1 Samuel
1-3[i]
Moses led
the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Joshua led
the children of Israel in the conquest of Canaan.
After these
two great men, came the period of time known as the time of the judges. During the time of the judges, Israel had no
king. Their family ties, known as the 12
tribes, and the common place of worship, known as the tabernacle, were all that
held them together as a nation.
Because of
the tabernacle, the people of Israel shared a common priesthood. They all had the same high priest. The priesthood passed down through the line
of Aaron. However, there were no direct
successors to the leadership roles held by Moses and Joshua.
In the
absence of strong leadership, the people's commitment to the Law of Moses and
to God was not strong enough to hold them.
They quickly turned to idol worship, child sacrifice and all manner of
evil forbidden by the Law of Moses. Because
of this rebellion, God would raise up peoples and nations who oppressed the
people of Israel. This oppression caused
the people of Israel to cry out to God for help and deliverance, and in response,
God would raise up a leader, a judge, to deliver his people. This leader or judge would lead the people
back to the Lord their God and as long as the leader lived, the people would
remain faithful to God. However, after
the leader was gone, the people quickly returned to their rebellious ways.
This period
of Israel's history is known as the time of the judges. The pattern we just talked about is called
the cycle of the judges. The book of
Judges in the Old Testament tells the story of this period in Israel's history. Many Christians know the names of some of the
famous judges. For example, Deborah,
Gideon, Jephthah and Samson are a few.
A man named
Samuel was the last of these judges. The
books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel tell the story of the establishment of a
national political system ruled by a king.
The period
of the judges demonstrated the inability or the unwillingness of people to follow
God with a whole heart, or recognize God as their King. Two commands sum up the Law of Moses: 1) Love
the Lord your God with all your heart, 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus taught that these two commands encapsulate
all the Law the Prophets.
The cycle
of the judges of continual falling away, punishment and then renewal is
consistent with how the human heart works.
When God led the children of Israel out of Egypt through his servant
Moses, he tested the people to see if they would follow his commands. At the end of his life, Moses gave a message
to the people of Israel and said, "Remember how the LORD your God led you
through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to
prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his
commands." (Deuteronomy 8:2) This humbling and testing of the children of
Israel over 40 years produced a history very similar to the cycle of the
judges.
This cycle
of falling away, punishment and renewal is repeated in individual lives as
well. However, it is not true of
everybody. The book of 1 Samuel begins
with the story of a faithful man and his family. The man was a Levite and his name was Elkanah.
In
Elkanah's family, we are introduced to a conflict between his two wives. 1 Samuel 1:6 tells us that Peninnah would
taunt and make fun of Hannah. Because of
this taunting, I assume that Peninnah was of an ungodly character. Because of her praying and seeking the Lord
for help, I assume that Hannah was of a godly character. This conflict in Elkanah's family was
mirrored in the leadership of the nation.
Eli was the
high priest at that time. Eli seems to
me to have been a godly enough man.
However, his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were wicked. 1 Samuel 2:12 tells us that these sons of Eli
had no respect for the Lord. They took
from the Lord's offerings what was not theirs to take. They used their position as priests to take
advantage of the young women who served at the entrance to the tabernacle.
Eli warned
his sons saying, "I have been hearing reports from all the people about
the wicked things you are doing. Why do
you keep sinning? You must stop, my
sons! The reports I hear among the Lord’s
people are not good. If someone sins
against another person, God can mediate for the guilty party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can
intercede?" (1 Samuel 2:23-25) However, he took no further action. Therefore, God sent a prophet to warn Eli
that he must stop his sons’ evil behavior.
In Chapter 2 verse 29, God asks a question, "Why do you give your
sons more honor than you give me?"
Then God warned of terrible punishments or judgments that would fall on
Eli's family.
When we
read the terrible judgments that were to befall the family of Eli, we must
remember that they were entrusted with the leadership of the whole nation. This reminds me of the warning given to us in
James 3:1, "Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become
teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly."
The root of
the conflict in Eli’s family was a conflict between a commitment to God and a
commitment to one’s own selfish motives.
The same conflict was at the root of the conflict in Elkanah’s
family. This choice between loving and
obeying God and obeying self is at the root of the human cycle of the judges. The book of Judges sheds light on this
problem with the statement, "In those days Israel had no king; all the
people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes." (Judges 21:25)
God always
reserves people that are faithful to him.
Elkanah and Hannah were two such people.
Hannah promised to dedicate her son to the Lord. When God gave her the son she requested, she
named him Samuel which may mean “given of God” or “requested of God.” True to her promise, when Samuel was weaned
Hannah took Samuel to the Tabernacle and dedicated him there to the Lord's
service. Samuel lived in the Tabernacle
as Eli's assistant from the time he was a small boy. (1 Samuel 1:24, 3:1)
Samuel grew
up in much the same setting that Eli's two sons would have. However, Samuel was a completely different
character. From the time he was a young
boy, Samuel demonstrated his commitment to the Lord. 1 Samuel 2:11 says "And the boy served
the Lord by assisting Eli the priest."
Chapter 3 begins with the same words about Samuel serving the Lord. Where the Scriptures indicate that Eli sons
were wicked, they indicate that Samuel served the Lord.
1 Samuel 3:1
also points out that "in those days messages from the Lord were very rare,
and visions were quite uncommon."
However, God chose to speak to Samuel.
We are not told how old Samuel was at this time but he was apparently
still quite young. The first word that
Samuel received from the Lord was a repetition of the judgment pronounced by
the man of God that we are told about in chapter 2. 1 Samuel 3:15 tells us that Samuel "was
afraid to tell Eli what the Lord had said to him." But in spite of his fear, Samuel told Eli
everything. What is more, “As Samuel
grew up the Lord was with him and everything Samuel said proved to be
reliable.” (1 Samuel 3:19)
God
intervened and gave Hannah a son because she sought the Lord. God intervened and spoke to Samuel because he
served the Lord. 2 Chronicles 16:9 says,
“The eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose
hearts are fully committed to him.”
Whenever God sent a deliverer during the days of the judges, He would
find a person whose heart was fully committed to Him.
Israel did
not need a king. They had God. However, their hearts were not fully
committed to Him. Samuel heard from the
Lord, because his heart was fully committed to the Lord.
Would you
like to be strengthened by the Lord?
Would you
like to live your life free of the cycle of the judges?
The answer
is quite simple. The Lord searches the
whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully His.
[i]
Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New
Living Translation. Copyright © 1996,
2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Steam,
Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.