Unending Oil and Shunammite Resurrection

Elisha’s world had turned upside-down. He was working in the field one day when some guy named Elijah came along and told him to come be a prophet. After a few years of training, Elisha watched his teacher taken from him in one of the most dramatic ways imaginable. The fiery horses and chariot disappeared into the sky, the waters of the Jordan River parted, and Elisha started a new life as a prophet. As he had requested, God granted him a lot of prophetic power, and with God’s help, he did some amazing things.

One day, another prophet’s time came to go. We don’t know this prophet’s name, but he had a wife and two sons, and they were left very poor when he died. The woman had bills to pay, and no way to pay them! At that time, that only left one option. The people she owed the bills to would be coming any day to take her sons away to be slaves! She loved her sons, and she didn’t want to lose them! So she found Elisha and told him about their problem.

“What do you have in your house?” Elisha said.

“We hardly have anything!” she replied. “Just a small jar of olive oil!”

So Elisha told her what she needed to do. It sounded really weird, but she knew Elisha knew what he was talking about. Following his advice, she went around to all her neighbors and asked for as many empty jars as they could spare. Pretty soon, there were lots and lots of empty jars in their house. Then the woman and her sons shut their door and went to work. They took their tiny jar of oil and started pouring it into an empty jar. When that was full, they started filling another one. That filled up, and they poured oil into a third jar! It just kept coming and coming out of the tiny jar until all the jars in the house were full!

“Bring me another jar!” she said to one of her sons.

“That’s it!” he replied. “They’re all full!” Then the oil stopped flowing.

So she went to Elisha and reported the amazing news. “Great!” he said. “Now go sell the oil. You’ll earn enough from that to pay your debts and to support your family!”

Not all the people Elisha helped were poor. He often visited a rich couple in the town of Shunem. In fact, he came so often that they decided to build a guest room on their roof so that he would have a place to stay when he visited. Elisha and his servant Gehazi really appreciated their hospitality, and Elisha wondered what they could do to help this Shunammite woman and her husband. They even offered to speak to the King on her behalf, but she didn’t think that was necessary. Elisha and Gehazi were brainstorming what they could do to help them when Gehazi pointed out that the woman didn’t have any children, and her husband was old. So Elisha told the woman, “This time next year, you’ll be holding a son.”

“No, don’t get my hopes up!” the woman said. But just as promised, she got pregnant and had a son.

A few years passed. The boy grew, and his parents loved him. One day, he found his dad working in the fields and complained, “My head hurts!” His dad asked a servant to carry the boy home, and the boy’s mom held him. He was very sick, and pretty soon he died. The woman couldn’t believe it. God had done a miracle by giving her this child, and now the boy was dead! She carried his body up to Elisha’s room and hurried to find Elisha. She found him at Mount Carmel, and he saw her and recognized her from a distance. He sent Gehazi ahead to find out what was the matter, and she said, “Everything’s fine.” But as she got closer, he told Gehazi, “She’s very sad, but God hasn’t told me why.”

So the woman said, “Did I ask you for a son? Didn’t I tell you not to get my hopes up?” When he found out the boy was dead, Elisha was alarmed. He told Gehazi, “Take my staff and run. Don’t stop for anything or anyone, and when you get to their home, lay my staff on the boy’s body.” The woman refused to go with Gehazi, though, unless Elisha went with her. So while Gehazi ran on ahead, Elisha and the Shunammite woman hurried back to the house. Before they got there, Gehazi came running back from the house and said, “I did what you said, but the boy is still dead!”

The first thing Elisha tried hadn’t worked. So when he got to the house, he went upstairs and found the boy laying on the bed. Elisha knelt down and prayed. Then he did something really strange. He laid facedown on top of the boy, eyes to eyes, mouth to mouth, hands to hands. Maybe it was something like CPR? The boy’s skin was cold, as it usually is for dead people, but pretty soon, it got warm. Elisha stood up and walked back and forth, then tried again. The boy sneezed and opened his eyes!

So Elisha had Gehazi get the Shunammite woman, and when she came in the room, she was overjoyed to find her son alive! God had just brought a boy back from the dead!

Chariot of Fire

Queen Jezebel was furious! The prophet Elijah had called a contest on Mt. Carmel, and not only had her side lost, but her god Baal was humiliated, and she had lost a bunch of Baal’s priests! She only saw one possible solution: Elijah must die! In fact, Jezebel was so angry that she promised that if he wasn’t dead by the next day, she didn’t care how badly her gods punished her!

As soon as Elijah got word, he was outta there! He ran to the desert and collapsed, exhausted and scared, under a bush. He was so upset that he prayed that God would let him die! Then he fell asleep. An angel woke him up and gave him something to eat and drink. When he was done eating, he fell asleep again. Later, the angel came back and said, “Get up and eat. You have a long journey ahead of you.” So he got up and ate. Then he walked 40 days and nights until he got to Mt. Horeb. Once there, Elijah hid in a cave. After listening to Elijah pour out his complaints, God told him to stand at the mouth of the cave and promised to pass by. When Elijah got to the mouth of the cave, there was a fierce wind, then an earthquake, and then a fire. But God wasn’t in any of those. Then Elijah heard a quiet voice ask, “What are you doing here?” So Elijah poured out his complaints again.

In response, God gave Elijah some instructions. “Go to Damascus and anoint Hazael King of Syria. Then anoint Jehu King of Israel. Then find a guy named Elisha and train him to replace you as prophet. Between the three of them, many enemies will be defeated.”

So Elijah obeyed God’s instructions. After anointing Hazael and Jehu, Elijah found Elisha working in a field. Elijah threw his coat around Elisha. That meant he was inviting him to a new life of service to God. Elisha sacrificed his cows, said good bye to his parents, and left.

Elijah trained Elisha, and time passed. Israel’s evil King Ahab died in battle, and his son Ahaziah took his place. He was also evil and pretty soon Ahaziah died and his brother Joram took his place.

Some time had passed by now, and Elijah knew his time had come to go. He told Elisha to stay in Gilgal while he went on to Bethel. But Elisha insisted on going along. Other prophets also tried to convince Elisha to stay, but he insisted on going. So Elisha went with Elijah to Bethel, then to Jericho. Prophets at every stop tried to convince Elisha to stay, but he insisted on going with Elijah. The two of them got to the Jordan River, and Elijah took off his coat and hit the water with it. The water parted just like it had for Joshua many years earlier! Once the two prophets got across the river on dry ground, Elijah said, “What would you like, before I go?”

Elisha replied, “I’d like double the prophetic power that you have!” He didn’t feel worthy to succeed Elijah, and he knew he would need a lot of help from God.

“Wow, that’s a tall order!” Elijah said. “But if you see God taking me away, you’ll get it.”

While they were walking and talking, a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses swooped out of the sky and took Elijah up in a whirlwind! Elisha cried out, “My father! You’re worth all the horses and horsemen of Israel!” Elisha tore his clothes in grief, and then picked up Elijah’s coat, which Elijah had dropped. He watched his mentor disappear into the sky in a fiery whirlwind of horses, then walked slowly back to the Jordan River. When he got there, he hit the water with Elijah’s coat, and it parted again!

When he got back across, the prophets from Jericho were there waiting. They could tell Elisha had gained a lot of prophetic power, to be able to part the waters of the Jordan with God’s help! That was no small river. They offered to go search for Elijah, but he told them not to bother. When they insisted, he said, “Fine, go ahead!” But of course they couldn’t find him. Elijah had just become one of only two people in the Old Testament to be taken to heaven without dying.

"That's My Boy!"

An angel appeared to Zechariah and told him that his wife, who was too old to have a child, would get pregnant, and they should name him John. When Zechariah had trouble believing that, he couldn’t talk until a little after John was born, and it came time to give the baby a name! Meanwhile, a few months after Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, he appeared to Mary and told her she would have a child and she should name him Jesus. First John was born, then Jesus a few months later. Angels joyfully announced Jesus’ birth to a group of shepherds.

