1 Samuel 1 - The Birth of Samuel

alright let's open our Bibles tonight to our favorite book what is it for Samuel what did you yard okay first I have it perfect who thought I lost a few of you last week I'm glad you've joined us tonight as we continue our studies through the Old Testament and we begin a very much in depth look at first and second Samuel which will basically give us detailed information as God wants you to have it for the lives of Samuel and Saul and David our chapter tonight we'll pick up the chronology where we left off a long time ago in judges chapter 16 with the death of Samuel we told you then and I think we told you in Ruth as well that the last seventy nine twenty twenty the last five chapters of the book of Judges as well as the Book of Ruth itself are portraits of the times of the judges but they're not specific and in terms of time we don't know if they were early on or or later on the the judges chronologically covered about three hundred and thirty-eight years it took us from 1381 or so BC until ten forty three or so to the time of the first king of Saul first King in Israel I should say King Saul tonight we will begin with the last judge who happens to be Samuel and his birth and we will go all the way through to the time of Saul and then to the time of David first a second samuel our narrative history it is important you know that you understand that narrative history like the book of Acts you are taught through the examples that God paints for us or the situations that he presents so the lessons are in the details and and in the stories that God sets before us as you go through this book and I'll try to point it out as we go through some times the Lord slows down and has a spends spent chapters upon just a couple of weeks of time other times you'll skip 25 years without a comment and you know I have no explanation for you except these are the things that the Lord wants us to learn so we're gonna try to put ourselves in the story in the situation's because they are written so that we might learn to trust the Lord better for me there's no easier way to study the narrative if we teach you the book of Hebrews the book of Romans it's a lot of theological work you got to put on your thinking cap and you got to think things through it and that's important too and we'll do those as we have but but narrative tends to be just a it's like comfort food you know you can kind of learn it as you said according to the Jewish Talmud Samson is thought to have written the first 24 chapters of this book and then Nathan and GAD had written the rest now they get that out of first first chronicles chapter 29 verse 29 where they are mentioned as each having their own book the GAD the seer Nathan the prophet Samuel the seer and and that's kind of where that idea is gathered it may be true it's impossible to prove but it works as good as anything and you have a verse to go with anyway not that it really matters we know that the Holy Spirit wrote it but it's always kind of fun to you know try to understand as much as you can since first Samuel begins with the birth of the last judge Samuel who anointed Saul as king the book starts about ten fifty one or so BC our timeframe for first and second Samuel is roughly from eleven hundred or so to the end of David's life 970 so there's only a hundred and thirty years of history in these two books that will be taking next if you add first Kings and second first and second Chronicles as well which we plan to do they will take us all the way all the way forward in our history to 606 BC which is an important date and you'll learn it as we go when the Babylonians came against Judah and they began their onslaught against Jerusalem and began to take prisoners and over a several year period actually three different attacks would take the Jews into captivity where they would stay for 70 years after those 70 years as Ezra Ezra and Ezra as our Esther Ezra and the Maya would follow and then we would pretty much be done with history so it's these six books and then three books that cover just a little short period of time of the rebuilding of the temple and then 400 years of silence and then you're in the book of NAT Matthew so once we get to the end of the historical books all of those prophetic books after Nehemiah if you will they all can be picked up and placed into this historical narrative that you and I are studying now so everything beyond that it just goes Vic fits back into this history you got that right so so your Bible is not as big as you think it covers a lot of years but we'll be able to place all of these prophets at a proper time both the major and the Minor Prophets into the history but for now we'll focus on 1st and 2nd Samuel for the next oh I don't know 20 weeks or so 30 weeks 130 years of Samuel and Saul and then David so the last judge and the two of the three kings that were over Israel during the United Kingdom and we'll cover them the book of first families is really all about leadership there are kind of three types of leaders those who make things happen those who watch things happen and those who have no idea what's happening and that's pretty much what you'll find in the four main characters in these two books eli and samuel saul and david the life of a priest the life of a prophet the life of a politician and the life of a poet and their influence is either good or bad from a historical standpoint since you're here studying with me at the time of Solomon the world empires which were almost all of them very weakened and in transition the Hittites and aja Meyer were losing their power the Assyrians also were very weak during this time Egypt was struggling with internal conflict the only