1 Samuel 7:10-12 - The Lord thundered against the Philistines

7:10,11

While the sacrifice was being made, the Philistines approached to engage in battle.  However, the Lord thundered against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, so that they were routed. If we look at the battles in the Old Testament we some where standard military tactics were used and the battle was won. We see others where miraculous means won the battle. It is not always one or the other. Here we have the miraculous sort. After the Lord had thrown them into confusion, the men of Israel pursued and slaughtered the Philistines.

7:12

Stones were often set up as reminders or memorials to things that God had done. Samuel saw this event as significant so he set up a stone calling it “Ebenezer”, which means “stone of help”. The significant elements were (i) Israel repented and took actions in keeping with repentance, i.e. getting rid of their idols; (ii) they sought the Lord’s help; (iii) a sacrifice was made; (iv) Samuel called upon the Lord; (v) the Lord delivered them from their enemies.

1 Corinthians 2:1,2 - I resolved to know nothing except Jesus Christ

2:1

Paul has just urged them to “boast in the Lord”, he now reminds them of how he brought the gospel to them. Paul practised what he preached. He did not”come with eloquence or human wisdom”. Paul did not seek to emulate the rhetorical skills that were greatly valued in those days. Paul proclaimed the “testimony about God”. 

2:2

“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified”. We need to remember what the basis of the gospel is, what our message is. This does not mean that we pay no attention to how well put together a sermon or teaching is. There is no virtue in a garbled, incoherent mess of a sermon. However, we need to be clear about where our confidence lies. Moreover, when we preach or teach it most definitely is not just about us, it is not just a matter of the message we give. Rather, we are working together with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus Christ, and His work on the cross.

1 Samuel 7:8,9 - Do not stop crying out to the Lord

7:8

The people looked to Samuel to cry out to the Lord for them. So they had turned to the Lord, but their faith was far from complete. Now we need to look at the good and the bad in this. The Israelites were at various points reliant on Moses and now on Samuel praying for them, interceding for them. We have Christ interceding for us (Rom 8:34). We too can intercede on behalf of others. The “bad” is that they were seeing themselves as distant from the Lord. The gospel brings us close to God. We can pray directly to the Lord, Christ still intercedes for us, but God wants a close relationship with us.

7:9

To add to how this points towards Christ and the gospel, Samuel now offers a suckling lamb as a sacrifice. Now Christ offered Himself as the sacrificial lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Samuel’s lamb was accepted, and the Lord answered him. How much more is the sacrifice of the Son of God accepted, and how much more are His prayers answered?

1 Corinthians 1:27-31 - Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord

1:27

Instead of choosing the wise and influential, God chose the foolish things, the weak things. He chose you and me. And He did this to shame the wise and the strong of this world. The gospel is a God thing not a man thing. It is God working that we should rely on, not on our own supposed wisdom or strength.

1:28,29

Instead God chose the lowly and despised things of the world, you and me. He chose the things that are not to nullify the things that are. He did this “so that no one may boast before Him”. This was not an act of egotism on God’s part, but to face us up to reality. All things come from God, and we need to trust in Christ alone. We are utterly dependent upon Him. We would not even exist unless God had created us. God is facing us up to reality.

1:30,31

We are in Christ purely because of God’s sovereign choice. I will say yet again, this does not mean we are passive,  we are active in this, mostly in believing in Christ. Christ is the wisdom of God, It is because of the “weakness” and “foolishness” of the cross that we are saved. Humanly speaking, no one is in a weaker position than a man upon a cross. The disciples warned Jesus against the foolishness of going to Jerusalem where He would be handed over to men. Christ is our righteousness, holiness and redemption. So we should boast in Christ alone, and Paul quotes from Jer 9:24 to hammer home his point.

1 Samuel 7:5-7 - I will intercede with the Lord for you

7:5,6

Samuel then calls all Israel to Mizpah. Jerusalem was not in Israelite hands at this point, and Mizpah was a key city. Samuel would intercede for them there. Pouring out water was not mentioned in the Law, but seems to have been an act of self-denial. The people also fasted and confessed their sins. 

