1-15 Saul Defeats the Ammonites
- Nahash, king of the Ammonites, follows 7,000 escapees to Jabesh-Gilead and offers to make a treaty with them only if he can humiliate them by gouging out their right eyes.
- Elders of Jabesh ask for 7 days to think about it, during which time they send out a plea for help to the other tribes.
- News reaches Saul, and "the spirit of God came upon Saul in power." Angry, he cuts up 2 oxen and sends pieces all over Israel, threatening them if they don't join forces with him against Nahash.
- 300,000 from Israel and 70,000 from Judah gather and cut down and scatter the Ammonites. [The tribes are already divided by those names? I didn't think that happened until Jeroboam and Rehoboam at the end of Solomon's reign.]
- Now behind Saul, people want to punish those who doubted his leadership, but Saul won't allow it. This seems to be a different man than the one we see later pursuing David to kill him.
- At Samuel's suggestion, they renew Saul's kingship with sacrificial offerings, and they "greatly" rejoice.
1-25 Samuel's Farewell Address as Judge
- I am old, and as you requested, a king now leads you.
- Speak up now if I have ever defrauded you.
- I tell you the history of all the times God has rescued you from your wickedness - Egypt, Philistia, Ammon -- and now a king.
- However, if you and the king follow God, God is still with you and will not abandon you.
- I'm calling down thunder and rain on your harvest to show you God's power and to confirm my word.
- Even though you've been wicked, God will not cast you away, and I will still pray for you. Good lesson here, it seems, about our attitude toward those we love who are trapped in the consequences of their own sin.
1-27 From Adam to Abraham
- Noah's sons - Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their descendants
- From Shem to Abraham
- Isaac and Ishmael
- Ishmael's 12 sons and their descendants (as promised to Abraham in Genesis 17:20)
1-59 Sons of Israel and Descendants of Judah
- 12 sons of Israel
- Judah - 5 sons
- Judah fathers Perez and Zerah by Tamar
- Perez - Hezron - Ram - Amminidab - Nashon, "prince of the sons of Judah."
- Nashon - Salma (who married Rahab of Jericho) - Boaz - Obed - Jesse - David, Jesse's 7th son.
- Lots and lots of other names. This is the place to look if you want to find out where people mentioned in Judges and 1 & 2 Samuel come from, e.g. verses 50-55: Kiriath-jearim, Zorathites, Kenites. Jael, who killed Sisera in Deborah's famous battle, was the wife of a Kenite (Judges 4:17).
1-15 Paul and the False Apostles
- Excuse my foolishness, but I look at you as a bride of Christ who has been easily led astray from devotion to your husband, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent.
- I am not less than one of these "super apostles." Maybe my speech isn't as fine as theirs, but you know for yourselves what my level of knowledge is. A little sarcasm here?
- Did I make a mistake in not burdening you financially when I preached to you, being financially supported not by you but by brethren from Macedonia?
- I still insist on not depending on your financial assistance -- because I love you.
- Those who claim to be our equals are false, deceitful, pretenders, ministers of Satan, as they appear as angels of light, just as he does.
- If you think me to be a fool, then I will boast as a fool would. Being so wise yourselves, you're probably used to it. It certainly seems you put up with those who would take advantage of you. It seems that we were too weak to do such a thing. More sarcasm, used, I think, to try to get a rise out of these Corinthians, to wake them up to what was really going on.
- Here's my boast: I am a Hebrew, an Israelite, a minister of Christ who has been persecuted in countless ways - imprisonments, beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, dangers at every corner from all kinds of people -- besides my anxiety over all the churches.
- My boast is not about my strengths, but about my weaknesses. [Even at the beginning] I had to escape from Damascus from the hands of the governor.]
No comments:
Post a Comment