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Samuel Introduction

About This Episode

The books of Samuel introduce and develop the ideas of kingship and kingdom. The king Samuel describes is supposed to humbly listen to God's voice, which is primarily heard through the prophets. Seth and David talk about how Jesus is not just our humble King but as the one who coronates us to rule and reign with him.

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The Book of Samuel: How an Ancient Kingdom Points to King Jesus

Show Notes

David Bowden and Seth Stewart open this episode of the Spoken Gospel podcast by diving into one of the most theologically significant books of the Bible: 1 and 2 Samuel. Though split into two books due to scroll length, the hosts treat Samuel as the single, unified narrative it was originally written to be — a story that begins with the failure of Israel's judges and builds toward the establishment of an eternal Kingdom that finds its surprising fulfillment in Jesus.

From Judges to Kings: Why Israel Needed a New Kind of Leader

To understand the book of Samuel, you have to go back to the book of Judges. During that era, Israel was a divided nation ruled by tribal leaders who were filled with God's Spirit to protect and guide their people. But by the end of Judges, the system had collapsed. Israel had become as depraved as the Canaanites they were supposed to displace. The refrain at the close of Judges — "there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in their own eyes" — signals not just a political vacuum but a theological crisis. God was no longer reigning over His people because no one was listening to Him.

When 1 Samuel opens, the pattern continues. The judge-priest Eli is passive and corrupt. His sons, who are supposed to guard the tabernacle, rape the women standing at its entrance — women who represented the purity of Israel as God's bride. Eli does nothing about it. The opening chapters also note that "the voice of the Lord was seldom heard in the land," a statement that functions as a direct parallel to the closing verdict of Judges. Without God's voice being heard, God's rule could not be felt. Israel was kingless in the deepest sense, not because it lacked a political ruler, but because it had rejected the reign of God Himself.

Hannah's Prayer and the Theme of Humility

Into this dark setting steps Hannah, a barren woman who cries out to God for a child and dedicates him to the Lord before he is even born. God answers her prayer, and her son Samuel becomes the book's namesake and the bridge between the age of judges and the age of kings. But what matters most for understanding the entire book is the prayer Hannah prays in 1 Samuel 2:1–10. In it, she praises God as the one who dismantles the proud and strong and exalts the humble and weak. She prophesies about a coming king, an anointed one whom God Himself will raise up.

This theme of pride and humility becomes the engine that drives the rest of the narrative. Hannah's prayer is echoed twice more in the book — in David's lament over Saul's death in 2 Samuel 1, where the famous line "how the mighty have fallen" originates, and in David's long hymn in 2 Samuel 22–23, which is also Psalm 18. The book begins and ends with the same conviction: God tears down the proud and lifts up the humble. This is not just a theme of Samuel; it resurfaces directly in the Beatitudes, where Jesus declares that the poor in spirit, the meek, and those who mourn are the ones who inherit the Kingdom of heaven. The connection is not accidental. When a person humbles themselves before the Lord, their ear bends toward the King of the universe, and they enter into His service — regardless of what their circumstances look like.

Two Kings, Two Paths: Saul and David

When Israel finally demands a king in 1 Samuel 8, they do so for the wrong reasons. They want to be like the other nations — to have a human ruler who will fight their battles and give them laws. Samuel takes their request to God, and God's response is devastating: "They have not rejected you, Samuel. They have rejected me." Israel's problem was theological, but they tried to solve it with a political solution. God warns them that the king they are asking for will tax them, enslave their children, draft their sons into his army, and seize their land. And then God says He will work through their bad request to reveal what kind of king He actually wants.

God does this by anointing two kings in sequence. The first is Saul — tall, impressive, and exactly the kind of leader Israel thought they wanted. But Saul is proud. He does not listen to the voice of God. He presumptuously offers sacrifices he was not authorized to make, and his kingdom is stripped from him. The second king is David — the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd nobody expected. David is humble. He listens to God's voice. He takes seriously the idea that the king is God's anointed, someone chosen and empowered by God to carry out His will on Earth. Insofar as David humbles himself before the word of the Lord, the reign of God comes to Earth through him. This contrast between Saul and David establishes the book's central argument: earthly kingdoms only reflect the heavenly Kingdom when the king humbles himself before God's commands. When he does, God's rule comes to Earth. When he does not, it doesn't.

The Voice of God and the Prophets

One of the most distinctive features of the book of Samuel is how "porous" the world feels. The spirit realm and the physical world seem to pass through each other like water through a sponge. Prophets appear out of nowhere to rebuke and correct kings — Nathan confronts David, a prophet from Gad rebukes David over the census, and the book is saturated with moments where God's Spirit rushes upon someone or an evil spirit torments another. Even the bizarre episode at the end, where the dead prophet Samuel is raised through the Witch of Endor, reinforces this atmosphere of spiritual permeability.

The point of all this spiritual energy is directly tied to the book's opening statement: God's voice was not heard in the land. When Samuel arrives and begins hearing God's voice as a boy in the tabernacle, it marks a turning point. God is speaking again, and through His speaking, His Kingdom advances. This is the pattern the entire book establishes: the Kingdom of God comes through the communication of His voice. When a humble king listens to the word of God spoken through a prophet, heaven's reign touches Earth. This pattern has massive implications for the New Testament. When Jesus arrives and declares "the Kingdom of God is at hand," He is not introducing something new. He is fulfilling the pattern laid down in Samuel. And at Pentecost, when God's Spirit falls on all believers so that young women dream dreams and old men prophesy, the whole church becomes what Samuel was — a people who hear from the King and carry out His will. The Kingdom of God advances in the world because people inhabited by the King obey His decrees.

The Davidic Covenant: An Eternal Kingdom

The theological high point of the book comes in 2 Samuel 7, where God makes a covenant with David that ranks alongside His covenants with Abraham and Moses as one of the most important moments in all of Scripture. The circumstances are almost humorous. David feels guilty that he lives in a beautiful palace while the Ark of God sits in a tent. He tells God he wants to build Him a house. God's response flips everything: "I don't need you to build me a house. I'm going to build you into a house." God promises that David's dynasty will last forever, that a son from his line will sit on an eternal throne, and that this son will be to God "a son" and God will be to him "a father" (2 Samuel 7:14). God also promises that His presence will dwell permanently with His people through a temple this son will build.

This covenant is good news because, for the first time in Israel's history, the nation was experiencing peace, wealth, and stability under David's reign. The promise that this would continue forever meant Israel would never again fall back into the chaos of the judges. But the promise reaches far beyond any earthly king. An eternal kingdom cannot be sustained by a mortal ruler. The Davidic Covenant is ultimately pointing to the Messiah — the one sent from God who will establish divine rule on Earth forever. This covenant also represents a progression in God's larger story. With Abraham, God promised a family that would bless all nations. With Moses, He showed how that blessing would come — through obeying His law. With David, He revealed that His rule would come through an eternal king from David's line. Every covenant is an expression of God's kingship, stretching all the way back to the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve were given land, rules, and the command to subdue the earth as the first king and queen of creation.

David's Fall and the Trickle-Down Righteousness of Jesus

Yet just four chapters after this glorious promise, David catastrophically falls. He sees Bathsheba, uses his kingly power to take her, and has her husband Uriah murdered. His sin introduces a devastating new theme into the book: the rebellion of a leader trickles down and infects the entire nation. The child born from David's act of violence dies. His son Amnon rapes his sister Tamar, and David — having lost the moral high ground — does nothing. His son Absalom nurses a grudge for years, murders Amnon, and eventually launches a civil war against his own father, recruiting Bathsheba's own relatives to his cause. David is deposed. And the book ends not on a triumphant note but on a troubling one: David proudly takes a census of Israel, a prophet confronts him, and a plague sweeps the nation. The sin of the king has become the suffering of the people. This plague also foreshadows what comes next in Israel's story — under Solomon, the kingdom begins to resemble Egypt, and Israel walks backward through its own history of liberation.

But here is where the Gospel arrives with force. If the sin of one king can trickle down and devastate an entire nation, the righteousness of the true King can trickle down and restore an entire world. This is the argument of Romans 5: through one man, Adam, all die, but through one man, Jesus, all who put their trust in Him receive life. Jesus is the Son of David who humbles Himself perfectly before the will of God — even when that will leads to death on a cross. His crucifixion is His enthronement ceremony, complete with a purple robe and a crown of thorns. And because He listens perfectly to His Father, the Kingdom of God comes to Earth in a way David never could have achieved. Through the Holy Spirit, every person who trusts in Jesus becomes a carrier of God's presence — the very temple David wanted to build — and goes into the world as a prince or princess of an unshakeable Kingdom. Right now, the effects of sin and the effects of righteousness exist side by side, like wheat and tares. But one day, when Jesus returns, the reign of the proud will be removed forever, and all that will remain is the humble, eternal rule of God over a restored creation.

Transcript

Intro: [upbeat music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to the idea that every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Every episode, hosts David Bowden and Seth Stewart work through a biblical text to see how it helps us see and savor Jesus. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: Well, welcome everyone to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Thank you for joining us. Seth, how are you?

Seth: Thanks. Reigning supreme.

David: Re- what? [laughs]

Seth: Over my life. [laughs] I don't know.

David: [laughs]

Seth: I was trying, I was like, what's a two-sentence way to talk about Samuel in a response to the question of how I'm doing? Reigning supreme.

David: You're reigning with, with Jesus.

Seth: Reigning with Jesus. I just meant, like, supremely in my own, like, power, intelligence, might-

David: Oh, your psyche

Seth: ... pride. I'm King Saul.

David: Oh, okay.

Seth: Yeah, like-

David: Well-

Seth: Also thinking about the brand Supreme and how-

David: Oh, mm

Seth: ... like, I wish I had a Supreme product-

David: Do you?

Seth: ... just so that I could have it. I don't really want it-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... but just because it's cool.

David: I, this is something I didn't know about you.

Seth: It's just like, it's, uh, af- 10 years of being a youth pastor, you're like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... "Ah, it'd be cool to have a Supreme T-shirt."

David: What, does it hurt your feelings, I think, a little bit less ab- of you now-

Seth: Uh-

David: ... for wanting a Supreme item?

Seth: I, I expected that tone-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... as soon as I said that. [laughs]

David: Well, um, I mean, this is as good of an introduction as you can give to the Book of Samuel.

Seth: It's the damn true.

David: So welcome, everyone.

Seth: The Supreme Samuel.

David: Uh, today we're gonna be talking about, um-

Seth: If King Saul had an apparel of choice-

David: Oh, my goodness

Seth: ... it would be Supreme. [laughs]

David: Oh, I apologize for my friend, my dear friend, Seth. Um, we're, we're in Samuel today. Uh, this is an, an overview of the whole book, which, uh, a couple things to note. One, uh, 1 and 2 Samuel-

Seth: Is one book

David: ... is one book. It's just Samuel. Um-

Seth: Originally it was written in the original Hebrew.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It was one collected, uh, story about the rise and fall of King David and King Saul, and the establishment of Israel as a kingdom, and the transition from, like, the tribal judges to an established, unified monarchy.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And that's all contained all in one, in one story called Samuel.

David: Right.

Seth: And I th- is it, is it, the reason it's split into two is 'cause the length needed to be-

David: Scroll length

Seth: ... scroll length.

David: Yeah, they couldn't fit the whole story traditionally on one scroll, so it got split up into two scrolls, but it was one story. Um-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and so we are gonna treat the, the book of first and, the books of 1 and 2 Samuel as one book. Uh-

Seth: Right

David: ... and literarily, the way they're structured, it-

Seth: It's-

David: ... you kinda have to.

Seth: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.

David: Um, and so it, it's just better to do that. Now-

Seth: Yeah, the, uh, book of 1 Samuel ends with the rising of power of King David, and he's kinda, like, in the middle of his rise to power, and then King Saul dies.

David: Right.

Seth: So if the book just ends there, it's like, this is an incomplete story.

David: Yes.

Seth: You have the antagonist who's dead, but the protagonist hasn't done anything yet.

David: Yes.

Seth: He's just been anointed king, and that's it?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like-

David: Right

Seth: ... there, there's no resolution if you stop at 1 Samuel-

David: Exa-

Seth: ... at 1 Samuel

David: ... exactly right. And so just a note up front that we wanna make here is that, um, Samuel is, is a, is a large book-

Seth: It is big

David: ... with tons of stories and lots of overlapping patterns, characters. Um, there's a lot of, of politics going on.

Seth: Yeah.

David: There's a lot of theology going on. It's a very porous book in that the, the spirits just seem to move in and out-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... of the histor- the history of Israel seamlessly, and so it kind of, you'll be reading, "Okay, I get it. I'm reading a p- a, a politics book or a history book," and then all of a sudden-

Seth: The Witch of Endor. [laughs]

David: ... Samuel, Samuel will raise from the dead and talk, like, through the art of necromancy, and you're like, "Am I reading... What book am I reading right now?" [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, uh, what we wanna say is that, um, we are in no way in this episode are we going to be able to talk about any or many of the stories. We probably won't even talk about David and Goliath in this, in this episode. We might, but I doubt it.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, really the goal here in this overview episode is to talk about the, the key story and the key themes of this book. And, and, and of course, since this is Spoken Gospel, how ultimately-

Seth: So-

David: ... Samuel does a lot of heavy lifting for setting the stage for Jesus. Uh-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... a lot of the, the, the things that he taught and said, and a lot of the titles and expectations he was given and were e- expected of him.

Seth: The, the major innovation of the Book of Samuel is the introduction of the idea of a kingdom and a king.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Um, not just as a, like, um, it'd be a good, uh, political idea to have a kingdom and a king, but as, like, a theological and messianic category-

David: Yes

Seth: ... of what to expect for God to do in the future.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So that, like, when you hear the kingdom of God in the New Testament, the reason that language is there is because of the Book of Samuel.

David: Because of the things that ha- started in Samuel.

Seth: If you've ever heard, like, Jesus's crucifixion is, like, an ascension ceremony, and then, like, all those parallels with, like, the purple robe or the crown-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... of thorns, all that's there because of Samuel. [laughs]

David: Yeah. Maybe it, it might even be helpful, without going into detail, just to, like, lean in on why this is so important. It's like, think about your New Testaments, right?Jesus is called son of David

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, all the time. He's, people who believe in him and have faith-

Seth: The genealogies-

David: ... cry out, "Son of David."

Seth: The genealogies trace their, make sure Da- like, make sure Jesus-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... is traced back to David.

David: That's right. It's a key part of the way Jesus interacts with the Pharisees.

Seth: Mm.

David: He talks to them about, "Who is David's son, the promised son of David?" You know-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that was, comes from Samuel.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And they're like, they're scratching their heads. You know, it's a big deal. When Peter preaches the very first gospel sermon in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost, he uses the promised seed of David and David's own death-

Seth: Mm

David: ... as the one who did not fulfill the promise as the apologetic, the argument to prove that Jesus is the Son of David. So the first gospel sermon was preached out of the Book of Samuel, in a sense.

Seth: Yeah.

David: You know? Uh, obviously it was preached out of Psalms and Joel, but like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the ideas, the theological categories were built-

Seth: All from Samuel

David: ... from Samuel. So-

Seth: And-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... bonus.

David: Bonus, ooh.

Seth: You understand the Psalms better.

David: Oh, yeah. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, 'cause it's like... [laughs]

David: Yeah. Yeah, so the, the, like, the vast majority of David's Psalms were written during the time, really, of 1 Samuel and a lo- and also 2 Samuel-

Seth: He-

David: ... during his times of trial.

Seth: You know what I thought about when I was-

David: Oh, what, what did you think about?

Seth: W- so there's like 56 chapters of just crazy stories.

David: Okay.

Seth: The rise and fall, rebellions, everything. I was like, "When did David have time to write?"

David: [laughs]

Seth: He wrote 150 Psalms. When?

David: I mean-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... he took, like, that sojourn, uh, i- uh, among the Canaanites for a little while.

Seth: Just a really productive sabbatical. [laughs]

David: Just a really productive year and a half that he spent out there, and then, you know, all that time in caves, you know?

Seth: Yeah.

David: He could be-

Seth: Cave time.

David: S-

Seth: Cave time, right?

David: Yeah, cave time.

Seth: Writing Psalms. [laughs]

David: [laughs] Cave time.

Seth: Cave time. [laughs]

David: [laughs] Psalms, AKA cave time.

Seth: Cave time.

David: [laughs] I like that.

Seth: Yeah, that's, that's our-

David: Okay

Seth: ... that's our next-

David: That's our next pod-

Seth: That's the next, yeah

David: ... that's our next video is gonna be, uh, the Psalms as cave time.

Seth: If you ever want a justification for your man cave.

David: Oh, there you go.

Seth: It's the-

David: Date, I need one, and I would write as prolifically as-

Seth: As-

David: ... the psalmist

Seth: ... that's exactly right.

David: Okay. Wow.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Anyway, um, so Samuel, uh, I think, uh, Seth has, Seth has set up a really good category here, and I think we need to tease it out a little bit. So one, what i- like, like, what is a kingdom? Why is it being introduced here in 1 Samuel 7?

Seth: Okay.

David: And, like, where were we before this? You talked about tribal judges rule, and now we're switching to central monarchy.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Flesh that out a little bit-

Seth: Okay

David: ... of what has happened and where we are.

Seth: Yes. So if you wanna understand why, you, you gotta go back to Judges.

David: Gotta go back to Judges.

Seth: So Judges is the book before Samuel.

David: Yep.

Seth: Oh, actually, it's Ruth.

David: Right.

Seth: Then, then Samuel.

David: Which is a very helpful bridge into Samuel.

Seth: It's also a great, it's a great bridge because it talks about King David. Regardless, during the time of the judges, largely, Israel was a divided nation ruled by tribal leaders. So the tribe of Judah had their leader, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit to lead their people and also provide salvation or protection for the larger group of Israel as well, and sometimes they came together, and sometimes, they were apart. But largely, it was scattered, dislocated-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... leadership that God blessed for a period of time. At the end of the book of Judges, Israel falls apart under this type of leadership. Like, Israel is just insanely debaucherous, depraved.

David: Right.

Seth: They look just like the land of Canaan.

David: That's right. By the end of Judges, Israel has become Canaan-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and so much so that when the Book of Ruth opens, almost as, like, a warning for how horrible these times are, it just says, "This story happened during the times of the judges," and you're like, dun-dun-dun.

Seth: Oh, gosh, yes.

David: This is bad times.

Seth: But within the book of Judges, you also have hints about what's gonna come in, uh, Israel's future.

David: Mm.

Seth: And that what's gonna come in the future is a monarchy, a kingdom. So this is first seen in Judges with, uh, Jotham, and he has this long parable about how kings will, that you will get the kings that you deserve.

David: Mm.

Seth: And the people that want power are the people that you don't wanna give power to.

David: Mm.

Seth: And that kings who want to be kings will end up oppressing you.

David: Oh, interesting. Yeah.

Seth: So that's in, uh, the book of Judges.

David: Okay.

Seth: And then the very ending of the book of Judges, the, the kinda overarching narrative for the last section is, uh, the, the, there was no king in Israel.

David: Right.

Seth: The people did what was right in their own eyes.

David: Which kinda is like, why are you bringing that up?

Seth: Yeah.

