Will Vaus

If you felt like you were experiencing déjà vu while reading Psalm 53, you were. Much of this psalm repeats what is in Psalm 14. You may well wonder why that is the case. Our current Psalter combines several collections of psalms. Just as many hymns appear in more than one hymnbook in our own time, some of the psalms appeared in more than one collection in ancient times. So why would the person or persons making the final selection for our current Psalter leave two such similar psalms in the final cut? Perhaps the reason is that the collector(s) found the differences in these two psalms important enough to include both. Another reason may be that the position of these two psalms in Book I and Book II were important to the flow of the entire collection. However, these are only guesses. Verse 3 is often quoted in support of the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity. You may remember that it is also quoted by Paul in Romans 3. “There is no one who does good, no no...

As we have seen in Boadt’s introduction to the Books of Chronicles, the author(s) of these books are re-telling the story of Israel in such a way that is most relevant to their purposes in rebuilding a nation being re-settled in Judah, and Jerusalem in particular, after the exile. Much of the story is copied verbatim from the books of Samuel and Kings. However, there are new emphases:  Saul’s unfaithfulness to the Lord is clearly pointed out and contrasted with the faithfulness of David, who comes off without a blemish in the record of Chronicles.  Everything in this story happens “according to the word of the Lord” (11:3; 12:23). The word of God is an important emphasis for Ezra, whom we will later see as a teacher of the word. We read here of the men of Issachar “who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do”. That description would serve well for the person or persons who wrote the Books of Chronicles, as well as Ezra an...

Lawrence Boadt provides this summary of 2 Samuel…. The Book of 2 Samuel centers on the reign of David. It can be divided into two parts. Chapters 1-8 show how he managed to consolidate power in his own hands and to win a large empire for the newly united Israel. Chapters 9-20 record the downfall of many of his hopes as struggles in his own family weaken his reign. It is the story of how his sons fight to become his successor on the throne. Much of the tragic outcome develops from David’s own sin. The rise of David to power showed that he was both a military and a political genius. He defeated his Philistine masters and extended the borders of Israel across all the small states of Syria and Transjordan. He could really be said to rule from the “river of Egypt to the Euphrates” (Gen 15:18; Jos 1:4). Thus the dreams of Israel were fulfilled in David. But even greater than his military conquests was his gift of winning over others to his cause. He had won the loyal...

In these last three chapters of 1 Samuel we have the conclusion to the story of the life of Saul, the first king of Israel. In chapter 29, we learn that David does not, in fact, fight with the Philistines against Israel as planned. The reason for this is that the Philistine fighting men do not trust him despite King Achish’s trust in him. Thus, Achish sends David home and David’s honor is protected before his own people for the future. In chapter 30, when David arrives home, he finds that the Amalekites have raided his town and plundered it, taking his two wives and the wives and children of his men captive. As in every situation, David handles this tragic news by turning to the Lord. “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6) David and his six hundred men go in pursuit of the Amalekites and win a battle against them, rescuing their wives and children in the process. Some of David’s men are not able to join him and so stay behind “wit...

In 1 Samuel 25 we learn about the death of Samuel and all Israel mourns for him. It is interesting that these two books are named for Samuel and yet he dies before the end of book one. Perhaps that is why the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures dating to the 2 nd century BCE) titles these books as 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Kings are titled as 3 and 4 Kings. 1 Samuel 25 also tells us that after Samuel’s death, David continued to live in hiding from Saul, and no wonder, for now there was no one to stand between them to protect David. This chapter relates David’s dealings with Nabal of Carmel who refuses assistance to David despite David’s protection offered to Nabal’s servants. We meet Nabal’s wife Abigail who is a wise woman trying to make her way as best she can in a man’s world. Unbeknownst to her husband, she provides David and his men with sustenance and forestalls David from retaliating against Nabal. Nabal is struck dead by the Lord some...

Lawrence Boadt provides this summary of this section of 1 Samuel…. Saul proves himself a valiant warrior and manages to rescue the Israelites of Jabesh-gilead from the Ammonite army, and to win a number of battles against the Philistines, but he never manages to gain that final victory he needs to unite Israel. Meanwhile his own moody, rash temperament and lack of organizational ability become his undoing. He turns Samuel against him by his arrogance, he almost executes his own son Jonathan because of a rash oath he took, and he persecutes his own most promising young follower, David. This proves to be a fatal mistake. David first appears as a young aide of Saul’s, his armor bearer and musician. David quickly reveals that he has both a winning personality and great skill as a warrior. He kills the Philistine hero Goliath with a slingshot in a single combat. This makes David very popular with the people, and provokes Saul to rages of envy. As 1 Samuel 18:7 puts it: “Saul...

1 Samuel 17 provides an alternative description of Saul and David’s first meeting. In 1 Samuel 17:12 we read, “Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons.” This is said as though we have never met David before, even though David has already been introduced in 1 Samuel 16. Then, at the end of chapter 17, Saul asks who David is, as though he has never met him, even though in chapter 16 David plays the lyre for Saul. The only reasonable explanation of this is that we have here two different sources on the life of David that are being combined in the narrative of 1 Samuel. The second source begins with the famous story of David and Goliath. Though Michelangelo’s sculpture of David is indeed a stunning work of art and well deserving of all the praise that has been lauded upon it, that sculpture is really not in keeping with the depiction of David in this passage. In Michelangelo’s sculpture we are presented with a David who ...

No sooner is Saul installed as the king of Israel, than he begins his descent from power. Saul commits a series of disastrous errors. First, he fails to wait for Samuel at Gilgal to perform the sacrifice before his army goes to war against the Philistines. Saul arrogantly assumes to himself the right to offer a sacrifice to God. Thus, Samuel, who soon shows up on the scene, says to Saul… You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. (1 Samuel 13:13-14) One interesting thing to note about this is that Samuel is no more of a Levitical priest than Saul. According to the instructions in the Torah, neither one of them has the right to offer ...

Lawrence Boadt writes, Chapters 8 through 15 then move on to describe how Israel got a king. The danger from the Philistines was so great that the tribes themselves realized they would not have a chance unless their forces were united more effectively under a single military leader. They even lacked iron weapons such as the Philistines had, having to fight with less effective bronze (1 Sam 13:19-22). The people begged Samuel to give them a king “as other nations have” (1 Sam 8:5). Samuel warns them of the dangers of giving so much power to one person, but they insist, and God gives in, telling Samuel: “At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin whom you are to anoint as commander of my people Israel. He will save my people from the hands of the Philistines for I have witnessed their misery and heard their cry for help” (1 Sam 9:16). Yet only a chapter later, Samuel says, “Today you have rejected the Lord your God who delivers you from a...