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Comments have been prepared by Chris Haslam using reputable commentaries, and checked for accuracy by the Venerable Alan T Perry. While not intended to be exhaustive, they are an aid to reading the Scriptures with greater understanding.

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At one time, the first and second books of Samuel formed a single book. They were separated in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures known as the Septuagint (about 250 BC). 1 Samuel begins with the story of Samuel: hence the name. 1 Samuel is the first of four books which tell the story of Israel's monarchy. Samuel anointed the first king. We then read about King Saul, and later about David's rise to prominence.

Hannah, Samuel’s mother, barren for many years, has given her son to the service of the Lord in thanksgiving for his gift of a child. He serves Eli in the temple at Shiloh. (Jerusalem is not yet an Israelite city.)

For many years (during the period of the judges), revelations from God (“word”, “visions”, v. 1) were rare. The “lamp of God” (v. 3) burned throughout the night (per Exodus 27:21), near the Ark, so it was not yet morning. Perhaps Samuel lay near the lamp to tend it.

God calls Samuel, as he had Moses, Gideon and Samson. Samuel thinks it is Eli who is calling him (vv. 5, 6); he does not recognize God’s voice because he had not come into direct contact with him (v. 7a); it is Eli who realizes that God is calling the boy (v. 8c). Samuel then acknowledges God’s call.

Vv. 11-14 and 2:27-36 probably explain why the priests in later times were descended from Zadok and not from Eli: his sons were a bad lot: see 2:12-26. Samuel was later recognized as a prophet, and God continued to appear to him at Shiloh.

Psalms is a collection of collections. The psalms were written over many centuries, stretching from the days of Solomon's temple (about 950 BC) to after the Exile (about 350 BC.) Psalms are of five types: hymns of praise, laments, thanksgiving psalms, royal psalms, and wisdom psalms. Within the book, there are five "books"; there is a doxology ("Blessed be ... Amen and Amen") at the end of each book.

The part of this psalm used today is a hymn praising God for his knowledge of all (vv. 1-5) and of the psalmist (vv. 13-17). God has “searched” (v. 1) the psalmist and known him. (Knowing his sitting down and rising up is a Semitism for knowing him completely.) God knows everything he thinks and his “ways” (v. 3). God finds him wherever he goes, for God is everywhere; the psalmist couldn’t escape from God even if he tried (vv. 7-12). God knows him because he created him (v. 13).

In v. 14, he praises God for the wonders of his works, particularly for the mystery of the creation of humankind. The “depths of the earth” (v. 15) is a figure for the womb, perhaps reflecting the second creation story (Genesis 2:7).

Then v. 16: either God knew the length of the psalmist’s life before he was born, or he knew his character from the moment of conception. That God keeps a record of humankind is found in several psalms, and elsewhere. V. 17 is an exclamation of wonder. To count all God’s thoughts, the psalmist would need to live for ever (v. 18).

This is a letter, written in the style common in the first century AD. From the text, we know that Paul wrote it in Macedonia after leaving Ephesus, probably in the autumn of 57 AD. It gives us a picture of Paul the person: an affectionate man, hurt to the quick by misunderstandings and evil-doing of his beloved fellow Christians, yet happy when he can praise them. The letter's prime intent is to combat evils which have arisen in the Christian communities in the Achaian peninsula of Greece.

It seems that there were people at Corinth who saw the reverses Paul suffered as evidence that he was not an authentic apostle, a true spokesman for Christ. Surely, they claimed, an apostle who displayed such weakness could not be a prime agent in spreading the good news.

But Paul (“we”) proclaims Christ rather than himself. He is their slave, one totally committed to God. God is the one who gives “light” (v. 6), understanding. (The quotation is from Genesis 1:3). The “light” shone in Paul’s life in his conversion experience. But while we have access to this understanding, we are fragile and weak like “clay pots” (v. 7) – so this amazing power must be from God.

But Paul still keeps going, despite setbacks (vv. 8-9). He realizes in his weakness (“carrying ...”, v. 10) that he needs the salvation made available through Jesus’ death, so that he may be alive in Christ, but he is always prone to failure. God intends that Paul suffer duress (“death”, v. 12), so that the good news may be known.

Mark

As witnesses to the events of Jesus life and death became old and died, the need arose for a written synopsis. Tradition has it that Mark, while in Rome, wrote down what Peter remembered. This book stresses the crucifixion and resurrection as keys to understanding who Jesus was. When other synoptic gospels were written, i.e. Matthew and Luke, they used the Gospel according to Mark as a source. Mark is most probably the John Mark mentioned in Acts 12:12: his mother's house was a meeting place for believers.

2:1-3:6 present stories about the growth of opposition to Jesus. When Jesus has dined with people whose trades made them ritually unclean, scribes have questioned why he associates with such outcasts. He has told them that he comes to those in need of purification and not to those who think themselves godly. When others have questioned why his disciples do not fast, he has told them that while he is on earth is a time for joy and not for mourning.

Now he challenges the law stipulating what may be done on the sabbath. Pharisees attack Jesus through his disciples for both exceeding the distance a Jew might walk on the sabbath, and for doing work on this day. Per Exodus 34:21, harvesting was not permitted on the sabbath; they construe “plucking heads of grain” as work prohibited on that day.

In v. 25, Jesus answers a question with a question: surely you recall that David broke the Law by eating bread from the altar, and by permitting his “companions: to do likewise? (v. 25-26). Then v. 27: human needs are more important than observing the sabbath, so “the Son of Man” (v. 28, in Mark: Jesus) has sovereign power (“lord”) even over the sabbath law, a basic Jewish principle.

3:1-6 show that Jesus is powerful in deed and word. The man’s illness is not life-threatening, so healing him on the sabbath would contravene Jewish practice. Jesus’ question (v. 4) is about a universal principle. “They” (v. 2) would agree that on this day an action in accord with the Law is good, but for them, this is not the question. To Jesus, healing is saving lives, part of God’s intervention in the world; to miss an opportunity to restore health is akin to killing. So “they” are faced with a dilemma: “they were silent” (v. 4).

Jesus is angry (the only time in the gospels) because they, seeking to get him, are fixed in their thinking. In v. 6, the Pharisees conspire with the “Herodians”, a secular group, to “destroy him”: a strange partnership with only one aim in common.

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