Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Astartes from among you. Direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.’ So Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and they served the Lord only.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, October 19, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Judgeship of Israel has now gone from Eli to Samuel. There’s no indication of exactly how old Samuel is at this point, but there’s some vague language in 1 Samuel 3 indicating he “grew up” and God was with him and let “none of his words fall to the ground.” So…twenties maybe?
His prophecy about Eli’s sons meeting untimely deaths has just come true when they are both killed in a battle with the Philistines. In the same battle, the Ark of the Covenant is stolen by the Philistines and it is this news, not the death of his sons, which causes Eli to fall over, break his neck, and die, ending his 40-year stint as judge of Israel.
The Philistines returned the Ark about seven months later (God made it abundantly—and horror-movie-esquely—clear it had more power than they could handle and they’d better give it back). But they still wanted a piece of the Israelites and so the people call on their new judge, Samuel, to tell them what to do.
And Samuel does. “Make a decision, people. Are you God’s or aren’t you? If you’re God’s and you want God to protect you, for crying out loud stop worshipping other gods! I mean, really. Do I have to spell this out for you?”
Well, sometimes yeah. We all forget, in times of stress, what’s what. And we might need someone to talk sense to us. Thank goodness for the level-headed folks in our lives who remind us that sometimes we’re missing the obvious.
Who do I count on in my life to set me straight when I’m making too big a thing out of something?