7:7

News of the Israelites assembling reached the Philistines, and they decided to attack Israel. They may have seen this as the best way to quell any “rebellion” from Israel, or just an opportunity to crush them. The people of Israel were afraid. They had been under oppression by the Philistines for many years, and had suffered many defeats. Now they had turned back to God, having got rid of their idols, and having God’s promise that He would deliver them, they had no need to fear. Yet the fear was so deeply ingrained that it still remained. Likewise for all of us there are things that we still fear, yet have no need to do so. It takes time to learn to live in the light of God’s kingdom.

1 Corinthians 1:25,26 - Not many of you were wise

1:25

The gospel may seem like foolishness to some, but it is actually wider than all human wisdom. It deals with mankind as we are, it deals with the truth, not with a fantasy. Likewise, the cross seems like weakness, for it was the most painful and humiliating form of death invented. Yet through the cross sin was defeated, the devil was defeated, and death was defeated. The cross has not been defeated in two thousand years, and it will never be defeated.

1:26

Paul now seems to switch tact a little, but in fact it is strongly related to the matters he has just been talking about. There was a kind of celebrity culture, in which the rich, famous and eloquent were looked up to, and were idolised. And this culture was being carried into the church. The same thing happens today. If some sort of famous person becomes a Christian, then they are paraded by the church, or are considered to be of special value. There is some good motive behind this, in that the thinking is “if the world sees that this famous person believes the gospel, then more people will believe in Jesus”. However, the thinking is flawed. First it is unfair on the famous convert. He or she is a vulnerable human being just like you and me, and putting them on a pedestal can cause them harm. Secondly, it is denying that the cross is the power of the gospel, it is putting celebrity status above that of the cross. Thirdly, churches sometimes look very silly because of this. The celebrity’s faith may be very weak, or they may have a number of suspect views. Finally, it devalues the “ordinary Christian”. In essence it takes the focus off Christ. This is not to say that celebrities should never speak at “Christian events”, but that it should be done with true Biblical wisdom. Paul reminds the Corinthians that not many of them were rich, wise, influential or of noble birth. If God so greatly valued the things that the Corinthians valued, then He wouldn’t have chosen them!

1 Samuel 7:1-4 - The people of Israel turned back to the Lord

7:1,2a

This is another example of a chapter division being in rather an odd place, the first verse seems more suited for chapter 6. Anyway, the ark is moved from Kiriath Jearim to Abinadab’s house. There his son Eleazar is consecrated and is tasked with standing guard over the ark of the Lord. The ark remained there for twenty years. The presence of the Lord, which is what the ark represented, is not something to be taken lightly.

7:2a-4

It seems that it took these twenty years for the people of Israel to return to the Lord. Mankind seems happy to endure an awful lot of pain and disaster before admitting his need for God. Samuel is now centre-stage, he acts as a prophet, a priest and a judge (or ruler). Unlike all the previous judges, his priority is to make sure that the people are genuinely committed to the Lord. So he tells the people the actions they must take in order to show that their repentance is genuine, and not just words. They must get rid of all the idols that they had accumulated over the years. Instead they must serve only the Lord. God is very much for exclusivity! There was also a promise that if they did this the Lord would deliver them from the Philistines. The Israelites did this, dumping the Baals and Ashtoreths, and serving the Lord instead.

1 Corinthians 1:23,24 - A stumbling block

1:23

Regardless of what the Jews and Greeks were looking for, Paul and his companions preached the cross. There is perhaps a lesson for us here. Each society has its own measure for what it values. This would say that we must not pander to our society. Even if the gospel is a stumbling block or foolishness, we must preach it anyway. For part of the power of the gospel is that it goes against the flow. So if we “go with the flow” we are going against the gospel. At the same time we must also remember that elsewhere Paul does speak of becoming all things to all men. We do not ignore the way that the society we are in operates.

1:24

Why do we do this? Because the gospel is the power and wisdom of God. “to those whom God has called ...” The gospel is a God driven enterprise. If we neglect that fact then we make it man-centred and it loses all its power, and indeed its wisdom. And there are people whom God has called among both Jews and Greeks. So in our anti-Christian society there are people whom God has called, and they will be saved by the gospel. Even among the most woke, there are those whom God has called. It is God who sets the agenda, not the world.

1 Samuel 6:17-21 - Who can stand in the presence of the Lord?

6:17,18

There was a gold tumour for each of the cities, and it seems that there was a gold rat/mouse for each of the towns and villages. At the time of the writing of 1 Samuel the large rock on which the ark of the Lord had been set was still there. 

