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Study the Word. Meditate on it and let it be your delight and holy guide.
Youth Ministry
Children's Nurture
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1 Samuel & Chronicles:
Summary
I Sam. 1:1-7
The story begins with Hannah, beloved but barren wife of Elkanah. Marriages between one man and one women were not yet the norm, and Hannah endured a second, rival, wife - Peninnah. Peninnah was blessed with children, but despite her blessings, she was mean-spirited. She taunted Hannah about being childless. (Do we ever look down at others who lack the blessings we enjoy?) Elkanah was a sympathetic husband. He doubled her gifts from the alter and assured her of his love. Sometimes, though, no words or gestures of comfort can undo the pain inflicted by another. Elkanah took annual pilgrimages to Shiloh to worship the Lord. The tabernacle and the ark of the covenant were housed there. There Hannah poured out her heart to God. Samuel was born as an answer to this barren women’s pleading prayer, a prayer so piteous that the priest, Eli, thought the woman was drunk. The “accepted” way of prayer was to bring a sacrifice and engage in ritual as directed by a priest. Hannah did none of that, and for that Eli reprimanded her, charging that she lacked proper decorum. Her pain, though, was far more important than propriety; God cared more about her honesty than following liturgical rules. To Eli’s credit, he realized the sincerity of her prayer and joined with her in intercession. To Hannah’s credit, she accepted the blessing of the man who had just chastised her. In awe and thanksgiving to God, Hannah dedicated her precious son to the Lord as a Nazirite (se Numbers 6). This meant that she vowed to give back to God the child whom God gave to her. Think about that vow! Think about that faith! When her son was born, she named him Samuel, which means “name” (shem) and “God” (el), and sounds like “ask” (sha’al). 1 Samuel 1:20 tells us, “She named him Samuel, for she said, ‘I have asked him of the Lord.’” When her precious son was weaned, she kept her vow. 1 Samuel 1:28 reports, “She left him there (at Shiloh) for the Lord.” Again, think about the sacrifice Hannah made out of her thankfulness to God!
Do you want to read amazing faith? After Hannah gave her son to the Lord, she sang:
My heart exalts in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in my God.
My mouth derides my enemies, (do you hear that, Peninnah?)
because I rejoice in my victory!
Hannah continued her song in praise of God: “There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” If you compare this song with Mary’s in Luke 1:46-55, you’ll know that just as Sarah inspired Hannah, so Hannah inspired Mary.
Hannah had no way of knowing that the sanctuary at Shiloh, where she was leaving her son, was seething with corruption. Hannah’s barren womb was nothing in comparison to the barrenness of the spiritual life of the priests at Shiloh. Although Eli, the priest, seemed to be a good man, his own two sons were horribly errant, and led to the downfall of the priestly family. His sons wanted to use religion for their own privilege and power. They wore inherited priestly robes. Samuel wore a simple garment lovingly sown, year after year, by his mother. Eli’s sons looked like priests, but were miserable frauds. Hannah was chastity; they were promiscuous. Hannah was sincere; they were disingenuous. Eli was judged for his poor parenting (a frightening thought) as well as for his failures in spirituality (also a frightening thought!). God announced severe consequences, and yet added an embedded promise (God’s judgment is like that). God would raise up a faithful priest. It wouldn’t be one of Eli’s sons, but it would be the child he helped mentor; it would be Samuel. Eli accepted the word of the Lord.
Samuel, like all of us, had to learn to discern human voices from the voice of God. Three times God called him; Samuel thought he was hearing a human voice. On the third attempt, Eli helped him figure it out. Finally, Eli stopped trying to uphold the institutional religion and instead sought to help Samuel discern the word of the Lord - the true priestly role!
The next story is about the capture of the ark of covenant by the Philistines. The ark contained the Sinai tablets brought down Moses, a jar of manna from the wilderness, and Aaron’s rod. God had never told the people that he would live in the ark. God never told them they could use the ark as a power-source. But suddenly, faced with battle with the Philistines, the people grabbed the ark to use it at their will. No one even prayed that day. The story is a powerful metaphor for the way we try to use “God-in-a-box.”
When the ark was captured by the Philistines in the battle at Aphek, Eli’s two died in the battle, and the news of the disaster made Eli fall over backward, where he died of a broken neck (for, the Bible says, he was an old man, and heavy) (ch. 4). The Philistines rejoiced in their capture, foolishly thinking they had somehow captured Israel’s Lord. One of Eli’s daughter-in-laws was pregnant, and upon hearing of the death of her husband and father-in-law, gave birth, and named the child “Ichabod,” which means, “The glory has departed from Israel.” She could not have been more wrong. The power and prestige she might have gotten through her husband were gone, to be sure, but God’s glory was not gone. How often do we mistake our national crises for theological crises? When something happens that throws us for a loop, that makes us lose faith, do we wonder where God has gone? Do we think God’s glory or blessing has vanished?
The Philistines thought they had captured God. In fact, the capture was simply part of God’s judgment against Shiloh’s corruption, part of the cleansing of God’s people. But the Philistines thought they had Israel’s God in a box. Trying to contain or limit God, and thinking you can control God, are enormous mistakes. Soon enough the ark brought calamity on the Philistines. (Herein is a little divine humor. The Philistines placed the ark in front of their god, Dagon, as if in a position of worship. The next morning the people rose early to enjoy the site, only to discover their god had fallen off its pedestal (how blunt can God be?) to land prostrate before the ark! The next day, not only had their god fallen, he’d lost his head!) More trouble ensued. The Philistines urgently determined to return this “hot potato” to Israel (chs. 5-6).
