The Rise of a King Maker
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The Rise of a King Maker
Morning Saints of HBC, please turn in your Bibles to God is My Name, chapter 1, verse 1, also known as...Samuel. All right, you're with it. I think. We said last week that that's what his name meant, and that was a name that was good for Israel to remember that back in the dark times, when God's Word was rare and his plans seemed lost and a man of God was nowhere to be found, spiritual depravity of the nation had led to moral bankruptcy in the people. And what was in the book of Joshua meant to be a promised land in the Book of Judges has now become barren. And if we just judged by the appearance of things, we would say that that kind of soil, nothing will grow there. And yet what we find as we read through the plan of redemption in the Bible, that that kind of soil is the only kind where a mighty and powerful God can plow through to plant one seed in the most unlikely place, and unlikely time for a king to grow in. And that is what we find in the Book of Samuel. A very unlikely place and an unlikely time. A dark time, a barren time, in the time of Israel, and yet God is going to work in this soil as only he can. And if we have eyes to see and ears to hear, we will realize that maybe the same thing is true in our lives. That the time that we think we're in the situation we think we're in, the hardness of the soil that's around us may be exactly what God is wanting to use for a single seed to be planted in your heart today. A seed of hope that takes you back to the man of his choosing, Jesus Christ. And we will get there as we go through Samuel. But we have to start in a pretty low moment. And that's chapter 1. So let's read chapter 1 together and see the lay of the land. Verse one...
"Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jerohaam, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuf an Ephraimite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other, Peninnah and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to go sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there. When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she would provoke her. So Hannah wept and would not eat. 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? Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now, Eli, the priest, was standing on the seat, or sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. Hannah, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. She made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant, and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life. And a razor shall never come on his head. Now it came about as she continued praying before the Lord that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart. Only her lips were not were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. And Eli said to her, how long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you. But Hannah replied. No, my lord. I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation. Then Eli answered and said, go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him. Hannah said, let your maidservant find favor in your sight. So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. Then they arose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah, his wife, and the Lord remembered her. It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son, and she named him Samuel, saying, because I have asked him of the Lord. Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, I will not go until the child is weaned. Then I will bring him, and he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever. Elkanah, her husband, said to her, do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him. Only may the Lord confirm his word. So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her with a three year old bull, and with one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh although the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli. Hannah said, oh, my lord. As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. For this boy I prayed. And the Lord has given me my petition, which I asked of him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord and he worshiped the Lord there."
The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. So, Father, make us simple ones wise this morning, through the testimony of your perfect and restoring word, we pray. Amen.
Those of you who have lived around this town for a long time, and some of you who are new to it, uh, may see this differently. The town, the roads in our town. Our fair town of Hickory. They're baffling at times. I speak from experience. There is a ball field in the northeast section of town called Civitan Park, which should be called the Bermuda Triangle because when you attempt to find Civitan Park from 127, using your own instincts as your guide. And I consider myself a suburban Daniel Boone who has rather good instincts making my way around cities, small and large. I get lost every time. I know in my mind, when I look at Google Maps where Civitan Triangle is and where I am, and the roads that should connect me there, 90% end in dead ends. And so I have to backtrack to another road that okay, I just make a right. Make a right. Nope. That one doesn't go there either. And um, that's kind of like what we have going on in this opening chapter that what seems like at every turn we're hitting a dead end, God has another road for his people to people to take. We're going to take some back roads here and some dusty streets to a place called Shiloh. It was where the Ark of the covenant was currently resting, and it was the tabernacle of worship for the people of God, who were still some worshiping him as required by the law. Whereas, as we saw at the end of the book of Judges 21:25, there was no man of God in the land, and everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes, except for a few people like we meet this morning, and even in their own lives. Not just looking at this at a wider national level, saying, Where is God in the life of the people of Israel? In zooming in to this family, they would be thinking, God, where are you in our situation? And we have to remember that things aren't always as they appear, even when we start the story and it seems to be certain disaster.
