Day 127

1 Samuel 1:1–2:21; John 5:1-23; Psalm 105:37-45; Proverbs 14:28-29

TODAY, WE BEGAN moving into a new era in the story of God’s people as we launched into the book of 1 Samuel. We’ll first learn about Samuel’s remarkable story and calling. But Samuel will eventually lead us to Israel’s first monarch —Saul. In Saul, we’ll find a great deal of challenging parallels to our own lives. Later, we’ll meet a man named David. Of course, we’ve been getting to know David through his poetry and songs, found in the Psalms, but his life will also teach us remarkable things about ourselves.

We’ll be spending a fair amount of time within these stories, so this is a good time to provide ourselves with a little context. A good number of scholars believe that the material contained in the books of Samuel were originally recorded by three prophets of Israel: Samuel, Nathan, and Gad. Originally, 1 and 2 Samuel were not written as separate texts but were grouped together with 1 and 2 Kings as a continuous text.

When the Old Testament was translated into Greek —which is called the Septuagint —the books were divided into four separate texts known as the Books of the Kingdoms. Later, when the Old Testament was translated into Latin —called the Vulgate —they became the Books of the Kings. At that time, the texts were known as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings.

Confused? Stay with me, because it can be a bit complicated.

What is now known as 1 and 2 Samuel was actually 1 and 2 Kings in the Latin translations. This all finally changed to the currently accepted books of Samuel and Kings when translators created the King James Bible in 1611.

Samuel became a very influential person. He was the final judge of Israel, but he was also a prophet of God and served before the Lord as priest. During his life, everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes. Samuel stepped into this breach as a prophet and alleviated some of the anarchy for one simple reason: Samuel was speaking directly for God, and that was something the children of Israel took seriously at the time, for this was how Moses had led them.

Buckle up. We’re in for a fantastic ride through a season of great transition in the story of our spiritual ancestors.

MEDITATION:

People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.