1 Samuel 1:1-2:21, John 5:1-23, Psalms 105:37-45, Proverbs 14:28-29
Today is the 7th day of May welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I’m Brian it is a joy to greet a brand-new shiny sparkly week around the Global Campfire together as we move forward, move forward into this new week. Looking out over it, it’s a beautiful Vista from here. And we can go down into this week and make it the depths or we can walk through this week in wisdom. And one of the ways that we do that is orienting ourselves to God through His word each and every day. And, so, that’s what we come to do, step into the new week together, step into the next step in the Scriptures, and that next step leads us into some new territory. So, we…we navigated our way through the book of Judges and then we came to the book of Ruth, which is a breath of fresh air and a beautiful story that also comes from the time of the judges.
Introduction to the book of first Samuel:
And now we are moving into the book of first Samuel. And we are still kind of in the time of the judges. Samuel is the final judge of that era. And, so, during the books of Samuel we will…well…actually during the book of first Samuel we will transition from judges and be introduced to the very first monarch, the very first king of Israel, which…which brings about a new era in the lives of the children of Israel and we’ll get to know about that plenty as we continue the story forward. But since we’re kind of navigating into a new era we should orient ourselves a little bit. As we begin the books of Samuel, we’ll meet Samuel and it’s a remarkable story. And it’s a story once again of a barren woman longing for a child, and God giving the child and this child will be Samuel who will grow up literally under the shadow of the most-high. And Samuel’s leadership will then lead us to Israel’s first king, King Saul. And we will begin to understand Saul’s story in relationship to Samuel and then Saul’s story out of relationship with Samuel. And Saul will be a bit of a mirror into our own souls as we understand his story. A great deal of challenging parallels start to surface and we start looking at ourselves. And then a little bit later before we get through the books of Samuel we’ll meet another man named David. And of course, the book of Ruth told us that Ruth and Boaz’s marriage produced a son named Obed. And Obed became the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David. And this is the David of David and Goliath fame, who will become Israel’s second king. And we will get to know him quite well also and he will have an awful lot to teach us about ourselves also. We have been getting to know David through his poetry and lyrics. So many found in the book of Psalms. But as we move through Samuel, second Samuel in particular we’ll get to know David as a person and understand his story. And since we’ll be settling in here and kinda camping out for a while in these stories, it’s a good time to just understand a bit of context, a little bit of historical context. Originally first and second Samuel were not broken apart into separate text. They were grouped together with the books of first and second Kings. So, first and second Samuel and then first and second Kings all together as one continuous text. And then when the…when the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, this is known as the Septuagint. The books then were divided into four separate texts, and they were at that time known as the books of the kingdoms. And then later after that when the Old Testament was translated into Latin, which is called the Vulgate, they became the books of the Kings. And, so, during that time there were four books of Kings in the Bible. First, second, third and fourth Kings in the Bible which is kinda confusing because at that time what we know as first Samuel was called first Kings. And what we know of as second Samuel’s called second Kings and what we now know of as first Kings was third Kings and what we now know as second Kings was fourth Kings. This all changed to what we now know as first and second Samuel and first and second Kings when the translators created the King James Bible. And that happened in the year 1611. Go back to Samuel. We will see he was a very influential prophetic voice in the life of Israel and the final judge of Israel, but he was also a prophet of God. And, so, he was able to serve before the Lord as a priest, not just a judge, as a priestly judge. But during his life, as we learned over and over from the book of Judges, everybody was doing what was right in their own eyes. And then Samuel comes along and steps into the breach as a prophet of God, which kind of settled the anarchy down because Samuel was speaking directly for God, a prophetic leader. And that was something that was more historically understandable by the children of Israel because they had been led by Moses and we’ll be able to see that in the text. We’ll see the respect for Samuel in ways that we didn’t see with the other judges. Anyway, that’s let's…let’s dive in. We’re in for a great ride. This is gonna be a season of transition in the story of the children of Israel but a fantastic opportunity for self-reflection as we continue forward. So, here we go. We got a brand-new week. We’ll read from the New English translation this week. First Samuel chapter 1 verse 1 through 2 verse 21.
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this brand-new territory and this brand-new era that we are transitioning into as we continue to move through the Old Testament. And as we get to know Samuel as we get to know Saul and then as we get to know David, we’re inviting your Holy Spirit to instruct us and as we ask so often to lead us into the truth, the truth about ourselves, the truth about who you are. We love you. We are eager to grow where you have planted us as you continue to enrich and nourish us through your word. Come Holy Spirit, we pray, in the name of Jesus we ask. Amen.
Community Prayer and Praise:
This is glee filled Bridget from New York City. I’m calling to give you guys an update for those that haven’t heard. The shooter, Michael, was found guilty today. Whoo…this is so heavy. I’m crying because I’m happy that justice was served, right? But I’m also sad because someone’s life has changed forever, obviously. I believe this is God’s mercy on this young man and he can still repent. But his children, you know, won’t have a father like my granddaughter. Anyway, thank you for all your prayers. Thank you for embracing my family and walking through this for the last five years with us. June 18th will be the fifth-year anniversary and I’m just thankful. Thank you, guys. Thank you. I’m so thankful. I pray for anyone that is dealing with anything that is unresolved. When there’s no closure Lord, so many cases that exist with no closure. I just pray father that You would bring closure to hearts this year. Thank you again guys. In Jesus’ name i pray. Amen.
Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Starting Over Sister. And my husband and I are still starting over after two years having moved when we lost our business. And we are still rebuilding our lives and our livelihood in Texas and just working at it. Appreciate your prayers. I love this community. I’m so thankful for Daily Audio Bible and I wanted to shout out to Daniel Johnson junior today because I really appreciate every time you call. I love everybody’s calls and pray for you all, but Daniel, you’ve always encouraged me and I pray that God will help you choose wholesome godly ways of dealing with struggles. It’s hard for all of us to do that but may he strengthen you. Please pray for our community. Our one of our pastors took his own life about two weeks ago and he was a very godly man, a great pastor, a biblical scholar. And at his memorial service it was said that he failed that day, but he would ask us all to forgive him. And i thought that was the perfect thing, that we all are capable of failure, but God forgives all our sins. Jesus’ blood covers all our sins and when we fail, God will forgive us, and we must forgive one another. And it was a reminder to me of how fragile we all are in trying to live for Christ in this difficult world. I pray that we can all be lights and just be a little more kind to one another and generous and forgiving. I love you, family. God bless you.
Hey this is Jerry calling from Duluth MN. I was listening to the community prayer line and Matt from New Hampshire, your call and mentioning your son Josiah who’s been in the psych unit for 4 ½ weeks and coming home for perhaps the ECT treatments really touched my heart and I want you to know that I’m praying for you. It was four years ago last week that my son was on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis and called his sister to tell her goodbye. Fortunately, Melissa, who’s also a bipolar was able to talk him down and get his coordinates and we were able to get him to the hospital. But still a struggle. He’s one who chooses not to have…use medications for his struggles. So, continue to pray for Steve. And I’d appreciate your prayers greatly too. Mental health has really been on my mind recently because I’m a part of a program called leadership Duluth and I’m gonna be leading during the month of May a mental health awareness campaign and I just need wisdom and just need God. And He already has an incredible ways. Wish I could share it with you all but times a tickin’ away. And God bless you. Thank you so much.
Hi this is Victoria Soldier just calling to pray for some of the DABbers. I wanted to pray for Early…Early Bird and the challenges that she’s going through. I wanna pray for the 18-year-old son of…the 18-year-old son of that is…that is going through it as…in…in…in the…I forget which…about her 18-year-old son that’s Early Bid’s son. I also wanna pray for Jay in Victoria Louisiana. I also want to pray for Tom and Texas and the…and the challenges that he’s going through. And I wanted to…to pray for…for Brian and Jill and…and telling them thanks for the podcast. And I wanna pray for Lisa the Encourager and the precious lady that lost her mother and the…I think it was too precious ladies that lost their mother and the one…the two automobile accidents. I want to pray for those and the family of the ones that didn’t make it and I want to pray for the one that…that we don’t know that whether they made it but them and their family. Gracious Father we just ask You to have Your way in the name of Jesus. Lord, You deliver. You set the captives free. You give life in favor. You are still working miracles. You’re still doing great things. O Lord You eit those that don't…that don’t feel the word, let em’ know that there’s an empty spot in every man and woman that can only be filled with the personality of Jesus Christ. Lord, I ask that You would ignite that spirit Father of those that have accepted You and that they have joy and peace and…and…and…and look to You Lord for the joy and the peace and for the victory. We are more than conquerors __. And Lord, we give You the glory and the honor and the praise in Jesus’ name. I love you all DABbers. Bye-bye.
Hey, my name is Madeleine I’m a mother of a son called Joshua and I just got a post on the Daily Audio wall, a prayer so you might know, But my son Joshua for whatever reason that is in God’s control, I know, but I would be entirely grateful for prayer because we are in court with him now after just having him. It…it took a while for us to get pregnant, me and my husband, and I’m in a wheelchair. And, so, he does the physical…physical stuff with Joshua and I do the…the emotional and encouraging and stuff like that. Sometimes I get insecure, and I don’t know always feel like I am a mother and I’m the best mother because he stays with my mom at night and I’m very very insecure about it. But it doesn’t stop me from how I am with my son. I’m his…I’m his cheerleader in everything he does. I love him so much. But loving him so much and no one understanding how it feels to be in a wheelchair and see your son grow up and learn to walk and things like that and go to other people and say…learn how to say Mama.
Hey Daily Audio Bible family this is John calling from Westminster MA currently in my car making my way into Boston. Daniel Johnson junior from beautiful Cincinnati OH I’m calling in for you. I heard your call. It aired about the 1st.
of May and first of all I just want to say I love you brother. I’ve heard your voice on this program for years now and I’ve never called in to say how much I appreciate you, how much I appreciate your enthusiasm, and how much I appreciate your…your honesty, and especially after your call yesterday, your confession really of how you’re just not handling or hadn’t been handling, you know, not really…you said it was your job loss, I guess, or, you know, being out of work and, you know, being the provider for your family and just not handling all that kind of loss, I guess is the best way to put it. And what I’m just going to say to you brother as a brother is like you’re not alone in that. I’m gonna just…I’m just gonna sum all that up you’ve been going through to our…our pride, right? At the end of the day…at the end of the day our pride is rooted, and pride leads to all sorts of stuff that’s not healthy for us ultimately. But listen. The bottom line is that you’re talking about it. We’re hearing you. You’ve got brothers and sisters that are praying for you and God has got you, has always had you, will always have you, and you know that as well as I know that. So, I wanted to let you know that I love you. I’m super thankful that you called in and that you kind of made that confession and just told us what’s going on. Know that you’re loved, know that you’re prayed for and know that Jesus has got you. You’re stepping into a new time and new provision, and he’s got you my man and so do we. Love you Daniel Johnson junior from beautiful Cincinnati OH. You make it a great day. Cheers everybody. We’ll talk soon. Bye.