people group that was very strong during these two books was the Philistines they were very developed they were growing stronger according to First Samuel 13 they had cornered the iron market and it worked you know could work in iron so that their weapons were far exam advanced from from most others they could make you know axes and sickles and and sharpen Maddux's and and swords and and also when they went to battle they were pretty powerful in fact even during the time of Saul and Jonathan there are only two swords in all of Israel and they had them not their army they had them only the two so it was an interesting time on the sea the Phoenicians were the strongest they were developing an alphabet that we actually used today to develop our English alphabet there were traders in wool and traders in cloth from a religious standpoint Israel was still stuck in the judges time we've talked a lot about those in the last couple of weeks the the syndrome right that that that constant revolving of of rest and rebellion and retribution and repentance and restoration a Redemption back to rest and this this laid out seven different times over these three hundred and thirty-eight years in your Bible so Ruth was the exception was a notable exception a godly family and entire midst of a very ungodly time samuel will also be an exception as well but but understand in israel most of the priesthood was corrupt the people refused to hear the bible in fact you'll read in chapter 8 of this book that they they refused to hear the counsel of samuel they wanted a king salmon so that's a bad idea where god's people we should be our king they said you know go go you know talk to yourself man we don't wanna hear it anymore and they kind of resisted him so Samuels ministry at the end of this Judges period was very difficult it was very heartbreaking breaking it was very challenging but by the time you finish these two books together Israel will have progressed nationally from 12 kind of loosely affiliated tribes and judges to the most powerful nation on the planet under God's leadership they had very few rivals when David as a monarch was was leading early on in his leadership especially there was no one as bad and tough and and and overcoming if you will as Israel when you read these accounts that were gonna start with chapter 1 tonight God does not hide the wick weaknesses of his people he's not ashamed of us though he is all honest about our sinfulness the only place that you will read a different history than in these history books are if you turn to the book of Hebrews chapter 11 and God cleans everything up for us and he only picks those things that that pleased him by our actions of faith you won't read failure you won't read you know the wrong kind of motivation you'll just read about the accomplishments of men and women from the Old Testament history that walked with God and did these two remarkable things by faith and God marks them down the kind of faith God accepts but if you go back to the history books like we are tonight you'll get the reports kind of warts and all in fact some of the the most reference stories and lessons and I suspect that we can have a lot of you just stand up and tell the story cuz you know them so well are found in especially in these two books and so we want to be sure we don't just turn our mind off because we've heard them before and let the Lord just speak to us well tonight we're just gonna do 28 verses it is it'll take us forever no we'll be fine we're gonna look at the birth of Samuel the the his dedication to the Lord at the Tabernacle in Shiloh as Samuel was from the tribe of Levites he was a judge he was also a prophet he was also a priest interesting than have a kind of a type of Christ he's a man of tremendous faith he has a powerful prayer life but chapter one doesn't focus on him hardly at all it focuses solely on his parents and especially his mom but but really both mom and dad and trusting in the Lord as they go forward so let's just start in verse one of our favorite book verse 1 chapter 1 here we go now there was a prophet and he was a man from this place there from the mountains of Ephraim and his name was Elkanah he was the son of jehoiada Elihu he was a sign of Tohu he was a son of Zeus alright great he's from Ephraim and he had two wives one of the wives name was Hannah the other name was peninnah peninnah had children Hannah had no children Alcon of the husband hannah and peninnah the two wives bigamy or polygamy if you will in the Bible is forbidden if you get to Matthew chapter 19 for example Jesus will say to those questioning him it is for this reason that a man would leave his mother and his father and we he would cling to his wife and the two would become one flesh they are no longer two they're one and what God has joined together let not man separate God's intention biblically has always been that relationship one man one woman one life joined together by God's hand the first mention of bigamy or polygamy in the Bible is way back in Genesis four there was a fellow named Lamech he was a wicked descendant of Cain Old Testament culture has the commonality amongst the heathen that found its way amongst the Saints so often guys like Jacob and David and alcona and others who ended up having more than one wife it seems to me having been married of many years that one wife is plenty I don't mean that in a bad way I just mean that in a real way to keep one wife happy is work enough for most men getting amens on the front row anyway [Applause] however the revelation of God and His will - man is in the Bible progressive what that means is he deals with one thing at a time and and over time he makes his will known as he does to