Thirty years had passed since then, and John had grown up and moved into the wilderness. After returning from Egypt, Jesus and his parents had gone to Nazareth, where he grew up. Aside from that journey and an incident after Jesus’ bar mitzvah (a ceremony that Jewish boys go through when they turn 12), we don’t know a lot about his childhood. By the time Jesus was 30, John had been preaching and baptizing for a while. Just as the prophets had foretold, John was preparing the way for his cousin the Messiah. He wore clothes made of camel hair and a leather belt, and he ate locusts and honey. That doesn’t sound very appetizing, but I hope John liked it!

John seems to have been pretty well known. People came from miles around to hear him preach and be baptized. People admitted their sins and asked forgiveness from God, and then John baptized them.

The Pharisees and Sadducees were two groups of religious experts of the time. They didn’t always agree with each other, and they were both wrong about a lot. When John saw some of them coming to the area where he was baptizing, he called to them, “You snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s anger that is coming? Ask forgiveness for your sins and turn away from them! Don’t tell yourselves, ‘Abraham is our ancestor,’ because God can turn the stones into Abraham’s descendants! I’m baptizing people with water to symbolize what happens when people turn from their sins and choose to follow God. But pretty soon, someone will come who is stronger than I am. I’m not even worthy to carry or untie his sandals.” (At that time, slaves sometimes took care of their masters’ sandals.) “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire!”

Meanwhile, Jesus was in Galilee. He went to the Jordan River where John was baptizing. When Jesus arrived, John said, “Wait a minute, Jesus. You should be the one baptizing me! Why do you want me to baptize you?”

Jesus replied, “Let’s do this now. It’s the right thing to do to fulfill all righteousness.” So John baptized his relative. No sooner had Jesus come up out of the water, than the Holy Spirit came out of heaven in the form of a dove and landed on Jesus. A loud voice from heaven boomed, “This is my Son! I love him, and I’m so proud of him!”

The next day, John was talking to his friends, and he saw Jesus headed his way. He said, “Look! It’s the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sins! That’s him, the one I told you about who’s greater than me!”

The day after that, John was talking to two of his disciples when he saw Jesus again. He said, “Hey look! It’s the Lamb of God!” John’s disciples started to follow Jesus, and they hung out with him for a while. One of those disciples was named Andrew. He was so impressed that he ran home and told his brother Simon about what had happened. The brothers came to Jesus, and Jesus said to Simon, “You’re Simon son of John. I’ll call you Cephas” (which is Aramaic for Peter, or Rock).

Jesus then called Philip, who found his friend Nathanael and introduced him to Jesus. So Jesus’ ministry began, and He continued recruiting more disciples.

Unexpected Guests

The news was getting out. Sometime earlier, God had used angels to announce Jesus’ birth to shepherds. Now He chose another interesting and unusual way of announcing it to someone unexpected. This time no angels appeared. But a group of guys in the east, professional stargazers, were looking into the sky when they saw an unusual star. Where were they from? We don’t know, but it could have been Arabia or Persia. They studied the stars, and they believed that the stars showed signs and announced events. They had also studied many ancient scrolls, and they had read that a King of the Jews would come someday. Somehow they realized that this star had something to do with that King, and they wanted to know more. They were known as magi. We get the words magus, magi and magic from the same word. There was a lot of mystery about them, and some people believed they could do magic. They were also known as wise men because they often gave advice and interpreted dreams and other things for kings. How many of them went on the trip? We don’t know. But we do know that they chose three interesting and expensive gifts to take with them on the journey they were about to take.

Gold was a gift for a King. Frankincense was a gift for the Son of God. Some people burn it when they worship. Myrrh was a gift for the Messiah. It’s a spice that people used when they were burying people. Prophecies told that the King of the Jews would be the Son of God and the promised Messiah, and that one day He would give his life to save us. The gifts that the magi chose showed that they had read the prophecies, and they knew who they were about to meet. They were pretty excited about this, because it isn’t every day you meet someone like that! So as soon as they saw the star, they gathered their gifts, packed up, and left.

It was a long journey. If you’re looking for a King, where do you look first? You go to the capital of the country and find the King’s palace! So they found themselves in Jerusalem at the palace of King Herod. They started to ask around, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose, and we’ve been following it so we can worship Him.”

When Herod got word that these guys were asking around about a new King of the Jews, he was pretty upset. What new King of the Jews? Herod was King of the Jews! Did this mean someone was about to take his place? He liked his job and his life, and he didn’t want to see it end because some kid was gonna come and take his throne!

So Herod called the experts: the priests. They had also studied the prophecies, and so they told him that the prophet Micah had said that the Messiah would be born in the tiny village of Bethlehem.

Then Herod came up with a crafty plan. He talked to the magi and found out exactly when the star had appeared. He told them about the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. “Go there,” he told them, “and when you’re done, come back here and let me know where he is… because I wanna worship him too!”

So the magi left Jerusalem and followed the star to Bethlehem. It kept going ahead of them until it stopped over a house. They couldn’t contain their excitement! They knocked on the door, and when they went in, they saw him. The boy was probably somewhere around 2 at this point. Mary and Joseph couldn’t believe their eyes as a bunch of richly-dressed foreigners came into the house and knelt down to visit their son! They laid their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh at his feet.

That night, one of the magi had a dream that included a warning: Herod wasn’t planning to worship the new King of the Jews. So the next morning, instead of returning to Jerusalem, they left, and went home another way.

Joseph also had a dream. An angel appeared to him and said, “Quick! Get up! Take Mary and Jesus and get out of here! Herod is about to come looking for Jesus to kill him! Go to Egypt and stay there until I tell you it’s safe to come back.” Later someone remembered that the prophet Hosea had once foretold, “Out of Egypt I will call My Son.”

Sure enough, Herod’s men came looking for Jesus, but He wasn’t there. Sometime later, the angel appeared to Joseph again and told him, “It’s OK to go back now. Herod has died.” So the young family returned to their hometown of Nazareth, where Jesus grew up.

A Savior in a Feed Box

The rocks crunched under their feet. A young couple was on the road from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The man was leading the donkey carrying his pregnant wife, and it was slow going at times. The heat got to them, and they were sweaty. Riding a donkey isn’t comfortable in the best of times, and it’s especially tough when you’re pregnant. But it was better than having to walk all that way! Joseph the carpenter lived in Nazareth, but Emperor Caesar had ordered a census, and everyone had to go to the place their ancestors were from so they could be counted. Joseph and his wife Mary were descendants of King David, and David had once been a shepherd in Bethlehem. So here they were making a trip they had hoped they wouldn’t have to make right now, while Mary was in the hardest part of her pregnancy.

It was probably spring time, right near the Passover celebration. So maybe it was appropriate for Joseph and Mary to celebrate the Passover in the town of their ancestors. But when they finally got there, they discovered a new problem. Not only had the journey been difficult, but they couldn’t find anywhere to stay! A lot of others had come for the census too. Here they were in a town that was pretty far from home, with Mary going into labor any time now. Where could they go? They had to make do with the best they could find. A really nice person who lived there didn’t have room in his guest room, but it was very important in that culture to give visitors the best they could give. In this case, the best they could give was in a room with their animals. There was a box in the floor where they kept hay to feed the animals, and that was the softest place they could find. So that was where the baby was born. As with any birth, the pain Mary had just gone through was nothing compared to her pain as the baby was coming out. But pretty soon, they heard a cry. It was a beautiful sound. Mary and Joseph felt a new kind of love they had never felt before, as their child came into the world. After they cleaned him off, they wrapped him in cloths and laid him in the best place they could find: the feed box.

Meanwhile, sheep grazed in a nearby field. The shepherds in the area may have been there so they could sell some of them for sacrifices to be used in the Passover. It was getting dark, and the shepherds were standing around taking care of their sheep. Suddenly, it was bright as day! Confused and shocked, the shepherds looked up into the sky and saw the last thing they had expected to see. Someone was up there, and the light seemed to be coming from him! The shepherds’ first thought was, “RUN!” But they had to take care of their sheep, so they couldn’t just bolt.

I wonder if Gabriel got used to having to tell people not to be scared. He had had to tell Zechariah and Mary that, and now he had to tell the same thing to the shepherds. “Whoa, it’s OK! Don’t worry!” Gabriel said in a loud voice. “I have some awesome news for everyone in the world! You know how you’ve waited for centuries for the Savior the prophets told about? Guess what! He was just born in King David’s hometown! You’ll know him when you see a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feed box.”

