“Then Sh’mu’el said to the people, ‘Come, let’s go to Gilgal and inaugurate the kingship there. So all the people went to Gilgal; and there in Gilgal, before Adonai, they made Sha’ul king. They presented sacrifices as peace offerings before Adonai there, and there Sha’ul and all the people of Isra’el celebrated with great joy.”-1 Samuel 11:14-15
Okay, let’s have some fun by finishing up 1st Samuel Chapter 11 with a quick little 3-question quiz.
Warning though, this quiz is for advanced students of the Bible.
I’d estimate that 99% of churchgoers anywhere in the world won’t be able to answer even one of these questions.
Heck, if you get even one of these questions right, consider that you’re ready to “present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth”.
Alrighty, let’s get started.
First, read the closing verses of 1st Samuel 11 that I copied and pasted above.
Did you read it?
Good, now here are the questions.
QUESTION 1:
Why was Gilgal selected as the place to hold a great celebration after Saul’s great victory over Nachash and his men?
QUESTION 2:
What key phrase in the verses copied above lets us know with certainty that the Ark of the Covenant was present at Gilgal where the people were celebrating?
QUESTION 3:
Out of the five Levitical sacrifices, which one (and yes, there’s only one) was being offered up here and how do you know that?
Take a minute to think about it while you jot down your answers.
Okay, so let’s see how you did.
Here are the answers:
ANSWER 1:
Gilgal was selected because it was considered the holiest religious site for the Israelites at this time. Recall this was the same area where Samuel had ordered Saul to go down and wait for him for 7 days.
ANSWER 2:
The key phrase that lets us know with certainty that the Ark of the Covenant was there is “before Adonai”. Well, actually in the original Hebrew, it’s “Before YHVH”. This is a common Biblical idiom that means “in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant”.
ANSWER 3:
Out of the five Levitical sacrifices which are the Burnt Offering (OLAH), the Grain Offering (MINCHAH), the Purification Offering (HATTA-AT), the Guilt Offering (ASHAM), and the Peace offering (ZEVAH), the one being presented here is the ZEVAH or the Peace Offering. The reason we know this is because it is a voluntary kind of offering that can used for any kind of celebration. In addition, the meat from the offering can be eaten by everyone, so it was perfect for party events like what was happening after Saul’s victory.
And that’s it!
One final thing I wanna mention is that you’re not gonna find the sacrificial ceremony being held here anywhere in the Torah.
Why?
Because there was no king contemplated at that time.
So this was kind of an improvised ceremony being connected to Saul’s coronation event.
Anyways, how did you do on the quiz?
If you seriously and truly got any of the above questions correct, please let me know so I can congratulate you.
As I said, most folks, like close to 100% of any churchgoer anywhere on the planet not only would NOT be able to answer any of the above questions, but sadly they could care less.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Study to show yourself approved by God,
a workman who need not be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth.”
-2 Timothy 2:15
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN 1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 12
The moment you mentioned QUIZ you know the ‘exam fever ‘
only to read the find out that you already provided answers, so I withdrew from reading just to assess myself in an honest manner.
I grasped some quick answers and decided to go with that.
1. Why Gilgal ?
The first thing that came to mind about Gilgal was the camp of Joshua and Israel where they circumcised the new generation.
sorry my answer did not match yours
2. The phrase that inform to ‘presnt before Adonai ‘
Its tricky. Without making deep reflection I had a clear idea, i did not state exactly that it is the
Ark of the Covenant Box
3. Type of Levitical Sacrifice
The answer right in the very verse in the reading.
This indeed is an interesting exercise.
I observed that your score of 99% for an ordinary churchgoer, to be able to answer at least 1 question correctly is an statement.
The third question for instance is an issue of simple compression that can be answered by even non-christians. This is ‘comprehension’ of an english grammatical expression
Many thanks and God bless you sir
3. Peace Offering
sorry I wanted to say you overstated 99% the Christian Churchgoer to answer 1 question correctly.
Thanks
The interesting thing, as you noted, about the Thanksgiving, or Peace, sacrifice is that it is the only one where the person offering the sacrifice gets to share the meat of that sacrifice.
This is why we know that the Passover sacrifice is not a sin sacrifice, but rather a peace offering.
Yes, by means of Yeshua’s sacrifice we can be forgiven of sin, but because we eat the meat of the sacrifice it is a peace offering, whereas the actual sin sacrifice is made on Yom Kippur.
So why did Yeshua do it in the opposite order?
I don’t know, but thank God that he did it.
Perhaps because being the Messiah he was capable of performing both sacrifices at once?
The order of the sacrifice was the sin sacrifice, followed by the wholly burnt sacrifice (to represent total commitment to God), and ending with the Peace sacrifice, reestablishing our communion with God: (1) we get cleansed of the stain of sin; (2) we recommit; and then (3) we are able to enter his presence.
I suppose when we accept him as the Messiahwe are, in effect, accomplishing the same as presenting the wholly burnt sacrifice.
In any event, a fun quiz, Rich.
yup. The Lord specifically referred to the slain lamb as a ZEVAH PESACH. So it is a gratitude offering.
Great comments and quizzes are fun
I was 2 for 3
For the first question, I was thinking Gilgal was nicely situated to pacify both Judah/Benjamin and the Northern Tribes. But I was wrong, wrong, wrong! LOL
Great job Eric! Gilgal is also the place where the Israelites set up camp immediately after crossing the Jordan River. There, they erected 12 stones as a memorial to the miraculous stopping of the river when they crossed. Afterward, Joshua ordered the Israelites who had been born during the Exodus to be circumcised at this spot.
I couldn’t think of a good answer to Q1, so I read on to Q2,
and then noting the “before YHWH”, not once but twice, realised that that was also the answer to Q1 – because the Ark was there!
So then the sacrifices / peace offerings must have been Zevachim, (Q3) otherwise why have a national BBQ in Gilgal??
Ain’t hindsight wonderful!
. . . and in response to Steven’s question –
So why did Yeshua do it in the opposite order?
I’m still thinking hard about that, in 2 directions – the original Passover vs the Last Supper.
And then His words “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood”, which still seem as challenging today as they obviously did when He said them.
There’s a nugget of truth in there somewhere..
Good job Desd!
You noticed how everything is interconnected.
We discover something fascinating every day when studying Scripture, don’t we?
Be blessed!