50 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 means 'the Glory has departed', and the name lived on: Washington Irving gave it to Ichabod Crane, the 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 1758 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, one for each of the five Philistine rulers, travelled 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 a disguised Saul asked her to raise the dead 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 after his armor-bearer refused to run him through?

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 boast 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 the Philistines of Gath were soon quoting the song back at David.

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 for, a mark shared with Samson?

A razor never touching the hair is the Nazirite rule of Numbers 6, and Hannah added that the boy would be given to the LORD 'for all the days of his 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 from the battle 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.

How many men of Beth Shemesh does the NIV say God struck down for looking into the ark?

Seventy is the NIV's reading from a few Hebrew manuscripts; most manuscripts give 50,070, a figure translators have argued over ever since.

Where did the ark rest twenty years in Abinadab's house, guarded by his son Eleazar, before David fetched it?

Kiriath Jearim's hill, about 11 km west of Jerusalem near Abu Ghosh, is topped today by a monastery, and the ark stayed there until David carried it up to his new capital.

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 were the daughters' fate, while sons would run before the royal chariots and a tenth of grain, vintage and flocks would be taxed away.

By how much did Kish's son Saul, 'as handsome a young man as could be found', stand above every other Israelite?

A head taller was the new king's one visible credential, and Samuel later had to be told that '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 tall 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 could not be found in all Israel, forcing farmers to visit the Philistines to sharpen their tools?

A blacksmith was banned so that, as the Philistines put it, the Hebrews could not 'make swords or spears', and on the day of battle only Saul and Jonathan carried either.

What Philistine shout did Jonathan take as the sign to climb and attack, rather than an order to stay put below?

'Come up to us' was the taunt Jonathan wanted, and he and his armor-bearer killed some twenty men 'in an area of about half an acre' before a panic sent by God swept the whole camp.

Complete Samuel's rebuke after the bleating sheep gave Saul away: 'To obey is better than ___'?

Sacrifice comes second to obedience, and the same speech likens rebellion to 'the sin of divination' and arrogance to 'the evil of idolatry'.

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 on the fortieth day 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, with goats' hair at its head, to fool the men Saul sent to kill him?

A household idol, a teraphim like those carried off from Laban in Genesis, bought David time to drop out of a window, 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 to court?

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 play the madman before Achish of Gath, scratching at the gate, once the king's servants knew him?

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.

How many men 'in distress or in debt or discontented' gathered around David at the cave of Adullam?

Four hundred outlaws became the core of David's army and had grown to six hundred by the time he left Keilah, his parents meanwhile parked with the king of Moab.

How many priests of Nob 'who wore the linen ephod' did Doeg the Edomite kill after Saul's own guards refused?

Eighty-five priests, plus the whole town of Nob, died for a loaf and a weapon given to David, and Psalm 52's heading remembers 'when Doeg the Edomite went to Saul'.

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 are named in the heading of Psalm 54, 'When the Ziphites had gone to Saul and said, Is not David hiding among us?'

To what two creatures did David compare himself when he called after Saul outside the cave 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 the Amalekites burned Ziklag while David was away.

How long after Abigail told a sobered-up Nabal how close he had been to a massacre did the LORD strike him dead?

Ten days passed between Nabal turning 'like a stone' and his death, after which David sent for the widow, who rode off on a donkey with five maids to become his wife.

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 acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong', the last words the two men ever exchanged.

How long did David live under Achish in Philistine territory, raiding Amalekites while claiming to raid Judah?

Sixteen months, 'a year and four months', was long enough for Achish to decide David had become 'so obnoxious to his people' that he would serve Gath for life.

How tall is Goliath in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which make him a big man rather than the Masoretic Text's giant?

Four cubits and a span is about 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), and Josephus and the early Greek translation agree with the scroll against the Masoretic 'six cubits and a span' (9 ft 9 in).

What rule did David set after two hundred exhausted men stayed with the baggage 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, at the junction of the Jezreel and Jordan valleys, grew into the Roman city of Scythopolis, the leading city of the Decapolis and the only one west of the Jordan.

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.