Just when they thought the sky couldn’t get any brighter, a huge army of angels appeared around Gabriel, and they sang something more beautiful than anything the shepherds had ever heard before: “God is more magnificent than anyone else in heaven or earth! He gives peace to everyone on earth that He chooses!”

The shepherds were speechless. They had never seen anything like this before. When they finally recovered enough from their shock to be able to talk, they all agreed that they needed to hurry to Bethlehem to find out what the angels had told them about. They found Mary and Joseph and their newborn baby in a feed box, just as they had been told. Mary and Joseph were surprised to see a group of shepherds, probably bringing their sheep along, come in the room to see their baby. When the shepherds told what they had just seen, the couple was amazed! The shepherds left, and they told everyone they met about the wonderful news. Meanwhile, Mary thought about what they had told her and about everything that had just happened. All that pain had been worth it. Here was a baby who by all accounts wasn’t even possible. Now she found out angels had appeared to shepherds to announce that her baby had arrived. It gave her a lot to think about.

Eight days passed, and the time came to give the baby a name. But Gabriel had already told Mary the name: “The Lord Saves.” Yeshua. Jesus.

יהושע‎

Ἰησοῦς

Mary had a lot to think about right now. But she would have even more to think about a couple years later when they would have more unexpected guests. More about that next week.

Waiting for an Announcer and a Savior

All through the Old Testament, prophets kept repeating how something big was coming. A man would someday be born who would change everything, and another man would prepare everyone for Him.

It all started in a garden. Satan used a snake to tempt Adam and Eve to do the one thing God had told them not to do. When God confronted them about it, He gave them punishments. One thing He said to the snake is important to what we are going to learn today.

Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.

Hundreds of years later, Jacob lay on a bed in Egypt with his sons gathered around him. He was about to die, and as was custom before dying, he gave a blessing to each of his sons. He had something interesting to say to his son Judah.

Genesis 49:10

The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
    and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

More centuries passed. King Saul reigned over Israel, and when he died, David took his place. David ruled for many years, and Solomon became King after he died. After Solomon’s death, the tribe of Judah and a couple other tribes couldn’t agree with the rest of Israel who should be the next King, and the nation of Israel split into two. David’s dynasty continued in the nation of Judah. During the reigns of four Kings of Judah (Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah), God sent a prophet named Isaiah. He prophesied so much that it filled up a whole book! He had some interesting things to say about what was to come!

Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.

 Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. 

Isaiah 40:3

A voice of one calling:

“In the wilderness prepare
    the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
    a highway for our God.

At the same time as Isaiah, God sent another prophet named Micah. He had this to say:

Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.”

More years passed. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led an attack on Jerusalem, defeating King Jehoiakim and taking many people from the kingdom of Judah away to Babylon. Among those was a prophet named Daniel, and he served several Kings of Babylon. The angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel in dreams, and gave him some messages to tell Israel a lot of stuff about the promised Savior, such as when He would come. A few kings after Nebuchadnezzar, Darius was King of Babylon, Daniel was still alive, and God sent the prophet Zechariah with some more things to say, such as this:

Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion!
    Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
    righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I expect we’ll learn about when that prophecy came true in a couple months.

Sometime after that, a guy named Malachi came along and prophesied this:

Malachi 3:1

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

The prophets talked about two men who would come. One would tell about the guy who was coming, and the other one would be the one he was talking about.

Israel and their ancestors went through a lot. Adam and Eve got thrown out of a garden paradise. Noah built a boat to save mankind and animals. Abraham went on an epic journey from Ur to Canaan. God saved Jacob (Israel) and his sons from a horrible famine by making Joseph a ruler in Egypt. They then endured 400 years of slavery, and 40 years of wandering before they finally got to return to their homeland. They had judges and kings. The Assyrians took the nation of Israel captive, and the Babylonians took the nation of Judah captive. Judah got to go home after 70 years of captivity, but it was never the same. After the time of the prophets, there were 400 years that aren’t mentioned in the Bible. Other books tell about how during that time they were ruled by an empire that didn’t let them worship God, and they did bad things to the temple. A family named the Maccabees led the charge against their oppressors and defeated them. Then they had to purify the temple. The Jews still celebrate the purification of the temple. In fact, they just celebrated it last week! It’s called Hanukkah.

So it was that about a century and a half after the first Hanukkah, a priest named Zechariah and his wife really wanted a child. They were getting on in age, and he and Elizabeth kept praying and praying for a kid. Zechariah was alone in the temple one day, burning incense like he often did to worship God. Suddenly, he was surprised to notice someone next to the altar right near him! It was an angel, and he could tell that Zechariah was a bit scared. So the angel said, “It’s OK, Zechariah. Don’t be scared. God has heard your prayers, and Elizabeth will have a son. Name him John. He will bring lots of joy, and the Holy Spirit will fill him even before he’s born! But be careful. He must never drink alcohol. He will lead many people to God, and he will prepare the way for the Lord.”

Zechariah was a bit skeptical. “How can I be sure?” he said. “We’re too old to have kids.”

The angel replied, “I’m Gabriel. God sent me, and since you didn’t believe me, guess what! You won’t be able to talk until what I said happens.”

So Elizabeth got pregnant, and Zechariah couldn’t say a word. Literally. He couldn’t talk.

Six months later, Gabriel showed up again, this time to a girl in Nazareth. Her name was Mary, and she was engaged to a guy named Joseph. Imagine her surprise when she looked up and saw an angel! He said, “Hey, favored one! God is with you!”

Mary had never seen anything like this, and she didn’t know what to make of it. But she was pretty scared too. So once again, Gabriel had to tell her not to be scared. He explained, “You’ll have a child, and you need to name him Jesus. He’ll be great, and he’ll be the son of the Most High God. He will sit on the throne of his ancestor David, and he will rule over Jacob’s descendants forever.”

“Wait, hold on,” Mary said. “How is that possible? I’m a virgin! It’s impossible for me to get pregnant yet!”

So Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you. The boy who is born will be holy, and he will be the Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is pregnant, and she’s an old lady! In fact, she’s been pregnant for six months now. Nothing that God says will ever fail.”

“OK,” said Mary. “Let it happen.” So Gabriel left.

Elizabeth’s pregnancy was probably news to Mary, and she decided to go visit her relatives in Judea. Mary was still a ways off when she saw Elizabeth and called to her. Just as God had promised Zechariah, the Holy Spirit came on the baby in Elizabeth’s tummy. Little baby John couldn’t contain his joy, and he jumped in excitement! Elizabeth called to her young relative, “Hey, Mary! You are blessed among women, and the child you’re gonna have is blessed! What an honor to have the mother of my Lord come visit! As soon as I heard you call, the baby in my tummy jumped for joy! You are blessed for believing that God will fulfill His promises to you!”

So Mary said, “My soul glorifies God my Savior. He’s seen little ol’ me, His servant, and from now on, people will call me blessed. He’s done amazing things and brought down strong rulers, but He’s lifted up the humble. He fed the hungry but sent the rich away emptyhanded. Just as He promised Abraham and all our ancestors, He has helped Israel.” Mary stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah for three months and then went home.

Pretty soon, the day came, and Elizabeth gave birth. Eight days later, it was time to name the baby. The priests almost named the boy after his dad Zechariah, but Elizabeth said, “Wait a minute! His name will be John!”

Now everyone was confused. It was normal to name a child after a relative. They didn’t have any relatives named John. So they decided to get a second opinion. They asked Zechariah, who still couldn’t talk. He asked for a writing tablet, and then he wrote on it: “His name is John.” As soon as he finished writing, he discovered he could talk again! So they named him John, and the news began to spread.

Then Zechariah prophesied: “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel! He has come and redeemed them! Just as He promised through the prophets, he has raised up salvation in the house of His servant David, to save us from our enemies and show mercy to our ancestors. He promised Abraham that He would rescue us from our enemies and would make sure we could serve Him without fear and in holiness for all our lives. You, my son, will be a prophet, and you will prepare the way for the Lord. You’ll tell people about how God will save them and forgive their sins because of His mercy. The light of God’s mercy will be like the sun shining on people who were in darkness, and it will help us to walk in peace.”

Mary, meanwhile, was still pregnant. But that’s another story for another Sunday. John grew up and lived in the wilderness until he started to appear publicly.

