Here’s how we’re gonna tackle chapter 2:
First, we’re going to go through Hannah’s prayer, verses 1-11 and see how it matches up with the prayer of another famous biblical woman in the context of a promised child.
Then we’ll look at the brief summary of Samuel’s early boyhood and Hannah’s epilogue, verses 18-21.
Finally we’ll go over the wickedness of Eli’s sons and the prophecy against his house in verses 12-17 and 22-36.
Also – I’m going to use a LOT of the Septuagint today because the way it translates a certain word makes it LEAP off the page.
After all that, we’ll do chapter 3 where God speaks to Samuel.
Ready? This is gonna be lengthy. Better get comfy. Here we go. THIS is gonna be good!
(And, incidentally, so is my breakfast this morning as I work on this. 😁🍽️🥓🍳☕️)
THE PRAYER OF HANNAH
If you have 2 Bibles, open one to 1 Samuel 2 and the other to Luke 1:46-55. I would like to present for your consideration that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is paraphrasing Hannah’s prayer in what we call “The Magnificat.”
Think about it. Mary is a young lady who is faithful to Yahweh. She has been raised in faithful home. She knows the scripture. I’m sure every Jewish maiden knew the stories of Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Zipporah, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, Hannah and Esther. Hannah’s prayer is one of only a few lengthy prayers in the OT. It’s a big deal. I don’t have a doubt that Mary knew Hannah’s prayer well.
Both women are going to have miracle-sons. Both are rare, godly women. Both have – at the moment of their respective prayers – experienced social scandal and stigmatism. Each has been completely misunderstood; Hannah by Eli and Mary by Joseph. And each of those men have a Divine intervention.
Hannah’s prayer is much longer than Mary’s but the concepts are the same and even the narrative wrap up at the end feels the same.
Elisabeth (who Mary has gone to visit) is in the same situation as Hannah. She was barren for many years, had a loving husband, but would’ve borne societal shame for not bearing children. Of course they’re both thinking about Hannah when they meet.
Josephus says that Hannah and Elkanah brought Samuel to the tabernacle at Shiloh when they brought the sacrifice “for the birth of the child” which would’ve been at the time of purification.
When Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the Temple for that same kind of offering, Simeon offers a similar prayer of prophetic thanksgiving and the prophetess Anna is standing by. That makes these prayers feel REALLY linked.
There is no way the parallels between them are a coincidence.
I hope you’ve got your 2 Bibles ready. I encourage you to read them side by side in their entirety. I’ve listed the parallel verses in outline form. I will quote the key phrases.
Here we go.
- Salvation – Each woman begins by rejoicing in the salvation of the Lord.
- 1 Sam. 2:1, Hannah: “My heart exults in the LORD… I rejoice in Your salvation.” The Hebrew word for “salvation” here is LITERALLY the Hebrew name of Jesus, Yeshua. Look it up and see for yourself.
- Luke 1:46-47, Mary: “My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”
- Holy – Each woman acknowledges the holiness of God.
- 1 Sam. 2:2, Hannah: “No one is holy like the Lord.”
- Luke 1:49, Mary: “He that is mighty hath done great things and holy is His name.”
- Also compare: Luke 1:48 to 1 Sam. 1:11.
- 1 Sam. 1:11, “…look with favor upon the lowly estate of Your handmaiden…”
- Luke 1:48, “For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden…”
- Proud vs Powerless – Both women exult in the fact that Yahweh brings down the proud and lifts up the weak.
- 1 Sam. 2:3-4, Hannah: “Do not boast or speak of high things, let no arrogance come from your mouth…. He weakened the bow of mighty men and those who are weak are girded with strength.”
- Luke 1:50-52, Mary: “…He hath scattered the proud…He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.”
- Full/Rich vs Hungry/Poor – Each woman contrasts how the Lord brings down wealthy and satisfies the hungry. Hannah really cuts loose on this section while Mary summarizes it.
- 1 Sam. 2:5-8, Hannah: “”Those who were full must hire themselves out for bread, but those who are hungry will become fat… Yahweh makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and also exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust. From the ash heap he lifts up the needy, to cause them to sit with noble people…”
- Luke 1:53, Mary: “He hath filled hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away.”
- God Helps His People – Both women proclaim their faith in Yahweh as the One Who helps and is faithful to His people.
- 1 Sam. 2:9-10, Hannah: “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones…He will give strength to his king and will exalt the might of his anointed one.”
- Luke 1:54-55, Mary: “He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy as He spoke to our fathers…”
- Matching Narratives – both prayers end with the detail of each of the women returning to her home.
