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 (March 2, 2019): 1 Samuel 16

“Down this road, on a summer day in 1944 ... The soldiers came. Nobody lives here now. They stayed only a few hours. When they had gone, a community which had lived for a thousand years ... was dead.” The words, taken from the 1973-74 British documentary television series “The World at War,” describe the events of June 10, 1944, in the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane. On that day, the Germans came and shot many of the inhabitants in the leg before burning them alive. Then, with women and children locked in a church, they place an incendiary device beside the church. The church burned down with its prisoners still locked inside. Any who could escape the violence were shot. One report, given by a downed American aviator named Raymond Murphy, who happened upon the town following the massacre, said that there was even a baby who had been crucified. In the end, a town which had stood for a thousand years was destroyed.  Oradour-sur-Glane has never been rebuilt.

One of the frustrating mysteries of the destruction of the French town lies in the unanswered question of why the town had to die. What seems likely is that the town was a victim of a misunderstanding. A German SS officer had been held by the French Resistance in the neighboring town of Oradour-sur-Vayres a few days earlier. The officer escaped, but Oradour-sur-Vayres and Oradour-sur-Glane looked very similar. The towns exist only thirty-five miles apart from each other. When the soldiers returned to pay the French Resistance back for their error, they went to the wrong town. Oradour-sur-Glane died in the place of Oradour-sur-Vayres.

As Samuel approaches Bethlehem, he is asked by the village elders if he comes in peace. It is a bit of a strange question to ask of the former Judge of Israel and the current Prophet of the nation. Some argue that the question is a direct result of Samuel’s actions with regard to Agag of the Amalekites. Saul had allowed the defeated king to live. But Samuel had disagreed and either executed Agag with his own sword or gave the order which resulted in the execution of the Amalekite king. Then he left Saul’s company. The King and the Prophet would never see each other again in this life. And so the concern of the elders at Bethlehem was whether Samuel intended a similar kind of violence in their town.

But there might be a better explanation for the apprehension of the inhabitants of Bethlehem. The incident with Agag of the Amalekites made it clear that Samuel and Saul were now enemies. And part of the fear of the elders was that Samuel intended to bring Bethlehem into his dispute with the king. If that happened, they were afraid that Saul would come with his army and destroy the town. The fear was probably well placed. The destruction of Bethlehem would not have been something that Saul would not have considered.  

But Samuel assures the elders that he comes in peace. Essentially, Samuel’s words are true. But the reality is that Samuel is about to further his personal conflict with Saul and that Bethlehem was destined to play a part in that conflict because the Prophet had come to Bethlehem on the direct instructions that he had received from God. Samuel was about to anoint the King who would reign after Saul, a child of the town of Bethlehem named David.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 17