Great births of the Bible – Samuel
Compare Luke 2:52 and 1 Samuel 2:26
Main point: the sovereignty of God in working out his plans of creation
Covering the life of Samuel in 25 minutes is a major challenge: effectively one chapter per minute. I don’t think I could read that fast, so instead we’re going to take some broad sweeping strokes over the book of 1 Samuel.
The history of Israel is a sordid and torrid affair. Samuel himself speaks of it in 1 Samuel 12, where he explains God’s faithfulness and judgement in the face of Israel’s unfaithfulness and wickedness from the time of Jacob through to the period of the Judges.
But where does Samuel fit into all of this? Well, we need to understand two things about the person of the Prophet Samuel. Firstly, he, and before him his mother Hannah, demonstrate the attitude of service toward God that Israel and the other priests of God so sadly lacked. Secondly, and more importantly, we see through the choosing of Samuel and the anointing of God’s chosen king that the LORD God Almighty is sovereign in working out his plan of salvation for his people, a plan ultimately fulfilled in his ultimate chosen king – the Jesus Christ.
But let’s quickly return to chapter 1. Elkanah has two wives – Peninnah and Hannah. Unfortunately, Hannah can’t have kids – the LORD having closed her womb (vs 6), and Peninnah gives her loads of grief about this. Understandably, Hannah is a bit upset and prays hard to God, including making the promise in vs 11: “Oh LORD Almighty, if you will only look upon 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 every be used on his head.”
The LORD remembers her and she gives birth to Samuel. Yet she does not forget her vow, and after Samuel is weaned, she gives him to the priest Eli to serve in the House of the LORD. I’m not sure if I can really appreciate how hard that must have been. It’s akin to what God asked Abraham to do to Isaac, the son of his barren wife Sarah, and the child of the covenant, when he commanded that Isaac be sacrificed. But Hannah knew it was only by God’s providential hand that she had had this child at all, so she says in vs 28: “So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over the LORD.” Now the Nazrite vow – a Nazrite was one specifically dedicated to God, and one of the signs of being a Nazrite was having long hair, hence the promise in vs 11 that no razor be used on his head – this vow was usually only taken for a certain period of time. But for Samuel, it was to be life-long service, a total commitment.
He stands in stark contrast to those who were meant to succeed Eli the high priest. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas were only there to get as much out of their positions as possible, gorging themselves on the meat given for sacrifice. But God promises to get rid of them and instead raise up a faithful priest for his house – Samuel.
What we see from Samuel and Hannah is faithfulness and commitment. In reality, Hannah received nothing more from God than Peninnah already had – but she knew her son Samuel, and her other sons and daughters after him, were gifts from God. In last week’s news-sheet as a preview to this week’s topic, Owen wrote this: “In a plate of bacon and eggs, you know the chicken was involved but the pig was committed.” I’m not sure how often that saying bears repeating, but, in a way, we can see that sort of commitment in Samuel. Hophni and Phinehas just go about their business performing the sacrifices, making sure they take for themselves the perks that go along with the priesthood (like getting a free house and discount private education for one’s daughter). But it is lifelong service that God demands. See what Samuel tells the Israelites in chapter 12: “serve the LORD with all your heart” (vs 20); “But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.” (vs 24).
As you know, I’m heavily involved in the youth ministry here at St. Stephen’s and elsewhere, and occasionally I get to thinking something along the lines of this: Isn’t it only fair that I get something back from what I put in? Shouldn’t I be able to charge the kids a bit more so that I can go to the JJ’s camp for free, given that I organised the thing? But then I’d be no better than Hophni and Phinehas, and I’d be treating what I do as no different to any secular job. Remember, it is the LORD we are serving. The first half of 1 Samuel 12 is devoted to Samuel presenting himself before the Israelites. He confronts them with his faithfulness to God and to them: Have I taken an ox, a donkey, a bribe? Have I cheated or oppressed anyone? And they intone, “You have not taken anything from anyone’s hand” (vs 4). Are we involved, or are we committed to him? Are we serving him with our whole hearts?
But when we are looking at things through the perspective of Biblical theology and salvation history, it is not our faithfulness that binds everything together. It is God’s.
God chooses Samuel to be his faithful priest, and minister before his anointed one (2:35-36). He closes Hannah’s womb so that she would make the Nazrite vow for Samuel. It is not just coincidence, it is God working out his plans. He is sovereign. Just like the child of the covenant, Isaac, was born to a barren woman, how Moses was miraculously saved from the hand of pharaoh, so Samuel’s birth is a signal to us of the important part he has to play in the plans of God. Even more so, God hardens the hearts of Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas so that they do not succeed their father, but instead it is Samuel - the boy wearing the linen robe that his mother would make for him every year and take it up when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifices. That boy whom before his birth God had chosen to be a prophet and a priest.
But that is not nearly all. Samuel is to minister before the anointed one. The anointed one, he who we may be more familiar with as the Messiah or the Christ.
