Well, I guess today's chapter of 1 Samuel 2 gives a little explanation as to why Eli's immediate thought about Hannah praying so feverishly, was drunkenness...apparently he had been seeing a lot of inebriated behavior from his boys!
Can you imagine being Hannah? Finally being a mother of a long-longed for miracle child, nursing and bonding with it for a few years, and then end up giving him away, sort to speak? Chapter one closed with these very moving and sacrificial words:
"For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord." So they worshiped the Lord there.
Those words are powerful all by themselves. But then chapter two makes the giving up of that child even more...well, what shall we say? Makes it even more ludicrous? More insane?
I mean, look at the household to which Samuel was to be nurtured in (2:12-36). The same man that raised the likes of Hophni and Phinehas (who had no problem raping people of food and body, or even from robbing from God), was to be the caretaker of Samuel (earthly-speaking).
Hannah gave her son over to Eli, all the while her and Elkanah read the morning papers reporting on Hophni and Phinehas' criminal behavior. "What will become of Samuel? I thought I was giving him to the Lord?"
But look at her song, her prayer. One thing is very apparent...she knows the Lord to be sovereign and in control, even when it doesn't look like it.
She knew God to be her Joy, her Salvation, her Refuge, her Righteous Standard, her Defender, her Provider, her Rewarder, etc. Just look at all the traits she comforts herself with as she makes a decision that looks like "social suicide" for Samuel!
What a stark contrast Hannah and Samuel are to Phinehas and Hophni!
Lord Jesus, spare me from just being religious like those two priests P&H. Put in me such a strong confidence in You that You could ask anything of me, and I would march forward with the same unwavering resolve as Hannah did...to give my best, to what seems to be the worst, in Your name.
God's solution for a national problem is sticking a little boy in the midst of the uproar:
- Little boy Samuel in the corrupt house of Eli
- Little boy David in the corrupt house of Saul
- Little boy Jesus in the corrupt house of mankind
His plans seem to work!
heard in a sermon, I think by J.B. Nicholson
2 comments:
Thank you for your blogs - they are a blessing.
I'm curious - what causes you to describe Hophni & Phinehas as "religious"?
It was a JBN sermon. :)
Mostly because they were the sons of the priest, gaining access to people's home by feigning priestly duties, as well as time spent at the temple (even if it was for illicit purposes).
Though, I wouldn't describe them as "religious" in any form or fashion that James refers to it in his first chapter.
I can picture them talking about the Lord even as they are robbing from Him.
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