Just as God promised the snake in the Garden of Eden, Jesus came along and crushed Satan’s head, but not before Satan struck Jesus’ heel. More about that at Easter time. Just as God promised Isaiah, a child was born of a virgin, and He was a wonderful counselor, everlasting Father, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. As God promised Isaiah and Malachi, John called from the wilderness, preparing the world for his relative Jesus. Just as God promised Micah, Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. As God promised the prophet Zechariah (not John’s father), Jesus would one day ride into Jerusalem on a colt. As God promised through Gabriel, Jesus was born just when Daniel said He would be born, the priest Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth gave birth to a child in her old age, and a young virgin gave birth to a healthy baby boy who would save the world.

The Tower of Babel

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction

    a haughty spirit before a fall

Questions:

Have any of you learned any languages besides English? Which ones?

Have you tried talking to someone who doesn’t speak English? How did it feel? Did you figure out a way to communicate?

***

In 6 days, God created the earth and everything in it. The first two people He made were Adam and Eve, and they lived in a beautiful garden. God told them that they could eat anything from any of the trees except for one. For a while, they did a good job of obeying that command, but eventually, when the devil tempted them, they disobeyed and ate the fruit of the one tree they weren’t allowed to eat from. That made God very sad, and He had to throw them out of the garden because of it. They had children. Their son Cain was jealous of his younger brother Abel, and let’s just say he overreacted. At any rate, Abel didn’t survive. The first generation was guilty of disobedience, and the second generation was guilty of murder. Things were going downhill fast! Adam and Eve had a third son, whom they named Seth. They also had other children, but we don’t know what their names were. As more generations came along, people got worse and worse. They worshiped idols. They killed people. They did many other horrible things, and finally, several generations later, God had had enough. He caused a huge flood that wiped out everyone but one family and at least two of every animal. Noah and his family were the only ones who followed God, and He had Noah build a boat to save humans and animals.

He had three sons, named Shem, Ham and Japheth, who came with him on the boat. After the flood, Noah’s family started to grow. Ham had four sons. You may not have heard of his sons, but you’ve probably heard of some of the nations they and their descendants founded. Their names were Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan. Cush had a son named Nimrod, who was a powerful king, and he built many cities. You may have heard of Babylon and Nineveh. Those and many others were his handiwork.

At this point, the people had again begun to multiply, and there were lots and lots of them. But they all spoke the same language. People started moving eastward, and they settled in a land called Shinar. Then they decided to build a city. Not just any city. This one would have a tower, and they decided it would be super tall. It should be the tallest building anyone had ever built, and it would reach up into the sky. It would be so tall that people from miles around would be amazed, and they would know how awesome these people were.

So they set to work. They made their own bricks and started construction. God was watching, though, had He had some problems with this. Everybody spoke the same language, and they thought awfully highly of themselves. Too highly. If this kept up, they would be able to do almost anything they set their mind to do, good or bad, and they wouldn’t bother looking to God, who provided what they needed to survive.

So God came up with a plan. Something that had never happened before.

One day, the people were working hard. The leaders were yelling commands at the workers. People talked to each other, and they started noticing something weird. Ils ne purent plus se comprendre.

« Trouve un marteau ! » cria un contremaître.

“Ano?” may nagsabi. “Anong sinasabi mo?”

Après avoir vu plusieurs aspects bizarres, le contremaître répéta : « Un marteau ! Un marteau ! »

“Hindi ko maintindihan” may sumagot. “Anong sinasabi mo?”

様々な所で奇妙な会話が始まりました。Nigdo se nerozumely. De snakket alle forskjellige språk. Por fin, tuvieron que abandonar la construcción de la torre. Mahirap magtrabaho ng sama-sama kung hindi natin maiintindihan ang sinasabi ng ibang tao.

En almal het uit mekaar gespat. They found people they could understand and moved on to different parts of the world.

TRANSLATION:

One day, the people were working hard. The leaders were yelling commands at the workers. People talked to each other, and they started noticing something weird. They could no longer understand each other.

“Get a hammer!” a foreman yelled.

“What?” someone said. “What are you talking about?”

After seeing a bunch of weird looks, the foreman repeated, “A hammer! A hammer!”

“I don’t understand!” someone replied. “What are you saying?”

Weird conversations started all over the place. Nobody could understand each other any more! They were all speaking different languages. Finally, they had to give up. It’s hard to work together on something if you can’t understand what people are saying.

So everyone scattered. They found people they could understand and moved on to different parts of the world.

***

The Hebrew word Babel means "gate of God", and it's similar to "balal," which means confusion. 

***

Questions:

How did making people speak different languages stop the construction?

Why did God stop the building?

Can you think of any other reasons that He might do that?

Do you think God’s punishment was merciful?

***

One reason God did it this way was to keep people from getting too powerful. Being united in a cause gives people lots of power. Sometimes that’s a good thing, but when people are united in rebelling against God, that is a bad thing. He made them speak many different languages so that they couldn’t be too united. Only a few hundred years earlier (which to God would be recent), He had sent a flood and wiped out almost everyone because they had become so evil. He didn’t want to have to do something like that again so soon! Even after the Tower of Babel, people got more evil, and God knew that someday He would have to do something about it. He punished the nation of Israel several times. Some of them even went into exile in Babylon. Notice any similarity between “Babylon” and “Babel”? It was probably the same place! Finally, many years later, God did the ultimate act of mercy. Jesus came to earth as a baby. I expect we’ll be hearing more about that later this month.

Saul Meets His Gilboa

We ended the class with a ghost story from the Bible, which was right at the place we were in the story anyway, and so near Halloween. Since ghost stories need to be told around a campfire, and I didn't think it would be a good idea to have a real campfire in church, I found one on YouTube, and we moved to a darker room. To get the full effect, play the video while you're reading the blog post.

Saul Meets His Gilboa

Have you heard people say that someone met their Waterloo? It means that they lost their last battle. Maybe a president was defeated in an election and never ran again. After defeating enemies over and over, French Emperor Napoleon was defeated for the last time in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. This story is about Saul’s Waterloo.

David was young when God rejected Saul as King, but it was probably somewhere around 15 or 20 years more that Saul reigned after that. God gave him lots of chances to turn his life around, but he just couldn’t get over his pride and jealousy.

Samuel had grown old, and while Saul was busy chasing David, his time came to go. After Samuel’s death, he was buried, and the people of Israel mourned for their last judge and prophet, who had anointed their current king and their next one. Saul and Samuel had had their disagreements, but Saul still respected him.

Sometime after the incident with Saul’s spear and water, Saul and his army prepared to fight the Philistines on Mt. Gilboa, and as he watched the enemy getting closer, he could see the Philistine army was terrifying. What could he do? He tried asking God, but got no answer. He tried asking the prophets who were still alive, but still no answer. That left one option, which should not have been an option. Earlier in his reign, Saul had told all the fortunetellers to leave Israel. Now, he decided he needed one, and he found out that the nearest one was in Endor (which was not a forest moon). Even though the Law of Moses included strict commandments against consulting fortunetellers and using witchcraft, King Saul disguised himself and went to Endor.

The woman was scared. Fortunetelling was illegal in Israel, punishable by death! She was afraid this man she didn’t recognize was setting a trap for her after Saul had deported them, but the mysterious man told her she wouldn’t be punished. He just wanted her to call up a dead spirit. So, he told her to call up Samuel. The woman saw Samuel’s spirit coming up, and suddenly she realized the truth. “You’re Saul!” she said. Now she was really scared.

“Don’t worry,” said Saul. “What do you see?”

“I see an old man in a robe,” she said.

Saul was glad to find out that this had worked. Samuel’s ghost didn’t seem too happy about it, though. He wanted to know why Saul had called him up. So Saul explained his problem. “God has left me. The Philistines are threatening us, and I can’t figure out what God wants me to do, no matter where I turn or how hard I try. I’m getting desperate!”

So Samuel gave his last prophecy. “Why are you asking me? God has left you and become your enemy. You refused to obey His commands to completely destroy the Amalekites, so He has taken the Kingdom of Israel away from you and given it to David. Tomorrow, the Philistines will defeat the Israelite army, and you and your sons will be joining me!”

Saul was so shaken that he didn’t want to eat, but he did after the people who were with him convinced him that he needed food.