David: You know? Like, if you're-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... reading it chronologically with no-

Seth: Right

David: ... eye to the future, it's like, there was no king. I didn't know I was supposed to be expecting a king.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Some people think that means that, like, the book of Judges was written to, like, uh, validate-

David: Sure

Seth: ... the kingship, but no, you need a king because Israel's terrible without a king.

David: That's right.

Seth: I think the point being made there is actually, like, God was no longer king in Israel because everybody was doing-

David: That's right

Seth: ... what was right in their own eyes.

David: That's right. Yes. Uh-

Seth: Regardless, though-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... the idea of a king has been floating around-

David: Mm

Seth: ... since the book of Judges.

David: And even, like, there were even, like, weird laws, like, very short, quick laws-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... in the Torah that, uh, in the Law of Moses that was like, "So if you have a king, here's how he should act."

Seth: Yes.

David: And it's like, a king? When did we start talking about a king? And then it doesn't get picked up again until here.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's exactly right.

David: So it, it's floating around.

Seth: So when you come to the very beginning of 1 and 2 Samuel, you actually don't have the introduction of a king yet. You actually have the introduction of another judge named-

David: Yep

Seth: ... Eli.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: And Eli kind of follows the pattern of a lot of the other terrible judges in the book of Judges.

David: Mm.

Seth: He isn't, he is filled with the Holy Spirit in order to lead.

David: Yep.

Seth: But his leadership has a whole bunch of problems with it.

David: He's very passive.

Seth: He's very passive, and at one point, his sons are supposed to be guarding the temple, um, and people's worship of it, but they end up raping the women who were supposed to be standing at the entrance of the tab-

David: Goodness

Seth: ... tem- temple. And what's interesting about that is that the womenWho are standing at the enter of the temple were supposed to be virgins-

David: Mm

Seth: ... representing the purity of the people of God-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and the fact that Israel was God's bride.

David: Mm.

Seth: And, like, the presence of God was coming to His virgin bride, and you experience the beauty of, like, relationship and intimacy with the Lord. And so for Eli's sons to come and rape those women, it is a blasphemy-

David: God

Seth: ... towards God. And then Eli does nothing about it, but allows them to keep their position of power. So you have, like-

David: Whoa

Seth: ... a continuation of the Book of Judges-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in the opening chapters.

David: Right.

Seth: Um, but during that time, you also have the-

David: Hannah

Seth: ... Hannah.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Do you wanna talk about Hannah's story a little bit?

David: I mean, kind of.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I love Hannah.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: I love the character of Hannah. Um, so she, um, is barren, which should, you should immediately, alarm bells should go off.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And I won't go into too much detail, 'cause-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... we'll pick that up when we go into this chapter.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But, um, and, but her husband loves her, and every, every year when he goes to the temple, he offers an extra sacrifice to God, begging him to, like, give Hannah a child. And so Hannah doubles down and is like, "Man, God, if you just gave me a child, I dedicate him to you-"

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... "right from the womb."

Seth: Yeah.

David: So God answers her prayer and says, "Okay, I will." Uh, he needs to take the Nazarite vow, uh, right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Am I-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... conflating stories?

Seth: I'm pretty sure that's right.

David: Okay.

Seth: He's, he's kind of a parallel to Samson-

David: Samson

Seth: ... a little bit.

David: Okay.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I'm pretty sure that's right. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. I, I'm pretty sure you're right as well. [laughs]

David: [laughs] Anyway, um, if I, if, if I'm not, I'm naming that, and you can go look it up for yourself. I'm just trying to remember off the top of my head. Uh, and Hannah, um, the, the, uh, the baby is born to her, and his name is Samuel, uh, from which the book derives its name. And, um, he is dedicated to-

Seth: Verse 11

David: ... the, the temple

Seth: ... Nazarite vow.

David: Okay.

Seth: You're, you were right.

David: Great. Um-

Seth: Dedicated to the temple.

David: Uh, he's dedicated to the temple.

Seth: Where Eli-

David: Where Eli is, is the priest.

Seth: Yeah.

David: He's leading that. And so he kinda is put under his care. And but what's most important about Hannah's story for understanding the whole book is the prayer that she prays.

Seth: Mm.

David: Like, it's a, it's a gorgeous prayer that, that she prays, and it sets up all these big themes for the whole book.

Seth: Mm.

David: And so some of the th... And you can read this for yourself in chapter two, verses one to 10. And, um, m- the main theme that, uh, she picks up on is that God will be her salvation, and God has been her salvation by bringing her a son.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: But He's done it because she's humble, and weak, and lowly, and God is elevating the weak and the lowly, and dismantling the proud and the strong.

Seth: Yes.

David: And that is, like, a humongous theme for the Book of Samuel.

Seth: Yes. And what that, uh, this goes back to kingship, and what that prayer turns into is the hope of a coming king.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, there is, within Hannah's prayer about humility, rescue, and deliverance, there is also the hope of a king who would lead God's people.

David: Yes, chapter two, verse 10, "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces." So, like, here's this-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... coming king. "Against them He will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king and exalt the horn of His anointed."

Seth: Mm.

David: So just to, to frame this for you as you're reading this book, th- that's, that's Hebrew parallelism that God is going to be the one who anoints a king.

Seth: Yes.

David: It's His anointed and His king. And David is going to u- the word anointed is all throughout the book.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: And David is going to take very seriously the idea of the king God anoints, which is the idea of God choosing and empowering the king He wants to lead.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so Hannah is prophesying. This is a-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... the prophet Hannah here-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... prophesying about what God is going to do through a king that does not yet exist in Israel.

Seth: Yes.

David: She's prophesying.

Seth: Yes.

David: Okay.

Seth: And so I, I wanna make sure we also name too, it's like, we say, what, why do we need a king? Where are we at the story w- with regards to king? We don't have a king in Judges.

David: Right.

Seth: We have some negative comments about a king, and then in Hannah, we have a hope of a king, and then we have a couple more judges in Eli and Samuel before we even get to kingship.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But, like, the reason why kingship is important even here is because it, um... Why is it important here? [laughs]

David: Oh, yeah.

Seth: It's like, oh, I got lost in my own thoughts. Like-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... even in this series, what it ends up showing, um, what ends up happening is that the desire for a king... Is this the right way to go? The desire for a king is even perverted.

David: It is.

Seth: Like, so-

David: Yes

Seth: ... there's all these problems with the system of judges.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It does fail Israel. God is no longer their king.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: There's a hope for a messianic king, or some sort of king.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But then as the kingship draws closer through the lives of Eli and Samuel, the people's motives for wanting a king also become perverted.

David: Right. So I think a, a way to bridge into this-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is, uh, 'cause we're getting nearer and nearer to 1 Samuel 8, right-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... where they ask for a king.

Seth: Yeah.

David: There's something that happens in the, in the early life of Samuel that sets up the, the other category we need here to-

Seth: Okay

David: ... understand what all this kind of-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... does do

Seth: ... k- kinda feel like lost between Judges-

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah

Seth: ... and then Kings and then-

David: And I think there's a bridge here, and the bridge is this, that the reason why there's no king in Israel, and the reason why that is, theologically speaking, about the fact that God is not really even reigning over Israel as king actively, because they're just in sin, and-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... virgin Israel is being raped and, like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... all this horrible stuff is happening, um, is because of a, of a key statement that is in the opening of Samuel, and it's that the voice of the Lord was seldom heard in the land, that no one was listening to God. Like, God-

Seth: Mm. Right, right, right

David: ... in order for a king to reign, you have to hear His voice. You have to know what He's directing you to do.

Seth: Mm.

David: You have to know His will.

Seth: I never thought about that as, like, a parallel to what's being said in the Book of Judges. There was no king in Israel-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... everyone did what was right in their own eyes. And then you have, "The voice of the Lord wasn't heard."

David: Yeah.

Seth: That's a symbol that God as king is not reigning in Israel-

David: That's right

Seth: ... right now.

David: But Samuel comes, and as a boy, he's in the, the, he's in the tabernacle with Eli.

Seth: Mm.

David: And what does he hear?The voice of God.

Seth: Yes.

David: And he's like, "I don't know what this is." And it's just because he's, he wasn't familiar with the voice of the Lord yet.

Seth: Yeah.

David: He didn't know who this was. He didn't know there was a king over Israel-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know? And, and so Samuel ends up learning to listen to the voice of God, and he becomes the new judge of Israel.

Seth: Right.

David: Right?

Seth: With embedded in him the, the hope that God is now king again-

David: That's right

Seth: ... over Israel.

David: Yeah, the, Israel's hearing the voice of the Lord. So all this is happening, he's leading Israel, there's reform happening, good things are happening, and, um, a- but, but the problem is, as Samuel gets, uh, up in age, his sons seem like they're going to repeat the bad cycles of judges, right? Because his sons stink. [laughs]

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: His sons-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... don't listen to the voice of the Lord, and they are bad, wicked, corruptible judges.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so Israel's like-

Seth: So he ends up, like, delegating power to his sons.

David: That's right, to his, to his sons-

Seth: Yeah, yeah

David: ... as he's getting older, and they stink at it. And so what Israel does is they basically say, "We're sick of this judges pattern. It doesn't work."

Seth: Right.

David: Right? "Everyone is, is leading us horribly," and that's when they demand a king.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so there's, there's this tension that's happening between, um, we need a ruler who can listen to the voice of God-

Seth: Mm

David: ... and carry out his will in order to be led under the reign of God.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But that continues to fail because people stop listening to the voice of God.

Seth: Right.

David: And so they think that the idea is, "Well then forget it, let's just do kingdoms not Yahweh's way, not God's way-

Seth: Right

David: ... let's do this our way."

Seth: So, and another way to say that, it's like they had like, they had a theological problem-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and they try to s- fix it with a political solution.

David: That's right.

Seth: Got it.

David: Yep, that's right.

Seth: Okay.

