Stone 11 - 1 Kings

David was getting along in years and it was time for the crown to be passed on to the next king soon. Let's see how this plays out.

It would appear that David's plan was to place Solomon on the throne (1Kings 1:13) after his death as king. However, David's oldest surviving son at the time, Adonijah, was already working to take the kingship.

Nothing Is Ever Simple
Time and time again we find people deliberately deceiving others for their own gain. This situation is no different. In verse 7 we find Adonijah conspiring with others about being king. In verses 9 and 10 we find that Adonijah is doing some sacrificing and invited several people that were in support of him but not Solomon or a couple others that would be in opposition to his taking of the throne. Hmmm... wonder why...?

So Nathan finds out and works with Bathsheba - remember that is Solomon's mom - to let David know so that he can take care of getting this ironed out. David proceeds to have Solomon announced as king (1Kings 1:33-34). Now this was crucial since this was King David that was making this proclamation rather than Adonijah making his own. So since David made this announcement - it was going to have much more carrying weight than whatever Adonijah and his band had proclaimed.

Not surprisingly, Adonijah and his crew get word that this has happened and they scatter in fear (1Kings 1:49:50). Ever run and hide when you get caught doing something you know you should not have? These guys must have felt the same way - oops, here we are claiming ourselves to be king and the current king is not even dead and he places someone else on the throne and we didn't invite him to our coronation party because we were trying to be sneaky. OOOHHH, this cannot be good for us. RUN!

David Gives Instructions
So David remembers all that he promised and all that had been done to him and shares with Solomon so that he can remember to honor promises or carry out God's judgement. David wisely advises Solomon to stay in the Lord (1Kings 2:2-4).

David passes on and some time afterwards now that all of Israel is aware that Solomon was king, Adonijah is still scheming by asking for Abishag. However, he is too scared to go in and ask for himself so he asks Bathsheba to go and ask for him. **This made me think of those times in elementary school when kids would write notes - you know, before texting was a thing - and have a friend deliver it asking do you like me?** In this case Adonijah knows that he is asking a bit over his reach. Abishag is what remains of David's harem. Remember that control of the harem was a pretty major poitical advantage of the time. We see by Solomon's response in 2:22 that he was not happy and later deals with Adonijah severely (1Kings 2:25).

Solomon then spends some time following through with the instructions that David had left him.

Solomon the Wise
At some point, God comes to Solomon and pretty much says I will give you whatever you want (1Kings 3:5) - Say WHAT!? OK - WOW - how would you like to have that happen? Now here is the response from Solomon... Wisdom (1Kings 3:9). God was pleased by this request and granted him not only wisdom but honor and riches as well (1Kings 3:11-13). Well played, Solomon, well played. **How many of us would have blown that opportunity?

An amazing example of this wisdom that may initially seem cold and cruel at first glance is when the two  mothers come before him with one accusing the other of stealing her baby after she had inadvertently killed her own (1Kings 3:19-20). Solomon says to have the baby cut in half and given to each of them to share (1Kings 3:25). The response is that the true mother says to let the other have it and the false mother agrees to the choice. Solomon responds by giving the child to the mother who wanted it to live (1Kings 3:27).

Building Stuff
God honors his promise to Solomon as we read in 1 Kings 4:20-34. At some point Solomon enters into some agreements with Hiram related to some materials for building a temple to the Lord. He also makes arrangements to put some people to work on the construction. Chapter 6 outlines many of the details of the temple which was an overall project that took seven years (1Kings 6:38). As with many others before Solomon, God makes it clear that He will remain in their presence so long as he is obedient (1Kings 6:11-13).

Solomon also spends 13 years working on his palace (1Kings 7:1). Some time in there is some work to complete the temple with bronze pillars, water carts, basins, utensils, a reservoir, and many gold furnishings. Upon completion of it all, Solomon dedicates it to the Lord.

Once again the Lord tells Solomon the consequences of obedience versus disobedience (1Kings 9:4-9).

Separation
Even Solomon in all his wisdom made some mistakes (1Kings 11:1-6). Of course, as the Lord promised a couple chapters earlier, with disobedience would come ruin. This comes in the form of the separation of Israel. Up to now, Israel has been united under Saul, David, and Solomon but this will change (1Kings 11:11-13). The prophet Ahijah comes along and tells Jeroboam that he is going to get 10 tribes (1Kings 11:30-32) but that because of David he will not get the rest. God still demands obedience from Jeroboam as well (1Kings 11:38). When Solomon passed away, his son Rehoboam bacame king.

Ok - so now we are "under new management" and that means that the people come to make requests of the new guy (1Kings 12:4). They offer to serve him if he lightens the load of work that they were given by Solomon. Rehoboam was given advice by the elders and some advice from his buddies. Unfortunately for Rehoboam, he chose to follow the advice of his buddies and the people did not take to it well and went back. Jeroboam became king over Israel and Rehoboam was king over Judah.

So it did not take long for Jeroboam to fall away from the Lord based on his own fears of losing power. Since Jerusalem was in Rehoboam's territory, Jeroboam didn't like that his people would go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices (1Kings 12:27). Well, he makes a poor choice and constructs idols of worship to other gods. This does not play out well for Jeroboam in the end.

Here is an interesting segment in this account. I find it to be interesting because I think it speaks of what happens all around us to this day. A man of God comes and speaks out against the false idols that Jeroboam has constructed and they (1Kings 13:5). Jeroboam invites him to stay and eat but the man of God declines saying that God has instructed him not to do so (1Kings 13:7-9). The man of God leaves and comes across an old prophet who also invites him to come and eat with him. Again the man of God declines for the same reasons he gave Jeroboam (1Kings 13:15-17). **So here comes my connection to our times...** In verses 18 and 19 we see the deception of the old prophet who lies to the man of God - deliberately deceiving him. It costs him his life in the end as he listened to the old prophet. I am saddened by the deception that runs rampant in our country.

