of rape, incest, yeah, murder, the sword uh in the house, sons dying one after another, David uh being run out of town, losing his kingdom, coming back, you know, um all of this turmoil from this one event that's happened back there in chapter 11 with David and Bathsheba. Uh and uh and uh when the first Kings begins, and we'll pick it up in First Kings next time. But when First Kings begins, uh it begins with the last death of the fourth son, the judgment from Nathan, and then Solomon is going to to take the throne. And we're gonna see how Solomon does. Yeah. Uh, and uh so we'll pick that up, uh pick that up next time. But uh but the the the Samuel uh first and second Samuel story, a couple things to remember. First of all, this is just a continuation. You just keep uh keep reading. You go from Judges, read Ruth, Samuel, first and second Samuel. Samuel, first and second Kings, and read all the way through the end of Second Kings. And remember, we're tracking the failure of the judges, the failure of the priests, and they failed. And so now we've transitioned to the kings.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Didn't start good.

Dr. David Klingler 22:14

With Saul, it was a rocky start. With David, it was looking good. Looking good for me. Um with uh but it it it kind of went south with David.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 22:23

Uh it's gonna do the same thing with Solomon. Right. Uh, but after Solomon, it's gonna fall off a cliff. Yeah, and now the the kings are doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, and the story's gonna turn to see if the prophets can save this. And so as we get into the later into the the book of 1 Kings and 2nd Kings, the prophets of Israel are going to start to show up. All of those names we know, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, all of the prophets, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, they're all coming. Uh, and they're gonna come in waves.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

Yeah.

Dr. David Klingler 22:55

Before the exile, during the exile and after the exile, before Israel's kicked out of the land, while they're kicked out of the land, and after they're kicked out of the land, and they can't fix it either. And and so that's where the rest of this Old Testament story is headed.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

Yeah, and that really highlights again that word Deuteronomic history. Yes. And we learned about, like we said, judges, priests, kings, prophets. The rest of this Old Testament is playing out and watching how they do, where they end up looking for this one who's gonna come.

Deuteronomy Study And Bible Reading Plan

Dr. David Klingler 23:24

In the New Testament, right? So the New Testament, then John the Baptist is gonna come on the scene and say, Um, y'all tired of this? Y'all want to repent? You want to return to the Lord? If you return to the Lord, he can get the Roman soldiers off the corner. Yeah, uh, he can get the enemies off the corner, uh, and he will restore you to the land, right? And he'll establish the kingdom. If you don't repent, it's gonna be more of the same. And so even the New Testament, even all the way through the book of Revelation. And uh, if you're uh interested in what we're talking about, we've got a Deuteronomy study that uh takes you through Deuteronomy, uh, but it also takes you through the impact of Deuteronomy throughout the Bible, and it's really uh an insightful study and really something that will open your eyes to absolutely to how impacting the book of Deuteronomy is through the rest of the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

I I'll I'll second that. I did um years ago a very similar assignment to that where we're taking, you know, uh um these Deuteronomy passages. It's actually the exact same assignment, just reordered.

Dr. David Klingler 24:22

So we took a seminary uh assignment that we give in uh in our uh Genesis to Judges class. Uh-huh. Uh we reordered it. Um and and so our uh folks that are going through our studies uh online, uh they're doing seminary seminary work. And uh and you know, you you don't need uh uh to be a rocket scientist to go to to learn the Bible.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

And that that will begin to knock down uh dominoes, so to speak. For me, that's exactly what it did. Once you begin to see how, again, the Bible uses the Bible. Yes, it you just get a few examples under your belt, and suddenly you're seeing it everywhere, and the Bible becomes to or starts uh holding itself together really quickly. Makes sense. Um, and so that yeah, I would definitely encourage you to go check that out. Uh check out those study guides and those assignments. Um well, man, this is great. What a great story. Uh it didn't end so great in Samuel, but we're gonna keep watching, and um, we ultimately many of us know it's heading towards a great end eventually. Yeah, we gotta keep reading. So that's right. Um, so yeah, thanks for joining us. This has been uh first and second Samuel. We will pick up in first and second Kings next time. Uh but yeah, thank you for joining us for Teach Me the Bible Podcast.

Final Resources And Partnership Invite

SPEAKER_00 25:44

For more resources, visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store. You can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the Word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast.