BP245

The Birth of Samuel

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite[a] from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2 He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.

3 Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. 4 Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. 5 But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. 6 Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. GRANNY KEPT PROVOKING ME, IRRITATING ME, SAYING OH WELL EVERY TIME I SAID I BROKE DOWN & MY JOB ISN'T ALLOWING HOMEWORK/STUDY TIME!  7 This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. 8 Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” INSTEAD OF LOOKING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, I LOOKED FOR REVENGE. 

9 Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. 10 In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. 11 And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” 225 WOMEN HAVE REJECTED ME & ONLY 1 WAS BEFORE MY POJ-- PIECE OF JUNK. 

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”

THE ONLY WAY I COULD LIVE WITH MYSELF WAS TO DRINK

15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

AT THE ALTAR, GOD TOLD ME TO MAKE MY REJECTERS HISTORY. BUT I MET https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/4808659209318211445/6381688886777722273

17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

UI DIDN'T GIVE GOD TIME TO RESCUE ME. UNBUCKLED I PRAYED FOR DEATH & GOT i waited till i was a Senior in 23 months to unbuckle & pray for death, go through a window, decade rehab, countless surgeries, nerve damage, speech impairment, limp, etc., etc. IM STILL IN RECOVERY 26 YEARS LATER, A BILLIONAIRE WRITER

18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

I AM CELEBRATING BEING A BILLIONAIRE WRITER

19 Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel,[b] saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.”

I HAVEN'T HAD SEX IN OVER A DECADE

Hannah Dedicates Samuel

21 When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.”[c]

LIVE IN GOD'S WILL NO MATTER WHAT

23 “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his[d] word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

THE PROCESS IS NO GOOD IF GOD DISAGREES

24 After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull,[e] an ephah[f] of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. 25 When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 26 and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 28 So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

IT'S ALWAYS TIME TO WORSHIP GOD

Footnotes

1 Samuel 1:1 See Septuagint and 1 Chron. 6:26-27,33-35; or from Ramathaim Zuphim.

1 Samuel 1:20 Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard by God.

1 Samuel 1:22 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls always. I have dedicated him as a Nazirite—all the days of his life.”

1 Samuel 1:23 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac your

1 Samuel 1:24 Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint and Syriac; Masoretic Text with three bulls

1 Samuel 1:24 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms

The Lord Rejects Saul as King

15 Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. 3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND. BLESSINSG FOR GOODNESS CURSES FOR BADNESS

4 So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. 5 Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. 6 Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

BE ESPECIALLY GOOD TO CHRISTIANS. SACRIFICE LOTS OF MONEY TO CHURCH FUND RAISERS

7 Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. 8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves[b] and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.

ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE. WE STUDIED THAT IN COLLEGE. IF 1 SAYS S/HE HAS A COLLEGE DEGREE, ASK THEM ABOUT THEIR MATH & GRAMMAR. 1 TOOK CLASSES WITH NO MATH &, OR  GRAMMAR & CALLS HIS CERTIFICATE A COLLEGE DEGREE!!!!

10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

TURN TO GOD & CARRY OUT HIS INSTRUCTIONS

12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

IF YOU ARE HUMBLE, YOU ARE SELFLESS. YOU PUT GOD 1ST

13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

THE NEXT PHASE IS BETTER IF IT FOLLOWS OBEDIENCE

14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

PARTLY DOING GOD'S WILL IS NOT DOING GOD'S WILL

15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

IF YOU SEE GOD'S WILL UNCOMPLETE, YOU BE THE 1 TO FINISH GOD'S WILL

16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

YOU MAKE IT CLEAR WHAT GOD SAID

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

COMPLETELY MEANS FULLY, WHOLLY

20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

THE FLESH MAKES YOU THINK GOD'S WAY IS INEPT

22 But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

    as much as in obeying the Lord?

To obey is better than sacrifice,

    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,

    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,

    he has rejected you as king.”

24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. 25 Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

PRIORITIZE EVERYTHING GOD SAYS, FULLY HONORING HIM

26 But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”

DON'T HAVE BAD COMPANY

27 As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. 28 Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. 29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE. 

30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

WORSHIP GOD ALWAYS

32 Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”

Agag came to him in chains.[c] And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

33 But Samuel said,

“As your sword has made women childless,

    so will your mother be childless among women.”

And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Footnotes

1 Samuel 15:3 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them; also in verses 8, 9, 15, 18, 20 and 21.

1 Samuel 15:9 Or the grown bulls; the meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.

1 Samuel 15:32 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain.