The Story Recap Ch 8-11

Cold Open

Hey Dublin-Powell Youth welcome, thanks for joining me for Bible study on another first day of the week. We will be finishing up our recap of the Story this week covering chapters 8 through 11, which tell the story of the Nation of Israel. Today is Sunday, May 31st, let’s get into it

Intro Vid

Intro

Alright so once again we are recapping the last 4 chapters of the Story that we covered before Conaracation 2020, in these chapters 8 through 10 we see the beginning of the Nation of Israel and Israel’s first two kings!

Chapter 8: A few good men and women

Chapter 8 picks up after the death of Joshua, who led the Israelites into the promised land. The whole generation who fought for and won the promised land by the power of God grew old and died, and there was a new generation of Israelites who hadn’t witnessed God’s power and faithfulness firsthand in the same way.

Israel then enters this horribly destructive cycle of peace, followed by turning from God, soon after being conquered by their enemies, and then praying to God for deliverance. At that point God would hear His people’s prayers, and raise up a judge to redeem them and set them free, and the cycle began again.

One such judge was Deborah, a strong woman who had to shame the leader of Israel’s army into fighting the Canaanites under Sisera. This story was particularly fun because Jael, and Israelite woman, actually finally wins the war for Israel by driving a tent peg through Sisera’s head.

But of course after the Canaanites, Israel turned from God and worshipped idols and were conquered by the Midianites. This time God chose Gideon, a meek man who was made confident by faith in God, and he led an army against the Midianites. But God thought Gideon’s army was too large, and their victory over the Midianite might be attributed to their fighting ability rather than God’s power and faithfulness, so He had Gideon send home all but 300 of his 22,000 strong army and still drive the Midianites out, bringing peace to Israel for 40 years.

Chapter 8, and the book of Judges in the Bible that it pulls from, is all about this seemingly endless cycle that Israel was trapped in. They would be redeemed and delivered but only temporarily, what they really needed was a permanent savior, who would deliver them once and for all.

Chapter 9: Faith of a foreign woman

Ruth shows great dedication to her mother-in-law, Naomi

Boaz, redeemer, is kind to Ruth

Speaking of redemption, Ruth was a Moabite woman who married a Jewish man. He and his father and brother died, leaving only Naomi, his mother, and her daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah. Naomi told the young women that life would be hard for them without their husbands, and that they should return to their people. Orpah did as Naomi said, but Ruth refused to leave, promising to go with Naomi back to Israel.

Back in Bethlehem, Ruth eventually meets a man named Boaz, a good and wealthy man who offers her protection and the ability to glean in his fields. Ruth soons finds out Boaz is one of the family redeemers, and could marry her as a service to her late husband. Boaz, however eager he is to marry Ruth, insists they follow the proper protocol and first offer Ruth’s hand to another redeemer who is first in line. However, he cannot support Ruth and so Boaz is able to marry her.

What’s remarkable about the book of Ruth, and chapter 9 is that Boaz seems to go out of his way to be absolutely above reproach in how he cares for and eventually marries Ruth. Boaz is a kind and righteous redeemer, indeed by his actions he seems to reflect the righteous redemption of his great-great-great (yeah you get it) grandson, who would be Jesus Christ.

Show Matthew geneaology

Chapter 10: Standing tall, falling hard

Chapter 10 introduces Hannah, who prays to God for a son and promises to dedicate him to God if her request is granted. She comes across Eli, the prophet, who tells her that God will answer her prayer! She gives birth to Samuel, and brings him back to the temple to train with Eli to serve God just as she promised.

Samuel leads Israel for years, but his leadership isn’t always effective. His own sons are considered to be very bad servants of God, and the Israelites do not want to follow them after Samuel dies. Scared, and envious of other nations with strong kings, the Israelites ask God for a king. God gives them a king, and Samuel anoints Saul a tall, strong, powerful leader as Israels first king.

The problem is, Israel already had a strong king in God, so by asking for Saul, they more or less rejected God as their ruler. No sooner is Saul anointed then the Philistines decide to challenge this new king and prepare for war. Saul prepares to meet them in battle, but, he was told to wait until Samuel arrives so they could make a sacrifice together to God. Saul has his own plans however, and makes the sacrifice before Samuel arrives.

Israel won the battle, but Samuel told Saul that on that day, Saul doomed his kingdom. He would soon be replaced with another who would be anointed by God to take his place.

Chapter 11: From shepherd to king

Samuel is told to find a new king, and he goes to the house of Jesse, and selects David

for 40 days Goliath taunts the Israelites

God sends Samuel out to find a new king, and he comes to the house of Jesse, where he examines each of Jesse’s son. At the end of the day, he meets the youngest son, David, and the Lord tells him this is the man he has chosen.

Some time passes and all of David’s brothers join Saul’s army to face down another Philistine invasion. As the armies stand in opposite camps, waiting for one to make a move, a giant named Goliath comes down from the Philistine side and taunts the men of Israel, mocking them from the field, daring someone to face him.

David, who was only in the camp bringing supplies to his brothers on behalf of their father, was shocked that no one would stand up to Goliath on behalf of the Lord. David made his displeasure known, and it soon led to him being brought before Saul.

David tells Sauls that he trusts the Lord to protect him, and that he will face Goliath. Saul gives him permission. David goes down to face Goliath, who is shocked to see a boy sent as Israel’s champion. David launches a single stone from his slingshot, which strikes Goliath between the eyes and kills him.

After this David and Saul have a complicated relationship, Saul tries to kill David several times, jealous of his fame and paranoid for his throne. David, to his credit, refused to raise his sword against Saul, even when he finds him alone and offguard, because Saul is the Lord’s anointed king.

Eventually, Saul falls on his own sword and died, and David becomes king.

Wrap-up

So we are caught up now with where we left off in the Story! Next week, we will begin going through Chapter 12, The Trials of a King, and we will learn about David, a man after God’s own heart, who lost his way.

Thanks for joining again this week! I’m so excited next week to dive into a new part of the story together and see how God has continued to work throughout history to bring us back to fellowship with Him. Let me pray for us:

Lord I praise you for your goodness and your faithfulness. I praise you that you answer the prayers of your people when they call out for forgiveness and redemption. Lord we praise you for Jesus who redeemed us once and for all. Lord lead us to engage with the world this week as messengers of your love and grace, and of the redemption story that you have provided for your people. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.