2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Characters in the biblical narrative of the Old Testament tend to be complex, a mixed bag of vice and virtue, and they are good as moral exemplars only in a selective way. In this portrait, two of David’s greatest – though perhaps least understood – virtues shine forth unmixed for our…

1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 Because this text includes one of the most famous stories of the Bible, it can be tricky to get to a deeper level when many of us are accustomed to encountering it in a simplified, Children’s Bible version. A couple pointers, however, might help us move beyond a…

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 “Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.” Grief is something that we all experience throughout the course of life, although it is most typically associated with death and other forms of loss. In this case, Samuel’s grief was twofold; he mourned the…

1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) One of the great problems of human life in community is what the sociologist Max Weber called the “routinization of charisma.” Is it possible to take what we have achieved under the leadership of a single, extraordinary individual and create rules and systems that will allow that success to…

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20) Samuel’s first prophecy was one of judgment. One could almost imagine the weight of God’s word to the young boy; his own teacher and master Eli will fall under God’s anger for condoning the sins of his sons. He felt so bothered by God’s words concerning Eli that he could not…