- 1 Sam. 2:11: “Then Elkanah [and Hannah] returned home to Ramah…”
- Luke 1:56: “And Mary abode with her [Elisabeth] about three months and returned to her own home.”
IS THAT COOL OR WHAT?!
I’d like to draw our attention back to verse 10, “…He will give strength to his king and will exalt the might of his anointed one.”
Check it out in the Septuagint:
“He gives strength to our leaders, and will exalt the horn of His Christ.”
You probably already knew that Christos is the Greek word for Messiah which means “anointed one.” But when you’re reading along in the Old Testament and you run into the word “Christ” it jumps out at you. It’s kind of easy to read through “anointed one” and forget that it’s an explicit reference to Jesus, THE anointed One, Messiah, The Christ.
So Hannah prays her Holy-Spirit-inspired-prophetic prayer of thanksgiving (I mean, it DID become holy scripture) 😏, then returns home. But she came to see her little Samuel every year during the festival (probably Passover if I had to guess), bringing him a new robe that I imagine was stitched with great love and gratitude.
It’s adorable that Samuel wore a linen ephod just like the priests. And it seems that he was taught by the priests how to do the all the tabernacle things – keeping things holy, offering sacrifice, washing at the laver, changing out the bread on the table of showbread, making the holy oil for the lamp and keeping it filled… all the priestly things.
SIDE NOTE…
What children or teens in your life are you teaching to serve in the house of the Lord?
They’re not going to learn it by osmosis. 🤔I’m not saying they need to dress like a miniature preacher with a coat and tie. But, I love to see adults bringing kids along to help in ministry outreaches and service projects and giving young people opportunities to share in the gatherings of the saints.
🧑🏻👧🏼🧒🏽👦🏻👦🏾
The way 2:20 is worded (and I checked it in multiple translations), it sounds like Eli would pronounce a blessing over Hannah and Elkanah every year.
“Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, ‘May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one she gave to the Lord.’”
1 Samuel 2:20 NLT
And the LORD did so. Hannah had 3 sons and 2 daughters. Hannah, whose name means “favored,” truly was favored in the end. It didn’t look that way for a long time. Remember that – if you feel like everyone around you is being blessed and you’ve been left behind. God hasn’t forgotten. His ways are not our ways. Cry out in prayer and trust the LORD. 🙏
ELI’S WICKED SONS & THE PROPHECY AGAINST HIS HOUSE
Hophni – It’s pronounced like coffee but with an N jammed into it: coffNee. Cough knee. Usually, English-speakers say hoff-nee. (And – man does my spell-correct HATE all this!)
Phinehas (the son of Eli) was obviously named after the famous High Priest Phinehas – son of Eleazar, grandson of Aaron who shish-kebab’d the Israelite man and Moabite woman in the Baal of Peor incident. In English, this name is pronounced like Finn-E-us. But in Hebrew, it sounds like a variation of a pinacolada: pee-nekh-aws. (But you didn’t hear that from me.) If you say it like that at your next Bible study, you’re on your own. 😏
Hophni and Phineshas were scoundrels. Bad dudes. Verses 12-17 detail their sins concerning the meat offered in sacrifice. 🍖 Remember all those detailed instructions in Exodus and Numbers about waving the shoulder and burning the long lobe of the liver and the fat? Yeah – the bros weren’t doing any of that right. They were letting their bellies decide what parts of the meat they got to eat and how to prepare them. They bullied those who came to offer sacrifices. Remember, that the offerer and his or her family would eat a portion of what they offered unless it was the rare, “whole burnt offering.” These guys would take all the best parts 🥩 and leave the family the leftovers. 🦴🌭
Verse 22 includes the detail that “they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” These were women who came to worship and offer sacrifice but probably included women who served in supporting roles to the ministry of the priests. Josephus includes the detail that Hophni and Phinehas raped some of them and others they bribed for sexual favors.
They were bullies. Thugs. Pigs. Greedy tyrants. Predators. And priests.
And if you think that never happens in churches today, you’re not paying attention.
Eli was too old and blind to do anything about it. Maybe he was hoping God would strike them dead like Nadab and Abihu.
Verse 25 in translations based on the Masoretic text carries a Calvinistic flavor – as if the Lord made Hophni and Phinehas ignore Eli’s warning so that He would be justified in slaying them.
The Septuagint reads thus:
“…Nevertheless they did not heed their father’s voice, so the Lord desired to destroy them.”
There’s definitely more a cause-and-effect vibe here.
