Hannah, a woman of faith (1:1 – 2:11)
The trials she faced (1:1 – 8)
Hannah’s prayer for a child (1:9 – 11)
The trial of being misjudged (1:12 – 14)
The assurance of God’s answer (1:15 – 20)
The gift child returned to the Lord (1:21 – 28)
Hannah’s worship and thanks to God (2:1 – 11)
Eli’s sons not reproved (2:12 – 17)
The Levite boy (2:18 – 21)
Samuel begins to minister to the Lord (2:18 - 21)
Hannah’s yearly visits (2:19 – 21)
Eli, an indulgent parent (2:22 - 36
Eli’s failure to correct disorder in the temple (2:22 – 36)
A prophet sent to Eli (2:27 – 36)
Samuel’s early life (3:1 – 21)
The call of Samuel (3:1 – 11)
Samuel’s first prophecy (3:10 – 18)
The spiritual growth of Samuel (3:19 – 21)
War with the Philistines (4:1 – 22)
Israel oppressed by the Philistines (4:1 – 2)
The ark of the covenant treated as an idol (4:3 – 5)
The Philistines provoked into stronger resistance (4:6 – 9)
Israel defeated, the ark captured, Eli’s death (4:10 – 18)
The despair of Phinehas’ wife (4:19 – 22)
The ark of God in the camp of the enemy (5:1 – 6:12)
The ark captured by the Philistines (5:1 – 5)
The hand of the Lord, heavy upon the Philistines (5:6 – 12)
Pagan dealings with the true God (6:1 – 12)
Decline and recovery (6:13 – 7:17)
The perils of presumption (6:13 – 21)
Twenty years of half-heartedness (7:1 – 2)
The true terms of restoration (7:3 – 6)
The testing of faith (7:7 – 8)
Victory through prayer (7:9 – 12)
God brings relief from enemies (7:13 – 17)
Saul, the people’s choice (8:1 – 9:)
A warning about covetousness (8:1 – 3)
The people request a king (8:4 – 5)
Samuel’s warning against wanting to be like the nations (8:6 – 22)
Saul’s lineage (9:1 – 2)
The lost asses – Saul brought by God to Samuel (9:3 – 14)
Samuel instructed to anoint Saul as king (9:14 – 17)
Saul eats with Samuel (9:18 – 24)
The anointing of Saul as king (10:1)
The three verifying signs (10:2 – 12)
Saul hides his anointing (10:13 – 16)
Samuel again reproves the nation’s call for a king (10:17 – 19)
Saul chosen publicly to be king (10:20 – 27)
Saul’s first victory (11:1 – 15)
The cruelty of the Ammonites (11:1 – 3)
Jabesh requests the king for help (11:4 – 7)
The Ammonites defeated (11:8 – 11)
The kingdom renewed and Saul made king (11:12 – 15)
Samuel’s last sermon (12:1 – 25)
Samuel requires a formal public exoneration (12:1 – 5)
The people guilty in calling for a king (12:6 – 12)
Samuel charges and warns the people (12:13 – 19)
Samuel’s final exhortation to the people (12:20 – 25)
Throwing off the Philistine oppression (13:1 – 14:52)
Saul hesitates to fulfil his commission (13:1 – 2)
Jonathan, the man of faith, strikes (13:3 – 4)
The Philistine reprisal (13:5 – 7)
Saul’s incomplete obedience (13:8 – 9)
Samuel arrives, and Saul excuses himself (13:10 – 12)
Samuel rebukes Saul (13:13 – 14)
Despondency in Israel (13:15 – 23)
The courage and initiative of Jonathan (14:1)
Saul dithers with no plan (14:2 – 3)
Jonathan goes up to the camp of the Philistines (14:4 – 7)
The courage of faith (14:8 – 12)
The Lord grants success (14:13 – 15)
Commotion seen among the Philistines (14:16 – 17)
The Lord saves Israel from the host of Philistines (14:18 – 23)
Saul’s unnecessary curse (14:24 – 30)
Israel stressed by Saul’s edict (14:31 – 35)
Saul’s search for the violator of his curse (14:36 – 43)
The people save Jonathan (14:44 – 46)
Saul established as king (14:47 – 52)
The incomplete obedience of Saul (15:1 – 35)
God’s command to destroy the Amalekites (15:1 – 3)
Saul attacks the Amalekites, but spares Agag (15:4 – 9)
Saul’s false claim to obedience (15:12 – 15)
Saul charged with disobedience (15:16 – 19)
Saul protests his innocence (15:20 – 21)
The preeminent importance of obedience (15:22 – 23)
Saul’s inadequate repentance (15:24 – 26)
The kingdom torn from Saul (15:27 – 31)
Samuel executes Agag and retires from public life (15:32 – 35)
David chosen by the Lord (16:1 – 23)
Samuel sent to Jesse (16:1 – 5)
David, the man of God’s choice (16:6 – 10)
Samuel anoints David as king (16:11 – 13)
The deterioration of Saul’s mind (16:14 – 16)
The providence which brought David to court (16:17 – 23)
David’s first major test of faith (17:1 – 58)
The armies gathered (17:1 – 3)
The intimidation of God’s people (17:4 – 11)
David sent to the front line (17:12 – 22)
David troubled by the reproach upon Israel (17:23 – 27)
Eliab’s cynical view of David (17:28 – 31)
The courage of faith (17:32 – 37)
David chooses his weapons (17:38 – 40)
Goliath insulted by Israel’s choice of champion (17:41 – 47)
God gives the victory (17:48 – 58)
David at court (18:1 -30)
The humility of Jonathan (18:1 – 4)
David’s model obedience (18:5)
Consuming jealousy for David in the heart of Saul (18:6 – 9)
Saul’s attempt on David’s life (18:10 – 11)
David’s wise conduct in trying circumstances (18:12 – 16)
Saul lays snares for David’s life (18:17 – 27)
Saul fears David for his circumspect behaviour (18:28 – 30)
Saul the persecutor (19:1 – 24)
A murderous intent (19:1 – 5)
A false conversion (19:6 – 7)
Murderous instincts that cannot be suppressed (19:8 – 10)
Michal’s ploy to help David escape (19:11 – 17)
David flees to Samuel (19:18)
The strange ways by which God protects his people (19:19 – 24)
The comfort of a believing friend (20:1 – 42)
David forgets his spiritual outlook (20:1 – 3
David proposes a test of Saul’s attitude towards him (20:4 – 8)
The covenant of friendship renewed (20:9 – 17)
The signal agreed (20:18 – 24)
Saul’s murderous outburst (20:25 – 34)
A painful parting (20:35 – 42)
David flees from Saul (21:1 – 15)
David on the run (21:1 – 3)
The law made for man, not man for the law (21:4 – 6)
Past exploits cannot help when faith is low (21:7 – 9)
David’s descent into man-made solutions (21:10 – 15)
The recovery of David’s faith (22:1 – 23)
In the cave of Adullam (22:1 – 4)
Saul’s murderous paranoia (22:5 – 8)
Doeg sacrifices principles in the service of a tyrant (22:9 – 16)
Wickedness standing in the place of judgment (22:17 – 19)
David shields those who stand with him (22:20 – 23)
David in Judah, pursued by Saul (23:1 – 29)
The deliverance of Keilah (23:1 – 6)
David warned of Keilah’s readiness to ungratefully betray him (23:7 – 13)
The last meeting on earth of believing friends (23:14 – 18)
David betrayed a second time (23:19 – 29)
Saul returns to persecution (24:1 – 22)
The pursuit of David (24:1 – 2)
David’s patience tested (24:3 – 4)
David’s righteous restraint (24:5 – 7)
Boldness inspired by faith (24:8 – 15)
Emotion, no substitute for repentance (24:16 – 22)
Anger management (25:1 – 39)
Nabal the churl (25:1 – 9)
David’s uncharacteristic anger (25:10 – 13)
Dismay in Nabal’s household (25:14 – 15)
Abigail’s intervention for her husband (25:16 – 22)
The graces of a believing wife (25:23 – 31)
David relents (25:32 – 39)
Finding a spiritual wife (25:40 – 44)
History repeats itself (26:1 – 25)
Saul in pursuit of David again (26:1 – 4)
Saul again delivered into David’s hands (26:5 – 7)
David again refuses to take Saul’s life (26:8 – 12)
David clears his name (26:13 – 16)
Saul’s repeated false repentance (26:17 – 25)
David’s repeated backsliding and recovery (27:1 – 30:31)
The power of despondency (27:1)
David departs to Achish once again (27:2 – 7)
David’s undue severity and lies (27:8 – 12)
David faces an impossible dilemma (28:1 – 2)
Saul terrified by the Philistines (28:3 - 6)
Saul consults the witch of Endor (28:7 – 10)
Samuel is brought up from the dead (28:11 – 14)
Samuel’s unaltered word of condemnation from the grave (28:15 – 19)
Saul’s despair (28:20 – 25)
The Philistines go to war with Israel (29:1 – 11)
David invited to join Achish in Gath (29:1 – 2)
God provides deliverance for David (29:3 – 5)
Achish reluctantly dismisses David (29:6 – 11)
David’s backsliding healed (30:1 – 31)
The sacking of Ziklag (30:1 – 3)
Deep sorrow drives David back to the Lord (30:4 – 6)
David seeks the guidance of God (30:7 – 10)
Providential helps to victory (30:11 – 20)
The distribution of spoils to all God’s people (30:21 – 31)
God changes rulers (31:1-13)
- to record the ministry of Samuel, the last of the prophets
- to compare the man of God’s choice with the man chosen by the people
- to show the many varied experiences of a child of God
- to show the many twists and turns by which God’s purposes are fulfilled
- to demonstrate the triumph of faith in the person of David
- to document the backslidings of a believer and their recovery
- to record the origin of the office of king in Israel
Bible Commentary on the First Book of Samuel
by Dr Peter Masters, Metropolitan Tabernacle, London (adapted from sermons)
