Books of Samuel
Key Learnings from Sunday School
April 2026 - Present
Sunday School (Samuel)
The Books of Samuel tell how God led Israel from the judges to the monarchy, showing His sovereignty, mercy, and guidance through human sin and failure. God raises Samuel as a faithful prophet, grants Hannah’s prayer, and anoints David as king, emphasizing that God chooses the humble and obedient over worldly strength. Saul’s troubled reign warns against trusting in human power, while David’s faith and reliance on God point forward to Christ, the true righteous King. Throughout, God’s Law reveals our sin, and His grace through His promises offers salvation and hope.
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⁃ Regret does not mean, “I made a mistake”; Instead it is an expression of grief over Saul’s rebellion; the broken relationship
⁃ Saul is accountable for his own actions; Saul is not a victim of God’s plan
• In 1Samuel 13, Saul does not wait for Samuel.
• In 1Samuel 14, Saul burdens the people with his rash oath.
• In 1Samuel 15, Saul spares Agag and the best livestock, then blames the people and attempts to justify himself.
⁃ No one is innocent before God
• God is always just
• we underestimate the serious of sin
• Mercy is never owed
⁃ 1Samuel 15 connection to the Book of Esther
• Haman is called "the Agagite”
• Mordecai is a Benjaminite
• The conflict begun with Amalek ultimately reaches its climax in the Book of Esther.
⁃ “Bring the ark” vs “Bring the ephod”
• ESV translators - (1Samuel 14:18-19)The Hebrew is difficult but intelligible.
• LXX may preserve the original, but the evidence is not decisive enough to abandon the Masoretic Text.
⁃ Jonathan versus Saul
• Jonathan entrusts the outcome to God
• Saul tries to control the outcome himself
⁃ Saul uses religious language and practices as a means of control rather than an expression of trust.
• ephod, Urim and Thummim, “withdraw your hand,” God's silence in v. 37
⁃ Human authority is legitimate but limited
• no ruler's word stands above God's will
• Saul's crown cannot make an unjust sentence righteous.
⁃ God works through human action, but salvation belongs to the Lord.
• Jonathan acts, Israel fights
• Saul interferes
⁃ Hebrews vs. Israel — not exactly interchangeable terms
• Hebrews — Often used to describe the people as an ethnic group, particularly from an outsider's perspective.
• Israel — Emphasizes God's covenant people, especially when their covenant identity and God's saving work come into view.
⁃ The textual difficulty in 1Samuel 13:1
• Demonstration of the diligence that the copyists had even with difficult parts
• God's Word remains trustworthy
• Likely a significant jump in time
⁃ Saul is motivated by fear, not by faith
• That offering - not a procedural error but one of faith
• Sin often sounds reasonable/justifiable
• Saul forfeit’s his dynasty, not his kingdom nor God’s favor.
⁃ Jonathan possesses the very qualities Israel hoped to find in a king.
⁃ Do not put your faith in the king above God
• The king is accountable to God and must lead according to God’s ways
• We are to support and follow the king while still remaining faithful to God
• Even the best of us can have wayward children
⁃ Review of Israel’s history in Judges
• Highlights God’s faithfulness
• Highlights our unfaithfulness
• Put your trust in God alone
⁃ Fear the LORD: reverent awe and respect for God’s holiness and power
⁃ Serve God: wholeheartedly, ongoing loyalty, and faithfulness
• Faith before mindless obedience. Hosea 6:6
⁃ Spirit of God rushed upon Saul
• Empowering him for his vocation as King
• Not a moment of salvation/justification
⁃ Dread of the Lord - Now trusting in God instead of own efforts
⁃ Nahash (“Serpent”) and his cruelty
• Probably not a coincidence in the name
• God raises up His anointed one to defeat him (pointing to Christ)
⁃ Jabesh, the city once massacred by Israel (Judges 21) is now dramatically saved by a king from Benjamin.
⁃ Butchery & Leadership
• Levite brought chaos and civil war (Judges 19)
• Saul brought about unity and victory
⁃ Saul shows mercy
• Zealous people may want to be on God’s side can actually be opposing Him. Acts 5:38-39
⁃ Kingdom renewed at Gilgal despite ongoing Philistine threat.
⁃ ESV translators default to the Hebrew but will use the Septuagint on a case by case bases as they did in 1Samuel 10:1
⁃ God works through human weakness and Saul’s flaws appear early
• Insecurity and passivity
⁃ God Confirms His Call
• Rachel’s tomb; tribe of Benjamin, the “ravenous wolf” (Genesis 49:27).
• Bethel; Location of Jacob’s Ladder Dream - God’s faithfulness.
• Gibeath- Philistine garrison -“wink, wink”
⁃ Prophesying; singing praises of God via excitement and joy.
⁃ Kingship
• Deuteronomy 17 anticipated a king who would rule under God’s Law.
• Here the people demanded a king “like all the nations” out of fear and unbelief., rejecting God as their true King.
