Fleeing murderous Saul, David struggles to find anywhere safe to go. His first thought is to hide amongst his enemies. But that goes badly wrong and he has to extract himself in an embarrassing way. Next he hides in a
Bright eyes
Saul is his chaos and so are his people. Despite a moment of victory presenting itself, by the Lord’s grace, he cannot see the right thing to do and issues commands that either cause havoc or end up getting quickly
Just a lamb
Long ago a childless woman named Hannah ached to have a son. She then promised that if the Lord granted her prayer, the child would be devoted to God’s service. This came to pass with Samuel. Now, at last, after
Don’t mess with holiness
The Philistines have learned a little about the Lord but there’s much they still get wrong. Sadly, the Israelites, despite all the information given to them, are just the same. So when the ark lands in a Levite village, things
Listen to the cows
The Philistines feel bruised and battered, and want rid of the wretched “Ark of God”. Yet, the proud leaders are still uncertain this is anything other than bad fate and are wary of the idea of making an expensive offering
Humpty Dumpty
Israel’s judge of 40 years has fallen: his sons are dead, his daughter-in-law is dead, he is dead. Meanwhile, the Philistines think they have humiliated Israel’s little ‘god in a box’ by taking the golden Ark of the Lord and
Fantasy land
Israel has lived in a fantasy land where they imagine God is on their side but they have actually broken covenant with him. Eli’s family have lived in a fantasy land where they think they are successful but they are
No luck
Israel has failed to keep the covenant God gave to her at Mount Sinai. Yet with corrupt priests overseeing the people, they are utterly ignorant of their sin. This leads them to imagine that the Lord will protect them and
Closing down
Israel’s wilderness tabernacle – the tent where the ark of God was housed – is coming to the end of its life. That’s because it’s been horribly misused and, also, because God is moving his plans forward to centre on
The Lord is calling
Thanks to wicked corruption, Israel’s Tabernacle has become a very dim place where little is seen of the Lord’s light. But God has not yet abandoned it and, so, having inserted Samuel into the tent, now he calls out to