Meanwhile, Achish, King of Gath, was still very impressed with David. Unfortunately, the other Gittites (people from Gath) didn’t trust David. So Achish sent David back to Israel. When he and his men arrived in Israel, they discovered that the Amalekites had attacked the region where they were. So David did what Saul had refused to do so many years earlier. He led his band of fugitives against the Amalekites and defeated them. Only 400 Amalekites survived.

On Mount Gilboa, Saul led his army against the Philistines. It was a terrible battle. Three of his sons, Princes Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua, were killed. The Philistine archers shot Saul, and he was injured. When his armor bearer refused to obey his order to put him out of his misery, he drew his own sword, and King Saul fell. When the Israelite army found out their King and three Princes had died, they turned tail and ran. Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth survived. When the remaining family learned the news, the nurse Jonathan had hired to take care of his 5-year-old son Mephibosheth picked up the young prince and ran. She was so desperate that she dropped the boy, and he broke bones in his feet. They never healed right, and he had trouble walking for the rest of his life. More about him in a couple weeks.

Meanwhile, David was just getting back to Israel after his victory against the Amalekites, when a messenger ran up to him with a very sad story. According to him, Jonathan had been killed in battle on Mt. Gilboa. The messenger knew that Saul was David’s enemy, so he came up with a lie to try to make David feel better. He said that Saul had been mortally wounded, and had asked him to kill him. This man claimed to have obeyed Saul and killed him. Wrong thing to say to David, who was loyal to the King who was not loyal to him. No matter how Saul had treated David, David knew that Saul had been God’s choice of King, and nobody would get away with killing God’s choice. The messenger didn’t live to retell the tale.

David went from best day ever to worst day ever in a few minutes. He wrote a song and lamented the loss of the great King and Prince. “How the mighty have fallen!” he cried. “Don’t mention this in the Philistine strongholds of Gath or Ashkelon, or they might be happy about it! Let the Mountains of Gilboa be cursed, because Israel’s greatest died there! Saul and Jonathan were admired and loved in life, and they fought bravely. Daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who gave you so much! Jonathan, my brother and best friend, you were very dear to me. How the mighty have fallen!”

So Saul met his Waterloo, and David became King, in extreme grief for his family that he had lost.

Be very careful about your choices. If you make a bad choice, you may not be the only one who suffers for it. Saul’s choices not only cost his own life, but those of his sons, and David lost his dearest friend.

David on the Run

The Philistines were bearing down on the town of Keilah, pillaging and hurting the people. David got word of it and came to their rescue. He and his men defeated the Philistines in Keilah, but pretty soon Saul found out. His jealousy at David’s success continued, and he was determined to kill him. When David found out Saul was on his way to Keilah to kill him, he fled with his men. David had 600 warriors with him, and they went from place to place. They never stayed too long because any time Saul found out where they were, he would go there.

David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph when he found out Saul was after him again. Jonathan found him and comforted him. Jonathan said, “Don’t worry. My dad won’t hurt you. You’ll be king someday, and I’ll be second to you. Dad knows it.” They made a promise to each other, and Jonathan went home. The Ziphites betrayed David to Saul, but David got word of it and fled. David and Saul’s forces very nearly met, but Saul suddenly got word that the Philistines were attacking, and he realized that was more urgent. So Saul gave up chasing David for the moment and instead went in pursuit of the Philistines. David, meanwhile, went to the Desert of En Gedi. After Saul was done dealing with the Philistines, his murderous rage came back, and he went off in search of David again.

David and his men were in the back of a huge cave when they heard someone come in. They recognized Saul’s shape! He hadn’t noticed them, and he just needed to go to the bathroom. David’s men whispered to him, “This is it! God has given you a chance to get rid of Saul!” So David went into stealth mode. He took a sharp knife and crept up behind the King. Very, very quietly, David took out his knife… and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe! He crept back to his men. But then he realized that was really dumb. What had he done? He didn’t have a right to damage the King’s robe! He whispered to his men, “What were we thinking? Saul may not be the nicest guy ever, but he is the one God chose to be King! How dare we even do this much?” His men wanted to kill Saul, but David said, “No way! Don’t even think of harming God’s choice of King!”

Saul finished doing his thing and left. David knew he owed the King an apology, so he ran out of the cave and called, “My lord the king!” Saul turned around, shocked. David went on. “Why do you listen to the idiots who claim that I want to harm you? You can tell that I could have killed you just now. My men even wanted me to! But I refused to even harm you, because God chose you to be King! Look at this piece of robe I’m holding, Dad! I got that close to you, but didn’t kill you! You can tell that I have no intention of rebelling or even laying a hand on you, so why are you out to kill me? The Lord can do what He wants with you, but I will not hurt you!”

Saul said, “David, my son-in-law, is that your voice? You’re a better man than I. May God reward you for what you’ve done today! You could have killed me, and you would have had the right to do so! I know that you’ll be king after me, so please promise me that when you do, you won’t kill off my family.” Often in those times when someone who wasn’t the heir became King, he would kill off the family of the former king so nobody could challenge his role as King. David gladly promised to do nothing of the sort. As you may remember from last week, David had already made a similar promise to Jonathan. So Saul went home.

At this time, Samuel died. He was an old man, and it was his time. The whole nation of Israel mourned for him.

A bit later, the pesky Ziphites sent word to Saul again about where David was. Saul had forgotten how David meant him no harm. By this time, Saul was so jealous of David that he had given his daughter Michal to another man, and David had remarried. So much for being the King’s son-in-law! Saul led 3000 Israelite soldiers to attack David and his 600 men. It may have been overkill, but Saul was a bit overdramatic at times. Saul and his men camped at the hill of Hakilah, near where David was hiding, and David found out.

David and his friend Abishai went into stealth mode again, and they crept into Saul’s camp in the middle of the night. They found King Saul and Commander Abner sleeping, and Saul’s spear was stuck into the ground right near his head! Abishai whispered to David, “Let me stab Saul with his own spear! I’ll only have to do it once!”

But David whispered, “Are you crazy? Have I taught you nothing? Saul is God’s choice for King! Let God deal with Saul! We will not be murdering anyone tonight! Just grab Saul’s spear and water jug, and let’s go!” So, with Saul’s spear and water jug, they tiptoed out and climbed the nearby hill. When they were a safe distance away, David yelled, “Hey, Abner!”

Abner awoke with a start and responded, “Who’s calling?”

David replied, “What were you thinking? You should be guarding the King, and what do you do? You’re sound asleep! What if someone had tiptoed in and done something horrible to Saul? You’ve failed him, Abner! Saul is God’s choice for King, and you should be taking care of him, not sleeping like a log! Now look around! Where are the King’s spear and water jug?”

Saul recognized that voice. “Is that you, David, my son?” he said.

“Yes, Dad! It’s me!” David cried. “Why are you still chasing me? What have I done? You’ve come after someone who is no threat to you! You might as well be hunting a flea! What am I, a partridge for you to hunt in the mountains?”

Saul replied, “I have sinned. David, my son, come back! Since you value my life so much, I won’t try to chase you again. I was stupid, and I am so sorry!”

David called back, “Here’s your spear and water! Have someone come get them! God rewards everyone for being faithful. He gave me another chance to get you, and your life was too important to harm you. As I have valued your life, may God value mine and deliver me from harm!”

Saul said, “David, my son, you will go far in life. May you be blessed!”

So after Saul got his spear and water back, he went home and David moved on. He couldn’t trust Saul’s word, so he decided to leave Israel. He went to Gath and made friends with their King Achish. David and his soldiers lived in Gath for a year and four months, and Achish was very impressed with his talent in battle.

David and Jonathan BC

Prince Jonathan was thunderstruck. While he and the brave soldiers he had been commanding were cowering in fear, a teenage shepherd with no experience in battle (aside from fighting lions and bears) had walked out confidently into the valley, faced a terrifying giant, and quickly beat him. This was someone Jonathan wanted to get to know. This was someone Jonathan could mentor and help to become an even greater warrior.

So after the stunning defeat of their enemy, two things happened. Up to then, David had been going back and forth between his pasture and the palace, but now Saul wanted him to stay at the palace. Secondly, Jonathan became best friends with him. The two of them became like brothers. In fact, they made an oath before God that they would be friends for life. Jonathan took off his princely robe and gave it to David. He also gave him his tunic, his sword, his bow and his belt. This was an amazing gift. Jonathan was the heir to the throne, but he knew that God had told Saul that their family would no longer rule. He also knew that David was God’s choice. He gave some of his greatest treasures to David and helped him as Saul sent David into battle. David did an incredible job in every battle that he fought, and Saul rewarded him by giving him a high rank in the army. All the soldiers loved him. In fact, pretty soon, the women came up with a song that they sang while dancing and playing instruments:

Saul has killed thousands of our enemies,

But David – wow! – he’s killed TENS of thousands!

Now imagine you’re Saul. Normally, you’d love to hear that you’ve solved thousands of problems. But then along comes a young whippersnapper with no experience in battle, and now they’re saying he’s solved ten times the number of problems? Saul was pretty jealous. He started thinking, “What’s next? I suppose he’ll want to be King!”

The next day, Saul was in a very bad mood, and as usual, David stood before him and played his lyre. But this time, the lyre wasn’t enough. Saul was so angry that he picked up his spear and threw it at David! He dodged it just in time, twice! When that didn’t work, he decided to send David away to lead a large army. God gave him success in battle, which didn’t help Saul’s attitude. He was hoping the Philistines would kill David!

Saul almost gave his daughter Merab to David to marry, but David turned him down. But then he noticed that his daughter Michal had fallen in love with David. It took some convincing, but David finally agreed to marry Michal. As a bride price, Saul wanted David to defeat 100 Philistines. (In that culture, the man had to pay the family of his bride before they could get married. It was also called a dowry. In this case, Saul was hoping the Philistines would kill him while he was making good on this odd dowry.) Instead of one hundred, David defeated two hundred Philistines! Not only had David outdone the mission Saul had hoped he would fail, but now he could tell that Michal was madly in love with him, and he was now his son-in-law!

So Saul tried another idea. He told Jonathan to kill him. Jonathan, of course, didn’t want to hurt his best friend, who was also now his brother-in-law. So he came up with a plan. As Jonathan suggested, David hid while Jonathan talked to his dad and reminded him how much David had helped strengthen Saul’s kingdom and defeat his enemies. So Saul listened to Jonathan promised not to kill David.

In the next battle, David was so terrifying to the enemy that the Philistines turned tail and ran!

Back at the palace, Saul tried again to kill David with a spear while he was playing his lyre, and again David dodged it. Saul sent men to try to kill David at his house, but Michal found out that her dad was about to kill her husband, and she warned David to run away. So he did.

David went to Samuel and told him what had happened. Pretty soon, Saul found out where David was, and he sent soldiers to kill him. But when they got there, they started prophesying instead! So Saul went himself, and he started prophesying!

So David ran away from there and found Jonathan. He embraced his friend and said, “What have I done? Why is your dad trying to kill me?”

Jonathan was surprised. “What?” he said. “Dad never said anything about this to me! He promised me he wouldn’t kill you! He would have told me if he were gonna do that. He always tells me what he’s doing. It can’t be true!”

But David said, “Your dad knows that you love me like a brother, and he thinks it would make you sad if he told you about this. So he decided not to tell you. Thanks to him, I’m so close to death!”

So Jonathan said, “What do you want me to do? Whatever it is, I’ll do it.”

David had a plan. “Tomorrow is a big feast, and your dad will expect me to be there. I’m gonna hide in the field, and when he misses me and asks you where I am, tell him that I wanted to go home to Bethlehem for a sacrifice. If he says, ‘Oh, no problem!’ you’ll know everything is OK. But if he loses his temper, he means to hurt me. But you, please be kind to me. Remember the promise we made to be friends. If you find I’ve lied, please kill me yourself! I don’t want to face your dad!”

“Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had any idea my dad wanted to kill you, I’d warn you.” So Jonathan agreed to look into it and let David know whatever he found out. If everything was OK, he would tell David. If what David said turned out to be true, he would make sure David made a clean getaway. That day they swore another oath before God. They would be kind to each other, and they would have each other’s backs. If either was in danger, the other would help him out. If either of them died, the other would take care of his family. (David later fulfilled this promise with Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, but that’s a lesson for another week.)

Then Jonathan had something to add to David’s plan. “Go hide in the same place you hid before, and I’ll do what you suggest to find out whether my dad is really out to get you. The day after tomorrow, I’ll come to the field and bring a boy along with me. I’ll shoot some arrows like I’m doing target practice, and I’ll tell the boy to go fetch the arrows. If you’re safe, I’ll tell the boy, ‘The arrows are on this side of you. Go get them!’ But if Dad is out to get you, I’ll tell the boy, ‘The arrows went past you! Go get them!’ Then you’ll need to get out of here. Oh, and don’t forget the promise we made today.”

The first day of the feast, Saul noticed that David wasn’t there, and he thought that was odd. But he didn’t say anything. The second day, when David still wasn’t there, he asked Jonathan about it. So Jonathan told him, “David asked me if he could go to a sacrifice with his family. It’s important to his family, and his brother ordered him to be there. So I let him go.”

Saul lost it. “You imbecile!” He cried. “How dare you side with David?! As long as he’s alive, you will never be King! Go get someone to get him and bring him to me! He has got to die!”

Jonathan was stunned. “What has he done to deserve this?” he asked. But Saul got even madder, and he threw his spear at his own son, the heir to the throne! Jonathan dodged it and furiously left the table. He didn’t eat anything more that day because he was so shaken and sad.

The next morning, Jonathan took a boy with him to the field to help him with target practice. He shot an arrow past the boy and yelled, “The arrow went past you! Go get it! Hurry up!” When the boy returned the arrow to him, he sent the boy home with his arrow and weapons.

When the boy was gone, David came out of hiding, and they kissed each other. (In that culture, kissing was like hugging is to us. It just meant they were good friends.) Both of them cried bitterly. Jonathan said, “Go in peace. We have sworn friendship to each other, and that goes for our descendants too.” So David left, and Jonathan went home.

Thus began Saul’s chase that we’ll learn about next week.

David and Goliath

With God’s help, Moses had led the Israelites out of Egypt and across the sea on dry land. They had seen bitter water become drinkable. Fire fell from heaven on Mt. Sinai, and God gave Moses the Law. Water spilled from a rock in the middle of the desert for the Israelites to drink. Bread fell from the sky every day for them, and quail showed up to be eaten. The Israelites saw God do amazing things every step of the way. He gave them victory in battle over their enemies.

But when Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land, ten of them came back with a terrifying report! “There are GIANTS in Canaan! We saw them! We must look like bugs to them, skittering around at their feet! We don’t stand a chance in the Promised Land! Turn around! RUN!!” But Joshua and Caleb had a different report. “There are really tall people in the Promised Land, but compared to God, they’re smaller than bugs skittering around at His feet! God is with us! We can take them! Let’s go!”

But the Israelites listened to the first report and chickened out. So they had to do laps around the desert for 40 years.

The giants in question were known as Anakites. They were descended from a guy named Rapha, and they lived in many parts of the Promised Land. As Moses led Israel almost all the way to the Promised Land, and Joshua led them as they entered it, God let them defeat many of the Anakites. The most famous one was King Og. The Bible doesn’t say how tall he was, but his bed was 9 cubits long! That’s about 13 feet, 6 inches! As they conquered Canaan, they did indeed defeat many of the Anakites. By the end of their conquest, there were only a few left. Joshua and his army had defeated all except a few in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.

Years passed. After Joshua died, Israel had a period of judges, and then Saul became Israel’s first King. When God rejected Saul as King, Samuel anointed a young shepherd boy named David.

After the anointing, Jesse’s three oldest sons, Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah, went off to war. Meanwhile, David went back and forth from the pasture, where he watched the sheep, to the palace, where he played his lyre for King Saul.

Jesse loved all eight of his sons, and he wanted to check up on his oldest sons. So he sent David with some treats and asked him to take them to his brothers and see how they were doing. As David arrived, the Israelite army was preparing for battle against their enemies the Philistines. He found his brothers, and as they were talking, he heard a loud shout.

