“Sh’mu’el continued in office as judge of Isra’el as long as he lived. Year by year he would travel in a circuit that included Beit-El, Gilgal and Mitzpah; and in all these places he served as judge over Israel. Then he would return to Ramah, because that’s where his home was, and he would judge Israel there too. He also built an altar there to Adonai.”-1 Samuel 7:15-17
Yesterday I explained that Samuel considered himself to not only be a secular leader over Israel but also a religious one.
Evidence of this is in verse 17 where we’re told “He also built an altar there to Adonai”.
Now we shouldn’t overlook the fact this goes against Torah.
In fact, Samuel did a lot of things against Torah.
For instance, Samuel was a Levite but not a priest.
Yet he acted as he a priest when he performed sacrifices on behalf of Israel.
Again, he should NOT have done this.
We also see that Samuel erected altars of burnt offerings across the land when the Torah says there should only be ONE central place of worship.
If anyone doubts this happened, there’s a ton of archeological and geographical evidence that show Israel did indeed build multiple altars scattered across the land of Canaan.
God may have given Israel peace for a time after their victory over the Philistines at Mitzpah…
But their lifestyle afterwards was still a far cry from what God had envisioned for them.
So what are we to make of all this?
The best answer I can give you is Israel was going through a period of transition.
And during times of transition, things will always be chaotic.
Plus, when we view everything through the lens of men’s sinful quirks and eccentricities, the confusion of Samuel’s era shouldn’t surprise us.
A good modern example is what happened during the pandemic.
Our political systems were turned upside down
And our local leaders were thrust into situations they had no idea how to deal with.
Yet they did the best they could with they resources they had.
It was the same for Samuel.
Amidst much chaos and change, God had chosen him to be an agent of transition.
Samuel had no idea what the future held for Israel.
Yet he decided to surrender to God and trust all of the crooked roads would be straightened out.
And that’s your takeaway for today.
As we move towards a secular, one-world, one-currency society driven by ridiculous ecological policies (you know, all of the climate change nonsense)…
I know there’s a strong temptation to wanna give up on God…
And just surrender to the general narrative…
A narrative that says gender differences don’t matter and that same-sex marriage is all fine and dandy…
A narrative that says Israel needs to give up parts of their land to a foreign government who wants to annihilate them off the face of the earth.
And a narrative that says you need to confirm to certain medical policies or you don’t deserve to participate in normal society.
Samuel and many leaders after him faced similar challenges.
And these challenges all led to one question:
Are you going to trust God or man?
This is the same question YOU have to answer in times of distress and temptation.
So what’s your answer gonna be?
I leave you with this verse from the Book of Proverbs:
“Fear of man will prove to be a snare,
but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe.”
-Proverbs 29:25
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN 1 SAMUEL CHAPTER EIGHT
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