1 Samuel

Saturday I finished reading 1 Samuel.  I think I've been in this book for quite some time.  I took a break from it to finish up Bible Study for quite awhile though.  Reading a couple chapters a week there was too much to keep up with this reading too.  A lot happened in Samuel though, and I look forward to see how much more happens in 2 Samuel.  The below is the typing of my notes from my reading of 1 Samuel.  The words in Italics are thoughts and notes I made on a more personal level as I thought deeper. 

• Hannah prays hard for a child
• After Samuel is born and weaned he goes to the Priest Eli and Hannah gives Samuel to the Lord for his lifetime as she promised while she was praying for a child
• Hannah gives tahnks
• Eli's soms were evil, disrespectful
• Evey year Hannah took Eli a coat she'd made for him
• Eli warned his sons of their wrongful ways
• The Lord had promised Eli's family they would always serve him, but now dishonor will received dishonor in return
• No man will grow old in Eli's family, both sons will die on the same day, his future family generations will beg for money and food
• All the punishment because Eli knew his sons were evil and he didn't stop them
• God came to Samuel in the night, but Samuel thought it was Eli calling; the 3rd time Eli told Samuel to go listen to the Lord
• "Speak, Lord. I am your servant and I am listening."
• Lord told Samuel what was to come of Eli's family
• Israelites fight the Philistines
• Israelites were being defeated so they took the Ark of the Agreement into battle with them
• 30,000 Israelites died; Eli's 2 sons died and the Ark of the Agreement was taken
• When Eli learned of this he fell, broke his neck and died because he was old and fat
• Eli's daughter in law was due to give birth when she heard the news, baby was born and she died
• Before her death she named her son Ichabod because the glory of God is gone
• The Philistines shad the Ark and every morning their god was on the ground; their people had growths
• Philistines moved the Ark to a few other towns and every time those people got growths
• So no one wanted the Ark and God's power that came with it as wrath on them
• After 7 months the Philistines sought their priests and magicians on how to return it so the sickness would leave
• The followed directions to return it on a cart with sacrifices and the cows walked it back to an Israeli field
• Israwl sacrificed the animals and moved the Ark
• The people began to follow the Lord again (!)
• Israel was meeting so the Philistines came to attach but God helped Israel defeat them
• Samuel guided them with a burnt offering
• There was peace while Samuel was judge
• Samuel's 2 sons he'd appointmented were dishonest so Israel asked for  King
• Lord knew king would lead to unhappiness and following away from God and warned them through Samuel, but Israel was adamant
• Saul of Benjamin, with his servant, went out searching for missing donkeys
• After 3 days his servant suggested they find a seer/prophey
• They go into the town, meet Samuel and eat with him
• Saul is from the smallest family group of the smallest tribe of Israel
• Samuel sent Saul on his way and tells him the signs to come that the Lord will be with him and the Spirit of God will rush upon him
• Saul's heart was changed
• Israel gathered and before all Samuel chose Saul as King
• There were some agasint Saul
• Part of Israel was threatened
• Saul pulled them together to defend
• Samuel gave Israel their King Saul and in that a reminder of their past - Moses and Aaron
• Saul fought the Philistines
• Saul disobeyed orders and Samuel scolded him
• Saul made mistakes and God still uses him! 
• Because of disobedience, God wouldn't allow kingdom to continue
• Saul and the Philistines continue to fight
• Saul's son Jonathan leads Israel to the Philistine defeat without telling other what he was doing; they joined the battle after as the Philistines were running 
• Saul makes an oath for the army about food for the day which weakens them and causes them to sin
• Saul didn't follow God's direction in battle and is rejected as King by God
• The Lord was sorry he'd ever made Saul King
• The Lord felt sorry - I think this is an interesting note and insight about who our God is <3 i="">
• Lord sent Samuel to Bethlehem to appoint David as King
• Samuel thought it would be David's brothers but the Lord looks at the heart, not appearance
•  David head to be brought in from the tending the sheep when it wasn't his brothers the Lord wanted as King
• David served Saul and played the harp to chase away evil spirits when they troubled Saul
• Israelites were fighting Philistines and Goliath
• Goliath challenged someone from the Israelites to fight him; the loser's people would become the winner's servants
• David was tending sheep between his home and the army where his 3 oldest brothers were
• David, at his father's wishes, took food to his brothers in the army and ran to the front battle lines to speak with them
• They had been lined up for battle 40 days and no one fought Goliath
• Saul called for David who said he would fight Goliath with the reassurance he had killed both a lion and a bear protecting his sheep
• Saul gave David his armor, but it was too much for David who wasn't used to it, so he left, took his stick and 5 smooth stones
• David was just a boy and came in the name of the Lord
• The battle begins, David knocks Goliath down with a stone in his slingshot, then takes Goliath's sword, cuts off his head and takes it to Jerusalem
• Saul saw David go to Goliath and wanted to know who his father was (Jesse)
• Saul became jealous of David as he was praised for more killing then Saul
• The people loved David, Saul feared him and raged with jealousy
• Saul threw a spear at david while we was playing his harp, but David escaped twice
• Saul offered David his oldest daughter, but David he was unworthy
• Saul's other daughter was wanted to marry David, yet David wasn't of importance
• Saul wasn't asking for money for his daughter but 200 Philistine foreskins
• Saul was planning on the Philistine's killing David
• David marries Saul's daughter Michal and she loved him
• Saul was David's enemy
• Saul wants David dead, Jonathan reminds him of all the good help David provided for him and Saul promised David would live
• War breaks out again, David defeats Philistines again
• Saul tried to kill David with a spear, David escapes home
• Messengers come to kill David and his wife helps him escape away to Samuel
• Messengers go to kill him there and they are overcome by the Lord so more are sent and they are overcome; more messengers are sent and they are overcome by the Lord too
• Saul goes and he too is overcome by the Lord
• David tells Jonathan of Saul's plans to kill him because Jonathan hadn't known
• David prooves this to Jonathan by hiding in place of going to the New Moon Festival
• So many festivals because we were made to commune with each other?
