100 Fun Facts About 1 Samuel

What name did Eli's dying daughter-in-law give her newborn son on hearing the ark had been captured?

Ichabod, 'no glory' or 'where is the glory?', echoes her words 'The Glory has departed from Israel', and the name lived on: Washington Irving gave it to Ichabod Crane, schoolmaster of 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'.

Which Philistine god's statue was found face down before the ark at Ashdod, its head and hands snapped off?

Dagon was long pictured as a fish-god, from the Hebrew dag, but the name more likely meant grain, and it was in Dagon's temple at Gaza that Samson pulled the pillars down.

What did Samuel name the stone he set up after the LORD's thunder routed the Philistines near Mizpah?

Ebenezer means 'stone of help', and Samuel's words 'Thus far the LORD has helped us' are why Robert Robinson's hymn 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing' raises an Ebenezer in its second verse.

What gold animals, five of them like the five tumors, did the Philistines send back with the ark?

Rats, mice in older translations, rode in a chest beside the ark on a new cart pulled by two cows that had never been yoked and lowed all the way to Beth Shemesh.

What did the medium at Endor see 'coming up' when Saul asked her for Samuel?

An old man in a robe was enough for Saul to know it was Samuel, who asked 'Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?' and told him 'tomorrow you and your sons will be with me'.

How did the wounded King Saul die on Mount Gilboa?

Fell on his own sword is the account of 1 Samuel 31, yet in 2 Samuel 1 an Amalekite tells David he finished Saul off himself, a claim that gets him executed on the spot.

Which town's men marched all night to retrieve Saul's corpse, repaying the rescue that launched his reign?

Jabesh Gilead owed Saul: breaking Nahash the Ammonite's siege of the town had been his first act as king, and its men burned the bodies, buried the bones under a tamarisk tree and fasted seven days.

What tally did the women credit to David in the victory song that made Saul keep 'a close eye' on him?

His tens of thousands, against Saul's mere thousands, drew the grumble 'What more can he get but the kingdom?', and even the Philistines of Gath were soon quoting the song.

What did Ahimelek the priest give a hungry David at Nob, having no ordinary loaves to hand?

The bread of the Presence was lawful 'only for priests to eat', which is why Jesus cited David's meal when the Pharisees objected to his disciples picking grain on the Sabbath.

What did Jonathan taste from his staff, unaware Saul had cursed any soldier who ate before evening?

Honey dripping on the forest floor made his eyes brighten, and only the army's protest, 'not a hair of his head will fall to the ground', stopped Saul from executing his own son.

At which sanctuary did Hannah pray so silently for a son that the priest Eli took her for a drunk?

Shiloh housed the tabernacle and the ark until the Philistines captured it, and Jeremiah later pointed Jerusalem to its ruins: 'see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people'.

What did Hannah vow would never touch the head of the son she begged the LORD for?

A razor never touching the hair is the Nazirite rule of Numbers 6, the mark an angel also set on Samson before his birth, and once Samuel was weaned Hannah handed him to Eli for life.

Which sons of Eli, who seized worshippers' meat with a three-pronged fork, died the day the ark was captured?

Hophni and Phinehas were 'scoundrels' who 'had no regard for the LORD', and a man of God had already told Eli that the pair would die on the same day.

What happened to the 98-year-old Eli when a runner said the ark of God had been taken?

Fell backward, broke his neck: he was 'an old man, and he was heavy', and it was the news of the ark's capture, not his sons' deaths, that toppled him after forty years leading Israel.

What did some men of Beth Shemesh do to the ark that got them struck dead?

Looked into it is the reason the Hebrew text gives, and the toll is disputed: a few manuscripts say seventy, most say 50,070, and the frightened town at once asked its neighbors to take the ark away.

In which town did the ark rest in Abinadab's house on the hill until David came to fetch it?

Kiriath Jearim got the ark because Beth Shemesh wanted rid of it: after the deaths there its people asked 'Who can stand in the presence of the LORD?' and sent word, 'Come down and take it up to your town'.

Which sons of Samuel, judges at Beersheba who took bribes, gave Israel's elders their excuse to demand a king?

Joel and Abijah 'turned aside after dishonest gain', and the elders' demand for a king 'such as all the other nations have' drew the verdict that it was God they had rejected, not Samuel.

In Samuel's warning of what a king would take from Israel, what would the people's daughters be made into?

Perfumers, cooks and bakers came midway through a list that ended 'you yourselves will become his slaves', yet the people answered, 'We want a king over us'.

