Immersion Bible Studies: 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles

IMMERSION

Bible Studies®

1 & 2 SAMUEL

1 & 2 KINGS

1 & 2 CHRONICLES

Praise for IMMERSION

IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES is a powerful tool in helping readers to hear God speak through Scripture and to experience a deeper faith as a result.

Adam Hamilton, author of 24 Hours That Changed the World

If you’re looking for a deeper knowledge and understanding of God’s Word, you must dive into IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES. Whether in a group setting or as an individual, you will experience God and his unconditional love for each of us in a whole new way.

Pete Wilson, founding and senior pastor of Cross Point Church

This beautiful series helps readers become fluent in the words and thoughts of God, for purposes of illumination, strength building, and developing a closer walk with the One who loves us so.

Laurie Beth Jones, author of Jesus, CEO and The Path

The IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES series is no less than a game changer. It ignites the purpose and power of Scripture by showing us how to do more than just know God or love God; it gives us the tools to love like God as well.

Shane Stanford, author of You Can’t Do Everything . . . So Do Something

I highly commend to you IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES, which tells us what the Bible teaches and how to apply it personally.

John Ed Mathison, author of Treasures of the Transformed Life

IMMERSION

Bible Studies

1 & 2 SAMUEL

1 & 2 KINGS

1 & 2 CHRONICLES

Timothy B. Cargal

1 & 2 SAMUEL, 1 & 2 KINGS, 1 & 2 CHRONICLES

IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES

by Timothy B. Cargal

Copyright © 2012 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Permissions Office, 201 Eighth Avenue, South, P. O. Box 801, Nashville, Tennessee 37202-0801, faxed to 615-749-6128, or e-mailed to: permissions@abingdonpress.com.

Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Common English Bible, © Copyright 2011 by Common English Bible, and are used by permission.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cargal, Timothy B. (Timothy Boyd)

1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles / Timothy B. Cargal.

pages cm — (Immersion Bible studies)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4267-1635-5 (curriculum—printed / text plus-cover : alk. paper)  1.  Bible. O.T. Samuel—Textbooks. 2.  Bible. O.T. Kings—Textbooks. 3.  Bible. O.T. Chronicles—Textbooks. I.  Title. II.  Title: First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, First and Second Chronicles. III.  Title: First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings,.

BS1325.5.C37 2012

222’.06—dc23

2012017453

Editor: Stan Purdum

Leader Guide Writer: Martha Bettis Gee

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21—10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Manufactured in the United States of America

Contents

IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES

1. Samuel’s Journey With God

2. Living Faithfully

3. The Challenge of Blessings

4. Accountable Forgiveness

5. Solomon—The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

6. Listening to the Prophets

7. Everyone’s an Example, Whether Good or Bad

8. Re-forming Community in the Context of Exile

Leader Guide

REVIEW TEAM

Diane Blum

Pastor

East End United Methodist Church

Nashville, Tennessee

Susan Cox

Pastor

McMurry United Methodist Church

Claycomo, Missouri

Margaret Ann Crain

Professor of Christian Education

Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Evanston, Illinois

Nan Duerling

Curriculum Writer and Editor

Cambridge, Maryland

Paul Escamilla

Pastor and Writer

St. John’s United Methodist Church

Austin, Texas

James Hawkins

Pastor and Writer

Smyrna, Delaware

Andrew Johnson

Professor of New Testament

Nazarene Theological Seminary

Kansas City, Missouri

Snehlata Patel

Pastor

Woodrow United Methodist Church

Staten Island, New York

Emerson B. Powery

Professor of New Testament

Messiah College

Grantham, Pennsylvania

Clayton Smith

Pastoral Staff

Church of the Resurrection

Leawood, Kansas

Harold Washington

Professor of Hebrew Bible

Saint Paul School of Theology

Kansas City, Missouri

Carol Wehrheim

Curriculum Writer and Editor

Princeton, New Jersey

IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES

A fresh new look at the Bible, from beginning to end,

and what it means in your life.

Welcome to IMMERSION!