you and I he he sharpens us he he nurtures us he he guides us from one thing to the other to help us overcome things in our lives well the it's the same way in the scriptures society may color our outlooks and practices but the Word of God when you ignore it or disobey it will always lead to suffering so when the Lord established marriage early on and you find even some hairier heroes of faith caught up in what are practices that the Lord would not have approved of understand that with those come consequences in fact there is not one case of polygamy in the Bible where there's a good result or everyone says this was the better way to go there's no high-fiving there's no the Lord promoting no one's wearing I got three wives and I love at t-shirts it's just not happening right God had made his way clear he is certainly tolerant but it always leads at least every example that you find in the Bible to trials and hurts and favoritism and hatred and conflict here al Qaeda has two wives one has the ability to have children the other one is unable to have children and because of her barrenness she suffers greatly in in many different ways as we're gonna see verse 3 tells us that this man Elkanah went up from his city every year to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh and also the sons of the high priests at that time Eli hophni and Phineas they were the priests of the Lord there though faulty in his marital practice everything else about Elkanah would tell us he was a godly man whose family was interested in worship God in the manner that God prescribed we remember progressive revelation this is what God had made known to his people he came to God on God's terms as a faithful husband and Jew he made the trip three times a year for the yearly feasts of unleavened bread and weeks and Tabernacles week-long Jewish feast and he made them to the place where the tabernacle of God our God's presence stood in shyla 40 miles or so northwest of Jerusalem today Shaya of Shiloh is called Nablus it is as you head towards the Jordanian border it is a place when we're in Israel that we don't take our folks it isn't a secure place but we know exactly where it is if you will and it was the place that God had ordered that they set up the tabernacle back in Joshua chapter 18 it was the only place for the Jews to come worship God they weren't allowed to just set up wherever they wanted you want to worship God you come where his presence was at the tabernacle at Shiloh in fact the tabernacle stood longer in Shiloh than anywhere else that was where God wanted his name it was on one of these family trips to worship God then to Jerusalem much later that Jesus had been separated from his family 12 year old Jesus and when they recognized that night as they sat down to camp that Jesus wasn't around and they had to make that all-night trip back to Jerusalem and they they found and remember in the temple there in Luke chapter 2 that was one of these kind of trips so notice in verse 3 that that the man Alcona took his family to go worship and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of hosts this is the first time this this word is used in the scriptures as far as Bible hermeneutics or the ability to interpret Bible they will tell you that that it is always important that you get the first use of a word in the Bible because it usually sets the standard for its use throughout the scriptures from that point on so this is the first time that the word Jehovah Sabbath is used in Hebrew it literally means the Lord of the army or the Lord of the company or the gathered ones or the mighty or the one that leads into battle it's a military term it suggests that the Lord had at his disposal a mighty army of angels or if you will that Elkanah saw the god of the Jews his God as the one who ruled all was powerful to deliver that's how he viewed the Lord and it's brought up like I said for the first time here he acknowledged that Jehovah was God over every nation and he did so during the time of the judges when people were just not worshipping God at all so he's a very unique kind of individual in his position we also read here in verse three of the leadership that was taking place at the tabernacle when Elkanah and his family arrived there three times a year the the priests on duty were the sons of Eli the high sprees now Eli twas a good priest and we're gonna learn that as we go but he was a horrible father and he did not restrain his son from the wickedness that they pursued being there as servants where people came to offer sacrifice to God these guide would take more than was belong to them for pay they would steal or take from people by force they slept with the women these guys could not have been worse and Eli their father a good devoted priest who would lose all because of them had just let this kind of thing Fester and he would for decades before actually being dealt with it by the Lord and by him needless to say there's only the only mention of it is here and the reason it is mentioned and I'll tell you ahead of time is because the valve of Hannah is going to be to send her son as a young boy to this tabernacle to serve and to live there to be at God's disposal from her from his youth that was her promise if I could have a child and God just paints the picture this is the kind of place he was being sent into these rulers that were wicked and a father though he was good who didn't restrain his son now we're getting ahead of the picture a little bit but well let me read to you since we're ahead of the picture anyway verse 12 of chapter 2 where it says this now the sons of evil eye were corrupt they didn't know the Lord the priests custom with the people is that when any