Prophet Samuel

Prophet Samuel

The story of how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt is a long one, and is full of adventures.  Even after the people had reached the land of their ancestors, they could not live in peace, for they had to fight to gain control of their country.  Gradually, they managed to spread our over the land of Canaan, building homes and farms for themselves.  Even so, their neighbors, especially a group of people called the Philistines, were always a problem. But God was with the people, and in order to help them, He sent Samuel.  This is the story of that man named Samuel.

In Ramah, not far from Jerusalem, there lived a man named Elkanah.  He had two wives, which was not uncommon in those days; one named Peninnah, had children, but the other named Hannah, had none.

Each year the whole family went up to Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was placed, to offer sacrifices; and each year Hannah felt sadder and sadder because she had no children to take with her.  Penninah was not kind about it and used to tease her, so much so that Hannah often wept.

One year Hannah went unhappily into the house of the Lord of Shiloh, and prayed to God that He would send her a son, “I will dedicate him to You for his whole life,” she said.

Eli, the old priest there, saw her distress and her lips moving, and thought at first that she must be drunk.  But when he went up to her, Hannah told him of her trouble.  “Go in peace,” said Eli, “and may God answer your prayer.”

God did.  In due course Hannah had a fined baby boy, whom she named Samuel.  As soon as he was old enough, Hannah fulfilled her promise and took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.  “Do you still remember me, Eli?” Hannah asked Eli.  “This is the child whom God sent to me in answer to my prayer.  I have brought him here to dedicate him to the Lord.”

So Samuel became a helper to old Eli, and Eli was very glad of his aid.  He did have two sons of his own, but they were worthless and dishonest men who had no respect for God or His house.

Every year Hannah came and saw Samuel, and brought him a new robe; and God blessed her further by sending here three more sons and two daughters.

Time passed and Eli grew old and was almost blind.  He slept in his own room in the Lord’s house, while Samuel slept near the Covenant Box in the Sanctuary.

One night, after Samuel had fallen asleep, he was suddenly awakened by a voice calling, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Thinking it was Eli, Samuel got up and ran to the old man.  “Here I am,” Samuel said.  “You called me.”

“No, I did not call you Samuel”.  Eli said. “My son, just go back to bed and sleep again.”

Samuel obeyed, but before long he heard the voice again, “Samuel!”

Again he got up and ran to Eli, but Eli said, “I did not call, my son; go and lie down again.”

Samuel did so, and the voice called him a third time, and Samuel, feeling puzzled, went again to Eli.  By now, Eli had begun to understand that it was the voice of God who was calling Samuel.  So he said to the boy, “Go back and if you hear the voice again, say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’.”

Samuel returned to bed, and sure enough, the voice called again, “Samuel! Samuel!”, and Samuel replied as Eli had told him.  Then God gave Samuel a sad message.  He told him that Eli’s family would have to suffer punishment because of the wickedness of Eli’s sons.

Samuel stayed in bed until morning, when he got up and opened the doors of the house of the Lord.  At first he was afraid to tell Eli of God’s message, but Eli asked him, and Samuel told him everything.

Eli looked sad, but said, “He is the Lord, He will do what He knows is best.”

Samuel grew up to be a prophet, a fine man who preached God’s word.  Not everyone listened, however; there were still many who worshipped idols and refused to obey God’s Laws.

One day, when Samuel as an old man, the people went to him and asked him to appoint a king over them.  Samuel prayed to God for help.

Now, there lived a rich man named Kish, who was of the tribe of Benjamin, and he had a handsome son named Saul.  Saul was a head taller than most other people, so he was easily noticed in a crowd.  It so happened that Kish’s donkeys had wandered away and were lost; so Kish said to Saul, “Take one of the servants and go and look for those donkeys.”

Saul and the servant set off, and walked from about three days, but still they did not find the animals.  Finally Saul said, “Let’s go back, or my father will worry about us, as well as the donkey.”

“Wait a moment,” said the servant.  “There is a holy man living in this area; let us just see if he can help us.”  So they set off for the town in which the holy man lived.

The holy man was none other than Samuel, and on the day before, God had told him that he would send a man whom Samuel was to anoint King of Israel.  When Samuel saw Saul coming towards him, God said to him.  “This is the man I am referring to.”

Saul went up to Samuel and asked where the holy man lived.  “I am he,” said Samuel.  “Come and eat with me; and don’t worry about the donkeys, for they have been found.  The man the people of Israel had wanted so much are you?”

