So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. – 1 Samuel 13:20

Today's Scripture Reading (April 7, 2022): 1 Samuel 13

In the early days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one thing became quickly evident; this would not be a replay of the final days of the multi-national forces in Afghanistan. The citizens were not going to lay down and let the invaders take control of the country; they would fight. And so, the West began to invest huge amounts of money in weapons that could be sent to the Ukrainians to allow them to continue the fight. News agencies and government spokespeople alike marveled at the Ukrainians' skill and determination as they fought off the invaders. And ordinary citizens began to find other ways to fight. Clothes makers used old pieces of metal sewn into a piece of fabric so that the resulting garments could be used as body armor. People of all ages searched the internet to figure out how to build Molotov Cocktails to throw at the Russian advance. I loved the eighty-year-old war veteran, someone whose age meant that he didn't have to stay in the country, who told reporters he was staying; this man had been a sniper in his younger days, and he had a hunting rifle that was aching to be used. Nothing was going to prompt him to leave his home. He was ready to fight.

So, Russia began to do what it needed to do. They threatened those who had been giving weapons to the Ukrainians, promising to send their vengeance on those supporting nations. Any weapons shipments they could detect coming into the country would be subject to attack. And since weapons shipments and humanitarian shipments are hard to tell apart, the threat effectively meant that the invaders were willing to target anything coming into the nation.

The Philistines believed that one way to make Israel subservient to their demands was to make an effort to control the weapons that Israel might need to obtain to make war. And so, they threatened the blacksmiths in the area so that Israel would not have any weapons to use in the battle. Israel could not find a blacksmith present in Israel to make the necessary swords and spears a war with the Philistines would require. Because Israel was without weapons, the Philistines believed that they could keep their dominant position in Canaan. Because the Philistines had the edge in military technology, maybe Israel would realize that they had no way to fight.

But the people of Israel decided on a different path. They got their farm implements and sharpened them as best they could. If they didn't have swords and spears, they would make do with axes and plowshares. But what they would not do was to give in to the demands of their more powerful neighbors.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 14

Here I stand. Testify against me in the presence of the LORD and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe to make me shut my eyes? If I have done any of these things, I will make it right" – 1 Samuel 12:3

Today's Scripture Reading (April 6, 2022): 1 Samuel 12

Abdication, the voluntary leaving of a nation's throne or significant leadership position, is a relatively rare event. During the history of the British Empire, the actual abdication of a monarch has only happened once; Edward VIII's decision to leave the British throne on December 11, 1936, after reigning as King of the United Kingdom for less than a year, so that he could marry Wallis Simpson. And even then, some might argue that Edward was forced out of his position of King. If it were possible for him to marry Wallis Simpson and reign as the King of the United Kingdom, it seems likely that he would never have left his throne behind. Other monarchs had been forced to leave the throne, but they did not give it up of their own volition, which needs to be considered by anyone who believes that Queen Elizabeth might abdicate in favor of her aging son, Charles. It is not impossible, but abdication by a monarch is increasingly unlikely. This situation might also color the opinion of those who believe that Charles should abdicate the throne once he inherits it in favor of his son William. It just isn't likely to happen.

Samuel stands before Israel. It is an open question whether we could consider this moment the abdication of his leadership duties in Israel or if he was being forced out. We know that Samuel did not entirely support the idea of a monarchy. But he felt that the advent of a monarchy was the will of the people and, more importantly, an idea that God had accepted. By the time Samuel makes this speech, he has already anointed Saul as King. But maybe this is the official moment.

Samuel asks the people to "Testify against me in the presence of the Lord and his anointed (Saul)." It is a moment for the people to lay their complaints against Samuel's leadership. But Samuel has been a good leader, and no one has a complaint. The move to a monarchy was not because of Samuel's bad leadership. But Samuel needed to remind them that his time at the helm of the nation had been a positive one. He was not handing the reigns of a country that was in a mess to Saul. The nation was well-ordered. If it did not stay that way, that would be on Saul, not Samuel.

