The Importance Of Interpersonal Sins In The Book Of Samuel

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were seen as people who failed to listen to God’s commandments. Despite knowing beforehand that they would be punished for their disobedience, they still continued to commit sin. God tried to deter their misbehavior by promising them many blessings, but it worked to no avail. Due to the insubordination of the Israelites, He made sure that the promises He made to them would be withheld and that they would face consequences.

Here we see David in his first major fall from grace. King David accomplished a great evil, a two-fold sin. Not only did he commit adultery, but also he also sent Uriah into battle so that he would be killed. David, being blinded by his selfishness, did not notice that he had committed a great sin in the eyes of God.

The relationship between David and God is one of both fear and love. David, who is chosen by God to rule the people of Israel, is loved by God. However, it is clear in points of the Bible that the wrath of God overcomes his love for David. To begin with the love that God has for David, it is easy to see when David places the Ark of God in Jerusalem, officially giving it a place to rest after several years of wandering. We see this in the dialogue when it is said “And David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obededom to the City of David with rejoicing” (2 Sam. 6:12). With the Ark itself

In 2 Samuel the narrative shifts to the reign of David as he rises above Saul’s son Ish-bosheth to become the king, first of Judah and then of all the tribes of Israel (5:1–4). The book records David’s wars of conquest including the capture of Jerusalem and the relocation of the ark of the covenant to the City of David (6:1–19). But the author also records David’s failures: his adultery with Bathsheba (11:1–26), Absalom’s rebellion (15:1–18:30), Sheba’s revolt (20:1–26), and the disastrous census (24:1–25). Like all the prophetic writers, the author presents a portrait of his historical figures from the perspective of their faithfulness to God’s covenant.

We see in this verse that Samuel promises to repay anything he had unjustly taken from anyone. This promise demonstrates Samuel’s heart and the caring of his people, it shows great integrity and we see the confirmation on the people’s response when not one person rose up to make a claim against Samuel (Boa 2005). Samuel shows two characteristics according to Boa that permeated every area of his live this was honesty and personal integrity. These two characteristics showed in how he regarded his possessions, his business dealings and his treatment of those who were weaker than himself. Samuel

Although Saul met all qualifications of what the ideal king should resemble, he lacked the most important trait, obedience to God. Saul was identical to the rest of the people of Israel and wanted to reign his way. Saul’s disobedience caused his fall, “For example, his usurpation of priestly functions while awaiting Samuel to offer the sacrifices at Gilgal before the battle with the Philistines caused God to vow that he would remove the kingdom from Saul (Hindson 165).” God rejected Saul as king because of his blatant disobedience of God’s commands, and God chose David as the forthcoming king.

In the passage, “The Norm is the Image of God” (p.27), Joseph indicates that he is a strong believer of God, and his life is all based around his religion. This is a good trait to have considering his society is extremely religious. However, he also has a great hatred towards blasphemies and any type of deviational creature. Because Joseph stands for what he believes in, David is strongly impacted.

As Samuel grew in age he intended to appoint one of his sons as the king of Israel. His sons however did not follow the ways of their father or God. “They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice” (I Samuel 8:3). The people of Israel desired a king, “a king like all the other nations” (Hindson and Yates, 2012. P.164). The people had grown tired of oppression and felt that “the lack of a strong human leader as the cause and did not realize that the reason for the oppression was a spiritual on-their failure to serve God” (Harbin, 2005, p.219). Saul was not God’s choice for the throne but “he was the people’s choice” (Hindson and Yates, 2012. P.164). Saul’s appointment as king was against the “old

David was a brave man. His heroics were becoming songs (1 Samuel 18:7) and those songs greatly angered King Saul to the point of wanting David killed. David, not wanting to die, fled from King Saul wrath. The future king dwelt in the wilderness as Saul relentlessly pursued him. Having one enemy desiring to kill someone is enough, but David had other enemies. Enemies that can be more dangerous than the one trying to end your life. One such dangerous enemy was Cush the Benjamite. The danger of Cush’s opposition could have brought even more enemies against the embattled David. While Cush was not directly trying to kill David as Saul was, this Benjamite was spreading lies that only fueled the anger of the King and could have ignited more rage against

Bonnie and sherry both good post. Solomon shows us that even if you’re the wisest person in the world if you are not abiding in the Lord then the vines of the world are going to choke you out. God allowed Solomon to make this choice to disobey as he does with us. “So the Lord said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.’” (1 Kings 11:11 NASB). God displayed mercy to Solomon for David’s sake “Nevertheless I will not do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son.” (1 Kings 11:12 NASB). How faithful and patients God is with us is just amazing.

It can be argued that Abigail’s speech actually hurt the apologist’s case. In response to Abigail’s speech, David says, “May you be blessed…for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands (1 Samuel 25: 33).” Although Abigail successfully averted her husband’s death at the hands of David, her speech also portrayed David in a belittling light. Anger and revenge are sins in the eyes of the Lord, and sins that David would have committed if it were not for Abigail.

This action showed David’s flaws through him being selfish. David also was greedy when he demanded commanders to not kill his son. “Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom” (208). David and his commanders were competing in a war against his son Absalom. David ordered them not to kill his son because he was acting selfish. David is a flawed leader who can be considered as human because of his

However, Saul is soon abandoned by God because of his disobediences. Yet, Saul’s disobedience is controversial. Patricia K. Tull, the author of “1 and 2 Samuel” in Theological Bible Commentary, argues, “Saul’s exact offense is unclear, and commentators struggle to reconstruct it, augmenting the impression that he was given a test with no correct choices.” In contrast, Marvin Sweeney, the professor of the Hebrew Bible in Claremont School of Theology, asserts, “Although the narrative can hardly be considered anti-monarchic, it takes care to raise concerns about the character of kingship and its costs to the nation at large and it demands that proper kingship in Israel must be exercised in accordance with the divine will.” In this view, Saul has not been accorded with God’s will. Then, is this God’s intentional choice? If it is true, why he does this? If God did not choose Saul as the king, it would be possible that he is not deserted from God. Bible

We have heard the story of David and Bathsheba many, many times before; but have you ever thought of King David (man after God’s own heart) as being a sinful and wicked

God develops many special relationships with His people throughout the Old Testament. Another word to describe the relationship between God and his people is covenant. The word covenant goes into the details of the relationship. Within the five books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), Historical books, Poetical books, and the Prophet books, one may pick up on the relationships being developed between God and humanity. God has an unconditional love for His people; He is always faithful to them. On the other hand, humanity has more of a conditional relationship with God. Humanity continuously falls short, making the love seem “conditional,” but are given a choice to either follow God into a relationship and receive love and benefits of the covenant or not. “No child of the covenant who presents to Him a faithless and insincere heart shall be included in its blessings.” Going off the idea of love being unconditional and conditional, this paper focuses on how the Old Testament is about God, humanity and their relationship.