I Samuel

I Samuel is a book which deals primarily with the establishment of the kingship for the nation of Israel.  The book is named after a young boy named Samuel who is called by God to be the high priest.  Before giving birth to Samuel, Samuel's mother Hannah suffered from barrenness.  Then she gave birth to Samuel.  Up until the time of the birth of Samuel, the priestly family in charge was Eli and his sons who were not serving God accordingly even though they were the priests of the temple.  Thus, God raises up Samuel and calls him out to be the new high priest.  The passage of Samuel's calling says that at this time Samuel did not know the Lord.  Samuel thought that it was Eli who was calling for him and after three times of running to Eli and asking him what he wanted, Samuel was told by Eli that God was speaking to him.  Eli serves in the role that we can serve in in the sense of letting people know that God is calling out to them to serve him in the work of the temple which is the corporate body of the church.  Eli's son are eventually killed for their wickedness.  In the first few chapters of the book, the Ark of the Covenant is taken from the Israelites by the Philistines who placed the ark in the temple of their fish god Dagon.  Yet, the presence of the Ark of the Covenant was so strong that it knowcked the head of Dagon off its statue in the temple.  The Philistines then proceed to give the ark of the covenant back to the Israelites.  A good number of people die in Samuel because they look upon the ark and from touching the ark.  The ark is represenative of the manifest presence of Christ who can not tolerate the sin of human flesh and thus kills all human flesh when the eyes of that flesh look upon the face of Jesus Christ. For the Old Testament believers, this was tragic.  For the New Testament believers, we put the cover of Christ over ourselves and through his sacrfice we are redeemed and able to look upon the ark of God without fear.  In chapter seven, Samuel encourages the people to leave the Baals and Ashtoreths.  He tells them that if they are going to follow God, then they must put away their other gods.  Baal is a god of fertility and Ashtoreth is a goddess of fertility.  In many ways, we as Christians follow after fertility and offer our worship to it without being aware of it. Later on in the book, Samuel anoints Saul whom is a valiant warrior as the king over Israel.  Samuel while he was living served in three roles which single him out as a type of Christ.  These three roles are that of prophet, priest, and king.  When Saul first became king he was reluctant but Samuel convinced him that he was the choice of the people.  Saul however does not according to the laws that God has prescribed for all kings to abide by and thus is rejected from the throne as king.  In chapter sixteen, God tells Samuel to anoint a new king.  Samuel anoints David the son of Jesse who was a shepherd by and who in this role as shepherd and king serves as a type of Christ.  However, David is not yet allowed to take his position on the throne.  Saul becomes jealous of David in many cases, such as when David stands up to the giant Goliath and kills him.  Saul gave his daughter to David in marriage.  David eventually ends up marrying a couple other women in the book as he is exiled from the house of Saul in Israel.  David had the chance to kill Saul twice as Saul pursued him.  Both times David past up the chance because he knew not to lay his hand on the Lord's anointed.  Saul reconciles with David both times but eventually ends up turning back to his ways.  The climax of Saul's rule over Israel occurs when Saul makes contact with the witch of Endor and brings up the spirit of Samuel.  Samuel, then speaks to David and tells him the Lord has rejected him.  Now it is not clear in the passage rather Saul actually saw Samuel or whether it was an illusion created by the Witch of Endor in this situation.  Whatever the case, by the end of the book Saul and his son Johnathan- of whom David was close friends  with in spite of his confrontation with Saul- are both killed on Mount Gilboa in Israel.