The first book of Samuel commences with the promise of the king.
Chap. 2:10. The people had walked badly, and God presents Christ when all else failed down here. That which man was not able to accomplish, God perfectly accomplished in Christ, but always going far beyond. In Adam, rule; in Noah, the sword; in Sinai, the law; in Aaron the priesthood (already before Eli). Prophecy does not imply responsibility, because it is a question of the power and of the sovereignty of God in grace; in Israel, royalty; and finally, the Church.
Ver. 18. In a certain sense, Samuel has, as it were, taken the place of the priesthood. The priesthood was the means by which man drew nigh to God; but when the priesthood had failed, God can work in sovereignty, and that is what He is doing here he gives Samuel, or prophecy, by means of which God draws nigh to man in His sovereign grace.
Ver. 35. It is no longer a question for the priesthood to walk before God, but before His anointed one, royalty being introduced. The king forms the link between God and the people, and the priesthood takes the second place.
Ver. 32. God forsakes His own dwelling-place, and in the land which God gave to Israel for their good, the enemies would take possession of it. It is not a question however in this verse of the tabernacle of the congregation; it is the tabernacle, in the general sense, to signify habitation or dwelling-place.
Chap. 3. Having determined to judge the house of Eli, God reveals it by the mouth of Samuel. Sincerity is worth nothing, if there is not also light and faithfulness. Nevertheless there was piety with Eli, for when he learns the death of his sons, this affects him little, but the taking of the ark causes his death.
Chap. 4. Samuel, prophet.
Judgment executed. For the present moment, that which takes the place of the ark in Israel is the Philistines. God takes care Himself of His glory, when His people can no longer take care of it. Yet it was a sad capture for the Philistines. They carry the emblem of power into the very midst of their idolatry. When the ark is taken, in the main, all is over with Israel. All their history from Sinai closes here. That is why the ark was never brought back to the tabernacle, but placed in Sion, and this commences an entirely new order of things. (Read Psa. 78)
Ver. 59. God in great wrath rejects all.
Ver. 65. He awakes in David.
Ver. 67. As to Joseph, who has the double portion of the inheritance according to nature, God refuses him.
Ver. 68. All is now on the ground of election according to grace.
Chap. vi. Good sense in the priests. They sent back the ark, with the thought that the God of the ark was more powerful than the affection of the cows for their calves. God could over-rule nature; otherwise, that which had happened to them was mere chance. When David brought back the ark, he had not the good sense of the priests of the Philistines.
Ver. 19. Much the same happens to the people of God, when they are not faithful. When one has lost God, one laments after Him; then, when He is there, they forsake Him.
Chap. 7. The sovereignty of God in grace acting by prophecy—Samuel, the center of all this system.
Chap. 8. Although God had already interposed in grace several times, they reject Him as king; they will have Him no longer.
Chap. 9. Saul, wretched man! He ignored the man by whom God had done so many things, and God who had wrought them.
Chap. 10. Nevertheless he is anointed. What was the state of Israel at this moment? Very sad. Still there remained the God of Bethel, who had promised to Jacob never to forsake him. If Saul had been honest, he would have said, That is what we want.
Then Saul is recognized by Israel.
The will of God—the seat of the sovereignty and power of God in grace, where the Philistines (the devil) were; and nevertheless a company of prophets (the Spirit acts in power in spite of the Philistines), a small remnant who praised the God of Bethel, so that if there had been ever so little faith, Saul could have known the thoughts of God, and being His anointed to be the leader and deliverer of the people (chap. ix. 16), he might well have driven away the Philistines, who were in the land of God. There are the signs; then, we must listen to the word. Whatever may be the signs that we may have, one must await the direction in order to act. The Philistines are always the enemies in the land; the others are outside; these are in the land of God. The worst enemies of the Church are those who are within.
Ver. 8. Saul remains two years before going down into Gilgal.
Chap. 13. The iniquity penetrates very deep. Although the people had their king, there were no arms in the land.
Saul is put to the test. He causes the trumpet to be sounded, not in order that God should hear in Israel the elect of God, but the Hebrews—a heathen name. He seems not to have had one single thought of God. If the Philistines have any strength, it is also needful that the Hebrews should listen. It was nation against nation—no intelligence, no link with God. Gilgal ought to have recalled something to Saul's mind; but he has neither faith nor intelligence. Saul may here represent some one who desires good; but it is only the flesh. He nevertheless follows the word of God outwardly; but he proves at the same time that he has never depended upon God for one single instant, and that the flesh cannot sustain itself in the path of faith. If he had known the need he had of God, he would have waited, whatever might have come. The faith of Jonathan begins, and the flesh cannot follow. When faith begins, all flesh is routed.
Chap. 14. Jonathan did not look for the honey, but God gave him some to refresh his heart in the midst of the energy of his faith.
Ver. 47. Saul was troubling everything. There is relief and not deliverance; for soon we find the Philistines and Goliath. He did not destroy the enemies, but He plucked Israel out of their hands. God had not yet anointed David, for He does not work until the people have entirely failed.
Chap. 15. Saul is here a second Achan. God has in His heart what Amalek did. He will destroy him. Saul ought to have understood that, but he is not identified with the feelings of God. He avails himself of the power which God gives him to rob God.
Chap. 17. When David was alone, it was a trial; but he was infinitely worse in Saul's court, surrounded by unbelief. After having been in the court, he could again mind the sheep. Self-denial of David. It is needful that after having worked with God, he should still wait on God for the reward. In order for faith to be something, it must go through every difficulty—family difficulties, &c. “Uncircumcised” —man who has not God—Goliath had committed himself by challenging God's army. This was the strength of David.
