Old Testament Core Seminar

Class 10“Ruth and Samuel”

Old Testament Overview

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Introduction

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• Ruth and 1 & 2 Samuel present us with a crucial turning point in the history of redemption: the rise (and sadly the fall) of the great King David.

• David is the only Old Testament figure who can rival Abraham in the way God uses him to reveal His plan for redemptive history.

• These three books center David. • God made promises to Abraham that lead us to this point in

history. • God’s promises to David now sets the stage for the rest of the Old

Testament.

Structure

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Ruth:• Functions as the historical and theological prelude to King

David. • The author of this book is unknown. It was most likely compiled

during David’s reign. • Ruth 1:1 states this took place, “In the days when judges ruled.” • Most likely the early part of the 11th century BC.• 350 year cycle: Israel rebels, God judges, Israel repents, God

delivers … then start the cycle again. • During this time of great turmoil and disorder, the book of Ruth,

then, acts as hinge point in God’s redemptive plan. • God is preparing his people to transition away from the chaos

of their self-centered rule to the good rule of King David, who is himself a foreshadowing of the true King—Jesus Christ.

Structure

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• The question at the heart of this book is “Does God still care?”• The clear answer in Ruth is that God is our “kinsman-

redeemer” who perfectly cares for us in the midst of our trials. • Theme: God sovereignly orchestrates all things—even trials—

for the good of His people, who He will one day redeem through the perfect rule of the kinsman king.

Outline:I. Ruth 1 – Yahweh brings affliction.II. Ruth 2 – Yahweh arranges circumstances.III. Ruth 3 – Yahweh builds suspense. IV. Ruth 4 – Yahweh provides a redeemer (and soon a kingly

redeemer!).

1 - The Bitterness of Sin: 1:11-12, 20

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• Naomi—an Israelite whose husband and sons have died.• She and her daughters-in-law—Orpah and Ruth, are alone in a

foreign land and unable to provide for themselves. • Naomi pleads with her daughters-in-law to leave.• In these pleas that we hear Israel’s despair as the nation groans

beneath the weight of its sin and judgment from God .• Verse 20 “Don’t call me Naomi [which means pleasant],” she told

them. “Call me Mara [which means bitter], because the Almighty has made my life very bitter.”

• Naomi is tasting the bitter fruit of her own sin: she has left the Promised Land to try to escape God’s judgment.

• Not deserving God’s favor there is hope at the end of chapter 1.• Orpah leaves - Ruth stays – read 1:16.• This begins God use of `Ruth and Naomi in His redemption plan.

2 Kindness of Kinsman Redemption:4:9-12

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• The key to understanding the redemption that God will bring is the notion of what is called the “kinsman-redeemer.”

• Leviticus 25 sets up the kinsman-redeemer to allow families to buy back, or “redeem,” their kin from slavery or debt-bondage.

• Over time this included the responsibility of marrying the childless widow of a male family member and having children with her so that his name and family line could continue.

• This responsibility wasn’t obligatory but it was still highly valued.• Read 4:9-10. Boaz redeems Naomi’s family by marrying Ruth.• In Ruth are 2 special ‘days’ - the day Ruth was fed and the day

she was wed. • The result is that Ruth and Naomi both experience undeserved

kindness from the LORD, through this redeemer who is also their kinsman.

3 The Wisdom of God’s Good Plan: 4:13-17

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• By God’s grace, this was a blessing to the Israel. Read 4:13-17.• Ruth is the great-grandmother of David, Israel’s greatest earthly

King. • David would be an ancestor and a preview of the greater King to

come: Jesus Christ. • In Ruth, we see that God DOES care for his people in ways that

far exceed our own knowledge. • They considered their circumstances and conclude that God is far

off and unconcerned with their plight and that He was the source of their suffering.

• Wrong! God is sovereignly directing human events to both meet the specific needs of Naomi, Ruth, Boaz and others.

• God is preparing the way for the coming king who will rescue Israel from the time of the judges (David) and the future kinsman King who redeems God’s people from their sin (Christ).

Introduction

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I and II Samuel:• 1st and 2nd Samuel gives us the grand overview of this transition

from judges to monarchy. • Named for the prophet Samuel, he was both Israel’s final judge

and the one who anointed the nation’s inaugural king. • Originally a single text, 1st and 2nd Samuel likely had several

authors, though they are unknown. • 1st Chronicles 29:29-30 suggests the prophet himself left written

records; but if I Samuel 25 records his death … he did not write most of the book(s).

• What to look for: God rules His people through the king who is a representative of the people and whose actions will bring God’s blessing or punishment.

• Does God still care? In Samuels God’s provides them a king who is to be their example, defender, and representative.

Historical Outline/Pivotal Texts

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I. 1 Samuel 1-7* – Samuel is a prophet from God’s grace. (Ministry of Samuel as the last judge)

II. 1 Samuel 8-14 – Saul is a king in God’s place.(Saul as the people’s evil choice)

III. 1 Samuel 15-2 Samuel 8 – David is a man after God’s heart.(David as a type of a righteous Christ)

IV. 2 Samuel 9-20 – David is a servant under God’s rod.(David’s sin and God’s chastisement)

V. 2 Samuel 21-24 – Israel is a kingdom in God’s hands. (Anachronistic; summary notes about David’s reign)

Historical Overview

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• The first is the story of the prophet himself in 1st Sam. 1-7. – birth and calling.

• In chapters 8-15, we have the transition to monarchy where Samuel anoints Saul as King over Israel.

• God twice rejects Saul as King due to his disobedience—in chapters 13 and 14.

• The story then shifts to the back-and-forth between the newly anointed King David and Saul in chapters 16-31.

• II Samuel covers the life of David—both the good and bad.• 1-20 contain the death of Saul, the establishment of Jerusalem,

the Davidic covenant, several military battles, and the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba

• In chapters 21-24 we have the death of Saul’s sons, multiple wars with the Philistines, David’s last words, and his sinful census of the Jewish people.

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• The chronological narrative is important, but what it teaches us about God—not Samuel, Saul, or David—is the main point!

• Danger – while reading the Samuels as a collection of inspirational, it is temping to allegorize them to make them “relevant” or “contemporary.”

• Example: David and Goliath in 1 Sam. 17. • Ever heard this story used as some sort of promise that God will

deliver us from the “giants in your life?” • It’s about how the king that God chooses is the king who prevails.

• It’s about how Goliath disrespects God how God defeats him. • Unlike the Judges who cared little for God’s reputation, David is a

savior who acts because of his jealousy for God’s name! • In 1 Samuel, God is telling us that the Christ, like David, will save

his people out of a commitment to God’s glory. • If we miss the theological themes and try to apply the books

without the context of redemption history, we’ll miss the point.

I. MONARCHY

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• God is the true king of Israel, the drama revolves around the people demanding a king like the other nations 1 Sam 8:19-20.

• Samuel, Israel last Judge, is angered by this complaint and does not want God to grant them their request.

• God says, “"Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Sam 8:7).

• The people who were specially called out by God from among the nations demand to be just “like all the nations.”

• Do we do that? Trade our place as God’s people for the lowly trappings of the world?

• God delivered them out bondage – He’s delivered us out of sin and we clamor for inferior “deliverers” like wealth, comfort, safety, and status.

• Don’t rush to judge Israel without considering our rejection of God’s lordship.

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• The trading of God’s rule for man’s rule is typical of a pattern.• The people put their hope in an earthly leader... and that leader

forsakes God’s ways and lets them down. • As one leader declines, God raises up another to take his place.• Neither the leaders or the kings provide the perfect rule that the

people need. • This pattern begins with Eli and will continue through David. For

example, Eli’s decline in 1Sam. 2:29-30 followed by the rise of Samuel in 3:19-20.

• The decline and rise continue between Samuel and Saul and between Saul and David.

• Will monarchy work in Israel? No.• Not the way the Jewish people thought it would. • They thought it'd bring them comfort and safety but it didn’t.• The kings keep declining. Even David sins and falls short.

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• God begins to deal with the people based on the faithfulness or faithlessness of the king.

