1 Samuel 1
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I am one of the pastors here we are in a new book so we are uh don't be too excited we are out of the Book of Revelation we are in uh 1 and 2 Samuel where we will be for the majority of this year uh so you can go ahead and go there should be on page 129 in your blue Bibles it's in the Old Testament so you can go ahead and flip there now uh Revelation as we talked about uh repeatedly was a genre of Scripture that was apocalyptic.
So you had to interpret and read the book of Revelation in light of its genre and 1 and 2 Samuel uh gets to really a genre of Scripture that is the majority of what you read in the Scriptures and that's narrative uh these are stories and these are Old Testament stories uh now the way that we approach uh Bible stories and Old Testament uh stories and this is just a little bit of the Bible nerdy details that inform how we both teach and approach and interpret these uh stories is from a School of Theology a stream of theology called biblical theology which.
If you're going to Brand a a theology that's the way to go because you can't argue with that like how could you possibly dispute biblical theology it's biblical so uh but that is what it's called and the the approach of biblical theology is looking at uh the stories of the Bible from Genesis all the way to Revelation and to understand them as one larger story so all the individual stories and all the individual teachings are tied into one grand narrative one they'll use the word uh phrase uh meta narrative one grand story of the Gospel of God's Redemption of his people.
So when we approach 1 and 2 Samuel we are looking at it from that approach how does this fit into the Grand Story of God's Redemption of his people now in order to do that well we need to have kind of a quick refresher where we are in the Old Testament uh to understand uh when when first and 2 Samuel show up so if you remember a few years ago we were in The Book of Exodus which is the story of how the Israelites were enslaved.
For 400 plus years and then Moses was raised up to lead them out of Egypt and after the 10 plagues they uh come out of Egypt they start wandering in the wilderness for 40 years and that is when they receive uh the that's when Moses receives from the Lord the rest of the Old Testament law the first five books of the Old Testament so Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy then Moses dies uh Joshua leads the people into the promised land and they settle the promised land the Book of Joshua is named after Joshua.
Then once they settle into the promised land the 12 tribes of Israel have have landed where they're supposed to where God has given them this this land The Next Period of time is the period of the judges so that's the Book of Judges for 300 to 400ish years is this period of time where the people of God are at times and they seem brief worshiping the Lord like they're supposed to that all all the things they received in the Old Testament law had to live in right relationship with.
God and right relationship with one another that they're doing that well and then things quickly fall apart when they start worshiping the idols of the land and the book of Judges is this is the people doing all types of wild and if you read the Book of Judges it's a lot of rebellion a lot of sin a lot of Brokenness and then God raises up a judge who uh leads the people back who kicks out some of the enemies leads them back to repentance and things go.
Well for a bit and they fall apart and it's this cycle for hundreds of years and the Book of 1 Samuel comes at the very end of the period of Judges so it comes right at the end of that period of time judges 21:25 you see this refrain that shows up throughout the Book of Judges in those days there was no king in Israel everyone did what was right in his own eyes and that is where first Samuel shows up is a period of time where people are consistently doing things wrong doing things their right in their own eyes there is no king in Israel.
So if you're unfamiliar with the book of 1 and 2 Samuel uh you might think this is a book about a God named Samuel or written by a God named Samuel and that would be a good guess uh but that's not the full picture uh first and 2 Samuel uh was at one point all one scroll one one story over time in the way they used to to write and record these stories down the Scrolls were uh it was too big.
For one scroll so it's separated into two separate Scrolls first and second Samuel but it's all meant to be read together as one one uh story that covers not just Samuel but actually one of the main figures that arises in the book of 1 and 2 Samuel is David So largely is about David but not even really David the person what's most important and the main theme of the book of 1 and 2 Samuel is David's rule in reign it is the Throne of David that becomes really the centerpiece of 1 and 2 Samuel 2 Samuel 7:16 says and your house and your kingdom shall be made uh shall be made sure forever before me.
