Michael's Abbey Bible Study - 1 Samuel Chapter 2

This chapter begins with Hannah's prayer. This is a psalm of thanksgiving praising God.
1 Then Hannah prayed and said,
"My heart exults in the Lord;
My horn is exalted in the Lord,
My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,
Because I rejoice in Your salvation. 		This psalm begins with Hannah's horn, and ends with the horn of God's anointed. An animal horn symbolizes strength and pride. Yahweh is in this verse twice and also at the end in verse 10.
"Mouth speaks boldly" is literally "mouth is enlarged". It could be translated "My mouth is enlarged over my enemies". This could be a metaphor for swallowing her enemies whole. But the NASB translation is most likely.
Salvation is yeshu'ah in Hebrew. This is related to Jesus' name Jeshua, which means savior.
2 "There is no one holy like the Lord,
Indeed, there is no one besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God. 		This verse is all about Yahweh's qualities: Unique, holy, the real rock. And there are qualities that are implied by the explicit statements. There is only one God. He is completely dependable, trustworthy, and a refuge, a rock. That He is "our" God is acknowledgement of the community and the covenant with Israel.
3 "Boast no more so very proudly,
Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth;
For the Lord is a God of knowledge,
And with Him actions are weighed. 		This verse is addressed to other members of the community. Arrogance in humans is unwise when we are under God who has true knowledge. Knowledge is plural in Hebrew. This could be an indirect way of referring to God as all-knowing. However, this is likely referring to the nature of God's knowledge, that it is fully true.
Actions, or deeds in some translations, refers to God's deeds not man's. Specifically, God's awesome deeds. Alilah is only used for God's actions in scripture. The parallel is with God's knowledge. And the next verse is specifically about God's deeds. Weighed might be better understood as considered or contemplated.
4 "The bows of the mighty are shattered,
But the feeble gird on strength. 		These are the results of God's deeds. He flips the order of things to make it right. A bow is a symbol of strength, and of offensive martial power. So the strong are broken and the weak are made strong. Thus God makes things right in His perfect sight, and not according to how man sees things.
5 "Those who were full hire themselves out for bread,
But those who were hungry cease to hunger.
Even the barren gives birth to seven,
But she who has many children languishes. 		Here Hannah sings of her confidence in Yahweh's knowledge and deeds, continuing the reversal of fortune theme. And here is where her own life is reflected. Seven sons is a poetic reference to a "perfect" number of children. (Hannah will have six children in total.).
Languishes is not a translation of the full meaning of umlalah. This most often is used to say a woman has become a widow. But in this case, it means a woman who had kids became childless, as in she lost all her kids.
6 "The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up. 		Verses 6-8 are declarations of Yahweh's total sovereignty. He holds complete authority and power over life and death. By this we have assurance that death is not final for us. Even before Abraham, God's people like Job understood that His sovereignty over life and death meant He would save us from death.
Sheol is an indefinite term in Hebrew. While it can refer to hell, most often it is simply the place where the dead go. That is what is meant here. In other places it can mean the place of judgement after death, an intermediate place for the dead before their final placement, and the final resting place.
7 "The Lord makes poor and rich;
He brings low, He also exalts. 		Yahweh is sovereign over the status of people. Poor and rich, low and exalted are the opposite extremes. Low and exalted are more of a reference to social status. One can be low and rich, or exalted and poor. God gives gifts as He will, and changes their status as he will
8 "He raises the poor from the dust,
He lifts the needy from the ash heap
To make them sit with nobles,
And inherit a seat of honor;
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord'S,
And He set the world on them. 		This verse depicts specific examples of God flipping the status of humans. Although the examples here are only of a positive change. While in verse 7 God makes a person rich or poor, exalted or low, His sovereignty continues over whether they stay in that status or it is changed to the opposite.
The Hebrew word metzuqe is literally pillars, but this is a metaphor. Foundations is also a metaphor, but is an alternate translation that probably brings up the image the author intended better than pillars. Pillars support the enormous roofs and domes of great buildings. Yahweh's creation is the world itself. And it's pillars are more than just physical. They include the moral order of things. And there are pillars we don't always think of in how our world functions so amazingly like the cycles of plant and animal life, the cycle of water through rain and aquifers that provide us fresh water to drink, and so on.
9 "He keeps the feet of His godly ones,
But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness;
For not by might shall a man prevail. 		There are small differences between translations as to how verses 9 and 10 are grouped.
Keeps can also be translated as guards or preserves. This continues the analogy of verse 8 as the feet are the foundation and pillars of the human body. Keeping the feet is a metaphor for keeping us upright and stable.
Silenced in darkness is a metaphor for death that leads to punishment.