Line of Kings
We now get an account of the kings to follow in both houses of Judah and Israel.
Judah
After Rehoboam came Abijam who reigned for about three years and did evil in God's eyes (1Kings 15:2) folowed by Asa who reigned for 41 years and did what was right in God's eyes (1Kings 15:9-10). After Asa came Jehoshaphat who reigned for 25 years (1Kings 22:42).
Israel
After Jeroboam came Nadab who reigned for two years (1Kings 15:25) and did evil in the sight of the Lord. Next came Baasha who reigned for 24 years (1Kings 15:33). He also did evil in the sight of the Lord and was at war with Asa from Judah during much of their reigns together (1Kings 15:16). After Baasha came Elah who reigned for two years. This was Baasha's son (1Kings 16:8) Zimri followed by killing Elah and taking kingship (1Kings 16:10). His reign lasted only a week as Omri was named after that by Israel. Omri also did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord (v.25). Then we come to Ahab who was Omri's son who reigned for 22 years (1Kings 16:29). He was a worshipper of Baal and is said to have done more evil in the sight of the Lord compared to all those before him (1Kings 16:30).

Enter Elijah
This is quite an amazing account of a prophet of the Lord who comes and confronts evil as displayed in the behavior of King Ahab the Baal worshipper. To make the longer story short, Elijah comes to Ahab and challenges him and his prophets of Baal atop of Mount Carmel (1Kings 18:19, 23-24). The challenge is to place a bull upon the altar and then cry out to God. The one that answers by fire is the true God. What is fun here is that the Baal worshippers are busy crying out for several hours (1Kings 18:26-29) and Elijah is busy mocking them when their god does not reply in front of all of Israel. That evening, Elijah takes his bull on the altar and douses it with several buckets of water and builds a trench around it full of water. He makes sure his bull is good and wet. An awesome request is made by Elijah in 18:37 and the fire comes and burns it all up water, stones, and all (1Kings 18:38). Elijah calls for Israel to seize the prophets of Baal and he kills them all later (1Kings 18:40). Point made. Another 'W' for God.

So Ahab goes home and tells his wife Jezebel all about the incredible afternoon and this made her angry so she vowed to kill Elijah (1Kings 19:1-2). Elijah flees and prays to God for death but the Lord strengthens him and tells him to stand in the Lord's presence on the mountain.

This is interesting to me... Elijah goes out and stands on the mountain as he was told and along comes wind but no Lord, then and earthquake but no Lord, then fire but no Lord, finally a whisper comes (1Kings 19:11-12. It makes me think of all the "noise" through which we must filter the voice of God. Imagine the difficulties of trying to hear a whisper through the chaos of wind, earthquake, and fire...! Remain patient - focus on Him and listen.

God instructs Elijah to appoint Elisha to take his place - note difference of spelling - who pretty much drops everything and follows Elijah.

Ahab later has a run-in with a fellow named Naboth. Ahab wanted his vineyard and offered to buy it or trade for something else but Naboth declined. I almost get a sense of Ahab's immaturity in the response (1Kings 21:4). He goes in and lays on his bed and refuses to eat. His wife comes in and is like "What's wrong?" He replies that he is upset because Naboth said 'No.' (1Kings 21:5-6). Jezebel devises a plan to slander Naboth and gets him stoned to death where Ahab then takes the land.

Of course, this was not hidden from the Lord. So Elijah is sent to tell Ahab of his impending doom (1Kings 21:19). Ahab's response is such that God says He will not bring this on him during his lifetime but during the lifetime of his son.

Final Days for Ahab
During Jehoshaphat's tenure as king, Ahab wanted his help to go and defeat Ramoth-gilead. Since Jehoshaphat was a follower of the Lord, he asked for knowledge of God's will. Ahab asked some prophets and they said that he should go fight and the Lord would hand it over. Jehoshaphat was not buying it and asked specifically for a prophet of Yahweh. We learn that there is one but Ahab doesn't like that idea because Micaiah always proclaims disaster. **Funny how Ahab chose to listen to those people who told him what he wanted to hear. We are warned of this in 2 Timothy 4:3**

As Ahab predicted, Micaiah had some disastrous things to say and so he has Micaiah placed in prison (1Kings 22:27-28). They go up to fight anyway and Ahab tries to disguise himself as someone other than the king but dies anyway (1Kings 22:34-35)

Jehoshaphat continued to do what was right in the eyes of the Lord while Ahaziah replaced Ahab and reigned for 2 years doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Jehoram eventually replaced Jehoshaphat.

So we have all these kings - some doing evil and others doing right in the eyes of the Lord. We will continue to follow the history in 2 Kings next week.

Stone 10 - 2 Samuel

At the end of 1 Samuel we read that Saul, Israel's first king died. There is a seamless transition to 2 Samuel as David becomes informed of this event.

Beware the Message You Bring
In the first chapter a messenger comes to relay the news to David about Saul's death and the defeat of the Isrealites at the hand of the Philistines. What is interesting is that the messenger thought that he was bringing good news to David (2Sam 4:10). In fact, the messenger even delivered the armband and crown, knowing full well that David is the next anointed (2Sam 1:10).

I imagine that to the messenger's surprise, David is pained and tears his clothes over it and mourns (2Sam 1:11). David later had the messenger killed for having killed the Lord's anointed (2Sam 1:14-16). I am pretty sure that was not on the messenger's radar as a possibility.

Civil War
David becomes king over Judah (2Sam 2:4) but Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, was king over the rest of Israel (2Sam 2:8-9). At a certain point they came together and it appears as though they were going to try and settle matters with minimal bloodshed by having a smaller group of 12 men from each side come out and fight in a sort of gang-style underground fighting ring or something but they all died anyway so the bigger battle ensued (2Sam 2:14-16).

