1 SAMUELChapters l-4:la— his birth and calling

Trinity Class October 24,2021 Grant Sitler, teacher

amuel, the greatest spiritual leader of Israel since Moses, was the key transitional personin moving Israel's government away from a simple charismatic leadership

(i.e., the Tribal Confederacy) into a more stable but less spiritual style, the monarchy.

[what a mess;| "Although Samuel [the book] has the reputation that its text is among the worst of the

OT books, this is not evident to the ordinary reader." (Szikszai, int. Diet.)

• 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings trace the tragic history of a people who continually wavered in theirdevotion to God. The Greek Bible (LXX) arranged these four books into one long book called"The Book of Reigns" (BiBAio BaaiAeiac,).

o 1&2 Samuel show two important changes in Israel:a) charismatic judges B ^> prophetsb) tribalism • l/^> monarchy

Why split the Book of Samuel? Possiblyit was too big.

Little help'

We don't know for certain the author of Samuel, or any of thetwelve "historical" books.

o Samuel the prophet lived in the late 11th Century BC, butthe book in our Bible was written about the 6th C. BC.

Anachronism ("against time" [Gk]): a chronological inconsistency in places, language, customs, events.

Travel map from RAIDERS OF Tm LOST ARK film Anachronisms in Samuel that point to a 6th C. BC writerinclude, "to this day" and "in the past." Such phrases werenot used until well after the 11th C BC.

Editing continued even after the book was completed.1 Sam 9:8—the silver_guarter-shekel "almost certainly fixesthe date of this story in the Persian or Hellenistic period,"meaning somewhere after 300 BC. (Auld)

The name "Samuel" is Hebrew, meaning "His name is God."o But in 1 Sam 1:20 Hannah says his name means "because I asked the Lord

for him;"....OR simply "asked of Yahweh." [The Hebrew word for Saul means "asked."!!]o He was of the tribe of Ephraim (1 Sam 1:1)...OR from the tribe of Levi (1 Chron 6:33).

The book is a mishmash of duplications and contradictions, of fact and oral traditions. Samuel'sleadership is even portrayed in two different styles:

1) the pro-Saul source (e.g., 1 Sam 9:1-10:16), which claims that a kingship is good,even to God. Samuel is shown to be just a local seer of visions;

v.s.2) the pro-Samuel source showing just the opposite (e.g., 1 Sam 7:3-8:22).

Here Samuel is portrayed as a true prophet of God and the last of thegreat judges of Israel.

QUIZ! In its original language and format, what is the longest book, by word

count, in the Bible? (&°*^a) Psalms b) Samuel c) Jeremiah d) Kings

Chapter I—Birth of Samuel *note: Samuel's importance can be seen in the lengthy account ofhis birth. No such birth narratives are given to Saul or David, the first kings of Israel.

Hannah's story: the barren but God-fearing wife who births a future leader [male, ofcourse] of the people. Similar to Gen. 25:21 (Isaac & Rebekah); 29:31 (Jacob & Rachel);Judges 13:2 (birth of Samson); Luke 1:7 (birth

of John the Baptist).No wine or fermented drinks

Let the hair grow

Do not go near a corpse

(Numbers 6)

vs. 1:6 Similar to Hagar scorning Sarah (Gen. 16:4)vs. 24-28 Hannah dedicates Samuel to God.

Chapter 2— Hannah's prayer; Eli's sonsvs. 1-10 Hannah's prayer, often called "The Magnificat,"

the same as Mary's prayer in Luke 1:46-55. Both magnify the Lord.• Note the monotheistic theme: ONE God, all powerful—strong stuff for a people living

so near idol-worshipping and aggressive powerhouse nations like Egypt and Assyria.• Seven sons (v. 5) was the ideal in this culture, (cf., Ruth 4:13-15).• Final verse: "king" and "anointed" are royal words, something that Israel did not yet

have.

vs. 12-26 Eli's evil sons• v. 12 "no regard for the Lord (NIV)...." The literal Hebrew translation is much stronger:

"they did not know the Lord," which is the heart of the problem.

• v. 12-16

How it should be done (Lev. 7:28-36; Deut 18:3)The priests get the breast, right thigh, shoulders,internal organs, and any meat on the head.

All of the fat is burned in dedication to the Lord.

How Lew's sons did itThe cook would stab a piece of meat in thecaldron. If it adhered to the fork it went to the

priests, (wtofc AtfiDfe)^Priests (Levi's sons) get the fat to eat.If worshipers protest they're strong-armed

v. 22 "...slept with the women...."—no indication that these were simply templeprostitutes (qedesha). Such contempt for the Lord brings death (4:11). The

same with Aaron's sons several centuries earlier (Lev. 10:1-3).• v. 29 "...by fattening vourseives on the choice parts...?" God knows that he's being

cheated and disrespected....and it's not just by Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.Eli is encouraging the unfaithfulness by participating in the spoils.

• vs. 30-36 Eli's entire family line will be forever ruined.

Chapter 3— Samuel's callingThe word of the Lord was rarely heard at this time in history,so it's no surprise that Samuel needed four "wake up"calls, (see Amos 8:11-12, which was written about150 years before the Book of Samuel.)

• v. 13 NIV (1996): "his sons made themselves contemptable...."NIV (2015): "his sons blasphemed God...."KJV: "his sons made themselves vile...."

Literally "blasphemed themselves." The difference between the word for "God" andthe word for "themselves" is only one letter in Hebrew.

God = orfn$ (eloheem)themselves = nrfo (laheem)

It's believed that the original scribes intentionally left out one letter in the word"God" so that they would not be guilty of blasphemy against God.

Chapter 4 v. la — Samuel comes into his own. His voice (i.e., God's voice) is heardthroughout Israel.

•••̂ •••••̂ ^̂Works Cited

DON'T BE SO FASCINATED WITH THE "FORE-TELLING" ASPECT * Anderson, Bernhard W. Understanding theOF A PROPHET. THE IMPORTANCE IS IN THE "TELLING-FORTH." Old Testament (3r ed.). Englewood Cl.ffs:(CHAFIN) Prentice-Hall, 1971.

• "1 & 2 Samuel," by Herbert M. Wolf. TheBaker Illustrated Bible Commentary. Baker Publishing, Grand Rapids, 2012."1 & 2 Samuel," by Graeme Auld. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, pg. 219. Eerdmans Publish., 2003.Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible (NIV), ed. Warren Baker. AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, 1996.NIVZondervan Study Bible, ed. D. A. Carson. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 2015.**The Preacher's Commentary, ed. Lloyd J. Ogilvie. Vol. S:l&2 Samuel by Kenneth L Chafin, Thomas Nelson

Publishing, Nashville, 1989. **this book is available in the church library downstairs."Samuel I and II," by S. Szikszai. The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 4 [plus Supplement], edited by GeorgeA. Buttrick, pgs. 202-209. Abington Press, Nashville, 1962."What's the Longest Book of the Bible? Not Psalms!," online at www.overviewbible.com/longest-book-of-the-

bible/. Jeffrey Kranz, 2015.