Sunrise, Sunset: Samuel and Eli Cross Paths

Transcription

1 Sunrise, Sunset: Samuel and Eli Cross Paths This is a four-week study in the lives of two ancient men from the Bible. They crossed paths briefly, one walking onto the stage as the other walked off. In their choices we will learn how to face difficulty and listen to God s voice. Housekeeping Visit for the full notes and audio Handouts list key observations from the study and provide room for your own notes I Cor 10:1-6,11-12 Sometimes we're warned not to derive a lot from the Old Testament since it is not for us But here is a clear scriptural affirmation of the validity of drawing real-world conclusions from the successes and mistakes of Old Testament characters James says that we meet ourselves in a mirror when we face Scripture, and that we should be careful not to walk away and forget what we saw (Jam 1:22-25). Themes to keep your eyes open for The ease with which we misunderstand one another The importance of hearing God's voice The judgment of God mingled with His great mercy The setting Israel had entered the Promised Land and set up housekeeping, but had allowed worship of the God of Israel to mix unevenly with idolatry. They had just come through the aimless valley between the Exodus leaders (Moses and Joshua) and the Kings, under the Judges, a time of individual action and little direction. Samuel is the last judge, a little bit priest, a little bit prophet, and he paves the way for the kings, in a time of little leadership Perhaps our own country is in the same shape: caught in between the old days and an uncertain future, badly in need of godly leadership. Will we act? The birth of Samuel We see it so often in scripture, this focusing on the birth of this or that great figure, that we miss the significance: God knows the great before they do. We rarely hear the birth story of some political figure like Winston Churchill When did God choose us? Before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:3-4)

2 I Samuel 1: 1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite 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. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Ephraimite: Dwelling, not ancestry, because Elkanah is descended from the Levites (I Chr 6:16-28) Two wives: There is rarely any condemnation of polygamy in the Old Testament, but examples of the downside are frequent. Friction between Jacob s Rachel and Leah (Gen 30:1-2) Solomon had 300 wives and 700 concubines that pulled his heart toward foreign gods Paul counseled that leaders be monogamous (I Tim 3:2,12; Titus 1:6) Our country is flirting with the redefinition of marriage, and it does so at its own peril. 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 of the LORD. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the LORD had closed her womb. 6 And because the LORD had closed her womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, "Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don't you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don't I mean more to you than ten sons?" LORD Almighty: Or Lord of hosts, first appears here in Scripture Her rival: When you read a narrative, it is appropriate to ask, Who am I like, here? You may feel inclined to identify with the victimized Hannah But I invite you to consider how many times you may have played the role of Peninnah Have you made someone else uncomfortable with your words to satisfy your own vanity? Mean more to you: Some women might say here, Just like a man! He just could not connect with her misery. Observation: In dealing with another's sorrow, avoid the tendency to make it all about you (as Elkanah did) Observation: You will never be enough to satisfy another person, and they will never be enough to satisfy you. There is a God-shaped hole in each of us! God has placed the vanishing point in our hearts, and everyday things cannot fill it (Ecc 3:9-11).

3 9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of the LORD's temple. 10 In bitterness of soul Hannah wept much and prayed to the LORD. 11 And she made a vow, saying, "O LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head." Give him to the Lord: What was Job s wife s attitude? Hannah could have done the same, cursed God, and just gone sour from day to day from marinating in the grief Faced with an unavoidable problem, Hannah seizes it, drags it to God's throne, and converts the whole thing into an opportunity for God's glory. Observation: When you feel least spiritual and most distraught, the place for you to be is in prayer. Your prayer will be painful and bitter, but God will meet you there. No razor: The Nazirite vow, normally taken voluntarily and temporarily by an adult (Num 6:1-21). We know that Paul had a vow and shaved his head afterward (Acts 18:18). We have two notable examples, both cases in which the conditions of the vow are lifelong and imposed before birth: Samson and Samuel. Those two men cannot have been more different in how they lived out the terms of their condition. Samson lived randomly, with no respect for his parents choice for his life Observation: You can t always choose your circumstances, but you can choose your response

4 12 As she kept on praying to the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, "How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine." 15 "Not so, my lord," Hannah replied, "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. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief." 17 Eli answered, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him." 18 She said, "May your servant find favor in your eyes." Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. Observed her mouth: Eli was the kind of clergyman who thinks of his job as to spy out sinfulness and condemn it, and misses the very people he is called to encourage and minister to. We must all make snap judgments from time to time, but Eli had great influence as high priest, and needed to exercise better discernment. What surface indicators do we misuse to prejudge others? More importantly, are we predisposed to find fault? Eat something: Remember that we are amphibians: half spirit, half flesh. The state of our body has an effect on our spiritual battles. An angel brought a meal to Elijah when he battled despair (I Kgs 19:5-8) Jesus insisted that a girl just resurrected be given a meal (Mark 5:41-43) Observation: learn to discern between your physical state and the way God says things really are. God may seem distant, life may seem desperate, but stand on what God says is true, and do not be dragged along by your emotional cycles. No longer downcast: All the foregoing is true, but it appears that Hannah had made a choice about her situation and how she would view it. In one sense, nothing had changed; Eli did not prophesy that a child would be born. But she had taken the problem to the altar and left it there. When gripped with a disappointment or struggle, you eventually do one of two things: Become a perpetual heartbroken victim, or Choose to release the stress into God's hands.

5 19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the LORD and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah lay with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, "Because I asked the LORD for him." Remembered her: Often scripture will accommodate to our humanness and treat God in anthropomorphic terms. God certainly does not forget us then remember us later. He knows us completely and continually, and nothing escapes his notice, down to the hairs on our heads (Luke 12:6-7) We neglect him, and when we turn around, we find he was watching and waiting for us all along, like the prodigal son s father (Luke 15:20). Because I asked: Hannah learned a lesson (seize your sorrows and submit them to God) and she built a reminder right into Samuel s name ( asked of God ) You will see the importance of spiritual reminders often in scripture The pile of stones in the Jordan (Josh 4:4-7) Hannah understood the significance of the child. Children are born by the thousands every day, but Hannah saw the hand of God in this. 21 When the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vow, 22 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." I will take him: Elkanah is going up to fulfill an unnamed vow, but Hannah has a vow of her own, and she intends to keep it Imagine the immense pressure, now that the long-awaited child is here, to rethink her vow and say, Surely the Lord would want me to keep him home. Have you ever rationalized things this way? Made a commitment, then later lacked the resolve to live up to it, and talked to yourself to let yourself off the hook? Observation: Resist the urge to talk yourself out of your commitments. Vows were more common in that culture; today we think mainly of marriage vows. But God expects us to treat promises seriously! (Deut 23:21-23)

6 23 "Do what seems best to you," Elkanah her husband told her. "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. 24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-yearold bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. 25 When they had slaughtered the bull, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, "As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD. 27 I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. 28 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. Young as he was: KJV says the child was young. Literally it is the child was a child. Young Samuel is probably three years old when Hannah leaves him at Shiloh. Don t think that aged Eli is personally adopting a three-year-old Samuel. There were other priests and Levites and their children to share the responsibility. I give him to the Lord: Not all of us are called to give away our children like this. Yet we are all to release our children to God with at least this same devotion.