Verse 17 tells us that David wins and they began pursuit of Abner, who is the commander of the Army, and we later learn that the war was long (2Sam 3:1). Something that appears to have been somewhat pivotal is when Ish-bosheth questions his commander Abner about sleeping with a concubine (2Sam 3:7). Abner is offended and seems to vow that he will now help David become king (2Sam 3:8-10). So Abner makes a covenant with David (2Sam 3:12) to hand over all of Israel to him. Unfortunately, Joab, who is David's commander, runs into Abner and kills him saying that he is an enemy (2Sam 3:24-25) but really taking vengeance on him for the death of his brother (2Sam 3:27).

Later, Ish-bosheth is also assassinated (2Sam 4:7) and his head is brought to David like some kind of gift (2Sam 4:8). I think of the cat that leaves the dead mouse on the doorstep as a gesture of love. As with the messenger in chapter 1, the assassins think they have done well and are bringing good news but what they have done was not God's way and David brings the same punishment on them as the messenger (2Sam 4:9-12). Finally, David becomes king over all of Israel (2Sam 5:3).

More Conflict
The Philistines now try to come in and take over (2Sam 5:17-18) to no avail as David listened to the Lord (2Sam 5:25).

Though not a battle, David wants to move the Ark from its current spot to Jerusalem with him and give it a better place (2Sam 7:2) but God tells David, through Nathan, that He has never commanded this (2Sam 7:7).
An interesting note in this part is during the move of the Ark when it begins to fall off of the cart (2Sam 6:6). A man named Uzzah tries to grab it to keep it from falling and dies (2Sam 6:7). It is worth noting that Uzzah is not slain because of his good intention but because he was not an authorized priest and touched the most holy object. This was a violation for which death was promised. Remember the sons of Aaron who came before the tent in an unauthorized way (Lev 10:1-2)?

The Ammonites later came on the scene when the king passed away and reign passed on to his son (2Sam 10:1). David tries to be nice to Hanun but the feeling was not mutual - or at least the counsel from leadership was flawed (2Sam 10:3-5). The battle ensues and Israel comes out as victor.

The Lasting Consequences of Sin
Now we come to the famous account of David and Bathsheba where David sees this married woman bathing from his roof and summons her to have sex (2Sam 11:2-5). **Personally, I cannot ignore the coincidence that she was bathing and her name was Bathsheba...** OK - OOPS - she gets pregnant and now David knows that he has a problem on his hands so he tries to be really slick and cover it up by bringing her husband in from battle to sleep with with her so that nine months later he would think it was his (2Sam 11:6-9). So that does not work and so they get Uriah drunk and even then he does not go home (2Sam 11:13). With his plans foiled, David arranges to get Uriah killed in battle (2Sam 11:14).

Now David may have thought that he finally got this covered up but God knew about it and was not pleased (2Sam 11:27). Some time later the prophet Nathan is sent to David with a story (2Sam 12:1-4) that gets David riled up and says the man deserves to die (v. 5) to which Nathan replies that David is the man in the story (v. 7). Due to this sin, God says that David's house will be filled with disaster (2Sam 12:10-12).

So the newborn dies and some time later David and Bathsheba are blessed with Solomon.

David has many wives and children. One of his sons, Absalom, has a sister named Tamar who is apparently so beautiful that another son Amnon cannot seem to get over her (2Sam 13:1-4). This plan gets devised to bring Tamar close to him and he rapes her and immediately hates her (2Sam 13:12-15). Obviously this brings just a little tension to the family and we eventually have one brother plotting to kill another a couple years down the road (2Sam 13:23,28). Absalom then runs away (v. 38).

Are we seeing the disaster God promised yet?

So Joab puts together this plan to reunite king David with his son Absalom which does work but David indicates that he can come back but not be allowed to see him (2Sam 14:24). A couple years later Absalom burns Joab's field to get his attention (v 30) so he could petition to see the king (2Sam 14:33).

Not long after - Absalom starts building himself a following by intercepting people coming in the city and telling them that the king did not have anyone to listen to them (2Sam 15:1-6). After four years of building some fame and notoriety throughout Isreal, Absalom goes to Hebron and plans to make himself king (2Sam 15:7) but does it in a decietful manner. Word finally gets back to David that people are starting to follow Absalom and so David flees (2Sam 15:14).

Some time later, Absalom moves into Jerusalem (2Sam 16:15). His advisors tell him to sleep with the concubines (2Sam 16:21-22) - this goes back to what God said would happen (2Sam 12:11-12). It is also my understanding politically at this time that the one who controls the harem holds the reigns. This, then, becomes a public symbol of who is in charge. Plans are then made to go out and attack David. **Imagine having your own son try to hunt you down and kill you...**

An insider, Hushai, gives advice and then sends messengers to inform David of the advice (2Sam 17:16). Battle later ensued through which David comes out victorious (2Sam 18:7). At some point Absalom got himself hung up in a tree by his massive hairdo (2Sam 18:9). While he was hanging there, Joab and his men came along and killed him. **What is interesting to note here is that king David specifically told the people in v. 5 not to harm Absalom. Joab has him killed anyway. From a military standpoint this seems a wise decision but it defies the king's orders nonetheless. Even though his own son was trying to kill him, he still loved him.

So David is now restored as king over Israel but there is a small dispute of sorts and Sheba pretty much walks off with most of Israel following him (2Sam 20:1-2). A party is sent out to take care of Sheba who clearly didn't have much of a support group because the city he was in simply handed over his head at the request of Joab (2Sam 20:20-22).

Something Doesn't Add Up
David calls to have his military counted but Joab hesitates and queries this as if knowing it should not be done (2Sam 24:2-3). It happens anyway, over the course of roughly ten months, and even David feels bad about it afterwards (2Sam 24:10). Perhaps it was the meotivation behind the counting as if to boast of his strength as opposed to the strength of the Lord.