6:19-21

Some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark, and so were struck down by the Lord. The Bible is manifestly not a “pro-Israel” text, it is about God. For Israel is under the same requirements as everyone else, and Israel is represented as at least as sinful as everyone else. So the seventy who were killed are a sign of the same judgement that befell Philistia. This judgement caused the people of Israel to mourn. The people of Beth Shemesh were no longer so keen on having the Ark in their midst. They were beginning to recognise that the Lord was a Holy God. They wanted it to go to Kiriath Jearim, a town about ten miles further up the Sorek valley. No one wanted he Ark in their town!

1 Corinthains 1:21,22 - Through the foolishness of preaching

1:21

God allowed man to go his own way, just as the Father allowed the younger son to go his own way. The younger son just ended up in a mess. Likewise, mankind in general has ended up in a mess. Man by his own efforts and wisdom does not know God. No one is saved by the world’s wisdom. Instead, it is through the “foolishness” of the cross that people are saved. Lives are changed and healed through the gospel, “the foolishness of what was preached”.

1:22

In the gospels we frequently read of the Jewish leaders demanding a sign from Jesus, and this was despite Him performing numerous miracles and healings! The Greeks demanded wisdom. The term “Greeks” is sometimes used as referring more generally to the Gentiles. However, with the Greek love for philosophy Paul may be thinking specifically of the Greeks here. Signs and wisdom were the measures by which the Jews and the Greeks, respectively, judged the validity of something or someone.

1 Samuel 6:10-16 - They rejoiced at the sight

6:10-12

The priests’ instructions were carried out to the letter. The cows duly went straight up to Beth Shemesh. Beth Shemesh was in a valley connecting Philistia and Israel. The cows had had no training at all, so it was a miracle that they went straight along the road to Beth Shemesh. The philistine rulers followed them as far as the border, so they knew where the Ark was heading.

6:13-16

When the Philistine towns had seen the Ark coming they were full of fear, for they expected death to accompany it. The Israelites had a very different reaction, rejoicing at the return of the Ark. The cart stopped beside a large rock in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. We have no idea who this Joshua was. They chopped up the cart and sacrificed the cows there. Bulls were the normal offering, but given the situation this seemed a reasonable thing to do. The Levites took charge of the situation, and various other offerings were made. The Philistine rulers saw all this and reckoned that they had now resolved the problem.

1 Corinthians 1:19,20 - Where is the wise person?

1:19

Paul sees our salvation as all part of God’s plan.He also sees the opposition and the perishing as part of God’s plan as well. He quotes from Is 29:14 where God states that He “will destroy the wisdom of the wise” and “frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent”. Rebellious man claims to be wise, claims to know what he is doing, but in fact he is foolish and hasn’t a clue what he is doing.

1:20

Man’s efforts have manifestly failed. Paul singles out the “teacher of the Law” and the “philosopher of this age”. The teacher of the Law is the Jewish “wise man”. The Pharisees in particular with their detailed knowledge of the Law, and interpretation thereof, were revered in Jewish society. The philosopher of this age is the Gentile or Greek “wise man”, the ones who were thought to be clever. But the wisdom of the world has achieved little, and brought about much harm.

1 Samuel 6:7-9 - Get a new cart ready

6:7

The priests took the whole matter very seriously, realising that they were dealing with a serious God who had power, so they insisted on a new cart, and cows that had calved, but never been yoked. The calves were to be penned up, i.e. effectively locked behind closed doors. The significance of all this is that if the cows did go to Israel, then it would be proof that it was the Lord leading them, for their natural instinct would be to go back to their calves.

6:8,9

The Ark was to be placed on the cart, along with the gold offerings. They were then to keep an eye on it. If it did indeed head off to Israel this would prove that it was the Lord who had brought disaster on the land. Otherwise it would just be coincidence that the disasters had happened at the same time as the Ark was present. The Philistine priests are demonstrating a high degree of intelligence, even a scientific approach to the matter.

