I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
Samuel anoints Saul and tells him that he will be king over Israel. Samuel further tells Saul that his father’s donkeys have been found (the reason that Saul went to speak with Samuel in the first place) and that he will meet a group of prophets, who he will join in prophesying for a period of time. Saul departs Samuel and what Samuel predicted does take place. After this Samuel gathered the people of Israel at Mizpah and tells them that God will now select their king. Using the lot, Samuel gradually narrows it down (first selecting a tribe, then a family and finally an individual) until it falls on Saul. Sometime during this process, Saul had gotten cold feet and hid himself, but with God’s guidance Samuel finds him and brings him before the people. A group of men attach themselves to Saul as his supporters, but some other men refuse to accept Saul as king. Saul ignores those who reject his anointment.
The king of Ammon was oppressing the Israelites who lived east of the Jordan by gouging out the right eyes of the men. A group of those Israelites had taken a stand in Jabesh-gilead. When the king of Ammon laid siege to Jabesh-gilead he offered them the option of surrendering to him and having their right eyes gouged out, they asked permission to send messengers asking for help (and were apparently granted it). The elders of Jabesh agreed that if no one came to help them they would accept his terms. When word comes to the town Saul lives in, Saul is out plowing his fields. When Saul hears what the king of Ammon intends to do, he is furious and summons the fighting men of Israel in the name of himself and Samuel. The story tells us that the people were afraid of Saul’s anger and came together as one.
There is an important lesson about good leadership here. Even though Saul was king, he was still plowing his own fields. He was not living off of the production of others. Second, after his victory, when the people wanted to round up those who had rejected Saul as king and execute them, Saul refuses to allow them to do so. Saul recognized that after a victory was a time to allow the people to come together. It was a time for healing, not a time to settle old scores.
Jesus continues His teaching that He is the bread of life. He tells His followers that in order to have eternal life they must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Many of His followers understand Him to mean this literally and physically. As a result they are disgusted and/or confused and leave off following Him. Jesus turns to the twelve and asks them if they are going to leave as well. Peter, demonstrating the insight that led him to be a leader of the Church later, replied asking where they would go since Jesus has the words the give eternal life.
Many societies have believed that you take into yourself the essence of the things you eat, some of them extend that to their human enemies and thus become cannibalistic. They eat the flesh of their enemies in order to take the essence of their enemies (their strength, their bravery, whatever other virtues they are thought to have) into themselves. I believe that Jesus was talking about something like that when He said that we must eat of His flesh and drink of His blood. He was telling us that we must take into ourselves His essence, his righteousness. We must feed on those things that make Jesus who He is. He was talking about us making ourselves like Him. We must desire to be transformed into His likeness as a starving man desires bread. I believe there are two facets as to why people left off following Him over this teaching. The first is that some of them just could not get past the metaphor of eating human flesh. The second was that some of them were unwilling to accept the absolute and total reordering of their lives that Jesus was asking them to undertake.
His faithful love endures forever.
Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out!
We are called to tell everyone what God has done for us. How He has saved us from whatever plight we may have stumbled into before we cried out to God and surrendered ourselves to Him. The psalmist discusses different troubles that people may end up in because of their rebellion against God, but all of those have one common thread. When they cry out to God for help, He delivers them. The psalmist tells us that those who are wise look at history and see God’s faithful love revealed time and again. God has redeemed me from trials and difficulties and I will praise His name. I ask God that you give me the strength, wisdom and courage to tell everyone what you have done for me.
The first two of today’s three proverbs are related. When we speak angrily, we tend to get angry answers in response. On the other hand, when we speak calmly those we are talking with often calm down (if they were angry or agitated). The second proverb discusses informing people. If you inform people in a way that makes them think that you think them foolish or stupid for not knowing what you are trying to tell them, they are unlikely to listen to the knowledge you are trying to impart. On the other hand, if you present your information in a way that lifts them up and makes them feel good about themselves, they are more likely to listen and learn. The third proverb tells us that we should always behave as if God is in the room with us watching what we are doing, because He is. It also tells us that those who do evil are being watched by God and will be held accountable for their actions and those who do good will be rewarded.