1 Samuel 8:2

_NOW THE NAME OF HIS FIRSTBORN WAS JOEL; AND THE NAME OF HIS SECOND, ABIAH: THEY WERE JUDGES IN BEERSHEBA._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

1-3 It does not appear that Samuel's sons were so profane and vicious as Eli's sons; but they were corrupt judges, they turned aside after lucre. Samuel took no bribes, but his sons did, and then they perverted judgment. What added to the grievance of the people was, that they were threatened by an invasion from Nahash, king of the Ammonites....

The mention of Beer-sheba, on the extreme southern frontier of Judah, as the place where Samuel’s sons judged Israel is remarkable. It was probably due to the recovery of territory from the usurpation of the Philistines 1 Samuel 7:14....

EXPOSITION SAUL (CHS. 8-31). THE great interest of the First Book of Samuel lies in the fact that we have in it the orderly consolidation of two of the main factors in the preparation for the manifestation of our Lord, namely, prophecy and the kingdom. The first seven chapters give us the history of Samuel's birth, and of the gradual development in him of those spiritual powers which finally made him not merely a prophet, but the founder of prophecy as a permanent and regularly organised institution of the Jewish Church. The whole of the rest of the book, while adding many interesting particulars about Samuel, is occupied with the establishment of the kingdom and with Saul. We have in him, both in his uprise and his fall, one of the most remarkable personages of the Old Testament. But his character for good and for evil will develop itself as we proceed. Before, however, we can apprecia...

NOW THE NAME OF HIS FIRSTBORN WAS JOEL,.... In 1 Chronicles 6:28 he is called Vashni; 1 Chronicles 6:28. This was not Joel the prophet, as some have thought, neither his parentage, nor his office, nor his times, will agree with this: AND THE NAME OF HIS SECOND ABIAH: which two sons seem to be all he had: THEY WERE JUDGES IN BEERSHEBA; in the utmost border of the land, to the south, as Ramah, where Samuel dwelt and judged, was more to the north; where they were placed by their father, for the greater convenience of the people of Israel that lived southward, to bring their causes to them, as those lived more northward might bring them to him: according to Josephus w, they were placed by their father, the one in Bethel, one of the places Samuel used to

8. SAMUEL EXERCISING HIS OFFICE AND HIS FAILURE Chapter S 7:15-8:3 _ 1. Samuel the Prophet-Judge (1 Samuel 7:15)_ 2. His failure (1 Samuel 8:1) Samuel's activity as the great prophet-judge is now seen. He had a blessed circuit of ministry, which has its spiritual lessons for us. He first visited Bethel (the house of God). Judgment must begin there. When Jacob was obedient to the divine call “Arise and go up unto Bethel,” he buried the strange gods, the household gods under the oak of Shechem. So the evil things must be put away. Then came Gilgal (rolling). There the reproach of Egypt was rolled away (Joshua 5). This is what we need, to be freed from the world, dead to it and the world dead to us. Mizpeh

1 SAMUEL 8. DEMAND FOR A KING. Opening section, continued 1 Samuel 10:17, of later account of Saul's appointment as king: either Deuteronomic or late stratum of E. Probably 1 Samuel 10:17_ a_ (to over us) in the Deuteronomic document stood in the place of 1 Samuel 8:10, giving the following sequence of events: appeal of the elders, convocation of assembly (as in 1 Samuel 7:5), Saul's election, etc. Also, in 1 Samuel 8:22; Go ye every man unto his city, is, like 1

_Now the name_, &c. Joel = "Jehovah is God:" Abiah = "Jah is my father:" names significant of a protest against the prevalent idolatry. The text of 1 Chronicles 6:28, where the names are given as "the firstborn Vashni and Abiah," is corrupt. "Joel" has dropped out after "the firstborn," and "Vashni" is an obvious corruption of the Heb. word meaning "and the second." _judges in Beer-sheba_ See note on ch. 1 Samuel 3:20. Beer-sheba was the most convenient centre for the southern district, which Samuel assigned to his sons, retaining the northern himself. Josephus says that "resigning his office to his sons he divided the people between them, and placed them _in Bethel and Beer-sheba_," a statement which is probably his own conjecture, and does not agree with ch....

The Installation of Israel's First King, 1 Samuel 8:1 to 1 Samuel 10:27. _The people ask for a King._ 1 Samuel 8:1-5 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his first-born was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: _they were_ judges in Beer-sheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. 4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. _4._ When Samuel was old, whom did

THE PEOPLE DEMAND A KING 1. Judges] They would be subordinate to their father. When the son of a Judge was influential and popular, he might easily succeed to his father's position: cp. A bimelech in Judges 9:1....