David: So God was trying to reign over them by speaking and leading and establishing judges and, but the judges weren't listening. They were sinful, they were proud, they wouldn't humble themselves, they wouldn't obey.

Seth: The people were proud, they did whatever they wanted to do.

David: That's right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so they're like, "You know, forget it, let's just do what all the other nations do-

Seth: Mm

David: ... and let's just get ourselves a king, and let him go to war for us, let him speak to us, let him give us his rules, let him give us his decrees." And so Samuel takes this to God and says, "This is what the people are asking for," and God says, "They've not denied you, Samuel, as judge."

Seth: 'Cause Samuel was like, "You shouldn't be asking for a king," right? Like-

David: That's right, he was against it. And so, and so he goes to God complaining.

Seth: Because he re- he recognized what they were doing and like, "No, no, no-

David: You're, so you're, sh-

Seth: ... your, the solution for Israel is to listen to the Lord-"

David: [laughs]

Seth: "... not to listen to a king."

David: That's right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so God says, "They're not rejecting you, Samuel, as a judge," right?

Seth: Mm.

David: "They're rejecting me."

Seth: Mm.

David: And so God sees Israel's request for a political king as a rejection of his reign. They don't wanna listen to him anymore. They don't want God to be king. And so, but what's interesting is, and what's so gracious-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and benevolent about God is he goes, "But I'm gonna work through it."

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, and he, and he, but he gives them some warnings.

Seth: Yep.

David: He says, "Okay, you're gonna get a king, but let me tell you, he's gonna be the king you deserve."

Seth: Right, just like Jotham predicted in the Book of Judges.

David: Exactly right.

Seth: It's like the people who want those positions of power will normally lord it over you.

David: Yep.

Seth: God warns Israel that s- the, their first king is not gonna go well for them.

David: They're gonna tax you, they're gonna, they're gonna-

Seth: Mm

David: ... enslave your children, they're gonna draft them into his army, and they're gonna use-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... they're gonna use them to build monuments to himself, and all this happens later.

Seth: "He'll take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers."

David: [laughs]

Seth: "He'll take the best of your fields and your vineyards, he'll take a tenth of your grain, he'll take your male servants and your female servants-

David: Yep

Seth: ... he'll take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves."

David: Yep.

Seth: "And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourself, but the Lord will not answer you in that day."

David: Yeah. So God, what God does here is he is saying, "Okay, let me work within your bad request for a king to show you the kind of king that I am and the kind of king-

Seth: Mm

David: ... that I am pleased to work with." And we, and how he does that is through anointing two different kings, one after another, to show two different types of rulers. One, the first one, is proud and sinful and does not listen to the voice of the Lord, and his kingdom fails. That's Saul.

Seth: Yep.

David: The second one is King David, who is unsuspecting, he's, he's the least of a person that you would-

Seth: The youngest of his tribe

David: ... yeah, he's the youngest of his tribe, and he is selected, and he's humble, he listens to the voice of the Lord, and his kingdom grows, ultimately climaxing in fir- in 2 Samuel 7, where not only is it a one-time kingdom, he's promised an eternal kingdom. We'll talk about that later.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But like, so God is saying, like, "I'm gonna, I'm gonna show you what you're really asking for-

Seth: Right

David: ... through two people. Here's what you think you're asking for. Let me give you Saul-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and it's not gonna go well for you."

Seth: Right.

David: "Then let me give you what you actually need, which is a humble king who listens to my voice and will actually usher in my reign and rule and kingdom, and that's gonna be seen through King David."

Seth: Okay. So there's a lot that you just said. [laughs]

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, I was over... I've studied this for a while.

David: [laughs]

Seth: And I was overwhelmed by everything you're saying. But I think what's m- one of the most important things you pointed out was the difference between the kingdom of Israel-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... and the reign of God.

David: Super important.

Seth: Um, I, I th- I thought it was, like, a really helpful distinction, so l- let's maybe talk about that a little bit more.

David: Right.

Seth: So what's happening in the kingdom of Israel is not necessarily a perfect representation of the reign of God over his people-

David: Absolutely

Seth: ... or, like, the heavenly kingdom that God plans for his people.

David: That's right.

Seth: And God is using the earthly kingdom of Israel to prove the point that the heavenly kingdom and the heavenly king is the one that Israel should desire and hope for.

David: That's right.

Seth: Okay.

David: Yes. So God is-

Seth: Which is why-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... then 2 Samuel 7 is talking about an eternal kingdom-

David: That's right

Seth: ... not a, an, and that it, that's... So an eternal kingdom is pointing what? Not back to, like-

David: An earthly king

Seth: ... an earthly king, but the-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... only kingdom that can last forever is-

David: God

Seth: ... is God.

David: God as king.

Seth: Right.

David: Yes. So that's what happened. At the, at the opening of the book really, there's still an underlying assumption that God is king-

Seth: Right

David: ... and that his voice isn't heard, and so things are going poorly.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Um, and so they, they say, "Forget it, let's usurp that and let's have our own king." And God says, "Okay.That's not good but I'm gonna work in it to show you my salvation-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and to show you that I still need to be king.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so what you have here, you have an, you have an earthly political system-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... that is sometimes representing the heavenly reign of God-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... his will, his character, the, the things he wants to accomplish in the world. When we say God's reign in heaven, we're talking about, um, what God wants to happen in the world.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, and so are you going to submit to what God wants on Earth, in the earthly kingdoms, or not?

Seth: Yeah.

David: And insofar as you do, you're syncing up with-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... God's reign. You're, you're bowing the knee-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... to God's, God on the throne.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: And so, um, what Saul does is he shows that earthly kings who reject the reign of God and listening to his voice fail-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... but kings who do listen to-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... the heavenly voice of God and stand under his reign succeed.

Seth: Right. And so in the Old Testament, we, you said there's laws about kings there.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: But that's really functionally what is the kingdom reign of God versus the kingdom of men? It's like, and how does an earthly king sync up with-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... the reign of God? It's by obeying the law.

David: Right. A king, yeah, in Deuteronomy, the king is told to make his own copy of the Torah and read it constantly.

Seth: Yeah, and then when even, like, the rabbi, the ancient rabbis, but Jesus has arrived and said, "The law can be summed up in two phrases, 'Love God-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and love your neighbor.'" Um, and really, though, the heart behind even obeying those commands are prideful self-reliance-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and humility before the Lord and his reign and his laws. So what the, the, the primary engine throughout the rest of this book then, that moves the plot forward, is whether or not a king will humble himself before the law of God.

David: That's right.

Seth: Um, Sa- uh, Saul does not.

David: He's proud.

Seth: He's proud, and David, uh, and he pays the consequences for it.

David: That's right.

Seth: David does humble himself before God's law, and he is elevated until-

David: Right, w- and we'll talk about his fall

Seth: ... until he, uh, fall-

David: But that's still a helpful dichotomy to, to, to build here. And the, and, and why it breaks is also important.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But the, the, the idealized version-

Seth: Right

David: ... is also significant.

Seth: So I think I wanna, wanna s- close the loop on what I... W- I think what we're saying then is, like, the idea, the relationship between the, the, God's reign-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and an earthly kingdom-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... is bound up in the ideas of pride and humility.

David: Exactly right.

Seth: And the king himself is supposed to be the paragon of humility.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And when he's the paragon of humility, the reign of God-

David: Comes to Earth

Seth: ... comes to Earth.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Okay.

David: Yep, and when he's not, it doesn't. [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: Uh, yeah, exactly right. Um, okay, let's, there's other things I wanna build out there, but let's give our listeners five seconds-

Seth: An ear break

David: ... to, to stop listening to our voices, and we'll finish talking about Samuel. [gentle music]

Seth: Okay, so one of the other thing, major themes-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... throughout the book of Samuel, besides the k- reign of God, besides the earthly kingdom, uh, besides the idea of a king itself, is the idea of a prophet or-

David: Yes

Seth: ... like, listening to the voice of God.

David: Right.

Seth: So like-

David: It starts off where God's voice isn't heard. The book starts off with God's voice being heard.

Seth: Yep.

David: Right?

Seth: That's exactly right. And you have throughout the narrative-

David: Yes

Seth: ... all these moments where prophets just pop up out of nowhere.

David: Everywhere, yeah.

Seth: And they will rebuke and correct the king, so Nathan rebuking, correcting David. There's a prophet from Gad that comes-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and rebukes David for the census, um-

David: Y- even think about the beginning. When, when do you meet Saul? He's looking for a lost animal that ran away-

Seth: Yep

David: ... from his dad.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And what is, how does he go about finding it?

Seth: He goes to a prophet.

David: He goes to [laughs] to a prophet. He's like-

Seth: A seer

David: ... "Surely-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... I'll ask a prophet. God knows where the animal went.

Seth: Yeah.

David: I'll go ask the prophet to ask God to tell me where the animal is." It's like-

Seth: Yes

David: ... so, like, I wanna, I wanna, I, I, I don't need to use this word-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... but I like it. Um, and it's, it's the, we've talked about it a few times on the podcast before, if you are a hardcore listener-

Seth: Hardcore

David: ... um, that the, the, the way that people used to view the world before the Enlightenment [laughs] was porous.

Seth: Yes.

David: It had holes in it. [laughs]

Seth: Right, the spirit world and the physical world were, like, could communicate with each other.

David: That's right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: They, they, it was like a sponge.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It could pass through. It was, uh, permeable.

Seth: Yes.

David: Right? And so when you, y- it, it feels like sometimes you're reading this book, and it's a history book, and then all of a sudden, there's s- the spirit.

Seth: Yeah.

David: The Holy Spirit comes, or an evil spirit comes, or a prophet speaks-

Seth: And-

David: ... or a man is raised from the dead, and it's just, like, it's a lot-

Seth: It's a lot

David: ... of spirit.

