1 Samuel 1:1-2:21 ~ John 5:1-23 ~ Psalm 105:37-45 ~ Proverbs 14:28-29
Today is May 7th. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s good to be here with you. So, yeah, threshold, the threshold of a shiny new week out in front of us that we get to launch into today and the threshold of a brand new book as we go into this new week. Today we’ll begin the first book of Samuel.
Introduction of a New Book (Old Testament)
So just kind of flying over that, the books of 1 and then 2 Samuel were not authored by the prophet Samuel. It is unclear who the author is. It seems historically that they were written somewhere where the kingdom divided. We talked about that as a spoiler alert just recently. So somewhere when that actually happened is probably when the books of Samuel were written. As we go forward, we’ll see that the children of Israel, one nation will separate as they continue to fall away from God, fall away from each other. They will separate into two kingdoms and it seems like during the divided kingdom is when these books were written. A good number of scholars believe that the material was originally recorded by three prophets of Israel, Samuel, Nathan and Gad.
1 and 2 Samuel were both written in Hebrew and they were not written as separate texts. 1 and 2 Samuel and then 1 and 2 Kings were all grouped together as one continuous text. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, which is called the Septuagint, the texts were divided into four books known as the books of the kingdoms. So when the Old Testament was translated into Latin (not to confound this, that is called the Vulgate), they became the books of the Kings. These texts were then known as 1, 2, 3 and 4 Kings. Now that we’re all confused, let’s just kind of keep going. What is now known as 1 and 2 Samuel was actually 1 and 2 Kings in the Latin translations and what we now know as 1 and 2 Kings was known as 3 and 4 Kings during that era. This all changed to the accepted books of Samuel and Kings by those translators who created the King James Bible in 1611.
Samuel was a very influential person. He was the final judge of Israel. So Samson is the final judge in the book of judges but Samuel was the last one. He was a judge, but he was also a prophet of God and served before the Lord as priest. During his life, Israel had pretty much fallen into anarchy. Everyone was doing what they wanted, whatever was right in their own eyes. Samuel steps up as a prophet and that begins to alleviate some of the anarchy because Samuel is speaking directly for God. This is something that the children of Israel are more accustomed to. Israel has never had a king but they want one and Samuel will introduce kingship into the civilization and culture of Israel. The first king we’ll meet, of course, is King Saul, the first king of Israel and then we’ll meet David who will later become king. King Saul and David have a terrible conflict that we’ll get to know about.
God warns the children of Israel not to take a king to rule over them but, as usual, we know the rhythm by now and ironically, as we get to know the rhythm of the children of Israel, we also have to look really hard in the mirror because we so often find ourselves. We can read stories in the children of Israel’s existence and think how could they do that? Until we look at ourselves, and then we realize this is telling our story. This is reading our heart.
So God doesn’t want them to have a king but, as usual, they choose their own way and introduce kings into their culture. So we see spiritual guidance coming from the prophets and national guidance coming from the king. But throughout the entire book, what is really happening here is that a manmade kingdom is being established, the kingdom of Israel, and it will from this point on be looked at like that.
So, off we go, launching our way into the first book of Samuel, chapter 1, verse 1 through 2, verse 21. And this week we’ll read from the God’s Word translation.
Prayer
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this community centered around this rhythm of being in your word every day together and we thank you for all that you have done. As we begin to turn the page now and move into a new era in the children of Israel’s existence and life, we invite you into that in advance. Continue to speak to us through your word. Continue to disrupt us and prick our hearts. Continue to comfort and guide us. We need you in and among us. We need you in everything that we do and say, every thought, word and deed. So we invite you into this brand new week that you’ve given us and we give it to you right now. We look forward to living into it with you and all that you will lead and direct us to do this week. Come Holy Spirit, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Announcements
Www.DailyAudioBible.com is the website, it’s home base. It’s where you find out what is going on around here. We’ve been mentioning that we are going to go back to this land. Like this pool of Bethesda we talked about today, yeah, we’re going to go there and just so many places. You can check it out. If you want to come, it will be in February 2018, February 19th through March 4th. Just go to www.DailyAudioBible.com and scroll down and look for the little banner that says Israel 2018. Click that you’ll find out what you’re looking for. Or you can go to www.DailyAudioBibleIsrael.com. We’ll look forward to seeing you.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, thank you profoundly. Thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the home page of www.DailyAudioBible.com. If you use the Daily Audio Bible App, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner. Or, if you prefer, the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996, Spring Hill, TN 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, (877) 942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer Requests and Praise Reports
Hi family. This is Salvation is Mine in San Leandro, CA. I know it has been a minute since I called in, but I’ve been listening to the podcasts all last week and this week and something has struck me. There have been so many people calling in and apologizing to have to call in for prayer. Never, ever, my brothers and sisters, apologize for needing prayer, for reaching out to your family. God is there for you. We are there for you, so please don’t apologize. Even if you think that a prayer is silly, obviously it is not silly to you because you’re the one thinking about it and calling in about it. There are all kinds of things that we can pray for for each other and any prayer request, any good prayer request or good outcome you’re looking for with God answering your prayers is never going to be a silly prayer. So never, ever, ever apologize for reaching out to your family for those who are here for you and want to pray for you. There are so many people that don’t call and are just listeners. I heard a lot of people, there was like one person who was a 7-year listener and it was the first time they ever called in. Don’t be afraid to call in. Don’t be embarrassed to call in. We’re not ashamed of God. We’re not ashamed that he loves us and we’re not ashamed that we love him. So please reach out to us. You don’t have to leave your name. You don’t have to leave your location. Just leave your prayer and we as DAB’ers, as Christians in Christ, as those who love each other, we will definitely pray for you. God bless you family. I hope you have a great rest of your week. Take care. Bye-bye.
