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Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 63 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 16:14-23; 17. When King Saul realized that he had been rejected by God, and when he felt the force of the words of denunciation that had been addressed to him by the prophet, he was filled with bitter rebellion and despair. It was not…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 62 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 16:1-13. A few miles south of Jerusalem, “the city of the great King,” is Bethlehem, where David, the son of Jesse, was born more than a thousand years before the infant Jesus was cradled in the manger and worshiped by the Wise Men from…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 61 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 15. Saul had failed to bear the test of faith in the trying situation at Gilgal, and had brought dishonor upon the service of God; but his errors were not yet irretrievable, and the Lord would grant him another opportunity to learn the lesson…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 60 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 13; 1 Samuel 14. After the assembly at Gilgal, Saul disbanded the army that had at his call arisen to overthrow the Ammonites, reserving only two thousand men to be stationed under his command at Michmash and one thousand to attend his son Jonathan…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 59 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 8 to 12. The government of Israel was administered in the name and by the authority of God. The work of Moses, of the seventy elders, of the rulers and judges, was simply to enforce the laws that God had given; they had no…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 58 The Lord Himself directed the education of Israel. His care was not restricted to their religious interests; whatever affected their mental or physical well-being was also the subject of divine providence, and came within the sphere of divine law. God had commanded the Hebrews to teach their children His requirements and…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 57 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 3 to 7. Another warning was to be given to Eli’s house. God could not communicate with the high priest and his sons; their sins, like a thick cloud, had shut out the presence of His Holy Spirit. But in the midst of evil…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 56 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 2:12-36. Eli was priest and judge in Israel. He held the highest and most responsible positions among the people of God. As a man divinely chosen for the sacred duties of the priesthood, and set over the land as the highest judicial authority, he…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 55 This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 1; 2:1-11. Elkanah, a Levite of Mount Ephraim, was a man of wealth and influence, and one who loved and feared the Lord. His wife, Hannah, was a woman of fervent piety. Gentle and unassuming, her character was marked with deep earnestness and a…

Patriarchs and Prophets—Chapter 54 This chapter is based on Judges 13 to 16. Amid the widespread apostasy the faithful worshipers of God continued to plead with Him for the deliverance of Israel. Though there was apparently no response, though year after year the power of the oppressor continued to rest more heavily upon the land,…