Transcription
Diving into First Samuel, really, uh, this is a part of the Bible that, personally for me, was exciting growing up as a young man. This is a lot of the stories that you've heard from the Old Testament and from the Bible, and what would often be called, you know, the characters or the heroes, so to speak, of the Word, are found in these next few books of the Bible. So I get really excited and geek out a little bit. Just love me for who I am.
But we're going to go through First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings. We're going to learn all about the life of Saul, David, Solomon. We're going to see about the different kingdoms, Israel, the tribe of Judah, how they were separated. And really, in the time of Rehoboam, it was Solomon's son, who was a foolish king. We're going to learn a lot as we dive through these stories. Many of these stories will be familiar to you. You might have heard them before in sermons. You know, we'll talk about David and Goliath. And then some of them, you might not have heard before. As we go throughout these stories and throughout these chapters, really, it's historically what took place. Yet, at the same time, spiritually, there's lessons that God shows to each and every one of us that we can take and apply to our life.
Let's dive into the beginning. First Samuel, chapter one. The birth of Samuel. There was a certain man from Ramathaim-Zophim, from the Hill Country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. In those times, it was very significant to know your family lineage. That's why the Bible goes out of its way at times to share the lineage of certain individuals, especially when it comes to Jesus Christ, because the lineage would have mattered to the Jews. It was as it relates to Christ. That's why in the New Testament, you'll see these long lists of lineage, of how it gets to Joseph, and of how it gets to Mary, and how God fulfilled prophetic scripture in the lineage of Christ that was standing.
Verse 2: He had two wives. One was called Hannah, and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Now, I want to clarify something real quick. Just because you read something in the Bible historically does not mean that God is blessing it spiritually. God never tells his people to take multiple wives. I love how Jesus said it when they talked to him about divorce and marriage in the New Testament. He said, "In the beginning, it was not so." He said, "Moses may have given you the right to divorce your spouse, but that didn't make it right in the eyes of God." God brings together one man and one woman, and the two are called one. It's not one man and two women. It's not two men and one woman. It's one man and one woman, and the two become one. So this is historical. I want to be super clear on that. And I'm going to be honest with you, I'm going to give you my opinion. Whenever you don't do things according to God's Word, and you do things the way of culture or the way of the world, you can introduce problems and challenges into your life that didn't have to be there.
So this man had to deal with pleasing two wives. And I want to be super clear on this. It's not that it's not that women are hard to please, but it's hard enough for one man to please one woman, and one woman to please one man. But when you have one man having to please two women, and the two women are competing with each other, you are talking about a triangle of challenges. There are tensions to manage, and there are problems to solve in life. This was probably both a tension and a problem all at the same time. I cannot imagine being in this home, especially when Peninnah is having children and Hannah is struggling. And the Bible will talk about how Peninnah will begin to pick on her. The Bible refers to her as her rival. They competed with one another. It probably had so many unhealthy dynamics that came out of it. There was probably tension and pain all over the place. I say all that to say, just do things God's way: one man, one woman, loving each other, submitted to God, being blessed by their Lord.
Verse 3: Year after year, this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests to the Lord. The Bible goes out of its way to mention these two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. Just to put it bluntly, these guys were horrible. They were, they were wicked. They were bad, bad priests. They didn't honor God. The Bible will talk later about how they took advantage of women in the city. They, they stole from the offering. Like Eli, Eli, while he was a good priest, did not deal with his sons. Actually, let me rephrase that. Eli, while he was a priest who loved the Lord and served the Lord faithfully, did not serve the Lord faithfully in the area of his children, and he did not deal with his children as he should have, and there were consequences in his life because of that.
The Bible says that whenever they came to sacrifice, Elkanah would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to her sons and daughters. But to Hannah, he gave a double portion because he loved her. And the scripture says that the Lord had closed her womb, or he had yet to open it. So look at the dynamic there. Hannah receives more than Peninnah, which I'm sure created, uh, friction on both sides. Hannah probably felt neglected because she didn't have children. Peninnah probably felt better because she did. And their culture, in that time, it was a huge deal to have kids. But then Hannah would get more to give to an offering, Peninnah would get less. So I'm sure that fueled the tension. Elkanah's probably trying to keep some semblance of peace in that tense situation. Who knows how it's going? And I can only imagine. I'll say that again and again.
