Dr. Manny Arango (0:00)

Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. We used church candy for our new church plant the Garden, and the response blew me and my team away. At our new church plant the Garden, we ran simple invite ads through none other than church candy. And hundreds of people responded. Seriously. People who had never even heard of us, who had never met me or heard me preach. They saw an ad on Facebook or Instagram. They showed up to a launch party or launch team training. Some of them have joined our team. Here's the best part. A good amount of them have started giving and tithing, which means the ads have paid for themselves. Our church plant is growing, and it's because we chose the right partner. We didn't have to figure out marketing strategies or spend hours tinkering with ad settings. Church candy handled it all and it worked. You might not be planting a church, but if you're a pastor who wants to see more new faces on Sunday. And by the way, I've never met a pastor who doesn't want to see more new faces on Sunday. It's time to check them out. How about you go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a discovery call? Let their team show you what's possible when the right people hear about your church. Welcome to the book of First Samuel, yo. I'm super, super excited. Like always. I'm going to give you context clues. I. I'm gonna give you nerdy nuggets. I'm gonna give you a timeless truth. I'm super excited about First Samuel because we're gonna meet one of my favorite characters in the Bible. His name is David. First thing I wanna tell you right off the bat, I guess this is probably a nerdy nugget, but I'll throw it out there. Originally, first two Samuel were not two different books, okay? First and second Samuel were just on two different scrolls. So. So kind of like, you know, remember VHS tapes? Remember those? I remember those VHS tapes. If the movie was too long, the VHS tapes came in two tapes. That doesn't mean that they're two movies or part one and part two of a movie. It doesn't mean that it's a prequel and a sequel. It just means that it was too much, you know, content for just One VHS tape. Rip VHS tapes. I miss VHS tapes. But anyway, if you're, if you're younger than me on this, you're probably like, what is a VHS tape? So scrolls in the ancient worlds are 32ft long. So you just wrote until you hit the limit on that 32ft. And so first, second Samuel were originally just one book. Okay? It's just Samuel. Next thing that you really, really need to know is that you gotta do today's reading. Okay? It's First Samuel, chapters one, two, three and four. If you haven't done the reading, go do the reading. Okay? Everything that I'm gonna say is to supplement the reading. It's not to replace you doing the reading. So Samuel, these books, first and second Samuel are split up into 40 year increments. Kind of if you want like a 30,000 foot bird's eye view of first and second Samuel, 40 year increments. So we're gonna get 40 years of Samuel being a judge and prophet. We're gonna get 40 years of Saul's reign. And then in between Saul and David, we're gonna get conflict between them. That's kind of chapter 16 to 31 of 1 Samuel. And then all of 2 Samuel is gonna be David's reign, which is gonna be 40 years. Okay, so first two Samuel, we're looking at about 120 years of history, but there's lots of overlap. Okay, Samuel and Saul are gonna overlap a bit, and then Saul and David are gonna overlap a bit. But that's kind of like big picture. So let's get into some context clues. Okay, context clues. Number one, Samuel is born while Samson is a judge. Okay? So remember the last book that we just looked at was the Book of Judges, okay, The Book of Judges and Samuel. Let's think about it. Samuel's born, right, you know, as Samson's going off to college. Okay? So Samson and Samuel are flip sides of the same coin, their names. They're the only two lifelong Nazarites in the Bible. There's all these similarities between Samuel and Samson and their lives actually overlap. Another thing that you're going to need to realize is that a lot of the judges, their lives are overlapping with each other. So Eli is a judge, while Samson is a judge. Okay? Because the judges are judging locally. It's not like Samson is judging over all of Israel. Samson is judging in a certain tribe or certain territory while Eli is judging in another tribe or another territory. Okay, Remember that one of the things that was highlighted towards the end of the Book of Judges is the wickedness of the priesthood, that's highlighted in the Book of Judges, and it's picked up right here in Samuel, okay? Eli has two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. And these boys are absolutely wicked, and their father is actually participating in the wickedness. And we'll get into that when we get into our nerdy nuggets. One of the themes that you're gonna see a ton in the Book of Judges is that everyone did what was right in their own eyes, because Israel had no. Come on. Drumroll, please. King. What we're going to see in the Book of Samuel is that the people are now going to demand a king. And since there is going to be a king, Saul's going to be the first king. There has to be a prophet, okay? In order for there to be a check and balance for power, if there's going to be a king, there has to be a prophet. And so we are gonna see the last full judge, which is Eli, but he's gonna pass the baton to the next judge and prophet, who's gonna be Samuel. And the people are gonna ask for a king. And