Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 09 Sept. 2012
Presented on behalf of Corps 614 Regent Park in Toronto, 06 Aug. 2016
Presented on behalf of Corps 614 Regent Park in Toronto, 06 Aug. 2016
By Captain Michael Ramsay
Today’s pericope relates the prophet Samuel’s dedication to the Lord by his parents. This particular dedication falls in the midst of quite an extreme situation. It is even quite extreme for today’s world. To re-cap the situation we read about earlier: Hannah, Samuel’s mother-to-be, has been praying for a child for a long time. Now this is significant and the fact that the Lord answered this prayer in the affirmative is wonderful and I have heard testimonies from others about how the LORD has blessed parents after many, many years of praying for a child. There are many people who have not been able to have children and then when they almost give up the Lord miraculously provides. This is the grace and the wonder of God, of course, but there is even more to the story today of the baby Samuel’s birth and dedication.
Hannah and Elkanah, Samuel’s parents-to-be, they love each other very much and they really want to have a child and, for the record, having a child was even more important to families 3000 years ago in Israel, when this story takes place, than it is today. And that relates to, among other things, one’s retirement (Deuteronomy 5:16, Exodus 20:12).[1] In those days there were no seniors’ cruises, no seniors’ discounts at the stores, no old age pensions, no RRSPs, and no retirement homes; so, if you did not have someone to look after you in your twilight years, then you were alone and you were probably hungry and you may not even survive. Having a child in this time and place was a blessing not just for the child herself or for the help that she could provide around the house or the farm, the child really was your only retirement plan. He was your life savings and Hannah and Elkanah had no child.
Now our text today mentions that Elkanah has two wives. While this situation appears more than once in the Old Testament – we all know Abraham and Jacob, for example, and later many of the kings had more than one wife - it is rare, however, for the non-wealthy ancient Israelites like Elkanah to have more than one wife.[2] Hannah, the wife he loved, was his first wife. Given this rarity of polygamy amongst everyday people, some scholars have assumed that it is precisely because one’s life depended so much on having a child that Elkanah would have taken another wife. Even though they were hoping and praying for a child, they were unable to have a child so Hannah and Elkanah may have even decided together that he should take a second wife – Peninnah[3] (cf. the actions of Sarai, Genesis 16:2; Rachel, Genesis 30:3; and Leah, Genesis 30:9).
Now this did solve the problem of getting a child. Peninnah bore many children (1 Samuel 1:3,4), but - as you can well imagine - one husband with two wives brought its own problems. Particularly since Hannah, who loves her husband very much, is now not only without a child herself but she has to deal with the children of her husband and this other woman who all living under the same roof, in the same house with her. Can you imagine? Sounds like it could be a reality TV show or something.
So then with all this turmoil going on and the other woman and the other woman’s children all living in the same house, Elkanah, in the full perception of a modern TV husband, he comes up to his wife and says, ‘Is there anything wrong? You look sad,’ he says; can you imagine?
It is in this state; it is in this time that Hannah goes to church, the sanctuary, a temple at Shilo to make a sacrifice to the Lord.[4] She is truly begging and pleading with God. She promises the LORD, “please, if you give me a son, I will give him back to you to serve you all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). This is the oath; the vow that she makes to God and God takes this vow like all covenants, oaths and vows very seriously.
Before we look more at Hannah, Elkanah, the vow and the particulars of their situation, let’s take a look at the general situation in the time of Israel when this is taking place. These events here are recorded in the book of 1 Samuel and Samuel is a judge.[5] Samuel is the last judge of Israel actually and last week we spoke a little bit about what Israel was like in the time of the judges.[6] But first, who can tell me what it means when someone is referred to as a judge in the book of Judges or in the book of Samuel? What is a judge? A judge – with the notable exception of Deborah - is a primarily military ruler. They are like despots or a combination between generals and regional kings.