The might of man is nothing without the favor of Yahweh. This ties back to verse 4 and the breaking of the bows of the mighty.
10 "Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered;
Against them He will thunder in the heavens,
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
And He will give strength to His king,
And will exalt the horn of His anointed." 		Contend with the Lord means adversaries of the Lord who criticize Him. These will be left in pieces. Crying out to God is not just allowed, it is biblical. Asking God why is not just understandable, it is in scripture. God is patient with us questioning from our limited understanding and knowledge of what is going on. It is understandable that we would ask why something has to be this way. However, it is crossing a line to say that God is wrong for doing something or allowing something, not to mention incredibly stupid. God is perfectly good and omniscient. We are imperfect beings with extremely limited knowledge and perception. It would be a greater dichotomy than an ant criticizing a thunderstorm for the drop of rain it encounters.
Thunder is a metaphor for God's power. Heavens could mean sky, but the context refers to heaven of God's residence.
The ends of the Earth is a poetic way of referring to everything. The implication is clear. Foolish is the man who judges God when it is God who is judge over all.
The end of Hannah's song speaks of God's king. This could be a prophecy of the coming monarchy which Samuel will oversee the beginning of, or even the coming of the Messiah, king of kings, although that is unlikely. It could be a poetic reference to the leadership of the judges, although God was the king in this relationship. Or this could be an anticipation of a monarchy. Israel didn't just wake up one day as a nation and decide they must have a king. There was a recurring pull towards having a king throughout the time of the judges with Gideon, Abimelech, Jephthah, and others. This is the first time in scripture the term of His anointed is used.
11 Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah. But the boy ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. Elkanah refers to his entire household, except for Samuel who is specifically excepted. Samuel is serving the Lord, not Eli. Before Eli indicates his apprenticeship under Eli.
12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord In 1 Samuel 1:3 we learned that the sons of Eli were priests to Yahweh at the temple in Shiloh. Now we learn they were worthless men. That is, they were so wicked they were harmful. Worse, they didn't even know Yahweh. They had no relationship with God and no real understanding of God.
This is a common problem today. In the mainline denominations the seminaries are bizarrely full of anti-God militant atheists who's mission in life is to destroy the faith of Christians. When someone has spent four years in Bible college, three years in seminary, and find they don't believe in God anymore they are stuck. They are trained to do a job they don't believe in and can't do anything else without starting over. So-called non-denominational churches aren't any better. They tend to train up young people within the church to serve there and at other associated churches. (A non-denominational denomination.) This way they keep them close and can directly monitor what they are taught. However, reading and studying scripture for themselves becomes a responsibility, even more so when they are elevated to pastor. And then many find that scripture contradicts fundamental teachings of their sect. While many will just reject those scriptures, some unconsciously, many will find themselves in the same boat as the seminary graduate that lost their faith. So there are a huge number of "pastors" who don't even believe in God and/or their church and are just pretending because they are trapped.
13 and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. 14 Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. They didn't know the custom doesn't mean they didn't know it. It means they didn't respect it. However, it should be pointed out that even the custom detailed in verses 13-14 and 16 was a corruption of the law. This custom for sacrifice was a short-cut and deviation from the directives in the law, possibly from the corrupting influence of the pagans around Israel. And the use of a trident for the priest's portion was probably from the corrupting pagan influences.
Leviticus 7:31-36 details the proper way to conduct the sacrifice. The fat was not to be boiled away, but was to be burned on the alter, resulting in smoke. The breast of the beast was for the high priest and his family. The right thigh was for the priest who did the duty of burning the fat and sprinkling the blood. There was no trident or random chance.
15 Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, "Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw." 16 If the man said to him, "They must surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as you desire," then he would say, "No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force." So the perverted custom contrary to the law was not bad enough for the sons of Eli. They had to go even further and violate even that custom. But they also violated the law in this as well. All the fat belonged to Yahweh. By roasting the meat in it's fat they were eating what belonged to God.
17 Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men despised the offering of the Lord. It is interesting the difference between how we view sin and how God does. Most of us would view the fornication with the temple women in verse 22, probably on the temple grounds, as the worst sin these two did. It certainly appears that Eli felt that way. But disrespecting the sacrifice to God is much worse. Today we sacrifice monetarily. It would seem that taking or misusing these funds today would be a similar disrespect to God.
18 Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy wearing a linen ephod. In contrast, Samuel served Yahweh doing his duties around the temple knowing he was serving God. That he served God and not Eli emphasizes his direct relationship with God.
The ephod was the tunic worn by priests. It had no sleeves, but had shoulder pieces and a belt. The high priest's ephod had a metal plate that held twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel, and two jewel clasps with the names of the tribes inscribed.
