1 Samuel 1:1-2:11 The Birth of Samuel

Prophecy Update

Handout Trib Timeline

Halfway through the tribulation is an event called the Abomination of Desolation

Matthew 24:15 ESV

“So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

An abomination was an especially offensive form of idolatry

The abomination of desolation speaks of the ultimate desecration of a Jewish temple, the establishment of an idolatrous image in the holy place itself, which will inevitably result in the judgment of God.

It is the abomination that brings desolation.

The mention of the abomination of desolation is taken from the book of Daniel.

Daniel 9:27 ESV

And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

Daniel 11:31 ESV

Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.

This abomination happens at the midway point of the tribulation

The Anti-Christ will come and rebuild the temple

The sacrifices will be restarted

At 3.5 years or halfway thru the trib he will stop the sacrifices and will declare himself God

It is believed that he will sacrifice a pig on the altar and force people to worship him

The desolation is that the temple will be desecrated and the Great Tribulation will occur

2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 ESV

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

From the point of that you will be able to start the count down until the destruction of the earth

Daniel 12:11 ESV

And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days.

There will be almost three and one-half years to go until the consummation of all things.

Two camps of thought that you should know about

Preterism:

interprets some (partial preterism) or all (full preterism) prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened.

The first is the camp of preterism

This camp believes that all the end times stuff I just talked about happen in 70 AD when Rome conquered Jerusalem

They destroyed the temple and fulfilled what Jesus said that not one rock would be on top of another

Peterists tells you that there is no mention of the term Rapture in the Bible

That’s to explain because rapture is the english transliteration of the a LATIN term

The Bible wasn’t written in Latin

Peterism also has a problem because they can’t explain the abomination of desolation

They refer to the term “holy place” as a general term instead of referring to the temple

Also, the Romans never performed a sacrifice that would be considered an abomination

Pre-wrath

The second camp is known as pre-wrath

These people believe that Jesus is coming for the church right before he pours out his wrath

To them that means after the abomination of desolation and right before the Great Tribulation and the wrath

The judgments of Revelation are going to start soon after the trib starts and the antichrist appears

Read 1 Samuel 1:1-

I. vs. 1-8

What is success?

Some say it’s simply achieving your goals, but how do we know those goals were worth achieving?

Are you a success if you reach contemptible goals by dishonorable means? Some spell success with dollar signs—$UCCE$$—but if money is the measure of success, then Jesus was a dismal failure.

First Samuel is a book about success and failure, both in individuals and in a nation.

The nation of Israel failed. Eli and his sons were failures.

King Saul started out a success but soon became a failure.

David was a success in his character, conduct, and service.

He was a man after God’s own heart.

Actually, success is a by-product.

“Try not to become a man of success,” wrote Albert Einstein, “but rather try to become a man of value.”

Values involve character, which is why Theodore Roosevelt said, “The chief factor in any man’s success or failure must be his own character.”

Eli, the priest, and Saul, the king, both had reputations; but David had character.

His character and skills were developed in private before they were demonstrated in public

Only through faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to His will can we have godly character and the kind of success that will survive the fires of God’s judgment.

One of the awesome titles of our great God is “Lord of Hosts”

This title is used nearly 300 times in Scripture and is found for the first time in 1 Samuel 1:3.

“Lord of hosts” describes God as the sovereign Lord of the host of the stars

Isaiah 40:26 ESV

Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.

the angelic host

Psalm 103:20–21 ESV

Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!

the armies of Israel

Psalm 46:11 ESV

The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

The story of the people of Israel recorded in the Bible is a living demonstration of the fact that the Lord does win the battle, that He is sovereign in all things.

The Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles record many sins and failures on the part of God’s people, but they also remind us that God is on the throne, and when He isn’t allowed to rule, He overrules.

He is the Lord of Hosts and His purposes will be accomplished.

Lord Chesterfield called history “a confused heap of facts.”

But Dr. A.T. Pierson, preacher and missionary statesman of the last century, said it best when he wrote, “History is His story.”

vs. 1-2 Two wives

The book of 1st Samuel starts with Elkanah taking his family for their yearly sacrifice

in vs. 2 we notice that he had two wives

Hannah was his first wife, and the one he loved

Peninnah was his second wife and was probably around because she could bare children

Elkanah loves Hannah and it shows

But to carry on a name he needed to have children

Polygamy wasn’t normal during these times

It was too expensive and only happened in the case of being the kinsman redeemer, barrenness, or the need for more workers on the family farm

This instantly sets up a divided house because a man cannot love two women at the same time

The new testament backs this up

Matthew 6:24 ESV

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

It was obvious that Hannah has his affections and Peninnah has his children

This sets the stage for some serious cat fights

vs. 3-5 A Godly Man

Elkanah was a Levite, a Kohathite from the family of Zuph (1 Chron. 6:22–28, 34–35).

The Levites were scattered throughout the land and went to Shiloh to minister at the tabernacle whenever they were needed.

