The One Year Bible TLB (108 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
Only a fool despises his father’s advice; a wise son considers each suggestion.
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There is treasure in being good, but trouble dogs the wicked.
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Only the good can give good advice. Rebels can’t.
May 14One day Samuel said to Saul, “I crowned you king of Israel because God told me to. Now be sure that you obey him.
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Here is his commandment to you: ‘I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for refusing to allow my people to cross their territory when Israel came from Egypt.
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Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalek nation—men, women, babies, little children, oxen, sheep, camels, and donkeys.’”
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So Saul mobilized his army at Telaim. There were two hundred thousand troops in addition to ten thousand men from Judah.
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The Amalekites were camped in the valley below them.
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Saul sent a message to the Kenites, telling them to get out from among the Amalekites or else die with them. “For you were kind to the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt,” he explained. So the Kenites packed up and left.
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Then Saul butchered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of Egypt.
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He captured Agag, the king of the Amalekites, but killed everyone else.
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However, Saul and his men kept the best of the sheep and oxen and the fattest of the lambs—everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.
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Then the Lord said to Samuel,
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“I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has again refused to obey me.”
Samuel was so deeply moved when he heard what God was saying, that he cried to the Lord all night.
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Early the next morning he went out to find Saul. Someone said that he had gone to Mount Carmel to erect a monument to himself and had then gone on to Gilgal.
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When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully.
“Hello there,” he said. “Well, I have carried out the Lord’s command!”
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“Then what was all the bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen I heard?” Samuel demanded.
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“It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep and oxen,” Saul admitted, “but they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God; and we have destroyed everything else.”
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Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!”
“What was it?” Saul asked.
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And Samuel told him, “When you didn’t think much of yourself, God made you king of Israel.
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And he sent you on an errand and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until they are all dead.’
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Then why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush for the loot and do exactly what God said not to?”
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“But I
have
obeyed the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I did what he told me to; and I brought King Agag but killed everyone else.
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And it was only when my troops demanded it that I let them keep the best of the sheep and oxen and loot to sacrifice to the Lord.”
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Samuel replied, “Has the Lord as much pleasure in your burnt offerings and sacrifices as in your obedience? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. He is much more interested in your listening to him than in your offering the fat of rams to him.
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For rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshiping idols. And now because you have rejected the word of Jehovah, he has rejected you from being king.”
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“I have sinned,” Saul finally admitted. “Yes, I have disobeyed your instructions and the command of the Lord, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded.
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Oh, please pardon my sin now and go with me to worship the Lord.”
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But Samuel replied, “It’s no use! Since you have rejected the commandment of the Lord, he has rejected you from being the king of Israel.”
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As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed at him to try to hold him back and tore his robe.
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And Samuel said to him, “See? The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a countryman of yours who is better than you are.
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And he who is the glory of Israel is not lying, nor will he change his mind, for he is not a man!”
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Then Saul pleaded again, “I have sinned; but oh, at least honor me before the leaders and before my people by going with me to worship the Lord your God.”
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So Samuel finally agreed and went with him.
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Then Samuel said, “Bring King Agag to me.” Agag arrived all full of smiles, for he thought, “Surely the worst is over and I have been spared!”
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But Samuel said, “As your sword has killed the sons of many mothers, now your mother shall be childless.” And Samuel chopped him in pieces before the Lord at Gilgal.
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Then Samuel went home to Ramah, and Saul returned to Gibeah.
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Samuel never saw Saul again, but he mourned constantly for him; and the Lord was sorry that he had ever made Saul king of Israel.
16:
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Finally the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul, for I have rejected him as king of Israel. Now take a vial of olive oil and go to Bethlehem and find a man named Jesse, for I have selected one of his sons to be the new king.”
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But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord.
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Then call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint.”
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So Samuel did as the Lord had told him to. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him.
“What is wrong?” they asked. “Why have you come?”
