The Life of David: 3. Stripped of Authority

But interestingly, when I repeated those words, what changed in you? What changed in your posture? What changed in terms of your attention to my words? Well, you see, repetition is a very common part of our language.

We use it with ourselves, with each other, especially when you're cross with your kids.

But actually, it's also a very important part of, it's also a very core aspect in the Bible.

We see examples of this in the Bible, don't we? We see in Isaiah 6, 3, where the angelic beings are describing God as holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

We even see in Psalm 136 where the phrase, his steadfast love endures forever, 26 times.

And I should say, interestingly, in the biblical Hebrew, sometimes the same verb is repeated and put next to each other, in order to emphasize a point.

So, for example, in Genesis 2, 17, it's literally translated as, dying, you shall die.

But actually, it's more accurately understood as, surely, you will die.

Notice the emphasis on that.

And also in 1 Samuel 3, God calls Samuel four times, if you can remember.

And actually, even on the fourth call, God calls Samuel twice, saying, Samuel, Samuel, Samuel.

So therefore, when we see repetition in the Bible, we shouldn't dismiss it as boring, unnecessary, irritating.

But actually, there's something to be emphasized.

So good morning.

My name's Joshua.

If we haven't met, and if this is your first time, a very warm welcome.

So this week, we're going to be in 1 Samuel 26.

This is actually the last week we're going to be in 1 Samuel.

And then next week, we're going to be starting to Samuel.

And for those of you who are familiar with the story or have been here over the past couple of weeks, you might come to see that 1 Samuel 26 is very similar to 1 Samuel chapters 24 and 25.

And there is a reason for this.

So 1 Samuel 26 repeats lots of aspects of chapters 24 and 25 because God wants us to notice something.

Now let's remind ourselves of what's gone on before we get to 1 Samuel 26.

Remember David?

He's been anointed by Samuel, but yet he's not enthroned.

But interestingly, when I repeated those words, what changed in you? What changed in your posture? What changed in terms of your attention to my words? Well, you see, repetition is a very common part of our language.

We use it with ourselves, with each other, especially when you're cross with your kids.

But actually, it's also a very important part of, it's also a very core aspect in the Bible.

We see examples of this in the Bible, don't we? We see in Isaiah 6, 3, where the angelic beings are describing God as holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

We even see in Psalm 136 where the phrase, his steadfast love endures forever, 26 times.

And I should say, interestingly, in the biblical Hebrew, sometimes the same verb is repeated and put next to each other, in order to emphasize a point.

So, for example, in Genesis 2, 17, it's literally translated as, dying, you shall die.

But actually, it's more accurately understood as, surely, you will die.

Notice the emphasis on that.

And also in 1 Samuel 3, God calls Samuel four times, if you can remember.

And actually, even on the fourth call, God calls Samuel twice, saying, Samuel, Samuel, Samuel.

So therefore, when we see repetition in the Bible, we shouldn't dismiss it as boring, unnecessary, irritating.

But actually, there's something to be emphasized.

So good morning.

My name's Joshua.

If we haven't met, and if this is your first time, a very warm welcome.

So this week, we're going to be in 1 Samuel 26.

This is actually the last week we're going to be in 1 Samuel.

And then next week, we're going to be starting to Samuel.

And for those of you who are familiar with the story or have been here over the past couple of weeks, you might come to see that 1 Samuel 26 is very similar to 1 Samuel chapters 24 and 25.

And there is a reason for this.

So 1 Samuel 26 repeats lots of aspects of chapters 24 and 25 because God wants us to notice something.

Now let's remind ourselves of what's gone on before we get to 1 Samuel 26.

Remember David?

He's been anointed by Samuel, but yet he's not enthroned.