1 Samuel 17:16-24 - They all fled in great fear

17:16-19

This charade went on for forty days and the impasse would eventually be broken by David. This began in a n inauspicious way. Jesse told David to take some bread to his brothers in the camp, and to take ten cheeses to their commander. Jesse also wanted some assurance that his sons were OK. His reference to them “fighting against the Philistines” indicates that Jesse was unaware of the nature of the “battle”, and he had no idea that David would be the one to finish the matter.

17:20-24

So David set off, leaving the flock in the care of a shepherd. So David still made sure that the flock were looked after properly. “He reached the camp as the army was going out to its battle positions, shouting the war cry”. It would be more accurate to say their “non-battle positions”. The charade was continuing. David left the supplies he had brought and went to his brothers to see how they were. While he was doing this Goliath appeared. When the Israelites saw Goliath they simply fled. But this time David heard and saw what was happening.

1 Corinthians 9:7-11 - Who serves at his own expense?

9:7

Paul now emphasises his right “not to work for a living”. However, he is doing this not in order to claim that right, but to show that he is not claiming a perfectly justifiable right. Soldiers do not risk their lives and fight at their own expense. Someone who plants a vineyard eats the produce of the vineyard. Those who tend herds drink the milk. 

9:8-11

So far Paul has been using natural analogies, but now he turns to Biblical support for his argument. Paul now turns to the Law, in particular Deut 25:4, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Now to us the argument seems a bit spurious, for it is most obviously speaking about animals.However, Paul is used to rabbinical type arguments, and moving from the lesser (oxen) to the greater (humans) was a well known construct. However, Jesus also argued in a similar way on occasion. Jesus pointed out that if a sheep  had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath (Matt 12:11) they would rescue it, so how much more was it right to heal a man on the Sabbath. It is the same sort of reasoning that Paul is using. So if someone sows and reaps the gospel, then it is reasonable for the preacher to “reap a material harvest”.Now we need to consider this carefully.Most of us rightly react against so-called prosperity teaching, but the church can also be guilty of not treating its workers properly. 

1 Samuel 17:8-15 - Goliath stood and shouted

17:8-11

We now get a rather strange phase of the “battle”. Each day Goliath stands there boasting of how strong he is and daring the Israelites to send someone to fight him. The winner of that fight will determine who becomes the subject of whom. Goliath was confident of his invincibility. The Israelites, on the other hand, were cowed in fear, they were “dismayed and terrified”. 

17:12-15

David is introduced here as the eighth son of Jesse, David came from Bethlehem. OF course, we have already met David when Samuel anointed him as king. Jesse’s three oldest sons were enlisted in Saul’s rather useless army. David, who was in the service of Saul as his musician, went back and forth between Saul and his father’s sheep. It might be said that David was the only one doing anything useful!

1 Corinthians 9:3-6 - This is my defence

9:3,4

“This is my defence to those who sit in judgement on me”. This verse does seem to imply that there were some who criticised Paul, but we now move into Paul describing how his heart attitude works. He raises a number of rhetorical questions, each expecting the answer yes. Do they have the right to food and drink? Of course they do. Though the question here probably means do they have the right to be paid, rather than a philosophical question on the right to eat and drink.

9:5,6

“Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us?” It seems that several of the other apostles did precisely this. Paul, of course, did not do so (see chapter 7).  Barnabas is then brought into the picture. Paul asks if every other apostle is allowed not to work for a living, everyone except he and Barnabas. Paul here is going to show that he has every right to expect the church to pay them for their work. Then he will point out that while he has this right, he chooses not to exercise it. Just because we have a right does not mean we have to use it if there is a greater cause. Paul seems to be including Barnabas as an apostle here. 

1 Samuel 17:1-7 - Goliath

17:1-3

We now come to what is undoubtedly the most famous incident in David’s life, the battle with Goliath. This is generally seen in popular culture as a victory for the underdog, but this is not the way the Bible presents it. Rather it is presented as the victory of the man of faith, regardless of the size of the opposition. Interestingly, nowhere else does the Bible refer to this victory, though there are a couple of references to brothers of Goliath. The Philistines had been a perpetual problem for Israel, and once again they were assembled for war against Israel. It is only through the man of faith that Israel gains victory.The opposing armies are lined up against each other, with a valley separating them. For a time we will have something of a phoney war.

