Dr Paul Allen

Telamonian Aias is preparing to commit suicide. Reproducing illustration of an antique Greek black-figure amphora (colour litho), depiction by Exekias (530-525 BC) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Death by suicide claims the lives of more than twenty thousand people every year in the United States alone. Our awareness of its frequency is probably less than accurate simply because the obituary often reads, “She died at home,” or, “He died while on a business trip.” But hushing up the means cannot obscure the fact that thousands of people—believers and unbelievers alike—take their own lives. The Bible has some sobering things to say that are pertinent to suicide. SUICIDE BREAKS THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD The sanctity of human life is paramount in the sixth commandment, “ Thou shalt not kill ” (Ex. 20:13). Murder is condemned, and elsewhere in the law every act that endangers human life is condemned, whether the act arise from carelessness ( Deut. 22:8), wantonness (Lev. 19:14), hatred...

David and Bathsheba by Jan Matsys, 1562, Louvre (Photo credit: Wikipedia )  For example, in 2 Samuel 11:3, David looks from his window and sees a beautiful woman bathing in an adjacent house. He inquires of her name, and finds out: “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam ?” And from there it becomes your typical king-meets-wife-of-deployed-soldier, affair-pregnancy-murder-cover-up kind of story, and ends up costing David his kingdom. But this story can become confusing when you read in 1 Chronicles 3:5 that David had four children “by Bath-shua , the daughter of Ammiel .” So what gives? Why is Bathsheba’s name spelled differently, and was her father named Ammiel or Eliam? This question is not just simply an issue of missing the forest for the trees—although if you ask this question, please don’t neglect the larger issues of what God wants you to learn from David’s sin and how that ended up dividing the kingdom. But if you spend any time reading Samuel, Kings, and Chron...

Samuel_reproving_Saul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Did Samuel make a mistake? Was Samuel human like everyone else? ( 1 Samuel 9–11; 13; 15-17).  Do you feel for Saul. He started well but finished badly. According to 1 Samuel 9:2, he was “An impressive young man without equal.” After Saul has been briefly introduced, we immediately start into the story of how Saul and Samuel meet. In verse 9, we are given some parenthetical background information. “Before time in Israel ,” it tells us, “when a man went to enquire of God , thus he spake, Come, and let us go to the seer: for he that is now called a Prophet was before time called a Seer.” The picture we have in 1 Samuel 9–10 is of a good and modest man (compare verse 1 of chapter 9 with verse 21 in the same chapter) who has the wisdom to keep his mouth shut (1 Samuel 10:14–16) and the good sense to at least try avoiding the limelight (1 Samuel 10:21–22). But whether he likes it or not, he’s going to be king, and he’ll hav...

jesus_3 (Photo credit: biblevector ) But the Lord said to Samuel , "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." — 1 Samuel 16:7 Indeed it may be truthfully said that everything of lasting value in the Christian life is unseen and eternal. Things seen are of little real significance in the light of God's presence . He pays small attention to the beauty of a woman or the strength of a man. With Him the heart is all that matters. The rest of the life comes into notice only because it represents the dwelling place of the eternal being. The solution to life's problems is spiritual because the essence of life is spiritual. It is astonishing how many difficulties clear up without any effort when the inner life gets straightened out.... Church difficulties are spiritual also and admit of a spiritual answer. Whatev...

David and Saul (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When the Spirit “rushed” upon Saul in 1 Sam. 19:20-24, he stripped off his clothes, prophesied before Samuel and “lay down naked all that day and all that night” (v. 24, NKJV ).  Ezekiel displayed even more bizarre behavior after God told him to lie on his side, put “the iniquity of the house of Israel ” on himself for 390 days, burn his hair and cook his food over human excrement! ( Ezek. 4:4-5, 12; 5:1-2, 4).  Isaiah was told by God to walk naked through Jerusalem for three years proclaiming judgment on the city (Is. 20:2-3) Should we expect such behaviour today when the Holy Spirit comes upon people?  Is Christianity just a rationalistic non-emotional experience on an intellectual level or should it include subjective spiritual experiences or both? Do the above texts justify odd behaviour today from Glory Gathering churches? 1 Samuel 19:20-24. The fact that Saul stripped off his clothes, prophesied be...

Hannah Giving Her Son Samuel to the Priest (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Samuel is one of the most intriguing Old Testament figures (to me, at least). He’s a star player in the story of David and Saul: the first two God -anointed kings of Israel . We meet him as a baby. We see him as a national leader, intercessor, and even a ghost. Here’s a few interesting biblical facts about Samuel. Samuel is a miracle child. The Bible tells of many significant adults, but only a handful of significant pregnancies. Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob & Esau, Perez, Samson, and Jesus are the others. We meet Samuel’s parents before we meet him. His mother Hannah cannot have children, but God hears her prayers and opens her womb, blessing her with the child Samuel. Samuel’s name means “name of God.” Samuel is from the tribe of Levi. He may have had Ephraimite blood, too ( 1 Ch 6:33–38 , 1 Sa 1:1 ). This qualified him to serve in the temple , but Samuel was much more than a priest (see below). Samuel is t...

English: Samuel anointing king David (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) “In those days there was no king in Israel , but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” ( Judges 17:6 ) Four times in the book of Judges we are told that “there was no king in Israel in those days” ( Judges 17:6 ; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25), indicating that the book must have been compiled either by Samuel (the last judge) or someone else of his or a later generation. The first and last of these (which is the final verse in the book) add that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” With no centralized government , there were only tribal leaders. Occasionally, one of these would acquire followers from other tribes; these were the “judges” whom God raised up to lead the people out of bondage on the occasions of widespread repentance and prayer. The intervening periods were times of oppression by enemies and moral and spiritual chaos among the people. They did have a King, of course, but they refu...