Character (Episode 6)

And he had a son named Saul, choice and handsome, without equal among the Israelites — a head taller than any of the people.

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And Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied, “but he is tending the sheep.” “Send for him,” Samuel replied. “For we will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

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Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.

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Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out. When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. So your fathers cried out to the Lord, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time. Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you. Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand. After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow. So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’ Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the Lord, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” The people replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! For the Lord our God brought us and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and performed these great signs before our eyes. He also protected us throughout our journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because He is our God!” But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, He will turn and bring disaster on you and consume you, even after He has been good to you.” “No!” replied the people. “We will serve the Lord!” Then Joshua told them, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.” “We are witnesses!” they said. “Now, therefore,” he said, “get rid of the foreign gods among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” So the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey His voice.” On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he established for them a statute and ordinance. Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was near the sanctuary of the Lord. And Joshua said to all the people, “You see this stone. It will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the Lord has spoken to us, and it will be a witness against you if you ever deny your God.” Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. Some time later, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Israel had served the Lord throughout the days of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced all the works that the Lord had done for Israel. And the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought up out of Egypt, were buried at Shechem in the plot of land that Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred pieces of silver. So it became an inheritance for Joseph’s descendants. Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him at Gibeah, which had been given to his son Phinehas in the hill country of Ephraim.

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When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepting bribes and perverting justice. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. “Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.” But when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” their demand was displeasing in the sight of Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king. Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to their voice; but you must solemnly warn them and show them the manner of the king who will reign over them.” So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “This will be the manner of the king who will reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them to serve his own chariots and horses, and to run in front of his chariots. He will appoint some for himself as commanders of thousands and of fifties, and others to plow his ground, to reap his harvest, and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his servants. He will take a tenth of your grain and grape harvest and give it to his officials and servants. And he will take your menservants and maidservants and your best cattle and donkeys and put them to his own use. He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.” Nevertheless , the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to judge us, to go out before us, and to fight our battles.” Samuel listened to all the words of the people and repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. “Listen to their voice,” the Lord said to Samuel. “Appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel told the men of Israel, “Everyone must go back to his city.”

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Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have set over you a king. Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day. Here I am. Bear witness against me before the Lord and before His anointed: Whose ox or donkey have I taken? Whom have I cheated or oppressed? From whose hand have I accepted a bribe and closed my eyes? Tell me, and I will restore it to you.” “You have not cheated us or oppressed us,” they replied, “nor have you taken anything from the hand of man.” Samuel said to them, “The Lord is a witness against you, and His anointed is a witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” “He is a witness,” they replied. Then Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is the One who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now present yourselves, so that I may confront you before the Lord with all the righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers. When Jacob went to Egypt, your fathers cried out to the Lord, and He sent them Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the Lord their God, and He sold them into the hand of Sisera the commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and the king of Moab, who fought against them. Then they cried out to the Lord and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and served the Baals and Ashtoreths. Now deliver us from the hands of our enemies, that we may serve You.’ So the Lord sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and He delivered you from the hands of your enemies on every side, and you dwelt securely. But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king to rule over us’— even though the Lord your God was your king. Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you requested. Behold, the Lord has placed a king over you. If you fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and if you do not rebel against the command of the Lord, and if both you and the king who rules over you follow the Lord your God, then all will be well. But if you disobey the Lord and rebel against His command, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers. Now, therefore, present yourselves and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. Is it not the wheat harvest today? I will call on the Lord to send thunder and rain, so that you will know and see what a great evil you have committed in the sight of the Lord by asking for a king.” So Samuel called to the Lord, and on that day the Lord sent thunder and rain. As a result, all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. They pleaded with Samuel, “Pray to the Lord your God for your servants so that we will not die! For we have added to all our sins the evil of asking for a king.” “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “Even though you have committed all this evil, do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty. Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the Lord will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. And I will continue to teach you the good and right way. Above all, fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you. But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