Seth: And kind of uniquely up to this point in the Bible 'cause in, you kinda, in the Torah, you have God acting directly.

David: Yep.

Seth: You kinda expect God-

David: And he works through Moses.

Seth: Yes. It's like God sent a pillar of f- cloud. Well, that makes sense. He's God.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: Um, and then in Joshua, it's all military conquest.

David: Yep.

Seth: In Judges, you do have a little bit more porousness in the fact that, like, you have these individual leaders being filled with the Holy Spirit or seized by the Holy Spirit and leading, but again, like, all that's, like, concentrated-

David: Mm

Seth: ... in a particular person and then, or in a, in a military campaign.

David: Yeah.

Seth: What you say in 1 Samuel, which is really unique, and then in Ruth, God's barely mentioned.

David: Totally.

Seth: And so but here, explosion on the scene-

David: Yes

Seth: ... of prophets, spirituality, um, witches-

David: Yes

Seth: ... necromancy. Like, it just-

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: There's this, a lot more spiritual energy-

David: Porteous, yeah

Seth: ... in the book of 1 Samuel. And so what you wanna, the point we wanna make out of that is really the point the book makes first, the voice of the Lord was not heard-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... followed by a whole bunch of times God speaking through Samuel-

David: Yes

Seth: ... God speaking to Samuel-

David: Right

Seth: ... God speaking through prophets, God correcting the kings, God punishing the kings through his voice.

David: Yes, and so the, the, the, the fine point to make about that is this: that the Kingdom of God comes-... through the, the, the communication of his voice

Seth: Through a-

David: Through his presence

Seth: Yes, yes, yes, yes

David: Right? Through his presence, through his voice, through his will, through him being known, through his will being known, his voice being heard. That's how the kingdom of God comes

Seth: When a humble king, when a king humbles himself before the word of God, the words of the, of a god through a prophet-

David: Yes

Seth: ... God's heavenly reign comes to the earth

David: That's right

Seth: Okay

David: Yes, that's right. Because, and, and let's make this really simple, because what God says happens. That's why.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, yeah.

David: Because God says, "I want this to happen." And the humble person hears and says, "Okay, I'll do that"

Seth: Mm

David: ... and they do it. And so God's reign as the king sitting on the throne who says, "Go do this"

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... occurs.

Seth: Yeah

David: It happens. And so that's why God's voice and presence among His people, and God's kingdom are inexec- it, are, are, are linked. What's the word I was trying to say there? Inex-

Seth: Inexorably

David: ... inexorably linked

Seth: In- inexorably

David: Yes. Uh, and so, that, I, I just think that's very important-

Seth: So-

David: ... especially as we start leaning towards the New Testament-

Seth: And then-

David: ... and the day of Pentecost, that's all very important

Seth: ... think about as a, like a li- a little bit of aside and jumping into the wisdom literature. So the wisdom literature was written by kings. So-

David: Oh, yeah, in the tradition of the kings

Seth: ... in the tradition of the kings.

David: That's right.

Seth: Solomon was David's son.

David: Yep

Seth: King Lemuel, King Hagar at the end, like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... it's, these are kings. Or even Job, he's this massively wealthy man-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in a society that didn't have kings, but he was the closest thing he go- could get to one

David: Yep.

Seth: So you have these kings, and what is the primary message that the, the, the wisdom literature preaches is that when you humble yourself before the commands of the Lord, when you fear the king, fear the Lord, it will go well with you.

David: Yep

Seth: Like, that's, [laughs] that's like-

David: Yep

Seth: So, like, this is, like, the proto wisdom-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... of the Bible. Like, this is wisdom being played out in political time, and then the kings reflect on that and say, "What's the, what's the heart of wisdom? Humbling yourself before the Lord."

David: They got the point of Samuel.

Seth: Yes. [laughs]

David: 'Cause they lived it.

Seth: Yes, they lived it.

David: They saw what happened with Saul-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and what happened with David, and then Solomon learned from it and wrote about it.

Seth: Yes.

David: That is a good observation, my dear friend, Seth.

Seth: That's what you pay me for. [laughs]

David: [laughs] I don't pay you. Our dear, dear fans do.

Seth: You guys do.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: It's amazing. [laughs]

David: Um, okay, so that's really helpful. Um, I feel like we have some categories here that we should close off before jumping to rising and falling and-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... pride and humility, like maybe a little bit more, and the Davidic Covenant and-

Seth: Oh, yeah, we haven't got to the Davidic Covenant yet. [laughs]

David: Yeah. So but let's close some loops.

Seth: Yeah

David: I think we have some open things that we could talk about the gospel from that we should just do

Seth: Yes.

David: Um, so the first thing I... and we don't have to go in order, but, like, the first thing I'm just, um, just on the tip of my tongue I wanna talk about is there's this, you know, Jesus brings the Kingdom of God. Uh, you know, s- uh, John the Baptist is proclaiming that, that, the, that the king is coming, that the kingdom is coming. Jesus, it's the first, His first message is, "The Kingdom of God is near. Here it is." Um, and-

Seth: And Jesus sums up his own ministry, he says, "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand"

David: Is at hand.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Here it is. And what, and, like, so, like, God is being present with His people to bring His kingdom. He's speaking. Like, y- you know, He's-

Seth: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

David: Uh, and, like, what does John the Baptist say? He, he talks about the Spirit of God that will come. Like this-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... like, like it did back in Samuel.

Seth: Yeah

David: Like, John is expecting, um, a return of the Spirit of God to bring the Kingdom of God, because that's how it works.

Seth: Yeah

David: And so, like, let me just fast-forward, 'cause we'll go back to some other things. Let me fast-forward to Acts 2. And-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... like, the, the, how does the Kingdom of God come on Earth? Your, your, your young women will dream dreams, and your old men will prophesy.

Seth: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Like, the whole-

Seth: That's it

David: ... church will hear from the Lord. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah

David: Because we'll be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and so we will hear from the King, right?

Seth: Right

David: And so we submit to the reign of the King, and He tells us what to do. We listen to the Holy Spirit, we listen to His word-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and we go to the left or the right based on what He says. And so the Kingdom of God, His reign and rule, act in the world as we say "yes" to His kingly commands.

Seth: Mm.

David: So that's how the Kingdom of God is moving in the world, is because you have people inhabited by the King obeying His decrees.

Seth: Yes.

David: So this, that's the Kingdom of God.

Seth: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that-

David: The Kingdom of God is coming to Earth because you have people listening to God.

Seth: Yes. And then, I mean, then Jesus-

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: ... is the most paramount example of that.

David: Yes

Seth: So, like, Eli was spoken to by the Spirit of God saying, "Come to me." You had this, God himself landing in the form of a dove and-

David: Mm

Seth: ... proclaiming from the Heaven, "This is my beloved Son with whom I'm well pleased." You have a literal porous Heaven-

David: Yep

Seth: ... coming down, s- proclaiming who this person is. And then you have Jesus as a son of David-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... as a son of the King humbling himself before the law of God.

David: Mm.

Seth: "Everything the Father, I see the Father doing, I do."

David: John 5, yeah.

Seth: "Everything He says I do. I don't do anything that I don't see my Father doing."

David: That's right

Seth: A humble man who's perfectly in tune with the reign of God-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... living it out on Earth, who humbles himself even when the divine, the heavenly rule decrees death for him.

David: That's right. Yep

Seth: And through his sh- humble act of obeying the Kingdom, the d- the heavenly-

David: Mm-hmm, decree

Seth: ... heaven, the heavenly decree, He brings His kingdom to Earth for all people.

David: That's right

Seth: So all people can have the Spirit spoken over them, calling out to them, like, uh, the, bearing witness that they are sons of God-

David: Right

Seth: ... just like G- g- God did for Jesus at the, the Jordan River. They're prophesying. The world becomes permeable again-

David: Yep

Seth: ... when the Kingdom of God comes through the sh- humble listening of Jesus the King.

David: Right. And so, like, yeah, and He does, yeah, He does it perfectly, and then invites us into that same pattern-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... where we now have the ability and, like, joy of being a humble listener to the Holy Spirit.

Seth: Yeah

David: To the King. Like, that there's a king now, that we have transferred kingdoms. Like, the, the New Testament talks about how He brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of His wonderful light. Like, w- whenever you become a Christian, your allegiances transfer.And your king changes. And you can call it, depending on where you're listening from-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that could be a prime minister, it could be a king, it could be a president. That- that changes-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... whenever you submit to King Jesus.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And He is now your king.

Seth: Yeah.

David: You abide by the law, the laws of His land-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and you are guided by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God to live that out in the world.

Seth: It kinda makes me totally rethink the Beatitudes.

David: Okay.

Seth: Like, um, I was like, "Oh, these are cool counter-cultural ways to live."

David: Sh- okay.

Seth: But it's like, what does it say? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

David: Yes.

Seth: "Blessed are those who mourn, those who are meek, they will inherit the earth."

David: It's like Hannah's prayer at the opening of Samuel.

Seth: Yes.

David: [laughs]

Seth: It's like, those who humble themselves-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... are-

David: Are going to be exalted

Seth: ... are going to be exalted. And whether that's by your own circumstance-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... like, but whether that's, that you're an oppressed minority, whether that's you're like, you're just like, you're just, you know, like-

David: Yep

Seth: ... you are m- in a better position-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... to experience the exaltation of the kingdom of heaven because you've been humbled by your circumstances. And when you humble yourself before the Lord, you sync up with His divine kingdom-

David: Right

Seth: ... and you reign with Jesus.

David: And why is humility a, a, why does being humble and mourning and being meek lead to being exalted and inheriting the earth? And like, you know, like why-

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah

David: ... do those things go together? It's because when you're humble, you, you, your, your ear is bent to the King of the universe.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Right? And so though your circumstance might not change immediately, you are now in the service of the king.

