A Paired Comparison: Two Battles in 1 Samuel

1. As homework you should have read 1 Samuel 3 – 7. There are lots of interesting events and even themes in this section; so much that we cannot cover all of it. There are a lot of “weird” events (the calling of Samuel & his dream, Eli’s death, the actions of the Philistines when they have the ark….) And we can discuss some of them at the end of the study, but for the bulk of our time I want us to look specifically at the two battles that we see in this passage. They are two battles that in many ways are the same and in many ways are different.

2. First, some notes:

The word for “thousand” (as in 4 thousand killed) is likely not a literal thousand. It may be a word for a military group (e.g. squad, division, etc.)
Mizpah is where a great watchtower is located (the highest hill)
The loud thunder (7:10) is considered by some to be an earthquake.

3. List similarities between the battles:

Same combatants
Philistines were the aggressors
Both end in slaughter
Both involve religious rituals (the ark or the sacrifice)
Both have a loud, scary noise

4. List differences between the battles:

The conclusion (i.e. who gets slaughtered)
The attitude or “heart” of the leaders?
The presence of the prophet
Who makes the loud noise

5. What were the leaders thinking when the sent for the ark? How did they think that would help? What questions could (should?) they have asked themselves about this activity? If they had heeded the prophecy (1 Sam 4:11-14) what could/should they have done?

6. What were the leaders of the second battle thinking about? How is that different (or not different) from the leaders in the first battle?

7. Remembering that Samuel is a book about who God is what do these passages tell us about who God is?

8. Thinking about some battles that you are fighting in your life (projects you have on your “to do” list, roles or responsibilities, how does reflecting on these battles influence your attitude, behavior, actions, results?

9. For Further Thinking: Does it matter who wins the battle? How is this lesson different from the perspective of the family of an Israelite killed in the second battle.