David is given three options for punishment and goes with the plague from God rather than a punishment at the hands of men (2Sam 24:14). So the plague comes and 70,000 men die by the time David cries out to say that the punishment should be on him and his family since it was his sin. Now the text says that 70,000 men die - I wonder if that means there were many more women and children that dies as well...? Either way all this counting up ended in a net loss. **Despite the alluring intial potential benefits, sin does not have a payoff in the end.**

David was then instructed to build an altar to the Lord (2Sam 24:18). David obeys. **Another interesting note is that the owner of the property where the altar was to be built was willing to simply hand over all of it and David refused and insisted on buying it since he would not give offerings that had cost him nothing (2Sam 24:22-24)

Things seem to settle down for now - at least until David grows old and it is time for a new king. We will look at David's son Solomon next time in the book of 1 Kings.

Stone 9 - 1 Samuel

We finished the book of Ruth with a short genealogy that pointed to David. Remember that Ruth is David's great grandma. In 1 Samuel we get an opportunity to meet David.

Samuel Comes on the Scene
We will start by introducing Hannah, Samuel's mother. For some time Hannah was barren (1Sam 1:2,5). *Has anyone else noticed that many of the prominent figures came from some sort of barrenness or difficult situation? There is no question that God is part of these encounters.* The bad part for Hannah is that not only is she childless but her husband has a second wife who constantly goads her about it (1Sam 1:6). Hannah then pleads with God (1Sam 1:11) for a son and promises to dedicate the child to Him. We see that God granted Hannah's request (1 Sam 1:20) and she kept her promise (1Sam 1:27-28).

While the text simply covers this in a sort of "matter of fact" way, I imagine it being a more difficult time than the text would make it appear. I am a father of five myself and have dedicated all five of my own children to the Lord as well. However, that did not mean dropping them off at a church in a far off town as a toddler. How emotionally charged those moments must have been. Here is Hannah, just had her first child after being barren for a while and she just drops the kid off with Eli the priest. We also don't get any information on what Eli was thinking. Imagine a woman coming in to say "Hey, remember me? I am the lady that prayed here a couple years ago. Here is my son that I prayed for and am giving to the Lord. BAM - and like that Eli becomes a foster parent. We can know that Hannah did come and visit at least once a year (1Sam 2:19).

The Foster Family
OK - so now we learn that the family of the priest where Samuel is staying is not the exactly the best crowd to be hanging with (1Sam 2:12). Now Eli gets after them verbally (1Sam 2:23-24) but never enforces anything or puts an end to their antics (1Sam 3:13). This makes God angry and therefore Eli's ancestral line will be cut off (1Sam 2:30).

Samuel Gets Promoted
God calls to Samuel in such a way that Samuel thinks it is Eli calling for him (1Sam 3:4-5). This happens a couple more times until Eli figures out what is going on (1Sam 3:8). *Perhaps one day I might experience this audible type of speaking with God. That would be awesome.* Over time, Samuel developed a reputation (1Sam 3:20).

Segue now to some battles where Eli's sons are engaged. The Philistines were busy beating up the Israelites pretty good (1Sam 4:2) and so the Israelites thought they might bring out the big guns (1Sam 4:4) which is the ark. Now this had the effect they were looking for (1Sam 4:7-8) but unfortunately for the Israelites it did not help them win the battle since the Lord was not with them (1Sam 4:10-11). Eli's sons die in the battle and the ark is captured and when Eli hears the news and also dies (1Sam 4:18).

So the Philistines have the ark now - imagine the victory dance they were performing that night! Alright - so that would be short lived... (1Sam 5:6) So they move the ark and the plagues follow (1Sam 5:9) and they move it again to no avail (1Sam 5:10) - apparently they had heard about the other two cities and what happened to them and wanted nothing to do with the ark. Alas, the Philistines ended up giving their loot back to the Israelites (1Sam 6:1-2).

Some 20 years later, the Israelites began seeking the Lord again (1Sam 7:2). Samuel, of course, is well into his adult years by this point and he give them sound advice to get rid of all the false gods they have (1Sam 7:3) and to meet at Mizpah where Samuel prays and begins to lead as the judge (1Sam 7:5-6).

Keeping Up With The Jones'
I titled the section this way because I see some connections here with how Israel behaves. So Samuel, as good a man as he is, does not have sons who follow in his footsteps. It would appear that the position of power they were given had corrupted them (1Sam 8:1-3). So Isreal keeps asking for a king to rule over them because that is what the other nations have (1Sam 8:5). I can just imagine the whining now...

The sad part is that they had the best King already... God himself... but they rejected Him (1Sam 8:7) and (1Sam 10:19). Samuel tries to warn them about what the appointed king would do but the Israelites don't seem to care (1Sam 8:19-20). Notice in verse 20 where it states "Then we'll be like all the other nations..." - Isreal was supposed to Holy - set apart - not like the others... alas God gives them over to the desires of their hearts. They just wanted what everyone else had.

Surprise! You Are Now King
So what starts out as a simple search for a few donkeys (1Sam 9:3) ends up netting Saul with the highest position in the land (1Sam 10:1). Who would not be a little weirded out by that? Later on there is a public ceremony in Mizpah (1Sam 10:17-19) so that all would know Saul was the new king.

What I find interesting here is that I get this impression that Saul has some cold feet about this because it appears that he is hiding during the ceremony. Who would not be a little nervous? First king ever and was simply snatched up during a search for some donkeys - was not even planning on running a campaign for king... Whoa big load just dropped on shoulders... So in 1Sam 10:21-22 we read that they found him hidden among some supplies. LOL That is an interesting first impression for a new king to make.

So Saul does a pretty good job at first by winning a battle against the Ammonites and saving the people of Jabesh-gilead. The people are happy and they have a sort of party (1Sam 11:14-15). Samuel then gives a little speech to the people of Israel and reminds them of all the things that the Lord has done for them over the years (1Sam 12:1-25). *Reminds me of the speeches of Moses and Joshua*

Costly Decisions
If we look back a little to 1Sam 10:8, Samuel gives instructions to Saul to go to Gilgal and wait for him for seven days. Samuel says he will come and offer some sacrifices and tell Saul what to do. We read in 1Sam 13:9 that Saul gives the offering himself. Just then, Samuel shows up (v.10) and rebukes Saul for not listening. This was to be the beginning of the end for Saul (1Sam 13:13-14).

Later, Samuel comes to Saul and gives direction from the Lord (1Sam 15:3). Saul, however, does not carry out the instructions correctly (1Sam 15:9). We also see that Saul created a monument to himself in verse twelve.

Samuel confronts Saul (1Sam 15:14-19) and true to human form, Saul tries to justify his actions as being OK (1Sam 15:20-21). Notice that it takes the form of "...but I was going to do it for the Lord..."

The Next King
God now sends Samuel on a mission to go and anoint David as the next king (1Sam 16:1). So Samuel heads off to Bethlehem to meet up with Jesse - Ruth's Grandson (remember that David is the great grandson) - Samuel will be anointing one of the sons. So Jesse's sons start to come out before Samuel and Samuel notices one of the sons and figures that this must be the one (1Sam 16:6).

*Now this next verse has been one of my favorites over the years - 1Sam 16:7 - "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.'"*

Eventually David comes out and God tells Samuel that he is the one.

Interestingly, as David is anointed, Saul has evil thoughts and calls for someone to come and play the harp for him and calm him down. It just so happens that David is a pretty good harp player (1Sam 16:18). Fancy that.

David comes and does a good job and gets to stay and that brings us to the conflict with Goliath. This is a rather popular account so to keep it short, Goliath, this really big guy, pretty much comes out and taunts the Israelites to a one-on-one battle but no one wants to take him up on the challenge. So for 40 days Goliath is out there sending out a challenge that the Israelites do not respond to making them look like a bunch of wimps (1Sam 17:16). So David comes along and hears about all the commotion with this Goliath fellow and says I will do it and Saul says 'No' (1Sam 17:33). David convinces Saul that he has God on his side and will win so he goes out proclaiming the Lord and slings a stone right in Goliath's head and down he goes - David then cuts his head off (1Sam 17:45-51).

This became the beginning of David's success as well as Saul's jealousy towards him. Saul tries to kill David on more than one occasion when he comes to play the harp for him as he had done in the past (1Sam 18:10-11, 19:9-10). David flees to several places as Saul pursued (1Sam 21-26).

On at least two occasions, David had the opportunity to take out Saul but did not. Once in a cave (1Sam 24:8-11) and once in their camp (1Sam 26:9-12).

Saul says that he will not harm David (1Sam 26:21) but I don't think David believes that (1Sam 27:1). He ends up hanging out in Philistine territory for some time until another battle between the Israelites and the Philistines comes up. Saul consults with a medium (1Sam 28:7) to speak with Samuel who had passed away by this point. Samuel informs him that he will lose (1Sam 28:19). David and his crew were planning on fighting with the Philistines (1Sam 28:1-2) but they were discovered as being Israelites and asked to leave (1Sam 29:3-5).

So David left to go back and gather his family and posessions and discovered that the Amalekites had raided the territory and kidnapped his family (1Sam 30:3-5). David tracks down the Amalekites and recovers all his family (1Sam 30:18). Meanwhile, as the Philistines were attacking the Israelites in the battle that David was sent away from, Saul was killed (1Sam 31:2-6).

Thus 1 Samuel comes to a close with the death of its first king, Saul. Next we will see David become the new king of the Israelites.

Stone 8 - Ruth

In Judges we saw quite a bit of rebellion in the time when there was no king and people just did what was right in their own eyes. Let's see where Ruth comes into all of this.

A Journey
So we start out learning about a famine that was taking place in the time of the judges where a man and his wife decided to head off to Moab from the land of Israel (Ruth 1:1). We also learn very quickly a man and his two sons that pass away leaving behind the man's wife and the wives of his two sons (Ruth 1:3-5). The man's wife was Naomi and the wives of the two sons were Orpah and Ruth. A tragic beginning, no doubt, but things are about to get interesting.

Now that all the guys are dead, the three ladies start to head back to the land of Israel because they heard that the food situation was better there (Ruth 1:6-7). However, not long into their trip, Naomi urges them to go back (Ruth 1:8-9). It is worth noting that Orpah and Ruth were from Moab to begin with so I imagine that this may be a reasonable request at first glance. The two girls decline and Naomi urges them a second time stating that they don't have much hope to start a new family if they are with her (Ruth 1:11-13). Naomi convinces Orpah but not Ruth.

There are some subtle things here - in verse 15, Naomi urges Ruth now for a third time but appeals to her by stating that Orpah went back to her people and her god. What I notice is that in the text 'god' is written with a lower case 'g'. So let's remember now that the land of Moab was outside of Israel and had other objects of worship. Ruth was a Moabite to begin with but notice how Ruth's response in verse 16 uses God with a capital 'G'. It would appear that Ruth recognizes something. Finally Naomi gives up trying to send her back.

Naomi was an Israelite woman but tries to send the women back to a false god. Ouch.

The New Girl in Town
Naomi and Ruth finally make it back to Bethlehem and Ruth goes out to gather food. Turns out that she ends up in a field that is owned by a man named Boaz. We learned in Ruth 2:1 that Boaz is a relative of Naomi. Boaz notices Ruth and urges her to stay in his field (Ruth 2:8-9). This is also interesting as this could go a couple ways. In one way - perhaps Boaz likes her and wants her to stay for that reason. In the other way, we will need to review Judges for a moment. Remember the fiasco that happened with the Benjamites (Jud 19)? There was a great deal of sexual immorality going on in Israel. The man that brought the traveller and his concubine into his home knew that it was not safe to stay out in the square. Perhaps Boaz also recognized that this new girl in town was not going to be safe in another man's fields. Naomi provides further support for this idea later in Ruth 2:22.

