1Samuel1

Something like two hundred years have passed since Israel came out of Egypt in the Exodus. After their wandering in the wilderness for forty years they eventually entered the land and, under Joshua, worked their way through that land clearing it of the inhabitants at God's direction.

Sadly they never fully completed the job and therefore left some of the inhabitants to be a thorn in their side for the years to come. Following the death of Joshua came a dark period when Israel again and again turned from the Lord, were given over to the enemy, cried out to the Lord and were given a leader by the Lord who delivered them. These leaders acted as judges over the people but when 1 Samuel opens the leader appears to be a priest named Eli and the spiritual state of the nation seems low.

The History of Samuel:

The book opens with the account of the circumstances surrounding the birth of Samuel and his calling by God while still a young boy. As Samuel grows up he is recognised by the people as a prophet as well as a judge. The tragedy of the story of Samuel is that when he reached old age, it is obvious that he has fallen into the same trap as his predecessor, Eli, and has allowed his unrighteous sons to follow as judges.

It is this fact that provokes the people to express what is on their hearts, turn away from God, and cry out for a king, to be just like all other nations. The latter part of our studies will therefore be following the appointing of their first king, Saul, and his subsequent rebellion and rejection by God. The book is again a mixture of the foolishness and sin of man and the grace of God. Watch for them both.

PART 1 : "The Birth of Samuel"

In this first Part watch and see how circumstances sometimes work to produce end effects that can bring blessing. Samuel is born into a difficult home situation, to a mother who had cried out for years for a child and who was so desperate as to bargain with God. The end result of this bargain is that Samuel is dedicated to the work of the Lord from the earliest days of his life, a man prepared from birth.

Chapter: 1 Sam 1

Passage: 1 Sam 1:1-8

A. Find Out:

1. What was the difference between the 2 wives? v.2

2. Where did Elkanah go each year? v.3

3. What did he feel about Hannah? v.5a

4. Why hadn't she children? v.5b

5. What did Peninnah continually do? v.6

6. What effect did this have on Hannah? v.7,8

B. Think :

1. What sort of man is Hannah's husband?

2. How did Hannah feel, do you think, apart from Peninnah's comments?

3. Who is attributed with being behind all this?

C. Comment :

In these introductory verses we are introduced to the three main characters. First of all Elkanah who had (unwisely) taken two wives (which wasn't so unusual in those days). We learn two things about him: first he was devout and annually made the pilgrimage to worship the Lord at Shiloh, and second, he was kind and concerned and tried to care for Hannah despite her being unable to have children.

Next we see Peninnah, one of Elkanah's wives, an unpleasant woman! She had the joy of bearing children (which should have been enough) be she also takes joy in "lording it" over Hannah because she couldn't have children. When there are two wives there is bound to be competition between them for the husband's affection and, perhaps because Peninnah realises Elkanah's love for Hannah, she goes out of her way to be unkind to her.

Lastly, Hannah herself, who we have already noted has no children. God is blamed for this and so we will have to watch in later studies to see if we can see some reason why this might be so. As time goes by, no children come and the provocations continue and Hannah comes to the end of her tether and breaks down. Those who are unable to have children will readily identify with Hannah in all this.

D. Application?

1. Being a child of God doesn't mean that life will always be easy.

2. We need to rest in God's love for us and if things aren't working out as

we might hope, we need to seek Him to see the reason why.

Chapter: 1 Sam 1

Passage: 1 Sam 1:9-18

A. Find Out:

1. Out of what feeling did Hannah pray? v.10

2. What did she promise if God would answer her? v.11

3. What did Eli observe? v.12,13

4. What did he wrongly conclude? v.13

5. How did Hannah describe her reason for praying? v.15,16

6. How and why did she leave? v.18,17

B. Think :

1. How would you summarise Hannah's state and the reason for it?

2. How would you describe Eli as a religious leader?

3. What might have been the reason for Hannah not having any children?

C. Comment :

Hannah is a picture of someone in desperation who prays urgently and desperately. She comes to the place where she is willing to lose her child to the Lord as long as she can at least have a child. That is significant. Could it be that the Lord foresaw Samuel (consider Jeremiah 1:5 and Ephesians 1:4) and knew that he would have to leave his mother if he was to achieve his destiny, and therefore prevented Hannah from conceiving until she came to the point when she was willing for that to happen? Her praying was deep and heartfelt. Those are the prayers the Lord especially looks for.