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At that time Solomon assembled before him in Jerusalem the elders of Israel — all the tribal heads and family leaders of the Israelites — to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Zion, the City of David. And all the men of Israel came together to King Solomon at the feast in the seventh month, the month of Ethanim. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord and the Tent of Meeting with all its sacred furnishings. So the priests and Levites carried them up. There, before the ark, King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had assembled with him sacrificed so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered. Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and overshadowed the ark and its poles. The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day. There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord had made a covenant with the Israelites after they had come out of the land of Egypt. And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand there to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then Solomon declared: “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. I have indeed built You an exalted house, a place for You to dwell forever.” And as the whole assembly of Israel stood there, the king turned around and blessed them all and said: “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His own hand what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ‘Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from any tribe of Israel in which to build a house so that My Name would be there. But I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Since it was in your heart to build a house for My Name, you have done well to have this in your heart. Nevertheless, you are not the one to build it; but your son, your own offspring, will build the house for My Name.’ Now the Lord has fulfilled the word that He spoke. I have succeeded my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised. I have built the house for the Name of the Lord, the God of Israel. And there I have provided a place for the ark, which contains the covenant of the Lord that He made with our fathers when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.” Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven, and said: “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth below, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. Therefore now, O Lord, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk before Me as you have done.’ And now, O God of Israel, please confirm what You promised to Your servant, my father David. But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. Yet regard the prayer and plea of Your servant, O Lord my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today. May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. Hear the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place. May You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place. May You hear and forgive. When a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before Your altar in this temple, then may You hear from heaven and act. May You judge Your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing down on his own head what he has done, and justifying the righteous man by rewarding him according to his righteousness. When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, praying and pleading with You in this temple, then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. May You restore them to the land You gave to their fathers. When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance. When famine or plague comes upon the land, or blight or mildew or locusts or grasshoppers, or when their enemy besieges them in their cities, whatever plague or sickness may come, then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make— each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart — for You alone know the hearts of all men — so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers. And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name— for they will hear of Your great name and mighty hand and outstretched arm— when he comes and prays toward this temple, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You. Then all the peoples of the earth will know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and they will know that this house I have built is called by Your Name. When Your people go to war against their enemies, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the Lord in the direction of the city You have chosen and the house I have built for Your Name, then may You hear from heaven their prayer and their plea, and may You uphold their cause. When they sin against You — for there is no one who does not sin — and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near, and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’ and when they return to You with all their heart and soul in the land of the enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to You in the direction of the land that You gave to their fathers, the city You have chosen, and the house I have built for Your Name, then may You hear from heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition, and may You uphold their cause. May You forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all the transgressions they have committed against You, and may You grant them compassion in the eyes of their captors to show them mercy. For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron. May Your eyes be open to the pleas of Your servant and of Your people Israel, and may You listen to them whenever they call to You. For You, O Lord GOD, have set them apart from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Your servant Moses when You brought our fathers out of Egypt.” Now when Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven. And he stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying: “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers. May He never leave us or forsake us. May He incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances He commanded our fathers. And may these words with which I have made my petition before the Lord be near to the Lord our God day and night, so that He may uphold the cause of His servant and of His people Israel as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God. There is no other! So let your heart be fully devoted to the Lord our God, as it is this day, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments.” Then the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the Lord. And Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the Lord. On that same day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the Lord, and there he offered the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, since the bronze altar before the Lord was too small to contain all these offerings. So at that time Solomon and all Israel with him— a great assembly of people from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt— kept the feast before the Lord our God for seven days and seven more days— fourteen days in all. On the fifteenth day Solomon sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home, joyful and glad in heart for all the good things that the Lordhad done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

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Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come: Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it. Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim. Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant. Dan shall provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. I await Your salvation, O Lord. Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels. Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies. Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. Joseph is a fruitful vine— a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall. The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility. Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb. The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing. Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.” When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

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Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is His name. Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has shattered the enemy. You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble. At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’ But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who among the gods is like You, O Lord? Who is like You — majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them up. With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling. The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away, and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O Lord, until the people You have bought pass by. You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance — the place, O Lord, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established. The Lord will reign forever and ever!” For when Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang back to them: “Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.” Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” And Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them, saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.

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At that time Hannah prayed: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, for I rejoice in Your salvation. There is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God. Do not boast so proudly, or let arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by Him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength. The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away. The Lord brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s, and upon them He has set the world. He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail. Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered. He will thunder from heaven against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth and will give power to His king. He will exalt the horn of His anointed.” Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the Lord before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!” Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the Lord, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord — a boy wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the Lord.” Then they would go home. So the Lord attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. “Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people. No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the Lord’s people. If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to put them to death. And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with man. Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house? And out of all the tribes of Israel I selected your father to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave to the house of your father all the food offerings of the Israelites. Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’ Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the Lord declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained. Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age. You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age. And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, I will cause your eyes to fail and your heart to grieve. All your descendantswill die by the sword of men. And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day. Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time. And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”

Berean Standard Bible

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One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day Moses went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you attacking your companion?”

Berean Standard Bible

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In the spring, at the time when kings march out to war, David sent out Joab and his servants with the whole army of Israel. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing— a very beautiful woman. So David sent and inquired about the woman, and he was told, “This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her, and when she came to him, he slept with her. (Now she had just purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned home. And the woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” At this, David sent orders to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent him to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the troops were doing and how the war was going. Then he said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king followed him. But Uriah slept at the door of the palace with all his master’s servants; he did not go down to his house. And David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” “Haven’t you just arrived from a journey?” David asked Uriah. “Why didn’t you go home?” Uriah answered, “The ark and Israel and Judah are dwelling in tents, and my master Joab and his soldiers are camped in the open field. How can I go to my house to eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As surely as you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing!” “Stay here one more day,” David said to Uriah, “and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next. Then David invited Uriah to eat and drink with him, and he got Uriah drunk. And in the evening Uriah went out to lie down on his cot with his master’s servants, but he did not go home. The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest enemy soldiers were. And when the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of David’s servants fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died. Joab sent to David a full account of the battle and instructed the messenger, “When you have finished giving the king a full account of the battle, if the king’s anger flares, he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Did you not realize they would shoot from atop the wall? Who struck Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then you are to say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’” So the messenger set out and reported to David all that Joab had sent him to say. The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the field, but we drove them back to the entrance of the gate. Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants were killed. And your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.” Then David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Do not let this matter upset you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and demolish it.’ Encourage him with these words.” When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. And when the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the Lord.

Berean Standard Bible

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