1 Samuel

1) This first chapter focuses on two very simple themes – the deep distress of a woman at even the concept of “not having borne a son”, and God’s favor in granting the request of a desperate woman.

2) God blesses the obedient (Hannah) and punishes the disobedient (the sons of Eli).  In previous books the leaders were mostly obedient while the people were disobedient – now it is the priests themselves who are acting against God.  Strangely, verse 10 refers to the king in the present tense, though there is no king in Hannah’s time.

3) Samuel is clearly chosen by God, Eli and his family again clearly condemned.  A continuation on the  theme of God raising up the lowly and unlikely, and God’s clear action through Samuel.

4) The depth of Israel’s sin is emphasized dramatically when the ark not only fails to help them in battle, but is itself captured.  Eli is described as 40 years a judge, not quite what he’s been portrayed as until now.

5) The previous failure is clearly shown to be Israel’s, and not God’s, as the ark of God makes clear demonstrations of its power over other gods.  While the Philistines were used as God’s tool to punish the Israelites, it is made very clear that this does mean they themselves were righteous.

6) The Philistines are forced to acknowledge the power of Israel’s God and humiliate themselves, again showing that the failure in battle and capture of the ark was Israel’s failure, not God’s failure.  Philistine priests know the Exodus story (from a distant land 500 years earlier) remarkably well.  For some reason the people of Jeconiah do not take part in Israel’s joy.

7) Samuel brings the people together to true repentance, and through God’s power Israel is now victorious in battle, completing once again the common pattern.  Samuel breaks the recent downward trend by showing himself to be a good and capable judge.

8) Samuel’s sons fail to judge justly as Samuel did, as a result the people sinfully demand a king.  God tells Samuel to give into their wishes, but paints a terrible picture of what having a king over them will mean.

9) Saul, a somewhat unlikely but also traditionally “tall and beautiful” candidate, is chosen by God via Samuel to become king.

10) Samuel anoints Saul as king, God’s hand is unambiguously in the decision, though the very act of asking for a king is still portrayed as a rejection of God’s authority.  Saul’s suitedness for such a role continues to be ambiguous.  The king of the Ammonites is set up as a looming enemy.

11) Under the spirit of God Saul leads the Israelites to victory against a terrifying enemy, cementing his calling in the eyes of the people.

12) Samuel’s farewell address is used to emphasize that Samuel has been a good judge, that God can protect His people Himself but the Israelites sinfully asked for a king anyway, and that Israel will be blessed if they (and their king) obey God, but cursed if they disobey.

13) Jonathan wins a battle, but then there is conflict between Saul and Samuel as Saul fails to follow Samuel’s instructions for sacrifice (not without reason).  God rejects Saul and fails to establish his kingdom forever due to his failure to obey.  The Israelites prepare for battle, but are clearly way overmatched.

14) A very ambiguous passage for Saul.  Jonathan goes to face the Philistines without help, is successful, leading to a route of the Philistines by Israel’s full army.  Saul leads troops to victory, but only due to Jonathan’s actions, and he makes a misguided oath in the process with multiple negative consequences.  Saul goes on to more victories, rescuing Israel valiantly, yet his weaknesses remain clear.

15) Saul utterly destroys the Amelekites as punishment for something that happened hundreds of years earlier.  However, he fails to destroy all their animals as the Lord commanded, thus God and Samuel reject his kingship.

16) God chooses David, an unlikely choice, as the next king, and His Spirit leaves Saul.  Saul is tormented by an evil spirit sent from God, though the presence of David (who he does not know has been anointed as king) comforts him.

17) David reintroduced (to both the reader and to Saul), and becomes an exceedingly unlikely opponent for the Philistine’s champion.  With surprising ambition and by relying on God to defeat the unworthy enemy, David emerges victorious and the Israelites follow him in victory.

18) As David becomes more and more successful and beloved by the people, Saul becomes more and more jealous, conniving to destroy him somehow.  Strangely, that process results in Saul’s son Jonathan loving David and Saul giving his daughter to David in marriage.

19) Saul’s jealously of David builds again, and only action by Saul’s children keeps David alive.  Later, God supernaturally intervenes to keep Saul and his men from killing David.

20) Jonathan and David become as close as friends can be, while it becomes clear that Saul will seek David’s life until one of the two is dead.

21) David takes to odd deception in order to try to stay alive while on the run from Saul.

22) David enlists the help of various discontent people while on the run from Saul.  Saul realizes that his break with Jonathan is complete.  On Saul’s orders 85 priests of the lord are killed, showcasing his distance from God but also a tragic consequence of David’s deception with them.