What set Kish's son Saul, 'as handsome a young man as could be found', apart from every other Israelite?

He was a head taller than anyone else, the new king's one visible credential, and Samuel later had to be told 'the LORD does not look at the things people look at' when Jesse's tall eldest son impressed him.

What older title for a prophet does 1 Samuel 9 pause to explain, as Saul goes looking for the man of God?

Seer is the word the narrator stops to gloss as out of date, and Saul never got to ask about his father's donkeys: Samuel told him unprompted that they had been found.

Where was the newly chosen Saul found hiding when the lot fell on him at Mizpah and no one could find him?

Among the supplies, 'the stuff' in the King James, is where God himself had to point, and the man hauled out drew 'Long live the king!' plus a few scoundrels asking 'How can this fellow save us?'

What did Nahash the Ammonite demand from every man of the besieged town that offered to become his subjects?

Their right eye was to 'bring disgrace on all Israel', and the answer came from Saul, who hacked a pair of oxen to pieces and sent the bits round the tribes as a threat.

Where did Saul, done waiting seven days for Samuel, offer the burnt offering himself and forfeit his dynasty?

Gilgal, where Saul had been confirmed as king, was where Samuel told him the LORD had 'sought out a man' to replace him, the verse Paul later quoted about David in Acts 13.

Which craftsman did the Philistines make sure could not be found in all Israel?

A blacksmith could 'make swords or spears', the Philistines reasoned, so Israel's farmers paid them to sharpen plow points, and on the day of battle only Saul and Jonathan carried either weapon.

Which shout from the Philistine outpost had Jonathan chosen as his sign that the LORD would give him victory?

'Come up to us' was the taunt Jonathan wanted, since 'Wait there' would have kept him below, and he and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men before a panic sent by God swept the camp.

Complete Samuel's rebuke to King Saul: 'To obey is better than ___'?

Sacrifice was Saul's excuse for the bleating sheep Samuel could hear: the troops had spared the best Amalekite flocks, he said, to offer to the LORD, and the rebuke ended 'he has rejected you as king'.

Where did Saul raise a monument in his own honor on the way home from the Amalekite campaign that ended his favor?

Carmel, a town in Judah's hills rather than the northern mountain, is where Saul set up his own memorial, and the same Carmel is where Nabal would later shear three thousand sheep.

The LORD told Samuel at Jesse's house that people look at the outward appearance; what does the LORD look at?

The heart was the test that passed over seven brothers, and the eighth, fetched in from the sheep, was anointed from a horn of oil with his brothers looking on.

Besides roasted grain and ten loaves for his brothers, what did Jesse send David to give their unit's commander?

Ten cheeses got David to the Valley of Elah during the forty days of the giant's twice-daily challenge, and his eldest brother Eliab accused him of coming only to watch the battle.

Which daughter did Saul promise David if he fought 'the battles of the LORD', then hand to Adriel of Meholah instead?

Merab's offer hid a plan, 'I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!', and Saul ran the same play again with his younger daughter and a bride price paid in enemy dead.

What did Michal lay in David's bed, topped with goats' hair, to deceive the men Saul sent to kill him?

A household idol, a teraphim like those Rachel took from Laban in Genesis, bought time for David, already let down through a window, to get clear, and Michal then claimed he had threatened to kill her.

What did Saul end up doing at Naioth in Ramah, where he had gone in person to seize David?

Prophesied naked all day and night is how the king ended a manhunt, the Spirit having already overwhelmed three squads of his messengers, and it revived the saying 'Is Saul also among the prophets?'

At which feast did David's empty seat at Saul's table expose the king's murderous intent to Jonathan?

The New Moon feast ran two days, and on the second Saul flung a spear at his own son after calling him the 'son of a perverse and rebellious woman'.

What signal had Jonathan arranged to tell David, hidden by the stone Ezel, whether it was safe to return?

The fall of his arrows, 'beyond you' meaning run, was the code, yet once the boy was sent home the two friends met openly, kissed, and 'David wept the most'.

How did David feign madness before Achish of Gath, besides scratching at the gate?

Let saliva run down his beard earned Achish's line 'Am I so short of madmen?', and Psalm 34's heading recalls the scene but calls the king Abimelek.

In which cave did some four hundred men 'in distress or in debt or discontented' make the fugitive David their commander?

Adullam drew about four hundred such men, the core of David's army, along with his brothers and his father's household, and he left his parents for safekeeping with the king of Moab.

Who killed the priests of Nob after Saul's own guards refused to strike them?

Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief shepherd, had seen David collect provisions and Goliath's sword at Nob and informed on the priests; he killed eighty-five of them, and Psalm 52's heading remembers him.

Which lone survivor of the Nob massacre fled to David with the ephod, giving the outlaw band a priest to consult?

Abiathar rose to high priest under David and was finally deposed by Solomon, ending Eli's line just as the man of God had warned Eli it would end.

Which desert people of Judah twice went to Saul at Gibeah to betray where David was hiding?

The Ziphites nearly got their man: Saul was closing in around a mountain in the Desert of Maon when news of a Philistine raid called him away, and Psalm 54's heading remembers their tip-off.

What two creatures did David call himself when he shouted after Saul at En Gedi?

A dead dog and a flea was the self-portrait that made Saul weep aloud and admit 'You are more righteous than I', before asking David to swear not to wipe out his descendants.

Which name was shared by Saul's wife and the woman of Jezreel whom David married around the time he wed Abigail?

Ahinoam of Jezreel bore David's firstborn, Amnon, and she and Abigail were both carried off when Amalekite raiders burned David's town while he was away.

What does Abigail tell David her husband Nabal's name means, as she begs him to spare the household?

Fool, 'and folly goes with him', was her verdict, and it saved the household: told of his escape once sober, Nabal 'became like a stone', died about ten days later, and David married the widow.

Who crept with David into Saul's sleeping camp at Hakilah and offered to pin the king down 'with one thrust'?

Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, was refused, and David instead walked off with the spear and water jug from beside Saul's head, because 'the LORD had put them into a deep sleep'.

Which game bird did David say the king of Israel was hunting 'in the mountains' after the raid on Saul's camp?

A partridge in the mountains drew from Saul the admission 'I have sinned' and a promise not to harm David again, and after a parting blessing the two men never met again.

Which town did Achish of Gath give David, who raided Amalekites from it while telling Achish he raided Judah?

Ziklag stayed David's base for sixteen months, 'a year and four months', and the ruse worked so well that Achish decided Israel now loathed David and he 'will be my servant for life'.

Which ancient source makes Goliath 'four cubits and a span', about 6 ft 9 in, rather than 9 ft 9 in?

The Dead Sea Scrolls copy of Samuel is backed by Josephus and the early Greek translation; the Masoretic Text behind most English Bibles reads 'six cubits and a span', about 9 ft 9 in, and made him a giant.

What rule did David set after two hundred exhausted men stayed behind at the Besor Valley?

All will share alike, stayers and fighters, became 'a statute and ordinance for Israel', and David also posted plunder to the elders of Judah's towns, 'who were his friends'.

On which city's wall did the Philistines hang Saul's headless body, his armor going to the temple of the Ashtoreths?

Beth Shan kept the body only briefly: rescuers took it down by night, and years later David reburied the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the tomb of Saul's father Kish in Benjamin.

What did the medium at Endor insist on feeding the collapsed Saul before she let him leave that night?

A fattened calf, butchered on the spot and served with unleavened loaves, was the last meal recorded for Saul, who had eaten nothing all day and night and died the next day.

Which husband of Hannah and Peninnah went up each year from Ramathaim and gave the childless wife a double portion?

Elkanah's double portion 'because he loved her' did not stop the rival wife's taunting, and once the vow was answered the couple went on to have three more sons and two daughters.

What was the young Saul out searching for when he first met Samuel, who would make him king?

His father's lost donkeys had been missing for three days, and Samuel told Saul they were already found before revealing that all Israel's hopes rested on him.

Which two wild animals did David tell Saul he had killed while guarding his father's flock?

A lion and a bear were David's proof that he could fight: he said he chased each one down, pulled the lamb from its mouth and killed the beast when it turned on him.

What was King Saul doing in the cave at En Gedi when David crept close enough to kill him?

Relieving himself, Saul never noticed the fugitives at the back of the cave, and David held his men off, refusing to raise a hand against the LORD's anointed.

How did Saul's daughter Michal get David out of the house her father's men were watching overnight?

Through a window Michal let her husband down, having warned David that he would be killed in the morning unless he got away that same night.

What did the people cry out at Mizpah when Samuel presented Saul as the man the LORD had chosen?

'Long live the king' was the crowd's cry, though a few troublemakers scoffed, asked how such a man could save them and brought Saul no gift.

Where on his body did David's stone strike Goliath, dropping the giant facedown on the ground?

The forehead took the stone, which sank in, and David then ran up, drew the fallen giant's own blade from its sheath and cut off his head.