• The king functions as a representative of the nation when it comes to the covenant blessings and curses that God promised..

• If the king is faithful, the people are blessed with prosperity and peace; if he sins and breaks faith with God, the people are cursed with famine and exile.

• 2 Sam. 21:1: “During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the LORD. The LORD said, ‘It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.’”

• One king’s disobedience affects the whole nation.

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• Far from being outside of the Lord’s plan, they point to a future hope when God’s people will be led by a perfect king who rules in perfect righteousness.

• See wisdom of God: Israel’s monarchy was rooted in sinful desires and a lack of faith. God uses it to show man’s utter dependency and ultimate inability to provide for his own good.

• The Lord also uses Israel’s king—particularly David—as a type of Christ, pointing all to the only king who perfectly leads his people.

• Read 2 Sam. 8:14-15. This describes what Christ will do.• Revelation 22:16 remind us that Jesus is “The Root and Offspring

of David, and the bright Morning Star” • No one prefigures the perfect monarchy of Jesus like David did. • 1st and 2nd Samuel aren’t just books about the beginning of

Israel’s monarchy – they are signposts directing us to the ultimate monarch, Christ himself.

II. REST

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• Israel has inhabited the Promised Land for quite some time a time characterized by tumultuous cycles of victory and defeat.

• In Joshua the taking and possessing of the land was the high point of redemptive-history … so far.

• With the Davidic kingdom, Israel finally begins to enjoy some of this promised rest.

• In 2 Samuel 5, David finally takes his rightful rule over all of Israel, and establishes Jerusalem as the capital.

• In chapter 6, the Ark of the Covenant is brought to Jerusalem and we see the throne of God and David’s throne occupying the same city, Jerusalem.

• This is big. Finally God is giving Israel a sense of permanence and is even causing his presence to rest with them.

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• The narrative of Samuel escalates to a grand crescendo as God makes a glorious covenant with David.

• Read 2 Sam. 7:1-3• The people have “rest,” and David wants to build a “house” for

Yahweh – a permanent temple for worship. • But God says no. 5 and 6.• God is not angry at David instead He blesses him.• Up to now God is restating his promises to Abraham. In verses

12-16 he expands these promises to something far greater.• "When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set

up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever." ' "

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• God puts a little spin on the word “house.” David was talking about a dwelling. God uses it to mean a “dynasty.”

• God is saying that He will build David and his descendants into a line of kings to reign over the people of God.

• That line of descendants from Adam, through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, now passes through David, and will pass through his sons on the throne in Jerusalem.

• Verse 13 also says this promised king will build a house for God’s name.

• Time to talk about what we call “near and far fulfillment” of prophecy.

• Whenever a prophet would make a prediction about the distant future, there was often a “near,” incomplete fulfillment of that prophecy on a smaller scale.

• The reason was so that the immediate hearers of the prophecy would have some form of verification that the long-term fulfillment of the prophecy will come to pass as well.

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• God is using the word “house” in two ways. • He will establish a house – a dynasty – for David (v. 11). • And one of the members of that dynastic house, David’s son, will

have an everlasting kingdom .• And David’s son will build God’s “house,” meaning the temple

that David had desired to construct earlier.• This “near” prophecy comes to fruition in Solomon.• His kingdom doesn’t last forever. But if we understand “house”

to mean “temple” again, then we have a “near fulfillment.” • Solomon will be the one to build a temple in Jerusalem and also

points forward to David’s final son—Jesus. • The early fulfillment is that Solomon is the king and the temple is

the house. • The ultimate fulfillment is that Jesus is the king and God’s people

are the house.

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• All tied to God’s plan to provide perfect rest for his people. • The establishment of David’s throne and of Jerusalem as the city

of God finally allows Israel to begin a settled life.• God’s covenant with David secures that his “house” of peace and

justice will be established forever through the Messiah to come. • Christ’s rest is our hope too.• Hebrews 1:3 tells us that when Jesus finishes his work he sits

down beside the father in the rest of victory. • The battle against sin, death, and Satan is then over. This is the

king, the son of David, who reigns forever.