Because the Lord had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. So it calls Peninnah her rival, that she would rival against Hannah, that she saw her as someone who was fighting against her, and she would irritate her. And I guess she would mock her, she would provoke her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her until she wept and would not eat. She would pick on her so severely. She knew what triggered Hannah's wounds and what triggered Hannah's hurts, and she would just, she would just push, push, push.
Verse 8: Her husband Elkanah would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Now, let me just tell you something about Elkanah. He's not the most emotionally aware man, the scripture would lead us to believe, because he asks some questions that just, they're not, they're kind of obvious the answer, and his responses are not too well put together. Like, he, I don't want to say he's oblivious, but he kind of comes off that way in the scripture a little bit. He says to her, "Why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you sad? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" Because that's exactly what your wife wants to hear if she's been praying for God to open up her womb and to give her a child. What she wants to hear is, "Why do you want children? Am I not good enough for you? Why don't you just get up and eat and get over it?" Yeah, this is called being emotionally unaware. He was not aware of how to show empathy, of how to be empathetic for her situation. He didn't understand, in my opinion, he didn't understand her hurt because he had other children with Peninnah. But Hannah was dealing with feeling excluded, feeling rejected.
There might be times in our life where God hasn't opened up a door for us yet, and we might feel like we've been abandoned by him, and we have to struggle with those thoughts in our thought life. This is probably what Hannah was dealing with. It says, "Once they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up." Now, Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord's house. In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. She made a vow, saying, "Lord Almighty, if you'll only look on your servant's misery and remember me and not forget your servant, but give her a son, I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." God, if you will just give this son to me, I'll give him back to you, is basically what she's saying.
She kept on praying to the Lord. Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk. So the priest thought that she was in church, tipsy. He thought that she was so drunk that she was praying in gibberish. He did not realize that she was pouring out her heart to the Lord. So this is about to create an awkward moment in the house of God. He comes up to her and he says, "How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine." He basically says, "Girl, what are you doing drunk up in church?"
Verse 15: "Not so, my Lord," Hannah replied. "Not so, sir," would be similar to what my Lord meant in that time. "I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer. I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. I didn't come to the house drunk. I was pouring out my heart to God. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman who is, who is doing something sinful. I've been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." Probably a little embarrassed, probably realizing the error that he had made, said to her, "Go in peace. May the God of Israel grant what you have asked of him." She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went, or went, ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
Early the next morning, they arose and worshiped before the Lord, and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. So in the course of time, Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to his son. She named him Samuel, who is the prophet that this book is named after, saying, "Because I asked the Lord for him."
Verse 21 talks about how she would go take Samuel and dedicate him at the temple. When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, "After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always. Do what seems best to you." Her husband Elkanah said, "Stay here until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord make good his word." So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.
When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, "Pardon me, my Lord. Surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I've prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord for his whole life. He will be given over to the Lord." And he worshiped the Lord there.
Lord, I pray that for the families that are believing for a child, for the families that have been pleading with the Lord, for the families that have been pouring out their heart with the Lord, I pray that you would give us a heart to be sensitive for their situation, a heart to be sensitive to their challenging season. Lord, and we pray that you would move on their behalf. Lord, that you would open up the wombs of women that are so desperately desiring children. Lord, and for those that are desiring to adopt so that they can add to their family, God, would you open up doors of opportunity for them? God, would you move in miraculous ways? God, would you do what only you can do? And God, would you help us as men and women be more sensitive to people's situations when they're hurting? May we not be emotionally unaware like Elkanah was, but may we be more aware of people and the hurts that they face so that we can be better ministers of your love. God, would you use us to share the light and to be a light when people are hurting? In Jesus, amen. Be blessed today.
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