17:4-7

Rather unusually the Philistines are presenting a champion, Goliath. So the victory will be determined by a fight between two men, rather than a more straightforward battle. One wonders why the Philistines did this, surely they could have just routed the Israelites? Maybe they had memories of some past defeats. We then get a description of Goliath, who was certainly a mighty fellow. He was extremely tall, and was dressed in very heavy armour. He was also equipped with mighty weapons.

1 Corinthians 9:1,2 - Am I not free?

9:1

While the argument in the previous chapter dealt with the specific issue of food offered to idols, it was the heart condition that Paul was primarily concerned with. Paul is not merely giving instructions, he now demonstrates how these heart issues work out in his own life. Some see this chapter as a defence of his apostleship, others as demonstrating the heart issues. I think the latter is undoubtedly the primary purpose, but I don’t think the defence can be entirely ruled out. In 2 Corinthians the attack on Paul’s apostleship is very much to the fore. That is not the case in 1 Corinthians, but there do seem to be some murmerings about Paul. 

Paul is free, that is a key consequence of the gospel (Gal 5:1), and he definitely was an apostle. He had met the Lord Jesus on the Damascus road. Moreover the Corinthians were the result of Paul’s work in the Lord.

9:2

Paul had founded the church in Corinth. There were other churches that were founded by someone else, but the Lord had used Paul to establish the church in Corinth. The Corinthians knew that. They were the proof, the seal, of his apostleship. This part does read as a mild defence or reminder of his apostleship.

1 Samuel 16:19-23 - Send me your son David

16:19,20

Saul then sent a message to Jesse telling him to send his son David. It was known that David looked after the sheep. The exact timing of these incidents is not known, but the point is to show how David became acquainted with David. Jesse sent some gifts with David and sent him to Saul.

16:21-23

David entered Saul’s service and Saul liked him. David did not just play the harp, but was also Saul’s armour-bearer. Because Saul liked David, he asked Jesse to let David remain with him. Presumably Jesse allowed this to happen, though he probably could not really refuse the king’s request. If the “spirit from God” came upon Saul, David would play the lyre and relief would come to Saul. Saul would feel better and the spirit would leave Saul. We see here that the evil spirit enabled David to come into Saul’s service. God was using this to orchestrate events, and is why the Bible says that God sent the evil spirit.

1 Corinthians 8:10-13 - You sin against Christ

8:10,11

If the person with the “weak conscience” sees the clever person eating food previously offered to idols, then he may think that it is OK to do that, and so start to do it himself (he is “emboldened in his conscience”). However, Paul demonstrates a deep insight into human psychology. The weaker brother’s conscience will then start to bother him. He is eating the meat not out of a settled decision in his own mind, but by a superficial sense that it is OK because the stronger brother has done it. And when we do things against our conscience it causes all sorts of internal problems.

8:12,13

So rather than exercising their freedom, the stronger brother is sinning against the weaker brother by wounding their conscience. More than that, the person is sinning against Christ. For Christ cares for the weaker brother, “the little one” (cf Lk 17:1,2). With regard to the earlier statement in 1 Cor 8:9 about “exercising” their “rights”, Paul may have been speaking ironically. What the “stronger brother” should be thinking about is the well being and spiritual growth of others.

1 Samuel 16:14-18 - An evil spirit from the Lord tormented him

16:14

“Now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul”. It is not clear exactly when the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul. Whether it was just after David was anointed, or after one of the “rejections”. Whatever the case, the Lord now sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. In the Old Testament virtually all actions are seen as being initiated by God. We might have a problem with the Lord sending an evil spirit, and would prefer it to just to say that “an evil spirit tormented Saul”. However, as God is sovereign all events are in some way down to Him, but this does not mean that man and/or the devil are not responsible. Indeed, if God is in control of everything, then the way the Bible puts it is the way it has to be.

16:15-18

Saul’s attendants knew what was happening. Quite often Saul’s attendants seemed to be more aware than Saul was! They also knew how to relieve Saul’s troubles. Someone playing the lyre would relieve the symptoms. So Saul instructs his attendants to find such a person. David was known for his musical skills. He was also known as a “brave man and a warrior”. This was probably because of his exploits in protecting the sheep from bears and lions. They also knew that the Lord was with him.

1 Corinthians 8:8,9 - Be careful

8:8

Paul then makes what is actually quite a remarkable statement. “But food does not bring us closer to God”. Now for us that seems a blindingly obvious statement, but Paul was a Jew. Now if you ask anyone what the Law said, one of the things they would be likely to bring up would be that there were restrictions on what one could eat. Yet Paul says here that eating food is neither here nor there. Now Paul’s comments here are directed at the “knowers”. They may have thought they were demonstrating their greater knowledge and being quite happy to eat the food offered to idols, but Paul is telling them that it actually does nothing for them.

8:9

So exercising their rights by eating food offered to idols does not bring them closer to God, i.e. it does no positive good, but it can do serious harm by becoming a “stumbling block” to the “weak”. Schreiner points out that there is a parallel with Jesus’ words on not causing “little ones” to stumble (Lk 17:1,2). The “knowers” needed to think of others, not just themselves, and definitely not about demonstrating how clever they were!

1 Samuel 16:12,13 - This is the one

16:12

So David was brought in. “He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features”. Earlier we read that God does not judge by outward appearances, but that does not mean that being good looking is wrong! It is the priority we give to things that matters. Putting God first in all things is the most important priority. If we do that then many other things will fall into place. David was the one, and the Lord said, presumably to Samuel, “RIse and anoint him; this is the one”.

16:13

Samuel took the oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers. Later on his brothers would be rather resentful of David. In some ways it is a little like Joseph. Joseph was favoured by his father, and then had two dreams. Brothers do not naturally take well to one of their number, especially the youngest, being “anointed” in some way. The spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel went to Ramah. David was largely left to his own devices, or rather the Holy Spirit’s devices. There would be great victories ahead, but also many difficult situations to face.

1 Corinthians 8:7 - Not everyone possesses this knowledge

8:7

The “knowledge” here is the knowledge that idols are nothing at all. Paul points out that while the “knowers” (as Schreiner refers to them) know idols are nothing, there are those who think of the food as being sacrificed to a god, and so eating it defiles them. Schreiner says that this latter group are so accustomed to having eaten the food in the past in the context of sacrificing to idols, that they still think of these idols as actually being “gods”. This may be the case, but I don’t think it is necessarily so. It may be that idol worship was such a part of life in Corinth, and part of the converts past life, that they still associate eating the food with idol worship, and so it goes against their conscience. “And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled”. For such a person to eat the food would be a sin for them.

1 Samuel 16:6-11 - The Lord looks at the heart

16:6,7

Eliab was Jesse’s oldest son. On seeing him Samuel thought that Eliab was the one. Now Samuel was a man of God, a man who heard God speak and listened to him, yet here we see that his initial thoughts were wrong, and were guided by outward appearances. We need to be aware that our thoughts are subject to not being spirit led. However, Samuel did not make a mistake, for God spoke to him, corrected him, and Samuel accepted the correction. We need to base our lives on listening to God. Hopefully as we spend more time with the Lord our thinking will become ever more Christlike, but we delude ourselves if we think we will ever reach perfection this side of eternity. The disciples had about as much spiritual insight as the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, but what was the difference between them and the Pharisees and Sadducees? They learnt from Jesus, the religious leaders did not.

Eliab appeared to be impressive, but God looks at the heart of a man or woman.

16:8-11

The rest of Jesse’s sons, bar one, appeared before Samuel. Samuel was now listening to the Lord, rather than judging by outward appearances. So Samuel knew that none of these sons were the one the Lord wanted. After the seventh son had passed, and the Lord’s anointed was not among them, Samuel reacted differently to the way Saul would have reacted. Saul would then have used his own judgement., but Samuel thought there must be another son somewhere. So he inquires of Jesse. There was one son, the youngest, who was out tending the sheep. It isn’t clear why Jesse didn’t consider bringing David along in the first place.