23) God is with David as David works for Israel’s good welfare.  Saul is completely preoccupied only with trying to kill David.

24) David spares Saul’s life, Saul realizes God is with David and he will be the king.

25) Samuel dies.  David is ready to slaughter Nabal’s people because they didn’t feed his men on a feast day, Abigail, Nabal’s wife, intelligently interferes.  Nabal is struck down by God, and David woos and marries Abigail, along with another woman.

26) Saul forgets his clemency and attempts to kill David again, God protects David again, David spares Saul’s life again, Saul repents again.

27) Out of fear for Saul, David chooses to serve a Philistine king, even making raids and committing mass murder against various enemies of Israel, while lying to the Philistine and telling him he is raiding Israelities.

28) David lies and is made a bodyguard for life for the Philistine king.  Saul’s fear of the Philistines and lack of connection to God leads him to consult a medium, where he is able to connect to Samuel, who once again condemns him.

29) Because the other Philistines don’t trust David, he is able to avoid entering war against the Israelites, though he may have used to opportunity to double-cross the Philistines.

30) David retaliates to a raid by the Amalekites (which was in retaliation for one of his own raids anyway) and achieves a clear victory with God’s blessing.

31) Saul and his sons are killed by the Philistines, with David away and unawares.

Summary: 1 Samuel is an ambiguous period in Israel’s history.  God chooses a righteous prophet and judge (Samuel) who serves the people well, but the Israelites insist on a king, against God’s advice to them.  God chooses Saul, who leads Israel to some victories but also displays massive shortcomings.  God’s authority over events is still clear, but frequently the people or leaders choose paths that lead to their own destruction.  God appoints David, who appears much better, to replace Saul, but as the book ends Saul has died in failure and David has not yet ascended to his place.

Ruth

1) A very parable-like sound to the start of the tale.  The theme of “having a man” is very strong from the beginning.  A sudden turn of the tale begins when Ruth clearly chooses Naomi over her own people and Naomi’s God over her own people’s gods.  Naomi’s feelings of God having turned against her are strong, even with Ruth’s loyalty.

2) Ruth finds favor with Boaz, due to her strategic placement of herself, word of what she had done for Naomi, and possibly her appearance; all despite the fact that she is a foreigner.  The difficult state of women is implied several times.

3) Ruth strategically seduces Boaz at Naomi’s insistence.  Boaz takes the hint and rewards her.

4) Boaz sets up his marriage to Ruth, and thereby Ruth bears a son and Naomi is redeemed and blessed.  Some statements, “Now this was the custom in former times in Israel”, “Boaz of Obed, Obed of Jesse, and Jesse of David”, make it clear that the story is being written long as such events are supposed to have taken place.  Another unusual chapter in the line of David is written, demonstrating God’s willingness to use unlikely people.

Summary: A book revolving around both the difficulty of women’s lives and their ability to do what they can to further both their own state and God’s purposes.  In giving herself over to Naomi, Naomi’s people, and Naomi’s God, Ruth has become an integral piece of the plans of the God of Israel.

Judges

1: Judah takes the place of Joshua, though perhaps only for the people of Judah.  This chapter holds many contradictions with other Biblical books; “After the death of Judah” (but Judah still alive in 2:6-7), Judah conquers Jerusalem (but Jerusalem still standing and controlled by Jebusites in 15:63, 19:10, and 2 Samuel), Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron taken by Judah in 1:18 (but taken by David in Samuel).  Generally, the chapter continues the theme of “the Lord is with them” and conquering with the Lord, but it quickly transitions into the failures of the tribes to conquer much of their land.  The statement in 1:19 that the “chariots of iron” are why the people are unconquerable is strange, for the Lord is with them.

2: Israel's disobedience comes quickly in Judges, appearing in 2:1 and implied in the first chapter.  Judges set the people right, but they keep turning away.  Continuously turning to follow other Gods, mainly due to other peoples not being driven out, is the primary issue.  A lengthy period of time is covered as the people are distanced from the clear work of God in Moses's and Joshua's eras.

3: God has left nations to test the Israelites and let them know war...I'm uncomfortable with the desire for all to know war.  A clear cycle of disobedience-punishment-cry out-deliverance-repeat emerges.  Ehad uses a surprisingly underhanded means to kill King Eglon.  Hundreds of years pass by quickly.

4: Verse 1 seems to ignore Shamgar from the previous chapter.  After 20 more years of oppression, focus centers on a single leader and prophetess, Deborah.  Israelites cry out in verse 3, and the rest of the chapter revolves around the punishment of their oppressor through God's assistance.  Women are prominent in this chapter, with Deborah, Jael, and the specific mention “the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” in verse 9.