• Saul's anger at this disappearance showed Jonathan
• Jonathan warned David with arrows; they hugged and cried and David fled
• David runs away from town to town, gathers bread and sword (Goliath's)
• Saul goes after David, Saul orders priests killed for they helped David, Saul's officers refused
• Doeg the Edomite killed for Saul
• The Philistines attacked keilah, David went and fought and saved them
• Someone told Saul David was there
• David prayed, had the Holy Vest, the Lord said if he stayed he would be handed over to Saul so he fled again
• Jonathan came to David again and strengthened his faith
• Ziph people went to Saul and helped him track David
• Saul was on 1 side of the mountain, David the other and Saul was closing the gap when he was told the Philistines were attacking his land
• Saul fought off the Philistines then returned to hunting for David
• Saul went into a cave to relieve himself, David was hiding there
• David cut off a corner of Saul's robe and stopped his men from killing him
• Then he confessed to Saul about the corner and Saul recognized his goodness and position
• David promised Saul his descendants wouldn't be killed
• Saul was the Lord's appointed King and despite everything, David respected and honored that. He trusted in the Lord's timing and deliverance from Saul's ways.  
• Samuel died; Israel mourned
• Nabal was a wealthy man in the land where David was, Maon
• David's men went to ask for his favor and remind him of their help watching his sheep in the fields
• Nabal refused and insulted them 
• Nabal's servants told his wife Abigail of the event and she quickly loaded food on donkeys 
• She took the donkeys to David without telling Nabal
• Nabal repaid good with evil and David planned to kill him and his men
• Abigail pleaded for their lives reminding him of his future kingdom and not wanting to taint it with killing innocent with punishment
• Abagail told Nabal of the events the next morning when he was sober
• He became like stone and died days later
• Abagail became one of David's wives
• Again people tell Saul where David is 
• Saul and his arm go toward David
• While they are sleeping near David, he and a man go take Saul's sword and water jug
• David goes away and calls back to the arm that those things are gone and they didn't protect their King
• Saul seeks David's favor and they go on their own ways
• David went to live with the Philistines because Saul wouldn't come there for him
• David raided people in that land while he lived there but didn't tell the Philistine King he'd made favor with
• Philistines demanded David and his men fight against Israel with them
• Saul was fearful of the Philistines and prayed, but no answer came so he sought a medium
• Saul had removed all mediums and fortune tellers
• Their medium thought Saul was trying to trick her into being killed
• Saul asked for Samuel's spirit
• Samuel said what was happening is all that was foretold because Saul didn't obey and the Lord left him
• The Medium fed them because Saul was weak
• David had the favor of 1 Philistine King, but the rest didn't trust him and his men to come into battle, so they were sent back in peace 
• When David returned to where they'd left their families, included David's wives, they found they had been captured
• But by the grace of God
• At God's direction with the Holy Vest he and some men went after them
• They battled and defeated and returned all family and possessions
• Those men who battled with David diddn't want to share and return the goos to the men who stayed behind because they were too tired to go on, but David insisted they return for everyone
• Teamwork - we all help each other and live in community
• Israelies and Philistines battled and Saul's 3 sons were killed including Jonathan
• Saul was injured, asked his armor carrier to kill him, but he refused
• Saul threw himself on his own sword and died
• When the Israelites heard they ran away in fear
• Philistines moved in and lived and hung Saul and his sons on the wall
• People heard of this and came for their bodies and burned them