Had No Regard For

1 Samuel 2:11-12 – Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered before the Lord under Eli the priest. Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:6 – You live in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to acknowledge me,” declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 31:34 – No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

Application:

• ·         To know the Lord is to enter into fellowship with Him and acknowledge His claims on one’s life.
• ·         In Old Testament usage, to “know” the Lord was not just intellectual or theoretical recognition.
• ·         When the Lord has done His new work, the new covenant, there will no longer be among His people those who are ignorant of Him and His will for human lives. True knowledge of the Lord will be shared by all—young and old, the peasant and the powerful. They will know the Lord in the experiential, not the academic, sense.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Anointed

1 Samuel 2:9-10 – He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

1 Samuel 7:10 – While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites.

Job 38:1-2 – Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

Psalm 96:13 – Let all creation rejoice before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Luke 1:69-75 – He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

1 Samuel 2:1 – Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance.

Leviticus 4:3 – “‘If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the Lord a young bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.

Genesis 49:10 – The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

Numbers 24:17 – “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

Deuteronomy 17:14-15,19-20 – When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite…It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

Application:

• ·         Judge means impose His righteous rule upon.
• ·         The Lord had promised to be the protector of His people when they were obedient to their covenant obligations.
• ·         Out of the awesome majesty of the thunderstorm, God reminds Job that the wisdom that directs the Creator’s ways is beyond the reach of human understanding—that humanity’s almost godlike wisdom should not presume to match God’s wisdom or take its measure.
• ·         Because God reigns over all things and is the Lord of history, Israel lived in hope of the coming of God—His future acts by which He would decisively deal with all wickedness and establish His righteousness in the earth.
• ·         Jesus, the Messiah from the house of David, has the power to save.
• ·         To have one’s horn “lifted high” by God is to be delivered from disgrace to a position of honor and strength.
• ·         Anointed priest was the high priest.
• ·         Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, is told to “remove the crown” from his head because dominion over Jerusalem will ultimately be given to the one “to whom it rightfully belongs”.
• ·         Israel’s future deliverer will be like a star; he will wield a royal scepter and bring victory over the enemies of his people.
• ·         Moses, Joshua and a succession of judges were chosen directly by the Lord to govern Israel on His behalf.
• ·         The king was not above God’s law, any more than were the humblest of his subjects.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Foundations Of The Earth

1 Samuel 2:7-10 – The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Daniel 4:37 – Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Psalm 75:3 – When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.

Jeremiah 13:16 – Give glory to the Lord your God before he brings the darkness, before your feet stumble on the darkening hills. You hope for light, but he will turn it to utter darkness and change it to deep gloom.

1 Samuel 17:47 – All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Zechariah 4:6 – So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

Psalm 4:3 – Know that the Lord has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him.

Application:

• ·         “Foundations of the earth was a common figure in the Old Testament for the solid base on which the earth is founded.
• ·         When, because of the upsurge of evil powers, the whole moral order of the world seems to have crumbled, God still guarantees its stability.
• ·         “Give glory to…God” means confess your sins.
• ·         Both the Israelite and the Philistine armies were shown the error of placing trust in human devices for personal or national security.
• ·         Zerubbabel did not possess the royal might and power that David and Solomon had enjoyed, and in any event such worldly power was inadequate for the purpose of rebuilding the Lord’s temple.
• ·         “His faithful servant” in Hebrew is Hasid, which is one of several Hebrew words for God’s people, referring to them as people who are or should be devoted to God and faithful to Him.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Broken

1 Samuel 2:4-6 – “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away. “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.

Psalm 46:9 – He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

Isaiah 40:30-31 – Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 26:19 – But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise—let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy—your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.

1 Kings 17:24 – Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

Application:

• ·         Hannah shows that God often works contrary to natural expectations and brings about surprising reversals.
• ·         Human weakness will be exchanged for God’s strength.
• ·         “Your dead will live…bodies will rise” was a reference to the restoration of Israel—perhaps including the resurrection of the body.
• ·         The widow had addressed Elijah as a man of God previously, but now she knew in a much more experiential way that he truly was a prophet of the Lord.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Lord Is A God Who Knows

1 Samuel 2:3 – “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

1 Samuel 16:7 – But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Kings 8:37-40 – “When famine or plague comes to the land, or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or when an enemy besieges them in any of their cities, whatever disaster or disease may come, and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel—being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands toward this temple—then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors.

Proverbs 24:12 – If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

Application:

• ·         The Lord is concerned with person’s inner disposition and character.
• ·         “Deal with everyone according to all they do” is not to be viewed as a request for retribution for the wrong committed, but as a desire for whatever discipline God in His wisdom may use to correct His people and to instruct them in the way of the covenant.
• ·         God knows even our thoughts and motives.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Rock

1 Samuel 2:2 – “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

Exodus 15:11 – Who among the gods is like you, Lord? Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

Leviticus 11:44 – I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

Genesis 49:24-25 – But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb.