There might have also been a little bit of a backhand reminder to Israel that the presence of a king would make the country a different place than when it was under the administration of a Judge like Samuel. Samuel had not taken from Israel. But a King would take in the form of taxes. Their property would be confiscated to support the national interest, and their men would be conscripted into a national army. What had once been a voluntary gift to Israel would now be mandated. Things would be very different in the realm of a Monarch. Although the taxes required by Solomon, the third King of Israel, seem to have been extreme, the times would not necessarily be bad, but they would be different.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 13

They said to the Ammonites, "Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever you like." – 1 Samuel 11:10

Today's Scripture Reading (April 5, 2022): 1 Samuel 11

Have you ever wondered why Batman's enemies don't kill him when they first capture him, rather than tying him up with the intention of killing him later? Or maybe they leave the Dark Knight in a predicament that will kill him slowly. Of course, it is a plot device used throughout fiction, the delay that gives the hero a chance to get out of his or her predicament. It gives our heroes time to plan their escape while allowing for an increase in the suspense present in the story. We all know that the Joker or Riddler will fail in the end, yet we read or watch the movie anyway, But you would think that that kind of a delay wouldn't happen in real life. You would think …

The story of Nahash the Ammonite's siege of Jabesh Gilead amazes me. Nahash surrounds the town of Jabesh, intending to demand not just their surrender but their disgrace by having the citizens of the city all gouge out their right eyes. And the town of Jabesh asks for a seven-day pause so that they can explore the possibility of someone coming to their rescue. What amazes me is that Nahash agrees to the demand. Much like every bad guy that inhabits our fiction, Nahash apparently didn't believe that there was any way out for the town of Jabesh Gilead; he was overconfident in his abilities and the lack of opposition that might be present in Canaan to stand against him. And so Jabesh sends for help, and Nahash waits for the answer.

The answer comes to the elders of Jabesh Gilead that Saul is raising an army and is on his way to help. The town elders need to stall for just a little more time, so they respond to Nahash agreeing to surrender the next day. The NIV translation of this verse is good at providing what Nahash perceived as the intent of the elders of Jabesh, but "Tomorrow we will surrender to you" isn't quite what the elders of the town told Nahash. The actual phrase they used was "Mahar (Tomorrow) yasa (come out) 'el (to you)," or "Tomorrow we will come out to you." There is no doubt that Nahash assumed that the only reason they would come out was to surrender, but in reality, the elders of Jabesh had no intention of surrendering. When the moment arrived for the men of Jabesh to come out of the town, it would be to join the fight against Nahash with the support of Saul and the army of Israel.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 12

Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the LORD. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes. - 1 Samuel 10:25

Today's Scripture Reading (April 4, 2022): 1 Samuel 10

Books; I have to admit that I own a lot of them from various genres and on multiple subjects. One of my younger friends came into my office and was amazed by the number of books finding their home there. I smiled and told him that I have probably twice the number of books in my office at home. My friend decided to try to be smart and scoffed, wondering if I had ever heard of electronic books, to which I pointed at my Kobo e-reader and told him that I had another five hundred books there.

What might be even more amazing is that I still have more books that I would love to buy and read, and of course, there are all the library books that I have borrowed and read over the years. Apparently, I like to read. And don't get me started on the books that I would love to write. Welcome to my world.

The Apostle John closes his gospel with these words. "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written" (John 21:25). One thing that seems to confuse some Christians is that there were other books written in the era of both the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh and the Christian Bible that have been lost or rejected from the list of biblical texts that we have in the Bible. For the lost books, we have to trust that God simply saw no reason to protect them. As far as the rejected books, they are not in the Bible because we believe that they were written by someone pretending to be a biblical author. One example, with a positive spin, is the "Acts of Paul and Thecla." The book is a religious romance and tells the story of the Apostle Paul's influence on a young woman named Thecla. The book is fiction, written by a young priest who greatly respected Paul. But because it is fiction, as are many books in what we call the Christian Apocrypha, it has been left out of the biblical canon. It might be an interesting read, giving insight into the life of the early church, but it cannot be part of our Holy Scriptures.