Seth: Mm.

David: Like, you have now-

Seth: Right, right, right, right

David: ... entered into a f- a divine powerful realm-

Seth: Right

David: ... and you are working, you're the right-hand man of the King of the universe.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And like, that's how, that's how immediate-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... exaltation can take place.

Seth: Mourning can seem pointless-

David: Right

Seth: ... un- unless it's the king telling you to mourn.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Or the king baptizing your mourning, saying, "No, no, that mourning is for my kingdom purposes."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: It transforms our moments of humility into, like, divine assignments.

David: Right.

Seth: That-

David: King- kingly assignments. Yeah.

Seth: Kingly assignments.

David: That's right.

Seth: And so it transforms people who are oppressed into the very agents of the kingdom of God.

David: That's right.

Seth: It's dignified.

David: Yeah, yeah. You go from being a slave to being an ambassador.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah, to being a prince.

Seth: Mm. Yeah. I mean, I've never read the Beatitudes that way before.

David: Mm. Yeah.

Seth: That's-

David: It's beautiful.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um, okay, let's go back now.

Seth: Okay.

David: Do you feel like we can go back?

Seth: Let's go back.

David: Okay, let's go back. And there's two more big, big, big things we need to talk about. Um, oh, and just to close the loop on the Hannah Beatitudes-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... com- uh, just, I just, as a helpful extra handhold for everybody, that Hannah's prayer gets repeated two more times. I just wanna name it, uh, as a, uh, just to double down on how it's a main theme. Um, also in 2 Samuel 1, David laments over the death of Saul. You might have heard the, the, like, the idiom, right? Like-

Seth: The mighty have fallen

David: ... "Oh, how the mighty have fallen." That's from Samuel. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: And, um, and that is, like, the mighty fall. Wait, what?

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: You know, and that's like, I mean, and I said we weren't gonna talk about it, but David and Goliath, the mighty fall.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? And the weak win. That's a, that's w- what's going on there.

Seth: It's like a foreshadow of what's gonna happen.

David: It's a foreshadowing, yep. And then at the end of the book, um, in chapters 22 to, to the first part of 23, you hear David's long prayer, um, which is, is it Psalm 18?

Seth: It is.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's Psalm 18.

Seth: It's Psalm 18.

David: And it's here, and it's, and, um, and this is, this is David's kind of Hannah prayer 2.0.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It hits all the same marks as Hannah's opening prayer does, but it just expands it in light of everything that's happened in Israel since-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... his reign started. And so it begins and ends with a prayer that praises God for destroying the proud and strong and exalting the humble and weak.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: So, like, that is what's going on in Samuel.

Seth: Yes.

David: So I just think it's really helpful.

Seth: It is really helpful. [gentle music]

David: Okay, last little bit of text-

Seth: Two

David: ... to cover, [laughs] even though there's so much left uncovered.

Seth: Yes.

David: Uh, two things I wanna talk about.

Seth: 2 Samuel 7.

David: 2 Samuel 7, the, the, the Davidic Covenant.

Seth: Yeah, it's-

David: David's Covenant

Seth: ... one of the central moments-

David: Right

Seth: ... in the entire Bible. If you were only gonna read, like, 12 verses, like, 12 chapters-

David: Chapters

Seth: ... of Scripture, this would be one of them.

David: It would have to be one of them.

Seth: Yes.

David: Like-

Seth: Let's say Genesis 12-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and this one would be up there. [laughs]

David: Yeah, absolutely right.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Genesis 12, G- God's Covenant.

David: Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah, Abraham 12 with the, with Abraham's Covenant, you'd need to read, like, Exodus 19 and 20 with the Mosaic Covenant, and then you'd need to read 2 Samuel 7 and David's Covenant.

Seth: Yes.

David: These are huge moments-

Seth: A really big moment

David: ... in the Bible.

Seth: And what happens here is that based on David's humility-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... because of David's humility, his willingness to, to, to bend his ear towards the voice of God, God promises him that He will turn his, um, name into, like, an eternal dynasty.

David: Right.

Seth: His, h- the, the, the family of David will extend into eternity, and the rule of the Davidic house will extend forever.

David: There will always be a king of David on the throne.

Seth: Yes.

David: Always, but not just until the sun burns up the earth. Forever.

Seth: Forever.

David: Eternally is the promise. Now, uh, the circumstances of the promise are just funny. I just wanna bring it up-

Seth: Name it

David: ... 'cause I just like it. Um, so David, um, is lamenting over the fact that he lives in a big fancy house as king-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and God's Ark is out in the cold.Yeah.

Seth: And so he's like, "God, I'm gonna build a house for you. Isn't that great?" And then God responds, he says, "I don't need you to build me a house. Instead, I'm gonna make you into a house."

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: And I just think it's awesome.

David: That's great.

Seth: I just love that.

David: It's beautiful.

Seth: God's like, "I don't need you. You need me."

David: Yeah.

Seth: And, um, he, it kind of in like a, um, a repeat of 1 Samuel 8 when they asked for a king, and then God co-opts that to do His actual purpose.

David: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Seth: Same thing. I'm gonna build you a house. No, I'm gonna build you a house. [laughs]

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's just, I love that. And so yeah, there's this promise. Ah, but David won't be the eternal king himself.

David: Mm.

Seth: He's a man of war.

David: Yeah. We're t- we're told he can't do it-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... 'cause he's a man of war.

Seth: He's a man of war. Uh, instead He says, "But your son will."

David: Yes.

Seth: And so, like as a reader, you kind of hope and expect that's Absalom.

David: His next son.

Seth: His next son.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Uh, it's not.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Uh, but for just to land, let's just stay in 2 Samuel 7 for a moment.

David: That, yeah, I, I do, Yeah, I wanna do that, too.

Seth: Um, what ends up happening, though, is that it becomes pretty clear after you read the book of 2 Samuel that, like, that promise that God makes to David isn't about an earthly person. It's about the Messiah.

David: Right.

Seth: It's, it's about the, the one sent from God who will establish His divine rule, His royal rule on the earth forever.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, that's, that's the actual expectation. Not a mediated version of it, but the actual version of it, right?

David: That's right, yes. And I mean, there's just a few things to, like, think about when we think about this covenant that He made to him. Like, we talked about how He will build hi- a house that will stand forever.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Um, He will be to God a son, right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: He says it in verse 14 of chapter seven, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son." So we're talking about a son of God who will rule forever on a throne. Um, and, uh, and, uh, and he'll have an eternal kingdom that lasts forever. Um, and he'll come from the line of David.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, um, uh, so before we jump to it being messianic, why would 2 Samuel 7 just be a breath of fresh air to a Jew reading this?

Seth: One final promise before you answer, ask me that question.

David: Okay.

Seth: We have the promise, "He shall build a house for my name-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... and I will establish the throne of his kingdom." He's also promising a temple. Like, he's also promising-

David: That he'll dwell there

Seth: ... hi- his presence will dwell there permanently.

David: Yes.

Seth: So the que- your question, though.

David: My question is, like, why, why is a, why is an eternal king good news for Israel right now?

Seth: Well, think about what David did. He ushered in an era of wealth-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... peace-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and stability for a nation that had historically been either enslaved or ruled by chaotic tribes.

David: Mm.

Seth: So, like, you're at this moment in history where Israel has never had it so good. Like-

David: Yes

Seth: ... right?

David: Yeah, and when they do, it's always followed by another fall.

Seth: Yes.

David: And so it's like, "We're at the top, and we're gonna stay at the top forever?"

Seth: Yes.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: So it's like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... this, this kingdom will keep going.

David: We're here. We made it.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Um, so that's, that's why it's good news.

David: That feels like real good news.

Seth: It's, it's, like, this, like, this will only get bigger.

David: Mm.

Seth: This will only get better.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: That's why it's good news. What's happening now will continue on to eternity as long as the king humbly bends his ear-

David: Right

Seth: ... to the decrees of God.

David: Yes, and that's how David responds-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... after God gives him this promise. He falls to his face. He's like, "Who am I that you would do this kindness to me?"

Seth: Yeah.

David: You know, and he continues to show his humility.

Seth: Yeah. But...

David: But [laughs]

Seth: Uh, well, one, one more little thing.

David: One more thing. Okay.

Seth: One more thing before we-

David: My tentative, my tentative but

Seth: ... uh, but, like, we should also just recognize what's this doing in, like, the Biblical story.

David: Okay.

Seth: So y- we already mentioned the Abrahamic covenant and the covenant God made with Moses.

David: Oh, yes.

Seth: And now this is the covenant with David. So this, there's moments throughout scripture where God kinda descends and progresses His promise into a new era.

David: Yes.

Seth: So with Abraham, He promised that his family would r- would fill the earth, and bl- all the world would be blessed through his family.

David: Yeah, dwelling in Canaan.

Seth: Dwelling in Canaan.

David: And then he w- and by, by them going and taking the land and filling up Canaan, th- they would be a blessing to all nations.

Seth: Yes.

David: That's the A- that's Abraham's covenant, that God was going to bless the whole world-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... through the person of Abraham and his family as they take over-

Seth: Yes

David: ... the land of Canaan and a new Garden of Eden.

Seth: And with Moses, he essentially, uh, aff- reaffirms that same covenant but by including the entire people of Israel.

David: Right.

Seth: So it's not just Abraham's family. It's all of Israel, which are descendants of Abraham.

David: Yes, that's right.

Seth: But it's-

David: And what happens also in the law of, in the, in the Mosaic Covenant, in Moses' covenant, is e- God shows them how they will be a blessing to all nations. So it's like, you'll be a blessing to all nations. How? Oh, by, by following the law.

Seth: Yeah.

David: By listening to me, you'll love your neighbor and love me.

Seth: Mm.

David: And you'll do justice, and, like, you'll be, you'll be reversing the effects of the curse.

