1 Corinthians 10-16 and 1 Samuel 1-15

I love the little checklist Paul gives us in this last section of 1 Corinthians-

But now, let’s jump back over to 1 Samuel!

Can I just say, I super love it when dots connect. I know there are lots of places within the past 15 books and 20 weeks that dots have connected and missing pieces have been filled in and most of which I’ve probably missed- which is exactly why this will not be the last time I will aspire to read the Bible cover to cover- but regardless-

Remember back in Judges, the super dark story of the concubine that was married to the Levite and was raped and murdered in the Benjamite town of Gibeah? Then the Levite sent the evidence to all of Israel and all of Israel attacks the Benjamites for allowing such evil and to purge the evil from Israel?

So now fast forward- Benajmites lost 25,000 men during the battle. Those remaining are then not allowed to marry other Israelites and can only marry women from Jabesh Gilead or the girls they took from Shiloh (I know I know, super dark). We meet Ruth & Naomi. Ruth married Boaz, they eventually become the great grandparents to King David. Then we met Elkanah & Hannah- Samuel’s parents. Samuel is given to the Lord and goes to live with Eli, the priest in Shiloh. Eli dies, Samuel takes over as a judge (leader). Now the people are basically demanding a king (insert eye roll here; ugh the people that refuse to listen and just obey God as their king). God chooses Saul to be that king; when Saul meets Samuel and Samuel invites him to dinner, Saul says (here it is the connecting dot, the light bulb) “but I’m a Benjamite; the smallest tribe of Israel. My clan is the least of all the clans of Israel”

Ok so pop quiz- why are the Benjamites the least of all the clans of Israel? Because they sinned in the way they treated the Levite and his concubine, and God had the other Israelites kill most of them off!

The rest of this passage lays the foundation for the next several chapters- we get to know Samuel better. Saul becomes king, leads Israelite to several victories, then eventually his head gets too big and he decides to start doing his thing rather than God‘s, so Samuel and Saul have a big falling out.

Whew. Ok. That was a lot of really good stuff. How are you feeling? Grasping the content? Feel like the dots are connecting? Seeing anything new here?