1 SAMUEL

Introduction and Chapter One

The book opens on a nation in crisis, within and without. The book of Judges ends with the statement “There was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” But Israel had laws, THE Law or Torah. They inherited the Ten Commandments and all those associated laws. But internally, their priesthood was corrupt. The rising generation of priests were a greedy and immoral bunch, deliberately breaking the law to choose the best food for themselves. Even more they freely slept with the young women who served in the temple. Something had to give.

Now think for a minute and try to place yourself back in those days. Israel was not a single unified country. If you have read current stories about life in some of today's Arab tribes, you can have some feeling for what their loyalties were like. There was indeed a sense of being Israel, but more important they were loyal to their families and tribes. For example, in the book of Judges we find 13 stories with each of the 12 tribes taking the lead to deliver Israel. Close reading will show that none of those battles presented all the tribes fighting together as one. Each had a part, but often you can see rivalry as well as cooperation.

Consider America at the time of the revolution. Each colony, when freed from England, did not immediately feel a part of the United States. There was no constitution, only a “congress” of representatives from each colony. Washington had trouble paying his troops because congress could only request contributions, not levy taxes. The Constitution could be ratified by all 13 colonies only because of the compromises that each could agree to. Even Europe, as old as it was, only began to develop strong national feelings in the 19^th century.

I've often wondered why Shiloh became the focal point from which everything followed. The Ark of the Covenant was there, of course, but we are not told why. I suspect at one time Eli was a much stronger and faithful personality than he is when we find him. Revival begins at Shiloh, when the Lord intervenes.

The Book of 1 Samuel begins with crisis and ends with David in a kingdom rapidly becoming stable. In our Bibles, there are four history books. Originally there were two, or actually one history in two volumes. Later they were divided again to make them easier to handle. The original scrolls must have been very large, as is the oldest copy we have of Samuel, found with the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. Jewish tradition says Samuel himself wrote all four books or at least the first two, but this is exceedingly unlikely since much of the story happened after his death.

If the story of the Patriarchs began in Genesis 12 with one man, the story of kingship begins with one woman, Hannah. She was Elkanah's first wife and childless. His second wife had children and taunted Hannah for her barrenness. For many women in her day having children was the whole point of life. If you had none, you were less than a person, certainly not favored by God. So Hannah prayed that God would give her, not only a child, but a son. She promised if He did, she would give the lad back to God for service in the temple. As husband and father, Elkanah could have overruled he dedication, but he was a pious man and let it stand. So in due course, Hannah conceived and bore a son. They named him Samuel. That child would hold the future of Israel in his hands one day and have the power to make and break kings!

I felt God's call on my life when I was 11, and publicly dedicated myself to full-time Christian service. Some time later, my mother told me she had prayed a prayer similar to Hannah's, so she was not too surprised when she had a son and the Lord called him.

A caution here: this mother comes close to bargaining with God. Recognize that God retains the option as to how He chooses to answer the prayer. Still, there are several stories in the Bible of divine activity in the birth and childhood of major figures: Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus. You may think of others.

Hannah had no pampers nor bottles nor baby food. In all likelihood she nursed Samuel til he was two or three. She brought him to Eli at the Shiloh temple after weaning him. Did she leave him then? I would guess she brought him more and more as he grew old enough to learn and to serve, until he was finally old enough to live at the temple with Eli.

Then stuff really started to happen!