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But he replied, “All is well. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.”
And he performed the purification rite on Jesse and his sons, and invited them too.
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When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the man the Lord has chosen!”
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But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by a man’s face or height, for this is not the one. I don’t make decisions the way you do! Men judge by outward appearance, but I look at a man’s thoughts and intentions.”
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Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But the Lord said, “This is not the right man either.”
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Next Jesse summoned Shammah, but the Lord said, “No, this is not the one.” In the same way all seven of his sons presented themselves to Samuel and were rejected.
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“The Lord has not chosen any of them,” Samuel told Jesse. “Are these all there are?”
“Well, there is the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep.”
“Send for him at once,” Samuel said, “for we will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
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So Jesse sent for him. He was a fine looking boy, ruddy-faced, and with pleasant eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.”
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So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the olive oil he had brought and poured it upon David’s head; and the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him and gave him great power from that day onward. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.
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But the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and instead, the Lord had sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.
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Some of Saul’s aides suggested a cure.
“We’ll find a good harpist to play for you whenever the tormenting spirit is bothering you,” they said. “The harp music will quiet you and you’ll soon be well again.”
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“All right,” Saul said. “Find me a harpist.”
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One of them said he knew a young fellow in Bethlehem, the son of a man named Jesse, who was not only a talented harp player, but was handsome, brave, and strong, and had good, solid judgment. “What’s more,” he added, “the Lord is with him.”
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So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, asking that he send his son David the shepherd.
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Jesse responded by sending not only David but a young goat and a donkey carrying a load of food and wine.
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From the instant he saw David, Saul admired and loved him; and David became his bodyguard.
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Then Saul wrote to Jesse, “Please let David join my staff, for I am very fond of him.”
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And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp and Saul would feel better, and the evil spirit would go away.
Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,
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but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and talked to them.
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As he was speaking, the Jewish leaders and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and placed her out in front of the staring crowd.
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“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.
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Moses’ law says to kill her. What about it?”
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They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.
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They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said,
“All right, hurl the stones at her until she dies. But only he who never sinned may throw the first!”
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Then he stooped down again and wrote some more in the dust.
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And the Jewish leaders slipped away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until only Jesus was left in front of the crowd with the woman.
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Then Jesus stood up again and said to her,
“Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”
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“No, sir,” she said.
And Jesus said,
“Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”
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Later, in one of his talks, Jesus said to the people,
“I am the Light of the world. So if you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, for living light will flood your path.”
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The Pharisees replied, “You are boasting—and lying!”
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Jesus told them,
“These claims are true even though I make them concerning myself. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you don’t know this about me.
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You pass judgment on me without knowing the facts. I am not judging you now;
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but if I were, it would be an absolutely correct judgment in every respect, for I have with me the Father who sent me.
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Your laws say that if two men agree on something that has happened, their witness is accepted as fact.
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Well, I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.”
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“Where is your father?” they asked.
Jesus answered,
“You don’t know who I am, so you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know him too.”
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Jesus made these statements while in the section of the Temple known as the Treasury. But he was not arrested, for his time had not yet run out.
Jehovah said to my Lord the Messiah,
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“Rule as my regent—I will subdue your enemies and make them bow low before you.”
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Jehovah has established your throne
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in Jerusalem to rule over your enemies.
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In that day of your power your people shall come to you willingly, dressed in holy altar robes.
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And your strength shall be renewed day by day like morning dew.
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Jehovah has taken oath and will not rescind his vow that you are a priest forever like
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Melchizedek.
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God stands beside you to protect you. He will strike down many kings in the day of his anger.
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He will punish the nations and fill them with their dead. He will crush many heads.
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But he himself shall be refreshed from springs along the way.
The Lord hates the gifts of the wicked but delights in the prayers of his people.
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The Lord despises the deeds of the wicked but loves those who try to be good. If they stop trying, the Lord will punish them; if they rebel against that punishment, they will die.