man would offer a sacrifice that the priests servant would come with a 3-pronged flesh hook in his hand while the meat was boiling and he would thrust it into the pan or cattle or cauldron her pot and the priest would take for himself whatever the fresh book brought up so they did in Shiloh and when the aliens came there but they also before they burned the fat the priests servants would come in and and say to the men who sacrificed give me for roasting for the priest and he would not take boiled meat from you but raw and the man would say this should really be burned the fat first and then you can take as much as you desire he would say no you would give it to me now and if not I will take it by force therefore the sins of the young men were great before the Lord four men began to abhor the offering of the Lord or if you will people showed up and they started wanting to give to God in love by the law and they ran into these clowns and they were stealing from them and misusing you know what they were provided for and people started hating coming to the Lord not because of the Lord but because those who were representing him were taking the people to the cleaners for now we're just told this is what the tabernacle looked like every time that they showed up now I want to follow that along for a minute because here's two guys Hoffy his name means boxer Phinehas means your mouth of brass or mouth of a judgment God what I say I should say would deal with him in time they would deal with Eli their father as well but but I want to bring this up to you that here comes Elkanah godly man to Ives undeterred by the ungodliness of others in terms of him coming to worship he came every year three times a year to worship God despite the hypocrisy and the sinfulness that he found at the place of worship so much so that we just read in Chapter two people hated coming at all because they ran into these ripoffs who are just serving themselves and taking from the people here's why I bring it up to you I've heard people say before that they refuse to go to church because there's too many hypocrites I usually say to people like that well then don't join them and make it any worse but there is always this desire to blame others for your lack of devotion oh I would accept so-and-so did this and so on so said that and and and they they point to the weakness of others rather than being devoted to the Lord who can handle all of those things we're supposed to worship the Lord no matter how poor the examples of others might be and that that doesn't mean you should be in a church where there's poor leadership examples I hope that's not the case but it is a good thing to point out that you can't excuse your own commitment and responsibility by blaming your lack on the behavior of others and Elkin I didn't do that he came every year with his family and whether they were poor or wicked leaders there or not it didn't matter to him he came to serve the Lord so I guess I wasn't saying Tia's be careful in your walk and your service to the Lord and your example to others don't let their poor example sideline you everybody's weak some people are way too weak but but still keep your eyes on Jesus and certainly Elkanah did that very well wasn't a pretty place to come and worship apparently in his days not a place you'd look forward to going but yet between him and the Lord that's exactly what he wanted to do we read in verse 4 and when the time came for Elkanah to make his offering he would give portions to ELCA peninnah his wife and to all of her sons and daughters but to Hannah he would give a double portion for he loved Hannah even though the Lord had closed her womb and here rival also provoked her severely to make her miserable because the Lord has shut her womb although you were not allowed to eat the sin offering that had to be offered and burned up on the Walter when you came to cover for your sin the peace offering the Thanksgiving offering though those offerings of relationship in their law format were often returned to you that meet a large portion of it so that you could sit down in God's presence and eat with God it was like a time of fellowship with God you would eat with the Lord you you brought your offering you brought it for Thanksgiving or it for peace and and a great portion of it was given back to you in fellowship when that time came Hanna was given by her husband a double portion more than Elkanah because al cana or sorry than Penida because al cana loved her and and you conclude again loved her more loved her better had a favorite i love even if you bear no children here's the sad no statistics of bigamy favoritism and jealousy even the Lord in the commenting of this in verse 6 says that peninnah the other wife was Hannah's rival who used her fertility to severely provoke those are the words that are used here Hannah to make her miserable to take this joyous time of worship and the family vacation and the time of the week-long worship trips to make them worse for her than ever before peninnah had children she didn't have the love of her husband Hannah had no children but her husband loved her greatly but this is a you know this penitent woman is a weak yeah a wicked kind of woman in church so to speak she's mean-spirited she's jealous she's hateful and she's vindictive and this went on on and on now we read here twice that the Lord had closed her womb Anna's wound society in those days saw this as nothing less than a judgment from God because if you are not able to bear children you'd have no opportunity to bear the promised Messiah so you're out of luck you're out of the game you don't stand a chance according to the accusations I'm sure that Hannah wondered if God really rejected her we have no word at all here in this section that this was punishment that it was you know God angry at them or her there is no indication at all that this was punitive at all in fact I think if you read the whole story what you come away with is saying the Lord had a perfect timing and it wasn't time yet but the absorption that people make obviously because God did sometimes use barrenness as a punishment was that that must always be the case and it wasn't if you read through your Bibles you will see that the Lord opened the womb of Lia the Lord opened the room of Rachel later David will ride in the Psalms about the Lord you know blessed are those who children are a heritage from the word the fruit of the womb is his reward God blesses with children but sometimes he blesses not having children so to suspect that her barrenness as a result of God's judgment is foolish not biblical and it shouldn't be biblical in your life of death something you're failing as a foolish conclusion to make yeah I think you would know if God was dealing with you and he would tell you in ways other than that so if you've been trying to have children and you've been unable I either God is preparing you for what lies ahead that's certainly Hannah's story or there are children that need parents like you who don't have then or maybe you have a special ministry that requires you to not have kids at all to be available I don't know can't speak for the Lord but I would not jump to the conclusion that these folks did or that this hateful second wife like to throw in the face of her arrival know this god knows how you feel you can rest in his love but but for Hannah because we've read ahead God was forming her heart so that he could accomplish as well because this time of judges was about to come to an end and what they needed was a godly leader who could King them and bring them forward into a relationship with God that God wanted to have with him and Sammy would be that man we read in verse seven that that year-by-year when they went up to the house of the Lord she peninnah provoked Anna therefore she wept and she couldn't eat I'm in this taunting torment year after year as they went up to Shiloh this waiting by Hannah this suffering that continued got worse on vacation weeks on family trips you never read by the way of Hannah responding in kind like shut up your kids are a bunch of buffoons or yeah you don't get any of that you know Hannah's just real real a good godly woman I think in every way she doesn't respond in kind I think I might have had lots to say to this woman but God is working it out if you will we read in verse 8 in fact that L cannot her husband would say to her Hannah why do you weep when why do you not eat and why is your heart so grieved am I not better to you than 10 sons I think he's trying to comfort her but I think her answer would have been not at this point you know so here's this woman pen in a year by Europe at the place of worship with this attitude I'm guessing that to go to church doesn't make you a believer in fact the worst gossiper i've ever met in my life I met in church I guess you can find meet all kinds so God allowed all this to happen like I said to prepare Hannah's heart but she didn't know that and and here's the bigger picture for for the reasons for the delay that God will be revealing himself but but look the waiting kills you right unless you're ready to rest in the Lord's purposes the we do the waiting can sometimes just wear you out so this went on for years year after year were verse 7 well Hannah is in tears most of the time her husband can't come you know can't comfort her so Hannah verse 9 arises after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh Eli the priest was sitting at the seat of the door post of the tabernacle the Lord and she Hannah was in bitterness of soul and so she went to to the Lord in prayer and and wept in anguish and she made a vow to the Lord O Lord of Hosts same title again if you will indeed look upon the affliction of your handmaiden and remember me not forget your handmaiden but will give your handmaiden a male child I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life no razor shall fall even upon his head I guess on this particular trip she was grieved and she couldn't eat and she kind enough to wait until everyone had eaten and then she quickly got up and ran over to the tabernacle to unload her heart to the Lord she was just a a godly woman of Prayer anguish drove her to her knees to the one who's always ears are always open to their cries this time Eli the high priest was sitting nearby in attendance we are told in verse 10 that Hannah began to talk to the Lord from a broken heart that that she wept in distress this was too much for her she was in despair I can't do this anymore she had come to the end of herself but something happened in verse 11 and she prayers a prayer that I assume from all that we read she had not prayed before she said out of much prayer in one line that that seemed to move the heart of God she reminded the Lord of her difficulty she asks him to remember her as her as his maidservant she uses the word three times maidservant I will whether you are favorable to me or not I will be your female servant for the rest of my life I belong to you so she saw herself in that vein but this day she makes a vow to the Lord that if he would see fit to give her a son she would commit him when she had him to the service of the Lord all the days of his life beginning with his birth he would be given a Nazarite vow right the one that that we've read about before as in Samson's parents lives remember they were told to do the same thing no shaving of they had lots of rules