1. Samuel is a too-frequent story. Godly man, ungodly children. We cannot know exactly what happened with his kids, but we know his sons turned out wicked. We don’t even know what becomes of them once Saul is king. We know this: God does not rebuke Samuel’s parenting like he does Eli’s. That’s important: if he had deserved rebuke, God would surely have said so.
Sometimes you can do it all the way it should be done, and the results are not so good.
2. Saul is the perfect vision of a king. He’s big, strong, and cannot find a pair of donkeys. Did we read that right? Here’s a guy who is so useless at home that his dad sends him seeking lost donkeys—we don’t know how many—and he’s gone at least three days. (One commentary makes it 3 days, but I am not certain exactly why. I think they are taking that from the distances traveled.
Leadership should require a bit more than appearance.
3. Saul is also a bit on the clueless side: it appears that Saul has been living within a day’s travel of Samuel—and has not heard of him? Where has he been?
Cluelessness is not an asset.
4. This is the first time I remember noting a “chef” in Scripture. That’s cool.
Chefs feed kings :) Sorry, nothing super spiritual there.
5. Saul does not really want to be king, which is probably a good thing. But his complete hesitance in obedience is not a good thing.
Humility is good. Fleeing from the call of God is not.
Now, with the adults, we’ll do Q&A from the latter parts of Genesis. Here’s a few notes: honor your commitments. Don’t brag about dreams. Do what is necessary.
That’s what I’ve got to wander through this Wednesday!
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