You may wonder about the “five gold tumors and five gold mice.” The Philistines realized they were in trouble with the Holy One, so decided to return the ark with a guilt offering - they didn’t want to have their hearts hardened like Egypt’s Pharaoh. (Eli’s sons and those like them may have forgotten their history, but evidently the Philistines did not!) The gold mice and tumors were a sort of homeopathic remedy to bring healing. The homeopathic principle was that healing came from the same source as an illness, administered in a different or smaller form. Mice, they thought, caused the plague of tumors. In addition to this remedy, the Philistines added a test to see whether or not they were dealing with God. They found out!
By the 7th chapter, Samuel, by then a judge, called the people to national repentance. Shortly thereafter, a Philistine attack was undermined by the miraculous hand of God.
Do you recall the hymn, “Come Thou Font of Every Blessing”? Have you ever wondered what you’re saying about when you sing, “Here I raise my Ebenezer...”? When the Philistines began another attack against the newly repentant Israel, the attack tested their faith. They called on Samuel to pray for them. He did. God answered. Samuel “took a stone and set it between Mitzpah and Jeshanah and named it Ebenezer, for he said, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us’” (7:12). Ebenezer means “stone of help.”
One final note on the 7th chapter. Samuel “administered justice...to Israel, and built ... an altar to the Lord” (7:17). Never forget that unless we do justice, our altars will be rejected. The family of Eli learned this the hard way.
2. Samuel and Saul
I Sam. 8:1-15.
The people of Israel wanted to be like all the other nations and have a king instead of the judge, Samuel, and an invisible God. God regarded this desire as apostasy, but gave his consent (ch. 8). Saul, a Benjaminite, in search of his father’s lost donkeys, wandered into Ramah, where Samuel secretly anointed him to be king over Israel, according to God’s command (chs. 9-10). In yet another scene Saul was publicly chosen to be king (10:17-27). Saul managed to deliver Israel from the siege of the Ammonites and marched onward to "renew the kingdom" (ch. 11). Samuel charged the people and King Saul to be faithful to the Lord (ch. 12).
Chapters 13-14 enumerate Saul's military campaigns against the Philistines. They also name the reason for Saul’s demise. Impatient and in preparation for yet another battle, Saul offered a sacrifice, assuming the role of priest. Samuel thereupon rejected him as king. Jonathan, Saul's precious son, managed a heroic effort against the Philistines, but unwittingly broke the holy fast vowed for the army by Saul. The penalty would have been death, but the people ransomed his life (ch. 14). The section closes with a summary of military encounters and with a cautious note about the definition of a holy war. Samuel decreed that upon achieving victory, all the spoils of war should be destroyed (the rational behind this in a holy war is to insure that greed is never a motivating force leading to military action). Saul disobeyed the order, and Samuel again rejected him as king (ch. 15).
Ambiguity about Saul
At first, Saul seems to be a relatively sympathetic, effective leader (ch. 11). Samuel seems to almost intentionally undermine him (13:1-15; 15:1-35). At times, Saul seems strong, at other times, vacillating, impulsive and indecisive. He seems incapable of the “long term view” and unable to discern the consequences of his own actions (14:36-46). By chapters16-31, his character flaws take on new heights. His descent into madness seems driven by the conflicts inherent in his role: his is at once Israel’s future, yet Israel’s sin. He cannot bridge the old order and the new. God chooses him and then rejects him. The monarchy itself seems to bounce between being embraced and rejected by God. The question is, can the monarchy be a vital part of a covenant tradition in which God is sovereign? In perfect obedience by the king, all seems well. However, even the smallest disobedience implies calamity.
3. Saul and David
I Sam. 16:1-II Sam. I
Samuel went in search of the next king selected by God. His search led him to the family of David, where a parade of David’s brothers was, one by one, rejected. David, the youngest, was serving his family as a shepherd in the fields. We all know this young David was God’s choice. Samuel secretly anointed David to be the future king of Israel. By this time, stress had begun to destroy Saul’s mind. Young David came to Saul as a lyre player to calm him through music (ch. 16). Tradition suggests that David, a musician as well as songwriter, poet and king, wrote the Psalter. In the 17th chapter, David killed Goliath in a demonstration of the miraculous power of God. David and Jonathan, Saul’s son, became fast friends - the Bible repeatedly describes their love for one another. Saul further deteriorated psychologically and attempted to kill David in a jealous rage. Next Saul gave his younger daughter, Michal, to David in marriage (ch. 18), but the tensions between Saul and David were just beginning. Jonathan intervened to save David from his father, and then Michal intervened once more to help her husband escape her father’s insane rage. David sought refuge with Samuel (ch. 19). In a chapter of beauty in friendship, Jonathan secretly met David to assure him of his unbroken friendship and love (ch. 20). The tensions between Saul and David became international; Ahimelech, a priest of Nob, assisted David in escaping Saul, and in retaliation, Saul massacred Nob’s entire priestly colony. One of the priests of Nob fled to David, who had gathered an army and hid in the Judean mountains, after a brief stay with the Philistine Achish (chs. 21-22). Saul continued to chase David through the wilderness. Saul is portrayed in his jealous rage and David in his compassion. At one point David could have killed Saul, but spared his life (chs. 23-24). Saul had taken Michal back from David and had her married to another man, whereupon David, feeling like a widower, married a widow, Abigail, (ch. 25). Once more, David spared Saul's life (ch. 26). Later, David and his army entered the service of the Philistines, who entrusted a military outpost to him (ch. 27).
Bibliography:
New Interpreter’s Bible - 1 Samuel
[1] The New Interpreter's Bible , v. 2: Numbers, Deuteronomy, Intro to Narratives, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel; THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF SAMUEL: CRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS
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