5: A poetic celebration of the events of chapter 4.  Gives praises to several, especially Deborah, but ultimately to God.  The Israelites prospered and those who didn't fight are chastised.

6: Cycle of disobedience and punishment turns yet again, in much more detail.  In the calling out of Gideon, the theme of God choosing the least likely is made, perhaps for the first time.  Signs of God's presence heavily emphasized.

7: Once again gives a strong focus on it being the Lord, not man's might, which delivers.  This is one of the most direct retellings of what has become a constant theme.

8: Gideon exacts vengeance on those who killed his family as well as those who did not assist him.  Gideon refuses to lead Israel, saying God is in charge, but he is led astray by the gold he has captured.  After Gideon, the Israelites relapse once again.

9: Abimelech makes a move for authority of all Israel, our first sign of personal power-hunger among the Israelites.  Jotham allows God and the natural consequences to take control, but speaks truth to those who erred.  God indeed carries out vengeance on those who took power into their own hands.

10: More judges are named, and the cycle of obedience/rebellion/deliverance continues. God shows frustration at this continued cycle.

11: Jepthah’s story again repeats the theme of the “unlikely one” coming into power.  God supports him in bringing victory to the people of Israel, but his decision to make and keep an odd vow leads him to sacrificing his only daughter in the aftermath, an odd twist without clear purpose.

12: Ephraim and Gilead have issues which each other which lead to massive inner-tribe warfare, for which Jepthah and Gilead come out victorious (despite Jepthah’s recent human sacrifice of his daughter).  After Jepthah’s death, several other judges rule Israel.

13: Starts with repeating the same, “Israelites did what was evil and were delivered into the hands of the Philistines”, but then focuses the rest of the chapter on the miraculous birth of Samson, clearly announced by God’s messenger.

14: Samson’s conflicts starts when he lusts after a foreign wife, surprisingly attributed by the narrator to God’s intention.  Samson puts forth an odd riddle during a feast, but breaks down under pressure and tells the answer to his wife, who tells it to her people.  Samson uses this as a pretext to kill 30 uninvolved people and steals their things to pay off the riddle-explainers, with “the spirit of the Lord” upon him.  Samson’s best man ends up marrying his wife.  The moral of all this escapes me.

15: Samson wants his wife back, and is offered her younger sister instead because his wife has been married off to his best man.  Samson responds by destroying the land and crops of uninvolved Philistines.  The Philistines find that Samson’s father-in-law was responsible for this happening, and kill him and Samson’s estranged wife.  Samson responds by slaughtering a great number of them, and a back-and-forth war between Samson and the Philistines breaks out, with Samson coming out ahead.  God cares for Samson, and Samson is declared a judge of Israel.  Again, other than “God used Samson to kill Philistines”, the message of this sequence escapes me

16: Samson keeps sleeping with women, which leads to difficult situations, but he manages to “redeem” each situation with his massive strength.  Moral appears to be “God punishes Israelites for their sins and errors, God punishes Philistines for being Philistines.”

17: An odd and personal story is given of the Ephraim man Micah and his household turning to idolatry, believing (which we assume to be mistakenly) that God will bless him.

18: The tribe of Dan, in their search for more land, take on Micah’s idolatry themselves.  They successfully overcome the people of Laish, destroying them and settling in their land, with the idol.

19: A woman is horrifically mistreated by all around – first taken as a concubine by a Levite, then abandoned outside to be raped by the men of Gibeah, then brutally raped until death by these men, and finally dismembered in death and sent around the nation as a sign.  In the context of the story, it sets up the need for retribution against the Gibeah men who represent the clan of Benjamin, while the other mistreatment is ignored.  However, it also dramatically depicts the awful treatment and status of women within the society.

20: All of Israel unites together to punish the town of Gibeah and all the Benjamites along with them.  With God’s blessing, the Benjamite army is utterly defeated and the population of Gibeah and all the towns around it is massacred and burned.

21: The rest of Israel feels bad that the tribe of Benjamin will die out because all their women have been massacred.  To make up for it, they massacre the people of Jabesh-gilead, including the women and little ones, all except 400 virgins, and give the virgins away to the men of Benjamin so their line may continue.  The importance of showing up to fight is emphasized.  Next, the young women of Shiloh are kidnapped and raped to make up for the remainder.  The final sentence possibly implies that all the events are deplorable, but it is certainly ambiguous.


