It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. John 6:63

1 Samuel 10-11

1 Samuel 10

Samuel Anoints Saul

¹ Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head and kissed him and said, “Has the Lord not anointed you to be ruler over his inheritance? ² When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found, and your father has stopped caring about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?” ’

³ Then you will go on from there, and you will come to the oak of Tabor. Three men will meet you there going up to God at Bethel, one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a container of wine. ⁴ They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand.

⁵ After that you will come to Gibeah-elohim, the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is, and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Spirit of the Lord will come mightily on you, and you will prophesy with them, and will be transformed into a different man. ⁷ When these signs have come to you, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.

⁸ Go down ahead of me to Gilgal, and I will come down to you, to offer burnt offerings and sacrifices of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you are to do.”

Samuel’s Signs Fulfilled

⁹ It was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all those signs happened that day. ¹⁰ When they came there to the hill, a band of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹ When all who knew him before saw that he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said to one another, “What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹² A man from that place answered, “Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

¹³ When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Saul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?”
He said, “To seek the donkeys. When we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”

¹⁶ Saul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he did not tell him.

Saul Proclaimed King

¹⁷ Samuel called the people together to the Lord to Mizpah, ¹⁸ and he said to the Israelites, “The Lord God of Israel says ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ ¹⁹ But you have today rejected your God, who himself saves you from all your adversities and distress, and you have said to him, ‘No! Set a king over us.’ Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.”

²⁰ So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen. ²¹ He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families, and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen, but when they looked for him, he could not be found. ²² Therefore they asked the Lord again, “Is there a man still to come here?”
The Lord answered, “He has hidden himself among the baggage.”

²³ They ran and got him from there. When he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the people.

²⁴ Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?”
All the people shouted, and said, “Long live the king!”

²⁵ Then Samuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom and wrote it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. ²⁶ Saul also went to his house to Gibeah, and the army went with him, whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷ But some wicked men said, “How could this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

1 Samuel 11

Saul Defeats the Ammonites

¹ Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead, and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.” ² Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that all your right eyes be gouged out, bringing dishonor on all Israel.”

³ The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel, and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” ⁴ Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

⁵ Saul came following the oxen out of the field, and Saul said, “What is wrong with the people that they are weeping?” They told him the words of the men of Jabesh. ⁶ The Spirit of the Lord came mightily on Saul when he heard those words, and his anger burned hot. ⁷ He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever does not come out after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of the Lord fell on the people, and they came out as one man.

⁸ He counted them in Bezek, and the Israelites were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. ⁹ They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Jabesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’ ” The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. ¹⁰ Therefore the men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.”

¹¹ The next day, Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day. Those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.

Saul Confirmed as King

¹² The people said to Samuel, “Who is he who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Bring those men, that we may put them to death!”

¹³ Saul said, “No man shall be put to death today, for today the Lord has rescued Israel.”

¹⁴ Then Samuel said to the people, “Come! Let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” ¹⁵ All the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

John 6:43-71

⁴³ Therefore Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day. ⁴⁵  It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me. ⁴⁶  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷  Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. ⁴⁸  I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹  I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵  For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. ⁵⁶  He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me. ⁵⁸  This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Turn Away

⁶⁰ Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who can listen to it?”

⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were complaining at this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble? ⁶²  Then what if you would see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

⁶³  It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I am speaking to you are spirit, and are life. ⁶⁴  But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him. ⁶⁵ He said, “For this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father.”

Peter’s Confession of Faith

⁶⁶ At this, many of his disciples went back, and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷ Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “Do you not also want to go away?”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is the devil?” ⁷¹ Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.

Psalm 107

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his loving kindness endures forever.
² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
³ and has gathered from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

⁴ They wandered in the wilderness by the way of the desert.
They found no city to live in.
⁵ Hungry and thirsty,
they were fainting.
⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them out of their distresses.
⁷ He led them also along a straight path,
that they might go to a city to live in.
⁸ Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
⁹ For he satisfies the longing soul.
He fills the hungry soul with good.

¹⁰ Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
being bound in affliction and iron,
¹¹ because they rebelled against the words of God,
and rebelled against the counsel of the Most High.
¹² Therefore he brought down their heart with labor.
They fell down, and there was no one to help.
¹³ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them out of their distresses.
¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and broke away their chains.
¹⁵ Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
¹⁶ For he has broken the gates of bronze,
and cut through bars of iron.

¹⁷ Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience,
and because of their iniquities.
¹⁸ They loathed food of any kind.
They draw near to the gates of death.

¹⁹ Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble,
he saves them out of their distresses.
²⁰ He sent his word, and healed them,
and delivered them from their graves.
²¹ Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
²² Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and declare his deeds with singing.

²³ Those who go down to the sea in ships,
who do business in the vast oceans,
²⁴ they see the Lord’s deeds,
and his wonders in the deep.
²⁵ For he commands, and raises the stormy wind,
which lifts up its waves.
²⁶ They mount up to the sky;
they go down again to the depths.
They melt in fear because of trouble.
²⁷ They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man,
and are at their wits’ end.
²⁸ Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brings them out of their distress.
²⁹ He makes the storm calm,
so that its waves are still.
³⁰ Then they are glad because it is calm,
so he brings them to their desired haven.
³¹ Let them praise the Lord for his loving kindness,
for his wonderful deeds for the children of men!

³² Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people,
and praise him in the seat of the elders.
³³ He turns rivers into a desert,
water springs into a thirsty ground,
³⁴ and a fruitful land into a salt waste,
for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
³⁵ He turns a desert into a pool of water,
and a dry land into water springs.
³⁶ There he makes the hungry live,
that they may prepare a city to live in,
³⁷ sow fields, plant vineyards,
and reap the fruits of increase.
³⁸ He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly.
He does not allow their livestock to decrease.

³⁹ Again, they are diminished and bowed down
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
⁴⁰ He pours contempt on rulers,
and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.
⁴¹ Yet he lifts the needy out of their affliction,
and increases their families like a flock.
⁴² The upright will see it, and be glad.
All the wicked will shut their mouths.
⁴³ Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things.
They will consider the loving kindnesses of the Lord.

Proverbs 15:1-3

¹ A gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
² The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,
but the mouth of fools gush out folly.
³ The Lord’s eyes are everywhere,
keeping watch on the evil and the good.

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