Deuteronomistic Themes In 1 Samuel

Understanding one’s family history and where you come from is important to any person's sense of self, and is equally important for Saul’s character. When at God’s Lake as a child, a place special to the Indian Horse family, Saul learns more on the history of his family. “[He] could see a camp of a dozen wigwams at the foot of the great cliff. Women were scraping hides stretched out on poplar frames while the children ran around them.” The land is relevant to Saul’s understanding of himself because he only has these kinds of visions where he learns about the past on the land. Upon learning about the land and family history, he takes that with him everywhere he goes. After wandering aimlessly for a decade, Saul comes back to God’s lake where he has a supernatural vision of Shabogeesick where “he swept his arm to [. . .] the lake, the shore and the cliff behind us. [He says] ‘You’ve come to learn to carry this place within you. This place of beginnings and endings.’” In Saul’s vision of his great-grandfather, the significance of the land in his journey is vocalized. In order to know where are you going, you have to know where you have been. The land plays a vital role in helping Saul know where he is going by teaching him his family history and where he has been.

He has fought, wrestled long and hard to get to this place as his last few days of his life are now coming to an end. Tired of wrestling with in his self as sleepless nights take their toll on him, on the run he has to end of this madness. General’s today, one can look at various battles and from a battle plan. They know what it takes to end them, who to send where men, targets to bomb, etc. So it was with Saul he finally came to the point that he has to talk to God. He knows the battle plan for this pending battle this quickly approaching. The armies were all ready there waiting to go and destroy Saul and his armies. When all else falls go back to square one and Saul square on like so many today is to go here from God.

1 Samuel 15:29: It describe Jonathan Saul’s son went to David in the woods how God

1 When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. 3 Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, 5 and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the Lord,

At the end of the book of Judges, we find that the Israelites were asking for a king to rule over them. Being the Judge over Israel-Samuel-anointed Saul as the Lord commanded him. The first two kings of Israel were Saul then David; these two characters set out for the new beginning of the Israelites. Here we will have a closer look at these two characters as well as their relationship with God and each other. It was written that Saul was a tall, handsome young man who comes from the tribe of Benjamin which was the smallest tribe of Israel.

Saul had previously wiped out all of the mediums and wizards from the land because they were evil in the eyes of Yahweh. Because of his realized hypocrisy, he disguised himself and visited the medium his servants had sought out in Endor. He told the medium to call upon Samuel and so she immediately suspected that he is Saul. She knew that her work was extremely illegal by Saul's court, so she became afraid until he reassured her that he was permitting the act in that occasion. She then called upon Samuel. Samuel apparently took over the medium's body or appears in some other way to Saul. So Saul did what he came there for and asked for advise on his latest predicament. The irritated and disturbed Samuel explained that Yahweh is taking away his kingdom and giving it to David because of his disobedience of not carrying out the Lord's punishment against the Amalekites (according to Mc Carter the dead had some way of knowing God's plans and had access to them). So, Saul fell to the ground in anguish from the news and lack of energy caused by fasting. The medium quickly attended to him and forced him to eat. Saul and his servants then left. And there the chapter ends.

The nation of Israel was set apart as holy to the LORD. But they When the children of Israel demanded a king, they did so to be like the other nations. The first three kings were Saul, (outwardly tall, handsome and strong—a seemingly good choice for a king, but inwardly arrogant, proud and unrepentant—not God’s choice), David (a man after God’s own heart who repented of his sins and as such was God’s choice), and Solomon (the wisest man who ever lived, but because of covenant disobedience became the catalyst for the division and ultimate exile of Israel.

The Heart of the Old Testament written by Ronald Youngblood is an extraordinary book that makes logical sense to the Youngblood’s approach to the OT. Youngblood identifies the nine themes that form the pillar of the Old Testament. These themes show that the Old Testament is not any different from the New Testament and should not be consider entirely irrelevant when compared to the New Testament. The nine themes include monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant,

When Saul and his servant came across Prophet Samuel’s path they caught each other’s attention. The

Deuteronomy is a pivotal book in the Old Testament for several reasons. Thought it is the last book in the Pentateuch it seems to be transitional in nature. Deuteronomy opens with all of Israel on the plains of Moab waiting to enter the land that the Lord God had promised their forefathers to give to them (Num. 33:48; 36:13). This is a new generation, for the older generation, which the Lord led out of Egypt, has died in the wilderness. This new generation was not alive when the first covenant was made, thus it would make sense that they would have to renew the covenant. They will also enter the Promised Land, a place that their forefathers only hoped to enter, not even Moses would be able to enter. How will the Lord address this new generation before they enter the Promised Land?

The character of Nathan in II Samuel is extremely complex. We can perceive this in his words and actions in response to David’s deeds, as well as in the general traditions of the Hebrew prophets and their relation to more generalized Near Eastern traditions.

At the end of Genesis and into exodus, we see a God who is delivering a people out of slavery and promising this same people a literal land of their own. He promised to be their God. We find moving into exodus that Jacob and Joseph are dead. In Exodus, we see God taking the blessings of Egypt to Jacob and his seed making it bondage to prepare their heart to be His people. Deuteronomy teaches the people how they will live in the promised land. Moses was used of God to lead them out of Egypt and to prepare the new generation to be His people, but Moses could not enter the promised land (Deuteronomy 34:4, HCSB). As Deuteronomy ends God provides new leadership, but His words live on with the people. He continues to choose to work among them. They conquer the land He promised with His guidance and by their obedience to His commands. In conclusion, the storyline from

God told Samuel to locate the right person to be Israel’s first king. Well, he looked at a lot of people; God guiding him all the time. And finally he selected Saul. Saul was just a boy, but he was a tall, striking and modest young man.

In the book of 1 Samuel, we learn about the life of King Saul, who even though he started off very well, he didn’t finish very well. There is a cliche that sums up the life of King Saul, which says, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” However, Saul’s disobedient actions, unfortunately, derailed what possibly could have been a God honoring rule over Israel. In order to understand Saul, we need to take a look into his life and how he lived before he became king.

In The Bible there are multiple ideal societies which are presented, each denoted by the God's approval of that society and its leader. One of these societies is that portrayed in the story of Saul. In this story Samuel, a prophet of God, is given the task of revealing Saul, the ruler who is specified