Day 150: 1 Samuel 8-10 - The Bible Dept.

Summary

The Bible Dept. Podcast: Day 150 – A Deep Dive into 1 Samuel 8-10

Episode Overview

In Day 150 of The Bible Dept., host Dr. Manny Arango explores 1 Samuel chapters 8-10, delving into Israel's request for a king and its theological implications. This episode provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the narrative, contextual insights, intriguing details, and practical applications relevant to modern faith journeys.

1. Introduction to 1 Samuel 8-10

Dr. Arango begins by congratulating listeners who have completed the daily readings, emphasizing that the episode's insights will resonate more deeply for those who have engaged with the text. He encourages others to catch up, assuring them that the forthcoming discussion will clarify and enhance their understanding of these pivotal chapters in Samuel.

2. Context Clues: Is Yahweh Pro or Anti-King?

A central question posed in this episode is whether Yahweh is opposed to Israel having a king or not. Dr. Arango acknowledges the complexity of this issue, stating:

"Is Yahweh anti king? Okay. Is Yahweh against the idea of Israel having a king, or is Yahweh pro king?... You could make an argument that Yahweh is for Israel having A king. You could also make the argument that Yahweh's against Israel having a king." ([01:30])

He emphasizes the importance of not misinterpreting the text and advocates for a holistic biblical approach:

"One of the big rules that we like to follow when we're reading the Bible is that scripture interprets scripture." ([04:45])

To answer whether Yahweh is pro or anti-king, Dr. Arango concludes that Yahweh neither opposes nor fully endorses the concept of kingship in Israel. Instead, Yahweh favors a theocratic system where He remains the sovereign king, and any earthly king serves as His representative, adhering to His laws and covenant.

3. Nerdy Nuggets: Intriguing Insights

Dr. Arango shares several "nerdy nuggets" to enrich listeners' understanding:

Samuel's Sons and Leadership Failures:

He highlights the corruption of Samuel's sons, Joel and Abijah, who failed to uphold justice:

"Samuel's sons are some no good scoundrels... Eli's sons are very, very corrupt... David and his inability to be a great dad." ([06:15])

This sets a recurring theme in the Bible where leaders often falter in their familial roles, underscoring the necessity of integrity both publicly and privately.
Origins of the Kingship Demand:

The desire for a king among the Israelites is not sudden but stems from the dissatisfaction with Samuel's sons:

"The context for the people of Israel asking for a king is the wickedness of Samuel's sons." ([09:10])

This indicates that the request for monarchy was partially motivated by internal leadership failures and a desire to emulate surrounding nations.
Prophetic Support for Kingship:

Dr. Arango references prophetic scriptures supporting the establishment of a king:

"Genesis chapter 49, verse 10... Numbers 24:17-19... A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city." ([12:00])

These passages affirm that Yahweh had a predetermined plan for kingship, culminating in Jesus as the ultimate king.
Symbolism of Leadership Roles:

Addressing Saul's appointment as king, Dr. Arango draws a symbolic parallel:

"Why Does God give a donkey herder for a king as opposed to a shepherd?... it's because the people have been acting like donkeys." ([15:30])

This metaphor suggests that Saul's role as a donkey herder reflects the people's stubbornness and lack of trust, aligning with the concept of "contrapasso" where punishment fits the crime.
Exemplary Kings in the Bible:

He points to Hezekiah and Josiah as models of righteous kingship:

"2 Kings 18:5 and 2 Kings 23:25... Hezekiah and Josiah are great kings." ([18:00])

These examples illustrate that Yahweh supports kings who govern with pure hearts and righteous motives.

4. Timeless Truth: The Non-Hereditary Nature of Faith

One of the episode's profound takeaways is the understanding that a love for God must be actively cultivated and is not automatically inherited. Dr. Arango discusses the failures of Samuel and Eli's sons as a cautionary tale:

"A love for God is not hereditary. There's not just, like a guarantee that because I'm in ministry that my kids are going to love God." ([20:45])

He stresses the importance of intentional discipleship and parenting:

"Children must be discipled by their parents. They must be cultivated by their parents. They must be parented." ([22:10])

This reflection serves as a reminder to parents and leaders to actively nurture faith within their families, ensuring that the next generation upholds spiritual integrity and leadership.