Eli is old and not a very good representative of the Lord (as we will see later on). He sees Hannah's mouth moving and is completely insensitive to her state. He accuses her of drunkenness, that being the only reason that comes to mind to explain what he sees. Only after she graciously responds does he bless her. Whether he realises it or not, his blessing is the Lord's affirmation that He has heard and will answer her prayer. The scene is now set for Samuel's arrival.

D. Application?

1. Desperate circumstances are sometimes needed to bring us to the point

of complete surrender to God.

2. God looks for heart prayers, not prayers of habit or of religious ritual.

Chapter: 1 Sam 1

Passage: 1 Sam 1:19-28

A. Find Out:

1. How does Hannah see the arrival of Samuel? v.20

2. What does she confirm she will do? v.22

3. How long would it be before it happened? v.23,24

4. Where did she take Samuel? v.24,25

5. How had she and God worked together? v.27

6. So what is to be Samuel's future? v.28

B. Think :

1. Unbelief says, "I expect it was a coincidence that she had Samuel after

praying". How is Hannah different from this?

2. Look up Ecclesiastes 5:4 How does Hannah do this?

3. What warning should we heed?

C. Comment :

Hannah has prayed with deep urgency and God has answered. It is as simple as that! That which was impossible has now happened. It is a trait of man to make rash promises to God in crisis moments, but as soon as the crisis is past, to forget the promise. That is not so with Hannah who is a godly woman. That which is most precious to her she releases to the Lord, for she recognises that he had come from the Lord to start with anyway, as a clear answer to her praying.

Our worldly temptation might be to think "How hard for Samuel, a young boy separated from his parents" (far less worse that what is happening to many children in our godless society when so many parents split up and one leaves the child), but his future makes it worth while. This is going to be God's man, the top man in the nation who will bring order and God's word to this still infant nation. Godly parents can be a real secure foundation for godly children, but it starts with the recognition that the children belong to God. If we are parents who do that, it means that we can leave Him room to move in their young lives.

D. Application?

1. Beware making rash promises! Honour your promises to God.

2. Recognise that answers to deep prayers come because the prayer

originated in God's heart.

If you wish to give further consideration to some fo the things raised in 1 Samuel 1, please

CLICK HERE

Chapter: 1 Sam 2

Passage: 1 Sam 2:12-18,26

A. Find Out:

1. Why were Eli's sons described as wicked? v.12

2. What sort of meat were they taking? v.15

3. What had they been doing? v.16b

4. What were they doing with God's offering? v.17

5. But what was Samuel doing? v.18

6. What was happening to him? v.26

B. Think :

1. How would you describe the spiritual leaders of that time?

2. What effect would their behaviour have had upon the people?

3. How does our example affect others?

C. Comment :

When animal sacrifices were brought to the Lord, sometimes the priest was allowed to eat part of it after it was cooked (e.g. Leviticus 6:24-26, 7:6, 7:14,15) BUT it was not to include blood or fat (see Leviticus 3:16,17).

Now when we look at Eli's sons, we have a picture of priests who were self-centred and abusing the ceremony of offerings. First of all they took the meat before it was properly cooked, second they took the fat, and third they threatened people offering the meat. In every way these men, who should have been an example of holiness, were instead an example of self-centred, godless, irreligious unbelievers! A people will only be as good as its leaders and it is not surprising, therefore, that the spiritual state of Israel was very poor. As we go on we will see just how poor! Almost by contrast, young Samuel is quietly serving the Lord as he grows up and what he does brings pleasure to both God and man. Although others are being unrighteous, Samuel appears to remain righteous.

