This week we will continue the study of the entire Book of 1 Samuel in the Old Testament.
(1) The final chapter of the reign under Eli as the judge opened with the tragic news from the battle. What words does verse 12 use to depict this tragic ending?
(2) What might be the things that were weighing heavy in the heart of Eli as he sat in his chair wondering what might have happened in the battlefield? What might be going through his mind as he waited?
(3) Put yourself into the shoes of the town people, what might their cry represent?
(4) If Eli really “feared for the ark of God”, what should he have done in the first place? What should he have done as the judge of Israel for 40 years?
(5) What does the Bible tie the death of Eli to? Why? If you were to write his epitaph, what would you write on his tombstone?
(6) What did the wife of Phinehas name her son? Why? What might this reveal about her character?
(7) It appears that this battle was fought during a time that the Lord had resumed speaking to Israel through Samuel (3:21). Why then would God allow such an utter defeat to the point that His ark was taken away, signifying the departure of God’s glory (see both 4:22 and 7:2)?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) What was the initial perception of the God of Israel by the Philistines according to 4:7-8?
(2) With their great
victory over Israel and the capture of the ark of the Lord, what would these
Philistines think of the following?
a. The God of Israel
b. Their own god, Dagon
(3) Why did they not destroy the ark outright? What does putting the ark alongside the statue of Dagon show, as far as their attitude toward the ark was concerned?
(4) What does the
falling of Dagon before the ark represent?
a. To us?
b. To the Philistines?
(5) What happened the following morning? What was the unmistakable message?
(6) Why was the breaking of the statue of Dagon not enough? Why did God have to kill the Philistines and afflict them with tumors (see 5:11-12)?
(7) What did the Philistines try to do? Did it work? Why?
(8) Since they seemed to have the intention of including the ark into their worship, what should they have done upon recognizing that the God of Israel is not just a much more powerful god, but the only God?
(9) Why did they not embrace Him as their God?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Why did the Philistines tarry for seven months before they were willing to send the ark of God back to Israel?
(2) Given their fear of gods and their superstition, they seemed to have inquired of priests and diviners beyond their own. It was obvious that these priests and diviners did not know the Lord nor the Law of Moses, however was the suggestion of a guilt offering a right concept? Why or why not?
(3) What in fact was the guilt offering they had in mind? Will this offering really appease God?
(4) Does God really desire golden tumors and rats? What’s wrong with such an idea?
(5) Where did these priests and diviners get this idea?
(6) How significant was their reference to the “Exodus” event which was an event of over 400 years ago?
(7) What was the reasoning behind the use of a new cart to carry the ark of God?
(8) What was the significance of the use of two milking cows with their young penned away? (See Note below)
(9) How was God glorified through this incident?
(10) The people of Beth Shemesh responded very differently from the people of Gath and Ekron. What was the reason? Why were they so jubilant? Would you feel the same?
(11) Why did the celebration soon turn into mourning? Why did they want to send the ark away? What did they learn from this incident?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how can you apply it to your life?
Note:
It is believed that it would be the natural tendency of the two milking cows to return to find their young in the stall, and for them to go straight to Beth Shemesh would be most unnatural. That was signified by their lowing as they moved away from the direction of the stall.
(1) What was the effect of having the ark remain in Kiriath Jearim, without returning it to the tabernacle?
(2) What lesson did they learn from the mistake in Beth Shemesh and what did they now do to prevent it from happening again?
(3) While the Israelites had a general sense of turning back to the Lord, what did Samuel do to help them express their repentance with concrete actions?
(4) What might be the reason that in the initial expression of repentance, no animal sacrifice was made?
(5) What eventually caused Samuel to offer up an animal sacrifice?
(6) Do you think that the Philistines chose the best timing for their attack? Why or why not?
(7) What important lesson can we learn about the key to victory?
(8) While prayer and victory go hand in hand, so do victory and peace. How can you apply these principles in your life when it comes to gaining victory over sins?
(9) “Ebenezer” translated more literally is “Stone of help” (K&D, 412). With such a victory, Samuel could call this stone of memorial by many other names. Why did he call it to signify that “Thus far has the Lord helped us”? (7:12)
(10) What leadership style did Samuel adopt according to 7:15-17?
(11) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
It appears that Samuel had appointed his two sons as judges in addition to him by the very fact that the sons were stationed in Beersheba, the extreme south of the nation, while Samuel still resided in Ramah in the north.
(1) Unlike Eli, Samuel pleased the Lord and acted righteously. Why then would his sons be so unlike him? Can you think of some possible reasons?
