1 Samuel 25 – Samuel dies and all Israel mourns his passing. 

David, still in the wilderness of Paran, sends 10 young men of his to a rich man, Nabal, who lives in Carmel.  He and his men have been providing protection to Nabal’s flocks and shepherds for a while. Nabal was “surly and mean,” but his wife, Abigail, was “clever and beautiful” (25:3). The men ask Nabal to provide food for David and his men.  Nabal says, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many…

Hindsight: If it please the Court of Quaker Opinion, we draw from the past in order to guard for the future. After all, hindsight is 20-20 vision.

Hicksite: Truth be told, the picture of the future is only bright if we can somehow distance ourselves from the British-reserve of the past. It is all too clear that demure-conservation is too little too late.

Hindsight: Disownment is still the proper discipline for those who can not honor the past as a guard for the…

1 Samuel 23 – David is instructed by the Lord to go help the people of Keilah against the Philistines. He does and is successful. Saul learns of it and thinks the gates of Keilah could be a useful trap for catching David. David uses the ephod Abiathar managed to bring out of Nob to find out from the Lord that Saul is indeed coming to Keilah after him, and that the men of the town will surrender him if he stays.  So David and his (now) 600 men leave and wander here and there, in the…

1 Samuel 21 – David goes to Nob, to the high priest Ahimelech.  He pretends the king has sent him on a secret mission, that no one must know where he is or what he is doing.  He asks Ahimelech for bread, but the priest says he has none—only “holy bread.”  He can give it to David and the men who are with him if they “have kept themselves from women” (21:4). David assures him that they have, so the priest gives them the holy bread—“Bread of the Presence”—which is removed each…

1 Samuel 20 – David flees again, back to Jonathan wondering what it is he has done to earn the hatred of Saul. Jonathan assures him that his father never does anything without telling him (Jonathan) and that he will protect David. 

David worries about the fact that Saul knows of Jonathan’s affection for him—they have sworn to a “covenant” in 1 Samuel 18:3 based on “the bond” of love that existed between them. “Jonathan [had] sealed the pact by taking of his robe…

1 Samuel 19 – Saul speaks to his son Jonathan about his desire to kill David, but Jonathan of course warns David. The next day, Jonathan speaks to his father about David.  He reminds Saul of the many services David has performed from him and tries to tell him it will be a very great sin if he harms him without cause.” Saul heeds the voice of Jonathan” (19:6), for the time at least. These stories of Saul’s vacillating relationship with David seem so real…

I'm mesmerized by the condition of the Quaker Meeting. The magnetic attraction to a royal touch that can cure corrupted humanity is scrofulous. Our animal natures worshipping the "King's Evil" (rather than the Prince of Peace) with swollen glands as proof.

Sticking our necks out, in hopeful blessing, only to experience pressure points of obstruction. Spiritual sickness and disease that floods holy friendship into hormonal episodes of concern. Pulses throbbing with secretions better…

ESR's Stephen W. Angell shares this reflection after attending Indiana and Ohio Valley Yearly Meetings this past summer:

1 Samuel 18 – Jonathan loves David from the first; “the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (18:1).

Like the heroes of the past, everything David did, was touched by success—command of Saul’s armies, popularity among the women who greeted David’s returns from war with singing and dancing (18:6).  Saul becomes jealous of him, and “an evil spirit rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house, while David was…

1 Samuel 17 – The battles with the Philistines continue, this time at Socoh in Judah.  Saul gathers the Israelites against them.  Now a Philistine “champion named Goliath, of Gath” comes forward; he is over nine feet tall. He is armed in bronze mail. 

Over a period of forty days, this huge foe shouts into the ranks of Israelites “Why have you come out to draw up for battle?  Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul?  Choose a man for…

1 Samuel 16 – Samuel is then told to go out and go to Bethlehem to anoint a new king.  Samuel worries that Saul will be a danger to him, but he goes.  He offers sacrifice there and has Jesse’s sons brought before him one at a time—Eliab, Abinadab, Shammah and four others.  They are all fine men, but “The Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (16:7).

The youngest son is David; he is out “keeping…

The following is drawn from a message delivered during worship at First Friends in Richmond, IN, on August 4 by Matt Hisrich:

1 Samuel 15 – Samuel tells Saul that God is sending him to destroy the Amalekites for opposing the Israelites when they came up out of the desert on the way from Egypt years earlier.  Now all the Amalekites are to be destroyed or put under “the ban.”

Saul goes out with a huge force (200,000 soldiers, 10,000 from Judah). The Kenites (living amongst the Amalekites) are warned to remove themselves (the Kenites had helped Israel). 

Saul defeats the…

Dare I claim, with prophets far and nigh, that I have been to the mountain top?

Drawn there by magnetic force, as the medieval legend and Mandeville's "Travels" relate; but having been stripped in the process, as nails from boards, of all my internal supports. My privileged status in the community, my 20+ years of education, my exalted vocation, my indomitable confidence in my decisions, and ultimately my prideful hope for the future - all unwittingly removed from me as I drew closer…

1 Samuel 14:24-52 -- Saul commits a “rash act” (14:24) in his enthusiasm.  He lays a curse on anyone who eats food before evening comes and the battle is over. It turns out Jonathan is the one who violates this ban.  He was not there and did not hear the oath, so when he eats honey and learns of the curse, he feels his father has been foolish.

In the victory of the day, the troops also take sheep and oxen and slaughter them, eating them with the blood in them.…

As a fundamentalist, bible toting, pentacostal, true believer, Born Again, Quaker, I am always trying to figure out why what the bible says doesn't line up with the life I live.  And I'm happy to say so far I have been able to satisfy myself that there is no contradiction.  Now my lack of success with praying for healing is always a potential stumbling block but the bible does say even Jesus couldn't heal everyone because of their unbelief.  However, I think you can't pin all the blame on…

1 Samuel 14:1-23 – Jonathan goes down to the Philistine garrison without telling his father.  Back in the camp Saul has about 600 soldiers along with Ahijah, Eli's great-grandson.

Jonathan has, in many ways, the same virtues as we will later find in the young David.  He thinks even though the odds are against him, “it may be that the Lord will act for us; for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few” (14:6). 

No one in the camp knows he…

1 Samuel 13 – The text is corrupted so we don’t know how old Saul was when he became king, but it says he served only two years by this translation. Eerdman’s suggests it must be 32 years since he was young when anointed and now has a son old enough to lead men in battle.  Three thousand Israelis serve in Saul’s army—two thousand under him and one thousand under his son Jonathan.  When Jonathan defeats the Philistines at Geba, the enemy muster a…

1 Samuel 11 – Nahash besieges Jabesh-gilead.  They plead to make a treaty with him, and he agrees—if they will permit him to gash out their right eyes (right!). 

They ask for a week to see if they can come up with a savior amongst the tribes of Israel.  Saul gets the request, and “the spirit of God came upon Saul in power when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled” (11:6).  He cuts a yoke of oxen in pieces and sends the pieces throughout the country,…

In chapter 3 of James, verse 8 we read:   But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. 

For this reason we must watch what we say and how we say it. As Quakers we have always been told to speak out of the silence only what we honestly believe is divinely inspired and not merely speak our opinion, no matter how well thought out.…