⁃ Outward appearance - Saul looked the part, checking all the worldly boxes
• Yet God still choose him
• God guides imperfect people
⁃ That donkey search…
• God guiding events to advance His plan
• God using circumstance to His purpose
⁃ Saul’s Character
• limited perseverance
• lack of initiative/leadership
• pragmatism/worldliness
• Lack of preparedness
• limited spiritual insight
⁃ Open question; Was Saul destined to fail or could his kingship succeeded?
⁃ Two Kingdoms
• Realm: Law | Gospel
• Purpose : Order & Civil Peace | Salvation
• Power: Coercion | faith
• Moorings: Civil righteousness | Christ’s righteousness
⁃ Kingdom confusion; the left is prone to corrupt the right
⁃ People pressure Samuel for a king instead of inquiring of God
• Seeking a solution without God
⁃ Kingship
• Deuteronomy 17:14-20 God-centered, limited monarch
• 1Samuel 8 man-centered, oppressive monarchy
• The institution is either a burden or blessing depending on the heart behind it
⁃ Eleazar’s care of the Ark: Faithful stewardship
⁃ That water ritual
• symbolic expression of self-denial, contrition, dependance on God
• No comparable comparisons can be made
⁃ Ebenezer stone
• Remembrance of God’s help and His faithfulness
• Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing; remembrance of God’s sustaining grace
• Scrooge’s name: need for remembrance and change, turning from selfishness to redemption (echoing the stone’s meaning in 1Samuel 7)
⁃ Samuel’s circuit
• Bethel - Location of Jacob’s Ladder Dream
• Gilgal - Location of the first passover in land after the Exodus
• Mizpah - Renewed commitment to God
• Ramah - Hope and spiritual recovery under Samuel
- Robert Robinson (1735-1790)
• Wild Youth (wrong crowd, reckless living)
• Hymn written (at age 23) for a Pentecost Sunday Sermon
• Drifted away from his faith
• Later encounter with a women who convicts him with his own hymn; He repents and returns
⁃ Do not to teat what is holy with irreverence and casual familiarity
⁃ Dagon (Philistine’s chief deity, often linked to fertility, grain, or a fish-man figure)
- Ark = God’s presence among His people
• Day 1 Dagon’s statue found in submission
• Day 2 head and hands broken off on the threshold = no wisdom, no power
• Whether human-made idols or spiritual powers behind them we are to worship God alone.
⁃ Emanuel = God with us
⁃ Plaque of Rats and Tumors
• Judgment on the futility of false gods and superstition
• May have been the bubonic plaque or whatever. Regardless, it came from God
⁃ Return of the Ark
• God does not need human strength or trained instruments.
• God works through humble, ordinary, or even resistant means (like untrained cows) to accomplish His purposes.
• The Ark will never return to Shiloh
⁃ Everyone in this chapter treats the Ark as a relic, as an object of worship
⁃ Word of God no longer rare and yet no inquires of it
⁃ Philistine perspective; outsiders who put little faith into the relic
⁃ Benjaminite, perhaps a redemption from the events in Judges 19-21
⁃ Eli described as old and heavy
• Heavy mirrors the spiritual burden he had
• Thrown from his seat as judge
⁃ Ichabod “No Glory” or “The glory has departed”
⁃ Spiritual dark times
• Rarity of God’s Word; widespread apostasy and spiritual famine in Israel.
• Physical blindness mirrors his (and Israel’s) spiritual blindness.
• Confusion & toleration of sin; failure of the high priest
⁃ Hearing God: Requires openness, mentorship, persistence, and faithfulness
• God initiates by speaking from the Ark of the Covenant.
• A theophanic moment follows (“the Lord came and stood”).
• God’s persistence in calling Samuel reveals His grace and pursuit of relationship.
⁃ Judgment
• “Tingling ears” is an idiom for shocking, horrifying news.
• Eli faces temporal punishment for his cowardice and failure to confront sin in his vocation
• Eli’s resigned acceptance
Cravenness; contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly: a craven abdication of his moral duty
⁃ Hannah’s Song themes
• Praise and holiness of God
• Reverse of fortunes
• Deliverance, mercy and faithfulness
• God’s rule and victory
⁃ The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55); bridges Hannah’s song with the new era of salvation in Christ
⁃ Apostasy & Sacrilege: Abuse of power, religious corruption or both
• Cravenness of Eli himself
• Faithless of Eli's sons
• Contempt of the people’s offerings
• Bedding the temple women
⁃ Faithfulness
• Unknown prophet (1Samuel 2:27)
• A faithful priest (1Samuel 2:35) - ultimately Christ
• Samuel
⁃ Another account of a barren favorite wife
⁃ Grace Alone, Faith Alone
• Peace offering highlights fellowship with God in the midst of suffering
• God works through weakness (Theology of the Cross)
• God’s Word of promise brings peace
⁃ People:
• Elkanah - Devout husband, loves Hannah
• Peninnah - Hannah’s rival
• Hannah - Barren, Elkanah’s favorite wife
• Eli - Priest at the tabernacle in Shiloh
• Hophni - son of Eli
• Phinehas - son of Eli
• Samuel - son of Hannah and Elkanah