And that is God establishing his Covenant with David that the Throne of David would continue forever which is one of the main points of 1 and 2 Samuel so we're going to see how all of that plays out but we got a lot of stories to get to before we get to that and over the next few months here's what we're going to see we're first going to see the emergence of Samuel who is a a a prophet he's a priest and he is the final judge in the period of the judges.
Then we're going to see the first king of Israel emerge and that is Saul and we're going to see his rise his pretty epic downfall and then we will see the emergence of David and and David his his rise some of the best parts of David some of his failures but the EST establishment of the davidic Covenant the Covenant with David that establishes the Throne of David forever and we're going to look at that but before we get into all of those big themes all these big uh stories that are weaved together we have to get to the origin story of Samuel in chapter 1 and the origin story of Samuel in chapter 1 is.
His mother Hannah so today and next week we're actually G to look at the story of Hannah so let me pray for us and then we'll jump in This Together uh Heavenly Father we we thank you for your word we thank you that week in week out we get to sit under the authority of your word we get to learn about who you are how you save what you are doing and what you call your people to so Lord may we have open ears to hear and receive your word May may you bold us and shape us into your image through faith through repentance and through delighting in you Above All Things We ask this.
In Jesus' name amen all right so let's pick up in chapter 1 verse one there was a certain man of ream zofim of the Hill Country of Ephraim whose name was Ela the son of jeroham the son of eliu the son of toou the son of Zu and ephi he had two wives the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other panana and panana had children but Hannah had no children so we'll pause there so an ephrathite which is the tribe of Ephraim there's a man named elaa.
Now elaa has two wives Hannah and panana which that should stand out because he has two wives and not one the design of marriage clear from Genesis 2 onward is that a man would have one wife that's how it's supposed to be but when you read the Old Testament you see men step out of that Norm and and usually when that happens almost all the time this happens it goes poorly which I know might seem shocking it's just from Jacob all the way you.
See to Solomon this is not the way it's supposed to be and when they enter into polygamy it does not go well so that is what this man does and this this was more common in the Old Testament because uh men who are wealthier could do this could provide for uh multiple families but that's the first thing that stands out but that's not the main point of emphasis that shows up in these first two verses what stands out uh should be glaring as you read this is that Hannah was childless the Hannah was childless she was struggling with infertility.
Now if you've ever walk with someone who's struggling with infertility it is an incredibly painful thing to witness it is painful to see someone who Longs for the blessing of children um mean the Scriptures speak about children as a blessing from the Lord as a Heritage from the Lord that children are a blessing and to see someone that wants that blessing wants something that is absolutely good want something that is the pattern of of creation and marriage and they cannot have it and they are reminded every single month of the loss of not being able to have this blessing it is painful and and and and it reads.
So clearly that in the Scriptures but it's not just what is so uniquely painful about infertility the layer that we miss sometimes when reading the Old Testament and the New Testament is that uh infertility was emotionally painful but also it was a uh it was it was in their culture a much bigger loss than ours from the sense of your children were your Social Security they didn't have a social social safety net so if you didn't have children you it there's a chance later on that you might be in poverty that's why the Bible's the Bible speaks.
So intensely about caring for widows and this was this was the care for people that that did not have children when they grew old to take care of themselves so this immediately when you read this jumps off the pages oh this is a pain ful scenario verse three now this man used to go up this is elaa used to go up year by year from the city to worship from his City to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts at Shiloh where the two sons of Eli hni and Phineas were priest of the.
Lord all right so at this point uh the Tabernacle that we learned about in The Book of Exodus this is where God ruled and reigned from this is where people came to worship and the presence of God the Tabernacle is at a place called Shiloh and there the levitical priest who oversees the worship is Eli and he has two sons uh hni and Phineas now we're going to learn more about them in the coming weeks so we'll spend more time on them later.
But this marks the period of time in the judges when Eli is the priest so verse four on the day when elcana sacrificed he would give portions to panana his wife and to all her sons and daughters but but to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her though the Lord had closed her womb and her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her because the Lord had closed her womb so went on year by year as often as she went up to the house of the.
Lord she used to provoke her therefore Hannah wept and would not eat and elaa her husband said to her Hannah why do You Weep and why do you not eat eat and why is your heart sad am I not more to you than 10 Sons so we'll pause there like polygamous marriages that you see in the Bible Jacob Rachel and Leah his wives there is rivalry amongst these wives which makes sense we are designed for those who are called to marriage to give your love and Devotion to one woman that your sole romantic attention is.
For your husband is for your wife and any woman that gets in the way of that should be opposed that's how it's supposed to be so these women were set up for failure the Rivalry makes sense and panana has the upper hand in this rivalry she has children she has lots of children and Hannah has no children and panana used that as a weapon of war in this rivalry kneeling her attacking her the most painful part of Hannah's reality she's hitting it over and over and over again.
So not only does Hannah not have the sole romantic attention and affection of her husband not only does she not have children her Ral is provoking her it say provoke her grievously who is flaunting her barness and her own prosperity and is attacking her over and over and over again now I've never seen that in real life I've seen that in film I've seen it in television which when it happens and you witness that in film and TV it's like you you were you wanting one of the main characters to be gone it's just it's.
Because it's so evil what a hateful thing to do what a cruel thing to do to someone who is enduring this much pain and loss and again if you've ever seen someone who is reminded regularly that their hopes were not answered their prayer was not answered that the Lord who is Sovereign over the womb who can give us the blessing has not given it it's so painful and to think of someone just pouring salt in that wound over and over and over again is an exponential amount of pain that Hannah is regularly enduring and her husband sees this why that's why back in.
Verse 5 it says but to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her though the Lord had closed her womb so when they would go and make sacrifices at Shiloh he would give a double portion of the sacrifice which the Hebrew for this double portion it's hard to interpret but this seemed to be an extra portion that was given it could have been two sheep two sheep heads actually that was given to sacrific to the Lord for from Hannah and that's.
Because he he loves her he sees her in her sadness he sees her in her pain and he sees the robbery that's happening and he tries to console her and he he gives this extra gift and he says Hannah why do You Weep and why do you not eat why is your heart sad am I not more to you than 10 Sons I mean he it's clear he loves her so deeply and when you hear that am I not more to you than 10 Sons.
If you understand this you understand the answer is very clear it's like it's no it's I'm missing something that's so that's so want and our pain is so evident and people listen people have tried to analyze Hannah's pain and her story and tried to see maybe maybe she loved the the the the loved children too much and it's possible that maybe she idolized wanting children too much which certainly could be a factor and undoubtedly that that probably was one that's that's very common with those who struggle with infertility.
But children are a blessing from the Lord and and and this reads as painful because it is evidently painful that infertility hits at some some of the parts of your soul that you didn't even know existed so you can try to analyze her response and her heart and all of that but that the Scriptures are clear in this anytime this kind of infertility shows up it's just painful and it should be understood as such so if you are someone who is struggling with infertility like you you should do the things that are good.
For your soul you should seek Christ in the middle of your suffering you should have people who give you the Gospel you should tell the Gospel to yourself you should have people people that that remind you of your identity in Christ should not walk in this alone you should have people in your life who are walking with you who are praying for you who they AG grieve with you who appoint you to Christ you should do all those things but if you are grieved over this your grief is merited it is understandable and the Scriptures clearly show that to be and in her pain and her desperation we get to.
See a very holy response picking up in verse 9 it says after they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh Hannah Rose now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the Temple of the Lord she was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly so in her sadness she goes to the tent of meeting she goes before the presence of the Lord she's deeply distressed the language of we're going to see in a moment is is anxious deeply vexed clearly sad clearly depressed and she prays she prays into the night she pours her heart out before the.
Lord that in her suffering that in her anxiety that in her sadness she pours out her heart to the Lord when I've walked with people who are suffering for a variety of reason who are struggling with anxiety who are struggling with depression one of the things I want to ask is are are you praying and it's not just to hear yeah I yes no like I I am I want to push further and say well what does that prayer look like.