5. Practical Application: Leadership and Parenting

Dr. Arango connects biblical narratives to contemporary leadership challenges, urging listeners to balance public responsibilities with personal integrity. He advises:

"The best way for us to lead the next generation is by leading those of our own household." ([25:00])

Referencing New Testament guidance, he reinforces the necessity of exemplary personal lives for effective leadership:

"Paul's advice to Timothy and Titus is, do not appoint people to be leaders who don't lead their own household." ([27:15])

This underscores the principle that effective ministry and leadership stem from a foundation of personal and familial strength.

6. Conclusion and Looking Ahead

Wrapping up the episode, Dr. Arango encourages continued engagement with the Bible reading plan and previews the next day's discussion on 1 Samuel chapters 11 and 12. He motivates listeners to maintain their reading streaks and remain committed to their spiritual journey.

"If you're not on a streak, not too late to start one. All you need is two days. That could be today and tomorrow." ([30:00])

Key Takeaways

Yahweh's Perspective on Kingship: Yahweh neither opposes nor fully endorses monarchy but prefers a theocratic system where He remains the ultimate sovereign.
Leadership Integrity: Biblical narratives often highlight the failures of leaders in their personal lives, emphasizing the need for integrity both publicly and privately.
Active Discipleship: A genuine love for God must be actively cultivated within individuals, particularly within families, rather than assumed to be inherited.
Symbolism in Leadership Roles: The roles assigned to leaders, such as Saul's position as a donkey herder, carry symbolic meanings that reflect the spiritual state of the community.
Exemplary Leadership Models: Figures like Hezekiah and Josiah demonstrate that righteous leadership is valued and supported by Yahweh.

Final Thoughts

Day 150 of The Bible Dept. offers a nuanced exploration of Israel's transition to monarchy, shedding light on the delicate balance between divine sovereignty and human leadership. Dr. Arango's insightful analysis invites listeners to reflect on the importance of integrity, intentional discipleship, and the profound impact of personal leadership on broader community faith.

For those seeking to deepen their understanding of Scripture within its historical and cultural contexts, this episode serves as a valuable resource, encouraging both personal growth and effective ministry.

Note: All timestamps referenced correspond to the specific sections within the provided transcript.

