Read 1 Samuel 1:1-3.
1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
(But 1 Chronicles 6:33-38 has an extended family tree which actually traces his ancestry back to Levi. Zuph is mentioned there.)
2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.
3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord.
Most commentators agree that this would have been the Feast of Tabernacles. Let’s read Deuteronomy 16:13-17.
13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
We saw in our previous study that for the three festivals had reduced to an annual one and that the emphasis now was more on the festival than bringing sacrifices.
Elkanah was a Levite and he at least understood the importance of bringing his offering to the Lord. He had made a vow that he would make the journey with his family to the Tabernacle every year (1 Samuel 1:21).
Read 1 Samuel 1:4-8.
4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. 7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, ‘Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?’
Why was this festival a particularly bad time for Hannah?
It was a harvest festival – Hannah had no harvest to celebrate.
Offerings were often cooked and most of it eaten by the offeror and his family, although parts would be given to the priests and small parts may have been burnt on the Altar. This would have taken place within the courtyard of the Tabernacle.
Read 1 Samuel 1:9-11.
9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, ‘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.’
This was the same Nazirite vow that had been taken on behalf of Samson (Judges 13:7) whose mother had also been childless.
What vows can Christian parents and Godparents make on behalf of their children? Note: they can only make vows for themselves, not actually on behalf of their children.
Is it ok to bargain with God in prayer?
(Allow discussion)
I did once – I was a teenager working for a bank and the books had to balance before we could go home; they didn’t – there was an error of a few pence.
We had all stayed for several hours looking for the discrepancy and in desperation I prayed that if I could find it I would tell everyone that I was a Christian and had prayed that God would show me.
Immediately I found the error and showed it to everyone. They were so grateful to me for finding it . . . .
I never kept my side of the bargain to my continuing sadness and remorse. The moment had passed and I could not get it back.
If you make a bargain with God in prayer he may well grant your request, but he will expect you to fulfil your side of the bargain!
Read 1 Samuel 1:12-18.
12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, ‘How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.’
15 ‘Not so, my lord,’ Hannah replied, ‘I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.’
17 Eli answered, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.’
18 She said, ‘May your servant find favour in your eyes.’ Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.
What was the immediate effect of Eli’s prayer?
Can simply offering to pray for someone bring them immediate relief?
Read 1 Samuel 1:19-22.
19 Early the next morning they arose and worshipped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, ‘Because I asked the Lord for him.’ (Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for ‘heard by God’.)
21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfil his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. 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.’
‘Weaned’ could mean no longer taking his mother’s milk, or it could be when he was taking normal solid food – possibly between two to four years old.
Read 1 Samuel 1:23-24.
23 ‘Do what seems best to you,’ her husband Elkanah told her. ‘Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.’ So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.
Hannah was prepared to give up her only son. Not only that but they would also sacrifice a bull – their best bull – in the prime of its life.
Read 1 Samuel 1:25-28.
25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, ‘Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he shall be given over to the Lord.’ And he worshipped the Lord there.
Who worshipped?
(It is generally accepted that the sentence requires it to be Samuel – demonstrating his acceptance of the vow made on his behalf, young as he was – unlike Samson)
Don’t forget the Lord’s part in this too. I’m sure he was preparing Samuel to readily accept this new phase in his life.
Now read 1 Samuel 2:18-21.
18 But Samuel was ministering before the Lord – a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, ‘May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.’ Then they would go home. 21 And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
And verse 26.
26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favour with the Lord and with people.
Just look back for a moment at v18.
What was an Ephod?
'B' on picture (For full key see Exodus 28.)
The Ephod was probably a form of apron. No one knows the size or shape but it seems to have been a form of apron with shoulder pieces and a waist band and the original ones worn by the Aaron and his sons were made or at least embroidered with gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread (Exodus 28:6-30).
It is thought that plain linen copies of the Ephod became standard ‘uniform’ for the other priests and it was a linen Ephod that David was wearing when he ‘danced before the Lord with all his might’ when the Ark was brought to Jerusalem.
Tied to the front of the Ephod was the Breastplate. What was that?
'A' on picture.
This was a form of a pouch, made of the same materials as the Ephod and tied to its shoulders with braided gold chains and to the waistband with blue cords. In Ex 28:29 it is called the Breastpiece of Decision, and it mentions there that it contained the Urim and Thummim with which the mind of God was ascertained. Some have suggested that these were used for casting lots but no-one knows for certain.
Probably Samuel’s mother had made her young boy a little ephod to wear to help him feel accepted. But it already spoke of the Priestly role that Samuel would be given in later life.
And what do you think ‘Samuel was ministering before the Lord’ (verse 18) meant?
It seems that Samuel had readily accepted the Nazirite vow and was happy, even at his young age, to be dedicated to the service of God.
This was in sharp contrast to the sons of Eli and we will look at them next time. As we finish, let’s read Hannah’s prayer: 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (Perhaps people could share).
1 Then Hannah prayed and said:
‘My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.
2 ‘There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
3 ‘Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.
4 ‘The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.
6 ‘The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7 The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and makes them inherit a throne of honour.
‘For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world.
9 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;
10 those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
‘He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.’