D. Application?

1. When God makes laws it is with a purpose. Our part is simply to obey

when He instructs.

2. Can people see Jesus in us or are we models of watery religion?

3. Can I be an example of righteousness in the midst of unrighteous

people?

Chapter: 1 Sam 2

Passage: 1 Sam 2:18-25

A. Find Out:

1. How often did Hannah see Samuel? v.19

2. What blessing did Eli give Elkanah? v.20

3. How did the Lord bless Hannah? v.21

4. What did Eli say his sons were doing? v.25a

5. What was their response? v.25b

6. Why? v.25c

B. Think :

1. What do verses 18-21 tell us about the Lord?

2. What do verses 22-25 tell us about the Lord?

3. How do the two halves of this passage contrast?

C. Comment :

Again today we see the evil of these sons of Eli who, we saw previously, were treating the Lord with contempt by the way they were handling the sacrifices. Now we have seen that they were also sexually immoral. The word of this came to Eli's ears but as an old man he has long ago lost any influence over them. If he had exercised greater responsibility in bringing them up this would never be happening now. When he speaks to them, they ignore the old man. The Bible says that this was because it was the Lord's will to destroy them. What we have here is the Lord refusing to intervene to convict them by His Spirit for repentance. He has determined that they should receive His public judgement for their public sins.

By contrast, the picture of Elkanah's family is a picture of peace, joy and blessing. Hannah now is able to bear a large family and Samuel is growing up to be an upright young man watched over by God. What a contrast between Elkanah and Eli! Here today we get a very clear teaching: the example and guidance of a godly father can have great influence upon his family while the godless father leaves his family to run riot. How this applies so much to our nation today!

D. Application?

1. Parents should start training their children when they are young.

2. Leaders have greater responsibility and will be disciplined more firmly

for failure.

Chapter: 1 Sam 2

Passage: 1 Sam 2:27-36

A. Find Out:

1. Of what 2 things does God accuse Eli? v.29

2. What principle does God state in verse 30?

3. What does God say He'll do to Eli's family? v.31,32

4. What will happen to survivors? v.33

5. What will happen to Eli's two sons? v.34

6. Then what will the Lord do? v.35

B. Think :

1. What were the origins of Eli's family?

2. What responsibility did he therefore have?

3. How had he failed in that?

C. Comment :

This is a time for accounting. Some godly man comes to Eli with a prophecy that calls him to account. There are three parts to it.

First the PAST: he reminds Eli that God has established the priesthood to bring people to Him. Eli was part of that priestly family and had the privileges AND responsibilities that went with it.

Second the PRESENT: he states that Eli is today not giving respect to the sacrificial system by the casual way he is overseeing what is happening and, even more, by allowing his sons to act as they are, he shows he cares more about them than he does about God.

Third the FUTURE: he lays down a clear principle in verse 30 saying that as Eli despises God, the Lord will cast him off. The Lord will bring to an end Eli's family, and specifically his two sons will die on the same day. God will not tolerate His representative's constant abuse of His name. These are serious words that come to Eli but they come in order to give him TIME to DO something about it. Even now he could repent and put things right. Even now he could plead for God's mercy. God doesn't need to speak but He does in order to give us the opportunity to repent. God doesn't delight in the death of any man, He wants repentance (see Ezekiel 18:32). In Eli, He doesn't find it!

D. Application?

1. God's grace looks for repentance.

2. Repentance releases God's mercy.

RECAP - "The Birth of Samuel" - 1 Sam 1 & 2

SUMMARY :

In these first 6 studies we have seen:

- Hannah being provoked by her rival

- Hannah praying & Eli misunderstanding

- Hannah conceiving and Samuel being born

- Hannah dedicating Samuel and praying

- The wickedness of Eli's sons and prophecy against the house of Eli

COMMENT :

Sometimes when a nation seems dry and unspiritual, we wonder if God is moving, yet behind the scenes in unlikely situations, things happen which will have long term consequences and which will eventually be seen to be within the plan and purposes of God.