to kind of govern their walk with God but leads us to say it's a dedication a concentration a lot consecration a lot of times it was just for a month you might remember Paul having made those vows as well in the new tests but often after prayer we're faced with the dilemma of delay so Hana is brought to the end of herself this particular year and seeking the Lord for years without success and the divine delayed had brought her to this position and now she said to the Lord I just want a son so that I can be used to give him to you to serve you I don't know if in the years past she prayed please give me a son so I can shut that woman up once and for all because that's the pray therefore act by the prayed or you know in her face Lord get me pregnant you know what we don't read is that at all but what we do read is that she now comes to the end of herself and her only motivation is I want to be a vessel in God's hands as his maid servant and it was the one prayer I think that God was waiting to hear he'd been looking for a man to lead Israel out of their troubled times the word of the Lord was not around much if you read chapter 3 verse 1 of this book you will read that no one was speaking for the Lord no one was seeking the Lord he wanted to get someone who would speak for him but to get a man to use him leadership he got a woman's heart first a heart of a mom a mom who had been waiting for years to be a mother who had cried for years on her own under unable to share her distress whose husband couldn't comfort her whose anger was not directed at her accusers so God hears this if you give me a son I will give him back to you all the days of his life and just like that what he had been waiting for this process of having a child begins and and things change you know oftentimes when legal pray we start off with pretty selfish motives we have kind of narrow outlooks you know we pray we lust and we don't have we covenant we don't obtain we finally war you know James says that's why you're not getting what you're asking for you just want to consume it on your own dot lust a lot of time it starts out that way we covered in spiritual statements Oh Lord just deal with my neighbor may they get saved and move away you know we we have all kinds of reasons to do stuff and and God flushes those out and over time prayer brings us to that place that that we will begin to pray as God would want us to so maybe in years gone by she prays that she could you know she could give her loving husband a child so he would be happy with her but but all of these delays were conforming her to God's will and in the process God brought her to the recognition and to the resignation that that all she wanted to do was be a servant I want to just be a maidservant she says it very clearly three times and so at the end in verse 18 we will get to in just a moment you will read that she walked away from this prayer time no longer sad something happened within she just felt like this was it right verse 12 it happened that she continued praying before the Lord that Eli watched her mouth now Hannah was speaking in her heart but her lips were moving her voice wasn't heard and you know I thought she was drunk and so either I said you were how long will you be drunk put your wine away from you and I said no my lord I'm a woman of a sorrowful spirit I haven't drunk neither wine or intoxicating drink but I've been pouring out my low heart before the Lord do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman for out of the abundance of my complaining grief I have spoken until now and Eli answered and said go in peace may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him and she said let your maidservant find favor in your sight and the woman went away and she ate and her face was no longer sad he lied the priest sitting nearby misinterpreted her condition and presumes she was drunk mumbling to herself kind of threw a stinging rebuke adora airway he's a well-meaning spiritual man you know don't don't hurt him too bad but at the same time he's wrong when my first wife died young at 25 of leukemia I had someone at the funeral said to me brother if you'd had just had more faith and I went all right I could hit him or I could just realize he's trying to be nice but he's just an idiot and I kind of just wrote it off well you know you don't know any is kind of stupid thing to say and I think that's kind of where Eli was I think Eli just had a stupid thing and I don't think he meant to hurt her I think he hears if I put myself in his place and especially since this is the time of the judges I I would presume that he had to deal with drunks of far more often than he should at the Tribeca that this wasn't the first time he thought someone was plowed and this wasn't the first time Schulman showed up just kind of mumbling to themselves I think he's he's become a bouncer rather than a priest I think this is not a good place a spiritual place to be during this time so he finds himself having to do a lot of struggling in the house of the Lord and so he was greatly mistaken he was hurtful in his rebuke Hannah was extremely gracious in her response we never see her fighting back like I told you again I might have ministered to Eli in other ways Hannah was graceful and she was godly in her response to his credit noted in verse 17 and 18 Eli the high priest was immediately recognized his ear and he blesses her praised on her crying out to the Lord might be heard by God by the way your high priests never understood never understand this understands you so that's good to know but but notice the effect of this time of Prayer it was different than before compared to the other times when she left with the same heard she