Tag: 1 Corinthians

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10/13 Reading (1 Samuel 19-21; 1 Corinthians 16)

1 Samuel 19: Clearly Saul’s anger and jealousy began to make him crazy because he continues to try to kill David nonstop. Eventually David escapes with the help of his wife (Saul’s daughter) and finds Samuel. Saul sends messengers to arrest David but they are taken over by God’s spirit and go a little crazy (referred to as a prophetic frenzy). Each group of messengers experience this until Saul goes to see David and Samuel himself. Saul also suffers from this and gets naked in front of Samuel.

NOTE: I thought Samuel never saw Saul again, at least according to 1 Sam. 15?

1 Samuel 20: David and Jonathan (Saul’s son), who are very close, talk about Saul’s obsession with killing David. Jonathan initially denies it, which is strange because Saul asked him to kill David personally in chapter 19. So I’m a little confused on this one. Jonathan is determined to prove David wrong, but agrees to “test” Saul a little and see his reaction. David is supposed to dine with the king at the feast associated with the new moon. They agree that David will miss it and Jonathan will say that he is with his own family. If Saul is ok with it, then David is wrong. If Saul gets really angry, then David is right. Well, Saul got angry, so David was right.

1 Samuel 21: Just some general discussion of David running and trying to hide from Saul. He does get the sword of Goliath at his first stop, which is kinda cool.

1 Corinthians 16: Right away the Paul addresses the importance of collecting money for the poor in Jerusalem. It’s just assumed this will happen. Perhaps because they all know it’s the right thing to do. Imagine that! Paul then talks about his hope to come and visit and sends a final greeting to the people. Pretty straight forward chapter.

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10/12 Reading (1 Samuel 16-18; 1 Corinthians 15)

NOTE: I had a lot to say on this reading.

It has become pretty much a daily occurrence for our President to attack the media. This is typically done on twitter. However, in my opinion, what’s transpired these last few days is the worst he’s ever said. His desire to pretty much end any negative coverage of his administration is definitely getting out of hand. But these statements along with other statements where he’s challenged the judicial and legislative branches of our government bother me. He’s acting more like a King or Dictator than a President. Reading about Saul reminds me a little of what we are currently experiencing. Saul’s lust for power was ultimately his downfall. I wonder if that will happen with Trump. Only time will tell.

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10/11 Reading (1 Samuel 13-15; 1 Corinthians 14)

1 Samuel 13: Saul begins his campaign against the Philistines. The Philistines march out to meet Saul and his army with what seems to be a larger army. Many Israelites fled out of fear. Saul waited for Samuel to come and offer a sacrifice to God, but when Samuel was late, Saul did it himself. Samuel showed up and got angry with Saul. He told Saul that since he disobeyed God’s command (I’m guessing the sacrifice was only supposed to be done by Samuel), Saul’s dynasty would not last.

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10/10 Reading (1 Samuel 10-12; 1 Corinthians 13)

1 Samuel 10: Saul is anointed king by Samuel. Samuel explains some of the signs he will see and tells Saul to wait 7 days for him. Samuel brings all of the tribes together and initially admonishes them again for selecting a human king over God. He then brings forward the Benjamin tribe, then the Matri family, and then selected Saul. Not everyone was happy with this decision, with some refusing to give him any gifts of appreciation.

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10/9 Reading (1 Samuel 7-9; 1 Corinthians 12)

1 Samuel 7: After 20 long years of the Ark remaining in Kiriath-jearim, Israel “yearned for the Lord” (CEB Study Bible; 1 Sam 7.2). Samuel told the people to stop worshipping the foreign gods and they did. He told them to assemble in Mizpah so we could pray to God for them. Upon hearing of everyone gathering in one location, the Philistines decided to attack everyone there and defeat Israel once and for all. I’m guessing 20 years made them forget what happened when they possessed the Ark, because this was a bad idea!! While Samuel prayed to God for help, he struck down the Philistines. The Israelite soldiers attacked and killed the Philistines. This led to the return of the various towns the Philistines had captures from Israel.

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10/6 Reading (1 Samuel 1-3; 1 Corinthians 11)

Introduction to 1 Samuel: After reading the introduction to 1 Samuel in the CEB study bible, I’m excited about reading both books of Samuel. I’m finally getting into King David. The overview of Samuel from the CEB study bible is interesting. I will actually touch on it when I get to 2 Samuel as the introduction is the same. I think one reason it is the same is because according to the notes in the CEB version and the NRSV version, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel used to be one book. The original book was split into two books “in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and grouped together with the book of Kings (also divided in two) to form 1-4 Reigns or 1-4 Kingdoms. These divisions were later introduced into Hebrew Bibles and subsequently became standard.” (NRSV, p. 399)

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10/5 Reading (Ruth 1-4; 1 Corinthians 10)

One thing I’ve learned during this experience is that it’s challenging to reflect on individual chapters in each book. Sometimes it’s more appropriate to reflect on the three readings from the OT as one statement. That’s what I will do from time to time.

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10/4 Reading (Judges 19-21; 1 Corinthians 9)

Judges 19: Just as with Judges 18, this chapter starts with the same phrase: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (Judges 19.1). This chapter was disturbing. We see a Levite who marries a second woman (he’s already married), who then gets mad and heads to her father’s house. The man goes to her and brings her home after several days. On the way they have to stay in a town. They are taken in by a foreigner. While there, the men of this town surround the house demanding to have sex with the Levite. He ends up sending his wife out and they proceed to rape and abuse her all night. She dies from this treatment. The husband sees her the next morning, throws her over his donkey, gets back home, cuts up her body into twelve pieces, and sends the pieces of her body into all of the areas of Israel. Um…what!!!!!!!!!!!

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10/3 Reading (Judges 16-18; 1 Corinthians 8)

Judges 16: Now we get to the story of Samson and Delilah. Delilah was a Philistine woman. The leaders get her to seduce him and see how they can overpower his strength. He gives her three different explanations and each fails: tie him up with 7 fresh bowstrings, tie him up with new ropes, and weave the 7 braids of his hair into one. After the third failure, Delilah says “‘How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t trust me’” (CEB Study Bible; Judges 16.15)? Wait, what? That makes no sense. Finally he tells her that if his hair is shaved off, he will be weak. That works! Idiot! The Philistines take him captive and poke out his eyes. But…his hair starts to grow back while in captivity.

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10/2 Reading (Judges 13-15; 1 Corinthians 7)

NOTE: I had a lot to say about this reading.

Judges 13: Now we get to the Israelites again doing bad things. Dang, you’d think they learn from their mistakes. Although when I said that to a friend of mine, he said it kinda reminds him of society now. I’m not going to go there today, but that’s an interesting perspective. I digress. This time the Israelites are ruled for 40 years by the Philistines.

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