Of course, there is also the third possibility that both the possibilities could be true. We read later that Boaz has heard about Ruth and her devotion to Naomi (Ruth 2:11). Boaz has some respect for her. Ruth later goes back to tell Naomi about Boaz (Ruth 2:19). Naomi lets Ruth know that Boaz is a family redeemer. I understand that a family redeemer is one that marries widows in order to keep the family lineage going.

Moving Forward
Now that Naomi is in the know, she sets about playing matchmaker (Ruth 3:1-4). Ruth follows her directions and Boaz responds favorably but lets her know that another redeemer gets first dibs (Ruth 3:11-13).

Boaz quickly gets together with the other redeemer and several witnesses to settle the matter (Ruth 4:1-2). Boaz offers two things, really. The first is a parcel of land that Naomi is selling. What I find interesting is that the man is happy to buy up the land but when Boaz mentions that Ruth comes with the land, he backs up the bus and tells Boaz that he can have it all (Ruth 4:3-6). It sounded as though he may have already been married or had another engagement that was preventing this union.

Good news for Boaz and Ruth. They are married and Ruth eventually has a son (Ruth 4:13). The son's name is Obed. Now the book as a whole finishes with a little more geneaology that lets us know that Obed eventually has a son named Jesse and that Jesse eventually has a son named David (Ruth 4:21-22) This is the same David that becomes King of Israel. King David's great grandma is Ruth!

Next week we will journey through the book of 1 Samuel.

Here is the video from the Bible Project on the book of Ruth.

Stone 7 - Judges

In Joshua we learned that the Israelites finally moved across the Jordan and won some battles to take the promised land. There is still some work to do, however, since there were people still out there who had not been wiped out.

Cry Out For Leadership
Up unto this point we have seen very clear leaders that stand out such as Joseph in Genesis, Moses, and Joshua who had done a significant amount for the Israelites. Now that Joshua has passed away, we see right away in the first verse that the people are seeking who is to lead. While the response from the Lord is that Judah will go (Jud 1:2) - Judah is not a person - Judah is a tribe. Remember that the Israelites were divided up into twelve tribes. *Listed in no particular order*

Judah		Zebulun
Simeon		Reuben
Gad		Manassah
Ephraim		Benjamin
Asher		Dan
Naphtali		Issachar

While Judah and Simeon had some successes, they eventually come to an end (Jud 1:19). We also see that several of the other tribes were met with losses as well.

• Benjamin in verse 21
• Manasseh in verse 27
• Ephraim in verse 29
• Zebulun in verse 30
• Asher in verse 31
• Naphtali in verse 33
• Dan in verse 34

In all of these cases we also see that there were people that continued to live among them. In other words, the Israelites did not completely wipe them out as they were told to do (Josh 10:40). Recall that Joshua was successful in his campaign because he did as he was directed.

Disobedience

God affirms the failure of the Israelites (Jud 2:1-2). Just as it was predicted, the Israelites were negatively affected by the Canaanites who remained in the land (Josh 23:12-13, 16), (Jud 2:12-13, 20-21), (Jud 3:6).

Patterns
Throughout the book of Judges we find a pattern of a disobedient people crying out to God and putting their trust in the Lord when He provides a judge for them and then falling into sin and disobedience again when that particular judge dies.

...Rinse and Repeat...

Here Come Da Judges
1. Othniel is listed as the first judge. Note how we begin this introduction to Othniel in 3:7 - "The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord's sight..."

2. Ehud then comes on the scene, with a similar introduction (Jud 3:12).

3. Shamgar is next but is only mentioned in all of one verse (Jud 3:31)

4. Deborah is also introduced with the evil of the Israelites (Jud 4:1).

5. Guess what? Yup, Israel does what is evil in the sight of the Lord. As a result, Midian comes in and controls Israel for seven years (Jud 6:1). Now Gideon comes on the scene. You might recognize Gideon as having a bit more name recognition. Gideon is the one who constantly considers himself the weakest and the runt of the litter (Jud 6:15), He also is the one who brings out the fleece as a test. God either wets the fleece with dew or wets everything but the fleece with dew on two separate occasions to confirm to Gideon that He is indeed with him (Jud 6:36-40). The size of the army that Gideon used was only 300 men after God stripped it down from over 30,000 as suggested by Jud 7:3 and He used the very small number to ensure that the people of Israel would know that it was the work of the Lord and not their own doing (Jud 7:2). Interestingly, the people of Israel wanted Gideon to rule them, giving him the credit for the victory anyway (Jud 8:22). Gideon knows better (Jud 8:23), but unfortunately makes an ephod from the spoils that Israel ends up worshipping anyway (Jud 8:27).

6. Tola comes next but before that happens we have quite a bit going on. Judges 8:33 tells us that the Israelites didn't waste much time falling back into their evil ways after Gideon died. The big deal next is the oppression we expect now and where it begins. Abimelech, Gideon's own son conspires to take leadership by killing off his many brothers but missing one - Jotham. OOPS - Jotham gets up and spills the beans as it were on the whole ordeal and within three years (Jud 9:22) things came crashing down for Abimelech. The interesting take away here is that these problems we have been seeing originate both externally and internally.

7. Jair is next.

8. Jephthah arrives to bring peace this time. In Judges 10:6, however, we have another statement of evil Israelites. He makes this odd vow with God about handing over the first thing that comes out of his house to greet him (Jud 11:30-31).

9. Ibzan

10. Elon

11. Abdon

12. Samson is listed as the last of the judges. Judges 13:1 lets us know that Israel was once again evil in the sight of the Lord. Samson and Delilah is probably the most widely recognized account from the book of Judges. Samson helps to deliver them from the Philistines. The downfall of Samson is women and Delilah finally goads him into sharing the secret of his strength (Jud 16:16-17)

I am counting 12 judges and I cannot help but note the connection to the number of tribes of Israel being 12 as well.