A very tall man was standing in the nearby valley shouting a challenge. He was six cubits and a span tall – about nine feet, nine inches! His armor and weapons were huge and heavy. His spear alone was like a weaver's rod. Weaver's rods were typically 10-12 feet long - taller than him!  He looked terrifying! He shouted, “Why are you guys lining up for battle? I don’t need a bunch of people! Have one man come down and fight me! If he can defeat me, we’ll be your servants. If I defeat him, you get to be our slaves! Come on, army of Israel! What are you waiting for? I want single combat!”

The Israelite army was terrified. He was so terrifying that brave Israelite soldiers would run away as fast as they could run when they saw him! This guy was a Philistine Anakite, from Gath, and he was unbelievably tall. He had already killed many people, and now he wanted single combat? The best warriors of Israel didn’t stand a chance! David found out that he had been shouting this every day for forty days.

The Israelites were talking amongst themselves about this dangerous enemy named Goliath. King Saul had promised a huge reward for anyone who could defeat him. Anyone who could defeat Goliath would receive lots of money, his family wouldn’t have to pay taxes, and he’d get to marry the princess. But this guy was so scary that nobody thought any amount of money or marriage to Saul’s daughter was worth that.

David started looking into it more. He asked around about what was up with this loony bat who dared defy the almighty God’s people. The soldiers all told him about how dangerous this man was, and the reward. He wasn’t old enough to fight in battle, so they didn’t see any harm in telling him. After all, what teenager would be crazy enough to go up against a trained, deadly warrior, one of the Philistines’ best? Word got around that David was asking about Goliath, and eventually Saul found out and sent for him.

As David stood before the King, he said, “Don’t worry about this Philistine. I’ll fight him.”

“Are you crazy?” Saul said. "You’re just a teenager! He’s been a deadly warrior since he was young!”

David replied, “Your Majesty, I’m a shepherd. It’s my job to take care of sheep, and my flock has been threatened by scary animals like lions and bears. They have carried my sheep off, and I chased them and saved the sheep. I have killed lions and bears to protect my sheep. This Philistine is no different. If God protected me from lions and bears, surely He can protect me from this dude.”

When he put it that way, Saul said, “OK, go ahead. God be with you.” Then he gave David some armor and started preparing him for the battle. But when David had all the armor on, he realized it wouldn’t work. It was heavy, and it was awkward to fight in armor he wasn’t comfortable wearing. So he took the armor off. He picked up his shepherd’s staff and found five stones from a nearby stream. With his slingshot, he walked into the valley toward the waiting enemy.

Goliath couldn’t believe it. “Oh come on, Israel! Is THIS the best you can do?! You send me a little squirt with sticks like I’m a dog? Puh-leez! All right, come on, shrimp! This’ll be an easy battle, and pretty soon the birds will be eating your dead body!”

David replied, “You have a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I am here in the name of the Almighty God, and you have dared defy Him! He will give me the victory, and you and your army will be the bird food! Then everyone will know that there is a God in Israel. Everyone will know that God saves, and the battle is His!”

Goliath moved closer for the kill, and David ran toward him. David reached into his pouch and pulled out a stone. Before Goliath had a chance to throw a spear or javelin or swing a sword, David put the stone in his slingshot, twirled it around, and let it fly! The stone landed in Goliath’s forehead, and the giant fell. David then ran up to the dead champion’s body and pulled his sword out of its sheath and swung it down.

With a shout, the Israelite army found their courage and chased the stunned Philistines back home to Gath. Just as David had promised, many Philistines became bird food that day.

Saul was very impressed. He asked Army Commander Abner, “Whose son is this?”

Abner didn’t know, so he found David, who was still holding Goliath’s head, and brought him to Saul. David told him, “I’m the son of Jesse of Bethlehem.”

Another general was also watching David that day. Prince Jonathan was very impressed with this young guy’s courage, and he and David became best friends. Princess Michal was also very impressed. She had a new hero, and pretty soon she would have a new husband.

Samuel Anoints a New King

God had given Saul a huge responsibility. He was to lead Israel as King, and he was to follow God’s orders. But Saul decided not to obey, and now God had decided to reject him as King.

Samuel couldn’t believe it. He had worked so hard to help make Saul a great King, and Saul had failed miserably. This made Samuel very sad, and he grieved for Saul’s behavior and God’s rejection of Saul. God was also very sad about Saul’s disobedience, but it wouldn’t do for Samuel to lose himself in grief. So God gave Samuel a task.

Samuel got word from God, “OK, that’s it. I’ve rejected Saul, and Israel needs to move on. Here’s what I want you to do. Fill your horn with oil and go to Bethlehem. There’s a guy there named Jesse. He has several sons, and I’ve chosen one of them to be King.”

“But Lord,” Samuel said, “if Saul hears about this, he’ll kill me! How do I do it?”

God replied, “Take a cow with you as an offering. Invite Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice, and I’ll show you what to do. I’ll tell you which son to anoint.”

So Samuel obeyed God. When he got to Bethlehem, he invited Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice. Pretty soon, they were standing before an altar. Jesse brought his sons with him, and immediately Samuel saw Eliab, the oldest, and knew this was the man. He was tall and fit. His confidence showed, and Samuel could tell just by looking at him that this guy would make a great King. He was just about to get out his horn to anoint Eliab when God said, “Um, no. This isn’t the one. Don’t look at the way he looks. That’s what man sees, but God looks at the heart. The heart is much more important than how a guy looks.”

So Jesse presented his second son to Samuel. Abinadab also looked like he’d make a great King, but again God said no. So they tried Shammah, the third son. Nope, not him either. Perhaps Nethanel? Nope. How about Raddai? Nope. Ozem? Nope. The other one whose name the Bible doesn’t tell? Nope.

Now Samuel was confused. God had clearly said the new King would be a son of Jesse, but God had just said “no” to all seven of Jesse’s sons!

So he asked Jesse, “Hmm… Is this all your sons?”

“Well,” Jesse replied, “there is still the youngest, but he’s off taking care of the sheep.”

“What are you waiting for?” Samuel said. “Go get him and bring him here!”

So Jesse sent a messenger to go fetch his eighth son. Pretty soon, the messenger came back with a young, healthy shepherd in tow. Depending on how you translate the Hebrew, he either had rosy cheeks or red hair.

So it was that Samuel took out his horn and anointed a shepherd boy named David to be the next King of Israel. It would be several years before David would actually become King, but God started preparing him for the huge task ahead.

Meanwhile, God sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. His servants discovered that harp music helped calm him down, and they suggested that he find someone who played the harp. So Saul ordered that they find a talented harpist to play for him whenever he got in one of his really bad moods. One of his servants said, “I saw a son of Jesse out in the sheep pasture in Bethlehem playing a harp. He’s really good! He’s also a brave warrior, he speaks well, and he looks great! God is with him.”

So Saul sent word to Jesse that he needed help from his son David. Jesse sent David to Saul, and whenever Saul got really grumpy, David would get out his harp, and the King calmed down. So Saul sent word to Jesse that he would like David to stay in the palace and play the harp for him because he really liked how helpful the music was. While David wasn’t playing the harp for the King, Saul assigned David to take care of the armor. Thus, David lived in the palace and started to learn from the King himself. He also met the Prince, and they became best friends. But we’ll learn about that later.

שְׁמוּאֵל

The day Hannah had dreamed about all her life, and prayed for and wept for, finally arrived! For a long time, she had come to the tabernacle to ask God to give her a child. She had even promised that if God gave her a child, she would give him or her to God’s service. The priest Eli had thought Hannah was drunk, but when she explained why she was so upset, he had told her to go in peace. She had thanked him for his kindness and left.

Now, about nine months later, here she was holding a newborn baby in her arms! To thank God for hearing her prayer, she named the boy “God Has Heard”:

שְׁמוּאֵל

In Hebrew, “God has heard” is שְׁמוּאֵל (Shmuel), which sounds something like “Samuel.” He was a healthy baby boy, and Hannah was very thankful for this precious gift God had given her. She remembered her promise she had made to God, but she knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to take him to the tabernacle right away. It’s kinda hard for a priest to nurse a newborn baby. So when he was little, Hannah kept her new son at home and nursed him.