Seth: Yes.

David: You, you'll stop sinning, and that will bless the world. [laughs] Like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and so Abraham, you'll be a blessing to all nations. Moses, how? By obeying my law, right?

Seth: Right.

David: David, but what happens if you don't [laughs] obey the law?

Seth: Right.

David: Is that what's happening next?

Seth: Well, well, I think, so it's like, here's what happens when you obey the law, and then what happens? They deny God as their king.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: God no longer reigns over Israel, so the institution of the kingship is supposed to teach them that God will re- reign forever as their king.

David: Mm.

Seth: Like, the human king points to His eternal kingship, right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, what the, so the development that's happening in David's covenant is the idea that it's not just a family, it's not just a nation and a code of laws. It's a divine kingship.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, a divine monarchy, like, a div- I mean, totalitarian has all sorts of, like-Bad connotations.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But like there is a divine ruler-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... who is also promised to rule forever-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... from this pa- from another family.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So I think that's the way it's like developing, right? Like-

David: Well, I mean, I mean, there, there's something... So I think we, we could think about it that way, for sure, and I think it's, it's right. I just would want to go back to the Moses covenant and build something else out, and even go back just a little bit further. So let's build out the covenants based on kingship.

Seth: Okay.

David: Okay? So, um, there is, um, a, a really, I think, reliable, um, like strand of scholarship about, um, the Garden of Eden that talks about, um, uh, Adam and Eve reigning as kings.

Seth: Yeah, kings and queens in the garden. They're the image of God.

David: They're the image of God. They're given land, and they're given rules-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and they're supposed to subdue the earth and fill it.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Who else subdues a territory but a king?

Seth: Right.

David: So like you have in the beginning a king and a queen ruling over the earth.

Seth: Yep.

David: That was the idea. And then they were, mankind was subdued by sin, and there was a new king in the land-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and it was sin, it was beating us down. We were killing each other. We've lost control, and God says, "I'm going to raise up, um, a people out of this, the people of Abraham-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... and they are going to rule again, and they're going to bless all nations."

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: What, what blesses all nations? Oh, a benevolent king who takes land back over from the-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... reign of sin-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and extends his scepter of blessing over them.

Seth: Yes.

David: Right? And then God says, "How is that going to be possible, though?" In the Moses covenant, He says, "I will actually be your God, and you will be my people. I will reign over you. Here's my law command."

Seth: Yeah.

David: And that law command, the Moses law, actually i- is a form of other... I- it is like a, a, it's patterned off of other laws that earthly kings-

Seth: Mm-hmm

David: ... would write in that time.

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: These suzerain vassal treaties.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, there's like a, a Syrian law code and-

Seth: An expression of kingship.

David: It's an expression of kingship.

Seth: Only kings write laws like that.

David: Only kings can write the Mosaic law.

Seth: Right.

David: And so God ex- exercises his role as the divine king and builds out the, the Mosaic covenant, and then he comes in, in the Davidic Covenant, uh, here in Samuel and says, "And I will be your king forever."

Seth: Mm. Yeah.

David: "And it will be through the line of David that I rule forever."

Seth: Yeah.

David: So, like-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... I think that's like the straight line, maybe-

Seth: That's really, that's really helpful

David: ... of kingship covenant that's been building.

Seth: Yeah, it's like all the covenants are about kingship-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... in one sense.

David: Yep.

Seth: Um, you could, like argue, like there's a progression from an individual to a kingdom-

David: Oh, yeah

Seth: ... which is one way to do it. But like they're all forms of kings.

David: Yes.

Seth: They're all kings, and now we know that the kingship, God's kingship, will last forever.

David: Yes. And let's not forget, since we brought up the Garden of Eden, w- what is, what is all this aiming at, right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: We're aiming at getting back to God's original intent for the world-

Seth: Which-

David: ... which was to have people humbly listening to the rules of God to-

Seth: In His presence

David: ... rule this earth in His presence.

Seth: Yeah.

David: To fill the earth and subdue it while humbly listening to the word of the Lord that says, "Eat from ev-

Seth: Right

David: ... any tree you want, except that one." You know?

Seth: Right.

David: Like, that's-

Seth: Which is-

David: ... what's happening

Seth: ... so what that ends up meaning then is that as we fast-forward to the New Testament-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... so not only is Jesus our, our King, we are kings and queens in His kingd- or as well. Like-

David: Oh, yes. In the New Testament, we are called co-heirs with Christ.

Seth: Co-heirs. Like-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... so we are-

David: Princes and-

Seth: Princes-

David: ... and princesses

Seth: ... and princesses in this divine kingdom.

David: It's the best fairy tale that's become true. [laughs]

Seth: And God's presence, which was in the Ark of the Covenant, which David wanted to build, which Solomon eventually built, is placed inside of us-

David: That's right

Seth: ... so that we can listen to His divine content and-

David: We are now His house.

Seth: We are now His house, and we move throughout the world to establish outposts of His kingdom to bring the peace, prosperity, wealth, and salvation that David brought to Israel.

David: Exactly right. Exactly right. We are seeing Israel spread across the world.

Seth: And the-

David: We are seeing the Garden of Eden spread. We are fulfilling Abraham's covenant to be a blessing to all nations by living under the kingly rule of God-

Seth: Yes

David: ... by following the Holy Spirit, by inhabiting the heart of the Mosaic covenant-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... to love God and love others.

Seth: Paul says we are made new creations, and then as new creations, we become kings who make new creation-

David: Yes

Seth: ... in the world as we go out into it.

David: That's right. Yep. That's right.

Seth: That, that's... What that does is not only give... That's good news because it gives me hope.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Right? That's like I think normally when we talk about, like the, the good news, the Gospel turn, whatever, it's like, "Isn't Jesus awesome?"

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yes. [laughs]

Seth: He is awesome. But, like there is good news in the fact that there's hope.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And, like the fact that we've been imbued with the traveling presence of God-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... that His home is within us, and then as we go into the world, we actually extend the Garden of Eden again, that's like-

David: With the authority of kings

Seth: ... with the authority of kings.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like even if it doesn't feel that way-

David: Right

Seth: ... which is why we have the Holy Spirit to remind us-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... that we've been called sons of God, [laughs] the sons of the King.

David: Yes.

Seth: It's like that tells me, like my actions in the world, w- as I listen to the Holy Spirit, are not minor.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: They're not-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... uh, just ritual.

David: They're political and spiritual actions.

Seth: That, that effect change.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like who can stand up against God's kingdom-

David: Right

Seth: ... and God's prince and God's princess? No one.

David: Right.

Seth: This is why the demons flee. It's like they're-

David: Yeah.

Seth: [laughs]

David: That's why I love the, like the scenes in Narnia where the High King Peter shows up, and everybody freaks out.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: You know? 'Cause it's just like he's just, even though he's just a, a kid, he's a kid.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But he's imbued with this authority from Aslan that he's High King Peter.

Seth: Right.

David: And people listen to him.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, I just love those moments in Narnia.

Seth: Yeah. And so, like I, I love just, like kind of like pausing and like that's what I ha- that's the effect of the Gospel in me as I-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... live my life as a neighbor in my neighborhood.

David: Exactly.

Seth: Like that is incredibly good news when everything in my world tells me I have no control.

David: That's right.

Seth: Like-

David: And that you're-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... and that, like what you're doing doesn't matter.

Seth: Yes.

David: Yes.

Seth: That-

David: Or, or that you're, are even making the right choices or-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... you know, so many lies come against us-And that just provides a lot of hope and purpose and meaning-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... yeah, and solidity. Okay.

Seth: Okay. [laughs]

David: I'm, I... Yeah. Okay. But strangely, right after this promise, not long after this promise that David's kingdom will last forever, we're on a high, Israel's gonna crush it, we're gonna cover the face of the earth, the, the humble king-

Seth: Uh-huh

David: ... radically breaks God's law.

Seth: Yep. Uh, three chap- four chapters later-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... uh, he sees-

David: Ol' Bath-

Seth: Bathsheba

David: ... sheba. [laughs]

Seth: I've not heard that joke before.

David: Never? What?

Seth: I've never heard that joke before.

David: What?

Seth: [laughs] I haven't.

David: You're kidding.

Seth: I've never heard that joke before.

David: You're joking.

Seth: I've never heard that in-

David: I will never believe that-

Seth: I'm serious. I've never-

David: ... in a million years. No matter how many times you tell me you've never heard the pun Bathsheba.

Seth: I've never heard that before.

David: [laughs] Well, there it is.

Seth: Well, there it is. Um, yeah, so-

David: The oldest, oldest Christian joke in the book.

Seth: That's amazing.

David: There it is.

Seth: I'm so glad I missed out on that part-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... of Christian subculture.

David: You guys got to, uh, experience Seth hearing the joke Bath-

Seth: Oh

David: ... sheba.

Seth: It's like taking a Bath-

David: When I first time

Seth: ... when I finally, like, watched that O.J. Simpson documentary.

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: Like, I didn't know if-

David: Oh, 'cause you weren't around

Seth: ... I wasn't around.

David: You were in-

Seth: I was in-

David: ... Scotland or-

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so I had never... I didn't know the outcome. I didn't know who-

David: Oh, yeah, you were like, "I don't know if he's guilty or innocent." [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] As I was watching it, I was like, "I've never heard this story before."

David: Yeah, this is-

Seth: "This is fascinating"

David: ... so funny.

Seth: "This is based on a real story? It is?"

David: What?

Seth: "What? I thought this was fake." [laughs]

David: Yeah, amazing. Okay, so Bathsheba, we'll get into the details of it later. Suffice it to say, she's in the middle of cleaning herself af- like, like-

Seth: Uh-huh

David: ... doing like, following the law by cleaning herself after her time of, of, uh, impurity.

Seth: Yeah.

