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1st Samuel Chapter One

(Outline continues from yesterday)

6. Hannah made a vow to the Lord, promising that if the Lord blessed her with a son, she would dedicate that son to the Lord as a life-long Nazirite (1st Sam. 1:11; Num. 6:5).
7. Hannah is finally comforted when the High Priest joins in her petition to the Lord (1st Sam. 1:17,18).
8. With her soul comforted, Hannah was able to worship together with her husband, and return to normal family-life in Ramah (1st Sam. 1:19a).
9. God in His Sovereignty had closed Hannah’s womb (1st Sam. 1:5), but now as a result of prayer, He opened her womb (1st Sam. 1:19b,20).
10. Hannah named the boy Samuel in recognition of God’s faithfulness in hearing her prayer.  שְׁמוּאֵל sh^emuw’ēl ^#8050: God has heard.  שָׁמַע shāma‘ ^#8085: to hear, listen, obey.
11. Elkanah fulfilled his vow (1st Sam. 1:21), and when Samuel was weaned, Hannah fulfilled her vow (1st Sam. 1:22-28).
    1. We don’t know what Elkanah’s vow was.  Perhaps he had a similar vow to Hannah’s, or perhaps his vow was concerning Peninnah’s evil ways.
    2. Elkanah understood that Hannah had to fulfill her vow, as she was led by the Lord to properly do so.
12. Samuel entered into the service of the Lord at Shiloh, as a Levitical assistant to Eli the High Priest (1st Sam. 1:28).
    1. This occurred as soon as he was weaned, perhaps at three years of age.
    2. The boy, at that age, had a spiritual capacity for worship (1st Sam. 1:28; Isa. 28:9; Ps. 131:2).

1st Samuel Chapter Two

1. Hannah composed a hymn of praise in response to the faithfulness of the Lord (1st Sam. 2:1-10).
   1. The song gives us some clues as to the hostility of Peninnah.
      1. Enemies (plural) (1st Sam. 2:1) indicates that Peninnah and others (her children, perhaps) teamed up in their provocation of Hannah.
      2. The provocation was prideful boasting (1st Sam. 2:3).
      3. Peninnah had bios life abundance, but zoe life misery (1st Sam. 2:5).
   2. The song is a remarkable expression of God’s Sovereignty, Righteousness and Justice.
   3. The song prophetically looks forward to the eternal judgment of the wicked, and the eternal exaltation of the Anointed King (1st Sam. 2:9,10).
2. The sons of Eli were progressing in their evil.
   1. They perverted the Levitical sacrifices (1st Sam. 2:12-17).
   2. They engaged in sexual misconduct (1st Sam. 2:22-25).
   3. The Lord hardened their hearts, as He designated them for the Sin Unto Death (1st Sam. 2:25; cf. Josh. 11:20).
3. Samuel was progressing in righteousness.
   1. He worshiped the Lord (1st Sam. 1:28), ministered to the Lord (1st Sam. 2:11,18; 3:1), and was called by the Lord (1st Sam. 3:4,6,8,10).
   2. He grew before the Lord (1st Sam. 2:21), in stature and favor before the Lord and with men (1st Sam. 2:26).
4. Elkanah & Hannah visited their son each year when they came to the tabernacle annually (1st Sam. 2:18,19).
5. Eli’s blessing upon Elkanah & Hannah moved the Lord to provide five additional children for them (1st Sam. 2:20,21).
6. An anonymous prophet delivered a message of judgment to Eli concerning his house (1st Sam. 2:27-36).
   1. The message is a message of God’s grace despised by man (1st Sam. 2:27-29).
   2. The judgment upon the house of Eli is the removal of that Aaronic line (the line of Eli) from priestly service (1st Sam. 2:30-33).
   3. God’s previous promise to Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron is not invalidated—only the branch of Eli is going to be disciplined (1st Sam. 2:30; Num. 25:10-13).
   4. The short-term sign for this long-term prophecy will be the death of Eli’s two sons on the same day (1st Sam. 2:34).
   5. A promise is then given of a coming faithful priest (1st Sam. 2:35).
      1. The fulfillment of this promise will be realized through faithful Zadok, and the dismissal of Abiathar (1st Kgs. 2:27).
      2. A collateral promise will be realized in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Priest-King (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 5:6).

1st Samuel Chapter Three

1. The Lord called the boy Samuel to prophetic office, and confirmed his previous prophecy to Eli (1st Sam. 3:1-18).
2. Israel’s apostasy was resulting in a spiritual famine within the land (1st Sam. 3:1b; Amos 8:11,12).
3. The Lord called Samuel three times with preliminary callings that the young man had no capacity to understand (1st Sam. 3:4,6,7,8).
4. The old man, Eli, recognized Samuel’s call, and provided the young man with instruction for the recognition and acceptance of his calling (1st Sam. 3:8b,9).
5. Having received the old man’s guidance, Samuel was then prepared for the Lord’s plenary call to the ministry (1st Sam. 3:10).
6. Samuel’s first prophetic message was not a pleasant message to deliver (1st Sam. 3:11-15).
7. Once again, it is old-man Eli, who encourages young-man Samuel in the faithful pursuit of the ministry (1st Sam. 3:16-18).
8. Samuel is then publicly recognized as a national prophet to Israel, and established in the Levitical/priesthood milieu of Shiloh (1st Sam. 3:19-21).
   1. Samuel is a seer (1st Sam. 9:18,19; 1st Chr. 9:22; 26:28; 29:29), or prophet (1st Sam. 3:20; 19:20,24; 2nd Chr. 35:18).
   2. Samuel is also a Judge (1st Sam. 7:6,15).
   3. We can rightly consider him the last of the judges (Acts 13:20), and the first of the prophets (Acts 3:24).

1st Samuel Chapter Four

1. The placement of Samuel in ministry, and the provision of accurate Bible teaching, broke the pattern of Judges.
   1. In Judges, Israel had to come to a terrible oppression before they would cry out to the Lord for a deliverer.
   2. With Samuel, the Lord is providing their prophetic judge prior to the Philistine oppression of 1st Sam. 4.
2. When Israel was defeated by the Philistines, they assumed it was because they had failed to take the Ark of the Covenant with them into battle (1st Sam. 4:2-4).
3. The Philistines reaction to the Ark in the camp (1st Sam. 4:5-11).
   1. They initially responded in fear, because of their memory of Egypt’s humiliation.
   2. They decided to die fighting, rather than submit to Hebrew slavery (imitation of the Amorites rather than imitation of the Gibeonites) (1st Sam. 4:9).
   3. To their surprise, the Philistines were totally victorious (1st Sam. 4:10,11).

(Chapter Four continues tomorrow)