1 Corinthians 8:5,6 - For us there is but one God

8:5,6

There were many “so-called gods”.  I.e. objects or beliefs that society called gods or lords, that society though exerted an influence on life and on people. These beliefs were false and groundless, yet because people believed them they had an effect on people and society.

In contrast to this, the Christian belief was that there is only one God, the Father. All things came from Him, i.e. He is the creator, and it is for Him alone that we live. So the Christian “religion” upholds the Jewish concept of God. However, it then extends it, for Paul now adds “and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live”. I.e Christ is the One through whom all things were created, and the One we live for. So we have trinitarian theology here (Paul is just focusing on the Father and the Son). The Father and the Son are treated as equal.

1 Samuel 16:4,5 - Do you come in peace?

16:4

Unlike Saul, Samuel was obedient to the Lord’s commands, even when his emotions were arguably at odds with those of the Lord. This is a key point in obeying the Lord. If we think we will never have any emotions telling us to go the other way, we are mistaken. In Gethsemane even Jesus found going to the cross difficult, but He said those famous words, “not my will, but your will be done”.

Word of what happened to Agag had got around, and they knew that Samuel was not someone to be messed with. So they want to know whether or not he comes in peace.

16:5

Much to their relief, Samuel replies that he is coming in peace. He states that he has come to offer a sacrifice, and invites them to “come to the sacrifice with me”, and also to consecrate themselves before doing so. Jesse and his sons were consecrated by Samuel, and were invited to the sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 8:3,4 - Whoever loves God is known by God

8:3

“But whoever loves God is known by God”. What does “known by God” mean here? It isn’t that God knows about us, God knows everything about everyone, whether or not they love Him. But if we love God then God knows us, in the sense that we are in a relationship with Him. There are things that are worth infinitely more than money, and infinitely more than any worldly prestige. In fact Jesus warns us about being thought well of by the world (Lk 6:26). Being known by God, counted by Him, is what we should seek. And if we love God we will love others as well, seeking to build them up.

8:4

Paul has begun by addressing the question of knowledge and love, and what puffs up, and what builds up. His hearers may have much preferred him to go directly to the question of food offered to idols, but this he does not do until this point. Those who thought themselves clever argued that idols were nothings, and eating food offered to these idols was not a problem at all, at least in some cases. Now idol worship and idols in general were ubiquitous in Corinthian society. Events involving the eating of food previously offered to idols need not have any obvious religious association. Moreover, some of the food offered to idols was then used for general consumption. This actually is not totally unlike sacrifices under the Law, some of the sacrifice could, subject to certain restrictions, be eaten by the Isrealites as food. Paul freely acknowledges that idols are nothing, and that there is only one God. 

1 Samuel 16:1-3 - How long will you mourn?

16:1

Saul has been rejected as king by the Lord. We now come to the anointing of David. It will take some time, and many events, before he actually assumes the role. These events are important. There are some who see the account as an apologetic for David’s kingship, i.e. demonstrating that he was rightfully king, and not a usurper. The account does demonstrate that David was rightfully king, and had the role because of God’s choice. However, the accounts are true, not made up, and are not afraid to show David’s failings as well as his successes and his good points.

Samuel was mourning for Saul. Probably because he was upset at having anointed Saul, and then seeing him fail and be rejected. Anyway, the Lord tells him to get over it! There was work to be done, and the first thing to be done was to anoint David. At this point Samuel is just told that the king he has chosen is a son of Jesse of Bethlehem. Bethlehem, of course, will assume even greater importance as the birthplace of Jesus.

16:2,3

Samuel is fearful, afraid that Saul will kill him. Saul is very protective of his kingship. So we see that even godly men can be full of fear. The Lord tells him to take a heifer and to say “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord”. Jesse was to be invited to the sacrifice. We see that following God does not mean being naive, or avoiding using wisdom. The heifer would be a cover. Saul, in all his weakness, had a fear of sorts for the Lord and anything to do with sacrifices, so the cover would stop him killing Samuel.

