Sunday, February 13: Samuel

1 Samuel 8

Last week, we saw the culmination of the judges system in Israel. After hundreds of years of failure, Samuel finally got the office right. He fully trusted in God and got Israel to put away their idols and pray. God worked through him and delivered Israel from the Philistines. Not since Moses and Joshua had Israel seen a judge like Samuel.

Seems like the perfect time to do away with the whole system!

Wait…what?

1 Samuel 7 represents the entirety of Samuel’s reign as judge and in chapter 8 he is already an old man. Unfortunately, his sons do not follow in his ways and the people start to get nervous about what will happen when Samuel is gone and the sons are in charge. They’ve seen before what happens when the wrong people are judges, and they don’t want to go back to that.

Their solution? A king!

In 1 Samuel 8, the people ask Samuel to give them a king like the other nations. Now, this request might seem innocuous, but it had serious theological implications. The rejection of the judges system meant more than just a rejection of Samuel—it was a rejection of God himself!

How would Samuel respond to such a request? How would God respond to it? The answers might surprise you, and they give us insights into Samuel’s character.

Join us this week as we look at Samuel’s response to adversity and ask ourselves who we trust in to lead us.

See you on Sunday!

Service times are at 9:30 & 11:00. If you can’t make it in person, you can watch live at those times.