Summary: The book of Judges heavily emphasizes the cycle of obedience/rebellion/deliverance that had started in the Pentateuch.  War being won through God’s strength, not man, is emphasized early, though it begins to fade out near the end of the chapter as the people appear to get distant from God.  Morally deplorable acts take center stage in Judges, from assassinations set up by lying and deception to the human sacrifice of Jepthah’s daughter to Samson’s scandalous behavior with women to the Levite woman being put out to be raped and then having her body mutilated to the massacre of the Benjamites to the massacre and mass rape of the people of Jabesh-gilead, and finally the abduction and rape of the women of Shiloh.

Joshua

A few months ago I restarted my study (after an extended time focusing solely on the NT).  I will not go through the entire OT with the same degree of attention that I gave the Pentateuch, but I still wanted to record a few of my observations here.  So here goes Joshua:

1: The land is given to them, and Joshua has taken on Moses's authority in an explicit manner.  God is with them, but they must obey the law, and this is laid on very heavy right from the start.  God and man are in a partnership together.  "Be strong and courageous" seems to be a new theme.

2: The people of the land fear the people of God, and rightly so, for God is creating circumstances to protect his people.  Deal-making is highlighted, and Rahab the prostitute is quite an unlikely hero.  What were the men doing in her house anyway - a fantastic sociological question at several levels.

3: Strongly focused on the miraculous sign of God's presence, in the Ark and in the crossing of the Jordan.  Joshua, leading the people through the water, is once again like Moses.

4: The commemoration of God's great deeds in their history is heavily emphasized.  Joshua is once again like Moses, with the people in awe of him.

5: Ritual is stressed heavily here, and connected to a broader obedience.  Several transitions make clear that a new age is entered, and the Lord is with them in it.

6: God is in control, and the people trust God for the city's destruction.  Rehab is remembered and the promise kept.  A very violent passage, but in line with the reoccurring, "Trust in God, not in your own strength" message - it is not the people's violence that leads to victory, but God's strength.

7: For the first time in Joshua, Israel is disobedient.  They fail, for the Lord is not with them.  36 people, mostly women and children, are killed for the disobedience of one man.  God makes the purification process clear, and they execute the sinner and all his children to appease God.

8: God establishes that he is still in control.  Even with planned strategy, the victory is God's.  "Slaughtering" the people includes women and children.  Ends with a focus on the law of Moses.

9: Gibeonites' cunning is somewhat rewarded, but they are cursed for saving their own lives.  The Israelites' making of peace with them is contrary to God.

10: Once again, God is responsible for the victory.  "Sun stood still" is an interesting phrase, showing a focus on the people's experience rather than the actual science (for the sun to remain in position in the sky, it is the Earth that would have to stop moving, not the sun...of course, stopping the Earth's rotation would be an incredibly violent force with repercussions across the globe...but once again, the passage is about the people's experience and has nothing to do with science, so it's pointless to try to go into all that).

11: Even an impossibly large army is no match for God.  The focus is on utterly destroying everything.

12: Conquered kings and territory listed (though some of the list conflicts with later list in Judges).

13: An acknowledgement that more land remains to be conquered.  The land east of the Jordan is described in full.

14: Land is distributed faithfully to the Levites and to Caleb, as it had earlier been proclaimed.

15: Judah's land is designated.  Not all of the "foreigners" have been expelled.

16: Joseph's land designated, foreigners do forced labor.

17: More of Maneseh receives land, daughters of Zelophehad get their promise, Josephites ask for more.

18: Last 7 tribes lightly berated for slacking, Benjamin's land is designated.

19: Simeon, Zebuiun, Issachor, Asher, and Naphtali get land.  Joshua is also given a town.  Dan given land, but must later relocate.

20: Cities of refuge designated, a really interesting issue to focus on of all things.  Hints at a vengeance culture which is being partially pushed back against.

21: Levites are given their towns, explicit mention made of land given to Israel and all God's promises coming to pass.

22: Eastern tribes go back to their land, promise future obedience.  They set up a symbol of understanding with Western tribes which is initially misunderstood.  Narrow rules around worship of God emphasized.

23: Acknowledgement that many years later, still not all non-Israelite tribes have been driven out.  Call to continue that work, call to obedience.  Mini blessing-and-curses passage similar to the one near the end of Moses's life.

24: A second closing summoning, but this message direct from God.  Short history of Israel to this point, focus is on God rescuing them from enemies, and the call to obedience.  People promise obedience despite strange warnings from Joshua.  Ends with deaths and burials of Joshua and Eleazar, reminiscent yet again of Moses and Aaron.


Summary: Joshua is tied together with very clear and simple themes that permeate the entire book.  They are:

Israel has been given the land
God is in control and Israel's trust should be placed in Him
God asks for obedience and worship
Joshua is a type of Moses
Non-Israelites must be eliminated or driven out, but not all are