1 Corinthians 8:1,2 - About food sacrificed to idols

8:1

The next three chapters deal with various issues, particularly food sacrifice to idols. While Paul addresses the particular issue, he uses it to stress more fundamental matters, which are at the heart of the problems that the Corinthians were facing.

“We all possess knowledge”. The Corinthians were very keen on being thought to look good, including in their “knowledge”, but while knowledge is clearly important, being proud of our “knowledge” is not a godly attitude to have. The ruling principle should be “love” not “knowledge”, for love builds others up, while “knowledge” puffs up those who think they have “knowledge”.

8:2

Paul is not decrying knowledge, but what we do with knowledge, and how it affects us. It is much the same with money. Money can be “a root of all kinds of evil”, but money is not in itself bad, indeed much good can be done with money. So if we see “knowledge” as showing how clever we are then we are going down a wrong path.

1 Samuel 15:30-35 - Samuel put Agag to death

15:30,31

“I have sinned”. This is another of Saul’s “repentance”, none of them going very deep, merely reflecting sorrow at the consequences of his actions. “But please honour me ...” Saul was very self centred. He wants to worship God, but only so that the people see Samuel still with him, implying that he still has Samuel’s approval. Surprisingly Samuel agrees to this. Perhaps he knew that while Saul had been rejected by God, the final outworking of this was still some time off.  God said Adam and Eve would die because of their sin, and they did, but not immediately.

15:32,33

Samuel now turns to carrying out what Saul failed to do. So he summons Agag to be brought to him. Agag thought things would now work out well for him, he could not have been more wrong!  Samuel put Agag to death. We see in 15:33 that Agag’s death was well deserved. He had made many women childless, now his own mother would be childless.

15:34.35

Samuel left for Ramah, and Saul went to his hometown of Gibeah. Samuel mourned for Saul, for the weak man he had turned out to be. The Lord, also, was sorrowful at the way Saul had turned out. Did God always know things would turn out this way? Yes, of course, but Saul’s responsibility for his actions was also real. There is an interplay between the sovereignty of God and human responsibility that is beyond our understanding.

1 Corinthians 7:34-40 - I am saying this for your own good

7:34,35

So a married man has divided interests, and rightly so. And the same applies to women. A married woman is rightly concerned about how to please her husband. So Paul’s teaching on singleness is not a matter of restricting people, but of sparing them extra concerns. It is looking at singleness in a very different way.

7:36-38

Paul now turns to men who are “engaged”. Should they see things through and get married, or should they call the whole thing off? There is an alternative translation (such as NASB) that see this as referring to a father and his virgin daughter. The engaged man is the better approach (and the one taken by the majority of translations, see Schriener for details), but it actually does not make that much difference to the principle. Part of the reason for going ahead with the marriage is that the man’s “passions are too strong” (which strongly favours the engaged man translation, though this part can also be translated differently) , but also whether he would be acting honourably or not. Marriage is not just about romance and lust! There were societal commitments as well.  Paul says that the man is free to make up his own mind. Paul does say that calling off the engagement is an excellent option, if the man can do so with a clear conscience.

7:39,40

The chapter concludes with Paul speaking to women, and, in particular, to widows. A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if he dies then she is free to do what she wishes. She can remarry, but the man must “belong to the Lord”, he must be a believer. A Christian choosing to marry a non-Christian is going down a very dangerous road. Consistent with all that Paul has said, he does say that he thinks she would be happier if she remained single.

1 Samuel 15:26-29 - God does not lie

15:26-28

Samuel refuses to go back with him. Saul had rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord had rejected Saul as king over Israel. Samuel had to act in accordance with that. We must act in accordance with what God has done. 