2 Samuel 22:2-3 – He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me.

2 Samuel 23:3-4 – The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’

Deuteronomy 4:35 – You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.

Application:

• ·         Rock was a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people.
• ·         The Lord, who tolerates no rivals, has defeated all the gods of Egypt and their worshipers.
• ·         Because of who God is and what He has done, His people must dedicate themselves fully to Him.
• ·         “Rock of Israel” was Israel’s sure defense.
• ·         David had often taken refuge among the rocks of the desert, but he realized that true security was found only in the Lord.
• ·         In brief and vivid strokes David portrays the ideal theocratic king—to be fully realized only in the rule of David’s greater son, Jesus Christ.
• ·         Moses insists that there is only one God.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Prayed

1 Samuel 1:28-2:2,9-10 – 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. Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God…He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Luke 1:50,54-55,68-79 – His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation…He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”…“Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

Application:

• ·         Hannah’s prayer is a song of praise and thanksgiving to God. To have one’s horn “lifted high” by God is to be delivered from disgrace to a position of honor and strength.
• ·         “Those who fear Him” are those who revere God and live in harmony with His will.
• ·         God will be true to His promises to His people.
• ·         Rock was a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people.
• ·         Hannah’s prayer anticipates the establishment of kingship in Israel and the initial realization of the Messiah through David.
• ·         Redeeming Israel was not limited to national security but included moral and spiritual salvation.
• ·         Jesus, the Messiah from the house of David, has the power to save.
• ·         Zechariah not only praised his own son, the “prophet of the Most High” but also gave honor to the coming Messiah.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

I Prayed For This Child

1 Samuel 1:22-27 – 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.” “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 word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, 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. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.

1 Samuel 2:1-2,9-10 – Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God…He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Application:

• ·         Hannah’s prayer is a song of praise and thanksgiving to God.
• ·         Rock was a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people.
• ·         Hannah’s prayer is prophetic, anticipating the establishment of kingship in Israel and the initial realization of the Messiah through David.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

His Vow

1 Samuel 1:3-4,19-22 - 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. 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…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. So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 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.”

Genesis 8:1 – But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

1 Samuel 7:5 – Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.”

Psalm 50:14-15 – “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Psalm 56:12 – I am under vows to you, my God; I will present my thank offerings to you.

Application:

• ·         To “remember” in the Bible is often not merely to recall people to mind but to express concern for them, to act with loving care for them. When God remembers His children, He does so “with favor”.
• ·         Samuel, like Moses, was later remembered as a great intercessor. Both were appointed by God to mediate His rule over His people, representing God to Israel and speaking on Israel’s behalf to God.
• ·         Making vows to God was a common feature of Old Testament piety, usually involving thank offerings and praise.
• ·         Three times a year every Israelite male was required to appear before the Lord at the central sanctuary.
• ·         “Sacrifice” here refers to a fellowship offering, a sacrifice that was combined with a festive meal signifying fellowship and communion with the Lord and grateful acknowledgment of His mercies.
• ·         “Your vows” were vows that accompanied prayer in times of need, usually involving thank offerings, always involving praise of the Lord for His answer to prayer.
• ·         Speaking as if his prayer has already been heard, David acknowledges that now he must keep the vows he made to God when he was in trouble.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Peace

1 Samuel 1:12-18 – As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” “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. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” 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.

Numbers 6:24-26 – “‘“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

Romans 15:13 – May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Application:

• ·         Eli’s mistake suggests that in those days it was not uncommon for drunken people to enter the sanctuary.
• ·         The Hebrew for “peace” is shalom, here seen in its most expressive fullness—not the absence of war, but a positive state of rightness and well-being. Such peace comes only from the Lord.
• ·         Any hope the Christian has comes from God. Hope cannot be conjured up by human effort; it is God’s gift by His Spirit.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Vow

1 Samuel 1:11 – 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.”

Genesis 17:1 – When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Genesis 8:1 – But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.

Numbers 6:2-3 – “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of dedication to the Lord as a Nazirite, they must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or other fermented drink. They must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins.

Genesis 28:20-22 – Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

Psalm 50:14-15 – “Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

Application:

• ·         The Hebrew for “God Almighty” (El-Shaddai) perhaps means “God, the Mountain One”, either highlighting the invincible power of God or referring to the mountains as God’s symbolic home. It was the special name by which God revealed Himself to the patriarchs.
• ·         To “remember” in the Bible is often not merely to recall people to mind but to express concern for them, to act with loving care for them. When God remembers His children, He does so “with favor”.
• ·         The Nazirite vow not just a vow of personal self-discipline; it was an act of total devotion to the Lord.
• ·         “Of all that you give me I will give you a tenth” was a way of acknowledging the Lord as his God and King.
• ·         “Your vows” were vows that accompanied prayer in times of need, usually involving thank offerings, always involving praise of the Lord for His answer to prayer.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV