The firstborn is a theme in the Bible About how God consistently chooses to Work with and bless the least likely People in our last episode we looked at The story of Samuel the firstborn son of Hannah a humble barren woman who begs God for a son for years God hears her And blesses her with Samuel who becomes Israel's priest prophet and judge in the Story of Hannah the lowly is exalted Today we pick up where we left off with The story of Samuel he's an old man now And the people of Israel look around and Realize that all the other nations have Powerful Kings to rule them and so they Beg Samuel to anoint a king for them This request deeply upsets Samuel Because up until now Yahweh has been Israel's King to ask for the type of Power that other nations have well That's the same thing as idolatry Throughout the Book of Judges whenever Danger came on the scene yahweh's Spirit Would just pick somebody and raise them Up like a Gideon or a jephthah but what A king is is like hey we can make our Own institution with a guy at the head And then that guy can protect us and That's the shift in Allegiance that's Happening here in the story and it's Being equated to the sin of the golden Calf Yahweh tells Samuel to give Israel What they want and so they end up with Saul as their very first king he's tall
He's handsome he's good with the sword He looks like the ideal Choice the kind Of person we want to have in charge even Though he's not the firstborn as such he Is the first king that is placed over Israel and he's clearly the one that the People value but God sees it as Idolaters from the start the whole story Of the rise and fall of Saul then is This case study in the failure of human Idols to deliver this brings us to the Story of David a Shepherd boy who lives In the Hills a small overlooked boy the Youngest in his family the least likely Candidate to be king of Israel what Makes someone be the right person to be In charge what qualifies someone for Power is it that they're tall Or that they come from a good family so Really this is a theme about humans are Really poor judges of knowing what is Truly valuable and good and should be Set above in this case positions of Authority today Tim Mackey and I talk About the theme of the firstborn in the Story of Israel's First Kings I'm John Collins you're listening to Bible Project podcast thanks for joining us Here we go Thank you All right Tim hey John hey we are smack Dab in the middle of a theme we're Calling the theme of the firstborn and It's really a theme about
Power how does God Deal with institutional power structures Whether that's within families or within Cities we haven't really gotten much to Cities yet but I think we're going to Get into that territory today a little Bit perhaps but uh the firstborn is the Idea of this ancient practice of giving The rights of your rule and often like a Double portion of inheritance two one Favored child which is the one that Showed up first you're first born right Child And how throughout the whole story of The Bible God is messing with and Adapting and doing all sorts of Maneuvers with this practice And kind of messing with us as we think About what does it mean for us to have God's power to rule on his behalf so What's interesting is the idea of Firstborn sons and then later born Sons That's kind of some of the first stories Especially in Genesis with Cain and Abel And Jacob and Esau Joseph and his Brothers like that's where these themes Really get rolling But even within Genesis itself recall That the theme gets broadened out to Other situations too like rival wives of Rachel and Leia or Sarah and Hagar and Then as you go on throughout the Hebrew Bible it's contrasting how God Consistently identifies with and
Elevates The one of lower social status like the Israelites and slavery over pharaoh and Egypt that are enfranchised in Imperial Power So you get all these contrasts or like In the last conversation we had about Hannah and Eli you have this contrast Between rival wives one who has children And one who doesn't but then also this Contrast between like an old priest of High social rank in the community and Then this young woman who doesn't have Any children and who gets accused of Acting like she's drunk in public you Know oh yeah and so and but actually God's favor is with her and God is going To bring down the high and mighty old Priest Eli and Elevate the son of this Woman to become the new priest and Leader of Israel so it begins with the Firstborn and that's what the video will Mostly focus on but in these Conversations we've been following the Theme The firstborn is one way of the many Ways that God challenges human Structures of power and authority and Value and submits them to accomplish as Well in the world and that really is Like the meta theme That we're tracing And it seems like that meta theme to me It seems like it comes to some sort of
Head here because now as Israel has been Like in the land for a while and the Power has just been shifting from one Kind of tribal leader to the next right Right and it's not very organized and They're looking around and they're like Man all these other nations around us Have Kings they have one guy yeah yeah Exactly one guy who's like he's got the Power yeah and it's like the ultimate Patriarch it's the ultimate like power Broker who then passes on his power to His sons and so yeah they want a king Yeah totally boy what a perfect segue Edge on it's like you're like this is Your job to guide the conversation Foreign Yeah so what we're going to look at Today is the story of the rise of the Kingship in the story of Israel that Leads to King David and we're going to Find all of the themes we've been Talking about the language and the Vocabulary it all gets recycled here in The David story but in a really of Course there's always a twist with the Revival in a really creative and Powerful way So yeah should we just dive in let's do It let's do it okay so we're gonna Actually first just touch down before David comes onto the scene and that is In first Samuel 8 is a key transition For Samuel one through seven is all