David: So she's obeying the law, right? And David-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... disobeys the law and covets her-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... lusts after her-

Seth: Uh

David: ... and rapes her.

Seth: Uh, y- yeah. There's actually a lot of arguments about-

David: Yes

Seth: ... whether or not it's rape or not.

David: I know.

Seth: But he uses his kingly authority to assassinate her husband-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... um, and then take her into his house-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... and get her pregnant.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So it sounds like-

David: I mean-

Seth: It's, it's the abuse of power in the highest degrees.

David: Let's call a spade a spade. [laughs]

Seth: It's, it's, it's rape.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Uh-

David: And so, like, it's horrendous, and, uh, he's, and it's, and, and it's horrendously punished.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Like, the son that is born out of that, that sin is killed.

Seth: Yeah, and it, it introduces a new theme in the Book of Samuel-

David: Mm

Seth: ... at that moment, um, is that the sin of the leader, or just the sin of one, trickles down and affects the whole nation.

David: Right.

Seth: And it's seen, like, at the loss of David's son, but it's also seen in the relationship he has with all of his other sons and all of Bathsheba's relatives. So his, uh, so David has these other sons, Absalom, his daughter's Tamar.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Uh, he has a, another son named Amnon.

David: Yeah. [laughs]

Seth: And Amnon ends up raping his sister.

David: Yep.

Seth: David, having, uh, lost the moral high ground for having slept with somebody that wasn't his wife, doesn't do anything about it.

David: Right.

Seth: His son Absalom gets rightfully angry that his father has done nothing, nurses a grudge over several years, eventually exacting revenge on Amnon, and then starting a civil war in Israel-

David: Against his dad

Seth: ... against his dad, recruiting Bathsheba's father and grandfather as his k- leaders.

David: Yep.

Seth: So, like, David's sin trickles down and infects the whole nation. Um-

David: Yep.

Seth: And-

David: And then David's deposed

Seth: ... and David's deposed.

David: And it's like, and what's interesting is his son takes the throne. Is this a fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant?

Seth: Is this what God's-

David: Do you-

Seth: ... king will look like forever? [laughs]

David: And it's like, uh-oh.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah. And so anyway, uh, his son ends up dying in a forest.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And he weeps over, over his son, like he weeped over the death of Saul. He takes the throne again. And, uh, the, the book ends, um, on, in a strange fashion for, especially for, um, modern readers. It ends with a chiasm.

Seth: Okay.

David: Right? Um, where the central point of the last, what, uh, four, five chapters, 21 to 24-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... forms a chiasm, and the center point of the book is David's hymn, which echoes-

Seth: Hannah's prayer

David: ... Hannah's, Hannah's prayer, which we've already talked about.

Seth: Right.

David: Um, and that's-

Seth: But-

David: ... the center of it, that God and His promise are still h- held out to David. It offers some hope.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But it ends, the h- book actually ends, ends, ends with, um, David disobeying God. He, he-

Seth: Just like-

David: Just, it, and the, dis- pride, proud- proudfully disobeying.

Seth: The s-

David: The sin of presumption

Seth: ... in the same way that King Saul presumed to offer sacrifices when he was not supposed to and proved himself to be a proud-

David: And that's when God removed him.

Seth: Yep. David has a similar moment of pride and presumption when he takes the census-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... of Israel.

David: Yep.

Seth: Um, and the book ends with the pride and the failure of the Davi- of the, of the, of the dynasty of David.

David: Yep.

Seth: And you're kinda left on a question mark.

David: Yeah. A prophet comes to David and says, "Hey, um, the, you have to pay for this. God is going to send punishment. Pick your poison. Which way do you wanna be punished?" And the way David chooses is that a plague breaks out-

Seth: Mm

David: ... over the whole land of Israel.

Seth: Mm-hmm. And-

David: Right

Seth: ... so many people die because of David's sin.

David: Yep.

Seth: And so again, we have the mistakes of the, the king-

David: Mm

Seth: ... trickling down-

David: Mm

Seth: ... to create devastating effects for the entire kingdom.

David: Yeah. And what's interesting about the fact that there's a plague at the very end is that in Solomon's leadership, this, this, this same idea of God's judgment against the kings will, like, be developed.

Seth: Mm.

David: Um, and in the beginning of the first and second Kings, that judgment, or that, what ends up happening is the Kingdom of Israel ends up looking a lot like the Kingdom of Egypt.

Seth: Yes.

David: In the same way that in the Book of Judges, Israel k- handle, looked a lot, lot like Canaan.

Seth: In Solomon, they-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... start looking more like Egypt.

David: They also look more like Egypt, so the fact that that's front-loaded with a plague-

Seth: Yep

David: ... coming into Israel is preparing you for-

Seth: That's right

David: ... a repetition of Israel's history.

Seth: It's like we're walking backwards through Exodus.

David: Yes.

Seth: Through the plagues, back to Egypt. It's like a giant chiasm. [laughs]

David: Yeah, it's crazy. It is crazy.

Seth: Yes. Uh, the point-

David: But the point you were making is that the sin of David trickles down to the entire-

Seth: To the entire nation.

David: Yes.

Seth: Um, yeah.

David: Yeah. And so, but like, the, the, the amazing thing then about King Jesus-

Seth: Is that his righteousness trickles down to all who follow him.

David: That's right.

Seth: Not just in the individual actions.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So this is what's really unique about David. It's not just like David sins, therefore a plague hits all of I- Israel. It's that they have ripple effects, that Amnon rightfully has a grudge against his father. It's that his passivity meant that Amnon could get away with raping his sister without any consequences. It's like that, that ripple effect-

David: It's a butterfly effect

Seth: ... it's a butterfly effect-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... happens in King Jesus, but the opposite way. There's a ripple effect of righteousness-

David: Right

Seth: ... where we become increasingly more like Jesus.

David: I see what you're saying.

Seth: Right.

David: Not only, not only does Jesus dying for our sins trickle down grace to us-

Seth: All people who put their faith in him.

David: Right.

Seth: His one act, all of us get to participate.

David: Right. Go read Romans 5.

Seth: Yes.

David: That's where this is. Uh, but also because Jesus and his death on the cross is the center point of history, the whole world has been changed in the way we see things, the way hospitals and education-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and how we treat one another-

Seth: Yes

David: ... and the, the equal dignity of human life all started in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Seth: Yes.

David: Like [laughs]

Seth: So there's these trickle effects-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... throughout human history from that moment when the divine king leads, and then we become-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... more and more like him as we permeate society.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Um, and just like this kingdom, we also have a whole bunch of ba- bad mixed in-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... where it's just like King David. But the point is, the good King Jesus trickles down his righteousness and goodness throughout the society-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... in the same way that David's sin di- did it.

David: That's right.

Seth: And we can rejoice in the fact that Jesus' righteousness is more powerful than David's sin.

David: Mm.

Seth: This is Romans 5.

David: Yes.

Seth: Where you have one man, Adam-

David: Yep

Seth: ... through whom all die, but in the one man, Jesus Christ, all live and continue to create shalom, peace-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... prosperity, and flourishing for those that interact with people filled with God's spirit.

David: That's right. That's right. Um, I'm trying to think if there is a category in Samuel for this. If there's not, I just want to have it be said-

Seth: Okay

David: ... that when we're talking about the king, the eternal kingdom, that, that Jesus was enthroned, um, as the descendant of King David in the fulfillment of this promise, um, on the cross.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Right? And now he sits on the, the, the highest throne-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in heaven, but he's also returning and will reign as king on the earth again.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: And we will have a Son of God and a Son of David sitting on an earthly throne eternally in the new heavens and the new earth when he returns.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Go read Revelation 19 to 21.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And it's there.

Seth: It's, it's almost as if like, um, we always have a king like Saul and a king like David on the throne now.

David: Yep.

Seth: And the, the trickling down effects of sin and the trickle-down effects of righteousness-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... live together on the earth.

David: The wheat and the tares.

Seth: The wheat and the tares. And then one day, King Saul will be removed.

David: Yes.

Seth: And all that will be left are those humble, those who humble himself before the commands of the Lord and see his peace and salvation reign in all the earth.

David: Yes.

Seth: And that's what happens when Jesus returns.

David: That is what happens when Jesus returns. That's a beautiful place to stop. I love that. Well, guys, thank you so much for listening.

Seth: Absolutely.

David: This has been great.

Seth: That's the book of First and Second Samuel. [laughs]

David: That's the book of Samuel.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Uh, I found that extremely helpful.

Seth: I did too. [laughs]

David: I hope you guys did. We came in here like, we've been studying Samuel, and even an extra week longer than we normally take on a book, and-

Seth: Just to-

David: And we still just felt like it was a lot.

Seth: A beast.

David: And so I feel a lot more solid, uh-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... now. So anyway, happy reading of Samuel.

Seth: And if you have any questions, please email them to us-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... leave a voicemail recording, uh, send it to [email protected]. If you could, leave us a review. Uh, that helps other people see Jesus in all of scripture on iTunes and wherever else-

David: Yep

Seth: ... that actually happens.

David: Yep.

Seth: And we'll see you guys next time.

Outro: [outro music] Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit that gives all its resources, like this podcast, away for free because of supporters like you. To help Spoken Gospel in our mission to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture and view all our free resources, visit spokengospel.com. [outro music]

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The Book of Samuel: How an Ancient Kingdom Points to King Jesus

Show Notes

From Judges to Kings: Why Israel Needed a New Kind of Leader

Hannah's Prayer and the Theme of Humility

Two Kings, Two Paths: Saul and David

The Voice of God and the Prophets

The Davidic Covenant: An Eternal Kingdom

David's Fall and the Trickle-Down Righteousness of Jesus

Related Resources

Introduction to 1 & 2 Samuel

View our devotional on 1 Samuel 1-2:11

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