here's what they're gonna set a massive theme for the entire Book of Samuel is that the solution is never a physical king. The solution is not David or Saul. The solution is Yahweh as king. Now, this is why a book like Samuel is called the Deuteronomistic History, okay? It's attached to Deuteronomy because what did we learn in the Book of Deuteronomy? We learned that Yahweh is the suzerain and that Israel is the vassal. And what's a suzerain? It's a king. Okay? So Yahweh is king. So when Judges says everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king, what? Wink, wink, hint, hint. What we're supposed to understand as the audience is they're doing what was right in their own eyes because Yahweh is not their king. There is no human substitute when God is not the king of the people. And when a human thinks that they are in charge and that they can do whatever they want to do, that is not the kind of king that God actually wants. And David is not more moral than Saul. David simply acknowledges that Yahweh is king and that he is just leading in God's place. And that's what makes him a man after God's own heart. But we're kind of getting ahead of ourselves. Let me give you some nerdy nuggets family. The wait is over. My brand new book, Crushing Chaos is out now and available everywhere. Books are sold. Literally today I walked into a Barnes and Noble and I signed a bunch of copies at a physical location. So you can grab this book at a physical Barnes and Noble or you can go to a Books A Million or Amazon or anywhere books are sold and grab a copy. If you enjoy reading the Bible from an ancient perspective, if you understand that the beauty of scripture is actually knowing it in context, then you'll love this book. And if there's any chaos in your personal life, I think that reading the Bible from an ancient perspective can actually help to crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is going to be a New York Times bestseller. I really do. I think we wrote a good one. I think you should get a copy today. All right, back to the episode number one. The scene opens in 1st Samuel with a devout and wealthy family. And the text is reminiscent of Jacob, Rachel, Leah, but also Hannah is juxtaposed to Samson's mother. Okay, so Al Qaeda is a wealthy, devout Jewish man. And remember, in a time period where people are not devout, it is actually very, very unique and very special that Elkanah is a devout man traveling to make sacrifices. And he's got two wives and he's wealthy. This paints a picture of Jacob, who's wealthy with his two wives, Rachel and Leah. But it also Hannah juxtaposes Samson's mother. Samson's mother doesn't know how to get proper instructions to raise a Nazirite. Samson's mother doesn't know what to ask the angel. She's unclear about everything. Hannah is very, very clear. Okay, which leads us to the next thing, is that Eli. Here's our next dirty nugget. Eli is fat and blind and the priesthood is utterly corrupt. First Samuel's painting a picture that there's mob like gang like activity, okay? The fatness and the blindness are direct consequences of. Of corruption. Eli steals meat from God and people. Eli can't even recognize prayer when he sees it. So first, couple of things. The Bible's never going to tell us that people are fat for no reason, okay? If the Bible. The Bible ain't fat. Shaming. Okay? If the Bible tells us that somebody's fat, it's for a reason. Why is Eli fat? He's fat because he's stealing meat that's supposed to go to God. He's stealing it from the people. Okay? So the opening chapters of First Samuel are telling us that Hophni and Phinehas are stealing meat, and the people are upset about it. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're trying to offer sacrifices. You're the priest. You should be helping us offer sacrifice to God. The meat is for God, and they are sticking the fork into the cauldron while the meat's boiling, and they're taking meat for themselves. So they're fat because they're literally stealing meat from God. Stealing meat from the people. It's funny, I was talking to someone who. Who's Ethiopian. They grew up in Ethiopia. And they were like, you know, growing up ain't. Being fat was a sign of being wealthy. And to be honest, I was like, yeah, that. That's true. In, like, medieval England, like the. The medieval European world. If you look at art from, like, the Middle ages or, like, the Renaissance period, everybody who's wealthy is pretty chubby. They're pretty fat. And why is weight a sign of wealth? Is because you can afford food, okay? In American society, that's not necessarily true. So we don't make that distinction. We don't see fat as, oh, you're wealthy. They actually told me a joke. They were like, yeah, my uncle came to America and was at a club, and again, they're coming from Ethiopia and they're thinking, oh, yeah, like, wealthy equals. I mean, fat equals wealthy. So there's this chubby girl at the club, and she's. She's. She's. She's a. She's a. She's a. She's a big one. You know what I'm saying? And so they're arguing over who's gonna get the big girl. And so this big girl's got all these petite friends, and the petite friends are getting no love. All these Ethiopian dudes are trying to get. They're trying to bag the big girl. And so finally, you know, this girl's uncle, who's telling me the story, finally bags the big girl. And, you know, he's still married to her today, but he found out real fast she was not wealthy. That. That. That his assumptions about. About his. His. His cultural context did not lead him to make a decision that was accurate. So, you know, there's that. There's that story. So Eli's fat. Why is Eli fat? He's fat because him and his sons are stealing meat. And he has turned a blind eye. Even though he's not the one stealing the meat, he's eating it. And he has turned a blind eye to his son's corruption. And if you don't use it, you will lose it. So since he doesn't use his eyes to correct his sons, he is now losing his eyes eyesight. And whenever leadership is blind, it is symptomatic of spiritual blindness. You're gonna see this in the New Testament when Jesus calls the Pharisees blind guides. It's not just that they're physically blind, it's that they are spiritually blind. Okay, there's this theme. It's not that clear, but I wanna make sure that you see this. Hophni and Phinehas are treating virgins in the tabernacle as if they are pagan prostitutes. So BAAL worship included sexual acts. So not only are they stealing meat, but they are also treating versions of the tabernacle as if they are pagan prostitutes by having illicit sexual activity with them. So this is a bad scenario all around. Samuel grows up in fear and admonition of the Lord. Obviously, God opens Hannah's womb. And here's a big thing. Samuel is not the hero, but God. So you're gonna get this whole story about the Ark of the Covenant that gets captured. And when the ark of the covenant is captured, it's not Samuel who goes out to get it. God is able to fight for himself. Because one of the things that God is gonna establish in First Samuel is that he's the hero even when his leaders absolutely fail. All right, so first Samuel, chapter two, verse 30. I want to read that for you guys. First Samuel, chapter two, verse 30 dot Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares, I promise that your family and the family of your ancestors should go in and out before me forever. But now the Lord declares, far be it from me, for those who honor me, I will honor. And those who despise me shall be treated with contempt. And so this is judgment on the house of Eli. And our doctrine of election needs to include passages like this. So this is our timeless truth, that God has the prerogative to change his mind. He honestly has a prerogative to do whatever he wants to do. And so when we think about the doctrine of God sovereignty, He's so sovereign that he can change his mind. And when people think that a promise from God means that you can do whatever you want to do and that there are no consequences, then God goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, homie. A promise from me. From me is not license to act in ways that are ungodly. A promise from me is not an excuse to be lazy or to coast or to think. Yeah, we got this. God promised us. God made us a promise. We're good. No, we partner with God. We participate with God and we act according to the promises of God in order to see the promises of God come to fruition. So God is communicating to Eli. Yep. I've made a promise that y' all would always be priests, but not anymore. Nope. Because of this wickedness, I will now replace you and your house will no longer serve me. And so we got some context clues. I wanna place 1 Samuel in context with 2 Samuel. I also wanna place it in context with the book of Judges, Eli and Samson. These people are judging at the same time. Samuel is born while Samson is on his way out. They're going to overlap. Samuel is alive for the death of Samson. We still see the conflict with the Philistines because Samson is anointed to eradicate the Philistines, but he fails in his assignment. So there's still a Philistine problem when we open up the book of First Samuel. And now we are going to see that God is going to deal with Eli and his sons, and God is going to raise up a boy by the name of Samuel, and we're going to see Samuel emerge as a leader. And then throughout the book, we're then going to see Samuel be the prophet. He's a transitionary character. So he's a judge. He's the last judge, and he's then the first prophet. And why do we need prophets? Well, because they're now kings. And if they're gonna be kings, there has to be prophets, because someone has to hold the king in tension. And we're gonna see that when Samuel dies, it's gonna be Nathan who then takes up that mantle of keeping the king in check. So I wanna place the book in context. I gave you some nerdy nuggets. I gave you a timeless truth that hopefully is helpful. Promises of God are true. They are. Yes. And amen. We agree with the promises of God. But a promise from God? I can't hold God to a promise if I did not do what was required of me on my end. And so the pastor that I grew up under, Bishop Thompson, used to always say like this. I cannot believe by promise what I denied by principle. So I can't believe something because it's a promise of God, but I deny the principle that actually activates that promise. All right. That doesn't mean that there aren't unconditional covenants in the Bible. We're gonna study some of those. But the covenant that God has made with the house of Eli is not unconditional. And God is gonna change his mind. That's our timeless truth. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we dive into First Samuel, Chapter five, six, and seven. Love you guys so much. I'm so proud of you. Let's get a streak going. Don't miss another day. Don't miss tomorrow. Let's get a streak going. Love y' all. Proud of you. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department Podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.