Such was the case of all we have just read in these first two chapters! Samuel's arrival comes through tough circumstances and he comes into an unspiritual nation.

LESSONS :

1. Life is sometimes difficult even for Christians.

2. God's love and grace is there for us then.

3. Pressing circumstances speed surrender.

4. Reliance on God opens the way for Him to move.

5. Discipline needs to come at an early age.

6. Leaders have greater responsibility.

PRAY :

Submit your life to God. Call on Him. Ask for help if you are raising children.

PART 2 : The Call of Samuel & Decline

Now that Samuel is born we might expect God to start moving in the land but we will have to be patient. Watch for how Samuel does grow up as a prophet but that doesn't stop the rest of the nation remaining in spiritual decline. The move of God will be seen in these chapters but in some strange and, at times, somewhat limited ways. Consider what that means for our own times.

1 Samuel 1 : Additional Comment

God who works with Individuals

When we come to 1 Samuel we are coming to a crucial part of Israel's history which involves the end of the period of Judges and the beginning of the period of Kings in Israel. It is a highly significant period of history therefore, which might make our surprise all the greater that it starts off with an account of an unknown family, and especially of one of the wives of that family.

It is at this point that we need to remind ourselves that God doesn't just deal with nations, He deals with individuals. History is made up of the acts of individuals, and history changes because of the acts of those individuals.

The first challenge that must come to us, as we read these accounts, is how much will I affect history? How much will I allow the Lord to guide and direct me so that my impact on history is significant? Will other people's lives be changed because of me? If we feel that is too big a thing, we need to read this chapter again with this in mind.

Observe the Environment

Now you've read these verses and done these first three studies, consider again the things that happened. Consider Hannah's environment. We often say, "Well if that person had had a better home they might have been very different." Well yes, that is true but Hannah shows us that our environment can provoke us into great things.

The second challenge that must come to us is, will I allow my (difficult) circumstances to pull me down, or will I let them provoke me to great things? Great changes often come through trying or difficult circumstances.

Without doubt Hannah's situation was very trying. She could not have children and her rival regularly made her aware of that fact. As we commented in the notes, if you have been wanting children but been unable to have them, it can be one of the greatest anguishes possible.

Possible Reactions

Hannah could have become very hostile towards God because the text tells us (1:5) that it was considered that the Lord had stopped her having the ability to conceive. So let's assume that that was actually so - that so far God had acted to stop her having a child. Doesn't that sound unkind? Yes, if that was the end of the story, but it's not. If we believe in the sovereignty of God like this, and it IS Scriptural, we must understand that if God does something, He always has a REASON for it.

At the time the reason was not made clear to Hannah. Why not? Perhaps it was that she either didn't believe that God would speak to her, so would write off anything she heard, or she would have written it off because it seemed so contrary to her motherly instincts.

Yet, the truth is as we see it here in this chapter, she didn't get hostile towards God, she went every year to worship at Shiloh and she prayed. You don't go and worship and you don't pray if you are hostile to God!

The third challenge that must come to us, therefore, is how has my heart reacted to the negative circumstances I sometimes find myself in? Do difficulties make me hostile to God, or do I respond righteously and seek God in them?

The Big Plan

It is only when we see the whole of the story do we see the end product - a young man of God (Samuel) in the place of closest contact with God (Shiloh) where he influences the spiritual leadership, receives direction from God, and leads the nation in a dark period. When we consider that end product, we realise that it probably would never have happened if the family circumstances had been different.

An alternative way of viewing this is to say, isn't it incredible that out of such negative circumstances God can bring such good.

So that brings us a fourth challenge: can I trust God to take my negative circumstances and work something good through them? As we said above, sometimes great changes often only come through trying or difficult circumstances.

Dare we allow these accounts to provoke and challenge us deeply about our own lives today?

Return to end of Chapter 1