19 And his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. Hannah and Elkanah only saw their son once a year for a few days. And while his needs were met by the temple, she made this motherly gesture every year. It is likely that this robe was in the style worn by priests as well.
20 Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, "May the Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the Lord." And they went to their own home. Every year Eli thanked Elkanah and Hannah for their sacrifice of placing their son in service to Yahweh. It is likely that the godly nature of Samuel made an impression on him, particularly in contrast to his own sons.
21 The Lord visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the Lord. Even though Eli was not right with God, He still used him just as God used Samson who was a pig of a man. God honored Eli's blessing and Hannah's faith.
That Samuel grew before Yahweh is a poetic way of saying his service stayed true to God and his responsibilities were increased.
22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Even though Eli was not right with God, He still used him just as he used Samson who was a pig of a man. God honored Eli's blessing and Hannah's faith.
That Samuel grew before Yahweh is a poetic way of saying his service stayed true to God and his responsibilities were increased.
23 He said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? 24 "No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the Lord'S people circulating. If the sins of Eli's sons were so well known that the people were talking about it, it is highly unlikely that Eli didn't know himself. It seems that Eli was less concerned about the actual sins of his sons than the fact that people were talking about it, and were even talking to Eli directly. And talking with his sons Eli doesn't address the sins themselves, but only that they are being talked about. His concern was what the people thought, not what God thought. Clearly he was viewing things through man's lens rather than God's.
25 "If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death. Finally, Eli addresses the sin itself, and the fact that his sons have sinned against God. All sin is primarily against God, secondarily against people we harm. (Yet another perspective we usually get backwards.) But the sins of Hophni and Phinehas were directly against God. They were sinning against God and in God's face. And there is no one higher than God to act as mediator. This is not a good place to be.
It should be noted that, while a mediator is not an option, God does respond to intercessions. For example, in Exodus 32 God told Moses He was going to destroy the Israelites and start over with just Moses because they turned away so quickly to worship the idol of the golden calf, and use that as an excuse to do all sorts of other grievous sins. But Moses interceded for the people. And God is beyond loving and merciful.
Anti-God atheists like Dr. Ralph Klein misuse this verse to try to say that this shows God is responsible "for negative or even evil actions". (It's no surprise that the scholarship of such people is as poor as their judgment, making many statements and conclusions without any support or citation.) This is the same kind of insanely foolish challenging of God that Hophni and Phinehas were doing. Anyone who tries to put themselves as judge over God is a nitwit wrapped up in an idiot. God is the very definition of what is good. And even if God does want to destroy someone, He created them. He has the right to do what He wants with His creation.
However, this is not an evil action by God. Hophni and Phinehas were priests of the temple. They knew right from wrong. It was their duty to know and teach the people. Clearly they didn't care what was right. They were only concerned with their own pleasure and benefit. A talking to was not going to change their minds regardless without supernatural intervention. They had repeatedly, over and over and over, chosen sin in God's face.
Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.
Another way these verses are commonly misused is when pastors say this is a warning for parents. And while parents can and should learn this lesson, that is not who is being addressed here. Do you think that Eli was the only parent in Israel that failed to properly discipline his sons? No way is that even possible. Yet God was not going to destroy all of them, which would have been a huge chunk of the population.
This passage is about discipline within the church leadership. This is a warning to church leaders. The sin of Eli was not that he didn't discipline his sons, although that was true. He should have disciplined them as his sons when they were young. But he didn't. Now his sons are adults. It is not the place of a father to discipline their adult children. It's too late then. And that is not the problem God has with him.
Eli's grievous sin was that he did not discipline the priests under him. That they were also his sons was not relevant. Failure to discipline is just as common when they aren't sons as when they are, maybe more so.
Talking is not discipline. In the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21:28-21, one son said he wouldn't work in his father's vineyard, but regretted it and went to work. The other said he would, but didn't. What the sons said didn't matter, it was what they did. In 1 Peter 3:1 women who become believers are directed to win over their unbelieving spouse without words, but by their actions. Proverbs 13:24 is clear that a parent who "spares the rod", that is will not discipline them with actions, hates their son. But a loving parent diligently disciplines them. Words are not discipline. Words are empty and meaningless to someone who is disobedient. Consequences are the only language a sinning person understands. If words could work, they would have listened to the words of scripture in the first place.
Despite this clear example and warning, all of the many churches I have been part of, and 99.999% of the ones I've even heard of behave exactly like Eli. (Of the more than 400,000 churches in America, I personally only know of one that even tries to do this.) They did not and do not discipline those who work for the church, but just talk to them. They are just as guilty as Eli, and will answer to God for it. Some try to justify this by saying they are operating in grace. That's not grace, that's grease, as in what lubricates the rails on the downhill slope to hell. Romans 6 teaches that real grace turns us away from sin. Fake "grace" sweeps sin under the rug hoping it will go away. But darkness only lets the rot grow and spread.
