Archive for month: October, 2024

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 8:1-22.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 8:1-3 (NIV)
1  When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel.
2  The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba.
3  But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
 
On verses 1-3:  Samuel was a respected prophet and leader in Israel.  He was known for communicating God’s Word to the people and living with integrity.  But his sons were corrupt.  We don’t know what Samuel’s relationship with his sons was like or what kind of father Samuel was.  Based on the information available to us about Samuel and his sons, here are a couple lessons we can learn:

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 6:1-21.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 6:1-2 (NIV)
1  When the ark of the LORD had been in Philistine territory seven months,
2  the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
 
On verses 1-2:  For seven months the Philistines had removed the ark of God (a symbol of God’s presence) from its rightful place.  As a result, they experienced devastation and disease throughout their land, to the point that all five Philistine rulers felt they had no choice but to return the ark of God to its rightful place in Israel.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 4:12-22.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

1 Samuel 5:1-5 (NIV)
1  After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2  Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.
3  When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place.

Verses 1-5: To me this is one of the funniest sequences in the Bible. Having captured the Israelites’ ark of the covenant, the Philistines took it to Ashdod, a major Philistine city, and placed it in the temple of their god Dagon.  They put the ark beside the statue of Dagon (who looked like a half-man, half-fish and whose name apparently means “little fish” — he was the original “Little Mermaid”!)  Yet the next morning, the Dagon statue was face-to-the-ground bowing before the ark (v3)!

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 1 Samuel 4:12-22.  As usual, I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help, then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 
 
1 Samuel 4:12-22 (NIV)
12  That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head.
13  When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.

On verses 12-22:  An unnamed Benjamite returns from the Israelites’ battle against the Philistines with a report for the priest Eli. He reports that (1) the Philistines inflicted heavy losses on the Israelites, (2) his sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed in battle, and (3) the ark of God has been captured.  It’s when Eli hears the news about the ark’s capture that Eli’s response is the most dramatic, and fatal: he falls back off his chair, breaks his neck and dies.