Ver. 58. Faith has no pretensions; it returns to its own insignificance, because, after all, faith is nothing. Chap. 18. Jonathan recalls to my mind the remnant of Israel, He loves David with all his heart; but he had not followed him. Chap. 23:16-18 tells us what Jonathan was. Abigail represents much more the faith of the Church. In the tribulation of Jesus the remnant does not take part with Him, whereas Abigail follows him everywhere. Although he is rejected, she calls him Lord, whilst Saul is to her only a man. She has intelligence. She judges Nabal, although the judgment was not yet executed. She becomes the wife of David in the desert: thus it is with the Church. When David was with Achish, he was in a sad state—a servant of God, who says he had done evil to the people of God, in order to be well with the world.
They said of David, The Lord is with him. They expected much from him, but nothing came. One must follow for a long time the path of faith.
Ver. 3.4. Here is the intelligence of David: when it is a question of enemies, David is always ready.
Chap. 19:20-22. Saul loses all conscience. The thought that David was with Samuel ought to have stopped him—Samuel by whom he had been anointed. God put all things in his way to stop him; but he was hardened. In prophesying himself, he ought to have understood that the power which caused him to act at this moment, and which rested on David, was greater than himself; but he despises these signs as he had despised the first. The career of David then became very painful, because it was a question of not killing Saul, of doing nothing.
Chap. 21. The sword of Goliath—the power of death. David carried it with him, but certainly did not show it to Achish.
Chap. 22. Here he is in his place. All was there—royalty, prophecy, and priesthood. Saul, after having despised prophecy, turns against the priesthood. Yet David is not discouraged; he will protect Abiathar.
Chap. 23. One of the characteristics in David is always to consult God.
Chap. 24. For the present David was doing nothing. It is difficult to do nothing, when one feels that God is with us. David has much more regard for Saul than Saul had for himself. Excellent spirit!
Chap. 25. Prophecy, properly so called, disappears. Nabal (Israel) is set aside, he who rejected David; and Abigail becomes the wife of the despised one, while he is in the wilderness. It is not properly the Church; but she is on the principle of the Church. Jesus, after all, was taking care of the sheep, although He was not owned. Abigail goes to meet David before the death of Nabal; thus of the Church before the nation is judged. The faith of this woman is very remarkable.
Ver. 26. Abigail, as it were, sentences her husband to death. She sees in Saul a man, and in David the anointed and the servant of Jehovah.
Chap. 26. God again gives to David the opportunity of killing Saul, and that which David says to him this time is much more severe. David never surrenders himself to Saul. He is a hero. He never lets go his object, and his persevering faith is a beautiful thing.
Ver. 10, 11. He has a profound respect for all that belongs to God.
Chap. 27. His faith here fails completely. He seeks the favor of God's enemies in boasting of having done evil to His people.
Chap. 29. Poor David! God permitted all that, to show that in bringing him to the throne, all was grace. He is set aside for a certain time, like Saul.
Chap. 30. David burns through the fire which he himself has kindled. But he always lays hold of God's actings.
Chap. 31. The Philistines are in full possession of all in order to be completely beaten. What grace that God prevented David from going with Achish! If he had put his hand on Saul, he could not have uttered the lamentation which he composed on the subject of his death.
The progress of evil in Saul deserves attention. After disobedience, after jealousy and hatred against David, he despises the prophet in the very circumstances which ought to have reminded him of his authority, then the priesthood, and lastly, he is totally forsaken, and seeks for help in the power of Satan. It is well also to notice that, when he falls, Israel is deprived of everything. David was among the Philistines—Samuel was dead—the priesthood was judged, and even Abiathar was far off. There remained nothing, the state of Israel was complete desolation. Mark well that (David, by his unbelief, having been obliged to hide himself among the Philistines) all depended on God in pure grace. Mark also that, when David leaves Saul, which is the beginning of his typical history in contrast with Saul, he takes with him the showbread and the sword of Goliath. When once he is in his normal position, we have with David that which Saul had despised—the prophet, the priest—David himself being king. This history is perhaps the most sad in the scriptures. It is the history of that which had the position of faith, without the faith which would have had the reality. All he does turns to judgment. On the contrary, in the same measure as that, Saul rejects all that is of God. It is found again with David. Thus the prophet, the priest, only in suffering: but the wisdom of God there.
2 Kings 2:2. Bethel (Gen. 28, especially verse 15), where God promises to preserve Jacob, type of Israel, wherever he went, to bring him back, and not to leave him until the promises were fulfilled, which he had made before. This name, Bethel, plays a great part in the word of God, as recalling the eternal care of God for His people. Here Elijah is type of the man Christ, who enters into the midst of the people and identifies Himself with them, starting from the principles proclaimed at Bethel.
Ver. 4. Jericho recalls the most complete curse. It was where Christ goes after His identification with the people.
Ver. 6. Jordan is death.
Ver. 8. The power of death, which falls at the touch of the power of Christ.
Ver. 9. After the victory Christ can distribute gifts. Ver. 10. If one can see Him far beyond death, He can give everything.
Ver. 14 and following. Elisha is the character of Christ, after His resurrection.
Ver. 22. He returns to Jericho and destroys the effects of the curse, and brings in blessing instead of it.
Ver. 23. He returns to Bethel—full realization of the promises made to Israel; but he exercises judgment.
Ver. 25. Then he goes to Carmel, the garden of God—millennial rest. Then one finds Elisha exercising the power of the age to come. The miracles are for the profit of the people of God.