Alrighty, today we kick off our study of the first book of Samuel.
Boy, I’m soooooo excited!!!
I’ve been waiting literally years to get into this book!
Why?
Because the origins and exploits of the great King David are laid out for us in this book.
You’ve heard of the story of David and Goliath, right?
Well, that story appears in 1 Samuel…
As well as many others!
So let’s get started.
Now as I usually do before we dive into our text study, there’s some introductory information I wanna impart to you folks first.
The first thing you should know is that 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and 2 Kings used to be just ONE big book!
That’s right.
It’s only in the Protestant Christian world that what was one unified volume became split up into four smaller books.
Let me expand on this a bit.
The first division that occurred was to simply cut the one book into two halves.
This happened when the Hebrew Bible was first translated into Greek in the 3rd Century B.C. by Jewish scholars who were based out of Alexandria, Egypt out of all places.
Do you remember what this Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible is called?
It’s aptly called the “Greek Septuagint”…
Or sometimes just the “Septuagint”.
This is equivalent to the Romans numeral LXX which is how high and lofty scholars like to refer to the book.
Now here is something a lot of people don’t know.
Yeshua Himself quoted from the Septuagint!!!
That’s right.
The Septuagint was popular among Jews a full two centuries before Yeshua arrived on the scene because many Jews in those days did NOT understand Hebrew.
Fast forward a couple of hundred of years later and every other Bible translation that sprang into existence such as the Latin Vulgate decided to divide their Bibles in like manner.
Finally, when the 16th century rolled around, this division became commonplace everywhere…
You’ll notice even our Modern Hebrew bibles have accepted this division.
Interestingly, when the book was first split into two halves, the first half was called “The Books of Kingdoms”…
And the second half was just called “Kings”.
So why am I telling you all this?
Because homies…
It’s important to know that when the Biblical author penned this monumental piece, in his mind it was ONE unified work…
And that every event he recorded was interconnected.
Which leads to our takeaway for today…
Because it seems like a lot of believers take the exact OPPOSITE approach when it comes to studying their Bibles.
Rather than approaching the Word as one unified work, they approach their Scripture study as if they’re eating lunch at a buffet or something.
They’ll grab one morsel of something here…
And another morsel of something else over there…
With no idea of how what they’re “eating” is gonna affect their digestion later.
To me, there’s nothing more ridiculous than to begin your Bible studies by diving into the New Testament without first having a solid grounding in the Hebrew Bible (AKA the “Old” Testament).
That’s why I like to take the French dinner approach to “eating” and then “digesting” the Scriptures.
FIRST, start with the appetizer which is Genesis and then Exodus.
THEN, dive into the main and meaty part of the meal comprised of Leviticus and the other books of the Torah.
NEXT, continue on with your meal consisting of healthy portions of vegetables and other satisfying foods that provide life-giving nutrients to your spiritual body.
Finally, after you’re well fed from the milk and meat of the Hebrew Bible, then you can top everything off with the delicious desert of the New Testament.
And if you think I’m implying the most nutritious part of the Bible comes from the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh), you’re darn right man!
There’s a HUGE gap between the so-called “Old” Testament and the New Testament.
One is God-breathed.
The other is God-inspired.
That’s a HUGE difference.
Remember when Paul said all of God’s Word is God-breathed, he was ONLY referring to the “Old” Testament.
‘Cause the New Testament wasn’t even in existence when he said those words.
Over and out.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“All Scripture is God-breathed and
is valuable for teaching the truth,
convicting of sin, correcting faults
and training in right living”
-2 Timothy 3:16
I have read the reason the Septuagint is referred to as LXX is because there were 70 scholars involved in translating it from the Hebrew.
I once had someone use the passage from Timothy to justify that the epistles were God-breathed, and after I explained this to her, the way you have, you know what she said?
She told me that when Shaul (Paul) wrote that, he knew that his letters would be in the Bible later.
Oy! So now he is a prophet!
That may be the same thing as in 1 Samuel, when he anoints Shaul and Shaul begins to prophecy, and they come up with the statement “Is Shaul a prophet, too?”
Hmmm….maybe that meant both Shaul’s?
Nah!
Yes, it’s amazing the lengths people will go to defend their faulty positions.
I have no words to thank you brother. God breathed and God Inspired was a real eye opener!
Glad you found this inspiring Vince. Be blessed!
I was just discussing it with you on Reddit and your post (this) was removed.
Are you saying also that this quote from Paul was not inspired?
Are you talking about 2 Peter 3:16 which Terry referenced.
If so, my answer to him is the same answer to you: Honestly, I think I’ve already addressed your point in the article I wrote. I think you’re making a huge and MISTAKEN assumption on 2 Peter 3:16. Even Paul himself never considered his writings to be on the same level as Holy Scripture (Aka the Torah and the Prophets). Are you kidding me man?