Where is the King?
After Samson dies we hear about a fellow named Micah was not really on the right path. He was pretty much just doing his own thing and we are told that there was not king in Israel at that time (Jud 17:6). He even had some idols in the house that he had been worshipping and he later hires a Levite to be his personal priest. Later we have a group of spies show up from the Danites and come across Micah's house where the priest tells them that the Lord is watching over them. The spies find some easy prey and come back later with a larger party for the battle. On their way back through, they swing in to Micah's place and steal his stuff including the priest by sweet talking him to join them. Turns out the priest is the grandson of Moses and they settle in the land they just took and set up the idols for worship.

So Judges 18:1 and 19:1 also remind us that there was no king in Israel at that time. This becomes a key phrase in the book of Judges.

We continue to hear of a horrific event that takes place within Gibeah which is part of the Benjamin tribe. This traveller comes through with his concubine and stays at a man's place for the evening. In a night reminiscent of Sodom and Gomorrah, men come to the house and ask to have the man brought out so they can have sex with him (Jud 19:22). They refused and the traveller sent his concubine out. The concubine was raped, abused, and left for dead (Jud 19:25-28). The traveller took her back to his home, cut her up into 12 pieces and sent a piece to each of the 12 tribes of Israel (Jud 19:29).

This ends up starting a civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the Israelites and the tribe of Benjamin is almost wiped out. The book finishes with the reminder that there was no king and people did what they wanted (Jud 21:25)

So, to recap, we see this pattern of Israelites doing their own thing rather than following the instructions that God had laid out for them for their own good. They were unsuccesful in becoming settled in the land that was given to them because they continued to disregard the covenant with the Lord and worshipped other false gods instead. They continued to cry out to the Lord for help and He would provide a way to deliver them but they would soon fall back to their own devices.

Is it not interesting that they "had no king" and wanted someone to rule over them all the while God was there - capable and willing to lead them? They simply refused the King that was among them the whole time. Irony, it would seem.

Stone 6 - Joshua

At the end of Deuteronomy Moses passes away and Joshua takes command. Let's see how moving into the promised land plays out.

If you like a good military historical genre, you'll find that the Book of Joshua is filled with some good stuff.

Making Preparations
Joshua starts by giving some orders to get ready (Josh 1:10-11) and then sends out a couple of spies for a little route recon action (Josh 2:1). What is interesting to note is that the spies stop at a house at the edge of the city of Jericho (Josh 2:15) that belonged to a prostitute named Rahab. We quickly learn that the King of Jericho had been informed of this and sent men to Rahab's house to find them. Instead of turning them in, she helps provide concealment and gives the King's men the wrong information allowing the spies to escape.

The Israelites developed a reputation and news spread through the land. Rahab shares that she knows that the Lord has given the land to them (Josh 2:8-9) and spares their lives in exchange for that of her family (Josh 2:12-13).

I also find this particular portion of interest for two reasons.

1. The spies were not visiting the Red Light District of Jericho on their recon mission. Of all the places along the wall that they could have hit - they somehow managed to find the place of a citizen willing to risk the lives of their family to protect them - spies... Can you imagine how that would have played out if the King found out that some prostitute lied to protect the enemy? Lucky...? I think not.

2. Rahab lied. Isn't it wrong to lie? Sure it is. I do not take this as evidence that the Bible promotes deception. This is simply a record of what happened. Now, that said, it does seem to fall in line with God's plan. Is there such a thing as lying for a good cause? I do think that sometimes we are faced with decisions where any choice we make involves loss or morally suspect action. We have often heard this as taking the lesser of two evils. Even Hebrews 11:31 remarks on this. Rahab stuck her neck out in faith. I find this to be an interesting discussion topic.

Miracle Number One
Now we see the first of three miracles found in Joshua - crossing the Jordan River (Josh 3:15-17).
It is worth noting here that while Joshua is the commander of the people now in place of Moses, it is God who is really running the show and calling the shots (Josh 3:7-8).

In addition, shortly after crossing, Joshua meets the Commander of the Lord's Army. It is a seemingly short encounter but appears to once again serve as reminder that God is calling the shots. The commander tells Joshua to remove his sandals because he is standing on holy ground (Josh 5:15).

Miracle Number Two
I can only imagine the thoughts going through the heads of the soldiers during this military campaign. "You want us to do what...!?" They are asked to march around the city once a day for six days and to march around it seven times on the seventh day while priests blow trumpets (Josh 6:3-4). How many of them do you think were questioning the week-long parade?

As odd as things may seem to us and our imperfect hearts and minds - God's plan is perfect. We may not understand the how or why - we need only to trust and obey, knowing that it is best.

Jericho knew that the Israelites were coming. They were not planning to let their city go easily - at least I imagine that is what they are thinking. The city had been well fortified in advance with knowledge they were coming (Josh 6:1). The 7-Day march around Jericho would bring down the walls and allow the Israelites to enter and take what God had given them.

A good reminder here - God had given this to them not because of their righteousness but because of the wickedness of those being removed from the land (Deut 9:1-6).

The next interesting thing to note here is that God is not allowing any looting to take place after this first victory (Josh 6:17-19).

Unfortunately, there were some who did not listen (Josh 7:1). (Are we really surprised by this...?) The disobedience caused them to fail in their battle with Ai (Josh 7:5). Of course, Joshua did not know about this disobedience until God revealed it to him (Josh 7:11-12).

Achan and his family are eventually found out (Josh 7:20-21), and destroyed for their disobedience. No games.

Ai was then conquered and so Gibeon decided to be deceptive in order to protect themselves by playing that they came from far away and wanted a treaty because of the reputation they had developed (Josh 9:9-11). They found out shortly after agreeing to the treaty that Gibeon was actually their neighbor (Josh 9:16). As a result, those people were to be servants.

Miracle Number Three
Word is still getting around. Several neighboring kings decided to join forces in the hopes of defeating the Israelites. This was really a pretty massive conquest of five kings and their territories. At a certain point, Joshua prays to the Lord asking for the sun to stop so they can finish the battle (Josh 10:12-13).

God grants the prayer and the sun stops for almost a day. Now this is interesting, too. I mean, yeah, time standing still for nearly 24 hours is interesting but another subtle point not mentioned here is that the people being destroyed here, the Canaanites, worshipped gods of the sun and moon. So here, God takes what they worship as god and uses them to help the Israelites. This pretty effectively makes the religion of the Canaanites rather insignificant.

Time to Divvy Up the Spoils
A majority of the rest of the book describes how the land was divided between the tribes. However, remember the group that was happy to stay on the other side of the Jordan? They got to go there but on the way built an altar and that got the tribes on the other side pretty riled up (Josh 22:11-12). Ultimately, this was viewed as a division of the unity of Israel as a whole and a violation of the covenant. It turns out that the altar that was built was done only to signify that although they were on the other side of the Jordan that they did, in fact, have a legitimate claim to the inheritance as well and it was not to be used for sacrifices or offerings of any kind (Josh 22:24-26).
Crisis averted.

Joseph's Final Words
In a way that was reminiscent to the final words of Moses, Joseph gathers the people, shares some history and encourages them to remain faithful to the covenant. Remember what Moses said to the people once in Deut 10:13? Compare that with what Joshua tells them in Josh 23:11.

Over the course of the first six books we see God remain faithful to His promise by bringing the Israelites to the "land of milk and honey". Joshua charges them to choose who they will worship (Josh 24:14-15). The people are pretty adamant that they will follow the Lord because of all the things He has done for them (Josh 24:16-18). Also in a similar way to Moses, Joshua appears a bit skeptical (Josh 24:19-20).

We will see how that turns out next week when we look at Judges.

Stone 5 - Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is the final book of what is known as the pentateuch and culminates with the death of Moses. Let's see what is going on.

I find this to be interesting...

Remember back in Exodus when God first called upon Moses to confront Pharoah? Moses gives God objections that he is not so good at speaking (Ex 4:10).

So get this... in Deuteronomy, Moses totally gets up and speaks to the crowd in a sort of final speech as if he were the valedictorian of his class. He calls on them to - as I will word this - get their act together. I picture an old man who sort of smack a younger man on the back of the head and questions them - "Seriously? What are you thinking?" I see no indication that Moses hesitated in this like he did back in Exodus. There is no question in my mind that God did some amazing things in the life of Moses.

Let's Review
So Moses begins his speech to the masses by summarizing the last 40 years and their journey to the current location. As he recalls the history, he does not hold back sharing the events of rebellion and disobedience by the people (Deut 1:26, 1:43). So he reminds them to obey (Deut 4:1-2). I can just hear the frustration in the voice of Moses as he recalls the events of the past, pleading with the people to obey. Multiple times he calls them to listen - like a teacher at the front of the class who snaps their fingers to get the attention of those who may have been drifting off because there is an important point coming up (Deut 4:1, 5:1, 5:27, 6:3, 6:4, 9:1).

So we get a great deal of things we have already read about in prior books but remember that they have been in the wilderness for the last 40 years waiting for the prior generation to die off because they were not going to enter the promised land. This may very well be some new information for those currently in the crowd. Remember that Moses was banned from going into the promised land so this is where his journey will end. Moses wants them to move forward successfully. (Deut 11:8-9)

Remember the Law
So in addition to a retelling of the history, Moses shares with the Israelites all of the laws that God had given them. He covers the ten commandments again, rules about proper worship, rules about leadership, rules about societal activity, etc.

Again at chapter 9, I see Moses snapping the fingers... LISTEN! Guys! C'mon! You are on the verge of whooping up on a group of guys way bigger and stronger than you and take their land because God is giving it to you. Don't get all high and mighty on yourself because it has nothing to do with you. God is evicting them because they are wicked - not because you people are righteous. (Deut 9:1-6)

He tells them the account of the golden calf incident and calls once again on them to obey and follow God. (Deut 10:12-13) Again, I see Moses as exasperated as he indicates 'for your own good' in verse 13. So here we have a recount of more laws given by God - again, for their own good.

Final Plea
After covering all the laws, Moses gives one more appeal to obey and follow God. This is another major point where I imagine Moses snapping his fingers to gain attention to the class. Although since the crowd was likely pretty large, perhaps a shout would be more effective. LISTEN! (Deut 27:9-10)

Moses is kind enough to share the consequences for obedience and the lack thereof (Deut 28) and gives a small bit of encouragement and assurance that all is within their reach (Deut 30:11-20)

Change of Command and Concluding Remarks
Near the conclusion of the speech, Moses informs the people that Joshua will be their new leader. Moses, despite all of his efforts, learns from God that they won't listen anyway (Deut 31:16-18). How sad Moses must have felt in that moment. God has Moses record a song to share with the people as evidence that this was foretold (Deut 31:19-22).

Moses gives a blessing to the people and eventually makes his way to the top of Pisgah at Mount Nebo (Deut 34:1) where he finally came to rest.

Additional Comments on Deuteronomy
I am going to reference Luke Chapter 4 from the New Testament. This tells of when Jesus was in the wilderness facing some temptations. I find it interesting that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy each of the three times he responds to Satan. In Luke 4:4, Jesus quotes Deut 8:3 - In Luke 4:8, Jesus quotes Deut 6:13 - then, interestingly, Satan tries to use scripture as well by twisting it in his attempts to test Jesus. Satan quotes Psalm 91:11-12 in Luke 4:10-11 to which Jesus quotes Deut 6:16 in reply.

Jesus was well aware of scripture and used it often. Remember that the laws for Israel were there to help set them apart or make them holy. Clearly, Jesus was set apart and holy.

Jesus used Old Testament scripture to combat Satan and this helps us to reinforce the words of Paul in his letter to Timothy that all scripture is good for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. (2Tim 3:16)

Next week we will see how Joshua moves forward with the Israelites.

Here is the video for Deuteronomy from the Bible Project.