About the rise of Samuel and he is used By God to rescue Israel from the Philistines first Samuel chapter eight We read And it came about when Samuel was old That he appointed his sons as judges Over Israel so just right there so Samuel you know is a man who was really Shaped by powerful encounters with God Starting as a young boy and he's legit You know he's a great biblical character He's been faithful to God to lead the People so we're fast forwarding from When we were introduced to Samuel in our Last conversation as the child born of Him yes that's right who then was Dedicated to be a pseudo-priest like a Nazarene kind of priest like a Priestly Assistant that God adopted into the but Then God elevates him above Eli and Eli's corrupt Sons so you had the high Priest Eli another reversal yeah who had Two corrupt Sons and got elevated Samuel Over those guys and now just watch how This is going to work so now Samuel's Old so yeah same as old and he's legit Like we're yeah yeah the stories about Samuel are great yeah he's been awesome So it comes about when Samuel's old And that he appointed his sons to be Judges over Israel so like you just said This is where Israel is a Federation of Tribes in the land Which is basically what they were in
Joshua the Book of Joshua and in the Book of Judges so it's really it's a Federation of tribes living in the Hill Country and so God throughout the Book Of Judges raised up different tribal Leaders from different tribes for Different periods of time to lead the People or rescue them from their enemies And so on and so now Samuel has been That guy And now he's old and so he's going to Pass it on to his sons now right there There's something happening because the Assumption is this patriarchal tradition Of the father passing on to his sons and Then his past his power exactly his Authority so verse two now the name of His firstborn Sun was so even right there Joelle yeah Yeah Joel Billy Joel have you heard that Bit Billy oh nope no I haven't uh it's a Jim Gaffigan bit and he was performing In Ireland somewhere and one of the Sound Engineers as he was kind of Getting ready for the show was like hey Uh you know who I love that American Billy Joel And gavkin couldn't figure out what he Was saying that's funny but it was Billy Joel Billy Joel yeah you're well you're Well okay so notice the narrator is Drawing attention to the name of the Firstborn so we're yeah we're in that Territory again
So we have his two sons and they were Judging in Bear Shava but his sons did Not walk in their father's ways they Turned aside to dishonest gain and they Took bribes and perverted Justice So we're at that piece that part of the Firstborn Motif which is hereditary Authority being passed down doesn't Equate to character Like the fact that the father had a good Character doesn't mean that his sons Will and so now have this Authority Being passed on to people who aren't fit For it so the elders Come together and they say to Samuel Look you're old man and your son's well They're not like you So appoint a king for us to judge us you Know like all the other nations So what's interesting here is that one Of the motives is good uh-huh like these Guys aren't like you yeah they're not Qualified But you've been legit Samuel but your Kids are not gonna work yeah so but what They asked for isn't just like let's Pray that God would raise up a new judge What they want is an institution And yeah what they want is a king And their other part of their motive is Really clear so that we can be like all The other nations now I feel like There's been times in the Torah where We've been warned against yes a king
Yeah and that should be ringing in our Ears like ooh a king yeah that's not That's not smart yes in fact this story Is hyperlinked verbatim two the section Of the Torah that you're thinking of John gold star man look at you Hyperlinking it up Deuteronomy Chapter 17 verse 14. When you enter into The land which the Lord your God gives You and you possess it and live in it And you say I want to set a king over me Like all the other nations who are Around me You you shall set a king over you whom Yahweh your God chooses and it goes on To talk about the qualifications for That King so definitely Yahweh like saw This coming okay and of course they're Like you know a group of people in the Land So is this the passage that talks about The king like not multiplying his riches And being a Bible nerd and that kind of Stuff he shouldn't multiply horses that Is tanks or definitely don't go back to Egypt your former enslavers to buy tanks That is horses you shouldn't multiply Wives implicit in there is Treating women like property which is Definitely not a Garden of Eden ideal But also political alliances and Religious alliances it's all woven in Here and also don't increase silver and Gold basically the three things that all
Money sex and power is kind of what We're after here right rather he should Be a Bible nerd make his own copy of the Torah and just read and reread that all The days of his life hanging out with The priests yeah totally okay so that's The ideal King From God's point of view in the Torah Back here it's first Samuel 8. what's Tricky here is one of the motives is Good like your sons aren't like you Samuel but their solution to that and The other motive for their solution You're supposed to just know like no This is this is not probably the best Thing So watch the dynamic here so this Literally it was raw it was evil or bad In the eyes of Samuel when they said Give us a king And so Samuel prayed to Yahweh and Yahweh said to Samuel listen to the Voice of the people With regard to all they say to you Because they haven't rejected you Rather they've rejected me from being a King over them This is what they've been doing since The day I brought them up out of Egypt To this day In that they keep forsaking me to serve Other gods And they're doing it to you too so then Listen to their voice however you should
Warn them and tell them what the customs Of a king are who will reign over them So that was fascinating Yeah what's what's fascinating here is It seems like God is saying that by Asking for a king there's in some ways Seeking after other gods yes is that Right that's exactly right yeah this Little paragraph For Samuel 8 verses 7 through 9. it's a Three-part speech And it's a little mirror symmetry and so In the first part it's listen to the Voice of the people they haven't Rejected you they've rejected me the Last part of this speech is listen to The people but warn them about what the King will do and then in the middle of Those two is Hey listen this is just in Replay of what they've been doing since The golden calf Which is forsaking me to serve other Gods so the speech is setting this Request of the people On analogy to the request of the people At Mount Sinai to make the golden calf Because this Moses well we don't know What happened to him my God's already Provided a leader it's Moses but we Don't know where he is so let's like Have some other right let's make for Ourselves an Elohim who will go before Us that's super important for the story Yeah because the connection is power
