1 Samuel 8:4-11 (12-15) 16-20 (11:14-15)
Marc Chagall: The Anointing of Saul
And Samuel Wept
"We want someone to rule us with authority," they
said.
"We want him to be big on the military," they
said.
"We want a businessman, who knows how to profit, even
from us," they said.
"We want a man who appreciates women, and puts them in
their place," they said.
"We want tax brackets shifted to reward the
wealthy," they said.
"We want someone who looks like us, whom we can bow
down to," they said.
"We like trash talk, tough talk, and lying talk, as
long as he likes us, and fights our battles,
and always blames someone else for our problems,"
they said.
And Samuel wept, and said, "Dear God, I hope this never
happens again."
Scott L. Barton
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to
Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, “You are old and your sons do not follow in
your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations.” But
the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to govern us.”
Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of
the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but
they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me,
from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and
serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their
voice; only—you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king
who shall reign over them.”
So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people
who were asking him for a king. He said, “These will be the ways of the king
who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his
chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will
appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some
to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war
and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers
and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and
olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your
grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He
will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys,
and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall
be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you
have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” But
the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, “No! but we are
determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations,
and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
…Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and
there renew the kingship.” So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they
made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed offerings of
well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced
greatly.
+ + +
Mark 3:20-35
Women's Study Bible: Jesus's True Family
Family Man
It used to say, "He is beside himself,"
As if some other person stood nearby;
A twin, perhaps, who also looked the part,
But part one, now, the second part belied.
It turns out too familiar did he seem
For them to see in him the other side,
From which, this bigger family man still calls,
That those who hear, on part two might decide.
Scott L. Barton
...and the crowd came together again, so that they could not
even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people
were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.” And the scribes who came down from
Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out
demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can
Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom
cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be
able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he
cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house
and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the
house can be plundered.
“Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins
and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy
Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they
had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside,
they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said
to him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for
you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those
who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does
the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
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