First point a man arose in worship...the story of Elkanah. Despite the darkness of where the Book of Judges ends and overlaps with this story, God still has a man in mind and a plan he's working out. And so we see a man of faith named Elkanah. And the main thing, even though there's a genealogy there that basically if you did the digging, would see he is part of the Levitical line. The tribe of Levi, I should say, he's not a priest. Um, but he seems to have the instincts of a man of God. Except then in verse two, where you see he has two wives. And so now we have three characters. And, um, is it three's a company, four is a crowd. No. Three is a crowd, as we might expect. Um, and two reasons for that. One is any time you disobey God's Word, uh, bad things happen in the sense of you can be sure God is not pleased. He can make something out of that disobedience, as we're going to see today. But when, Elkanah decided to take a second wife. Peninah he thought, well, I can't get any children for my first wife, Hannah, so I'll fix this. And what ensued is what we encounter here in the relationship in the home between these two women. Peninah, we're going to call her Penny for short today. It's just easier that way. And, I think that that name preaches because pennies have little value, but they do matter. So Penny is an awful woman. She mocks Hannah for her barrenness. She has a PhD in cruelty. And, it's unceasing Because year after year, verse six says, every time they go up to Shiloh to worship, she is labeled in verse six as the rival of Hannah, provoking her bitterly. I mean, so she is an irritant and aggravator a vexer. Now, why is Penny this way? I mean, you could say, well, it's Hannah's fault because she gets a double portion, and we don't know that's necessarily Penny's reason. Some people are just mean spirited and wicked, and they want to twist the knife however they can. So here we are. Elkanah is a man of God who takes his family to worship. But he also broke God's good design in marriage between one man and one woman. Genesis 2:24, and polygamy, anytime we see this in the Old Testament, is never God's design. Yet there is a laundry list of Old Testament men, righteous men who think they know better. And, uh, the household drama that would be Elkanah's duplex. Because he certainly built a duplex. There was no way this was all happening in one house. He was keeping these women separate. And so this mess was his own creation, to which one Puritan summarized his folly, "thus are men often beaten with rods of their own making." Brothers, don't say amen. Just put your head down and take it. Beaten with rods of their own making. So that is Elkanah's problem. And yet we have to remember that when we look at characters in the Old Testament to learn from, as we are told in the new, uh, they are there for our instruction, Paul writes. That no character, maybe Penny aside, but characters like Elkanah. They're neither perfectly wise or utterly corrupt like you and I, right? I mean, we're a mixture of good and bad decisions based on circumstances we find ourselves in. And so here we find with Elkanah, um, the choice he made to take a second wife and the problems that ensued in his home. Yet we see his faithfulness as a worshiper, leading his family every year, verse three says, to pack them up, jump on the camels, ladies, I'm gonna put you a few camels apart if you can't get along. And all the kiddos and they're taking their sacrifice to Shiloh. It says that in verse three, they're going every year and they're going despite verse three, the presence of wicked Hophni and Phinehas, which we will learn about in chapters two and three and derelict Eli as a father, who is the high priest and should be run in the show. He keeps going back. He could easily, um, say it's not worth the headache. I mean, look around. Nobody's worshiping Yahweh anymore here in Israel. Why should we? Because he wanted to obey God's Word. Because for whatever reasons, he chose to take Penny as another wife and have children, knowing that he shouldn't have. Maybe testament to what becomes culturally acceptable after a while, even in religious contexts. Hey, some of the patriarchs did it. Why can't I? So that aside, he is trying to keep Deuteronomy 16 and 17. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which he chooses at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and at the feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty handed. He's keeping that. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given you. And he's keeping. Deuteronomy 14:23. You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, at the place where he chooses to establish his name. The tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and your firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. So, there is, amidst life trials and hardships in Elkanah's life, he is attempting to love God and lead his family in a way that God commands. And that cannot be said for the majority of people in the country this time. So here's a little side note dads, no matter what the situation is and how dark the days are in society and even how troubled your home might get, lead your families. Get them to church...baseline. I remember a few hours ago, this dark and stormy morning around 6 a.m. and I was thinking, I wonder how that will affect attendance. You know, now that people know they can catch it on the live stream. I'm thankful for the live stream. I'm thankful that people could watch when they're sick at sick at home and the gospel gets out that way, but man, is it easy to skip now. On top of that, dad's commitments to other activities, things pulling at you, kids that don't want to go. It is easy to mail it in and give yourself a pass. But that wasn't the example of Elkanah. He was committed. He was living out Joshua 24:15, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I'm not saying he was perfect, but he wasn't passive. He owned his responsibility. Even as you can imagine, the drama every year that happened to spike when he was taking them to worship in Shiloh, because it spikes when they get to Shiloh, because there is no keeping Penny away from Hannah, and whatever she would do to twist the knife in Hannah at these times of worship, whatever little side comments she would make that she knew Hannah could hear about how wonderful it is that we've been blessed with all these kids, right, Hannah? I mean, unless you're cursed. I don't know. So this is the dead end that Elkanah seems to be at. And we see in verse 8, he's trying his best in this current visit to comfort his wife, because it says in verse 7, they do this year after year and this particular year, she's being provoked and she's weeping right there in the tabernacle and wouldn't eat. And so Elkanah tries his best to comfort her, his brokenhearted bride, his word choice is maybe not the best. I mean, you read those words however you like. Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? I think we're reading it going. We know why, but he's trying. And he says, am I not better to you than ten sons? And what's. What's that say? What's that supposed to mean? So this is the dead end we seem to be at, isn't it? It's not a pretty place to be. Even in an attempt to be in a place of worship with the people you love. A hard spot. As we started today saying the ground is tough. There could be nothing growing here. What good could come out of this broken moment?
Well, let's move from this dead end to a new road, because the focus of the camera moves from Elkanah to Hannah in verse 9. And now we see road number two. A woman arose in prayer. Elkanah, despite his flaws, would rise and lead his family every year to go worship Yahweh together and bring sacrifice. As hard as it was, and as many times as this has happened, and now we take a new road and the focus is Hannah, whatever, Elkana said. However, that helped her. We don't know. But she rose and ate and drank, and she goes to Eli in the temple of the Lord, sitting by the doorpost passes him by. Greatly distressed, praying to the Lord and weeping bitterly. She does what many of us know to do. I don't want to call it a last resort, but wherever it falls in your life, when you don't know what else to do, you pray. You pray, and she prays intensely. And she prays intimately. What do I mean? Well, that the intensity you could see in the words describing her distress and her weeping, the intimacy and that her lips were moving, but she wasn't making any sounds. I don't think she was saying, I'm afraid to speak up here. I think that's some prayers you've had, haven't you? Where the words can't come out. But they're in there. And she knows. She knows something about God. She has no leverage. Other than this...one quality about God. She remembers that he hears. Psalm 102:17 God will respond to the prayer of the destitute. He will not despise their plea. That's what Hannah knew. And then what she says displays her theology. The first phrase out of her mouth is O Lord of hosts. That phrase is used back in verse three, and it's actually the first time it's used in the Old Testament. It's used 230 other verses in the Old Testament, but this is the first time we encounter it. And some of you that love to study the names of God, this is the God of angel armies, God Almighty, Yahweh of hosts. And it's a title that describes his invincible omnipotence. So if you feel like you're in a hard spot and you are powerless and hopeless and helpless, here's a title of God maybe to start with. O Lord of hosts, meaning you command all of the armies of heaven. You are all powerful. You have everything at your disposal. And so we exalt God as we ought to. And then she does not exalt herself. In fact, she is abased. She is low, because immediately from looking to the heights of heaven to this Lord of hosts, she says. And if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant, and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, she goes from the heights to the lows, right? She sees herself rightly before her. God. Uh, what do I have to offer you? Nothing. Nothing. I'm a maidservant, and I'm distressed. I'm afflicted. Echoing the language of Exodus 3:7, when God speaks to Moses and says, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have given heed to their cry. I am aware of their sufferings. What did she know about Yahweh, Lord of hosts? He can hear the cries of the largest and the littlest all at the same time. He could hear all of Egypt back at the beginning of Exodus, crying out how oppressed they were in their suffering. And she believes that God hears her. Why else might she bring up this language of affliction and maidservants? Um, I mean, she would have known the stories of the wives of the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all had barren wives. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, all stories of women who shared her same affliction. And so what she knows is she knows God can do something. It's just a matter of if. She knows. So she asks, remember me? Don't forget me. But would you give your maid servant a son? And I will give him to you. Is that bargaining with God? Is that the same as saying, God, I win this lottery ticket? The church gets half. Adam gets paid. The God who owns cattle on a thousand hills isn't really interested in your bargaining chip of the lottery. But he seems to be interested in Hannah here. Why? What's she saying? She says I will give him to you all the days of his life. He'll never have a razor touch his head. We know. Judges 13:1,.Manoah's wife was barren, and she was given a child. And Samson was under the Nazarite vow. And so she's echoing that story. Two books earlier. This kid will be will be dedicated to you. Why would that matter to her? Why this now? I'm sure she has asked before for a son. But it appears that this might be the first time. As far as we could tell, that she now says. Look, um. He's yours. God, you give me this one thing, you get everything. Because he will be everything to me. But you get him for your service. The best I can make of this would be that she is more interested in the glory of God being revived in Israel by the service of a godly son, which we're going to see contrasted by ungodly sons in Hophni and Phinehas, the ungodliness of the era that she's living in, the lack of a leader, no judge in the land, that maybe that motivation is what she's thinking of here. When she looks around and doesn't see anybody, anyone stepping up and she comes to this temple and she, like everybody else, sees the bad behavior of Eli's drunken and scoundrel boys and Eli himself a gluttonous slob, a depraved priest raising two awful sons. And it prompts in her not to pray, to curse Peninnah, but to praise God and ask, can you raise up a son for your glory? Yes, he'll be mine, but he's actually yours. And we say that around here a lot, that when you recognize grace, when she is praying to Yahweh, Lord of hosts, and recognizes his grace, that her the gift she would get back is out of gratitude right back to him. Because when your theology is one of grace, your ethic is one of gratitude. God, this is the picture of stewardship. It's all yours. He's not mine to keep. So if you would like a son dedicated to be useful to you. Here I am, your lowly maid servant. Remember me? Remember me. Well, back to the action 12-14. She's continually praying. So verse 11 is a portion of her prayer that the Holy Spirit intended for us to hear. But she is praying, continuing to pray. And Eli is sitting there just watching her. And, um. Because he's a louse of a man, she in his eyes, is been pouring out wine, not pouring out prayer. His view of things mistakes intensity for iniquity, because often in the eyes of the sinful, even prayerful earnestness could seem drunken foolishness. That's a side note. I think we learned something about Eli and ourselves. The potential in ourselves to commit the error that our own vices become the view in which we see other people. And beware of that log speck thing. When you see think you have such an accurate read on someone else's sin, what you perceive is sin. And Eli, blind to his own sins as a priest and a father, and certainly turning a blind eye to his sons. But how accurate or precise he can make a measurement of godly Hannah. So beware, friends. Be slow to speak of what we think we see in someone else. With all this distress and duress that Hannah is under, look at her gracious response, verse 14. I'm sorry. Verse 15. Um. Hannah replies, no, my Lord. A title of what? Honor and respect to one who deserves none of it. But she gives it. She calls him Lord. And then she explains herself. I mean, she could have said, you know what? I don't owe you an explanation, Eli. But she says, I'm. Here's my deal. I am a woman oppressed. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing here. And I'm oppressed in spirit. This is a spiritual issue for me. She doesn't bring up her problems at home. Um, I've drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I am pouring out my soul before God, so please consider me not worthless. How could she not have just slid in like your boys? Um. She didn't. I'm not a worthless woman, a scoundrel, a drunk. I'm speaking now in what you're seeing in me. Why is a great concern and provocation in my life? And so that gracious response sobers Eli up enough to what appears in verse 17 to be some priestly benediction. I'm sure he had it memorized. He says, go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him. There's no shepherding here. He doesn't care what she's going through. It's just the Lord bless you and keep you and you know, whatever. But you know what? In the humility of Hannah, she receives it. Verse 18, let your maidservant find favor in your sight. And she goes up, leaves, eats, and her face is no longer fallen. She's no longer sad. I mean the godliness. So sometimes we say, give me a good definition of godliness, and we flip to our New Testament and we find the verse godliness is this, and we rattle off words to describe. And that's good. But sometimes we say, what's godliness? And you say, it's it's a woman like Hannah. That's what godliness looks like. That in the face of provocation and persecution and in the presence of trials, did not lead to a response of sin, of doubt, of anger. But this is what we learn from this second, what seems to be dead end, because there's no light shining at the end of verse 18 other than from her face. Pretend you don't know what happens in 19 and 20. But in the midst of this furnace of affliction, God has melted away some dross in her heart that led her to this amazing prayer. Penny's provocations and Eli's accusations were the direct road to this supplication she makes. Do you see that in your life? Can you see your afflictions in the same light? I mean, I asked my question this week as I'm studying this text. Would Hannah have prayed as persistently and earnestly as she did, if not for the sin that Penny committed against her? Do you understand? In the sea of side characters we live in, that every single one of them, in God's providence, is used for his glory and your good as a child. There's no one out there as awful as they are, as awful as a Penny and an Eli who in this story joke's on them, find themselves unwillingly being used as Yahweh's servants because it brought Hannah to this point, this prayer, this request for that seed of a kingmaker to be planted. So I ask you again. What trial in your life that you have come to despise the most? Could be the very thing God's ordained to bring you to absolute dependence on him. Working out a plan that only he could design. I don't pretend to know the answer for you. But I can read this text and see that that's how God works in painful providence. And wouldn't it be harder to live in a world where God's not with you, on that barren road that you think is another dead end? I mean, as hard as it is to put yourself on that road and see what looks coming like a dead end, wouldn't it be worse to feel God's not there? Yes. And there's nothing actually beyond that dead end. There's no other way to go. And in Hannah's case, we see that many of God's precious saints find themselves in trials by no fault of their own, by no fault of their own, only by God's design. So through those trials, God forges in Hannah a tested and true faith, and will soon form in her a king making son, which is road number three.
Out of all this pain, out of persecution. A son arises in promise. Verses 19 to 28. Now the...I get myself in trouble on these. The Christian filmmaker, if they were doing this screenplay at the end of verse 18, would have done what Christian films often do is make things cheesy. And so right after verse 18, angels come down and there's a gender reveal party in the clouds. It's like, right, immediately there's no pause. There's no beat, there's no drama. It's just let's just wrap this up in a neat little package. No. Verse 19 back to normal life. They wake up early in the morning and they worship Yahweh. Nothing changed. And then they get back in their country squire station wagon with the wood panels. Because Hannah is beloved. She sits in the front where the AC still works. And Penny's in the back with all the bad kids. Sothey're on their way back to Rama. But nothing's changed. Other than Hannah has hope, but she doesn't know the answer. Verse 20. It came about in due time. Hannah conceives and gives birth to a son and names him Samuel. Because I have asked him of the Lord. In other words, God has heard my prayer. That's not the same as the name we said it meant. God is my name. So you put those two names of Samuel together. What it meant in the Hebrew God is my name. But what it sounded like to the Hebrew ear. God has heard my prayer. And that's a beautiful way to live your life, always believing that God hears. Not always knowing what his answer is going to be. But God