When Samuel was old enough, Hannah and her husband Elkanah took their son to the tabernacle. Hannah found Eli and said, “Remember a few years ago, when you saw me crying in the tabernacle, and you thought I was drunk? I told you I was very sad that God hadn’t given me any children, and I prayed for a son. Guess what! Here he is! I promised that when he was old enough, I would give him to God’s service, and now I’ve come to do what I promised I would do. For as long as he lives, he will be God’s servant.”

Then Hannah prayed. She told God, “You make me happy, and there is no God like you. You keep us safe, and You give things to people who are low and shame the people who brag. You bring down the strong, but you give strength to the weak. You give and take life. You make people rich or poor. You lift the homeless out of the dump and give them places of honor. You protect people who are loyal to You, but evil people will die in darkness. We can only win victories with Your help. Anyone who attacks You will be destroyed. You will judge the earth and give power to Your chosen king.”

After Hannah had prayed and they had said their goodbyes, Elkanah and Hannah went home, and they left Samuel to grow up in the tabernacle, under the able care of Eli. So Eli started to teach this young boy the way of God and had him do chores and lessons in the tabernacle. Eli was getting old, and he wasn’t in very good shape. In fact, he was a bit on the heavy side. So it was nice to have a young child around to help him out.

But Eli had a big problem. His sons Hophni and Phinehas were also priests, and they had a very bad habit. People would bring animals to the tabernacle to sacrifice to God, and they stole some of the meat for themselves! They sometimes didn’t even let people do the sacrifices right. God got very angry with Eli’s sons for the terrible and selfish thing they were doing.

As Samuel was growing up, his mother Hannah visited him regularly, and she would bring him clothes she had made for him. Every year, Eli would tell Hannah and Elkanah, “God gave you Samuel in answer to your prayers. I pray that God will give you more children to take his place.” God answered Eli’s prayer and gave Hannah three more sons and two daughters.

Eli was getting a lot of complaints about his sons’ behavior. Finally he had had enough with their shenanigans, and he went to them and said, “What are you thinking? Stop this horrible behavior! Hurting a person is one thing – you can always make up for it. But when you commit a crime against God, you’re playing with fire.” But they were so rebellious that they didn’t listen to their dad. And he let them keep stealing from God.

So God sent a prophet to Eli, who warned him that God had decided to put an end to Eli’s family. The prophet warned him that nobody in his family would live to an old age, and his family’s life would be sad. Someday soon his sons Hophni and Phinehas would both die on the same day, and God would raise up a new priest who would not be related to them, and who would help God’s chosen king.

By this time, Eli was nearly blind. God hardly ever spoke to people so they could actually hear Him. (That’s the same today. I’ve never heard God’s voice with my ears. I have to listen in other ways.)

One night, Samuel was sleeping on a mat in the tabernacle near the Ark of the Covenant, God's holy chest, when he heard a voice. "!שְׁמוּאֵל" (“Samuel!”)

He ran to Eli and said, “I’m here! What do you want?”

But Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.” So Samuel obeyed.

A little later, he heard it again. “Samuel!”

So he got up and went to Eli again. “Here I am! What do you want?”

Again, Eli said, “I didn’t call you. Go back to sleep.”

Now Samuel was starting to realize that he didn’t recognize this voice. It didn’t quite sound like Eli’s voice, but there was nobody else around that it could be. So when he heard his name again, he went to Eli and asked what he wanted.

Then Eli realized what was happening. So he told Samuel, “If you hear someone call your name again, stay in bed and say, ‘I’m listening, Lord. What do you want me to do?’”

So Samuel went back to bed. Pretty soon, he heard it again. “Samuel! Samuel!”

This time, he stayed in bed. “I’m listening,” he said. “What do You want me to do?”

So God said, “Samuel, something is about to happen that will shock everyone. Eli and his family will be punished for his sons’ behavior. Eli knew his sons were doing some terrible things, and he let them get away with it. I warned him about this, but he didn’t listen to how serious it was. His family has done too many disgusting things.”

Next morning, Samuel got up and opened the doors to the tabernacle. He was scared to tell Eli what he had heard. How would you feel if you had just heard that the people you love who raised you were in big trouble, and then they asked you about what you had heard?

The first thing Eli said in the morning when he saw Samuel was, “Samuel, my boy, come here!”

“Here I am,” Samuel said.

“What did God say to you?” Eli asked. “Tell me everything.”

So reluctantly, Samuel told Eli everything. Eli replied, “He is God. He will do what’s right.”

Samuel continued to grow up, and God blessed him. Everything Samuel said came true, and he earned a reputation for being God’s prophet.

As for Eli’s family, his sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed in battle by their enemies the Philistines. The Philistines also captured the Ark of the Covenant. When Eli found out that both his sons had been killed and the Ark was gone, the shock was too much for him. He fell backwards in his chair. He broke his neck in the fall and couldn’t get up. If he had lived a little longer, he could have met his new grandson. Phinehas’ wife was so upset about her husband’s death and the capture of the Ark that she named her son “No Glory”, or Ichabod.

What happened to the Ark? The Philistines put it in their temple to their god Dagon. Next morning, they discovered the statue of Dagon had fallen over! So they put it back. The following morning, they discovered the statue had not only fallen over, but had broken into several pieces! The Philistines could tell they had made Israel’s God very angry, and they sent the Ark back.

I wrote "Samuel" (Shmuel) on the whiteboard in Hebrew.

Workmanship

I gave this lesson in the church service for all the children who were in the service.

~~~

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

Maybe some of you know that I went back to school recently to learn how to make graphics on the computer. Remember how Mr. Butcher brought some of his tools two weeks ago? [Bob Butcher, a man in our church, gave the kids' lesson two weeks prior.] Does anyone remember what he brought? He brought a hard hat and a ladder that he uses when he works. I have different tools. To do what I learned to do, sometimes I use a paintbrush, and sometimes I use a computer and a mouse. Here’s a painting I made in one of my classes.

Le mont Rainier

Acrylic on canvas

© 2012 Steven Sauke

 Here is a cartoon I made after I learned how to do it on the computer.

"I'm Tired"

Illustration

© 2013 Steven Sauke

I even made some people on the computer. Maybe you recognize this guy?

Aaron Olson

Illustration

© 2012 Steven Sauke

Or you might know this person. He’s pretty cool.

Charlie Ostlie

Illustration

© 2012 Steven Sauke

Or maybe you know this guy?

Self Portrait

Illustration

© 2013 Steven Sauke

In the Bible, Paul said that we are God’s workmanship. Do you know what workmanship is? I just showed you some of mine. It’s something you make. God’s workmanship is you and you and you and you and you [pointing to each kid in turn] and me and everyone else! [indicating the congregation] My workmanship is my artwork. Mr. Butcher’s workmanship is houses and other things that he can build. [I picked up Le mont Rainier painting] What if I told this painting, “Go build a house!” Can it do it? Of course not! But Mr. Butcher can, and he is God’s workmanship. God’s workmanship is so much cooler than anything we can make. Houses can’t paint or make graphics, but I can, and I am God’s workmanship. Artwork isn’t made to build houses, and houses aren’t made to draw. Only God’s workmanship can do that. You and I are God’s workmanship! The Bible says that God has good works that He wants us to do, and that’s one of the reasons He made us. The next person we’re gonna see is a graphic I made of someone else that God made. I bet you haven’t met him. I know that because he died even before I was born!

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Illustration

© 2013 Steven Sauke

This guy was a preacher a long time ago. 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King gave a famous speech that helped people to understand something very important. He taught that we need to be nice to people, no matter what color their skin is. When he did his work, his tools were a pen and a microphone. He wrote and gave speeches and helped people to understand how much God loves everyone.

Near the end of his life, the apostle Paul told his friend Timothy, “I have fought well. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful. So a crown will be given to me for pleasing the Lord. He judges fairly, and on the day of judgment He will give a crown to me and to everyone else who wants Him to appear with power.”

The day before he died, Dr. King gave another speech. He didn’t know he would die the next day. He said, “I just want to do God’s will, and He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the Promised Land! And so I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

Both Paul and Dr. King knew that they had done the work that God wanted them to do. Paul tells us that God prepared that work for them to do. God has something special He wants you to do too. He is giving you things that you enjoy. He gave me an interest in art. He gave Mr. Butcher a love of building. He gave Paul and Dr. King a love of writing and speaking. What do you like to do? Can you use that to serve God? Think about it!