It's it's like who's going to protect us Who do we give our allegiance to who Will be the one who yeah protects us Yeah so I mean the analogy is throughout The Book of Judges whenever danger came On the scene yahweh's Spirit would just Pick somebody And raise them up you know like a Gideon Or a jephthah or a oath Niel Or uh shamgar you know all these all These unnamed or you know named but Undescribed figures in the Book of Judges but what a king is is like hey we Can make our own institution and then Like with a guy at the head and then That guy can protect us And that's the shift in Allegiance That's happening here in the story and It's being equated to the sin of the Golden calf that's so fascinating and Isn't that because that the Elohim They rule through kingdoms and Kings Like yeah in the biblical imagination Like Nebuchadnezzar he's like the Manifestation of the king for of Babylon And so he could worship the god of Babylon but he could also worship Nebuchadnezzar and those two ideas are Kind of connected yeah for sure yep and The famous story of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego with the image bowing down to The or they wouldn't bow down to the Image of the great king of Babylon and So on so that's exactly right and
Ideally kings are humans and humans are An image of God and so in that sense They are called to be representations of God's rule but here the human kingship Institution the Israelites want to put Into place Is their golden calf So it's interesting how all these themes Come together but notice so you have a Guy Samuel who's first born and second Born are the rulers in his place And God is going to bring them down just Probably like Eli and the priests before Them but what the people want to replace Samuel and his sons with is like no Better I think that's the point to be Made here yeah it's interesting because The idea of humans ruling is a good Thing yeah right but it seems like here The idea is that Wanting a king isn't about wanting to be The image of God it's about God saw it As them saying you know what we can't Really trust yahweh's rule over us we Need an institution we need our own Thing and that's pretty much the same as Like going and just making idols and That's just that's interesting I'm just Trying to provide right around that and There's a thread to pull there and we'll Do that sometimes totally totally when And if we make a theme video on idolatry Hmm which we ought to this story will be At the center of it because this is the
Story of the origin of kingship in Israel And as you work through especially into First Samuel 9 through 15 which is the Story of Saul the whole story is setting His rise and fall on analogy with the Israelites and their failure with the Golden calf In Egypt in other words this is this is Remarkable The narrator who's retelling the story Of the origins of kingship in Israel is Trying to show us that it was an act of Idolatrous Mistrust from the very beginning wow That's crazy yeah what's funny is Because oftentimes in biblical Scholarship the book of Samuel is Referred to as like ancient Israelite Propaganda for the monarchy in Israel And you're just like wow like we're We're missing some serious signals here Because it's a it's an indictment of the Monarchy it's not propaganda for it it's The opposite but anyway that depends on The assumptions you have as you go into These stories in the first place [Music] Thank you [Music] [Music] Okay so what happens is Samuel then Gives this long speech about listen if You want a king here's what Kings do
They're going to raise your taxes They're going to take all your children And co-opt them into their armies or Bakeries [Laughter] And he's gonna like take all your fields And all all of your harvests and make Your children into slaves and you're Going to cry out because of this King That you say that you want and Yahweh is Not going to answer you that is he's Going to let you have what you want Is going to give you what you've chosen But the people say no no They refuse to listen there will be a King over us so we can be like the other Nations so that this King can go out Before us and fight our battles And you're like what that's what Yahweh Has been doing and you so you kind of Get the idea here so this is then the Story about the rise of King Saul and There's a whole story to tell and we Don't have time to go into it except the The first thing we're told about Saul is That he's super handsome And from his shoulders up he was more Tall than any of the other Israelites Yeah he's like a giant He's like one of the Nephilim Do you think you think you're supposed To think of him as a giant I mean that's Interesting I always imagine the Giants Being like like not just a head taller
Than everyone yeah you know well sure But the narrative is drawing attention To from his shoulders up he was taller Than any other Israelite yeah so he may Be a good giant at the moment yeah you Know but we're clearly connecting to Like the huge people theme you know that Began with the Nephilim back in Genesis Yeah even back then being taller I mean Because that's the case today I think There's been studies that show that if You're taller you on average make more Money oh fascinating oh that's Interesting stuff like that yeah yeah Yeah well actually sorry this is Relevant to that back up in the previous Sentence the narrator calls Saul he's From the line of quiche in The Tribe of Benjamin and he was a mighty warrior a Gibor which is also what the Nephilim Recalled in Genesis 6. yeah okay so he Is being compared to yeah a giant Nephilim kind of guy but what's Interesting is Saul's Story presents him As a new Adam and Eve and all of his Choices are like all hyperlinked to the Moment of the tree in Eden and it's a Bunch of other things in Genesis and It's all about his failure to You know take up this opportunity to Rule as an image of God And he makes some really bad choices That culminate with him making a bad Choice on the seventh day