Samuel turned to leave, and Saul caught hold of Samuel’s robe, and the robe tore. Samuel sees this as prophetic, symbolising the kingdom being torn away from Saul. God would give the kingdom to one who was better than Saul. Saul’s problem was that he needed a new heart. Instead he clung to the trappings of office, 

15:29

“He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind”. Superficially this may seem to be at odds with the earlier statement that God regretted making Saul king, but only superficially. God does not delight in the destruction of man, but would much rather all would come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), but if man will not repent, then he must take the consequences. God will not act against His Law. This is why the cross is so vital, as in Christ the Law is fulfilled. Note also that God is the Glory of Israel. Likewise, Christ is the Glory of the Church. Saul, and Israel as a whole, did not look to God as their glory, and they took the consequences. Similarly, the church that does not put Christ at the centre is heading for trouble.

1 Corinthians 7:32,33 - I would like you to be free from concern

7:32

Paul now gives a more detailed explanation of why he has spoken in favour of being single, and his arguments here favour the eschatological view of the “present crisis”. A single person is better able to focus on pleasing the Lord. When we come to faith we have a whole different perspective on life, a whole different set of priorities, and the Lord is number one. 

7:33

Conversely, a married man is rightly concerned about how to please his wife. When you are married you have at least one other person to think about in all decisions that are made. Now there is a question we have in regard to all of the teaching in this chapter. At least at a superficial reading, it seems that marriage is seen as “second best”, remaining single is the number one way to go. What can we say about this? We can certainly say that you think marriage brings “salvation”, i.e. it will make your life complete and solve all your problems, then you are greatly deluded. Only Christ is our saviour. Given the rampant sexual immorality in Corinth, sex is given a place way beyond what it deserves, and is greatly distorted. The same applies to our society.  We should also remember that Paul is probably writing in response to asceticism. Now the ascetic approach is actually a fleshly approach, for it puts the emphasis on us. If we follow these rules or deny ourselves this or that (marriage in terms of this chapter) then we make ourselves more holy. Paul presents singleness as a positive option, a gift and blessing from the Lord.

1 Samuel 15:22-25 - To obey is better than sacrifice

15:22,23

We now get the crucial reply, “to obey is better than sacrifice”. When someone’s heart is not for God, religion will become a matter of obeying the form of religion, in this case the offering of sacrifices. Saul did not know God, but knew that the Law requires sacrifices, so he reasoned that by offering the lambs and cattle as sacrifices, then God would be pleased. We need a heart that is for God. Saul manifestly did not have this. Saul rejected God’s word, so God rejected him as king. There are many in the church today who reject the word of God. They are going down a very dangerous road.

15:24,25

Saul now “repents”. There will be several further repentances, mostly in respect to his evil attitude towards David. None of them were more than skin deep. He now says that he “was afraid of the men and so gave in to them”. This goes against his earlier claim that the animals were for sacrifice to the Lord. He asks Samuel (not God!) to forgive him, and to go with him so that he can worship the Lord. Saul is a sorry figure of a man.

1 Corinthians 7:27-31 - Are you pledged to a woman?

7:27,28

So, in line with this, if a man is already pledged to a woman he should fulfil the commitment. I.e. engaged , though the commitment  was stronger than our engagement. Conversely, if a man was not pledged to any woman, then he should not seek out a wife. However, Paul emphasises that if a man does marry he has not sinned. Nor has a virgin if she gets married. He then gives some very practical advice, “those who marry will face many troubles in life”, and this is true. There is no pain free or cost free route through life.

7:29-31

“The time is short”. This would tend to favour the eschatological view of “the present crisis”. We then get a series of “as if they were not” statements. The point here is our attitude towards the things of this world. The things of this world matter, and do and should affect how we live. However, we must not get over engrossed in them, we need to have a proper list of priorities. “For this world in its present form is passing away”. We need to recognise the temporal nature of everything in this world.

1 Samuel 15:13-21 - What is this bleating of sheep

15:13-15

Eventually Samuel reaches Saul, and Saul welcomes him, thinking all is well. Saul believes that he has carried out the Lord’s instructions. We are easily deluded. Samuel then asks him why he can hear the bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle. Saul still thinks that he has done right, for he says the soldiers spared the best of the sheep in order to sacrifice them to the Lord. He has put a religious veneer on his disobedience. 

