Commuter Bible OT John Ross

In today’s reading, Israel asks an aging Samuel to appoint a king over them before his death. Samuel warns them about what a king would demand from them, but the people urge him all the more. Ultimately, the concern is not so much that they want a king, but that they are looking to have a human king as a source of strength, protection, and provision. All throughout their history, God has been their strength, their protection, and their provider, but they fail to trust in Him. As Samuel installs Saul as king in today’s reading, take note that it is the Lord who performs remarkably through Samuel, and it is not Samuel himself who is particularly noteworthy.

Today, Israel goes to battle against the Philistines. They assume that if they bring out the ark of the covenant to the battlefield, that it’s presence would either oblige God to win the battle for them or that the object itself has some kind of mystical power. They are sorely mistaken, and the Philistines promptly defeat them and capture the ark. Assuming that their victory is a victory over Israel’s God, the Philistines place the ark in Dagon’s temple. Time and again, however, the Lord silently causes destruction, catastrophe and misery for the Philistines wherever the ark is taken, until finally, they become so desperate they put it on a cart and send it back where it came from.

The instructions that the Lord has given to his people concerning justice, holiness, and priesthood have all been shattered in the time of the judges. It seems like all is lost for Israel, but even here we can see foreshadows of the Christ who has yet to come. There is a woman incapable of having children who is faithful to the Lord. In His providence, kindness and mercy, the Lord raises a prophet and priest from the barren womb of this woman, who had promised the Lord that her son would serve God all the days of his life. This young boy is at home in the Lord’s service and eventually replaces sinful men and intercedes between God and His people. One day, Samuel will usher in a new kingdom, though he himself will not be king.

It seems like so much has been lost in the time of the judges, but the author of Ruth gives us a glimmer of hope. In a season of drought, a family leaves Israel and moves to Moab hoping to find relief, but instead they find sorrow. The wife, Naomi, becomes a widow without family to help her. Her daughter-in-law, a foreigner, commits to love her and care for her, returning with her to the people of Israel. There, she meets Boaz, a family redeemer who honors Ruth, cares for her, and in obedience to the Lord, redeems her into his own family. Ruth is part of a bigger story of redemption, as her lineage will include not only King David, but Jesus the Christ.

At this point in the narrative of Judges, the Lord is noticeably absent from the life of Israel. It seems like nobody knows how any of this covenant stuff works, even in the slightest. It becomes so bad that a Levite is involved in a scenario almost identical to that of Sodom & Gomorrah, only this time, those who are intent on sexually assaulting the town’s visitors are successful because the Levite betrays his concubine. Though he is not supposed to touch a dead body, he then mutilates her corpse just to make a point. Time and again the author captures this darkness by stating that there was “no king in Israel” for Israel had rejected their Lord.

Today, we’ll conclude the account of Samson, one of Israel’s judges. As you may recall from the last episode, Samson was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord as a Nazirite from birth, and yet he did very little to keep that vow. We pick up his story with the account of his interactions with a Philistine woman named Delilah, a woman of the very nation that Israel had been tasked with destroying for their perpetual evil. As a representative of Israel, it’s no surprise that in the end, he falls to the strength of another nation because he gives into his passions. In the end, however, the angel’s prediction is true: he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines.