Today we begin 1st Samuel Chapter 29.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James Bible, click HERE.
“The P’lishtim gathered all their army together at Afek, while Isra’el’s army pitched camp by the spring in Yizre‘el. The P’lishtim gathered all their army together at Afek, while Isra’el’s army pitched camp by the spring in Yizre‘el.“-1 Samuel 29:1
Believe it or not, Chapter 29, verse 1 has caused a ton of scholars to pull their hair out of their heads in frustrating confusion.
Why?
Because there appears to be a bonafide contradiction here.
We’re told the Philistines gathered their army at Afek while the Israelites gathered their soldiers at a spring in Yizre’el.
Compare that statement to this verse from the previous chapter.
“The P’lishtim assembled; then they went and pitched camp at Shunem; while Sha’ul gathered all Isra’el together and pitched camp at Gilboa.”-1 Samuel 28:4
Hmm…interesting.
Did the Philistines gather their army at Afek or Shunem?
Did Israel assemble at the spring in Yizre’el or Gilboa?
Or as some scholars claim, should chapter 29 be placed before chapter 28?
Okay, so this is a perfect example of what occurs when scholars decide to replace basic common sense with their academic theories.
We need to remind ourselves we’re dealing with a story that has parts of it occurring in different locations at the same time.
Given the different elements simultaneously occurring, the narrator had no choice but to communicate the story in vignettes.
You know what to communicate in vignettes means, don’t you?
Our modern movies and TV programs use this style of storytelling all the time.
It means to convey the overall situation through a series of short, descriptive, and often evocative scenes or episodes.
This allows the narrator to communicate the overall situation without needing to describe every detail continuously.
We also gotta keep in mind that centuries earlier, some scholars split some of the bigger books of the Bible into two parts (like Samuel).
They also divided the books into chapters and verses.
This gives the impression there are clear beginnings and endings.
But that’s not always the case.
Often one chapter continues right into the next one without stopping.
Are you feeling me here?
So here’s what’s going down.
1st Samuel chapter 29 is mostly told in a flashback style.
The story is told by looking back at events that happened in the past.
Instead of following the events in the order they happened, the narrative jumps back to earlier times to show what took place before the current moment in the story.
So chapter 28, verse 4 tells us…
“The Philistines assembled; THEN they went and pitched camp at Shunem…..”
But we tend to read it as…
“The Philistines assembled and pitched camp at Shunem…..”
In our minds, we delete the “then they went and” part of the sentence.
But that’s not what the words are saying homies.
The first verse of chapter 29 tells us SPECIFICALLY WHERE the Philistines assembled.
That place was Afek.
And then after assembling at Afek, THEN they went on to camp at Shunem.
So chapter 28, verse 4 could accurately be rewritten as follows:
“The Philistines assembled AT AFEK; THEN they went and pitched camp at Shunem…..”
There ain’t no contradiction at all homies.
If you take a look at the map above, it’ll make sense.
See, Shunem was far north of Philistine land and smack dab right in the middle of Israel.
Afek, however, was at the northern edge of Philistine land, on the main road to Jezreel, in a place they controlled.
So, the 5 armies of the 5 Philistine kings met at a safe spot in their territory.
Once they gathered, they marched together as one big and scary force through Israelite land until they set up their battle camp at Shunem on the edge of the Jezreel Valley.
The Israelites gathered their forces at a spring in Jezreel.
This was the only spring in the area that could fit a large number of troops.
It was the spring formed by the Harod, about 5 miles southeast of the city of Jezreel.
You may recall this was the same spot where Gideon hand-picked his 300 warriors to fight the Midianites by choosing those who didn’t drink from the river like dogs.
So after the different clans and tribes of Israel met at this spring and found out the Philistines had set up their camp at Shunem, they moved to resist them by setting up camp at Gilboa.
So the takeaway here is simple.
Don’t be so quick to denounce something in Scripture as contradictory.
When you look at the big picture, a lot of so-called contradictions are quickly resolved.
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness,
so that the servant of God may be
thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
-2 Timothy 3:16
This is why I never want to be a scholar of the Bible.
With all due respect to scholars, I have found that too often they get so involved with the details, they can’t see the big picture, anymore.
A physicist who sees the world at an atomic level can’t see the person anymore, only the atoms that make up the person.
It is like seeing the trees, but not the forest.
As for assuming that things related in the Bible must be in some chronological order, we see this same wrongful assumption in the Talmud (again, composed by scholars).
For example: in Genesis 17:24, this chapter ends with Abraham having been circumcised, as well as all the men in the camp. The next chapter begins with the three angels visiting him. Well, in the Talmud it is explained that they visited him on the third day of his recovery, supposedly the most painful day, and yet Abraham got up and served them.
There is nothing that indicates there is any timeline here, at all, but those scholars decided that is how it must have been.
That is why I would rather know the Bible, intimately, but always maintain a distance from details because the Bible is a forest with trees, and I want to see it all.
yup. Too much ridiculous scholar worship going on. The Bible was meant for everyone, especially the common people