The Tanakh Podcast

The Philistines attack. Saul is left with only 600 men. It is looking dire. But then Yonatan demonstrates that one can win with just 2 soldiers! Saul doesn't use the Ark when he should and could. Saul makes inappropriate vows (a nd almost slaughters his son). Yonatan leads with confidence; Saul seems confused and disoriented.

This is Saul's War of Independence. Saul knows and Samuel knows that the King needs to wait seven days for the prophet before the war starts. But Saul can't wait. What does this say about Saul's leadership? What does it portend?

At the national assembly to crown King Saul, Samuel steps down from the national leadership. But what does he want to impart to the nation and their new monarch as he spends his final few moments at the helm of the nation? What are the critical messages he will communicate?

King Saul has been crowned, not once - but twice! But he is in denial. He returns to his farm and hardly acts as a king. But our chapter represents a tipping point. Responding to an act of oppression on the Benjaminite town of Yavesh Gilad, the "spirit of God" rests on Shaul, and he leads the nation in a perfectly executed battle, defeating the enemy and proving that he can act as the national leader.

Samuel anoints Saul as king. He tells Saul that once he experiences three special "signs", he will become overwhelmed by the spirit of God and become a "new man?. What do these signs mean? And does Saul become a new man? His signature feature would seem to be his bashfulness or his humility. At the coronation that Samuel organizes, Saul doesn't occupy the limelight; He hides! Why did God choose Saul? Music. "New Man" by Ed Sheeran

God has decided to appoint a King. In this chapter we meet Saul. But his persona is a far cry from what we might expect. Humble and unambitious, Saul goes looking for his father's donkeys and has an unexpected encounter with the prophet.

The people request a king. Samuel is upset. God views it as a rejection. But God tells Samuel to appoint a king anyhow. Why?

Who was the person that managed to break the inexorable "Shoftim Cycle" - the constant waves of sin-invasion-salvation? It was Samuel! Under his twenty-years of leadership, he brings the nation to a point at which they will consider abandoning their idolatry! This chapter gives us a snapshot of Samuel in his role as national leader.

The Phillistines return the lost Ark. But when it arrives in Beit Shemesh, though the people bow and bring a sacrifice, 70 people lose their lives in a plague of God. Why? What did the people do wrong?

The Philistines perceive their defeat of Israel as a victory of their god Dagon, over the God of Israel. But God knows how to retaliate. The Ark of the Covenant unleashes a trail of havoc, destroying the Philistine's religious icons and causing death in their towns. The Philistines are petrified of the power of the Ark and decide to return it to Israel.