In first Samuel 15. and we don't have Time we don't have time to get into it But It's a good example Of he didn't know he's not the firstborn As such he is the first king yeah that Is placed over Israel and he's clearly The one that the people value but God Sees it as idolatrous from the start by Comparing him to a a gibor yeah or a Nephilim that's all connected to the Idea of Kings right like these were the The Mighty Warriors were the other Nations Kings they were the like God Kings Gilgamesh and Nimrod and all that Bunch yeah So the whole story of the rise and fall Of Saul then is this case study in the Failure of human Idols to deliver Essentially So by the time you get to the end of for Samuel chapter 15 you get to this line In verse 11. Where the word of the Lord came to Samuel and said I hmm I it's hard to do this in English I Regret that I have made Saul king that's A new American Standard but it's that Same word That's used with Moses in the flood Narrative and the story of Moses where God relents From the destruction that he was going
To bring about and here he relents from Allowing Israel to have Saul as their King it's so interesting So Samuel goes to Saul and basically Says that the kingdom is going to be Torn away from you because you didn't Listen to the voice of Yahweh And so that's how for Samuel 15 ends This is the famous line in verse 28 the Lord has torn the Kingdom of Israel from You today Saul and has given it to A neighbor of yours who is more Tov than You More good than you And lo and behold how does the next Story begin it's the the story of the Anointing of David In first Samuel 16. so you can see this Progression here God has already now Brought down a mighty not firstborn but A mighty first king Yeah so as we're going to see David is Both the youngest son Being elevated over his brothers but He's also the second king who gets Elevated over the first king so it's Like this clever he's like the backup King totally like the B Squad again All right so that's the setup that took Us a while but all the themes of the Firstborn you know getting overturned by God's purpose or already at work and now The story of David the story is Choice Okay first name is 16. so the Lord said
To Samuel how long will you grieve over Saul since I have rejected him from Being King over Israel fill up your horn With oil and go You know because you just exactly yeah Because we all have like one of those Things you do yeah we all have like Big Empty ram horns hanging on our wall or Something So fill it up with oil and go I will Send you to Jesse the bethlehemite that Is a guy named Jesse who is in the town Of Bethlehem For I have NS has selected a king it's literally It's the word c it's the same use of the Word c That Abraham uses when Isaac asks where Is the Lamb for the offering And Abraham answers God will see to it Or is often translated provide but it's The word see he will see it And so what is that different than the Word see when it shows up like Eve saw The fruit yeah same word same word and Actually the word see and sight is a key Key word repeated all over this chapter That's why I'm drawing attention to it Here okay so what God says is I have Seen a king for myself among this guy's Sons And Samuel says how can I go when Saul Hears about it he's gonna kill me so Yeah he's like he knows Saul now and he
Knows that Saul is one of those kings Where if he hears of a coup attempt you Know it's just the Assassins come Immediately typical typical King Behavior so the Lord said okay take a Cow a young cow heifer with you and say I've come to sacrifice to Yahweh here in Your town So invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I Will make you see what you shall do you Will anoint for me the one whom I say to You so Samuel did what the Lord said he Came to Bethlehem and the Elders of the City came trembling out to meet him and Said uh do you come in Shalom that's Interesting isn't it little note why are They worried I think it's kind of one of Those things where like if a certain Authority figure shows up at your house It's not a sign of anything good Yeah you know what I mean yeah this is a Movie Trope isn't it this is like when The principal walks into your classroom And you're in elementary school and it's Like all right What are they here for yeah totally I Remember having that feeling usually Because I thought they were there for me [Laughter] Which was often the case anyway he said No I'm uh come in peace I've come to Sacrifice to the Lord make yourselves Holy and come with me big sacrifice Tonight which means remember sacrifice
Always means leftover meat and a big Party and a feast so he made sure to Make the Jesse and his sons holy so that They can invite them to sacrifice so It's interesting if you get invited to One of these sacrificial meals you need To go through like a purity process to Make sure you go like watch yourself in The Mikvah in the pool and abstain from Don't eat anything unclean that day or That kind of thing Yeah I'm thinking back to our Holiness Video and all the ritual things that Make you clean or unclean or Pure or Impure which is a way to set yourself Apart to be able to engage in a sacred Kind of yeah Yeah so when you sacrifice an animal in What in Leviticus these are called The Fellowship offerings or the peace Offerings the purpose is one to say Thank you to God But you say thank you to God by offering Up some of the animal but the majority Of it you keep and then invite a bunch Of people to a holy party that's just a Big sacred Thanksgiving party to Yahweh And you celebrate by eating as much meat As you can because it's rare and it's Not going to keep and it's not going to Keep yeah okay so everybody comes to the Party and when Jesse and his sons come In this is so good Samuel saw there's that word again he
