11.11.07
1 Samuel chapters 3-7
Hannah was a woman so transformed by God that when He granted the desires of her heart she named him Samuel, and gave him back to God. Hannah’s confidence in God, despite her personal situation, and her personal expression of worship to Him, exceeds our wildest imagination.
Without real people like Hannah, we might be inclined to think that her kind of devotion and response to hardship is impossible. But God put her in our lives to assure us that it is possible to rise above every situation, in Him.
The child she gave back to God, Samuel, was the last and one of the best of Israel’s judges. After that came a long line of kings. God saw to it that part of his biography would be captured also – for our benefit.
Samuel, like his mother Hannah, is a good guide who shows us the way to God. And as we’ve been saying over and over in this Old Testament series – if we choose to ignore the lives and experiences and messages of men like Samuel and women like Hannah, we do so at our own peril.
When he was only a boy, Samuel’s mother brought him to the worship center of Shiloh to be a servant boy and almost a son to Eli and the other priests. One wonders how she could have missed the lousy job Eli had been doing parenting his own sons? But she’d given Samuel to God, and would not be intimidated by thoughts of what might happen to him.
God honored Hannah’s steadfast, rock-solid faith, and He saw to it that Samuel did not grow up to be like Eli’s wicked sons. Perhaps Hannah’s faithfulness to pray for her son is part of the unwritten story here? Hannah made a little robe for Samuel and brought it to him each year. I bet she prayed over every stitch. The text goes on to say the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with men. 2:26
It says in 3:1 that the word of the Lord was rare in those days, and goes on to tell the story of Samuel learning to discern the word of the Lord. God’s purpose in Samuel was to speak through Him to Israel
At one point in his training God spoke audibly to Samuel 3 times before his master Eli finally understood that it was God doing the speaking. At least he gave Samuel some good advice about how to respond: “speak, LORD, for your servant is listening”. One of the highest goals of spiritual training is to build in us the discipline to listen for and the ability to discern the word of the Lord in and for our day. Only then will we have anything to share.
1 Samuel 3:19 - 4:1 And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.
In the next few chapters of the story we hear little if anything about Samuel, but Israel seemed to go from bad to worse, despite his word. Because of their stupid strategic and tactical errors they experienced bloody battles in which tens of thousands of their soldiers were killed. The ark was captured.
A child was born to Eli’s daughter-in-law, and with her dying breath she named him Ichabod, which means “the glory of the Lord has departed”. Some think that the darkness of these days in Israel is almost unparalleled.
Like their ancestors before them, Israel had practically invited the wrath of God by falling headlong into worship of pagan deities Baal and Ashtoreth.
Dozens of times in the Old Testament Israel is described as being lost in the worship of Canaanite gods Baal and Ashtoreth. When Gideon died they prostituted themselves to the Baals, it says in Judges 8:33.
Baal worship apparently had its origin in the belief that every tract of ground owed its productivity to a supernatural being, or baal, that dwelt there. Ashtoreth was the goddess of sexual pleasure and fertility.
Baal was the masculine husband, Ashtoreth the sensual wife. Together, they ruled the universe, and when they made love the earth produced a bountiful harvest and enough offspring to sustain the culture forever.
Baal was the god of productivity and Ashtoreth the goddess of sexual pleasure. And who said these old stories have no relevance?
If one was to do an exhaustive study of the culture, values and true religion of our modern world, and many have, I think they would conclude that two deities rise above all others as supreme: the god of productivity and the god of sexual pleasure.
For twenty years (7:2) Israel lamented after the Lord and was made to see the error and exceeding wickedness of their ways. Eventually, the word of the Lord that came through the life and voice of Samuel began to take root.
Apparently, in response to their genuine repentance, Samuel delivered a message of deliverance to the people of Israel. Look at 1 Sam 7:3-6:
And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only.
The Baals and Ashtoreth had symbols to remind people of their presence. I don’t think people necessarily saw the symbols as god, but as the reminder of their god. I’m not sure what the symbols looked like, but scholars tell us that the Asherah poles were actually phallic symbols – the erect male penis.
Samuel said that the beginning of real restoration to the God of Israel would be to put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only. Jesus said exactly the same thing, “you cannot serve God and mammon”, and we understand mammon to be the best this world has to offer – money and all the pleasure money can buy.
5Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the LORD and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
Notice what happened at the point when Israel began to turn to the Lord in earnest: when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel.
Don’t expect true revival in the hearts of men and nations to be met with no resistance. All the powers of hell are aroused in order to fight for and retain what they thought they’d never lose. And those powers are without a doubt more powerful than us. We are powerless before them, Jehosophat said in a similar situation, and he was right. He said before the people in prayer – “neither know we what to do.” But he did know this – he knew that God was more powerful than all the Philistines.
Samuel prayed for deliverance, he cried out to God in response to the cries of his people, and the Lord answered him. God threw the Philistines into a great confusion, enabling Israel to rout them and leave a lasting impression.
What happened next is something I pray you’ll remember, and duplicate. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.”
Some of us remember an old song we used to sing about Ebenezer - an old hymn from the 1700’s – Come Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace….
Here I raise my “Ebenezer”;
Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Would it stand to reason that sophisticated people like us might need to set up an “Ebenezer” to help us remember a special revelation of the goodness and mercy of the Lord? Does anybody have one? Shouldn’t we all?