Because what I've noticed about my own soul and what I've observed it's not unique to our Church but it's widespread in American Western Christianity is that we don't pray quite like this that we don't come before the Lord like this with deep Long prayers and our depression and our anxiety pouring out our heart before the Lord that's what that's what Hannah's doing she's pouring all of her anxieties casting her cares upon the Lord all of her sadness she's pouring it out before the.
Lord verse 11 it says and she vowed a vow and said oh lord of hosts if you will indeed look on the Affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant but will give to your servant a son then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and no razor shall touch his head so in these deep prayers she makes a vow and the the context of this vow makes it clear that this is a Nazarite vow she's going to dedicate her son in the tradition of number six which is the Nazarite vow this is dedicated service of the.
Lord now if you read number six the Nazarite vows that were taken were usually temporary at some point they they ceased but she has made a Nazarite vow on behalf of this promised this hope this hopeful son for his whole life that he would always serve the Lord and she makes this vou and she's pouring out her heart before the Lord and she's continuing to pray and as she's continuing to pray Eli takes notice verse 12 as she continued praying before the.
Lord Eli observed her mouth Hannah was speaking in her heart only her lips moved and her voice was not heard therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman and Eli said to her how long will you go on being drunk put your wine away from you but Hannah answered no my Lord I am a woman troubled in spirit I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink but I have been pouring out my soul before the Lord do not regard your servant as a worthless woman.
For all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation so out of great anxiety and vexation this deeply troubled distressed Soul she is praying and pouring out her heart so much so that perhaps she has lost the voice to utter prayers out loud and she's praying from the heart as her mouth is just silently praying before the Lord and Eli looks at this and mistakenly says oh this woman has in her drunkenness come before the presence of the.
Lord he is trying to rebuke her for this but Eli is wrong and she says I I'm I I am not a worthless woman I am not numbing my pain with strong drink or wi no I'm pouring out my soul before the Lord and he sees the pain and sees the faith and the fervency of her of her spirit as she's coming before the Lord and again I just want to pause and highlight what an example we have in Hannah what an unbelievably beautiful example of someone who in deep anxiety in deep sadness in the midst of loss and pain pours out her heart before the.
Lord and whatever you might be struggling with that may be so deeply anxious and distressed in your soul or deep sadness whatever you might be struggling with my question is is are we responding like her are we pouring out our heart like this do we do this have we ever done this because that's what we should be doing as the people of God and in our anxieties and in our sadness and distress we we should like this like the example of Hannah pour out our heart before the.
Lord and I know that when I prescribe that as an example that we see from the story that what might be responded is oh well I mean there a p typical Pastor to say and pray about it and just just go pray some more which is typically what's happened in our culture and I think and my hope at least is that you've been here long enough to know that we are not overly simplistic when it comes to anxiety we're not overly simplistic.
When it comes to depression we're not overly simplistic when it comes to issues that are related to mental health but I would want to push us on that I think whol scale I don't I don't think that we have this type of response in the middle of our anxiety have this type of response in the middle of depression have this type of response in the middle of our sufferings and I do think that while it may not certainly fix all all the different facets of your anxiety all the different facets of your depression undoubtedly it will Aid in it that coming before the.
God who sees all of it and pouring out our heart before him absolutely will in some degree or another help and we should do this y'all do not downplay prayer because of the complexities of the mind and the soul and the body see this as a beautiful example to follow as she's pouring out her soul for hours upon hours before the Lord so Eli sees this holy fervor in Hannah and he responds with a blessing verse 17 then Eli answered go in peace and the.
God of Israel Grant your petition that you have made to him and she said let your servant find favor in your eyes then the woman went her way and ate and her face was no longer sad so he gives this Priestly Priestly brother blessing Hannah leaves she eats she's no longer sad verse 19 then they Rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord and they went back to their house at Rama and alaa knew his wife and the Lord remembered her and in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son and she called his name Samuel.