“But I belong to the smallest tribe in Israel---the tribe of Benjamin,” said Saul, “and my family is not very important.”

Samuel took Saul and his servant inside, where there were about thirty people, and they sat down to a meal.  After this, Saul was given a bed for the night---up on the roof where it was cooler.  Saul felt very puzzled.

Next morning, Saul and his servant were up early, ready to be on their way; Samuel went to the edge of the town with them.  There he said, “Tell you servant to go on ahead.”

When the servant had gone, Samuel took a jar of oil and poured in on Saul’s head saying, “The Lord has anointed you to be ruler of his people Israel.”  And he gave him a certain signs to prove it was true.

King Saul began his reign well, and although there were some people who did not at first respect him, when they found he was a good leader, they began to obey him.  Later on, however, he became self-willed and arrogant, and did not live up to the high hopes which people had of him.

Before long, the Philistines were again assembling to fight the Israelites.  They mustered a huge army of war chariots and horsemen and countless soldiers, and many of the Israelites were terrified and deserted Saul.

Samuel had told Saul to wait seven days for him to come, but Saul though he knew better and when he saw the people scattering from him, he began to offer a sacrifice without waiting for Samuel.  As soon as he had finished, Samuel arrived.  He was displeased and told Saul that this disobedience would cost him his kingship, and that God would find another man to become in his place.

The battles against the Philistines went on, but Saul did not continue to be a strong king, for he had disobeyed God’s commands.

Then God said to Samuel, “Take some oil and go to Bethlehem, to a man whose name is Jesse, for I have chosen one of his sons to be the next king.”

Samuel was rather worried about this.  “How can I go there, My Lord?” he asked.  If Saul hears about the message, he will surely kill me.”

“Take a calf with you,” said God, “and go there to offer sacrifice.  Then I will show you what best thing you should do.”

Samuel did as God had instructed, and when the elders of the town came out to meet him, he invited then to join in the sacrifice.

When he saw Jesse and his family, he particularly noticed his son Eliab, and thought to himself, “Surely this is the man whom the Lord has chosen.”

But God said to Samuel, “Do not just look at his appearance or his height, because is not the man.  I, the Lord, do not see as men see.  Men look at the outward appearance, but I look at a man’s heart.”

Then Jesse brought out his son Abinadab, but Samuel knew that he was not the chosen one either.

Seven of Jesse’s sons came out to Samuel, but the Lord did not choose any of them.  “Are all your sons already here? “Is there anyone else whom I have not seen?”” asked Samuel. 

“There is only the youngest,” said Jesse, “but he is out looking after the sheep.”

“Send and fetch him,” said Samuel, “for we won’t start the sacrifice until he comes.”

So Jesse’s youngest son, David was brought in.  He was a handsome youth, with beautiful eyes; and God said to Samuel, “This is the one I have chosen; anoint him.”

Samuel took a horn of oil and anointed David in front of his brothers who may have thought that this meant David would become Samuel’s follower, and in time became a prophet like himself.  God’s spirit came to David on that day, and Samuel then returned to Ramah.

Meanwhile, evil forces had taken charge of Saul, who often became depressed and even violent.  His servants thought it might help if he could be soothed with music, so they said, “give us the order, sir, and we will find someone who can play the harp.  Then when the evil spirit torments you, the musician can play his harp and you will be all right again.” Saul agreed, and asked for a musician to be brought to court.

One of the servants had an idea.  “There is a man named Jesse in Bethlehem,” he said, “and he has a son who is a good musician.  He is also brave and handsome.”

“Go and bring him,” Saul ordered.

Messengers went to Jesse, and Jesse sent David to the king’s court, with gifts of a young goat, a donkey laden with bread, and a leather skin full of wine.

Saul liked David, and sent a message to Jesse to say how pleased he was with his son.  From then on, whenever Saul felt tormented by the evil feelings, David was sent for and would bring his harp and play it; and Saul would soon feel better again.

 

 

 

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The Baby Moses In The Bulrushes

The Baby Moses

Baby Moses found at the Nile River

Some years later, after Joseph had died, a new pharaoh came to rule over Egypt.  By this time Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites, had been living in Egypt for many years, and there were now a great number of them.

The new pharaoh knew nothing about Joseph and all that he had done to save the people from starvation, and he said, “These Israelites are getting so many that they might join up with our enemies.  We must find a way to suppress them.”