Hi everyone. My name is Kate and I’m calling from Finland. I want to share really a short testimony, something that happened to me a couple of months ago. I was listening to some worship music and a song came on that really touched my heart and I closed my eyes and I saw in front of me a group of maybe angels, I’m not quite sure, but I didn’t hear them but I could feel them worshiping and I realized that God was there and I didn’t see his face or his shape but just saw his amazing light. Then my spirit started worshiping too. And then I realized that God was speaking to me. I didn’t hear his voice but I just felt him speaking straight to my heart into some places that I had really been feeling broken and burdened and heavy and like just twisted and out of alignment and I felt him touching all of that, speaking right to all of that and putting it all back into place and putting me back into alignment. I just wanted to share that really short version of this amazing experience with all of you because it is not like I now a few months after that walk around every day feeling perfectly in alignment and feeling perfectly whole like I did when I felt the presence of God in this glorious experience, but I know now that that is how God sees me. I know that God sees me whole. I just hope that might encourage some one of you out there, that God sees you right where you are and that he doesn’t see you the way that you see yourself.
Hi there my DAB friends. It’s Bromwell calling from London in the UK. Haven’t called in for a while. I’m a little behind on the Daily Audio Bible podcasts. Just now I’m going through the 27th and the 29th prayer requests. Specifically I just want to say I’m praying for you guys, prayer requests from 2015, and it is good to hear from you, Kathleen M. from Toowoomba, Australia. I keep praying for you as well as Mark S. and the other guy’s whose prayer requests go way back and also to say more recent prayer requests such as Annette A., Jake from Maryland, __ from Colorado, I hear you and I keep praying for you guys, that God will take you through these tough moments, tough days that you’re going through. I can’t imagine the pain that you have to go through, guys, but I know that our God is great and God is powerful. Our God answers prayers that you’ll be victorious. So hang in there, __. Well done for your daughter’s graduation coming up. I’ll be praying for your son who is going to South Korea as well as your son who has been diagnosed with brain tumor and Jake, for your marriage. Keep the good work going, guys. Keep praying and supporting each other. God bless you. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family. My name is Leonard from Brooklyn and I’m Saved by Grace. I’m calling because a truth I recently found that I hope and pray will become real through you guys out there, for all of us is the fact that we’re fighting from victory. We’re not fighting for victory. We all have many trials. We face a lot of things in this life, but Jesus has provided for all of them. He has made it possible for us to be successful through all of them. We should just rejoice even as we are tested because God gives us clear guidance and he is there to help us. He wants to help us. He is constantly helping us. So we are fighting from victory, not for victory. We are all more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us. Thank you guys. God bless you. Be encouraged. Bye-bye.
Hi family. This is Francine from Tennessee. I got back from Georgia taking care of my mom yesterday and I continue to need your prayers for her care and our wisdom for her care. It’s 2 o’clock and so I’m praying with all of you in honor of the prayers that David in Kansas has been praying at 2 o’clock and he taught me, God taught me through him how to pray for all of us as a group, as a family. And so I pray for him, for his pain, that the Lord would ease it, and I pray for Chante on her job, that the Lord would give peace and wisdom and joy and a deep awareness of his presence. Father, thank you for my family and the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you for each and every one of us and each and every cry that we make to you and to each other and the prayers that we pray, Lord. I lift all of us to you for our healing and I lift all of us to you for wisdom and knowledge and strength and the joy of your presence and a deeper awareness of your presence. Lord, in Psalms you said you speak the word and we are healed. You know what each of us needs and you know what each of us seeks you and know you are the answer to every question, problem, worry, fret, or fear that we have and we lift this whole community up to you for what all we need and I pray that you would touch us and as you said I believe in James that our souls would prosper and that we would be in good health and that is my prayer, that we would be in good health even as souls prosper. Thank you for Brian and Jill and thank you for each one who prays and thank you for each one who calls and thank you for each of us who listens and prays and thank you for even those of us who don’t call yet. Lord, we love you, we thank you, and we feel closer together because of what you do through the prayers of your people. We lift it to you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.