1 Corinthians 1:17,18 - It is the power of God

1:17

Paul was not sent to baptise, but to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. He also then states that the wisdom or eloquence with which he did or did not preach was not the issue either. What mattered was the cross of Christ. We need to be careful that we do not put undue emphasis on preaching styles. This does not mean that we should not try and preach well, but we must always remember that it is the work of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit which bring about effectiveness.

1:18

The previous verse closed with the phrase “lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power”. It is the cross that brings about our salvation. The gospel was the message of the cross and resurrection, and it is the gospel that is the power for salvation (Rom 1:16). This raises two questions: (i) why is the cross so powerful; and (ii) if the cross is so powerful why do so many reject it? It is the second of these that Paul addresses here, but dwelling a little on the first of these. Man’s fundamental problem is sin, the sin we have committed, and our inherent sinfulness. It is only the cross that addresses these two matters. To the latter question, Paul is quite aware that to many the cross is foolishness. It is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Samuel 6:4-6 - What guilt offering should we send to Him

6:4,5

The Philistine leaders are now amenable to taking advice. The religious leaders tell them to make five gold tumours and five gold rats (NIV, other versions have mice). It has been suggested that in the rural areas there had been plagues of mice devastating the harvest. Alternatively, I suppose, the rats/mice could have been plague carriers. The purpose of these gold objects was to give glory to God. Having defeated Israel, they thought they had defeated God (and modern philosophers etc think much the same!). The gold offerings were a sign that they now realised they had not defeated God! Then, they hoped, God would no longer hold His hand against them.

6:6

We see again that there was a general awareness of how the Israelites had escaped from Egypt. In particular, they knew how stubborn Pharaoh had been, and how much it had cost Egypt. So the religious leaders warned the Philistine leaders not to harden their hearts as Pharaoh had done. To do so would only invite harsh treatment from God.

1 Corinthians 1:13-16 - Is Christ divided?

1:13

Whatever the reasons for claiming allegiance to a particular person, the Corinthians were seriously misguided. Christ is not divided. We must never put devotion to a particular church grouping or denomination above devotion to Christ. After Christ returns there won’t be any denominations.  Christ is not divided. Actually the “Is Christ divided?” could be a statement rather than a question. If it is a statement, then it is said in the sense of “what a ridiculous thing to say”, or “do you realise what you are doing?”. As a question it clearly expects the answer no. Paul then gives reasons why saying “I follow Paul” is completely out of order. Paul was not crucified for them. They were not baptised in the name of Christ. Everything is about Jesus. It is His death which atones for our sins. We baptised into Christ.

1:14-16

Paul then reminds them that he did not actually baptise many of them. He then names two people he did baptise, then remembers some others. It was not important to Paul whether he actually baptised someone or not. What mattered was whom they were baptised into.

1 Samuel 6:1-3 - What shall we do with the ark?

6:1,2

The ark remained in the Philistine territory for seven months before they took definite action. Given the disaster that was befalling them this seems a long time to let things carry on. Why not act sooner? Possibly it was because of pride. To act would mean to admit that their god Dagon was pretty useless, and that the God of Israel was greater. However, our societies are no better. All the evidence shows that a stable two parent environment is by far the best environment in which to bring up children, yet we will not admit that marriage is the best and proper family structure. Likewise, it is clear that transideology is founded on a lie, and it causes all sorts of problems, but the leaders in society will not admit this simple fact. And this stubbornness had been going on for much longer than seven months! However, eventually the Philistine leaders call for the priests and diviners to tell them what to do, how to get rid of the ark.

6:3

The priests and diviners seem to have quite a lot of good sense. Clearly they do not have a proper devotion to the Lord, but their advice shows more wisdom than the Israelite priests often displayed.  First of all they say that the ark must be set back with gifts, in particular a guilt offering. So there had to be an admission of guilt. Then they would be healed. Israel often refused to admit their guilt. Mankind in general would often prefer to suffer the consequences of sin, rather than confess their sin. The tragedy is that if guilt was admitted then they would be healed.

1 Corinthians 1:10-12 - I appeal to you

1:10

When we become self-centred in any way, then divisions start to arise in the church, for the focus shifts from Christ to men and women. The flesh starts taking over. The men or women, or the systems, may claim to be Christ-centred, but in truth they are not. Deliberately, or inadvertently, they become man-centred. This is what was happening in Corinth, and Paul now starts to address the  key issues in Corinth. And the one he starts with is that of division. Note that this is not “unity” for its own sake, but unity in Christ. Paul appeals “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. The goal is that they are “perfectly united in mind and thought”.

