I Sam 15:34-16:13

I Sam. 15:34-16:13 1) Saul fails to honor the hideous herem of mass destruction and total war. Why would Samuel grieve? After all, he has just hacked Agag to death. We do well to examine and admit the violence in our own Scriptures as well as those of other faiths, such as Islam. At the same time, merely mentioning violence does not condone it, and some criticism of the biblical text may tend in this insipid direction. 2) What does it say about God’s being sorry over the selection of Saul. (recall that we have conflicting views on Saul’s selection in I Sam. 9 Note good excursus on ambivalence toward government at 407 of New Interpreter's bible. ). 3) Apparently God acts from a sense of closure. he wants Samuel to act and stop being paralyzed by his grief over Saul. (Whenever Hebrew narrative repeats something, pay attention.) 4) What do you think of god’s cover story for Samuel? Why are the villagers afraid? 5) The comments on appearance are priceless. As the youngest, David (beloved, but by whom?) continues the theme of reversal of oldest first that flow through the bible. Look at the names of the brothers. How do we judge by appearances, but God judges from the heart? Eliab=God is my father Abinadab-father is noble/generous Shammah=astonishment but could also be related to loss or could be short for God is there as in Ezekiel 6) Israel struggled with being a chosen people. To what degree did David struggle with being a chosen one? 7) was this a private anointing? 8) Eiab=God is my father Abinadab-father is noble/generous Shammah=astonishment but could also be related to loss or could be short for god is there as in Ezekiel