Samuel instructed the people on what they could expect as people living under the rule of a king. Most likely, he used Deuteronomy 17:14-20 as a base for his instructions. However, there is little doubt that Samuel mixed in a lot of his personal misgivings concerning a monarchy in Israel and how it would differ from the age of the Judges. And then, Samuel wrote down everything that he had told the people in a book. In future times, when he was no longer with them, they would be able to find everything that he said in written form.

We have books written by Samuel, including parts of the Book of Judges, Ruth, and the first twenty-four chapters of the Book of Samuel. But this book that he wrote on the expectations placed on a king and his people is counted among the lost, maybe because God felt it was not important enough to save.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 11

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father Kish were lost, and Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys." – 1 Samuel 9:3

Today's Scripture Reading (April 3, 2022): 1 Samuel 9

Stuff happens. Every day is filled with stuff, some good and some bad. We go to various places and do multiple things. Most of the stuff that happens to us seems mundane and unimportant. But they are things that have to be done. And, usually, we just try to get through those jobs without thinking about how they might shape our day and our lives. Sometimes we miss that the time we spend doing nothing in the morning means that we won't be able to do something important that night.

But sometimes, the mundane is more important than we think it might be. Because of something simple, we find ourselves in a position to make a significant change. Or maybe we miss a tragedy that could have been visited on us because of some small event or delay that made us late. It is the story that Amy Grant told back in the 1980s with her song "Angels."

God only knows the times
My life was threatened just today
A reckless car ran out of gas
Before it ran my way
Near misses all around me
Accidents unknown
Though I never see with human eyes
The hands that lead me home (Amy Grant, Brown Bannister, Gary Chapman,

                                                                       Michael W. Smith).

It is a common theme of our lives, although we often seem to miss it.

Kish had lost some donkeys. It happened; sometimes, animals wander off, and the rancher's job is to send someone out to find the animals. It is why ranchers brand their animals; they put their symbol on the animals so that when the lost or stolen is found, they can prove that the animals are theirs.

But these donkeys apparently went on quite a trip. They could have gone anywhere, but they seem to have made a beeline for Samuel, the prophet and Judge over Israel. And Kish sent his son Saul out to find the donkeys. So many different things could have happened. Kish could have sent someone else to find the donkeys, or the animals could have gone in the opposite direction of the Judge of Israel. But that is not what happened. As a result of all the mundane things that happened that day, Saul was brought into the presence of Samuel, and God told Samuel that this was the one that he had chosen to be King over Israel.

And it all happened because some donkeys ran away, and a father sent his son to find the "dumb animals." But the animals were smart enough to lead Saul straight to Samuel. (Or sometimes God uses the mundane to accomplish his purposes, which can significantly shape our lives if we are paying attention.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 10

They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." – 1 Samuel 8:5

Today's Scripture Reading (April 2, 2022): 1 Samuel 8

We tend to see the world around us as we expect it should be and not as it is. It is one of the reasons why tradition has such a great hold on us. It is hard to see the world outside of our expectations. If you think the world is evil, you will put on dark tinted glasses and see the world in that way, allowing the glasses to magnify everything negative that happens. If we think the world is a beautiful place, then we put on our rose-colored glasses, enabling them to amplify the world's beauty. But what we see is usually based on what we expect.

As far as the church is concerned, I freely admit that I have blind spots. I often see what we do as I expect they should be. And I often struggle with trying to build something "outside the box." I have never been able to figure out why adults would want to color as an expression of their worship or any of the other, to me, more radical, expressions of worship. I also have no idea why we would want to read the lyrics of the hymns or sacred songs rather than singing them, and yet I know of ministries who do exactly that. My expectations shade my perception.