Transcript

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 family. Welcome to day 150. We are in 1st Samuel chapters 8, 9, and 10. If you have done the reading, I'm proud of you. Good job. Then everything that I'm going to say is going to make perfect sense because you have done the reading. If you haven't done the reading, go do the reading. It's just three chapters today. First Samuel, chapter 8, 9, 10. And as we're gonna see for most of first and Second Samuel, it's a ton of narrative. So it's not hard reading. Just gotta keep up with the story. And so go to the reading, come on back, and let's jump into our context clues for the day. So here's a big question that we need to ask. Is Yahweh anti king? Okay. Is Yahweh against the idea of Israel having a king, or is Yahweh pro king? It's kind of confusing. To be totally honest. You could make an argument that Yahweh is for Israel having A king. You could also make the argument that Yahweh's against Israel having a king. So is it bad that they asked for a king? Is it okay that they asked for a king? Like, what's actually going on? We don't want to misdiagnose what's going on. I've obviously heard these passages preached a lot and so want to bring clarity. And that's honestly, we want to put 1st Samuel, chapter 8, 10, in context of this wider theme in the Bible. The entire Bible is actually also answering this question for us. Is Yahweh pro king, anti king? And one of the big rules that we like to follow when we're reading the Bible is that scripture interprets scripture. Okay? So it's very, very often that in the middle of reading something, we'll go read a corresponding passage of scripture to kind of help us to interpret the scripture that we're currently reading. So we're gonna bounce around a little bit. Before we start bouncing around, let's throw in some nerdy nuggets. Okay. First, if Samuel had not appointed his sons as judges, could we have avoided Saul as king? It's a great question. Okay, so if you start reading 1st Samuel, chapter 8, 1st Samuel, chapter 8 begins with this line. When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel. The name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice. So Samuel's sons are some no good scoundrels. Okay? And we're going to see this as a theme. So Eli. Eli wasn't necessarily super corrupt, but Eli's sons were very, very corrupt. Here we see Samuel. Samuel's not corrupt at all, but his sons are gonna be corrupt. And then later on, we're gonna see David and his inability to be a great dad. And this is gonna be a consistent theme. Cause remember, the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not commit polygamy or thou shalt not. Yeah. Thou shalt not live a polygamous life. Polygamy is wrong. But the Bible is going to tell us in narrative form that polygamy is not God's ideal. Okay? The stories are full of drama, full of jealousy, full of infighting. And so the Bible's not telling us that nepotism is necessarily wrong. But the Bible is using narrative to show us that it's easier to be a prophet than it is to be a dad. It's Easier to be a judge than it is to be a father. It's easier to be a king than it is to be a good dad. And so there's this theme where the narrative is kind of throwing shade on a lot of these characters by the behavior of their children. Okay. And I wanna make sure I communicate that with lots of nuance. It's not saying that the parent failed or it's the parent's fault. It's just saying this isn't good. And it's a consistent theme that men that are called by God to lead in powerful ways end up not crushing it when it comes to leading at home, leading their families. Okay, so next kind of little nerdy nugget we got, the elders bring up the issue of kingship in response to Samuel appointing his sons as judges. So the desire for a king doesn't come out of the blue. It's not out of thin air. The context for the people of Israel asking for a king is the wickedness of Samuel's sons. Okay, so like, we gotta kinda go like, okay, like these people aren't necessarily evil. What's the issue then? There's two issues. Number one, the motivation is not just we don't want Samuel's boys leading us. It's also we want to be like the other nations. And that's what God is going to take offense to. Second, God is going to say, hey, Samuel, don't be downhearted, don't be down, don't be disheartened, don't be downcast. It's not you, AKA or your sons that the people have rejected, but really they've rejected me as their king. Okay, so let's re ask our question from earlier. Is God, is Yahweh anti king or pro king? And the reality is that he's neither. He's not against Israel having a king or for Israel having a king. Yahweh is pro theocracy. He is for himself being their king and appointing a vice regent who acts as king but defers to Yahweh as king. Okay, how do we know this? Well, because God sets up Adam and Eve to rule and to reign. Okay, so God is not against sharing power. He's not opposed to empowering other people or to empowering people for roles of leadership. He's not opposed to men and women, women taking royal offices and serving him and reflecting his government in that way. He's not opposed to that at all. He's opposed to nepotism, idolatry, and anything like that. Okay, so how do we know that Yahweh isn't 100% fully anti king. Well, Genesis chapter 49, verse 10. Jacob in Blessing his sons right there, flat out tells us that there's going to be a king. Okay, that comes from one of these 12 boys. Next, numbers, chapter 24, verses 17 and 19. This is when Balaam, the false prophet, he's been paid to prophesy against Israel, but he can't, so he keeps prophesying for them. And what does he say? Numbers 24:17 says this. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab. The skulls of all the people of Sheth. Edom will be conquered. Seir, his enemy will be conquered. But Israel will grow strong. A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city. So there's a whole prophecy about a king. And who is that king? We know that king is the son of God, whose name is Jesus. So God, Yahweh is not anti king. He's actually pro a member of the Godhead being king. And he's very, very clear. Hey, they haven't rejected you, Samuel. They've actually rejected me. Next passage. That's really huge. So Genesis 49, 10 huge. Numbers 24, 17, 19 huge. And then Deuteronomy 17. Okay, Deuteronomy 17 kind of lays out stipulations for the king. Okay. And the one that I love is found in verse 18. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll, a copy of this law taken from that of the Levitical priests. So he's saying, hey, there is gonna be a king, but the king needs to be submitted to what? The Torah. And what is the big message of the Torah that we're reading out of the book of Deuteronomy? That passage was Deuteronomy, chapter 17, verse 18. And the big message of Deuteronomy is that Yahweh is suzerain and Israel is vassal. So if Yahweh is suzerain, which means he's king, he's the overlord, and the king of Israel needs to write their own copy of the covenant law, then that means that that king is submitted to the covenant of Yahweh as the suzerain, as the king of kings, the Lord of lords. Last little nerdy nugget is Saul, then is appointed to be king. Okay, so we have to ask a question. Okay, why Does God give a donkey herder for a king as opposed to a shepherd? Okay. Cause David's gonna be a shepherd and Saul is herding donkeys. Well, the answer is very, very implicit. Okay? It's because the people have been acting like donkeys. What are donkeys? A symbol of stubbornness, stuck in your ways, a lack of trust, just stubborn as a mule. And so this first king is the kind of king that's fit for donkeys. Okay. If you want to act like a donkey, God's like, all right, since you want to be stubborn and you want to be hard to deal with, then I'll give you a leader who's going to match that energy. Again, it's the idea of contrapasso, where the punishment fits the crime 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 create crush the chaos in your life. I think this book is gonna 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. Because the donkey herder doesn't work, this paves the way for our guy David, who's not a donkey herder, but he cares for sheep. He's a shepherd. He's a pastoral leader, a loving leader. So context clues gave you a couple of nerdy nuggets. One more nerdy nugget is that in 2 Kings 18, 5, and in 2 Kings 23, 25, those passages both state that Hezekiah and Josiah are great kings. Therefore, God's not anti king or pro king. He's pro a king that has submitted his ways to him and a people who are appointing a king from a place of righteous motives in a place of clean hands and a pure heart. Okay, here's our timeless truth, and this is a painful one, but it's that a love for God is not hereditary. There's not just, like a guarantee that because I'm in ministry that my kids are going to love God actually being in ministry may be a way to lessen the chances of your kids loving God. Okay? And so we're gonna see this already with two dads back to back. Eli and Samuel, they have sons. And those sons do not fear the Lord, do not love the Lord, don't love God's people. And this is a massive, massive problem. They cannot be leaders. So children must be discipled by their parents. They must be cultivated by their parents. They must be parented. Well, you cannot assume that just because they're around that they will get it. They must be intentionally cultivated to have a love for Yahweh, a fear of Yahweh, to know the Scriptures, to love God's people, and to be able to lead with integrity. And not just leading, because my dad gave me this job or my dad said I could work for the ministry, or. Okay, so we have to be intentional as leaders to. To. To really have an eye out for unintentional nepotism. Not that nepotism is an issue. It's just God's hand doesn't always fall on our kids. And clearly Samuel wants his kids to be something that they don't actually want for themselves. And it creates a tension. It creates tension between him and the elders, and it created a tension in the last generation. So a love for God is not hereditary. There's all types of things you can get from your parents. A love for the Lord has to be cultivated. It has to be nurtured. Okay? It is not a guarantee. And so enlisting your kids into the ministry, if they're really not ready for that will actually do them more harm than good. So our timeless truth for the day is God will always send a Samuel when there's a Hophni and Phinehas that are ungodly. And then what's sad is that history literally just repeats itself. One generation later. Here Samuel is in the same position as Eli that I don't know if he judged Eli ever, but it'd be wise of all of us not to judge those who have failed before us. But to really go, if they can mess up in this area, I could probably mess up in this area. And let me humbly learn. Let me find out how to avoid these pitfalls. So a love for God is not hereditary. Children require discipleship, cultivation, and they require that we parent them really, really, really well. This is why we get to the New Testament. Paul's advice to Timothy and Titus is, do not appoint people to be leaders who don't lead their own household. Well, don't appoint people to be leaders who are not good dads, who are not good moms, who are not good brothers, sisters, so on and so forth. So the reason that leadership is not set up based on productivity or talent, actually based on other metrics, is so that we ensure that if the next generation is gonna lead, they're leading from a pure place. All right, we got a lot of context in there. We got some nerdy nuggets in there. And I was able to give you a timeless truth. Hey, if you're a pastor, if you're a leader, ministry is difficult. But, man, parenting's harder. Spend the extra time parenting, please. Like, the best way for us to lead the generation, the next generation, is by leading those of our own household. I do think that the narrator is writing this in the text, letting us know that this is a weakness for the prophet Samuel, but it shouldn't be a weakness for you or me. We've got hindsight as an advantage here. We gotta step up as leaders, as husbands, as fathers, as moms, and really, really, really, really be here, be there for our kids. Alrighty, I'll see you tomorrow. For day 151, we're gonna be in 1 Samuel, chapters 11 and 12. All we got is two chapters tomorrow. So show up ready to lean in and see what the Lord would say to us as we read his word. I'm so proud of you. If you're on a streak, don't mess it up. If you're not on a streak, not too late to start one. All you need is two days. That could be today and tomorrow. Love you guys. So 51 right here. It's going down tomorrow. 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. The Bible Department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses at the Bible Depart. We'll see you back here tomorrow.