In our study of 1 Samuel chapter two, we will look at two very different families and God's dealings with them. We recall, from chapter 1, that God heard the cry of an infertile woman and answered her prayer. She has now fulfilled her vow to dedicate the son she bore to the Lord's service.
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Then Hannah prayed; she said: "My heart exults in ADONAI! My dignity has been restored by ADONAI! I can gloat over my enemies, because of my joy at your saving me.
After giving up her son to be raised in the Tabernacle in service to the Lord, Hannah sings a song of praise. Even though it must have been hard for the mother to leave her young child, she is joyful in the fact that God has removed her shame. The same is true for us as we can make it through the difficult times in this life by praising God for the deliverance that is sure to come.
"No one is as holy as ADONAI, because there is none to compare with you, no rock like our God.
Hannah continues to worship by setting God apart in her heart. She recognized that it was only through the creative power of God that she was able to bear the son. No matter what we are going through, we can also worship the only One who has the power to create a solution to our problem.
"Stop your proud boasting! Don't let arrogance come from your mouth! For ADONAI is a God of knowledge, and he appraises actions. The bows of the mighty are broken, while the feeble are armed with strength.
Hannah speaks, now, of the fact that she was delivered from the taunting and arrogance of Peninnah. Her reaction to this taunting was to cry out to God and His answer must have surely put an end to it. In the same manner, God hears the cries of the humble and oppressed to this day. If you are one of the oppressors, you should quit it as God is listening to the cries of the one that you are tormenting. As Hannah said, the strength of the humble person calling out to God is much greater than the physical power of the oppressor.
The well-fed hire themselves for bread, while those who were hungry hunger no more. The barren woman has borne seven, while the mother of many wastes away. "ADONAI kills and makes alive; he brings down to the grave, and he brings up. ADONAI makes poor, and he makes rich; he humbles, and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust, lifts up the needy from the trash pile; he gives them a place with leaders and assigns them seats of honor.
Hannah declares that prosperity and poverty as well as life and death itself are controlled by God. It is also a reminder that we cannot tell the important things about someone by looking at the exterior. God lifts up the humble and they inherit a place with Him for eternity.
"For the earth's pillars belong to ADONAI; on them he has placed the world.
We often hear the phrase "life's not fair" and that is true. Here, we see that God has the right to do with us and our lives as He sees fit. Hannah reminds us that He has that right because He created everything. As the Creator, He owns everything that He produced and can do with it as He pleases. This is referred to as God's sovereignty. Teaching about God's sovereignty is not popular in our world today as everyone talks of equality but it is still the truth. We do not all become equal until we become one of His children!
He will guard the steps of his faithful, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
Those who trust in God are His children and a good father always protects his children. Hannah was able to testify about this from first hand experience as He silenced the torment that she had been receiving. The wicked (those who do not believe Him) will live apart from God for eternity in darkness. Though they may have a loud voice that the people of this world listen to, it will do them no good in the end.
For it is not by strength that a person prevails - those who fight ADONAI will be shattered; he will thunder against them in heaven ADONAI will judge the ends of the earth. He will strengthen his king and enhance the power of his anointed."
Hannah ends her worship looking forward to the Messiah. She sang about the fact that it is the power of the Christ that overcomes the world. Just as her body did not have the strength on its own to produce the son, we too do not have the power to overcome this world on our own.
Elkanah went home to Ramah, while the child began ministering to ADONAI under the direction of 'Eli the cohen.
Samuel was left under the direction of the priest and Hannah returned home. He would have performed routine duties such as cleaning and carrying things. We do not know what went through his head but it would have to be hard having your mother and father leave you behind.
'Eli's sons were scoundrels who had no regard for ADONAI.
