They're two separate books in our modern Bibles but that division is due simply to scroll length

It was originally written as one coherent story

We're just going to cover the book of first Samuel in this video

So after Israel was rescued from slavery in Egypt they made a covenant with God at Mount Sinai

and eventually came into the promised land

and there, Israel was supposed to be faithful to God and obey the covenant commands

Before the book of Samuel judges showed how Israel failed at that task big time

It was a period of moral chaos and it showed israel's need for wise faithful leaders

The book of Samuel provides an answer to that need

The book of Samuel's story focuses on three main characters

The prophet Samuel where the book gets its name and then King Saul and after that King David

In all three of them transition Israel from a group of tribes ruled by judges

into a unified kingdom ruled by King David in Jerusalem

and the book of Samuel has a fascinating design

that weaves the story of these three characters together in four main parts

Samuel he's the key leader and prophet in the first section of the book

but then he also plays a key role in the next section which is Saul's story and its told in two movements

Saul rises to power and then his failures. In the second part is about his downfall in his tragic death

In the drama of Saul's demise is matched by David's exciting rise to power

and then David's story is told in two movements

First he rides the wave of his success followed by his own tragic failure

and the slow self destruction of his family and then his kingdom

The book concludes with an epilogue that reflects back over the whole story

So let's dive in and see how this all unfolds

Part 1 picks up from the chaos of the book of Judges

and we're introduced to a touching story about a woman named Hannah

and she's grieved because she has never been able to have children

and by God's grace she finally has a son named Samuel

And in joy she sings this amazing poem in chapter two

And the poem is all about how God opposes the proud and exalts the humble

about how despite tragedies and human evil God is working out his purposes in history

and also it's about how God will one day raised up an anointed king for his people

and Hannah's poem has been placed here at the beginning of the book to introduce these key themes

that were gonna see throughout the whole story like the next one

Samuel grows up and becomes a great prophet and leader for the people of Israel

at the same time that the Philistines rise to power as Israel's arch nemesis

And in this crucial battle the Israelites get arrogant

and instead of praying and asking God for help they trot out the Ark of the Covenant

as this kind of magic trophy that will automatically grant them victory in battle

and so because of their arrogant presumption

God allows Israel to lose the battle and the Ark is stolen

so the Philistines they take the Ark and they place it in the temple of their God Dagon

and then the God of Israel defeats the Philistines and their God Dagon

without an army by sending plagues on the people

and then the Philistines don't want the ark anymore obviously and they send it back to Israel

And the point of this little story seems to be this

God is not Israel's trophy and he opposes pride among the Philistines

but also among his own people and so Israel needs to remain humble and obedient

if they want to experience God's covenant blessing

which opens up into the next large section

The Israelite come to Samuel and they say hey we want to King like all the other nations have

Go find one for us and so Samuel he's kind of ticked off and he goes to consult with God

and God says yes their motives are all wrong

but if the king is what they want give them one

and so we're introduced as a figure of Saul

now Saul is a tragic figure because he begins full of promises, tall, he's good looking

He is a perfect candidate for a king but he has deep character flaws

he's dishonest, he lacks integrity and he seems incapable of acknowledging his own mistakes

and so these flaws become his downfail

he wins some battles at the beginning but his flaws went so deep

he eventually disqualified himself by blatantly disobeying God's commands

and so the aging Samuel confronts Saul and Israel

he had warned the people that they would only benefit from a king whose humble and faithful to God

otherwise the kings of Israel will bring ruin

so he informs Saul that God is going to raise up a new king to replace him

and so Saul's downfall begins

as God at the same time is working behind the scenes to raise up that new king

It's an insignificant shepherd boy named David

he's the least likely candidate to be king

but the famous story of David and Goliath shows

that God's choice of David is not based on his family status

but simply on his radical and humble trust in the God of Israel

and so this story embodies all of the themes of Hannah's poem

proud Saul and Goliath are brought low while humble David is exalted

From here we watched Saul slowly descend into madness while David rises to power

so David starts working for Saul as a general

and he's winning all of the battles and he's also winning all of the frame

and so Saul gets jealous and he starts chasing David around, hunting him, trying to kill him

David's done nothing wrong and so David simply runs and waits in the wilderness

and here we see David's true character he has multiple opportunities to kill Saul

but he doesn't, he simply trust that despite Saul's evil, God will raise up a king for his people

What's interesting too is that many of the poems of David

that you find in the Book of Psalms are linked to this very period of his life

and they all expressed the same attitude of trust

and so this section of the book ends with Saul coming to a grisly death after losing a battle with the Philistines

First Samuel tells some of the most intricate well told stories you find anywhere in the Bible

and the characters Saul and David they're portrayed very realistically

and the authors putting them forward as character studies so that you can find yourself in them

so Saul's story, we see a warning

it's crucial that we reflect on our own character flaws

and how they harm us and other people

and with God's help we need to humble ourselves and deal with our dark side

so that Saul's story doesn't become ours

David on the other hand is presented as an example of patience and trust in God's timing in our lives

and so he's running in the wilderness being chased by Saul

David had every reason to think that God had abandoned him

but that's not what he thinks and so David's story encourages us to trust

that despite human evil God is working out his purposes

to oppose the proud and to exalt the humble

and that's what first Samuel is all about