Return with me now to what we first talked about – the sordid history of Israel. God’s people enter the promised land under Joshua and God delivers the land to them. But soon they reject him, and, and as he promised, God gives them over to their enemies. They call out to him and he raises up judges who save them from slavery – but eventually they descend even deeper into sin and depravity. At the end of Judges, a particular refrain becomes apparent: “In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit”, and that is where we’re at when we come to 1 Samuel. But instead of returning to God as their rightful king, the Israelites demand another sort of king. All the other nations have kings they say, why can’t we? They’re like the kids who demand their parents buy them certain clothes so they can dress like their friends – they’ve got them, why can’t I? (hang on, isn’t that all kids?)
Samuel warns them what a king might be like, but they insist and Saul is chosen. Saul cannot be the first of God’s chosen line who will rule forever, though. We know this not only from the fact that Saul sins and disobeys God in 1 Samuel 13, but also from as far back as Genesis 49 where Jacob prophecies that “the sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his” (49:13) – and Saul is from the tribe of Benjamin not Judah. But Samuel’s ordained task is to anoint the king over Israel whose dynasty will endure from generation to generation. And so the LORD sends him to Bethlehem and to Jesse’s family where one by one the sons of Jesse are presented to him but none of them is the chosen king. There is only one left – David, the teenager out tending the sheep in the fields. He is brought in smelling of manure and Samuel immediately realises that this is the anointed one, this is a man after God’s own heart. And it is through his line, through David’s line, that God sends his chosen king. It is through his line that God sends the saviour of the world.
Samuel should not have been a priest – he was an Ephraimite, not from the tribe of Levi. But God chose him to choose his king – the king whose son would reign forever and whose kingdom would have no end, just as David should not have been that king, being Jesse’s youngest son, still out tending sheep in the fields. But God works out his promises as he sees fit, he is sovereign over the salvation he brings to his people.
How else can we explain how the Son of God can be incarnate by an unmarried virgin and nursed in an animal feeding trough? How could we explain how the great eternal creator and king of the whole universe saves people by being nailed naked to a piece of wood like a common criminal? It is God working out his promises for our redemption and his glory.
Often I’m tempted to think that things just happen by coincidence – whether good or bad – and we’re the ones who have to make the best of the situation. We think that Hannah being barren and then bearing a son who she devoted to God was just a nice turn of events – finding joy in what started out as a bad situation.
A kid started coming along to JJ’s earlier this year. He’s from a fairly troubled background. It was great that he was coming, and he even started coming to the evening service. He’s enthusiastic about learning more about Jesus, even though he says that sometimes I’m a bit long-winded. He’s a cool kid and we became pretty good friends. Then, a couple of months ago he told me he’s moving out of Sydney, hundreds of kilometres away. I thought, great! You work hard at developing a relationship with a kid and then he gets ripped away. And he wasn’t moving because of his dad’s job or anything like that – which is what everyone seemed to assume. He was moving because his brother is in gaol and his mum wanted to be closer to visit him. His brother’s my age, and there’s a history of drug abuse in the family. I was disappointed and annoyed – perhaps you could say I was bitter, just like Hannah. He left about four weeks ago. The first week he called me practically every night, and earlier this week I drove down to visit him for a few days. I don’t know what it was, but I was able to talk to him a couple of times about Christianity, and also witness to his mum on one occasion. We’ve just started reading the book of Luke together. I don’t know whether it’s the feeling of isolation or loneliness that he’s got at the moment, but he was particularly open to the gospel, and particularly open to having me help me in his walk with Christ. When I had to leave on Thursday, his mum thanked me profusely for coming and then he threw his arms around me and asked me not to go, which was pretty cool. Was that just coincidence? Was that just me making the best of a bad situation? No. It’s God working out his plans. I don’t what they are for me and Anthoney. But I do know they are for God’s glory and for the salvation of his people.
Well, God chose Samuel for a specific purpose. He was the judge and leader of Israel. Under the hand of God, he subdued the Philistines. But, most important of all, he anointed the Anointed One – David, from whose line came Jesus who is called Christ. In the life of Samuel we see how the LORD is working out his sovereign plans.
Samuel responded with faith and with obedience. The question is, what purpose does God have in mind for us? And how will we respond to that? Maybe God has ordained us to preach his word to the people of Lugarno so that those he has chosen may come into his kingdom. Maybe it is by your witness that God has chosen to call that friend of yours at work. Maybe, and I fervently pray that is it, maybe God has chosen me to bring that JJ’s kid and his mum to a saving faith in Christ. But whatever it is, will we respond with the commitment that God requires of us – will we serve the LORD with all our heart? Will we trust God as he works out his plans for us and for our salvation? Let’s conclude by reading Hannah’s prayer to this God whom we are to serve:
1SA 2:1 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.
1SA 2:2 "There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
1SA 2:3 "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.
1SA 2:4 "The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
1SA 2:5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry hunger no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.
1SA 2:6 "The LORD brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
1SA 2:7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
1SA 2:8 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
"For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
upon them he has set the world.
1SA 2:9 He will guard the feet of his saints,
but the wicked will be silenced in darkness.
"It is not by strength that one prevails;
1SA 2:10 those who oppose the LORD will be shattered.
He will thunder against them 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."
And that is exactly what the Lord did through Samuel. He gave strength to his chosen king when Samuel called the ruddy teenager in from the field and anointed him. And he exalted the horn of that anointed one when Jesus of Nazareth brought the eternal kingdom of God and eternal salvation to the chosen people by dying on that cross and rising on the third day. “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God”.
Be sure that you fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. (12:24)