Samuel was the last of the judges. The early chapters cover the birth and the call of Samuel, the last of the judges and the first of a new order of prophets, the revival of prophecy. Of course, there was patriarchal prophecy. Abraham was a prophet; other patriarchs uttered prophecies, notably Jacob: amazing, wonderful, far-reaching promises to Christ and beyond. But then there was Moses, the greatest prophet of all. But between him and Samuel there were none, at least no great public prophets. There are here and there, references to individual prophets. There is one in the Book of Judges in chapter 6 who appears from nowhere and pronounces against the people. There is one here in the First Samuel chapter 2, individual prophets. So there was some, but there was no public prophecy generally, no regular prophets, until the order of prophecy is resumed with Samuel. So he is very special, because he is a judge, the last of the judges and he is a prophet. All these offices that God gave ultimately will picture Christ. Well you know the priesthood, and of course the great high priest was a picture of Christ. In fact, the whole priesthood of the Old Testament and their function – to represent God to man, and man to God – and that is really a picture of the great work of Christ. Then there were kings. Of course judges, deliverers, in the time of the judges, and Christ was a deliverer and he is our King, our eternal King, and then there they are, prophets, priests, kings, and judges in a sense, because they were deliverers, also did the work that Christ united with his high priesthood and delivered the people. So here is a period of transition from judges to prophets, and First Samuel is very important to track this and to follow this. And I'm sure you're very familiar with the narrative of these earlier chapters, at least, in First Samuel, and so I'm going to be able to proceed quite rapidly and bring out some of the great themes. In another study we will look at the purpose of the whole book, in fact both of these Books of Samuel, first and second, the overriding themes.
That's not strictly true; there were prophets before Samuel – the patriarchs were prophets. Great prophecies come through the patriarchs. Moses of course was a prophet, but prophecy had been withdrawn, it would seem. There are one, two, or three prophets mentioned just here and there, but no great public prophets. It seems that the office of public prophet to the nation was in abeyance until Samuel, and now prophecy is revitalised with his life.
We turn tonight in our Bible Survey Series to the First Book of Samuel, First Samuel and in a sense, First Samuel, before proceeding on to the Kings, completes the period of the Judges. The Book of Judges doesn't cover all the judges; it doesn't cover Eli; it doesn't cover Samuel, and they are covered in this First Book of Samuel. Samuel, of course, is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as one of the great heroes of faith, and I must, I am afraid, as briefly as I can just recapitulate the whole theme of these books, Judges, First Samuel. They are not in the slightest sense intended to be history books. Oh, when will we stop calling them history books. Yes, it's fair to call them historical books, because, after all, they do deal with a certain amount which is historical, but they not just history books. The purpose of there being here in the canon of Scripture is not because, for some vital reason, the thread of the life of Israel as a nation has to be held; not for that reason at all. And we have been seeing the key to the Book of Judges is to interpret it in the light of Hebrews 11. These were all men of faith. They did not believe that the establishment of Israel in the land of Canaan was the fulfilment of God's promise to Abraham. They believed that it was the purpose of God, and the command of God, to establish a people temporarily for a number of generations before captivity in the land of Canaan, but they looked above and beyond that, and they believed that all the great promises of God had a future fulfilment and of spiritual fulfilment. And they worked and preached and lived as those who look forward to that. So, the great theme of all these books is grace and faith – all of them.
