1st Samuel 1
Originally, in the old Hebrew manuscripts, the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings as we have today, were one book called the Book of Kings. The book of 1 Samuel was written by Samuel, and finished after his death by the prophets, Nathan and Gad.
Samuel is a very interesting man...he was the last judge of the judge era, and the first prophet of the prophet era. He had the honor to anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.
With that in mind, Samuel warned the Jews that they should follow their heavenly King instead of wanting an earthly king. And, as we shall see, Samuel had his faults like all of us and others in the Bible, that we can learn from (2 Tim 3:16).
This book starts with an amazing woman named Hannah. She is so distraught about not having a child, and she pleads with the Lord to bless her with one, and in return, she will dedicate the child to Him.
I often wonder why Eli had the reaction he did when Hannah was praying in the Temple. Was it common to have people come in there drunk? It obviously was uncommon for people to pray silently...perhaps the arrogance of the day led all to pray out loud and let the others within earshot to hear how "holy" and "righteous" they are by their prayers! I remember Jesus rebuking the Pharisees about this in Matthew 6:5
I like to point out to my kids, that once Eli told Hannah that her prayers would be answered, she ate and moved on. That is a great testament to faith! We should lay our problems at the Cross, and let God deal with them, instead of trying to do it ourselves!
(v.20) God did answer Hannah's prayer, and gave her Samuel. This name in Hebrew means "heard of God." Like Sarah and Rachel before her, God heard her prayer and blessed her because of her faith.
1st Samuel 2
Hannah shows us a grateful prayer, which leads into the direct contrast of Eli's sons. Here we have a man of God, Eli, who has sons that are rebellious. Life is hard on kids who's fathers are pastors or priests...they are looked upon differently, and they are critiqued more strictly than the other kids.
Originally, in the old Hebrew manuscripts, the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings as we have today, were one book called the Book of Kings. The book of 1 Samuel was written by Samuel, and finished after his death by the prophets, Nathan and Gad.
Samuel is a very interesting man...he was the last judge of the judge era, and the first prophet of the prophet era. He had the honor to anoint the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David.
With that in mind, Samuel warned the Jews that they should follow their heavenly King instead of wanting an earthly king. And, as we shall see, Samuel had his faults like all of us and others in the Bible, that we can learn from (2 Tim 3:16).
This book starts with an amazing woman named Hannah. She is so distraught about not having a child, and she pleads with the Lord to bless her with one, and in return, she will dedicate the child to Him.
I often wonder why Eli had the reaction he did when Hannah was praying in the Temple. Was it common to have people come in there drunk? It obviously was uncommon for people to pray silently...perhaps the arrogance of the day led all to pray out loud and let the others within earshot to hear how "holy" and "righteous" they are by their prayers! I remember Jesus rebuking the Pharisees about this in Matthew 6:5
I like to point out to my kids, that once Eli told Hannah that her prayers would be answered, she ate and moved on. That is a great testament to faith! We should lay our problems at the Cross, and let God deal with them, instead of trying to do it ourselves!
(v.20) God did answer Hannah's prayer, and gave her Samuel. This name in Hebrew means "heard of God." Like Sarah and Rachel before her, God heard her prayer and blessed her because of her faith.
1st Samuel 2
Hannah shows us a grateful prayer, which leads into the direct contrast of Eli's sons. Here we have a man of God, Eli, who has sons that are rebellious. Life is hard on kids who's fathers are pastors or priests...they are looked upon differently, and they are critiqued more strictly than the other kids.
Even with that said, that's no excuse for a kid to dishonor their parents, and perhaps Eli should have reminded his sons of Deut 21:18-21 to keep them in line!
However, Eli did well with teaching Samuel, and God remembered Hannah, and gave her three sons and two daughters to raise, since she gave Samuel to God.
(vv.27-34) God has a man confront Eli, and asks him the important question for all of us:
"Why do you honor your sons more than Me?"
God is done with the Levitical priestly line of representing Him, and He tells Eli that He will "raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind." (v.35)
This is alluding to Jesus, our High Priest, not in the order of the Levitical priests, but in the order of Melchizedek (Gen 14:18; Psalm 110:4; Heb 5:6).
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