(2) Remember how God called Samuel when he was a boy, and the words He said to him? Go back and read 3:11-14. Shouldn’t Samuel take these words to heart? Do you think Samuel was at fault? Did he know about his sons’ wickedness? What should he have done?
(3) In v. 4 we read that the elders used Samuel’s old age and his sons’ misdeeds to ask for a king:
a. In what ways was their request valid?
b. Was their goal the maintenance of a theocratic nation under God?
c. If it was, what should their request be?
d. As it was, what was their true desire?
e. What is meant by “such as all the other nations have”? What would it entail?
(4) From God’s answer to Samuel, consider the following:
a. Did God blame Samuel at all? Why not? He did blame Eli for his sons’ misdeeds!
b. What is meant by “so they are doing to you”?
c. The Lord had already foretold that they would have their own kings in Deuteronomy 17:14-20; so were they not simply asking for what the Lord had foretold through His servant Moses? Why was their request a rejection of God as their king?
(5) God told Samuel to warn the people of their follies of having a king over them:
a. Do you get a feeling that they did not really mind the downsides? What might be their reasons?
b. What might be the thing(s) that would cause them to overlook all these downsides (which they could have observed among the surrounding nations)?
c. What was the sternest warning from vv. 11-18?
(6) They could have asked Samuel to appoint another judge in his place, and yet they asked for a king “like all the other nations”. What might be the differences between being ruled by a judge like Samuel and ruled by a king like other nations had? Think in terms of the following:
a. The maintenance of peace and prosperity
b. The emphasis on and priority in honoring God and His law
c. The expansion of territory beyond the Promised Land
d. Governmental structure
e. Military structure
(7) What if Samuel refused to hear their request?
(8) Why did the Lord “give in” to their demand? Could He not show His displeasure like He did during their time in the wilderness? Why didn’t He?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) The story of Saul began with a description of him and his family:
a. What kind of a family did Saul come from?
b. What kind of a person was he?
c. Why would the Bible choose to describe him in such terms? Do you hear an echo of the request by the people in chapter 8?
(2) The missing of the donkeys was not an accident, but an incident used by God to achieve His purpose. How then can you look at incidents in your life that might be looked upon as a nuisance or misfortune?
(3) After covering a rather wide geographical area, they reached the region of Samuel, and Saul decided to call it quits. What kind of virtue was demonstrated by Saul in v. 5?
(4) What happened next was in essence a divine appointment leading to the calling and anointing of Saul as king over Israel. It is obvious that Saul had no clue about what was going to happen. Can one really be “prepared” to face such an important and divine calling? What kind of preparation might be needed in order to assume such an important and sacred calling? Do you think Saul was prepared for it? Why or why not?
(5) While Saul might not be prepared, Samuel was. How did God prepare Samuel to anoint Saul?
(6) Samuel revealed to Saul God’s choice of him to be the king in a very brief statement and before they went up to worship. What was Saul’s immediate reaction?
(7) Assuming that his response was genuine (since he had no prior knowledge to think through how he should respond), what does it tell us about Saul? In what way was he prepared to assume such a calling?
(8) What else might he be lacking at this stage?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) What might be the significance of reserving the (right) leg for Saul and giving it to him before the invited guests (probably important leaders)? (See Lev. 7:32ff)
(2) Although the Bible does not tell us what Samuel talked to Saul about on the roof of his house (9:25), given the short calling revealed earlier by Samuel, what would Saul want to know from Samuel? What might Samuel wish to talk to Saul about?
(3) Why did Samuel choose to anoint Saul first in a private setting? What might it do to Saul, in terms of preparing his heart before he could be overwhelmed and influenced by public opinion or pressure?
(4) What might be the meaning of each of these foretold events or signs?
a. The confirmation of the finding of the donkeys, putting Saul’s mind at ease. (We do not know where Zelzah was, but the tomb of Rachel was near Bethlehem.)
b. The giving of the loaves of bread (probably meant for sacrifice at Bethel) to Saul from three strangers. (Again, the location of Tabor is not known, except it is clear from the passage that it would be between Bethlehem and Gibeah.)
c. The meeting of a group of prophets (likely a school for training prophets might have been instituted by Samuel) and hearing their prophesying, cumulating to his own filling by the Spirit and joining them in prophesying.
(5) How significant were these three signs to Saul concerning his calling?
(6) What is meant by Saul being “changed into a different person” by the filling of the Spirit?
(7) What is meant by Saul doing “what his hands finds to” after then? Why?
(8) The last word by Samuel was not a sign but a command. What is the importance of commanding Saul that he “must wait seven days” until he came? What kind of a test was it?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?