Book of Samuel | CREATION to ESCHATON

Yesterday’s sermon (June 13, 2021) at Community of the Savior, Rochester, NY, was phenomenal.

My colleague in Old Testament, Josef Sykora preached, combining God’s unusual choice of David (the youngest or smallest of the family) in 1 Samuel 16 with Jesus’s parables (riddles, he called them) of the seed sprouting overnight and the mustard seed in Mark 4; one happens without us, the other seems insignificant.

Josef aptly combined the motifs of the unexpected with the nature of riddles as making us think and drawing us in to be engaged. He wove these themes into a true story of how he tried to “trick” a congregation with a staged riddle and how God tricked him in return, with an outsider.

It was an amazing sermon and I was gripped from start to finish.

I hope you are intrigued, because that is all I’m going to tell you. You’ll have to listen for yourself.

Josef’s sermon can be found at this link between the 38:05 and 1:00:15 marks.

If you want to hear his short children’s meditation on riddles, it can be found at the 33:35 mark.

The two Scripture readings he drew on are at the 22:17 mark (1 Samuel 15:34-16:13) and the 31:54 mark (Mark 4:26-34).

And Josef’s very apt benediction to conclude the service can be found at the 1:26:45 mark.

Two new books have just been published by T&T Clark, which focus on various characters in the books of Samuel and Kings.

The chapters are written by Old Testament scholars with expertise in the subject and each chapter focuses on the literary portrayal of a particular person (such as Eli, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Jezebel, Elijah; and there is even a chapter on God).

The volumes are edited by two excellent Old Testament scholars, whose work has benefited me greatly:

Keith Bodner, Stuart E. Murray Professor of Christian Studies at Crandall University in New Brunswick, Canada
Benjamin Johnson, Director of the Honors College and Associate Professor of Biblical Studies at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas.

Characters and Characterization in the Book of Samuel, ed. Keith Bodner and Benjamin J. M. Johnson (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 669; London: T&T Clark, 2020).

You can read the Table of Contents and the Preface of the Samuel volume here.

Characters and Characterization in the Book of Kings, ed. Keith Bodner and Benjamin J. M. Johnson (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 670; London: T&T Clark, 2020).

You can read the Table of Contents and the Preface of the Kings volume here.

My own article on the prophet Samuel appears in the first volume.

“Orthodox Theology, Ulterior Motives in Samuel’s Farewell Speech? The Characterization of the Prophet in 1 Samuel 12.” Chap. 6 in Characters and Characterization in the Book of Samuel, ed. Keith Bodner and Benjamin J. M. Johnson (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 669; London: T&T Clark, 2020), 76–100.