Yahweh sends an unnamed prophet to warn Eli of the coming judgement on his sons and future lineage. The bottom line of the prophecy of doom is this: God will remove Eli’s posterity from the priesthood. And the sign or evidence that God has done it will be that both Hophni and Phinehas will die on the same day. ⚰️⚰️ (and good riddance)
But there is also a Messianic prophecy here:
“And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed forever.”
1 Samuel 2:35 ESV
This is another instance where the Septuagint has “Christ” in place of “anointed.” I think this is probably a dual prophecy. In one sense it is speaking of the boy-priest, Samuel, who will be the next great prophet of Israel. But it’s also pointing to Jesus, Who is the great High Priest of the household of God, Who goes in and out of the Heavenly Temple which is the throne room of God.
Then in chapter three we get the adorable (and familiar) story of God calling to the boy Samuel. But notice two things:
- Samuel’s bed is “IN the temple.” This is still the Tabernacle, not the Temple of Solomon because that won’t be built yet for many years. But Samuel is sleeping under the same roof as the ark of God. Let that sink in. He’s probably on a mat in the Holy Place. His nightlight is the golden Menorah. What a childhood!!
- I wonder if he ever got late night munchies and would snag a piece of sacred bread. 🤔
- The Voice of Yahweh “came and stood” and called out to Samuel. How does a voice “come and stand?” Verse 7 tells us that the WORD of YHWH had not yet been revealed to Samuel. So this is his first encounter with the Word of the Lord. And the Word comes and stands in the Holy Place and speaks to Samuel. I do not believe this is disembodied voice at this point. This is yet another appearance of the embodied Word of Yahweh, often called “the Angel of Yahweh” in the OT.
The Lord gives Samuel a strong message for Eli. Punishment is about to fall. And, of course, a 12 year old is not going to be eager to pass on such a message. After a threat from Eli, Samuel delivers the bad news and Eli seems unsurprised and resigned to his fate.
Josephus says that these encounters with Yahweh began when he was 12 years old.
I say encounters (plural) because:
“And Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh, for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the word of Yahweh.”
1 Samuel 3:21 LEB
Q: How did Yahweh “appear” in Shiloh?
A: Through the WORD of Yahweh.
Here is as clear a reference to the eternal Son of God in the OT as you could ask for.
Theology Time…
You’ll notice that I’m very particular about referencing Who this figure is. Note that I do not say “This is Jesus.” Why? Because Jesus is the name given to the Son only after He was incarnate. Embodiment and Incarnation are two VERY different things. The Son of God is eternal. He is the eternal Word of God the Father. He is not a created being. He has always been – co-equal and co-eternal with the Father of the same nature and substance. When the Word appears to people in the OT (embodiment), I’m very nitpicky to call Him “The Word,” “The Son,” “the second Yahweh figure,” or “the Angel of Yahweh.” John 1:18 tells us that “no man has seen God at any time.” Not Moses. Not Abraham. Not Jacob. God told Moses that no one could see His face and live, yet Moses talked with God “face to face.” Reconcile. 🤔
These encounters were with a visible form of Yahweh that was still amazing, but at a non-lethal dose. This embodied form of Yahweh is often called “the Angel of Yahweh.” Scholars might also say, “the second Yahweh figure” as distinct from the invisible Yahweh that you can’t see and would drop dead if you did.
Jesus told the woman at well in John 4 that “God is Spirit.” You can’t see a Spirit with your physical eyeballs. An unembodied spirit is not knowable by physical beings. So Who ate with Abraham or was in the burning bush? Who wrestled with Jacob or talked with Manoah and his wife about Samson? Who came and stood and spoke to Samuel?
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and apart from him not one thing came into being that has come into being.”
John 1:1, 3 LEB
“And the Word became flesh and took up residence among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14 LEB
The Word became flesh – became HUMAN – at the incarnation. Carn (like carnivore and carne asada and chili con carne) means “flesh.” Meat. Incarnate means “in-meat.”This eternal creating Word – the expressed thoughts of an invisible, unseeable God – became a human being. Homo Sapiens. Spirit became incarnate. Enfleshed. With skin and bones and meat on his bones.
When the Word meets with Samuel, this isn’t a time-traveling Jesus. He is the same person, but we do not call His pre-incarnate form “Jesus” because the physical human body of Jesus did not exist until He began to grow in Mary’s womb. But, what is SO cool about the Bible, is that Jesus’ name (which means “salvation”) pops up in several places like the prayer of Hannah, foreshadowing God’s plan of redemption.
Now that you’ve had your daily dose of high Christology, I wish you well and I’ll see you tomorrow.
👋🏼🤓
To The Reader 