Week 11 1 Samuel
When Samuel told Saul he’d be Israel’s first king you get the sense that Saul kind of believed him but still had doubts. So to help convince Saul Samuel forecast several things that would happen that day.
A long time ago I saw a Look magazine Q&A that asked a well-known guy – a guy who did not believe God existed – what evidence could convince him that God did.
The guy said: I think that if I heard a voice from the sky predicting all that was going to happen to me during the next twenty-four hours, including events that would have seemed highly improbable, and if all these events then proceeded to happen, I might perhaps be convinced at least of the existence of some superhuman intelligence.
I remembered the answer today because Samuel did almost exactly that. I counted at least sixteen specific & highly improbable events Samuel forecast. For example, when Saul got to the oak tree at Tabor he’d meet three men headed for Bethel – one with three goats, one with three loaves of bread, one with a wineskin.
The ability to flawlessly know the impeccable future is scary-impressive.
Not even fortune-cookie manufacturers know the explicit-and-detailed future. Nobody does. So when somebody does then I know he’s doing something that can’t be done. And if something that can’t-be done can-be then I have a decision to make.
Note: quote from The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (no publishing details: (1953?)). Story from 1 Samuel 10:1-7.