Sunday, March 24, 2013

Day 83: 1 Samuel 16, 17 and 18


Abner, whose son is that young man? (1 Samuel 17:55).

In chapter 16, Saul is looking for a musician/therapist to ease his troubled mind. He hears about David, and Saul has the young man brought to him. David interviews with the CEO who takes a liking to him, and Saul offers David the job.

Then comes chapter 17 and a little altercation between Israel and Philistia, which is more commonly referred to as the story of David and Goliath. Once the outcome is decided, Saul asks his general to do a background check on David, whom Saul apparently does not know. Then in chapter 18, after Abner has found out about David’s family and where he comes from, Saul offers David a job. Wait...

Just one of those things that makes me say, Hmmm...

In 2 Samuel 21:19 it’s Elhanan (another son of Bethlehem) who is credited with Goliath’s death (I mean how many giants named Goliath does Philistia have anyway?), although the parallel passage from 1 Chronicles 20:5 reports that Goliath’s brother is killed by Elhanan, and not Goliath himself.

Hmmm...

Of course if it was Elhanan who killed Goliath – and not David – that would explain why Saul needed to be introduced to the giant killer (chapter 17) even though David was already a trusted member of his court.

TODAY’S MEDITATION
What do we do with difficulties like this? Must we reconcile every jot and tittle before we can sense God in the text? Pray over 2 Timothy 3:16,17.

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