While Samuel was a servant of God, Eli's sons were not. The Hebrew word that is translated as "scoundrel" is "beliyyaal" and it really means worthless, ungodly, and wicked. They had no concern or respect for the things of God and so they truly were worthless. That may not be popular to say in our world today but, without God, there is nothing that we can do or say that will have any lasting effect. This may sound harsh but the simple fact of the matter is that our lives are to be continual worship of the Lord. If that is not happening, then, we truly have no purpose (are wicked and worthless). This is basically what the entire book of Ecclesiastes is about and the wisest man ever (Solomon) came to that conclusion. It is also important to note that it was not the environment that the sons had grown up in as they had evidently grown up in a godly home. Their problem was not external (their surroundings) but internal (their hearts).
The rule these cohanim followed in dealing with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the cohen's servant would come, while the meat was stewing, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. He would stick it in the pan, kettle, caldron or pot; and the cohen would take for himself whatever the fork brought up. This is how they dealt with all the people of Isra'el who came there to Shiloh.
Here, we see that the entire priesthood at Shiloh had become corrupt. In Leviticus 7, we see that God gave certain parts of the offering to Aaron and his sons as their portion. Here, we see that the priests did not follow God's instruction but instead had developed their own system of determining their portion. They simply believed that, if God did not stop them from taking a portion, it was acceptable to God. They developed a tradition and it took the place of the very word of God that had been given to them. Even though we do not offer animals as sacrifices, the same type of thing happens today. It is easy to fall into this tradition trap even when it is pointed out that it goes against the revealed word of God.
The cohen's servant would actually come before the fat had burned to smoke and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the cohen meat he can roast; because he doesn't want your meat stewed, but raw." If the man answered, "First let the fat burn to smoke, then take as much as you want," he would say, "No, give it to me now, or I'll take it by force."
Eli's sons were even more corrupt than the rest of the priesthood as they did not even wait for the meat to be boiled. They were wanting to roast it instead of having boiled meat. The boiling was to remove the fat and the blood which was set aside for God so, by insisting on taking the raw meat, they were taking God's portion. We also see that they had servants to do the dirty work for them and they would even threaten the people if they would not give in to them. The priesthood had become a bunch of lawless thugs preying on the people.
The sin of these young men was very serious in ADONAI's view, because they treated offerings made to ADONAI with contempt.
The actions of the sons of Eli demonstrated that their hearts were not right with God. This reminds us that our faith does not depend on our location but on the state of our hearts. When a person's heart is right, their actions will follow. When their heart is not right, it does not matter how many times you attend a place of worship. Eli's sons were raised at the Tabernacle and were there daily yet they were very far from God.
But Sh'mu'el ministered in the presence of ADONAI, wearing a linen ritual vest even though he was only a child.
The linen ephod was what was prescribed by God to be worn by the men that were serving Him. Samuel was wearing the garment as prescribed and it reminds us that obedience is an act of love. This is a big contrast between Samuel and Eli's sons. They were concerned with serving their own flesh while he was concerned with the things of God. It is also a good way of determining where we are at in our walk with the Lord. If we, like Eli's sons are busy chasing after the things of this world, we need to examine our hearts. This is what Jesus was talking about when He told His disciples to store up treasures in heaven. He went on to say that no one can serve two masters (see Matthew 6).
Each year his mother would make him a little coat and bring it when she came up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
We see that Samuel was given a robe by his mother each year but he wore the linen ephod when he was ministering in the Tabernacle. We also see that, even though she had given what we would consider the ultimate sacrifice (her son), Hannah continued to go to Shiloh each year. That is a reminder to us that our service to our Lord and Savior is not a one time thing or even a weekly thing. Either Jesus is our Master and we are continually serving Him or we are are slaves to the world and the flesh.
'Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May ADONAI give you children from this woman because of the boy you have loaned to ADONAI"; then they would go home. So ADONAI took notice of Hannah, and she conceived and bore three more sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Sh'mu'el grew in the presence of ADONAI.
Each year, Eli would say a blessing (prayer) for Elkanah and Hannah to have more children. They ended up having five children to replace Samuel and we are reminded that, throughout the Bible, the number five is associated with the display of grace.