We’ve asked some of the leading Bible scholars, teachers, and pastors to help us with a new kind of Bible study. IMMERSION remains true to Scripture but always asks, Where are you in your life? What do you struggle with? What makes you rejoice? Then it helps you read the Scriptures to discover their deep, abiding truths. IMMERSION is about God and God’s Word, and it is also about you—not just your thoughts, but your feelings and your faith.

In each study you will prayerfully read the Scripture and reflect on it. Then you will engage it in three ways:

Claim Your Story

Through stories and questions, think about your life, with its

struggles and joys.

Enter the Bible Story

Explore Scripture and consider what God is saying to you.

Live the Story

Reflect on what you have discovered, and put it into practice in your life.

IMMERSION makes use of an exciting new translation of Scripture, the Common English Bible (CEB). The CEB and IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES will offer adults:

• the emotional expectation to find the love of God

• the rational expectation to find the knowledge of God

• reliable, genuine, and credible power to transform lives

• clarity of language

Whether you are using the Common English Bible or another translation, IMMERSION BIBLE STUDIES will offer a refreshing plunge into God’s Word, your life, and your life with God.

1.

Samuel’s Journey With God

1 Samuel 1–15

Claim Your Story

The ways in which we as a culture think and talk about our lives together before God are changing. One primary example of this change, according to pollsters, is the number of people in America who now describe themselves as being spiritual, not religious. Although it does not show up in the polling data as much, another example would be how frequently people describe their faith lives as a journey. Often these two trends converge. People tell the stories about their spiritual experiences with God over the years—about moments or periods in life when God seemed near and alive to them, and about other times when God seemed distant at best or completely absent at worst.

Such personal stories share much in common with the biblical stories. Some might speak longingly about what it would have been like to live in Bible times when people heard God’s voice as audibly as that of a person in the next room. But the reality is that even heroes of faith such as Samuel did not always recognize God’s Spirit calling to them (1 Samuel 3:1-10). They too struggled in their journey through life, trying to remain engaged with God and to discern God’s purposes. Listening closely to their stories can help us better understand how to stay engaged with God in our own spiritual journeys.

In what ways is your spiritual life a journey? How do you ascertain God’s purposes for your life?

Enter the Bible Story

Samuel is the title character, if you will, of two books within our Bibles. Some measure of his importance and influence may be gained from the fact that the stories within those two books extend decades beyond his death. As we shall see, Samuel was a transitional leader in Israel’s history—one of the last of its judges and the anointer of its first two kings. But Samuel also served in roles most often associated with priests and prophets within that culture and was even dedicated as a child to a lifelong vow of special commitment to God as a nazirite. According the Bible Dictionary of the Common English Bible, Nazirites demonstrated their devotion to God through distinctive behaviors, commonly observing prohibitions against cutting the hair, drinking wine, or touching the dead.

You might think that with all these things going for him, Samuel must have lived an especially blessed life. Wouldn’t it be great if our own spiritual journeys included moments when we heard God’s voice, received the accolades of God’s people, and were confident of not only God’s will for the world but also that we were playing a part in bringing it to fruition? But as we travel Samuel’s journey along with him, we see that the details of his walk with God included valleys as well as mountaintop experiences.

About the Scriptures

In the Common English Bible (like all Christian Bibles), the stories about the rise and fall of Israel’s and Judah’s kings are told in six books: First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles. We will look at the relationship between First and Second Chronicles and these other books in the last chapter of this study. For now, we need to understand two things about the four books of Samuel and Kings.

First, in the Hebrew Bible, there are only two books with the titles Samuel and Kings respectively. Samuel’s story is basically contained in the first sixteen of the fifty-five total chapters of the book(s) bearing his name (his death is recounted in 1 Samuel 25:1, but his last mention comes in a story about Saul summoning his spirit from the grave in 1 Samuel 28). Many surmise the whole book is named for Samuel because it deals with the two kings he anointed, Saul and David.

Second, the books of Samuel and Kings are widely considered parts of a larger work referred to by scholars as the Deuteronomistic History. It includes the books of Joshua and Judges as well. It can be helpful to think of Samuel as one of Israel’s