15:16-21

Samuel is not impressed and tells Saul what the Lord had said to him. Samuel reminds Saul where he has come from. He was small in his own eyes, yet the Lord anointed him as king over Israel. Yet now Saul was erecting monuments in his own honour. God had told him to “completely destroy the Amalekites”, not just the “despised” ones. Saul had not obeyed the Lord. He had done evil in the eyes of the Lord.

Saul still protests that he has obeyed the Lord. Yet there is a clear contradiction  for he says he did completely destroy them and “brought back Agag the king”. So Agag was not destroyed. Sin so easily deludes us. He then again refers to the soldiers bringing back the best of the sheep and cattle in order to sacrifice them to the Lord. Saul was leaning on his own understanding, rather than submitting to the Lord (Prov 3:5,6).

1 Corinthians 7:25,26 - Now about virgins

7:25

We now come to the final “question” in this chapter, and this concerns virgins. Paul is probably writing in response to a question from the Corinthians. His comments can seem rather begrudging about marriage, almost saying “you can get married if you must, but it's better not to”. However, as well as taking all Scriptures teaching on marriage, we should remember that Paul is probably writing in response to an ascetic approach to the immorality problem in Corinth. Jesus did not say anything directly on this (though Matt 19:12 could possibly be seen to have some relevance), but Paul’s teachings are still “trustworthy”.

7:26

“Because of the present crisis ...” There is no agreement on what “the present crisis” is. The two main contenders are (i) a famine in the region; (ii) an eschatological reference. The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive. However, neither are particularly appealing. If it was a famine, then Paul’s advice on marriage, or rather not getting married, would then be of a temporary nature, relevant only until the famine was over. If it is an eschatological reference, then one has to admit that Christ has not returned! So this would have to be a more general eschatological reference, i.e. not referring specifically to the actual return of Christ, but to the fact that we are now in the “last days”, and our priorities may be different. Whatever the case Paul’s advice was that “it is good for a man to remain as he is”. This is consistent with what he has said earlier in this chapter.

1 Samuel 15:10-12 - I regret that I have made Saul king

15:10,11

The word of the Lord came to Samuel. The Lord knows everything that we do. “I regret ...” This does not mean that God made a mistake. In Gen 6:6 it says that God regretted making mankind, yet God’s plans are all focused on mankind, and our salvation. What it does mean is that God cares. We might think that because God is absolutely sovereign then nothing really matters because it is all predetermined. This is not the Biblical picture of the sovereignty of God. The failure of Saul was not just something that God knew would happen, was even part of His plan (which it was), Saul’s failure was real. Likewise, the suffering that Jesus endured before and on the cross was absolutely real, even though He knew He would be raised again.

Saul had disobeyed God, and was not inclined towards God. Samuel also cared, for he cried out to the Lord all night, he was also angry.

15:12

Samuel went to meet Saul, but Saul had gone to Carmel to “set up a monument in his own honour”. Then he went on to Gilgal. Saul was not an outright evil leader in the sense that the Stalins and Hitlers were, or the Mugabes or Putins. He was more like many of the leaders in democratic countries. Leaders who are not God-fearing, they don;t deliberately set out to do evil, but because of the weakness of the unregenerate human spirit end up doing evil, and are essentially self-centred.

1 Corinthians 7:22-24 - You were bought at a price

7:22

So why does Paul say being a slave does not hinder someone’s discipleship? It is because in Christ there is a much greater freedom, there is freedom from the domain of darkness, freedom from sin, freedom from the fear of death. Being a slave or not has no bearing on these matters, and these matters are actually more important than whether or not one is a slave. We can make a more general application of this. We may find ourselves in some circumstances that are horrendous. If so, we should dwell on the freedom we have in Christ. This is not to say that the circumstances do not matter, they do matter, but we have something greater. 

Conversely if someone is free, he should not regard himself as better than a slave, he is now a slave of Christ. He is called to obey his new master, Jesus Christ. Paul is seeking to renew our minds.

7:23

Slaves were bought. We have been bought at a price, the price of Christ’s blood on the cross. We belong not to ourselves, but to Jesus Christ. So we should not become slaves of human beings. We can do this by seeking to follow the ways of society. We must not go along with society’s mores.

