1 Samuel 9
SAUL ANOINTED KING
There was a prominent man of Benjamin named Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, son of a Benjaminite.
2 He had a son named Saul, an impressive young man. There was no one more impressive among the Israelites than he. He stood a head taller than anyone else.
3 One day the donkeys of Saul’s father Kish wandered off. Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys.” 4 Saul and his servant went through the hill country of Ephraim and then through the region of Shalishah, but they didn’t find them. They went through the region of Shaalim — nothing. Then they went through the Benjaminite region but still didn’t find them.
5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, “Come on, let’s go back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and start worrying about us.”
6 “Look,” the servant said, “there’s a man of God in this city who is highly respected; everything he says is sure to come true. Let’s go there now. Maybe he’ll tell us which way we should go.”
7 “Suppose we do go,” Saul said to his servant, “what do we take the man? The food from our packs is gone, and there’s no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have? ”
8 The servant answered Saul, “Here, I have a little silver. I’ll give it to the man of God, and he will tell us which way we should go.”
9 Formerly in Israel, a man who was going to inquire of God would say, “Come, let’s go to the seer,” for the prophet of today was formerly called the seer.
10 “Good,” Saul replied to his servant. “Come on, let’s go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was. 11 As they were climbing the hill to the city, they found some young women coming out to draw water and asked, “Is the seer here? ”
12 The women answered, “Yes, he is ahead of you. Hurry, he just now entered the city, because there’s a sacrifice for the people at the high place today. 13 As soon as you enter the city, you will find him before he goes to the high place to eat. The people won’t eat until he comes because he must bless the sacrifice; after that, the guests can eat. Go up immediately — you can find him now.” 14 So they went up toward the city.
Saul and his servant were entering the city when they saw Samuel coming toward them on his way to the high place. 15 Now the day before Saul’s arrival, the Lord had informed Samuel, 16 “At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him ruler over my people Israel. He will save them from the Philistines because I have seen the affliction of my people, for their cry has come to me.” 17 When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord told him, “Here is the man I told you about; he will govern my people.”
18 Saul approached Samuel in the city gate and asked, “Would you please tell me where the seer’s house is? ”
19 “I am the seer,” Samuel answered. “Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today. When I send you off in the morning, I’ll tell you everything that’s in your heart. 20 As for the donkeys that wandered away from you three days ago, don’t worry about them because they’ve been found. And who does all Israel desire but you and all your father’s family? ”
21 Saul responded, “Am I not a Benjaminite from the smallest of Israel’s tribes and isn’t my clan the least important of all the clans of the Benjaminite tribe? So why have you said something like this to me? ”
22 Samuel took Saul and his servant, brought them to the banquet hall, and gave them a place at the head of the thirty or so men who had been invited. 23 Then Samuel said to the cook, “Get the portion of meat that I gave you and told you to set aside.”
24 The cook picked up the thigh and what was attached to it and set it before Saul. Then Samuel said, “Notice that the reserved piece is set before you. Eat it because it was saved for you for this solemn event at the time I said, ‘I’ve invited the people.’ ” So Saul ate with Samuel that day. 25 Afterward, they went down from the high place to the city, and Samuel spoke with Saul on the roof.
26 They got up early, and just before dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, “Get up, and I’ll send you on your way! ” Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went outside. 27 As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us, but you stay for a while, and I’ll reveal the word of God to you.” So the servant went on.
Romans 7
AN ILLUSTRATION FROM MARRIAGE
Since I am speaking to those who know the law, brothers and sisters, don’t you know that the law rules over someone as long as he lives?
2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she is married to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she is married to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another. You belong to him who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions aroused through the law were working in us to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
SIN’S USE OF THE LAW
7 What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! But, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life again 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good. 13 Therefore, did what is good become death to me? Absolutely not! But, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.
THE PROBLEM OF SIN IN US
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold as a slave under sin. 15 For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one that does it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this law: When I want to do what is good, evil is present with me. 22 For in my inner self I delight in God’s law, 23 but I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.
Jeremiah 46
This is the word of the Lord that came to the prophet Jeremiah about the nations:
PROPHECIES AGAINST EGYPT
2 About Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco, Egypt’s king, which was defeated at Carchemish on the Euphrates River by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in the fourth year of Judah’s King Jehoiakim son of Josiah:
3 Deploy small shields and large;
approach for battle!
4 Harness the horses;
mount the steeds;
take your positions with helmets on!
Polish the lances;
put on armor!
5 Why have I seen this?
They are terrified,
they are retreating,
their warriors are crushed,
they flee headlong,
they never look back,
terror is on every side!
This is the Lord’s declaration.
6 The swift cannot flee,
and the warrior cannot escape!
In the north by the bank of the Euphrates River,
they stumble and fall.
7 Who is this, rising like the Nile,
with waters that churn like rivers?