We also remember what happened to Israel in the time of the judges. They walked further and further away from the LORD. They served idols and other gods. They forsook the LORD many times over. In the time and the place of the judges they repeatedly turned away from the Lord and suffered the consequences of just that (Judges 2:11, 3:7, 3:12. 4:1, 6:11, 10:6, 13:1, 20:13). The time of the judges probably takes place over a period of 400 years. After those 400 years the Hebrews had put themselves into a pretty bad situation. As the Israelites walked away from God, they obviously didn’t see Him regularly anymore; as they did not call on Him much anymore, they did not hear from Him much anymore (1 Samuel 3:1). Eli, the priest, was the penultimate judge of Israel and his sons and presumed heirs were as bad as anyone (cf. 1 Samuel 2:12-25).
Of Eli the priest’s own sons -who were themselves priests at Shilo- 1 Samuel 2:12 records, “Eli’s sons were wicked men; they had no regard for the Lord.” They would eat food that was dedicated to the Lord that they were not supposed to eat. When people protested their disregard for the Lord’s instructions, Eli’s sons, the priests would threaten those who challenged them with violence (1 Samuel 2:16). And on top of all of this they even, 2 Samuel 2:22b, “…slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.” This was the condition of even those serving the Lord and this was the condition of even those leading the people of Israel at the Tent of Meeting in Shilo.
Last week, we shared in a particularly pointed sermon, more so than most that we share here, in which we exposed ways that even we in this very city (which is probably among the holiest in Canada) are probably not all that different from Israel at the time of the judges. We looked at what happened to ancient Israel as they attempted to leave the Lord behind. They suffered many natural and logical consequences of their sin but God still kept calling them back to Him. He did not give up on them just because they gave up on Him; He is faithful even when they are faithless (Romans 3:3,4; cf. Deuteronomy 31:6, Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5). This faithlessness of mankind and this faithfulness of God through His covenant vow is where the story of 1 Samuel picks up with Hannah and Elkanah’s faithfulness and their covenant vow. When Israel had gotten as bad as it was, when Israel was idolatrous, prostituting themselves to other gods (Judges 2:17), God still was calling them back. Things kept getting worse and worse and worse and then at the beginning of the book of Samuel here, God gives the priest Eli a vision that God later confirms through Samuel (2 Samuel 2:27-36, 3:11-14). Like with the time before the Exodus, things had gotten as bad as they were going to get and then God is moved to action.
It is in this time when their society was then, like our society is now, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord through doing what is right in their own eyes that Hanna goes to the temple; she goes to Shilo, to make a sacrifice to the Lord - and she is truly begging and pleading with God. She promises the LORD, “please, if you give me a son, I will give him back to you to serve you all the days of his life” 1 Samuel 1:11)
We should look at this very quickly. I was asked this week, what good a son would do Hannah if she just winds up giving him back to God anyway? Visiting him only once a year? One thing is that his existence proves that she is not barren. Barrenness represents quite a negative stigma in the Bible. Both Hannah and Elkanah see that it is God who is withholding the blessing of a child from her (1 Samuel 1:6). She wants desperately to receive this blessing from the Lord; she wants so much to have the barrenness replaced with fertility (1 Samuel 2:5) that she is even willing to offer up the first fruits of this fertility to the Lord. God answers her pleas; God honours her request and more.[7]
God is moved. God is moved to action. God accepts Hannah’s offer. He accepts her vow. God blesses Hannah with the child, Samuel, and she offers this child right back to the Lord to serve Him forever. Hannah and Elkanah are faithful to this covenant made with the Lord at Shilo. This is a true story and Elkanah and Hannah have many more children – sons and daughters - after Samuel (1 Samuel 2:5, 21). Samuel, the baby, grows up serving God, and there is even more. The blessing of this covenant involving God and Samuel’s parents doesn’t stop with them.[8]
Samuel actually grows up to become the last pre-monarchy ruler of Israel. God actually uses Samuel to deliver Israel and, more than that, God uses Samuel to anoint the first two kings of Israel. God uses Samuel to anoint King David, through whom the Messiah descends. God uses Samuel in this way to prepare the way of the anointed, to lay the groundwork for the Messiah.
When the children of Israel are acting as bad as anyone can act. When it looks like they have totally rejected the Lord so that even those serving in ministry before the Lord are evil, when their whole society has spiralled seemingly out of control, one lady goes to Lord and prays. One lady who desperately wants a child, offers that child as a living sacrifice to the Lord. One lady seeks the Lord and He finds her and He saves her and He finds the whole Israelite community and He provides salvation for the whole Israelite community (cf. Matthew 6:33). Where the community was barren, He plants the seed of revival and lays the groundwork here for salvation.
