1 SAMUEL 1
Introduction – After the heart-warming story of Ruth and Boaz, we return to the affairs of state and the leadership of God’s people as they settle into the Promised Land that God has given them. But, as is often the case with the Bible, those called to greatness in God’s service often come from humble beginnings, and so the story of Samuel begins in the home.
Read 1 Samuel 1:1-20. Here we meet a slightly dysfunctional family. Elkanah seems to be a kindly man but has two wives of contrasting natures; Hannah, quiet and loyal to both her husband and to God, and Penninah, more outgoing and cruel and heartless towards Hannah. We baulk a bit at the Old Testament figures who have more than one wife. Instinctively it seems wrong to us and certainly the New Testament makes it clear that a man should have only one wife. The Old Testament too seems in favour of monogamy: Genesis 2:24 appears to support it strongly, ‘a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh’. The Old Testament doesn’t openly condone polygamy but neither does it openly condemn. What is noticeable, however, is that whenever we see a polygamous situation, there are problems.
We learn that Hannah would like to have a child but that she was infertile, ‘the Lord had closed her womb’ (v5). This is a recurring theme in the Bible (we need only go back to Samson’s mother, but we think too of Sarah and Rachel in Genesis and John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth). There is a sense here, I think, of the Bible making it clear that with God, all things are possible and that God can over-ride the ‘normal’ expectations to fulfil his will.
Hannah is so desperate for a son that she pleads with God in prayer and promises that if God is gracious and honours her with a son she will dedicate the child to the Lord, and she makes a vow that no razor will touch his head. This is a similar vow to that given on behalf of Samson, and is all about a visible expression of one’s invisible commitment to the Lord. Hannah’s pleading with God is so intense that the Chief Priest, Eli, mistook it for drunkenness. Once he realised what was going on though, his criticism turned to blessing.
God heard Hannah’s prayer and blessed her with the son that she so much wanted. She named his Samuel, which sounds something like the Hebrew for ‘heard by God’, to be a lifelong reminder of God’s grace towards Hannah.
Read 1 Samuel 1:21-28 When Samuel is a little older, but still just a child, Hannah sets about fulfilling her vow to the Lord. She goes to the worship centre and gives him to the Lord, which in practical terms means giving him to the Chief Priest, Levi, who will supervise his training and service. We will see that in due course Samuel will grow to outshine and surpass his mentor and will be the first great leader of God’s people since Moses.