For she said I've asked for him from the Lord so this story turns to John that as she pours out her heart the Lord hears opens her womb she conceives and she gives birth to Samuel can you imagine how excited she would have been the first morning she puked her guts from morning sickness was this a one-off did I eat something bad last night and then the next morning it hits again and with a smile as she's wiping puke from her mouth just it's.
Finally happening can you imagine how thankful she would have been with every pound she gained just Overjoyed at the gift that God had given her can you imagine the delightful worship of the Lord as women who known her story for years came and felt her belly and prayed blessings over this child what a beautiful beautiful part of the story so fast forward a few years verse 21 the man Al canana and all of his house went up to offer to the.
Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his V but Hannah did not go up for she said to her husband as soon as the child is weaned I will bring him so that he may appear in the Pres presence of the Lord and dwell there forever so she plans to make good on her f verse 23 alcana her husband said to her do what seems best to you wait until you have weaned him only may the Lord establish his word so the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him.
And when she had weaned him she took him up with her along with a three-year-old bull an eve of flour and a skin of wine and she brought him to the house of the Lord at shine and the child was young so Hannah woman of Faith makes good on her vow makes good on her promise and when she had weaned him which in their time would have been anywhere from 2 to four years old she delivers him to the service of the temple.
And then leaves so much so that we'll see uh in the coming weeks that she sees him yearly that she's knitting together a len and ephed which is a Priestly garment that he's going to grow out of in a year and she keeps bringing a new one every year because she's seeing him grow once a year verse 25 then they slaughtered the bull and they brought the child to Eli and she said oh my Lord as you live my Lord I am the woman who was standing here in your presence praying to the.
Lord for this child I prayed and the Lord granted me my petition that I made to him therefore I have lent him to the Lord as long as he lives he is Lent to the Lord and He worshiped the Lord there and that ends our first chapter of Samuel so she Parts away with Samuel this future Prophet this future priest and final judge over Israel and it all begins with the faith of Hannah now when I read this story I'm struck by a few different things.
But one of the things that I'm struck by is that after all of those years of pain after all of those years of longing for the blessing of this child that she at 3 years old drops him off and gives up her only son that she just leaves him knowing that she's going to miss out on his childhood knowing she's not going to be the one that raises this child knowing she's going to miss out on so many memories I mean.
When my children entered into kindergarten for the first time my wife my wife was a weepy mess which is almost Universal in dropping off your child for school and we were going to see them hours later and she's dropping off her son to be raised by someone else and every year she's in there in her home praying for her boy knitting together this ly and epid trying to probably guess at how big he's going to be waiting to see I wonder how tall he's gotten this year I wonder how his voice sounds.
Now I wonder what his smile I wonder if his laugh has changed knowing that she's going to miss out on so much when I read it this time around it's just it sticks out so clearly that how could a woman give up her her her promised long waited for only son and when I think about this story in light of the greater story of the Gospel it so clearly demonstrates the character and the Heart of Hanah that reflects the heart of.
God that reflects the heart of a God who loves his people so much that he'd be willing to give up his only son that as the Scripture that is the memory for this month that whosoever Shall Believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life the love that Hannah has for God and How Deeply she loves the Lord is a reflection of how much God loves the world that he would give up Christ on a cross for our sins so that we could Delight in him.
For eternity it's a beautiful picture of the Gospel now one of the things that is going to be the tension that we feel as we walk through 1 and 2 Samuel is we're going to come across people like Hannah that there's so much that you should want to emulate about her character about her faith about who she is and how she loves God and then we're going to see other people that emerg like Saul that are cautionary tales you're going to.
See that the things you should not do the type of Faith you should not have and then will say people like David where you get a mix of here is a man worth emulating and then you read further on you're like here is a man not worth emulating because you're going to see a mix of both good and bad and here's the tension and this is kind of the this is the behind the scenes of how we should approach this book there are kind of two main ditches on how to understand these stories one ditch is only focusing on the characters the people in these stories and and and looking.