So the Egyptians put slave-drivers over the Israelites to make them work harder and harder, and they made them build store-cities for pharaoh.  The more cruelty they were treated, however, the more the Israelites seemed to increase in numbers.  The Egyptians grew to fear them and they made their lives miserable by being cruel and forcing them to work even more.

In the end Pharaoh issued an order that all baby boys born to the Israelites should be killed as soon as they were born.  The nurses to whom this order was given refused to obey it, because they feared God, so finally the Pharaoh made an order to all the people saying that every new baby boy born to the Israelites should be drowned in the River Nile, but that they could let girls live.

Naturally the Hebrews were most unhappy about this law.

One family already had two children---a girl named Miriam and a boy named Aaron---and to them another baby boy was born.  He was a fine baby, and the mother could not bear to see him drowned, so she managed to keep him hidden for three months.

As he grew bigger, the time came when she could hide him no longer, and so she and the family had to think of another plan.  She made him a little basket from the bulrushes or reeds which grew at the side of the Nile and which were often used to make boats.  Then she covered the basket with a tar-like substance to the river.  There she hid the basket among the reeds which were growing at the water’s edge.

The baby sister, Miriam, waited a little distance away to see what would happen to her baby brother.

Presently, pharaoh daughter came down to the river to bathe, and as she and her servant walked along the riverbank, she suddenly spotted the basket in the reeds.  She sent one of her slave-girls to fetch it.  The girl brought it and when it was opened, the princes saw the baby boy.  He began to cry and the princess felt sorry for him.  “This is a Hebrew baby,” she said. 

Then the sister Miriam had an idea.  She ran forward from where she had been hiding and said, “Shall I go and ask one of the Hebrew women to come and look after him for you?”

“Yes, please do so,” answered pharaoh’s daughter, and clever Miriam hurried off and brought back her own mother.

“Take this baby and look after him for me,” said the princess, “and I will pay you for doing so.”

The baby’s mother was delighted to have her own baby back again, although she may have realized that the princess would want to keep him in due course, when he was older.  However, in the meantime, the mother gladly took back her own baby to nurse him in safety.

Later, when the boy was older, she took him again to Pharaoh’s daughter, and the princess adopted him as her own son.  “I drew him out of the water,” she said, “and so I will call him Moses. (The name Moses sounded rather like the Hebrew word meaning “to draw out”).

So Moses grew up as prince in pharaoh court, though he never forgot his own people.

When he was a young man, he went out to see how the Hebrews were living under the hard conditions of the Egyptians.

He was horrified when he happened to see an Egyptian kill one of the Hebrews.  In his anger, Moses in his turn killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand.  He thought no one had seen him, but that did not make his wrong-doing any better.

The next day, he went out again, and this time he saw two Hebrew men fighting.  We went up to them and asked one of them, “Why are you fighting with one of your own countrymen?”

The man answered rudely, “Who made you a judge and ruler over us?  Are you now going to kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday?”

Then Moses was frightened.  “People know what I did,” he thought to himself.

His wicked deed reached the ears of pharaoh himself who thought that Moses deserved to be killed for what he had done.  Moses was terrified and fled from the country, and went to live in the land of Midian.  When reached there, he sat down by well, and at the same time the seven daughters of the priest of Midian, a man named Jethro, came down to draw water for their father’s sheep and goats.  Some shepherds tried to drive them away, but Moses went to their rescue and saw that they got the water for their animals.

When they reached home, their father asked how it was that they were back early that day.  “An Egyptian helped us,” they said.  “He even helped us fetch water.”

“Why you left that man there?” asked Jethro.  “Go back and invite him to come and have a meal with us,” he said hospitably.

So the girls went and brought Moses to their home.  He agreed to live with them and helped to take care of Jethro’s sheep and goats.  After a time, he married one of the daughters whose name was Zipporah.

Many years later the pharaoh of Egypt died, but the people of Israel were still suffering in their slavery, and they asked God to help them.  God remembered the promises He had made to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and He promised He would send someone to deliver them from their bondage.

 

 

 

The Fall Of Man

Adam And Eve

Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden

Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God has made.  One day the snake spoke to the woman.  He said, “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”

The woman answered the snake, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden.  But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden.  You must not even touch it, or you will die’.”

But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die.  God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil.  Then you will be like God!”

