Day 11: I Samuel 16-17
After the previous reading in Joshua 1, God led the people of Israel in battle against all the evil nations residing in the Promised Land, and the people experienced a temporary rest. Soon, however, they entered into a downward spiral through a cycle of rebellion. The people would turn away from God, and he would bring punishment on them through oppression by other nations. Then the people would cry out to God, and he would bring a deliverer through an appointed judge. Finally, the people would turn back to God for a short time before rebelling again -- and so goes the book of Judges. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes, and the book ends on a bleakly horrific note that shows just how far the people had fallen from the good rule and design of God.
In time, the people decided that the judges weren’t working for them anymore, and they decided to ask their leaders for a king -- as Moses had suspected they would back in Deuteronomy 17 (Day 9) -- so that they could be like the other nations around them. The prophet Samuel warned against this, explaining that a king would use and abuse the people and their resources, but Israel insisted. God tells Samuel that “they have rejected me as their king” (I Samuel 8:7) and so instructs Samuel to anoint a man named Saul.
Saul was everything a king should have been for Israel - tall, impressive, from the right tribe and the right family. He led the people in battles against their enemies and pretended to follow God’s commands. His heart, however, was not right with God, and his continual disobedience and rebellion led God to reject him as king over Israel.
Instead, God anointed a young man named David, who would become the archetypal king of Israel and serve as a foreshadow of King Jesus. In contrast to Saul, David did not appear very kingly, but God reassured Samuel, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (16:7). In these chapters, we see David bravely fight against Goliath because he knew that the battle belonged to the Lord. And so began the good reign of King David.
David’s reign was far from perfect. His lack of discipline and control over his household led to strife and rebellion throughout the kingdom. He had to continually be on the run from King Saul’s murderous schemes against him. His affair with Bathsheba defined him as a lying, adulterous, hypocritical murderer. And yet, in the midst of this, David would later be known as a man after God’s own heart. Many of the Psalms were written by David, and so we see a glimpse into his true desire to follow after the Lord and his commands. David’s psalms and songs take us throughout the entire range of human emotion and experience, and in it all we see the echoes of the young man who stood up, against all odds, to fight the terrifying powers of evil in the world - and won.
Questions for reflection and discussion: What does it look like in our world today when people do what is right in their own eyes? What is the difference between how people judge others and how God judges others? What can the story of David reveal to us about how God works in and through the lives of sinful people?
David’s reign was far from perfect. His lack of discipline and control over his household led to strife and rebellion throughout the kingdom. He had to continually be on the run from King Saul’s murderous schemes against him. His affair with Bathsheba defined him as a lying, adulterous, hypocritical murderer. And yet, in the midst of this, David would later be known as a man after God’s own heart. Many of the Psalms were written by David, and so we see a glimpse into his true desire to follow after the Lord and his commands. David’s psalms and songs take us throughout the entire range of human emotion and experience, and in it all we see the echoes of the young man who stood up, against all odds, to fight the terrifying powers of evil in the world - and won.
Questions for reflection and discussion: What does it look like in our world today when people do what is right in their own eyes? What is the difference between how people judge others and how God judges others? What can the story of David reveal to us about how God works in and through the lives of sinful people?