is his name. So I'm going to keep asking. Persisting in prayer. Never giving up because God is his name, and maybe Samuel will remind you of that. Another twist in the road that we all see coming. Is she going to keep her vow? Verse 21 and 22. Elkanah is going back up. Samuel's been born. It would be time to bring him. But Hannah says, um. Verse 22, I won't go until the child is weaned, and then I'll bring him, that he may appear before the Lord to stay there forever. As in ,ah listen. This vow is real, but I'm playing for keeps. And that, uh, when he's weaned, when he's ready. I'm not going to come this year just to take him and then to bring him back. So I'm going to wean him. I'm going to raise him. I mean, I can't help but think in this moment, I'm one that's just a good mama. And Eli would be a lousy person to hand your kid over to, particularly an infant. So maybe at least she can love on him a few years, care for him as mothers do so well, so important those first couple years. Just raising them, loving them, pointing them to Yahweh. And then when he's weaned, I'll bring him before the Lord. And then he stays there for good. And this thought occurred to me, if I'm Elkanah. So he says, what sounds like a little bit of a timid approval, a cautious consent. Do what seems best to you. let him remain until you've weaned him. And is he being passive there? I don't know, he's conflicted. Right? He's not a perfect character, but maybe crossing his mind is, um. That could have led him to not want Samuel to go. If my wife was so distraught and sad without the son, and now she has him, and I know he she loves him to death, how much more sorry will she be if she gives him and never gets him back? Maybe I don't know. You know, sometimes we use our sanctified imagination. But the most important thing Elkanah does say is this. Only may the Lord confirm his word. What does he mean? Establish his word. As in, he understood enough of what happened when Hannah prayed earlier, now three years earlier, that there was a word of confirmation and that word of confirmation between Yahweh and Hannah was evident in Samuel being born. And so he's basically saying, Hannah, between you and the Lord, if this is the deal you made, if this is the vow you gave, then keep your part here. Raise this boy, and then the day is going to come where you're going to take him. So he leaves without her, and she remains and nurses her son until he's weaned. And verse 24 picks up. Boom! Time passes. Just like raising kids. Days are long, years go fast. Verse 24, he's a couple years old and she takes him up with her, with a three year old bull and an and an ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. Even though he was young. And so this is a lavish sacrifice. It actually echoes Numbers 15. Didn't think we'd get to numbers today, did you? Here we are in Numbers. Because everything points to the godliness of this home of Elkanah and Hannah. They want to keep the word down to the jot and tittle. They're thankful for this, son. And they're going to bring Yahweh exactly what he would have them. And so Numbers 15, verse eight. When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow. You bring the bull, then you offer with that an offering of 3/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one half of a hin of oil, and offer as the drink, offering a half of a hin of wine. But in our text it says a jug of wine and a whole ephah of flour. Not 3/10. So actually in the original, like oldest Hebrew text, that three year old bull is actually the phrase three bulls above and beyond, which would match up with the amount of flour and wine brought. Sometimes there's a later text that a scribe is copying over and writes something wrong. And is it a three year old bull or three bulls? I would venture to say I think it was three. I think it accords with the amount of the other stuff brought. And I know you're like, who cares? I think it matters because it shows they were there to celebrate, to worship, to give to God what was his above and beyond and above and beyond the amount of bulls and above and beyond the amount of flour and above and beyond the wine and above and beyond this gift of Samuel. He's yours. She sees Eli waiting in the narthex and says, oh, my lord. Do you remember me? I was here three years ago. I prayed you thought I was drunk. No, she doesn't say that. I mean, she could. So many opportunities. Hannah could get a dig. But her word, her name meant gracious woman. She doesn't get a dig. She says, for this boy, I prayed. And the Lord has given me my petition, which I asked of him. So I have dedicated him to the Lord. He's yours. Eli. He's God's, but he's going to stay here with you. How does Hannah do this? Faith. Faith. Faithfulness to keep the vow. But faith not in, certainly not in Eli is going to be a really good example to this guy. Faith in the God of Samuel. Which is how we parent, isn't it? We have faith in the God of our children. But the hard part