SERIES I --- THE NATION UNITES --- LESSON 02

ADONAI’S PRESENCE

A PRAYER OF JOY

From 1 Samuel 2:1-21

From a heart filled with joy because of her son Samuel, Hannah offered this prayer to Adonai:

‘My heart is filled with joy in Adonai, for He has given me great strength. Now that Adonai has given me a child, my enemies have no more evil to say to me, so I rejoice in Him. There is none as holy as Adonai, and there is no one else who is YHVH, nor is there any Foundation Stone like Him. Stop boasting so proudly, stop speaking with such arrogance, for Adonai knows all about you and He weighs your actions. Those once mighty have been put down and those once weak have now been made strong. Those once full are working for bread, and those once empty are well fed. The childless woman now has seven, and the woman with children has them no more. Adonai removes life and He gives life, He causes men to be rich or poor, He humbles and He exalts, He lifts the poor from the earth’s dust and the needy from a pile of ashes, seating them with princes, in places of honour, for the earth is Adonai’s, and He brings it under His Command. He guards the footsteps of His faithful, but casts aside the wicked into darkness. A man is not victorious in his own strength, and those who fight Adonai will be broken to pieces. From the heavens, He thunders against them, and sends His judgment to the ends of the earth. To His King He supplies great power, and increases the might of His Anointed One.’

Hannah and her family returned home to Ramah, leaving Samuel to minister to Adonai in the tabernacle with Eli the priest. But Eli’s sons were evil men who cared not for Adonai. There was a custom in those days that a priest’s servant could stick a three-pronged hook into the pot where the meat for the sacrifice was boiling. The meat that remained on the hook was given to Eli’s sons. Thus, everyone who came to Shiloh to sacrifice had to give part of his meat to the sons of Eli. Their servant might also come at times, before the visitor had burned the fat on the altar and say, give me some of this raw meat so the priest may roast it, for he does not want the boiled meat. If the man who was sacrificing answered, let me first burn the fat on the altar, then you may have what you want, the servant would say, no, I must have it now. Give it to me or I will take it! By doing this, the sons of Eli were showing contempt for Adonai’s offering and thus were sinning greatly. Although Samuel was still a child, he wore a linen ephod which was like the priests’ as he ministered in the tabernacle. Each year when his mother visited Shiloh with Elkanah for the annual sacrifice, she brought a new robe for Samuel. And each year Eli blessed the parents saying, may Adonai give you two more children because of the son you have lent to Adonai. Having received this blessing, Hannah and Elkanah then returned home to Ramah. In time, Eli’s blessing came true, for Adonai gave Hannah three sons and two daughters. And as the years passed, Samuel grew up in the tabernacle, serving Adonai.

COMMENTARY

SAMUEL’S FAMILY

Each year Elkanah and his family took time from their work to make a pilgrimage to the temple at Shiloh. Elkanah may have owned enough donkeys to carry his whole family, hut if not, the twelve-mile walk to the temple would not have taken them very long. Fortunately, the well-travelled road to Shiloh was not far from their home in Ramah. Even before Samuel’s birth the family went there every year. After he left to live with Eli, they brought another package with them to Shiloh. Each year Hannah wove Samuel a new robe to replace the one he had worn during the previous year. Since clothes were expensive and took hours to make, even more prosperous families like Elkanah’s received a new set only once a year.

HANNAH
In Old Testament times, a large family was considered a source of happiness and a sign of success. Wives without children were often thought of as cursed for some reason. Although Hannah willingly promised Samuel to YHVH’s service at the temple, it must have been difficult to leave the child she had yearned for through so many years. She and Elkanah must have chosen Samuel’s name with much care. Names not only were a reflection of a child’s personality; they were also believed to influence the fortunes of a person’s life. The name Samuel, {To Ask Adonai,} was a reminder that YHVH had answered Hannah’s prayer. In the years that followed, she bore five more sons and daughters.

ELKANAH
Elkanah was one of the rich and important men in Ramah, a town in the mountainous area of Ephraim. One sign of his wealth was his family; he had two wives. Although Elkanah tried to reassure Hannah that he loved her more than Peninnah, she knew that wives were sometimes divorced if they had no children. Elkanah was a member of the Levite tribe, descendants of Jacob and his son Levi. This was the tribe from which all of Israel’s priests were to come.

SAMUEL
Since he was a Levite, Samuel might have eventually become a priest under any circumstances. Then, his service would not have started until he was twenty-five years old. But because of Hannah’s dedication, he started his training when he was only three. Growing up at the tabernacle taught him many things about the priesthood that he would probably not have learned otherwise. Watching Eli’s sons steal the sacrifices that worshipers offered to YHVH must have caused him to ponder the qualities a good priest and leader must have. Even as a young man Samuel was known for his wisdom and judgment. In the coming years he became a trusted spokesman for YHVH, directing the people as a priest, a judge and a prophet. When he was a boy working at the tabernacle Samuel heard YHVH speak to him about the evil of Eli’s sons. When he had two sons of his own, Joel and Abijah, he learned how Eli must have felt. His own sons were known for their evil behaviour. Although they were judges in a large city, Joel and Abijah were greedy and unjust and took bribes.