Book of Common Prayer

His Chesed Endures Forever

Psalm 118

Glory of the Kingdom

Psalm 145

Saul Anointed King

10 Then Samuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head. Then he kissed him and said, “Has Adonai not anointed you ruler over His inheritance? ² When you leave me today, you will find two men near the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you: ‘The donkeys you set out to look for have been found—behold, your father has dropped the matter about the donkeys and is worried about you saying, “What should I do about my son?’” ³ Then you will go on from there until you reach the terebinth of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Beth-el will meet you, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and the other carrying a jug of wine. ⁴ Then they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will receive from their hand. ⁵ After that, you will arrive at the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is. It will come about, as soon as you enter the town, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by a harp, a tambourine and a flute, and they will be prophesying. ⁶ Then the Ruach of Adonai will seize you and you will prophesy with them—you will turn into another man. ⁷ Now when these signs happen to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, for God is with you. ⁸ Afterward, you are to go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice fellowship offerings. Seven days you will wait, until I come to you and instruct you what you should do.”

⁹ Then it happened, as Saul turned his back to leave Samuel, that God transformed his heart, and all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰ When they arrived there, at the hill, behold, a band of prophets did meet him, and suddenly, the Ruach of God overtook him, and subsequently, he prophesied among them. ¹¹ So when all who knew him formerly saw him prophesying with the prophets, they said one to another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹² (Someone there asked, “Who is their father?”) Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” ¹³ When he finished prophesying, he came to the high place.

¹⁴ Now Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, “Where did you go?” And he said, “To look for the donkeys. But when we saw that they could not be found, we went to Samuel.”

¹⁵ Saul’s uncle said, “Tell me now, what did Samuel say to you?”

¹⁶ “He assured us that the donkeys had been found,” Saul said to his uncle. But concerning the matter of kingship about which Samuel spoke, he told him nothing.

Trusting in the Promise

¹³ For the promise to Abraham or to his seed—to become heir of the world—was not through law, but through the righteousness based on trust. ¹⁴ For if those who are of the Torah are heirs, trust has become empty and the promise is made ineffective. ¹⁵ For the Torah brings about wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there a violation.

¹⁶ For this reason it depends on trust, so that the promise according to grace might be guaranteed to all the offspring—not only to those of the Torah but also to those of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all ¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”^[a]). He is our father in the sight of God in whom he trusted, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence that which does not exist. ¹⁸ In hope beyond hope, he trusted that he would become the father of many nations according to what was spoken—“So shall your descendants be.” ^{[b] 19} And without becoming weak in faith, he considered his own body—as good as dead, since he was already a hundred years old—and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver in unbelief concerning the promise of God. Rather, he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. ²¹ He was fully convinced that what God has promised, He also is able to do. ^{[c] 22} That is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[d]

²³ Now not only for his sake was it written that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but for our sake as well. It is credited to us as those who trust in Him who raised Yeshua our Lord from the dead. ²⁵ He was handed over for our transgressions and raised up for the sake of setting us right.^[e]

Questions about Yeshua’s Authority

²³ Now when He entered the Temple, the ruling kohanim and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, saying, “By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave You this authority?”

²⁴ Yeshua replied to them, “I also will ask you one question. If you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. ²⁵ John’s immersion, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”

They began to dialogue among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd, for all hold up John as a prophet.” ²⁷ So answering Yeshua, they said, “We don’t know.”

Then He said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.”

A Parable about Intentions and Actions

²⁸ “Now what do you think? A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ The son answered, ‘I won’t,’ but afterward he had a change of heart and went. ³⁰ The man went to the second son and said the same thing. But he answered, ‘I will, sir,’ and didn’t go. ³¹ Which of the two did the will of the father?”

“The first,” they said.

Yeshua said to them, “Amen, I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going ahead of you into the kingdom of God. ³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and even after you saw this, you had no change of heart to believe him.”