1:11,12

Paul had received reports from “Chloe’s household”, we don’t know anything else about Chloe. Anyway, the reports said there were quarrels among the believers in Corinth. When we start becoming man focused quarrels become more prevalent. The people were dividing into factions, claiming to be followers of a particular apostle or evangelist. Apollos was a particularly eloquent speaker (Acts 18:24-26), and given the culture in Corinth that would be one reason for some idolising him. The apostleship of Paul and Peter would be reasons for others choosing them. It isn’t clear why “I follow Christ” is included in the list. Obviously following Christ is what the gospel is all about, but Paul almost certainly didn’t mean it in that sense.

1 Samuel 5:7-12 - Send the ark of God away

5:7

The people of Ashdod were obviously not too happy about the situation. They were right in thinking that it was the ark of God that was inflicting the tumours. Their response was to send the ark away. This was the wrong response, the correct response would have been to repent and turn to God. Likewise, the response of our societies is to try and send God away. It is true that God is judging our societies (Rom 1:18), but the correct response is for us to turn to God and He would heal us (Is 6:10).

5:8,9

The people of Ashdod called the Philistine leaders together, and they decided to move the ark of God to Gath, this was a bit nearer Israel. It isn’t clear why they thought this would improve the situation. Perhaps they thought that because Gath was nearer Israel then the “god” (as they saw it) that inhabited the Ark would be happier. However, this did not happen and tumours broke out among the people of Gath, and the city was thrown into a panic.

5:10-12

Next they tried Ekron. Ekron doesn’t seem to have had any say in this decision, and they were none too pleased about it, for entirely understandable reasons. They reckoned that the rest of Philistine was out to kill them.  So they called together all the Philistine rulers urging them to send the Ark back to Israel. The Philistines were consumed with fear and many died.

1 Corinthians 1:8,9 - God is faithful

1:8

Paul now assures them that God will keep them “firm to the end”. When we start becoming self-centred, or proud of our achievements, or in any way thinking that we earn our salvation, then we start taking on board an intolerable burden. For we are simply incapable of earning our salvation. It is the Lord who keeps us firm to the end. Now let me remind you, as I do often, that this does not in any way mean that we are to be passive. Just read the Bible! There are no passive believers. But we live our lives confident in the Lord keeping us safe. Because of this we will be “blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

1:9

This verse really sums up what salvation is all about. We have been “called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”. Most religions are a matter of one way or another trying to meet a standard, i.e. earning our salvation. The gospel puts all our focus on Christ. And we have been called into fellowship with God’s Son. This means that we walk alongside Him, seeking to live Christlike lives.

1 Samuel 5:4-6 - The Lord's hand was heavy on the people

5:4,5

The next morning the same thing had happened, but even worse this time. Dagon had again fallen down on his face before the Ark, but this time his head and hands had broken off. We human beings pride ourselves on being rational and intelligent, but if this was genuinely true the Philistines would have worked out by this point that their god Dagon wasn’t up to much. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10) and knowledge (Prov 1:7). When we abandon God our thinking becomes futile (Rom 1:22,23).

5:6

What should the Philistines have done? They should have repented, acknowledged that the Lord was God, given the evidence that they had seen in their temple. However, they did not. So the people were afflicted with “tumours”. These may not necessarily have been cancerous tumours. One suggestion is that they were afflicted with bubonic plague, a symptom of which can be lumps of various sorts.

1 Corinthians 1:5-7 - You have been enriched in every way

1:5,6

Paul is still preparing the ground before he starts to deal with the serious issues which abounded in Corinth. These issues included specific items, such as lawsuits and incest, but there were also serious attitudinal matters. Indeed these wrong attitudes could be said to lie at the root of many of the problems. One of these was a competitive nature, wanting to prove oneself better than others, or boasting about what we have and what we can do. One of these was the matter of spiritual gifts, and taking pride in wisdom or speaking ability. Paul begins by recognising that these are good gifts. Paul then reminds them that these confirm the testimony that Paul and his companions had given them about Jesus Christ. 