Samuel was a judge. He expected that Israel was designed to run in a particular way. It ran with the help of Judges who God called to protect the nation. But beyond that, Israel was a very free place to live. The Judges of the Bible tended to be episodic in practice. Israel did not always have a Judge who would help govern her affairs, and sometimes two or three regional Judges led the nation simultaneously.

A Judge was not a title that was passed down from father to son, and yet that is precisely what Samuel had tried to do. Rather than being raised up by God, Joel and Abijah had been handed the reigns of Israel simply because they were the sons of Samuel. Maybe Samuel believed that was okay because he had essentially grown up in the house of Eli, and even though he was not related to Eli by blood, when Eli died, he was the logical successor to the title of Judge of Israel. But while Joel and Abijah carried their father's genes, they did not receive their father's integrity or close relationship with God. And so, the people desired a change.

The people looked at the world around them and noticed that most of the nations were led by kings. Surely, since kings ruled most of the other countries, it must be a better way. Samuel looked at Israel and believed that it needed to be led by Judges as it always had been. And he couldn't imagine it any other way.

If Joel and Abijah had led the nation with more integrity, the move to a king might not have happened during the life of Samuel. But Samuel's sons had led Israel into corruption, so the people demanded a change. In the end, some of the kings of Israel would be just as corrupt, or even more corrupt, than Joel and Abijah, a result that Samuel had predicted. But from the people's point of view and expectations, it seemed to be a better way.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 9

But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also held court for Israel. And he built an altar there to the LORD. – 1 Samuel 7:17

Today's Scripture Reading (April 1, 2022): 1 Samuel 7

I was born in what was then a small town called Newmarket, Ontario. Newmarket is now a small city just outside of Toronto, and it is the birthplace of comedians Jim Carrey and John Candy; it is also the hometown of Edmonton Oiler star forward Connor McDavid (although Conner was actually born in nearby Richmond Hill), and it is the place of origin for the rock band Glass Tiger. The list of people and bands that have once called Newmarket home is a long one, much too long to be mentioned here. And, of course, it is also the place of origin of less famous people like me.

I was born in Newmarket, but I only lived there for eight years. My grandparents and many other relatives have lived around Newmarket much longer than I did. So even though I only called Newmarket home for the first eight years of my life, it is a place that I have occasionally returned to over the rest of my life. So, it is a city that holds a special place in my heart. I am proud of the famous people who began their lives in the same town that I began mine, and I have fond memories of Newmarket, even though I have lived most of my life thousands of kilometers away from the place of my birth. And I love to take my children to my old hometown, searching out some of the houses in which I used to live decades ago. Newmarket will always hold a special place in my heart.

Samuel was born in Ramah. It was the home of his parents, Elkanah and Hannah, but it was not where Samuel lived for long. Samuel might have been born in Ramah, but he grew up in Shiloh. His mother had promised to dedicate her son to God, and so, when he was old enough to eat on his own, his mother took him to Shiloh and left him in the care of the High Priest and penultimate Judge, Eli.

But it was Ramah that occupied a special place in the heart of Samuel. And when he grew up and took over the reins of Israel from Eli, serving as a prophet, priest, and the nation's last judge, it was not Shiloh to which his feet kept returning. Samuel kept returning to Ramah, the place of his birth and the home of his parents. Samuel traveled throughout Israel, but Ramah became his home, the place where he went not because he had to, but because it was where he wanted to be.

At Ramah, he made his home. And it was at Ramah that he built a place of worship. Samuel's altar in Ramah was never intended to replace the Tabernacle in Shiloh, which Saul moved to Nob and then Gibeon. But it was a reminder to Samuel that his relationship with God was not summed up by the places he went to worship on the various holy days, but something that required his attention daily.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 8