Today’s reading has a tale of two families. The first, the family of Elkanah and Hannah, did just about everything right and God moved closer to them and blessed them. The second, the family of Eli, did almost everything wrong, and God withdrew from them and cursed them.

Let’s begin with Hannah and her great faith and obedience to God.

Hannah Prays

When we left Hannah yesterday, she was at the family feast, lost in sorrow and unable to eat. No one seemed to understand her, not even Elkanah who truly loved her. She left the table and went away to pray, and she made a vow to the Lord.

“Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” 1 Samuel 1:11

Eli the priest observed Hannah and thought she must be drunk. Perhaps Eli was used to seeing people overeat and drink too much at the annual festivals. But Hannah’s disheveled appearance came from the agony of her soul.

“I am a woman who is deeply troubled . . . I was pouring out my soul to the Lord . . . I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” 1 Samuel 1:13-14

Eli had an answer for Hannah from the Lord. “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” 1 Samuel 1:17

Hannah knew instantly that God had heard her. Her appetite returned and her face brightened.

Samuel is Born and Dedicated

Elkanah and Hannah were soon the parents of a son and they named him Samuel, which sounds like “heard by God” in Hebrew. Hannah stayed home with her baby the first time Elkanah’s family went to Shiloh after Samuel’s birth.

“She said to her husband, ‘After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.’” 1 Samuel 1:22

Samuel was probably around three years old when Hannah brought him to Shiloh. She fulfilled her vow that he would belong to God all the days of his life, and then she and Elkanah went home to Ramah without their son.

Each year when the family returned to Shiloh, Hannah brought Samuel a new robe hand made for him. Over time she also introduced him to three little brothers and two little sisters. The Lord was gracious to Hannah.

Hannah’s Song

Hannah’s song begins with her personal experience of God and moves to a cosmic view of the Lord’s sovereignty and power. She starts in 1 Samuel 2:1-2 with praises to God for his greatness and his kindness in answering her prayers.

“There is no one like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.” 1 Samuel 1:2

1 Samuel 2:3-5 talks about the great reversal God brought about in Hannah’s life, from barrenness she became the mother of many children. She rebukes her rival for speaking proudly and arrogantly against her in the past.

The Lord had weighed Peninnah’s deeds and dealt with her accordingly. Hannah became a happy mother of many children, but it seems that Peninnah, who also had many children, pined away. Perhaps Peninnah longed for the kind of love Elkanah and Hannah shared.

In 1 Samuel 2:6-10 Hannah points to God’s absolute sovereignty throughout the universe.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts . . . For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.”

 Hannah’s song introduces a major theme that will continue in 1 Samuel: God is able to raise up and bring down whomever he chooses.

“He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” 1 Samuel 2:10

Eli’s Wicked Sons

Samuel grew up under Eli’s care and was a minister from an early age. Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phineas, were sort of foster brothers to Samuel, but unfortunately, “Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord.” 1 Samuel 2:12

Samuel was the kind of younger brother who watched what the older brothers did wrong and learned from their mistakes. 1 Samuel 2:26 says that “the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and people.”

Hophni and Phineas had no regard for God and the work he had given them to do. They stole meat offerings out of boiling pots and from the tables of sacrifice before they were properly prepared. They disrupted the very rituals they were supposed to guard in their role as priests.

Besides that, Eli’s two sons were sexually immoral with the women who served at the entrance to the tabernacle. Eli confronted them, “his son, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.” 1 Samuel 2:25

As Hannah observed in her song: “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he bring down to the grave and raises up.”

God Curses Eli’s Family

God asked Eli: “Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?” 1 Samuel 2:29

Apparently Eli was not successful in rebuking his sons because he was also fattening himself on the offerings they stole.

“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.” 1 Samuel 2:30-33

Eli’s sons Hophni and Phineas would be the first to have their lives cut short.

Samuel Becomes a Prophet

God rarely spoke during this sad time in Israel because he didn’t have reliable people to speak through. He told Eli, “I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind.” 1 Samuel 2:35

That faithful priest turned out to be the boy Samuel. God called to Samuel in the night – four times. The first three times, Samuel thought Eli was calling him and ran to him. It was Eli who realized that God must be calling Samuel and he told him what to say.

“Then Samuel said, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” 1 Samuel 3:10

God spoke, and it was bad news for Eli. God told Samuel that the curse on Eli’s family was about to begin and that there was no way to prevent it. The guilt of Eli’s house would never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.

Samuel didn’t want to tell Eli what he heard from God, but Eli said, “May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything that he told you.” 1 Samuel 3:17

Samuel told Eli everything and then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” 1 Samuel 3:18

After that the Lord was with Samuel and blessed his words. All of Israel attested to the fact that Samuel had become a prophet.

The Philistines Capture the Ark

Tomorrow we will pick up the story of the Philistines war with Israel that resulted in the capture of the Ark of the Covenant. We will see more evidence that, as Hannah said,

“It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.” 1 Samuel 1:9-10