1:7

So it is good that they “do not lack any spiritual gift”. This may have been said somewhat tongue in cheek. The Corinthians actually needed a lot more knowledge and wisdom than they thought they had. Moreover, they should have been waiting for “our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed”, i.e. waiting for the return of Christ. Paul is aiming to get them to put their primary focus on Jesus Christ.

1 Samuel 5:1-3 - Dagon fell on his face before the ark of God

5:1

The Philistines had defeated Israel, they had also captured the ark of God and so thought that they had defeated God. They were very much mistaken about this. Remember also that Eli was distraught at the capture of the Ark. They were both very much mistaken and lacked understanding. Today the church often fails badly, and we may be dismayed when this happens. We are right to be dismayed, but it does not mean that “God is defeated”. We should be dismayed at man’s sin, at our failure, but God has not failed. 

5:2,3

In their ignorance the Philistines took the Ark to Ashdod and carried it into the temple of their god, Dagon. Dagon was a fertility god of some description. They probably thought that their god had defeated the God of Israel. They could not have been more wrong. In the morning they found the idol Dagon fallen down on its face before the ark. They completely failed to understand, and thought that putting the idol back upright would solve the problem. They didn’t seem to ask how the idol had fallen down in the first place, nor the symbolism of it having fallen down on its face before the Ark.

1 Corinthians 1:3,4 - Grace given to you in Christ

1:3

This verse is very typical of Paul’s introductions, and is the blessing that occurs in most of them. We need grace and peace, and these are given to us from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Note the equivalence of the Father and the Son. Notions that the divinity of Christ was a later addition to Christian theology are completely without foundation. Note also that God is our Father, there is a personal relationship here, and it is quite amazing that the creator of the whole universe should be our Father!

1:4

As with most letters, Paul then gives thanks for the church in Corinth. The one exception to this is the church in Galatia. It may seem surprising to us that Paul gives thanks for them, given the mess the church is in. However, Paul still sees that God is at work in the church. We can look at a church (or even ourselves) and see all the things that are wrong. We should not overlook these things, but we should seek to correct them. Things can only be corrected if the grace of God is at work in our lives. We are utterly dependent upon the grace of God, but when the grace of God is at work all things are possible.

1 Samuel 4:14-22 - The Glory has departed from Israel

4:14-18

Eli heard the uproar, but didn’t know what had happened. One could maybe see him as the Joe Biden of his day!  The Benjamite told Eli all that had happened. This included the great losses, the death of his two sons, and the capture of the Ark. On hearing of the loss of the Ark Eli fell backwards, broke his neck and died. It seems that the loss of the Ark was of most concern to him. He had probably written off his two sons, they got what they deserved. We are now told that Eli had “led” or “judged” the nation for forty years.

4:19-22

The death in the family of Eli continued. The wife of Phinehas was pregnant and about to give birth. The news of the death of her husband and father-in-law sent her into labour.  She gave birth, but died as a result. She did, however, have time to name the child in a meaningful way. She called him Ichabod, which means “no glory”, and declared that “the Glory has departed from Israel”, because the ark had been captured. Our reaction may well be to think it unfair of God to take her life, but the wife saw the true meaning and importance of the event more clearly. It is also interesting that both the wife here, and Eli, saw the capture of the Ark as the more significant event, more significant than the death of their loved ones.

1 Corinthians 1:2 - To the church of God

1:2

This is a little different from the normal introduction, though not massively so. Paul refers to the Corinthians as “the church of God '', as “those sanctified in Christ Jesus”, and those “called to be His holy people”. Given the state of the church in Corinth, and the issues that the letter goes on to address, this introduction seems somewhat out of place. One might reasonably think that the church was anything but holy and sanctified! However, Paul was reminding them of who they were in Christ, and therefore how they should be living. First, they are God’s church, not their own. The church is Christ’s body, not our body. We are part of the body, but the body belongs to Christ. We live for His sake. We have been sanctified in Christ and called to be holy. We have not been called to be like the world, but to be like Jesus. We are called for His purposes, not for the world’s purposes. Therefore we should live Christlike lives, not worldly lives. The church today badly needs to remind itself of this.

Paul then reminds them that they are part of the global church, i.e. “together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. We belong to and serve the same Lord.

