How To Be A 10

How to be a 10 Mother’s Day May 12, 201 Dr. Mike Fogerson

Introduction

The story of Israel in the Bible is a living demonstration of the fact that the Lord does win the battle.

A As we enter 1 Samuel, Israel is a Spiritual and Political mess.

1 Israel wasn’t an united people as they were under Joshua.

a Israel was a loose confederation of tribes with God appointed judges ruling in widely separated areas.

aa There was no standing army nor were there permanent military leaders.

bb Different tribes volunteered to defend the land when they were summoned to battle.

b 6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 17:6 (NASB)

2 The people asked God for a King and her gave them Saul (from the tribe of Benjamin) who turned out to be a epic failure.

a If judges is a book of “no kings,” them 1 Samuel is the book of “man’s king.”

b In II Samuel, we see David, “God’s King.”

aa It was from David’s family that Jesus, “the son of David,” was born.

bb The books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles record many sins, failures on the part of God’s people. But it also reminds us that God is on the throne.

cc And when God is not allowed to rule, He overrules.

c His purpose will be accomplished whether we’re obedient or not.

B 1 Samuel is a book of transition: Samuel was a bridge builder.

1 15 Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.16 He used to go annually on circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.17 Then his return was to Ramah, for his house was there, and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar to the Lord. 1 Sam 7:15-17 (NASB)

He was the last of the judges and the first in a new line of prophets after Moses.

6 Then Samuel said to the people, "It is the Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.7 "So now, take your stand, that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous acts of the Lord which He did for you and your fathers. 1 Sam 12:6-7 (NASB)

a He established a school for prophets and anointed two kings - Saul who was an epic failure and David who was just epic.

b At a time in Israel when everything seemed to be shaking, ages colliding, Samuel gave Spiritual leadership to help move the nation forward.

aa National unification

bb Spiritual rededication

2 Samuel, “the bridge builder,” came onto the scene not in grand, illustrious fashion, but from a honest ferverent prayer of a godly woman & man.

C 1 Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.2 He had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3 Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there.4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters;5 but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb.6 Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb.7 It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat.8 Then Elkanah her husband said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?" 9 Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord.10 She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. 1 Sam 1:1-10 (NASB)

I Expect conflict on your way to being a “10.”

A Hannah was most likely Elkanah’s first wife who proved to be infertile so he took a second wife named Paninnah.

15 "If a man has two wives, the one loved and the other unloved , and both the loved and the unloved have borne him sons, if the firstborn son belongs to the unloved , Deut 21:15 (NASB)