![\"ofkingsandprophets-saul-amalekites-2\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2016\/03\/ofkingsandprophets-saul-amalekites-2.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNote: Last year I posted episode-by-episode notes on the sources and themes of <\/i>A.D. The Bible Continues<\/a>. I intend to do something similar for <\/i>Of Kings and Prophets<\/a>. Be warned: there will be spoilers here. And lots of appreciative nit-picking.<\/i><\/p>\n Season 1, Episode 1 \u2014 \u2018Offerings of Blood\u2019 Editing Samuel.<\/b> The series skips past the stories about Samuel\u2019s early life (I Samuel 1-7) and the role he played in making Saul king (I Samuel 8-12). It then cherry-picks bits and pieces from I Samuel 13-17 and rearranges the chronology somewhat.<\/p>\n The episode begins with Saul and his sons fighting the Philistines (I Samuel 13-14), and David waking up to discover that a lion has killed his sheep, which kicks off a plot thread that ends with David killing the lion (as per I Samuel 17:34-37). Then Samuel tells Saul to exterminate the Amalekites, which kicks off a plot thread that ends with Samuel killing the Amalekite king and telling Saul God has rejected him as king (I Samuel 15). Saul\u2019s wife Ahinoam also suggests getting David to stay in the palace and play the harp for Saul (a loosely reworked version of I Samuel 16:14-23).<\/p>\n This episode introduces us to various members of Saul\u2019s household: his wife Ahinoam, his sons Jonathan and Ishbaal, his daughters Merav and Michal, and his concubine Rizpah. Saul\u2019s wife and children \u2014 including up to three sons (Ishvi, Abinadab and Malki-Shua) who are not<\/i> depicted in this episode \u2014 are listed in I Samuel 14:49-50 and I Chronicles 8:33, though Ishbaal (a.k.a. Ish-Bosheth) is not mentioned in the books of Samuel until after Saul\u2019s death (II Samuel 2-4). The concubine Rizpah is also not mentioned in the Bible until after Saul\u2019s death (II Samuel 3:7), but she did bear him two sons who were killed when David was king (II Samuel 21:8-12).<\/p>\n This episode also introduces us to David and his kinsman Joab. In the Bible, Joab is David\u2019s nephew, the son of David\u2019s sister Zeruiah (I Chronicles 2:13-16). Here he seems to be more or less the same age as David \u2014 but that isn\u2019t necessarily so odd, since David was the youngest of either seven (I Chronicles 2:15) or eight (cf. I Samuel 16:10-11) sons, and if Zeruiah was one of the older siblings in the family, she could have been bearing children by the time her youngest brother was born.<\/p>\n Ahinoam says Saul has been working for years to bring the tribe of Judah into the fold. In the Bible, Judah had already contributed soldiers to some of Saul\u2019s campaigns (I Samuel 11:8), and they contributed soldiers to his attack on the Amalekites too (I Samuel 15:4), though it\u2019s worth noting that the tribe of Judah is singled out in those passages as though the men of Judah were separate from \u201cthe men of Israel\u201d.<\/p>\n Gath is identified here as the \u201ccapital of the Philistines\u201d and the home of King Achish. The biblical Achish did indeed live in Gath (I Samuel 21:10), and Gath was one of the five main Philistine city-states (Joshua 13:3, I Samuel 6:17), though it\u2019s not clear to me that any one of those cities ruled over the others. In the Bible, Gath was also one of three cities where the giants known as the Anakim still lived (Joshua 11:21-22) \u2014 and sure enough, this episode introduces Goliath, who was from Gath (I Samuel 17:4).<\/p>\n One extra note about Gath: The Bible seems to indicate that Gath was conquered by Samuel before<\/i> the Israelites had a king (I Samuel 7:14). But the Bible also clearly states that Gath was a Philistine stronghold during King Saul\u2019s reign; it was there that David lived when he fled Saul and sought sanctuary with Achish (I Samuel 27:1-4). So either the story of Gath\u2019s defeat under Samuel is a bit exaggerated, or the Philistines recaptured the city. I suspect the series won\u2019t get into any of that back-story.