What did the Philistines hitch to the new cart that carried the ark back toward Israel?

Two milk cows that had never worn a yoke pulled the cart, and they walked straight for Israelite territory, lowing all the way, though their young were shut up at home.

What did young David do at court that gave King Saul relief whenever the evil spirit troubled him?

David played the harp (a lyre in some translations) after a courtier recommended him as a skilful musician, and Saul grew so fond of him that he asked Jesse to let him stay.

Whom did Israel's elders say they wanted to resemble when they asked Samuel at Ramah for a king?

All the other nations had kings to lead them into battle, the elders argued, and the LORD told a displeased Samuel to grant the request but warn them what a king would cost.

How did the boy Samuel answer the LORD's final call, as the priest Eli coached him?

'Speak, your servant hears' came only at the fourth call: three times the boy had run to Eli's bedside, sure that the old priest was the one calling him.

Which tribe did Saul son of Kish belong to, one he himself called the smallest in Israel?

Benjamin was Saul's tribe, and he protested to Samuel that his own family was the least of all its clans, hardly the stock from which a ruler should come.

To which town did the LORD send Samuel with a horn of oil to find a king among Jesse's sons?

Bethlehem's elders came out trembling to meet Samuel and asked whether he came in peace, a measure of the awe the old prophet inspired.

What weapon did a jealous King Saul hurl at David more than once, meaning to pin him to the wall?

A spear was in Saul's hand whenever the dark mood took him, and he later threw one at his own son Jonathan for speaking up in David's defence.

Where did Saul's army camp opposite the Philistines when Goliath came out with his daily challenge?

The Valley of Elah ran between two hills, with an army on each slope, and Goliath strode out into it morning and evening for forty days.

Which short book set in the judges' era comes just before 1 Samuel in most Christian Bibles?

Ruth closes with a family tree running down to David, which makes it a natural bridge into Samuel; Hebrew Bibles shelve it among the Writings instead.

At what stage of his childhood did Hannah bring Samuel to live with the priest Eli for good?

Once he was weaned, Hannah took the boy to the sanctuary with a gift of flour and wine and told Eli she was the woman he had once watched praying there.

Whom had Israel really rejected by demanding a king, in the answer Samuel received in prayer?

The LORD himself was the one being cast off as king, Samuel was told: the people had been deserting him for other gods ever since they came up out of Egypt.

How did King Saul try to hide who he was on his night visit to the medium at Endor?

Saul wore other clothes and took only two men, but the woman cried out that she had been deceived the moment Samuel appeared and she realised who her visitor was.

What sound gave King Saul away when he told Samuel he had carried out the orders against Amalek?

Bleating sheep and lowing cattle could be heard as he spoke, and Saul blamed his men, saying the best animals had been kept back for an offering.

Where did David come in birth order among the sons of Jesse whom Samuel had come to inspect?

The youngest had not even been called in: seven brothers passed before Samuel, who then refused to sit down until the missing boy was sent for.

Which Amalekite king did Saul take alive and spare, defying the command to destroy everything?

Agag was kept alive along with the best of the plunder, and in the end the aged Samuel put the captive king to death himself.

To which city does 1 Samuel say David carried the severed head of Goliath after the battle?

Jerusalem received the head well before David took the city and made it his capital, while the giant's gear went into the young victor's own tent.

What post at King Saul's side was the young David given soon after he entered royal service?

Armor-bearer was David's first title at court, yet as David walks out to face Goliath the same king asks his general whose son the young man is.

To what did Hannah's husband compare his own worth to her, as she wept and refused to eat?

Ten sons was the measure he chose, asking whether he was not better to her than that; the comfort failed, and she went off to pray for a child of her own.

Which Philistine city cried out that the ark had come to kill them, after Ashdod and Gath suffered?

Ekron was the ark's third stop, and its people panicked on sight, demanding that the Philistine lords send the thing back to its own place.

What were the people of Beth Shemesh busy doing when they caught sight of the ark coming home?

Harvesting wheat stopped at once: the reapers rejoiced, split the cart for firewood and made a burnt offering in the field of a man named Joshua.

What did the Israelites pour out before the LORD at Mizpah as they fasted and confessed their sin?

Water poured on the ground marked the people's repentance, and when the Philistines attacked the gathering, Samuel offered a lamb and cried out for help.

Near whose tomb did Samuel tell the newly anointed Saul he would meet two men with news from home?

Rachel's tomb was the first of three signs Samuel foretold for the journey, and every one of them came true before that day was out.

