Old Testament

Week 14: Samuel, Saul, and David (12 Samuel)

Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class

1 Samuel 18
Hannah blessed with a son, Samuel. Hannah dedicates Samuel to Gods service in the Tabernacle. Samuel called as a prophet. Israelites ask Samuel to make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
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Two principles
The Samuel Principle. Circumstantial commandments. Difficult questions. Key scriptures:
1 Samuel 8:1, 25. Galatians 3:19, 24.

The Samuel Principle

Depending upon peoples spiritual maturity, willingness and ability to live the laws of God, God sometimes permits lesser laws than the celestial law to be the policies and standards as a schoolmaster to keep us tethered to him and bring us gradually to a higher level.

The Samuel Principle

If you see some individuals in the Church doing things that disturb you, or you feel the Church is not doing things the way you think they could or should be done, the following principles might be helpful: God has to work through mortals of varying degrees of spiritual progress. Sometimes he temporarily grants to men their unwise requests in order that they might learn from their own sad experiences. Some refer to this as the Samuel principle. The children of Israel wanted a king like all the other nations. The prophet Samuel was displeased and prayed to the Lord about it. The Lord responded by saying, Samuel, they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.
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The Samuel Principle

The Lord told Samuel to warn the people of the consequences if they had a king. Samuel gave them the warning. But they still insisted on their king. So God gave them a king and let them suffer. They learned the hard way. God wanted it to be otherwise, but within certain bounds he grants unto men according to their desires. Bad experiences are an expensive school that only fools keep going to. Sometimes in our attempts to mimic the world, and contrary to the prophets counsel, we run after the worlds false educational, political, musical, and dress ideas. New worldly standards take over, a gradual breakdown occurs, and finally, after much suffering, a humble people are ready to be taught once again a higher law. President Ezra Taft Benson, December 1974
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Case study: Divorce

Deuteronomy 24:12. Matthew 19:39.
cf. Mark 10:1012.

Case study: Divorce

In the gospel view all marriages should be eternal, and divorce should never enter the picture. But since all menare not living (and in their present states cannot live) the full and perfect gospel law, the Lord permits divorce and allows the dissolution of the marriage union. Under the law of Moses, divorce was permitted because the people were not able to live the high gospel standard which would abolish it. Even in the Church today the saints do not abide by the full and perfect law. It is somewhat as it was in the days of Moses; divorce is permitted because of the hardness of the hearts of the people, and the Lord permits his agents to exercise the power to loose as well as the power to bind. Under our circumstances divorced persons who remarry are not always guilty of the crimes they would be if the highest gospel standards were in force. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, 1966
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Case study: Divorce

Divorce is not part of the gospel plan no matter what kind of marriage is involved. But because men in practice do not always live in harmony with gospel standards, the Lord permits divorce for one reason or another, depending upon the spiritual stability of the people involved. In ancient Israel men had power to divorce their wives for relatively insignificant reasons. Under the most perfect conditions there would be no divorce permitted except where sex sin was involved. In this day divorces are permitted in accordance with civil statutes, and the divorced persons are permitted by the Church to marry again without the stain of immorality which under a higher system would attend such a course. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, 1965
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Case study: Divorce

Divorce is totally foreign to celestial standards, a verity that Jesus will one day expound in more detail. For nowhe merely specifies the high law that his people should live, but that is beyond our capability even today. If husbands and wives lived the law as the Lord would have them live it, they would neither do nor say the things that would even permit the fleeting thought of divorce to enter the mind of their eternal companions. Though we today have the gospel, we have yet to grow into that high state of marital association where marrying a divorced person constitutes adultery. The Lord has not yet given us the high standardthat which ultimately will replace the Mosaic practice of writing a bill of divorcement. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, 1980
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Case study: Divorce

The Difficult Questions:
We are living, in this principle, a lesser law. Can we be saved by the lesser law? Can we be saved living a lesser law than the celestial law? Can you enter the celestial Kingdom living less than the celestial Law? Answer: D&C 88:2122.

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Ezra Taft Benson

Now, during all this gradual lowering of standards, the righteous should be living up to the highest personal standards they cannot forcing those standards on others but preparing for and awaiting a better day which surely must come. This leads me to another principle: that a leader cannot lead without followers. If better standards are to be observed, there must be a better people to do it. . Only a Zion people can bring in a Zion society. And as the Zion people increase, so we will be able to incorporate more of the principles of Zion until we have a people prepared to receive the Lord.
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Ezra Taft Benson

When individual actions of some Church members disturb you, heres another principle to consider. This is the principle of stewardship. As the kingdom grows larger, more and more responsibilities have to be delegated and stewardships handed out. Men respond in different degrees of valiancy to their stewardships. God is very patient and long-suffering as he waits for some of us to rise to our responsibilities. He usually gives a man a long enough rope and a long enough time either to pull himself up to the presence of God or to drop off somewhere below. President Ezra Taft Benson, December 1974

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Circumstantial commandments
Gods commandments can and are adapted to a particular time, or a particular setting, or a particular circumstance, with an important purpose.

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Circumstantial commandments
What has that got to do with personal righteousness?
Leviticus 19:19. Leviticus 19:27. Deuteronomy 22:10. Deuteronomy 14:1. Leviticus 20:26. Deuteronomy 14:2.
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Joseph Smith
That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another. God said, Thou shalt not kill; at another time He said, Thou shalt utterly destroy. This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conductedby revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon: first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation. Joseph Smith, summer 1842
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Saul and David

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David and Goliath

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Jerusalem in Davids time

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Jerusalem in Davids time

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Davids downfall
2 Samuel 11:117. 2 Samuel 12:110.

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Davids downfall
2 Samuel 11:117. 2 Samuel 12:110. D&C 132:39.

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In two weeks:
Solomon, the divided kingdom, Elijah and Elisha

12 Kings