1 & 2 Samuel – Be Still…

1 Chronicles 15:1-29 – Celebrate God!

Read 1 Chronicles 15:1-29

David made sure he handled the movement of the Ark differently this time. He had learned from his mistakes and was sure to receive God’s counsel about the proper way to move the Ark the second time.

It was quite the event. I recently had this story come up for my orphanage Sunday School class, but we read the account in 2 Samuel 6. While similar, the differences are striking. There are three that stood out to me: (1) both accounts of moving the Ark are recorded together by Samuel; (2) the Chronicles account focuses much more on the worship and celebration; and (3) the Samuel text goes into more detail about Michal’s contempt and consequence.

1 Samuel 3:9-18 Open My Ears

Read 1 Samuel 3:9-18

Girl standing on a beach at sunset, holding the sun in her hands with caption "Are you listening to God?"

We’re starting a new theme in our Discovering the Bible Challenge called “Listening to God’s Word.” You are precisely in the right place as we’ll walk through some great Bible texts giving us insights to the importance of listening to God rather than the mumblings of the world.

I especially like this first passage as it tells the story of Samuel hearing God’s voice. We have the Bible as God’s word to us, but Samuel heard God’s message first-hand. Whether you’ve audibly heard God’s voice or not doesn’t matter. It’s important that we be listening!

December 1 The Lord Is With You (2 Samuel 7:1-16)

Read 2 Samuel 7:1-16

statue of small person huddled in and surrounded by larger hands cupped around it

The promise to David is so much bigger than David could have ever imagined, isn’t it? David would have success in life and as king because of God’s hand on his life. David’s devotion to the LORD would be so fervent that no king after him could emulate such loyalty.

God said about David, “Now I will make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!” Until Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate king of this dynasty that God promised David. “Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever.”

2 Samuel 24:1-25 – A Sin and a Prayer

Read 2 Samuel 24:1-25

store window with the sign: "Sinners wanted, Inquire Within"

Why in the world would God incite David to do something that would later bring punishment? Clearly, we have no way of understanding God’s motivation here. You might recall when God “hardened Pharoah’s heart” leading to more and more plagues. That’s another example of not truly understanding God’s motives.

This is the final story, and you can see some parallels to the story of punishment in Chapter 21, the bookends to the closing chapters of 2 Samuel. God often works in patterns as we have seen during the time of the judges.

2 Samuel 23:8-39 – Top of the Class

Read 2 Samuel 23:8-39

Here we go with another list to close out the saga of King David as told in 2 Samuel! This one celebrates David’s top warriors. I thought it interesting that the top 3 are not part of the top 30. I suppose there are different criteria to place you in one group or not at all.

Do you think that David’s men were competitive? I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of the warriors themselves. We’ve certainly seen how the appointed leader, specifically Joab, really took his position seriously and was certainly ruthless when it came to killing others who threatened him. Notice he didn’t make the list of the top 30 or the top 3 for that matter!