Study Desk

The Philistines kept the Lord 's Holy Box in their land for seven months.

The Philistines asked, "What kind of gifts should we send for Israel's God to forgive us?" The priests and magicians answered, "There are five Philistine leaders, one leader for each city. All of you and your leaders had the same problems. So you must make five gold models to look like five tumors. And you must make five gold models to look like five mice.

Put the Lord 's Holy Box on the wagon. You must put the golden models in the bag beside the Box. They are your gifts for God to forgive your sins. Send the wagon straight on its way.

In this way the Philistines sent golden models of tumors as gifts for their sins to the Lord . They sent one golden model of a tumor for each of the Philistine towns of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.

They said, "Where is a priest who can care for the Holy Box? Where should the Box go from here?"

The Box stayed there at Kiriath Jearim for a long time. Twenty years passed while the Holy Box was in Kiriath Jearim, and the Israelites began to follow the Lord again.

Samuel said, "All Israel must meet at Mizpah. I will pray to the Lord for you."

and said to Samuel, "Don't stop praying to the Lord our God for us. Ask him to save us from the Philistines."

Samuel took a baby lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord . He prayed to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered his prayer.

When Samuel was old, he appointed his sons to be judges for Israel.

So the elders asked for a king to lead them. Samuel thought this was a bad idea, so he prayed to the Lord .

Those people asked for a king. So Samuel told them everything the Lord said.

"A king will force your sons to become soldiers. He will choose which of your sons will be officers over 1000 men and which will be officers over 50 men. "A king will force some of your sons to plow his fields and gather his harvest. He will force some of your sons to make weapons for war and to make things for his chariots.

"A king will take your daughters and force some of them to make perfume for him and some to cook and bake for him.

"A king will take your men and women servants. He will take your best cattle and your donkeys. He will use them all for his own work.

One day Kish's donkeys got lost. So he said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants and go look for the donkeys."

Saul went to look for the donkeys. He walked through the hills of Ephraim and through the area around Shalisha. But Saul and the servant could not find Kish's donkeys. So they went to the area around Shaalim, but the donkeys were not there either. Then Saul traveled through the land of Benjamin, but he and the servant still could not find the donkeys.

The young women answered, "Yes, the seer is here. He is just up the road. He came to town today. Some people are meeting together today to share in a fellowship offering at the place for worship.

So go into town and you will find him. If you hurry, you can catch him before he goes up to eat at the place for worship. The seer blesses the sacrifice, so the people won't begin eating until he gets there. If you hurry, you can find him."

Saul and the servant started walking up the hill to town. Just as they came into town, they saw Samuel coming out of town, walking toward them. He was on his way to the place for worship.