This story -as extreme as it is- has some things in common with what we are dealing with today in this time and place actually. Last week we ran through a lot of the problems that exist not just in the big picture of this country with the false gods of capitalism, democracy, individualism, consumerism, pluralism, secularism, atheism, etc.;[9] We also spoke about the very real worship of other possibly even more tangible false gods that is happening right here in our community of Swift Current. We spoke of classes in the demonic arts that are offered to children and adults alike in this city and we spoke about how even in our schools and churches people are exposed to evil movies that promote, among other things, occult practices. Our country – which was founded on the word of God – has been seemingly profaning that word vigorously in recent years. As we said last week, in general we here seem to be guilty of the same sins of the time of Samuel’s birth and the book of Judges where we are doing what is right in our own eyes instead of putting God and our neighbour first.
Canada was founded on the Word of God, Psalm 72:8. Our highest honour, the Order of Canada, by claiming as its verse Hebrews 11:16 implies that those honoured by this honour reflect the traits of those heroes of Hebrews 11. We now, as a nation, however seem to be acting as bad as anyone nation can act. When even now, when it looks maybe our country has almost totally rejected the Lord, when our whole society may seem to be spiralling out of control, one person, like Hannah, can go to Lord and pray. The Scriptures tell us that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16). One lady sought the Lord and He found her and He saved her and He found the whole Israelite community and He saved the whole Israelite community. One righteous Canadian, one righteous person from Saskatchewan, one righteous person from Swift Current, one righteous person here today, as any one of us and all of us, as we seek the Lord and as we offer up our lives to Him as a living sacrifice, He promises that He can save us and He promises that He will save us (cf. Matthew 6:33). And God Himself has already provided –between the cross and the empty tomb- for that salvation for the whole world so that whosoever believes in Him need not perish but indeed can have everlasting life (John 3:16). So with all of this in mind, if there are any of us here who have not yet offered up our lives through the Lord Jesus Christ to God our Father, I would invite us to do just that today. His Salvation is just as real today in Canada as it was 3000 years ago in Israel and He invites each and every one of us to experience the joy of that salvation both now and forever more.
Let us pray.
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[1] Captain Michael Ramsay, Holiness Test: Deuteronomy 5:1-21, Exodus 20:1-17, Luke 10:25-27, Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22:34-40, presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (August 12, 2012). Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/08/holiness-test-deuteronomy-51-21-exodus.html (cited September 06, 2012).
[2] Ronald F Youngblood in The Expositor's Bible Commentary, CD-ROM: The birth and dedication of Samuel (1:1-28)
[3] Bruce C. Birch, The First and Second Books of Samuel in The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 2, ed. Leander E. Keck, et el. (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1998), p. 974.
[4] Cf. Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 1988 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries 8), S. 56.
[5] Marjorie Menaul, "Between Text & Sermon: 1 Samuel 1 & 2", Interpretation Vol. 55 (2001), 175: Internal indicators suggest alternative boundaries for the ‘book’ that includes these chapters, boundaries that begin at Judges 2:11 and end with 1 Sam 12
[6] Captain Michael Ramsay, Judges 2:11-19: Return to the God of Our Fathers, presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army (September 2, 2012). Available on-line at http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2012/08/judges-211-19-return-to-god-of-our.html cited September 06, 2012.
[7] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, Deuterononomic History in Interpreting Biblical Texts, eds. Lloyd R. Bailey, Sr. and Victor P. Furnish (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press), 101, 107.
[8] Cf. Terence E. Fretheim, Deuterononomic History in Interpreting Biblical Texts, eds. Lloyd R. Bailey, Sr. and Victor P. Furnish (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press), 101.
[9] Cf. K. Lawson Younger, Judges/Ruth in The NIV Application Commentary, ed. Terry Mick (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), 96: “Everything in our culture… pushes us in the direction of advancing our standard of living for more comfort, pleasure, and self-confidence without any thought of the Creator”
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