comes. She's going to leave him. How can she do it? It's what we said last week. Hannah. Like all of us side characters, realize we're not what? We're not the main character anymore. This gift that God gave her was to give back Samuel wasn't hers to keep. His story was going to be part of God's story. He was going to be set apart to serve God all his days and bring restoration of the kingdom back to Israel. And we know that we look at the rest of this book and see it, that this has all the makings of when God restores. God starts something new when this new child is born, whether it was Moses being born in the circumstances he was in raised up to deliver, whether it was Samuel being born in the circumstances he was in meant to restore, and of course, all pointing to Christ born in the in the midst of a dark time in Israel, of course, where there is no word from God for hundreds of years. And out of that darkness and difficulty and hardness of soil, the Messiah comes. But she had to know that Samuel was not her dream to keep, but it was a joy to give him over to the God who granted it. So what would maybe appear as a last dead end is actually opening up the rest of this wonderful book. Now, I know in the notes that you probably picked up at the door, it said I was going to go into Hannah's song. We're going to save that for next week. It's too good to rush through. But maybe a closing thought. We said any character in the Old Testament given as instructive, good or bad, if they are a person of faith, they can be an example to follow, but they're not the object of our faith. So we could see some good examples in Elkanah and Hannah to learn from examples of prayer. Examples of worship. Examples of faith. Examples of trust. But the object of our faith is beyond this passage. It's pointing to Christ, the ultimate hope in the ultimate darkness. And for you who aren't in Christ today, this Old Testament story gives you hope. How does it give you hope? Well, you see in the life of Christ. When he walked the earth, he showed us something about his Father that he just seemed to have this irresistible draw to the humble. He said I came to seek and save the lost. In Luke 5 he said, I didn't come to call the righteous. I came to call the sinners to repentance. And it seemed when he would say those things, certain people would respond and be drawn to him because he was drawn to them. And the people that thought they were already good and didn't need him, he had nothing to offer. But he teaches us about our God throughout the entirety of Scripture, who has this same irresistible tendency to be drawn towards the humble, to be drawn towards the person who says, I'm helpless. Would God still want me? You're the only person he would take. If you're not helpless, he doesn't have anything to do for you. But you're desperate, like Hannah was. If you're a desperate sinner here this here this morning. Who everything around you is hard and there seems to be no hope. You're exactly the person he's drawn to save. But that's got to come from here in you. And even look at everything around you, the Pennys and the Elis in your life. And rather than feel like you're just the victim of everyone else's evil. Well, if it's driven you to here today looking for some answer, it's exactly what God designed for your good to see that your only hope is not in man. Good or bad. Your hope is in God. Your hope is in His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you, the sinner. For his righteousness to be given to you that you don't have and you can't offer. But you can receive his mercy if you call on him today. And those in Christ. A final word on Penny, because I know you just love hearing about her. What can we learn from her life? Well, we can learn this. Uh, we can praise God, as one preacher put it. Who can take even the venom of a Peninnah and use it to fill a cradle with a kingmaker?
Let's pray. Father, we thank you. For your loving providence. We could say that as your children. We could say it through tears. We could say it after tears, too. When we can look and see how your hand has directed our lives. Protected. Allowed pain. Refined us. Changed us. Answered us when we thought you forgot us. Remembered us when we weren't remembering you. You designed it all so that this morning we can read a story as if we're in it. Because we understand it. We need reminded of it. We need reminded. Things aren't always as they appear. Even wherever some people sit this morning that you're working and that you would promote your children the faith to call out to you again, even when they've not felt up to it, but that they would this morning asking for help and for those who are not in Christ this morning that you would draw them to yourself. Draw them with that love that we find irresistible, only in you that loves those who find themselves helpless and unable to do anything for themselves, that you would save them. Lord. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.
