Review
- A long time ago God created man and woman.
- We fell, we sinned, we ignored God and went our own way.
- With the stain of sin on us we had to leave God and live on our own (we all earned death).
- But, God has a rescue plan (to save us from the punishment we deserve).
- God gave 3 promises to Abraham: 1) his kids would be a great nation, Israel (a people), 2) they would have their own land, Canaan (a place), and 3) through them God would bless the whole world (a blessing).
- Through the people of Israel God’s rescue plan could save everyone!
There have been some interesting people involved in God’s rescue plan:
- Abraham :: see above
- Moses :: took God’s people out of slavery in Egypt and took them to the edge of the Promised Land (Canaan).
- Joshua :: he took the people of Israel into the Promised Land and they finally got their own land.
- Judges :: 250 years where Israel didn’t really have a leader at all. There were leaders called judges who rose up to rescue the Israelites when they cried out to God for help. They forgot all about God’s instructions to be holy (set apart for God) because they served idols.
- Ruth :: the love story that illustrates how Israel is going to get a godly king.
1 Samuel
Is Samuel God’s godly king? No.
If Samuel isn’t the godly king, who is he? Samuel is the last of Israel’s judges. He is also a prophet (someone God uses to deliver messages to people).
God used Samuel to find and help Israel’s king. Samuel finds King David. Not at first. David was just a kid. Israel got impatient and wanted a king sooner (as in now).
Why were the Israelites in such a rush to get a king? Because of a new enemy in town: the Philistines.
Who are the Philistines?
The Philistines are a group of people who arrived in Canaan around 1100 BC from the sea. Archaeologists today think they came from the island of Crete. They were good at making weapons from iron, which was a new technology at the time.
The Israelites tried to take care of the Philistines on their own and the got beat. The LORD could help them, but they tried on their own. That’s why they wanted a king. They thought they would do better if they had a human king who was impressive to them. Kind of crazy to think this human king could be more impressive and better than God!
God gave them what they were asking for: a king. God had Samuel pick a guy named Saul who was really tall and impressive. Saul was Israel’s first king. He was pretty successful at fighting the Philistines and winning. Israel, God’s people, were happy:
the king God gave them was working!
