1. Lesson 18 1 Sam 4-8
Samuel

2. Samuel Receives the Word
The word of the Lord was rare when Samuel was a boy
While Eli was lying down, God called Samuel
Samuel thought it was Eli, so he ran to see him
This happened three times
After this, Eli knew it was God, and told Samuel what to do

3. Samuel Receives the Word
When the Lord spoke this time, Samuel said, “Speak, Your servant hears.”
The Lord told Samuel about the judgment of Eli’s house
Samuel was afraid to tell Eli, but he did
Samuel grew in the Lord and the Lord was with him
All Israel recognized Samuel as a prophet

4. War With The Philistines
Israel camps at Ebenezer
The Philistines camp at Aphek
Israel is defeated badly
The Philistines kill 4000 men
Israel asks, “Why has the LORD defeated us?”
The decide to bring the ark to battle
Hophni and Phinehas join the ark

5. Aphek

6. The Ark Is Captured
When the ark arrived, Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook
The Philistines were afraid and said, “Woe is us!”
Who can deliver us from these mighty gods?
They recalled what happened to Egypt
They encouraged one another to fight hard
The defeated Israel, killing 30,000 and capturing the ark

7. Eli Dies
A man from Benjamin escapes the battle and runs to report to the city of Shiloh
He then tells Eli
There was a great slaughter
Hophni and Phinehas are dead
The ark has been captured
At the mention of the ark, Eli fell over and broke his neck

8. Ichabod Is Born Phinehas wife was pregnant
When she heard the story of the battle, she went into labor
A midwife told her, “Do not fear, you have borne a son,” but she did not pay attention
She named him Ichabod, inglorious
“The glory has departed from Israel”
Perhaps Shiloh was destroyed at this time by the Philistines? See Jer. 7:12,14; 26:6,9

9. The Philistines With The Ark
The Philistines took the Ark to Ashdod and placed it in the house of their god Dagon
In the morning, Dagon was on his face before the ark
The next morning the Dagon fell before the ark again, this time breaking his head and hands off on the threshold of the temple
The Philistines now regarded the threshold as holy and wouldn’t step on it

10. The Philistines Move the Ark
The Lord struck the people of Ashdod with Tumors
They moved the ark because the Lord was harsh toward Dagon and them
They moved the ark to Gath and the men of Gath were struck with tumors
They moved the ark to Ekron, and the Ekronites did NOT want it! They were also struck with tumors

11. Ekron

12. The Philistines Return the Ark
The Philistines call together their priests and diviners to find out what to do with the ark
They decide to send the ark back to Israel
They warn them not to send it back without a gift; they give 5 gold tumors and 5 gold rats
Then, they devise an interesting plan to return the ark

13. The Ark Returns The ark returns to Beth Shemesh
The men of Beth Shemesh offered the cows as burnt offerings to the Lord
The men of Beth Shemesh looked into the ark and 50,000 were struck by the Lord
The ark is then moved to Kiriath Jearim
The ark remained in the house of Abinidab until the days of David

14. Israel Defeats the Philistines
Samuel then told Israel that if they would put away their gods and turn to Jehovah, He would deliver them
So Israel put away their gods and gathered at Mizpah
Samuel was offering a sacrifice when the Philistines came upon them and attacked
The Lord sent a thunderstorm and Israel defeated the Philistines that day
Samuel took a stone and called the name of that place “Ebenezer”
The Philistines were subdued and Samuel judged Israel

16. Give Us A King Samuel made his sons judges in Israel
Samuel’s sons did not follow in Samuel’s ways
The people say, “Give us a king like all the other nations”
Samuel prays
Samuel warns Israel about what the king would do
They wanted a king anyway, and God tells Samuel to give them a king