The woman saw the tree was beautiful.  She saw that its fruit was good to eat and that it would make her wise.  So she took some of its fruits and ate it.  She also gave some of the fruit to her husband, and he ate it.

Then, it was as if the man’s and woman’s eyes were opened.  They realized they were naked.  So they sewed fig leaves together and made something to cover themselves.

Then they heard the Lord God walking in the garden.  This was during the cool part of the day.  And the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man.  The Lord said, “Where are you?”

The man answered, “I heard you walking in the garden.  I was afraid because I was naked.  So I hid.

God said to the man, “Who told you that you were naked?  Did you eat the fruit from the tree?  I commanded you not to eat from that tree.”

The man said, “You gave this woman to me.  She gave me fruit from the tree.  So I ate it.

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”  She answered, “The snake tricked me.  So I ate the fruit.”

The Lord God said to the snake, “Because you did this, a curse will be put on you.  You will be cursed more than any tame animal or wild animal. You will crawl on your stomach, and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  I will make you and that woman enemy to each other.  Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies.  He child will crush on your head.  And you will bite his heel.”

Then God said to the woman, “I will cause you to have much trouble when you are pregnant.  And when you give birth to children, you will have great pain.  You will greatly desire your husband, but he will rule over you.”

Then God said to the man, “You listened to what your wife said.  And you ate from the tree that I commanded you net to eat from.  So I will put curse on the ground.  You will have to work very hard for food.  In pain you will eat is food all days of your life.  The ground will produce thorns and weeds for you.  And you will eat the plants of the field.  You will sweat and work hard for your food.  Later you will return to the ground.  This is because you were taken form the ground.  You are dust. And when you die, you will return to the dust.”

The man named his wife Eve.  This is because she is the mother of everyone who ever lived.

The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife.  And so the Lord dressed them.  Then the Lord God said, Look, the man has become like one of us.  He knows good and evil.  And now we must keep him from eating some of the fruit from the tree of life.  If he does, he will live forever.”  So the Lord God forced the man out of the garden of Eden.  He had to work the ground he was taken from.  Then God put angels on the east side of the garden.  He also put a sword of fire there.  It flashed around every direction.  This kept people from getting to the tree of life.

(Pasugo, God’s Message: Quoted from Genesis 3:1-24, International Children’s Bible, New Century Version).

 

 

 

Isaac blesses Jacob

 Jacob Was Blessed

Isaac blesses Jacob

Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so that I can touch you.  Are you really Esau?”  Jacob moved closed to his father, who felt him and said, “Your voice sounds like Jacob’s voice, but your arms feel like Esau’s arms.”  He did not recognize Jacob, because his arms were hairy like Esau’s. He was about to give him his blessings, but asked again, “Are you really Esau?”

“I am,” he answered.

Isaac said, “Bring me some of the meat.  After I eat it, I will give you my blessing.”  Jacob brought it to him…

Then is father said to him, “Come closer and kiss me, son.” As he came up to kiss him, Isaac smelled his clothes---so he gave him his blessing.  He said, “The pleasant smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.  May God give you dew from heaven and make your fields fertile!...May nations be your servant, and may peoples bow down before you.  May you rule over all your relatives, and may your mother’s descendants bow down before your.  May those who curse you be cursed, and may those who bless you be blessed.

Isaac finished giving his blessing, and as soon as Jacob left, his brother Esau came in from hunting.  He also cooked some tasty food and took it to his father.  He said, “Please father, sit up and eat some of the meat that I have brought you, so that you can give me your blessings.”

“Who are you?”  Isaac asked.  Your older son Esau,” he answered.

Isaac began to tremble and shake all over, and he asked, “Who was it, then, who killed an animal and brought it to me? I ate it just before you came.  I gave him my final blessing, and so it is his forever.”

When Esau heard this, he cried out loudly and bitterly and said, “Give me your blessing also, father!...”

Isaac answered, I have already made him master over you, and I have made all his relatives his slaves… Now there is nothing that I can do for you, son!” Esau continued to plead with his father: “Do you have only one blessing, father? Bless me too, father!”  He began to cry.  Then Isaac said to him, “No dew from heaven for you.  No fertile fields for you.  You will live by your sword, but be your brother’s slave.  Yet when you rebel, you will break away from his control.”.

(Pasugo, God’s Message: Quoted from Genesis 27:21-34, 37-40, Today’s English Version)