26 Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men. Here we turn to the good example. Samuel grew up physically and spiritually. Both Yahweh and people saw and approved. How rare is that? Most of us emulate the corruption we grow up around. With all the bad examples around him, Samuel must have devoted himself to God's word and had the discernment to separate the good teaching from the bad and good actions from the bad. (He wasn't perfect on this as we will learn later. But even so, he was still amazing.)
27 Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh's house? Man of God is synonymous with prophet. Eli was chief priest over the temple where the Ark of the Covenant was, and judge over Israel. So God sending this man to speak against Eli was a big deal, and required serious bravery and obedience on the man's part. We don't know if he was a priest serving at a synagogue or not, but it doesn't seem likely. Messengers were required to give the message exactly as it was given to them. By beginning with "thus says" and the name of the message's origin, a messenger is stating that they will do so faithfully. The house of your father refers to the family, it's ancestors and descendants. It's like the current king of England being of the house of Windsor. Here, this house is referred to by the name of the last one of the line to be high priest, the house of Eli. This is because the house of Aaron, chosen to lead the priesthood over 300 years earlier, had several lines of descendants. But Eli's line stopped with him. It is stated that they were of Pharaoh's house because they were owned slaves under Pharaoh.
28 'Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? This is an outline of the main duties of the priests.
Most of the grain and wine offering went to the priests, and this was called most holy in Leviticus 2:2-3. Only a handful of the choicest part of the grain and oil, along with all of the incense, was burned.
29 'Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?' Kicking is figurative language alluding to what would often be done when pagan alters were discovered in Israel. They would be kicked over, scattering the sacrifices and incense on them, and then destroyed. In other words, Eli is treating God's temple with extreme disrespect like Yahweh is a pagan idol.
Honor means financial support, even if the support is in goods instead of coins. 1 Timothy 5:17-18 says that an elder who is a good leader, especially one who works hard at preaching and teaching, is worthy of double honor because a laborer is worth his wages. The fifth commandment in Exodus 20:12 is honor your mother and father. And in Matthew 15:3-6 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and scribes for negating this commandment by creating an exception where sons can give the money to the temple instead of doing what that they are commanded to give to their parents. (This allows a kid who is mad at their parents to spite them.)
The choicest of every offering was supposed to go to God, not the priests. They were to have most of the offering, but not the choicest part.
30 "Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, 'I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever'; but now the Lord declares, 'Far be it from Me - for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. Here the man of God is foot-stomping that this is from Yahweh before he delivers the judgement. God promised that Aaron's line of the tribe of Levi would be the priests in perpetuity. And while any Levite could serve, the high priest did come from Aaron's line until the destruction of the temple and Babylonian captivity.
"Far be it from Me" is a hostile exclamation that appears elsewhere in scripture, but this is the only one that is only spoken by God. This emphasizes the anger of God for Eli's dishonor.
While the line of Eli was to end, the promise would still be fulfilled but with a different lineage from Aaron and Phinehas, (Aaron's grandson.)
Lightly esteemed is qalal in Hebrew. It is synonymous with dishonor. The concept is to act with careless disregard, like not caring that the person being spoken badly of can hear the speaker. They aren't worth checking to see if they are even there.
31 'Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house. God's judgement is because Eli broke the covenant. Thus covenant language is used for the judgement.
This is a poetic way of saying, you, your sons, and your line are done.
32 'You will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever. In other words, not only is your line done, your house is going to be distressed like you distressed Me and My house.
33 'Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life. This probably refers to when Saul had the priests killed and Abiathar escaped. All the rest of Eli's house were killed. Even though Abiathar survived, Solomon later removed him from being a priest because he was off the line of Eli. Thus Eli's line was ended from the priesthood, but one was spared death.
34 'This will be the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them will die. Eli won't live to see the rest of the prophecy fulfilled. So this is the sign to him that it is true.
35 'But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed always. This appears to be a prophecy about Samuel, but it isn't. Samuel's sons will not do well, as we will learn. This is a prophecy about Zadok who will oversee the building of the temple. His line will continue to hold the high priest office until the destruction of the temple and the Babylonian captivity.
Notice the reference to "My anointed" which is the king of Israel. This part of the prophecy refers to the coming monarchy. Zadok will be made high priest under King Solomon.
36 'Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, "Please assign me to one of the priest's offices so that I may eat a piece of bread."'" Those that survive from Eli's house will be excluded from the priesthood because of their greed.
And so we are ready for the calling of Samuel.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.

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