Elkanah lived in Ramah on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin

Elkanah’s famous son Samuel would be born in Ramah, live there, and be buried there when he died

His worship was consistent and as we will see soon, rare

Eli, Hophni, and Phineas were the priests and they were not good people

Eli was old and let his boys get away with a lot of sinful acts

Hophni & Phineas were all about their own pleasure

This didn’t prevent Elkanah from worshipping

He went up every year

At the sacrifice an animal would be offered at the altar

A portion would be given to the priests and then the family would have a dinner

Elkanah gave a double portion to Hannah because he loved her

This could’ve been overcompensation for her Barrenness or just his favor

Whatever the case, Elkanah lacked in the relationship skills

His actions caused strife in his house

vs. 6-8 Provoked by Peninnah

Peninnah watches Elkanah and realizes she is just there for her womb

When a woman feels she isn’t loved she will often attack the cause of it

That’s why wives will often go after the woman when her husband is having an affair

Peninnah goes after Hannah

She provoked her to grieve and irritate her

It went on for years

It really got out of hand when they went up to Shiloh

Being barren was the worst fate a woman could have fall upon her

Most people looked at it as God’s judgment

To be provoked and irritated made even worse

Of course, Elkanah makes it worse by asking her if he was worth more than ten sons

II. vs. 9-20

vs. 9-11 Hannah’s vow

After dinner Hannah heads to the temple

Israel didn’t have a temple yet

This referring to tent of meeting

Eli is sitting at the entrance of the temple

He was too old and fat to minister so he was the defacto greeter

He probably did this to garner the praises of the people

Hannah was deeply distressed

It moved her to go to the house of the Lord and pray

She wept bitterly because this issue of barrenness was overwhelming her

She vowed to the Lord if He would give her a son she would dedicate him to the Lord

As a levite, he would be committed to serve between the ages of 30-50, but this was different

Samuel was going to be a nazarite

No wine would touch his lips or razor touch his head

Hannah was making a deal with God

“Look on the affliction of your servant”

She was pulling every card she had

This is where we need to understand God

God had a special plan to use Hannah and her son

It relied on a Godly man, faithful wife, and most importantly God’s timing

This is particularly true of the history recorded in the Bible, for there we have the inspired account of the hand of God at work in the affairs of mankind to bring the Savior into the world.

During the period of the judges, the Israelites were in dire straits because they lacked godly leadership.

The priesthood was defiled, there was no sustained prophetic message from the Lord (3:1), and the Law of Moses was being ignored throughout the land.

As He often did in Israel’s history, God began to solve the problem by sending a baby.

Babies are God’s announcement that He knows the need, cares about His people, and is at work on their behalf.

The arrival of a baby ushers in new life and a new beginning

vs. 12-16 Sorrowful Spirit

As she continued in prayer

This shows us a principle of seeking God

Hannah spent time before the Lord

Most people who have problems pray but spend little time in prayer

They ask others to pray but don’t dwell with the Lord

Prolonged intercession is often misinterpreted by most people

It makes them uncomfortable and convicts

Eli thought she was drunk because her lips were moving but her voice couldn’t be heard

Some prayers come from deep in the soul and don’t need to be audible for God to hear

It also says several things about Eli

First, the Spirit wasn’t upon him

If he was in a right relationship with God he would’ve seen this woman’s travails and felt compassion

Instead he thought she was drunk

Now some scholars believed that the reason he thought this was because it was a common sight at these sacrifices

Eli had let his sons destroy the worship that the feasts and sacrifices had become drunken festivals

He tells Hannah to put away her wine

She begs him to understand that she isn’t drunk, but her soul is vexed

She was pouring out her soul before the Lord

She was praying out of great anxiety and vexation

I believe that if we were a church that worshipped passionately and poured out our souls to the Lord we would see a great revival at this church

vs. 17-20 God Grant Your Petition

Eli answers her and tells her to go in peace and for God to grant her petition

Something interesting happens here

First, even though Eli isn’t in tune with God, God listens to his declaration

Second, Hannah receives this declaration and walks in faith

She goes her way, eats, and no longer looks sad

She was trusting in God’s promises

The next morning she worshipped before the Lord then went back home

Worship is what our worries should us too

She went home and conceived a son and called him Samuel

His names means “Name of God”

She asked the Lord and God answered

III. vs. 21-28

vs. 21-23 Remain Forever

The next year Elkanah went up to sacrifice but Hannah stayed home

She was going to wean her son

Now there is a lot of debate on what the age Samuel was when he was weaned

I’m not going to get into that but In that culture, a child was usually not weaned until two years of age, or sometimes three years.

It is reasonable to assume that Hannah was in no hurry to wean Samuel.

Look at Elkanah’s response

Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the Lord establish his word.”

This was wonderful counsel from Elkanah.

He said, “do everything in obedience to God so we may see His word established among us.”

vs. 24-28 Lent to the Lord

When Samuel was weaned she took him with her to sacrifice

The child was young

She affirms that she stood in this place and asked the Lord for this child

God granted her petition

Therefore she has lent him to the Lord as long as he lives

IV. Hannah’s Song vs. 1-11