Now I did a little arithmetic. I can't guarantee that it's correct. In fact, it's bound to be a little out. You'll see on the chart there that I’ve tried to total up the periods of years given in the Book of Judges during which they suffered – the people of – oppression, and set against that the periods of years given in the Book of Judges during which they enjoyed peace because of the judges. Now it's not quite accurate, because there are one or two periods of oppression, the duration of which isn’t mentioned in the Book of Judges, but they are quite short periods probably, they are short periods. And there are one or two periods of peace, the duration of which isn't specifically mentioned. Then there is a further complication. We are not quite sure whether some of the periods of oppression overlap. Some of the periods of oppression mentioned in the Book of Judges relate only to one part of the land, and others relate to another part of the land, and those periods of oppression may have run together, so in fact the time under oppression may be shorter, and the time under peace may be shorter. But these things, I'm sure, average out. The main point I want to make is that they enjoyed much longer peace – nearly three times more peace – than they had oppression. Now what are we descending into arithmetic for? Well because the commentators will all write off the Book of the Judges as a period of misery and gloom and decline. All of them do it, and yet here there is three times more peace than there is oppression. And I challenge you to find a period other than through the kingdom of David in the whole of the Old Testament when there was such a fantastic ratio of peace to oppression. That is the record. Three to one – that is outstanding, other than through the Davidic kingdom. Absolutely outstanding, unsurpassed throughout the whole of Old Testament history. So why in the world do they say the Book of Judges is a great sigh, and a tear, and a tragedy? The statistics prove clearly that, in spite of the fact that through the period of the Judges the people of Israel were largely apostate and were godless and were rebellious, these figures nevertheless prove that the benefit, the undeserved benefits, they had done the judges was tremendous: the ratio, three parts peace there to one part oppression.
And that proves a further point: that the method of government that God had designed for them – this beautiful theocracy using judges to regulate their affairs and preach, and so on – was infinitely better than anything they were subsequently to experience under an earthly method of government, namely that of kingship, which they went for instead, and chose instead. So that's just a passing reference. The period of the judges was much, much better, and when Samuel as we shall see in due course preaches to them, and takes their minds back – once they have had a dose of Saul – to the period of the judges, he claimed that the period of the judges, in spite of their apostasy and unbelief, was far better than anything they had had since, and he was right. So just using statistics we can see that.
Another commentator on the passage, good brother, nevertheless says that the nation was increasingly putting God out of their lives through the period of the judges. Well that’s nonsense, friends. It's perfectly true that God was largely out of their lives right through the period of the Book of Judges, apart from a faithful remnant, even though God blessed them with much more peace than they had oppression. But to say the nation was increasingly putting God out of their lives, is something you just can't support from a simple reading of the Book of Judges and the whole period. They were always equally godless, equally rebellious. The Book of Judges, in other words, is a picture of a continuous depravity and rebellion of the people contrasted with the faithful looking forward to something better of the judges – the preachers and regulators of national affairs – and the entirely undeserved effect on society that these godly judges had as they wrought righteousness. And when we move into the Book of First Samuel, we have got a similar situation: a book covering over hundred and ten years, from the birth of Samuel to the death of Saul – what is its purpose? If I can give you a purpose then we will proceed straight into it.
Again, it is most interesting to look round the Bible surveys. Generally speaking, with one or two noble and esteemed exceptions, generally speaking the Bible surveys say there is no key theme in First Samuel. There is no particular thing that shines out. The great hunter up of keyword people say there are no key words, no key words in First Samuel. But First Samuel and Second Samuel as well, are books characterised by – and I'm sure your own study will bear this out and you will allow me to say it dogmatically – characterised by contrasts. They are books of contrasts. Not books just relating the history of the children of Israel, and their growth into an adult nation. If we read the First and Second Samuel so as to concentrate on the transition from theocracy to kingdom monarchy, we will miss the whole point, and that's what so many of the books these days do. They are totally preoccupied with the method of government in the land, and the coming into monarchy. No, First and Second Samuel are books of contrasts. Here are the contrasts: faith is contrasted with the flesh. Two kinds of people run through the books: those with faith and those without faith. People who are complaisant and lacking in vision and dedication are compared with those who have much of it. And people who just follow their own will are compared with those who are working by divine election. These are great contrasts which you pick out, and you'll find almost every chapter has an element, a ring of contrast about it. You can't help but notice it.