Saw Eliav who is Jesse's firstborn son and He thought oh surely yahweh's anointed Is before him now But Yahweh said to Samuel Do not look there's that word again Don't look at his appearance And that word appearance is exactly the Word used of the tree of knowing good And bad in Genesis 3. When the woman saw That the tree was good of appearance And Desirable for gaining wisdom and Desirable for eating she took of the Tree and she ate So that word appearance is that's a key Link word here so question about that Appearance what's the word in Hebrew Is the noun and it's the noun of the Verb which is to see or to look at oh It's a noun so to be seen basically yeah Or the thing scene appearance it's like What one looks like when others see you Yeah yeah okay yeah so don't look at his The thing being seen yep that's right The whole point is eliav who's the Firstborn of Jesse has an appearance he Looks a certain way and God's about to Say what so he says don't look at his Appearance or the height of his stature It's exactly the same words used of Saul Right of him being high in stature above Any other Israel line
So don't look at him or his height Because I've rejected him And that's the key word just used of Saul in the previous story I've rejected Him as king of Israel and did I miss Something eliab isn't described as which Son it's just one of the signs oh and Not yet you'll learn it's this good Hebrew narrative style where the key Information is left to the very end of The story okay which forces you to go Back and reread it so you're right you Don't know if he's the firstborn or not What you know is he's a son of Jesse and That he's super and he's tall he's Really tall like Saul and God has Rejected him like Saul the really tall Guy so don't look at his appearance or The height of his stature because I've Rejected him and then this next line Really is the heartbeat of our first Born theme video like it's being put Into one line right here For God Does not see as humans see for humans See the outward appearance But Yahweh sees the heart like that's Kind of okay this is that's fascinating Yeah we've been talking about power I've Been using that word a lot Here the vocab is seeing And it seems to be that there's a little Bit of a connection here between The desire for power
And this this idea of how we see things Yeah yes and especially as it relates to This this core narrative where that we First are introduced to this vocab with Eve seeing the fruit that is desirable And will make her wise right that's what It says that's right and it's good for Eating and it's just beautiful Yeah and it's tasty there's something About our propensity to look at Something and to go oh that thing's Gonna be good for me yeah I'm gonna take It and usually that impulse is around Power or desire influence or but the Desire is could be a desire just to Enjoy it But here the like the idea is about Protecting ourselves yes about who's Going to be in charge yeah it's about Power but also what's at stake is the Criteria of how do you know What makes someone be the right person To be in charge right what qualifies Someone for power is it that they're Tall yeah Or that they come from a good family is That the value and it's the same idea of What qualifies a piece of fruit to be Good is it that it's tasty and the fruit Here being a metaphor for gaining wisdom Like how are you going to get wisdom and How do you judge That thing that you think is going to Bring you wisdom it's appearance yes
Yeah exactly yeah Okay and so cool and remember that's Also what was at stake with Samuel and His sons He just assumed well they're my sons and My firstborn son so yeah they deserve to Have the authority and the people are Like no A king deserves to have all the Authority and God's like no And now God says I'm going to choose a King and now Elio certainly deserves to Have the authority and gods again like No not that guy hmm not that guy so Really this is a theme about humans are Really poor judges of knowing what is Truly valuable and good and should be Set above as like the most important Or in this case positions of authority Right yeah and so the theme could go One Direction of like what do I desire the Other theme could go the same theme can Go in a direction of Who do I want to rule yeah yeah that's Right because remember back in Genesis When Abraham and Sarah are faced with This choice of we want a son God said we Would have a son How do we get a son and so Hagar becomes You know they see her they take her they Do what's good in their eyes So there it's about a desire for Security and family and abundance Whereas here
That desire for power and Self-protection and security is being Set on analogy to the golden calf and The tree yeah so humans have a way of Thinking they know what is good for them But actually you don't know Samuel what Yahweh looks at is The heart of the individual and so what Yahweh knows is that of all these Sons There's actually only one who is really Going to be qualified for the task At least for a little while And hearts in Hebrew is Not like on complete parallel to how we Think of heart in English but there's a Lot of similarities we talk about the Heart of a matter meaning like the like The center the core And so to that degree it relates like But the heart in Hebrew as I understand It is like this is The kind of culminated culminating Hidden like part of you that's not just Your emotions but it's also how your Intellect it's every it's every bit of You but it's the idea of that it's in The core and it's hidden yeah and it Really at the core of even intellect and Emotion is desire and will yeah the Heart is associated with what one wants And then the purposes one comes up with To achieve what one wants Which is very similar to how we use the Word heart yeah but we have also uses of
The word heart that aren't really like What Hebrew heart is in fact we made a Video about This so this is a powerful little line It's one of the few times you get a Really condensed statement of God's Reason for constantly overturning these Structures of human power and value and Authority that's embodied in the right Of the firstborn [Music] Thank you foreign [Music] Keeps going Jesse called abinadab who's apparently Another son and made him pass before Samuel and he said the Lord has not Chosen this one either Next Jesse made Sharma passed by and he Said the Lord has not chosen this one Either Jesse made Seven of his sons Passed before Samuel and Samuel said to Jesse the Lord has chosen none of these So Samuel said to Jesse are these all The boys And he said well there Still Remains the In New American Standard reads the Youngest but it's the Hebrew word Katan Which means smallest oh and it can be Used to refer to a younger son oh like Jacob is called this In contrast to Esau who's called the Bigger son and the smaller Sun And it's kind of ironic because Esau was