When 'Eli was very old, he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Isra'el, and that they were having sex with the women doing service at the door of the tent of meeting.
Eli knew about the things that his sons were doing but it seems that sleeping with the women that served was the last straw. These "women who served" were a group of women that gathered near the bronze laver and prayed. Eli's sons turned them away from prayer to adultery.
He asked them, "Why are you doing things like this? I am hearing bad reports about you from all these people. No, my sons, I don't hear ADONAI's people spreading a single good report!
We see that it was becoming well known among the people of Israel that the priesthood was corrupt. In Eli's reaction, we notice the fact that it was the talk of the people that bothered him and not the fact that his sons had no regard for the things of God. Too often we, as Christians, do the same type of thing where we care more about people's opinions than honoring God. This is also a corruption of the priesthood as we are called to be a kingdom of priests.
If a person commits a sin against another person, the judges can mediate between them. But if a person commits a sin against ADONAI, who can intercede for him?" However, they wouldn't pay attention to what their father said, because ADONAI had decided to kill them. The child Sh'mu'el kept growing and gaining favor both with ADONAI and with people.
Eli warned his sons but they refused to listen to him. God had already decided to make an example of them and to use them as a sharp contrast to Samuel. As they were despised as ungodly men, Samuel was recognized as being different. That is what we call being a witness and sharing the gospel with our lives.
A man of God came to 'Eli and told him, "Here is what ADONAI says: 'Didn't I reveal myself to your ancestor's clan when they were in Egypt, serving as slaves in Pharaoh's household? Didn't I choose him out of all the tribes of Isra'el to be my cohen, go up to my altar, burn incense and wear a ritual vest in my presence? Didn't I assign to your ancestor's clan all the offerings of the people of Isra'el made by fire? So why are you showing such disrespect for my sacrifices and offerings, which I ordered to be made at my dwelling? Why do you show more honor to your sons than to me, making yourselves fat with the choicest parts of all the offerings of Isra'el my people?'
A prophet was sent to correct Eli and brings him a message to remind him of his heritage as priests of God. The charge that is presented against Eli is basically idolatry in that he elevated his children above God. We may be quick to condemn him but this same type of thing is rampant in our world today. Eli is reminded that his family was given the privilege of being servants of God and that, with privilege, comes responsibility. The same thing is true for us, as Christians.
"Therefore ADONAI the God of Isra'el says, 'I did indeed say that your family and your father's family would walk in my presence forever.' But now ADONAI says, 'Forget it! I respect those who respect me, but those who despise me will meet with contempt. The day is coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's family, so that no one in your family will live to old age. At a time when Isra'el is prospering, you will see a rival in my Dwelling; and never will anyone in your family live to old age. Still, I won't cut off every one of your men from my altar; because that would make your eyes grow dim, and you would waste away. Nevertheless, all your descendants will die young.
With failed responsibility comes penalties. The penalty for Eli's family was that they would all die at a young age. This is a reminder to us that we are not guaranteed a tomorrow on this earth.
Your sign that this will occur will be what happens to your two sons Hofni and Pinchas - they will both die on the same day.
The Lord was going to make an example of Eli's two sons. With both of them dying on the same day, it would obviously be a judgment from the very hand of God.
I will raise up for myself a faithful cohen who will do what I want and what I intend. I will make his family faithful, and he will serve in the presence of my anointed one forever.
This verse speaks of Zadok who served as priest during the time of David. His family line in the priesthood continued up to the time when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple and sold the priesthood to Menelaus.
Everyone left in your family will come, prostrate himself before him for a silver coin or a loaf of bread, and say, "Please, won't you give me some work as a cohen, so I can have a scrap of bread to eat?"'"
A family of faithful priests were raised up to replace Eli's family. Eli's descendants became basically hired servants of the priests. They were not faithful to their calling and so the calling was removed.
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