8 Egypt rises like the Nile,
and its waters churn like rivers.
He boasts, “I will go up, I will cover the earth;
I will destroy cities with their residents.”
9 Rise up, you cavalry!
Race furiously, you chariots!
Let the warriors march out —
Cush and Put,
who are able to handle shields,
and the men of Lud,
who are able to handle and string the bow.
10 That day belongs to the Lord, the God of Armies,
a day of vengeance to avenge himself
against his adversaries.
The sword will devour and be satisfied;
it will drink its fill of their blood,
because it will be a sacrifice to the Lord, the God of Armies,
in the northern land by the Euphrates River.
11 Go up to Gilead and get balm,
Virgin Daughter Egypt!
You have multiplied remedies in vain;
there is no healing for you.
12 The nations have heard of your dishonor,
and your cries fill the earth,
because warrior stumbles against warrior
and together both of them have fallen.
13 This is the word the Lord spoke to the prophet Jeremiah about the coming of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to defeat the land of Egypt:
14 Announce it in Egypt, and proclaim it in Migdol!
Proclaim it in Memphis and in Tahpanhes!
Say, “Take positions! Prepare yourself,
for the sword devours all around you.”
15 Why have your strong ones been swept away?
Each has not stood,
for the Lord has thrust him down.
16 He continues to stumble.
Indeed, each falls over the other.
They say, “Get up! Let’s return to our people
and to our native land,
away from the oppressor’s sword.”
17 There they will cry out,
“Pharaoh king of Egypt was all noise;
he let the opportune moment pass.”
18 As I live —
this is the King’s declaration; the Lord of Armies is his name —
the king of Babylon will come like Tabor among the mountains
and like Carmel by the sea.
19 Get your bags ready for exile,
inhabitant of Daughter Egypt!
For Memphis will become a desolation,
uninhabited ruins.
20 Egypt is a beautiful young cow,
but a horsefly from the north is coming against her.
21 Even her mercenaries among her
are like stall-fed calves.
They too will turn back;
together they will flee;
they will not take their stand,
for the day of their calamity is coming on them,
the time of their punishment.
22 Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake,
for the enemy will come with an army;
with axes they will come against her
like those who cut trees.
23 They will cut down her forest —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
though it is dense,
for they are more numerous than locusts;
they cannot be counted.
24 Daughter Egypt will be put to shame,
handed over to a northern people.
25 The Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says, “I am about to punish Amon, god of Thebes, along with Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods, and her kings — Pharaoh and those trusting in him. 26 I will hand them over to those who intend to take their lives — to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his officers. But after this, Egypt will be inhabited again as in ancient times.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
REASSURANCE FOR ISRAEL
27 But you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid,
and do not be discouraged, Israel,
for without fail I will save you from far away,
and your descendants from the land of their captivity!
Jacob will return and have calm and quiet
with no one to frighten him.
28 And you, my servant Jacob, do not be afraid —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
for I will be with you.
I will bring destruction on all the nations
where I have banished you,
but I will not bring destruction on you.
I will discipline you with justice,
and I will by no means leave you unpunished.
Luke 14
A SABBATH CONTROVERSY
One Sabbath, when he went in to eat at the house of one of the leading Pharisees, they were watching him closely.
2 There in front of him was a man whose body was swollen with fluid. 3 In response, Jesus asked the law experts and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? ” 4 But they kept silent. He took the man, healed him, and sent him away. 5 And to them, he said, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day? ” 6 They could find no answer to these things.
TEACHINGS ON HUMILITY
7 He told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they would choose the best places for themselves: 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, don’t sit in the place of honor, because a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by your host. 9 The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.
10 “But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
12 He also said to the one who had invited him,“When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors, because they might invite you back, and you would be repaid. 13 On the contrary, when you host a banquet, invite those who are poor, maimed, lame, or blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
THE PARABLE OF THE LARGE BANQUET
15 When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God! ”
16 Then he told him, “A man was giving a large banquet and invited many. 17 At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.’
18 “But without exception they all began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. I ask you to excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m going to try them out. I ask you to excuse me.’
20 “And another said, ‘I just got married, and therefore I’m unable to come.’
21 “So the servant came back and reported these things to his master. Then in anger, the master of the house told his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.’
22 “ ‘Master,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, and there’s still room.’
23 “Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, not one of those people who were invited will enjoy my banquet.’ ”
THE COST OF FOLLOWING JESUS
25 Now great crowds were traveling with him. So he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, and even his own life — he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
28 “For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.’
31 “Or what king, going to war against another king, will not first sit down and decide if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If not, while the other is still far off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, therefore, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.
34 “Now, salt is good, but if salt should lose its taste, how will it be made salty? 35 It isn’t fit for the soil or for the manure pile; they throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
— 1 Samuel 9, Romans 7, Jeremiah 46, Luke 14 (CSB)