1 Samuel 4:10-13 - The Israelites were defeated

4:10,11

So the Philistines continued to fight, and they defeated Israel again. This time the losses were even greater, thirty thousand. Why did the Ark have no effect on the battle? It was because it was not a “lucky charm”. Israel’s problem was her sin, her abandonment of the ways of God. Israel needed to repent.

As well as losing the battle, the Ark of the Covenant was also captured, and Eli’s two sons both died. The prophecies against Eli’s family were being fulfilled, and more was to come.

4:12,13

Eli “feared for the ark of God”. He probably didn’t think that taking it out into battle was such a good idea, and thought that it might well be captured. Eli was “watching”, though since he was blind he wouldn’t see much. A Benjamite came from the battle, with all his clothes torn in rags, and with dust on his head. The man informed the town of Shiloh of how badly things had gone, so the whole town was in fear.

1 Corinthians 1:1 - By the will of God

1:1

The introduction to Paul’s letter is fairly typical of the introductions to most of his letters. He starts off by introducing himself as “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”. Sometimes today the term apostle is bandied about far too freely, and seen as a status symbol. This is not the way that Paul used it. First, we must understand that with respect to people like Peter, John , Paul etc it had a particular relevance, including being a direct witness of Jesus Christ, His resurrection and what He did (Acts 1:21,22). With regard to this, Paul was somewhat unusual, as he acknowledges in this very letter (1 Cor 15:8). Paul is an apostle “of Christ Jesus”. No one was an apostle for their own sake, but for the sake of Jesus Christ. Then he was an apostle “by the will of God”. This is abundantly clear from the Damascus road account in Acts 9. Paul did not apply for the job! He was told by Christ that he was going to do it. Sosthenes is also mentioned. Sosthenes had been the synagogue leader in Corinth (Acts 18:17), this may or may not be the same person. I incline to think he was, it seems he was known by the church in Corinth.

1 Samuel 4:5-9 - Be strong, Philistines!

4:5,6a

Initially it seems that their reasoning was correct. On the appearance of the Ark, all Israel raised an enormous shout. It was so loud that the Philistine camp  heard it as well. However, Israel was treating the Ark more as a luck charm than the actual presence of God. If they had treated it as the actual presence of God then the nation would have gone into deep repentance.  We all need to be very wary of treating religious practices of any sort as “lucky charms”.

4:6b-9

Initially the Philistines were wracked with fear. What had happened in Egypt many years ago was apparently well known in the region, and the Philistines feared that a similar thing would happen to them. Notice that they say “they are the gods ...” While they were aware of the historical events they thought the Israelite God was just the same as other “gods”. Now if they were afraid at this point, why weren't they afraid to attack in the first place? Maybe they thought the “gods” were no longer with Israel (which in a sense was true!), but when the Ark was brought out and they heard the great shout this caused them to reassess the situation. Whatever the case, instead of giving in to fear, they rallied themselves together, not wanting to be enslaved by the Hebrews.

1 Corinthians - Introduction (Part 2)

The letter was written in AD 54 or 55 from Ephesus. It is believed that there were four Corinthian letters in all, though, of course, we only have two of them. There was a letter written previous to 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians itself, a “severe letter” written after 1 Corinthians, and then 2 Corinthian. It is also believed that Paul made three visits there. There is the initial visit when the church was founded and reported in Acts 18, a painful visit, and a visit sometime after 2 Corinthians.

There are a number of sections which are introduced by “Now about ....”, so it seems that the church had asked Paul about various matters. Paul also received visits from people from Corinth who reported to him various concerns about life in the church. The fundamental problem in the church was worldliness, a habit of going along with the world, or at least significant compromise. When this happens the church loses its sharpness, but worse than that it ends up being even worse than the world! The most blatant example of this in the church was the overlooking of incest. In today’s church compromise is a serious issue, and the church has become ineffective. Moreover, the church that compromises ends up just looking stupid.

The letter is one of the longer epistles and covers many subjects. Underlying it all is, of course, that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour. The doctrine of the Trinity is pervasive throughout. The other doctrinal feature that receives more detailed attention than elsewhere is the resurrection. Obviously, the resurrection is pervasive to all the New Testament preaching and teaching, but in 1 Corinthians 15 it receives focused attention and explanation. The letter is well known for chapters 12 and 14 dealing with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but that is far from being the only mention of the Holy Spirit. In addition, the letter deals with a number of specific questions, including marriage, sexual immorality, the Lord’s Supper, divisions, and proprietary in worship.