<\/p>\n The Philistines control the production and distribution of iron and forbid its use in Israel (I Samuel 13:19-21), but they do send iron to nations on the other side of Israel with the help of traders from Judah, which is not yet allied with Saul\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n The Amalekites are portrayed here as a small-ish nomadic tribe whose caravan is attacked by Saul in the Negev desert. The biblical attack began at \u201cthe city of Amalek\u201d (I Samuel 15:5) and continued \u201call the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt\u201d (I Samuel 15:7), which is indeed in the Negev desert<\/a>.<\/p>\n Samuel seems to go from Gilgal to the capital city of Gibeah to confront Saul and kill the Amalekite king, but in the Bible, Saul took the Amalekite king to Gilgal and Samuel killed him there (I Samuel 15:12-33). Gilgal was<\/i> one of the four cities in which the biblical Samuel held court, but his home was in Ramah (cf. I Samuel 7:16-17).<\/p>\n Notably, the scene where Samuel disowns Saul does not<\/i> include Samuel\u2019s famous lines about the sound of sheep and cattle (I Samuel 15:14) or obedience being better than sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22-23). The Samuel of this series also doesn\u2019t seem to \u201cmourn\u201d Saul\u2019s disobedience the way the biblical Samuel did (cf. I Samuel 15:35).<\/p>\n Other scriptures.<\/b> Although this series is based on the Old Testament rather than the New, an opening title card links the two by saying that the story takes place \u201c1000 Years before Christ\u201d, which is accurate, if approximate.<\/p>\n Saul says the Amalekites attacked the Israelites in Moses\u2019 day \u201cten generations ago.\u201d The attack is described in Exodus 17:8-16, and the biblical geneaologies indicate it may have been more recent than that. For example, the leader of the tribe of Judah in Moses\u2019 day was Aaron\u2019s brother-in-law Nahshon (Exodus 6:23, Numbers 2:3), and Nahshon was only five generations removed from David (Ruth 4:20-22).<\/p>\n Ahinoam says Moses called for punishment for the Amalekites when Israel was at rest from its enemies (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) \u2014 and right now Israel is not at rest.<\/p>\n Saul says the Israelites \u201care meant to be a light to the nations,\u201d which is a concept<\/a> that comes from the much later book of Isaiah (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 51:4, 60:3).<\/p>\n Samuel tells Saul that God \u201cmade you in his image.\u201d In the ancient Near East, kings and even priests often said they were \u201cimages\u201d of their gods<\/a>, but Genesis 1:26-27 and 9:6 make the point that God created all<\/i> of humanity in his image.<\/p>\n Fictitious elements.<\/b> Saul tries to arrange a marriage for his older daughter Merav with a Judean trader named Mattiyahu. Mattiyahu is a fictitious character, but the biblical Saul did arrange marriages for both of his daughters.<\/p>\n Ahinoam mentions that Michal\u2019s mother was a Cushite concubine of Saul\u2019s. The biblical account gives us no reason to think that Michal was not<\/i> Ahinoam\u2019s daughter, but we do know that some ancient Israelites (such as Moses, as per Numbers 12:1) were married to Cushites, and that some Cushites went on to work for King David (II Samuel 18:21-32) and his successors as well (Jeremiah 38:7-13).<\/p>\n Geography.<\/b> Ahinoam says the Philistines made it as far as Kadesh, and she says it exposes Israel\u2019s weakness on its northern border. It\u2019s not clear which city she\u2019s referring to, but it would make more sense if she meant Kedesh in Galilee<\/a> than Kadesh in Syria<\/a>, which is where the battle scene from Exodus: Gods and Kings<\/a><\/i> took place.<\/p>\n Gath is portrayed as a coastal city. Some Philistine cities were indeed located on the Mediterranean coast, but Gath<\/a> appears to have been about 40km inland.<\/p>\n
\nI Samuel 13-17<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n