Kind of like one of these giborim you Know his big animal big hairy guy dude And Jacob was a smooth man But for sure there's a contrast here Between big tall eliab his oldest Brother and then youngest smallest David The youngest brother so there's still The small one and look he you know he's Out keeping the Sheep you know yeah and Samuel said to Jesse you know send him We will not sit down until he's here and So he sent and brought him in and he was So I don't know why this is so funny Ruddy is what The New American Standard Reads here's let's go yeah that's a Funny word Ruddy ready yeah I don't Think I've ever used that word He um oh look at the NIV he was glowing With help Oh wow okay New Living Translation he Was dark and handsome dark and handsome All right it's well that's fascinating It's the Hebrew word admoni Which it's the form of the Hebrew word Adam which is what Esau is called when He he's read it's the word red but it Means he has a dark complexion okay so Apparently oh Yeah so the dark and handsome that comes From Rudy and Beauty oh because he says Oh beautiful eyes is the next line okay Yeah yeah so he had a really dark Complexion but bright beautiful eyes and A handsome appearance so he also has an
Appearance Um Okay and actually that handsome Appearance yeah but if it was funny well Not funny but this handsome appearance Is gonna be part of his downfall Like way later in the story when he Takes a woman forces himself Bathsheba Forces himself on her And then it's gonna be his handsome Beautiful son Absalom who's gonna form a Coup to overthrow his dad because of the Cascade of events that come From that adultery and murder so even Right here as you're introduced to him You're given a little clue forward to Like his downfall Later on oh interesting isn't that Interesting yeah but for the moment he's Just a dark handsome dude but he is he Is the small one so in juxtaposition he Is the youngest brother he wasn't even Thought of in the lineup and he's like Small yeah yeah so you kind of get this Juxtaposition with that but then when he Shows up you're like oh man this guy's Yeah got some Swagger Yeah and right now I'm not saying it's Negative I think it's ambiguous for the Moment But usually because also oh this is how This is exactly the same phrase used to Describe Joseph in the Book of Genesis Oh okay and it's ready um no no no the
Beautiful of form and handsome of Appearance okay whereas David is Beautiful of eyes and handsome of the Parents Okay and there's all kinds of really Elaborate hyperlinks between the story Of Joseph and the story of David That set them on analogy to each other But anyway all that to say is right now It's a good thing it's not or it's a Neutral thing yeah so when this guy Shows up with a dark complexion bright Eyes and handsome Yahweh says Get Up Samuel anoint him he's the guy So Samuel took the Horn of oil anointed Him in the midst of the brothers And the spirit of Yahweh came on him Mightily with power from that day Forward and so the whole story now is Going to be about David's slow rise to Power Never taking it waiting for Yahweh to Bring him to the kingship Which is in parallel to the slow Decline And Corruption of Saul throughout the Rest of the story of Samuel so we can Take our leave of it for the moment you Know but I think the point being made Here is so relevant to our bigger theme In this conversations about the Firstborn Yeah I think what's Lingering in my mind right now is we Could spend hours now just thinking
About the life of David and how he uses His power And I'm sure there's tons we could go Through And just because this theme of God Choosing the lesser the unexpected and Giving them power what I've been trained To notice now by reading these texts With you especially in Genesis is There's so many twists and turns and so Here you've got the people want a king That's a problem God lets them have a King it's the guy you would think you Would want by his appearance and he's Strong and he's Tall and then God Says that's not actually the guy we're Gonna find I'm gonna show you the guy And he's hidden away in the hills and He's the guy you wouldn't expect and Right there it's kind of like at the Core of God choosing the Lesser Unexpected And it feels like right in the center Lane of the theme but it seems like as We then go and read the life of David Even that gets turned upside down and Stretched and twisted and it's not as Simple as God just chooses the Unexpected and then things go well Because he knows you know it's like I Think what you've said at some point of Conversations is or maybe this was just When we were Drafting and writing
Scripts that just because God gave the Lesser the power It doesn't solve the power Dynamic Problems in the sibling rivalry problems Exactly it almost like lays them bare Even more yeah so that yeah and and like Exaggerates them sometimes yeah that's Well that's well said and I know in the Video we kind of worked this in because We're like sometimes It's the jealousy of the older brother Or the person in a place of power status And they get jealous and angry and they Act violently towards the one God has Chosen Sometimes you get a younger one Who wants the position of the firstborn Like ham or Reuben yeah and so they grab After it and that creates all kinds of Conflict and then other times yet Another twist is the one that God does Choose who's the lower one the one of Low status or the second born When that one is given the honor and Responsibility They eventually abuse it themselves and Corrupt it and that's the pattern of Like of a Jacob Or of sometimes Abraham and then in this Case of David Where he does good for a while but then He really blows it and then it all just Comes crashing apart and it's that Cycling this is just how the Hebrew
