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Goliath stood before the Philistines, taunting the Israelites to challenge him. King Saul offered a bargain of riches and his daughter’s hand in marriage to anyone who would defeat the giant. David, just a shepherd boy at that time, took up the challenge.

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As Saul’s story progresses, we can observe that he is never able to own the wrong he has done when it is pointed out to him.
In 1 Samuel 13, Saul was told to wait for Samuel before offering sacrifices to God and initiating a battle with the Philistines. He didn’t listen, however, and bulldozed ahead impatiently. Even though Saul eventually wins the battle, he did it on his own terms instead of God’s, a point that he seems to never grasp.

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Samuel, who is sometimes known as the last of the Judges and the first Prophet of God, was also the leader of the nation whom the Israelites sought, for direction and revelation from God.
He is known throughout ancient Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, as a messenger of God, as the Lord continued to speak to the Israelites through him.

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The story of Ruth was known to Boaz, one of commitment and self-sacrifice in the face of loss and tragedy. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, lost her husband and two sons, and decided to return to Israel when word arrived that the Lord had provided food for Israel, for they had been living in Moab. Naomi had urged her Moabite daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth, to return to their families where they will be better off.

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Samson is part of the fabric of God’s tapestry. He was an important example of unfulfilled potential. Although Samson did great things for God, we can only wonder what he might have done or been for God. But despite his sin God still moved behind the scenes and used Samson for good. Though God can make even the evil of man to serve His purposes, it never justifies the evil that man does.

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Earlier in Ezekiel 36:17-19, we learn that God had scattered and dispersed the Israelites among the nations because of their evil conduct and actions. He poured out His wrath on them because they had ‘shed blood in the land… and defiled it with their idols’.
God appointed Ezekiel to tell these scattered people of Israel that He will cleanse them from their sins, resettle them in their towns and rebuild the ruins; He will bless them again! He resolved to do all these despite the evil hearts of His people, because the surrounding nations were mocking God on account of the sorry state of the Israelites.

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