So intently at what they do that you're just creating really moral lessons from their lives and I'll be honest for a long time and still even today that's a lot of the way that that books like this Old Testament stories like this are preached that's a lot of the ways they're interpreted that when you get to David it's instead of looking at what's happening in David and Goliath that we'll read about later on it becom comes more of how can you have courage like David and how could you fight the Giants in your life and moral lessons are the focus of these stories.
But what I have seen is an overreaction to another ditch and this is the ditch that I came up through and it is only seeing these stories through the lens of the greater story of the Gospel and ignoring the people in them and and the character that is displayed and the Foles that are displayed and only seeing it through the lens of the Gospel and I came up with preaching and sat under preaching that looked at this other side and said how dare we David is not the hero of the story.
Jesus is the hero of the story try to moralize these stories as as just slaying your Giants ridiculous and that's where I came up and what I've come to realize is is that wisdom is approaching these stories from the middle path and not falling in the ditches and realizing that yes we should look at these stories for the character that's displayed in them and we should look at Hannah and see the faith that she demonstrates and see how she responds to depression and her anxiety that we should learn from the lessons whether they be good or bad from the people in these stories.
While also realizing that each of these stories are a part of a bigger story that while Hannah demonstrates unbelievable faith and love for God that her Main Place in the story is that God raises her up to give birth to Samuel Samuel the final judge who establishes and is used to anoint and establish the davidic kingdom the Throne of David that will not end and seeing how this all ties together as a whole that when we get to 2 Samuel 7:16.
When God makes his Covenant with David and says and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me that we can remember that began with the faith of Hannah who gave birth of this son who anoints this man who God looks at and says your throne will never end and we see that all the way to the end of the Bible all the way to what we read last week Revelation chap 22 what you thought we were getting away.
But we're back baby Revelation 22 this is what Chad preached last week I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David the Bright Morning Star that all the way at the end of the story we see the Throne of David did not end because this was all God's Grand Story and purpose to bring about Christ the Jesus who bled and died for our sins the Jesus who conquered death at the Resurrection The.
Jesus who after the work that he finishes ascends to the right hand of God the Father where he sits on the Eternal Throne of David until he comes back to gather his people and make All Things New in the Kingdom that never ends we're going to seek to tie all of this together and my hope is that we would be wise readers of the text that both will see stories like Hannah that instruct us that correct us that show us what it looks like to be faithful men and women of.
God while remembering God in these stories is bringing about his Redemption the band's going to come up and we're going to worship and My Hope coming out of this is that we would be wise readers of the text that even as you read this on your own that you would seek to be tying these all together and we would be a people that look at our need and the Brokenness the suffering and the sadness and the anxiety and all the things that make this life painful that we would.
See our only hope is Christ and that we would place our faith in him that we would out of that Faith bear fruit of repentance and one of the ways that we can see the the type of repentance that we're called to have is to look deeply in the stories like this and CE oh and may I be a man and may I be a woman who can embody the faith that God gives to Hannah to respond as the Christian that he has called me to be let's pray heavenly.
Father I pray that you might help us as we journey through this book together be instructed be taught about your bigger story of the Gospel God I pray that you might help us see see even today this beautiful example we have in Hannah undoubtedly there are people here that are struggling with infertility that are struggling with things that have brought vacation to their soul and God I pray that you might help them run to you just as Hannah did and for some of that that means Faith.
Lord that there are those that have been trusting in their own Works their own self their own hope for far too long and I pray that you'd help them see right now that the reason they're so deeply tired and vexed and sad is because they do not know you and that they would Place their faith in you and there are Christians here that in their faith are struggling are anxious are weary and tired and as we run to you and Lord may you give us the feet to run to you and the heart to pray to you and to pray long and unceasingly to you that you might meet us and Grant our petitions in.
A way that is for our good and For Your Glory we ask this in Jesus name amen.