7:24

Paul concludes this section with a reminder of the general principle. We are responsible to God, and so should remain in the situation we were in when God called us. Again, this is not an absolute rule which means we must never change anything about our lives. The principle is that we should not think that changing our circumstances will necessarily change us. It is faith in Christ, obedience to Him that changes us.

1 Samuel 15:4-9 - So the Kenites moved away

15:4-6

We are not told when this took place, given the size of the army that Saul mustered, it is likely that it was a few years after the time 1 Sam 13 and 14, when we are talking of a few hundred or a thousand or two. Though 1 Sam 11:8 had two hundred thousand. It is possible that “thousand” here refers to army units rather than a numerical thousand. The numbers for Judah are singled out again. While the Amalekites were destined for judgement, the Kenites were given warning and advised to leave, because of their previous kindness to Israel.

It is advisable to treat Israel well. With the current Gaza-Israel (and Iran-Israel) conflict, there are those who say Israel is getting what it deserves because of their rejection of Christ, and general godlessness. We should remember that Israel was under judgement at this time, for her rejection of God as their king. We should not be blind to Israel’s faults, but nor must we sit in judgement over them, that is God’s job. 

So the Kenites moved away, while Israel attacked the Amalekites.

15:7-9

Saul was carrying out the sentence on God's behalf, but then took matters into his own hands. He took king Agag alive, and spared the best of the flocks. Saul was now deciding who should live and who should die. They destroyed or killed “everything that was despised and weak”. This is how human judgement works. Tyrants will use judicial systems not to implement justice, but to further their own ends. 

1 Corinthians 7:21 - Were you a slave

7:21

Paul now moves to his second example, slavery. As always when dealing with a section on slavery one has to give some context. Slavery was endemic, it was nothing like the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In Corinth at the time it is estimated that one third of the population were slaves, one third had gained their freedom from slavery, and one third were born free. Many lived absolutely miserable lives, especially those who worked in mines, some were horribly beaten. At the same time, some served in much better ways, and some were well educated. There is more discussion in the commentary by Schreiner, and elsewhere. The impression given that America and Britain were uniquely responsible for slavery is utter nonsense. 

So to the text! Paul is addressing the thought that being a slave somehow made it harder or impossible to be a true servant of Christ. This was not the case. Note that Paul does encourage them to gain their freedom if the opportunity arose. And this was possible for some through a process called manumission. 

1 Samuel 15:1-3 - Now go, attack

15:1

It seems to have taken three stages for Saul to be chosen as king, likewise his demise follows three stages. The first was when he did not wait long enough for Samuel at Gilgal (1 Sam 13), the second is here, and the third is his final demise, with the long “battle” with David in between. Samuel knows that Saul is “on the skids”, but he still has a message for him from the Lord.

15:2,3

The Amalekites descended from Esau, and had caused trouble to Israel (Ex 17:8; Num 13:29). God remembered what they had done, and now they would receive their punishment. We might wonder, “why wait so long?”. Part of the reason was maybe to give them time to repent. They had not done so, and now Saul is told to “totally destroy them”. No one and no thing was to be spared. We have problems with this, but there are at least a couple of points to bear in mind. One is that Saul was not executing judgement on his own behalf, but on God’s behalf. He was the agent of God’s judgement. The second is that the Amalekites were not a nice people (1 Sam 15:33), and had carried out their own atrocities.

1 Corinthians 7:19,20 - Keeping God's commandments is what counts

7:19

One could take pride in being circumcised, or take pride in being uncircumcised. Both attitudes are wrong. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. Now this teaching came from Paul who was a strict Pharisee! What counts is keeping God’s commands. Or as 1 Sam 15:22 says, obedience is better than sacrifice. The inner heart of a man and the accompanying actions are what matters, not any outward display.

7:20

The general principle is repeated, “each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them”. We may think that the circumstances we find ourselves in are down to our decisions and actions, or the actions of others. These things do matter, but ultimately it is God who sets the boundaries (Acts 17:26-28), and He does so for a reason.