1 Samuel 4:1-4 - Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us?

4:1

This is another case of a chapter division being put in a rather odd place. The start of 4:1, “And Samuel’s word came to all Israel” would seem to be better placed at the end of the previous chapter. Chapters 4-6 will actually contain nothing directly about Samuel, rather describing the situation into which he would prophecy. It starts out with the Israelites going out to fight against the Philistines.

4:2,3

Initially the Philistine forces are deployed in an orderly manner, but as soon as battle commences the order tends to disappear. This is typical of most warfare. It has been said that precise battle plans rarely last beyond the first shot being fired. However, the Philistines did rather well in this battle, and Israel was defeated and lost four thousand men.

4:4

On returning to the camp the elders of Israel asked “why did the Lord bring defeat to us today?” They seem to have assumed that they almost had a right to win, that the Lord’s backing was almost automatic. The history of the Judges should have taught them otherwise, but they are about to learn the lesson again. Their response is to bring out the Ark of the Covenant. They reasoned that this would mean that the Lord would be with them and so they would win!

1 Corinthians - Introduction (Part 1)

Introduction

While writing these notes I am working through the following commentary:

1 Corinthians: An Introduction and Commentary (TNTC), 2015, Thomas R Schreiner

And a lot of the introductory information, in particular, comes from there.

The city of Corinth was near two important ports, Cenchreae and Lechaeum. It was a wealthy city because of its commerce. These two harbours provided access to Italy and to Asia, making it an important trading centre. The city was Roman in nature at the time of Paul, and this is significant in understanding the passages on head coverings and the Lord’s supper. The city had been destroyed in 146 BC because of its rebelliousness. Julius Caesar reestablished the city in 44 BC, but now with a distinctively Roman flavour.

It had a diverse population, including Jews. Acts 18:1-11 tells us that it had at least one synagogue. The population was somewhere between 80,000 and 100,000. They worshipped many gods, athletics played a significant role in city life. There were temples to Apollo, Aphrodite, Poseidon, Asclepius, Demeter and Kore, and a host of other gods played a role in city life. It was normal to worship several gods. So Judaism and Christianity were unusual in their devotion to the one God. Christianity stood out from Judaism in its lack of cultural practices such as circumcision, Sabbaths etc. Later on the Christians would be branded as atheists because of their refusal to worship a whole panoply of gods. Because of the nature of the city the temptation to compromise was significant. Corinth was also known for its sexual immorality.

We  read about Paul’s initial visit to Corinth in Acts 18:1-8, when Paul founded the church there. This probably happened in about AD 50. Priscilla and Aquila worked with Paul in setting up the church (Acts 18:1-3). In fact, these two make a number of appearances in the New Testament. Initially, as was his practice, Paul went to the synagogue, but after being thrown out, he went next door! It is likely that the church was predominantly Gentile, though there would undoubtedly be a number of Jews. With that came a significant amount of sexual immorality, much of which is addressed in the letter. There were a large number of slaves in Corinth, with slavery being an integral part of the economy in most nations. And it seems that a number of these were in the church. While a large part of the church came from the lower classes, there were some rich and higher class people, and issues related to this are also addressed.

1 Samuel 3:15-21 - He revealed Himself to Samuel through His word

3:15-17

Samuel lay down pondering these things, aware of the awesomeness of them. He did not want to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him. Few, not even Samuel, enjoy giving bad news to people. This time Eli calls Samuel and inquires as to what the Lord said to him. Eli had received the words of the prophet some time ago, and knew that they would come to pass at some point. He instructs Samuel to tell him the truth, otherwise Samuel would suffer judgement.

3:18-21

Samuel now tells Eli all that the Lord had said. Eli, having received the earlier word, accepted what Samuel said, knowing that it was indeed from the Lord. Eli was resigned to the matter. After this Samuel continued to grow. Traditionally it is believed that Samuel was twelve years old when these things happened, and that would make sense. Moreover, all of Israel recognised that Samuel was a prophet of the Lord. None of the judges had been recognised as men of God. The Lord continued to “reveal Himself to Samuel through His word”. It is through His word that God reveals Himself to us.