Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” – 1 Samuel 16:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (December 9, 2012): 1 Samuel 16

I never really liked being called into the principal’s office when I was a kid. It was not because I had spent a lot of time there. As much as people who know me might find this hard to believe, I really did not much quality time with the authority figures of the school I attended – and when I did, it was usually a positive occasion. But I was always a bit of a pessimist when it came to the principal’s office. Maybe it was because of the horror stories that I had heard other kids tell. But whenever the call came for me to go to the principal’s office, my heart seemed to start to beat a little harder and my first instinct was always to run in the other direction.

Maybe that is the reason I emotionally understand this verse. The people of Bethlehem did not have a negative track record with Samuel. The problem was that the town of Bethlehem was not exactly at the center of life in Israel. It was a small town, a farming village, and whenever something important happened, it always happened someplace else. And if the people wanted to be witnesses of something important they always went somewhere else. But the one thing that never happened was that the events came to them.

There is also a very real possibility that the elders of Bethlehem knew all about the strained relationship between Samuel and Saul. So as Samuel walks into Bethlehem and the elders can only see two possibilities. The first is that something has happened in Bethlehem and Samuel as the last Judge of Israel was being called in by God to fix the problem - and fixing the problem would mean at the very least a major disruption to life in the town and, at worst, it would mean that all of Israel would be brought against the people of the village.

But the second possibility was equally disturbing. It was possible that Samuel was bringing his conflict with Saul to Bethlehem. And Samuel, as the last of the Judges, would have had a considerable force that would have allied with him. Saul would have the armies of the nation rallying on his behalf, and in between these two forces at the beginning at what could have been a very significant civil war – was Bethlehem. 

   

And the only thing that the elders could think to ask is – do you come in peace? Literally the question is this – is everything okay? The reality that no participant in that conversation knew was that everything was more than okay. And Samuel’s visit was about to inaugurate a phase in Bethlehem’s existence where it would be important and a significant city in the history of the nation. Bethlehem would be important – as the home of king and the birth place of the Messiah.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 17