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Hard to figure, surely not 'enlightened' like Adam & Eve after eating the apple? I thought maybe his eyes brightened up like they do when a hungry person eats -- that would make sense, but is Jonathan with God or against him here? Does God care one way or the other, whether the Israelites obey the orders of Saul? He deposed Saul as King but what affect did that have on day to day life for an Israelite? I guess there is a hiatus in the war after Amalek which is good if you're an Israelite, but God seems to want the war. (Or has so far; at Amelek He was angry at Saul for not prosecuting the war thoroughly enough.) What do I take from Samuel? I'm struck by how impossible it is for the Israelites to make God happy -- he either is pleased or displeased, seems like almost independent of what the people are doing. "Obedience is more important than sacrifice" or rather,
But the only person that really can obey God in thes OT stories is whoever he happens to be talking to at the time, is the way it seems to me. Got to read Fear and Trembling. Abraham is the ultimate obeyer. If Jaynes is right, obedience of God = wilfullness? |