came in with this time she left with a smile on her face and her appetite returned and she had come from a place of surrendering her will to his her outward circumstances had not changed at all but she'd changed and the Lord had touched her life and as a result she could just leave this here and she'd made a vow and now she's gonna she's gonna rest in that and off she goes another year of travel to and from China verse 19 they rose again early in the next morning and they worship one more time before the Lord before they returned to their home in Rama and alcona knew Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her and so it came to pass in the process of that time that Hannah conceived and bored son called his name Samuel saying because I have asked for him from the Lord notice verse 19 the next morning her commitment was still a reality it wasn't an emotional deal it was a heartfelt true step in the right direction she left the tabernacle hovering worship she goes home she has normal physical relationships with her husband it doesn't seem to say she got pregnant on day one it just said over the period of time I don't long we don't know she finally did get pregnant and then she gave birth over time to this boy that she named Sammy other words Samuel means to be heard by God and this boy was an answer to her prayers now put yourself in Hannah's shoes you've been waiting forever this woman's been in your grill you know you finally get the baby you're waiting month don't you say to the Lord Lord you know I was you know when I met he was gonna serve you I meant from home right all right you know I was emotional Lord you know how mom yes you know she had a hundred reasons to rationalize away this vow that she had made back there before the Lord and I don't know if anybody could have argued with her except the Lord because this is you know this was beautiful and and she had promised to take him all the days of his life she looks at this baby in her hands she she could have said no Eli's got a horrible track records as kids or buffoons I can't entrust my kid to someone like that she I made the promise in great distress I claimed temporary insanity you understand don't you Lord no you made a promise so what does she do verse 21 now the man Alcona and all of his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and his vow but Hannah did not go up for she said to her hundred husband not until the child is weaned and then I will take him that he may appear before the Lord and remain there forever so L can our husband said to her do it seems right to you here's good advice for your husband's your wife allows you to do so and just say do it everyone happy wife happy life there's the verse right there happy one wife okay do what seems best to you wait until you have leaned him only let the word the Lord establishes word and so the woman stayed a nurse search I'll chill she had weaned him so Hannah does not make excuses she had made a promise to the Lord no wonder God worked in and through her life look according to numbers by the way chapter 30 a woman in that culture could not make a promise to the Lord without her husband signing off in fact if her husband didn't sign off it was null and void so she says I don't want to take the baby until I can leave the baby until he's old enough to stay without my daily care and her husband says fine do what you want but let's let's make sure that we do what we promised the Lord so he was in on this right he signed off on this agreement as well Eli was involved and he wanted notice verse 23 his blessings to let let the Lord establish his word let's do it the way he intended us to so she stayed home to wean Samuel determined that once he was weaned she would deliver him to the temple or to the tabernacle I should say to serve the Lord now weaning Old Testament style usually took from three to four years so these years seems to pass by in relative silence her husband made trips she did not always think about young families in our church and we have a lot of them that have kids and and usually the moms are real involved in the church until the baby's born and then they disappear and then eventually they end up back there behind the glass you know and they it's hard being a new mom and learning all that stuff and it's kind of the weaning time you know you're just as busy as you could be raising your kids and then eventually they're the kids are older and they're back involved as they should be but that was that was Hannah's heart I want to I want to get him healthy and well and and share with him my heart and ministered to him as a mom and then I'm gonna do what I promised the Lord verse 24 when she had weaned him she took him with her took three bulls and an ephah of flour and a skin of Wein she went to the house of the Lord in Shiloh the child was young young three or four years old they slaughtered a bull they said to and they brought the child to Eli and Eli and she said o my lord as your soul lives my lord I am the woman who stood by you here praying to the Lord for this child I have prayed the Lord has given him to me for my petition which I asked of him therefore I also have lent him to the Lord now as long as he lives he shall be led to the Lord and so they worshiped the Lord there I can only imagine the joy of her testimony and the witness to Eli she was an encouragement and so would this little boy be in the days and weeks to come we have certainly prayed for couples to have kids here dedicated their children later a lot of people take pregnancy for granted these parents certainly did not but anyways here's and Hannah and her dog her husband they come to give the child back now imagine that put yourself in that