Bible works it's just story after story After Story of like here's somebody who Tries to be an image of God and yeah Kind of works but also really doesn't So here's another story and it just as The tension builds I think that is the Momentum that turns into the Messianic Hope of the Hebrew Bible of projecting Forward of the kind of human Firstborn we really need or at least the One whom God will Elevate whether he's The firstborn or not we just need a Human who will like not be a chump and The David's story fits into that pattern So it sounds like we're we're kind of Learning there's two key insights here With this theme and one is that God's Going to subvert our structures and so Don't get cozy and don't just take what You expect and let's relearn power in an Upside down way but then the second Insight is in spite of that We're so screwed up that like we'll find A way to distort power in any situation And man do we need Someone who doesn't do that that's right Someone who will be so empowered by the Spirit of God and notice the spirit gets Introduced here in the David's story in A really important way someone Who is so in tune with the will of God By being connected to God through the Presence and power of God's spirit that They actually
What represent God's Authority and power but in a way That truly gives life instead of creates Just another time on the Merry-Go-Round Of The Human Condition [Music] [Music] In Isaiah chapters 1-12 which is the First important kind of literary bundle Of the scroll there's this hope of a Coming King who will deliver Israel and Bring Justice to the Nations And in Isaiah chapter 11 this is a poem We've read many times over the years But relevant for right now that King is Described as a little branch that will Spring up out of the Stem or the stock of Jesse we just read A story about him Yeah Jesse's not mentioned very many Times in the Hebrew Bible And you just read the story where he's Mentioned the first time in Samuel and Here he is being mentioned again so here He's the father of David yes Father of David So Jesse is being referred to as Like a thick stock of like a plant And there's going to be a new little Offshoot of it so actually this is key So in other words this future hoped for King Won't just be a new son of David like The Kings from the land of David what You we actually want is a nude David got
It a new son of Jesse not a son of David But a son of Jesse And a branch from his roots will bear Fruit Like Eden fruit The spirit of the Lord the new David Will bear fruit the new David will be Like a branch bearing fruit And the spirit of the Lord will rest on That Branch Spirit of wisdom Understanding Spirit of counsel strength Knowledge and the fear of the Lord The poem goes on to say he will rule With Justice he will bring Fair justice For all the poor and The Afflicted in The land And he'll slay the Wicked with the Breath of his lips We're going to have did Garden of Eden When this guy shows up I mean you have Wolves chilling with Lambs We have leopards with young goats now Nowhere in the garden of Eden's story Does it talk about how animals behave With each other no no But you know Adam they're naming the Animals presumably they're not like Eating each other as he does so You know and also the ark with the Animals in the ark is another image of Humans and animals all together at peace At peace okay yeah so oh and this is Good in case you didn't get the Eden Images and the nursing child will play
By the whole of the Cobra and the weaned Child will put his hand into the Viper's Den So even the snake even the snakes have Power exactly even yeah totally and the Seed of the woman will be able to play With the snake hmm come on that's good Hmm They will not hurt they will not destroy In all my Holy Mountain so notice how The cosmic Eden Mountain that's kind of Being brought up here for the land will Be filled with knowing Yahweh like the Waters cover the sea that will be a good Day Okay so that's you're expecting a king From the line of Jesse To bring about the new Eden this is a Theme that gets developed throughout the Book As you go I mean it's really skipping Forward but in the later sections of the Book This expected King starts getting called The servant Yahweh calls him my servant And this is the famous suffering servant Poem of Isaiah 53 and I just want to Read the opening lines and I think a Bunch of things will click at least they Do for me now So the poem begins with God introducing His servant And he says look my servant will prosper He will be high and lifted up and
Greatly exalted So let's just pause this is about power And exaltation yeah this is like humans In Genesis 1 an image of God that he Exalts to rule over the land So I God has a servant that he's going To elevate and rule over the land I'm going to switch translations here Verse 14 just as many what are you at Now I'm in the lexim English Bible Which I've known about for a while but I've been starting to use more oh it's One of the only English translations That in the Old Testament has the Divine Name said Yahweh instead of Lord oh so Okay if you wish that you had a Bible That said Yahweh instead of Lord The Lex And Ming's Bible is for you So verse 14 just as many were appalled At you so was his yeah Who's the young exactly Yeah deep rabbit hole on who that you Okay it seems like the U is referring to The people of Israel And yeah that Israel's shame and Disgrace that being defeated and exiled Among the Nations is going to be set on Analogy to how this servant is going to Be viewed so just as many were appalled At you most likely like exiled defeated Israel yeah Refugee Israel yeah Such was his that is the servant's Appearance notice that word appearance Beyond human disfigurement
His form was marred beyond the sons of Men he was not Rudy ready he's not ready Yeah he's not ready and handsome of Appearance rather he was like He looked like a ruined disfigured human Wow that is fascinating in other words The one that God has chosen To rule the Nations is the one who like His people Israel is a defeated Disfigured like trashed people group That nobody thinks is important anymore You're not going to look at him and go That's the guy that's the fruit that's Yeah has the appearance that I'm looking For yeah oh man it's so powerful like But just this is just like how the Babylonians or Nebuchadnezzar like Thought about the Israelites that he Conquered and hauled off in Chains right To Babylon Like nobody was looking at the people of Jerusalem and saying In this people group is contained the Future seed that God will use to rescue The cosmos Like nobody's thinking that right but But like that's that's what's at stake Here in this story from the Viewpoint of The biblical authors And so just as many people were appalled At you Israel God's servant is Considered like just a ruined disfigured Human But verse 15 he will be the one to
Sprinkle many nations Is that have to do with purification yes This is exactly the word used of what The priest does on the day of atonement In the holy of holy sprinkling Blood on The on the holy of holies in the Ark of The Covenant yeah totally yeah and so in Other words in reality this is the guy Who's going to reconcile And purify and bring New Creation to the Cosmos wow wow and because of his King He's the ultimate priest yes exactly Totally verse 15 because of him Kings Will shut their mouths Because what they will see Is something that has never been told Them before And they'll consider with full attention Something that they've never heard Before because that's what Kings like to Do they like to like Consider another position that they've Never heard before oh oh no I think what It is is it's like God God is going to Do something That will so turn upside down human Expectation and value then not even the Most powerful rulers of the land thought Coming Like they won't know how to respond no When they hear the story of this Inversion of what humans think is Important And see that the god of Israel the god
Of creation universe Has Associated himself with the lowly And the suffering to save the universe It will just bend every category that You have And the next line goes on to say yeah Who's going to believe this message That's so funny that's the exact thing I Was asking myself like what king is Gonna be is gonna like experience the Servant and be like whoa I've never Thought of this before totally yeah Isaiah 53 1. who will believe this Message To whom has the arm of Yahweh been Revealed he that is the servant went Grew up like a shoot there's that word From Isaiah 11 like a little plant or Branch before him like a root from dry Ground but he the servant had no form or Majesty that we should see him and no no Appearance That we would take pleasure in him And the whole poem goes on to say like We thought he was cursed by God but in Reality he was the one who God sent to Die for our sins and then to be Resurrected and raised out the other Side to declare the many righteous That's how the poem ends And to see life and light and Resurrection on the other side so Isaiah 53 is actually reflecting back on this Whole theme throughout the whole Hebrew
Bible and putting really powerful Imagery to it yeah it's a perfect setup For the gospels and how this theme is Carried forward in the story of Jesus Right you almost imagine when Jesus is Walking with there's a couple stories Where Jesus is like opening scripture With maybe it's just the one story is it Luke he's walking with yeah yeah at the End of Luke he goes to his disciples Yeah and he's like let me show you yeah How the Hebrew Bible talks about me Maybe he turned to Isaiah 53 maybe like Isaiah 11 there's a 53 and he's like Look yeah maybe they talked about King David a little bit maybe they you know I Know maybe they had this kind of Conversation totally yeah oh to be a fly On the wall yeah but what's rad is like What Isaiah's doing Is just bringing together all of the Cycles of this theme like they go all The way back to the first Pages yeah and He's just condensing it into this Powerful poem that brings all the images Together And there's a reason why this poem is Kind of Holy Ground In early Christianity Jesus was clearly Influenced by the language and ideas Here and so were the apostles they Constantly quote from this poem and say That it was Jesus in his life death and Resurrection that brought all this into
Reality but the core Motif is the god You as Paul will say God uses the lowly And despised things of the world to Shame the wise and the strong And that's the wisdom and power he sees Displayed in Jesus life death and Resurrection the crucified slave is the King of the cosmos that's he's the Ultimate firstborn Which is that's where we're gonna go Next yeah it's exactly right and as we Do go there next into the story of Jesus It's just important to see like the Deep Continuity with the themes of the Hebrew Bible but they get ratcheted up like Even more intensely in the story of Jesus so I say that's what we should Talk about next great Thanks for listening to this episode of Bible project podcast next week we're Exploring the theme of the firstborn in The gospel accounts about Jesus these Two ways that Jesus is the son of God One is through his human lineage it goes Through Joseph Mary links back to Adam And that's crucial for him coming as a Human to do for humans what no human Seems to be able to do but the baptism Is revealing this other aspect of his Identity that in appearing among us as The son of Adam that one is at the same Time the Eternal son of the father Today's episode was produced by Cooper
Peltz with the associate producer Lindsey Ponder edited by Dan gummel Tyler Bailey and Frank Garza and Wu Provided the annotations for our Annotated podcast in our app Bible Project is a crowdfunded non-profit and We exist to experience the Bible as a Unified story that leads to Jesus Everything that we make is free because Of the generous support of thousands of People just like you so thank you so Much for being a part of this with us hi This is Laurel and I'm from Redford Michigan hi this is Logan and I'm from Boulder Colorado I first heard about Bible project after I started following Jesus during my freshman year at the University of Colorado I use Bible Project to grow in my own understanding Of the Bible and I also use it in small Groups and one-on-one discipleship with College students I first heard about Bible listening to a podcast from a Local church I use Bible project for the Read scripture app and the classroom Classes my favorite thing about Bible Projects is that it asks out loud all of The questions I've had about the Bible In my head my whole life my favorite Thing about Bible project is the resolve To always point to Jesus no matter the Book no matter the word study no matter The topic we believe the Bible is a Unified story that leads to Jesus we're
A crowdfunded project by people like me By people like me find free videos study Notes podcasts classes and more at Bibleproject.com Foreign [Music] [Music]