What did an enraged Saul cut in pieces and send around Israel to raise an army against Ammon?

A pair of oxen became the summons: Saul had just come in from the field behind his team, and he warned that shirkers would find their cattle treated the same way.

Who saved Jonathan after Saul swore his son must die for breaking a battlefield fast?

The troops themselves refused to allow it, swearing that not one hair of Jonathan would fall, since his daring raid had won Israel the day's victory.

Which army commander did David taunt from a hilltop for failing to guard the sleeping King Saul?

Abner, a kinsman of Saul as well as his general, was told he deserved to die: someone had stood over the king that night and walked off with the jar from beside his head.

Which eldest son of Jesse did Samuel take for the LORD's chosen king on looks alone?

Eliab looked every inch a king to Samuel, and he later rounded on David at the battle camp, accusing him of coming down just to watch the fighting.

Besides riches and the king's daughter, what did Saul promise the family of whoever killed Goliath?

Freedom from taxes for the winner's whole family was part of the prize the men in the ranks talked about, and David had the offer repeated to him more than once.

With which foreign ruler did the fugitive David leave his father and mother for safekeeping?

The king of Moab sheltered the old couple for as long as David and his outlaw band stayed in their stronghold.

What lifelong post did Achish of Gath promise David as the Philistines mustered for war with Israel?

His bodyguard for life was the Philistine king's offer, so completely had David's tales of raiding his own countrymen taken him in.

Why did the Philistine commanders make Achish send David home before the final battle with Saul?

They feared he would turn on them in mid-battle, asking how he could better win back his old master's favour than with Philistine heads.

What did David's grieving men talk of doing to him after raiders carried off their families?

Stoning him was the talk of the camp once the men's first grief was spent, but David found strength in his God and set off in pursuit.

Who guided David to the Amalekite raiders after being found half-starved in a field and fed?

An Egyptian slave abandoned by his master when he fell sick three days earlier agreed to lead the way, after asking David to swear not to kill him or hand him back.

How did four hundred young Amalekites escape when David fell on the raiders' camp at twilight?

On camels they outran a slaughter that lasted until the following evening, and David recovered every captive and everything that had been taken.

Which Philistine fighters closed in on King Saul on Mount Gilboa as the battle went against him?

The archers overtook him after three of his sons, Jonathan among them, had already been killed and Israel's army had fled the slopes.

In the LORD's first message to young Samuel, what would the ears of all who heard the news do?

Tingle was the word for the shock to come, the ruin of Eli's house, and the frightened boy only told the old priest about it when pressed in the morning.

Which canticle in Luke's Gospel most clearly echoes Hannah's prayer of thanks in 1 Samuel 2?

The Magnificat, Mary's song on visiting Elizabeth, takes up Hannah's theme of reversal: the proud brought low, the hungry fed and the humble lifted up.

How soon did the spirit of Samuel tell Saul that he and his sons would join him among the dead?

The very next day, the spirit said, and Saul collapsed full length on the ground, already weak from eating nothing all that day and night.

What had King Saul done to Israel's mediums and spiritists before he went looking for one himself?

Saul had driven them from the land, so the woman at Endor refused at first, fearing a trap, until her unrecognised visitor swore she would not be punished.

Which ancient translation first split the book of Samuel in two, a division later Bibles kept?

The Septuagint, the Greek version produced around the second century BCE, turned one book into two, and Hebrew Bibles only followed suit in the sixteenth century.

Under what kind of tree does 1 Samuel say the bones of Saul and his sons were buried after burning?

A tamarisk shaded the grave, and the same kind of tree had once shaded Saul as he held court at Gibeah, complaining that his own courtiers had conspired against him.

Where were the Philistines camped before the battle in which they captured the ark from Israel?

Aphek was the Philistine base, and the name returns at the book's end as the place where their armies gather before the battle that kills Saul.

Which people did Saul warn to leave the Amalekites before he attacked, recalling an old kindness?

The Kenites had shown kindness to Israel on the way up from Egypt, so Saul gave them time to get clear before he struck.

Which town did David save from Philistine raiders, only to learn it would hand him over to Saul?

Keilah owed David its threshing floors and its lives, yet the LORD's answer was that the townsmen would surrender him, so he slipped away with his six hundred men.

Besides dreams and prophets, by what priestly means did the LORD refuse to answer a desperate Saul?

The Urim stayed as silent as every other channel, and it was that silence, on the eve of battle, that drove Saul to seek out a medium.