position she had promised him to the Lord this is obviously a different culture than you can relate to today in type is a little bit like a baby dedication right there aren't any biblical support by the way for infant baptisms but there's lots of support for for dedication of children and it's all about the parents you dedicate your children you're saying Lord use me so they brought him to be dedicated they worshiped and they left what an amazing couple and how they wanted the spiritual well-being for their son and how they wanted to please the Lord and all that they had done and she becomes a vessel a handmaiden that God was certainly used and I would say you know say to you Samuel becomes the guy in the in the next generation of godly men that they needed to follow well let's end with this let's read the first eleven verses of chapter 2 we will look at it more in detail along with the rest of the chapter next week but I wanted you to go home thinking about what Hannah said as she dropped off her son what her prayer was that day she delivered her son into evolved people Eli's Care verse one and Hannah prayed and she said this my heart rejoices in the Lord and my horn is exalted in the Lord I smile at my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation no one is holy no one is holy like the Lord there is none beside you there is there is nor is there any rock like our God talk no more so very proudly let your arrogance come from nor let no arrogance come from your mouth for the Lord is the God of knowledge by him actions are weighed the bows of the mighty men are broken and those who stumbled are girded with strength those who were full have hired himself out for bread and the hungry have ceased to be hungry even the barren has born seven and she who as many children has become feeble the Lord kills and he makes alive he brings down to the grave and he brings up the Lord makes poor and it makes rich he brings low and he lifts up he raises the poor from the dust and and lifts the beggar from the ash heap to set them among princes and give them an inheritance and let them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars are thee of the earth are the lords and he has set the world upon them he will guard the feet of his Saints but the wicked shall be brought into silent and darkness for by strength no man shall prevail the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces from heaven he will fetter upon them the Lord will judge the heavens and the earth he will give strength to kings and exalt the Horn of his anointed and elkanah went to his house at Rama but the child ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest pretty amazing what a lesson to learn father tonight as we sit together it is amazing to see the devotion of this woman who found herself not only suffering a the hands of a of a wicked wife to other wife but she found herself in the dilemma of wondering if you had turned against her that somehow if her barrenness and her suffering were the results of your anger and yet over the years you continued to shape her heart she was she was kind she was merciful she was patient she was heartbroken she struggled and yet she rested in you and over time she was brought to the resignation or the realization that what she really wanted more than anything else was to serve God to be a part of his plans that a vessel in his end a maidservant and with that prayer cried out and in tears Lord you brought her to that place where you wanted her to to be that vessel to bear the son to wean this young boy Samuel that you would then raise him up there in the house of God to be that that example to Israel of what God could be like especially since all they had to go on was Eli's two wicked sons and the chaos that they had brought Lord I'm sure that Hannah could never have looked around to understand all of these things but you ride them for us here in the history book so that we might consider her faithfulness your goodness and be able to stand in our lives and rest in the fact that God you don't always do it the way we want but the end of everything of any importance is that we come to a place where we want what you want that we're satisfied with what you provide we're we're willing to give you our all because you've given it to us and that certainly Lord seems to be the the call upon our hearts we think about this this family of Elkanah the difficulty with the two wives but it still has heart to serve God to do the right thing and how you used him and his wife and how you can use us living in the days of Judges much like today no one believes in God wants to serve the Lord and everyone's doing their own thing the morale bar is continually being lowered around us and yet you're still on the throne and you used to have a people in in this world that need to shine for you may we stand Lord together steadfast in our faith so that you might raise up a generation out of our lives that like Samuel can touch the culture change the society make a difference Lord we love you today thank you for the lesson of chapter 1 we look forward to what you're gonna tell us next as we move along to just to hear and to know what it is that we should do next leave with us Lord this week be glorified in our lives if tonight you need some prayer the pastors will be up front it's good to leave things with God just like Hannah here Lord take this amazing what God will do when you leave things with him so do that tonight go home with peace and joy God loves you so shall we stand

Channel: morningstarcc

Views: 960

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: uW4v3pSmb9s

Length: 52min 0sec (3120 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 11 2019