Day 22 ~ The Jealous King

I had an interesting thing happen to me today. Our friends from our home fellowship, Chris and Melissa Perry, had a baby two weeks ago. Last week I planned to take them a meal, but when I got home to the crock pot of food that was to have been cooking all day, I discovered I never turned the crock pot on. I was more than slightly irritated with myself. So I had to call and confess my stupidity. Well tonight, I did come home to the smell of food cooking, and Grace and I headed west to visit new baby Olivia. I didn't plan ahead for a dessert, so we stopped at the pie shop. Since tomorrow is payday for me, and we're doing the Financial Peace cash envelope system, I used $8.50 of the $9 dollars that I had left in the eat out envelope (groceries and blow money were gone a few days ago - sam's club and a garage sale did me in). Then we proceeded to take one step and the pie flipped out of the box onto the floor. I just kind of stood there, and Grace and I asked for a spatula to clean it up. Grace asked if we would get another one, and I said I couldn't because I didn't have any more money. A man who came in while we were cleaning up the pie (I was tempted to eat some of it off the floor rather than to waste it all) said "you have the money, I'll buy the pie for you." I nearly cried. He said he's wife had died two years ago and she would have had him do so. I told him it wasn't even for us, and that he was a real blessing. I got paid forward for buying lunch in the drivethru that guy in the truck behind me at McDonalds. What a blessing to share with my daughter...about money, about sharing, about being thankful. Guess that is why I forgot to turn on the crockpot last week - because last week I had a dessert, and this week I didn't - I would have missed out on the blessing.

• 10:3 What is a terebinth tree? It seems like this type of tree has been mentioned before...let's see (goodsearch.com & biblegateway.com)...yes, in Moreh, Mamre, Shechem, Bethel, Zaanannim, Ophrah. There must be something about these trees that makes them worthy of a geographical indicator. Like the tree where Lee and Grant signed the surrender to end the Civil war under the Ash tree in Appamattox Court House - it was huge. In 10:3, the NIV calls it the "great" tree; in the NASB, Message, Amplified, Contemporary and American Standard versions "oak" is used. I guess I may be one of the few actually seeing the word "terebinth" in the New King James version. the KJV doesn't even have a tree, it calls it a "plain." Easton's Bible Dictionary says "a turpentine-tree, the Pistacia terebinthus." Wikipedia (which you can't really trust the content of on alot of things) says it is a small tree or large bush. That doesn't make sense - and Oak trees are not small or like bushes. Why would a large bush be a landmark? Also mentioned in most sources was that the tree was a source of turpentine, which may have been of interest to note in histories.
• Okay, I just spent 30 minutes on the first three verses of the reading. Somebody smack me.
• 10:6 - Saul will be "turned into another man" - as in "poof, you're an egyptian!" what does that mean? Will God change him significantly? (yes, vs. 9) Go make sacrifices and wait 7 days (vs. 8 - to become clean?).
• Back to the timeline pretzel. Remember when Benjamin was practically wiped out by the rest of the tribes? Now the new king is picked from the tribe of Benjamin. I'm resisting the urge to look at the timeline, but I'm curious if that was before the war with Benjamin or after, and if it was after, was it shocking? (10:20)
• 10:25 "Then Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the LORD" - explained how the kings were suppose to act, or how the people were to act around kings?
• Chapter 11 - Saul does a good job rallying the all the tribes behind a city under threat, and defeats the would-be oppressors, the Ammonites.
• Chapter 12 - It doesn't matter who rules over you - a judge or a king - what matters is if you follow the commandments of the Lord.
• Chapter 13 - Saul's tenure as king was shortened in the second year when he was impatient and sacrificed improperly instead of waiting for Samuel. 30,000 chariots of Philistines were breathing down the neck of Saul's small 600 man army, with only a few weapons.
• Chapter 14 - all that war talk is confusing to me, but Jonathan must have snuck away to get some weapons at the garrison and won a battle. Saul made a stupid rule that the men couldn't eat until the battle was over, so that when they did eat, they were so hungry that they ate the blood (against the levitical rules). Saul wants Jonathan dead because he ate, even though Jonathan didn't know about the rule. The soldiers wouldn't allow Saul to kill his son.
• Chapter 15 - Samuel has an excuse for his disobedience in following God's commandments. Verse 12 says Saul set up a monument for himself. He did not utterly destroy, and brought home lots of spoil from the war with the Amalekites.
• 15:22 “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams."
• Samuel does what Saul should have done, and as NKJV so poetically puts it, "And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the LORD" (15:22)
• Chapter 16 - the Lord has given up on Saul, and selects a new king to replace him and send Samuel out to find the new king.
• Samuel immediately sees one of the good looking sons of Jessee and presumes this must be the chosen one (remember that Saul was a fine specimen). “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (16:7)
• Saul no longer has the peaceful spirit of the Lord, but a distressing spirit. The favor of the king has now been given to David, and Saul can tell, and turns to soothing music, played by none other than the newly selected successor, David.
• Remember king Og the giant from Deuteronomy 3:11 who had a bed that was 9 cubits long and 4 cubits wide? I remember thinking then that Goliath was 9 cubits tall. But I was wrong, Goliath was 6 cubits high, over 9 feet. So Og was much taller than Goliath.
• Goliath the the young David: “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” I love that line. (17:43). David gives the glory of the defeat to the Lord, even before the stone is thrown.
• Chapter 18 - we know that Saul doesn't much like his own son, Jonathan, so when Jonathan and David become best of friends, that irritates Saul, and when David is praised by the people for his victory, after Saul has spent his entire reign in battles, Saul begins to watch David closely, sensing that his throne is in jeopardy. Saul knows David is popular, but he wants him gone, so he tries to put David in situations where he could get killed at the hands of others. He tries to trip David up by offering his daughters in marriage. Dowry: 100 foreskins of Philistines - yeah, that might put David in harms way just a little bit. But David brings Saul 200. The overachiever gets under Saul's skin even more.
• Chapter 19 - Saul's own children help protect David from an increasingly unstable Saul.
• 20:5-6 - hey, it's the new moon feast from Numbers 29:6
• 20:31 - good point - as long as David is around, Jonathan's chance of inheriting the throne from his father Saul are slim. Jonathan is more loyal to David over his own father and is not swayed by the power of being a king.