and we are gonna, we had some unanswered questions
last week, so we're gonna see if we can go through
this without having to write it on the board,
but if I need to, then I will. Okay, so let's
read these first three verses. Now these first
three verses are, an introduction to the story
of Samuel. Remember, that's the first story that
we have here. Now, there was a certain man of
Ramathiam Zophim of Mount Ephraim, and his name
was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu,
the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, and Ephrathite.
And he had two wives. The name of the one was
Hannah, and the name of the other, Panina. And
Panina had children, but Hannah had no children.
And this man went up out of his city yearly to
worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts
and Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Haphne and
Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were there."
So, you can see why that's an introduction. It
pretty much gives us, at least in an introductory
way, a list of names, and then it gives us some
particular information about more information
about him. We know that Hannah had no children,
so on and so on. We know that Eli is there, Hockney
and Phineas, these are all people that are going
to feature in the story of Solomon here in the
first few chapters of the book. The question
is, what's going on there in that first verse?
We do have a genealogy. But the question is,
that we have to ask, is why is that genealogy
there? what is the author under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit trying to tell us about Elkanah?
And I think it sounded to me as though some people
here were thinking that it was a genealogy for
the purpose of tracing the lineage back to maybe
Levi, if Samuel is a Levi. But that obviously
is not the purpose of the genealogy here. How
do we know that? It doesn't go back to Levi.
So if you were thinking that this was going to
prove or answer the question as to whether or
not Elkanah was a Levite, the answer is what?
No, it's not going to be there. So then the question
is, why is that genealogy there? It has to be
there for a reason. The Holy Spirit didn't put
it there for no reason at all. So we have all
these names here, so let's just go through them.
We have Ramatheem Zophim hyphenated. Now what
do we know about that if somebody has read first
Samuel before what is Ramatheim? The longer version
of the city name means two hills So that's what
Ramatheim means now. We have the shorter version
of Rama and who lives in Rama? In the book of
Samuel Nobody knows all right, then let's look
it up 1 Samuel chapter 1 verse 19 and then chapter
2 verse 11 and chapter 2 verse 17. So somebody
tell me when you've got one of those references.
Did you say 119? Yes. I have that one. Okay.
And they rose up in the morning early and worshiped
before the Lord. and returned and came to their
house to Ramah, and Elkanah knew Hannah as wife
and will remember him. Okay, so who lives in
Ramah? Elkanah. And? Hannah. Okay. Alright, and
then who has chapter 2 verse 11? 1 Samuel 2,
11. Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah with
the child ministers before before he lied to
the priests. Okay, and then 2, 17. You can read
it if you got it, Grace. Well, that's what I
wrote down. Doesn't necessarily mean it's right.
OK, well, I don't have. Okay, so I don't have
any more. It's also Samuel's home. Remember when
Saul goes to see him, that's where he goes to
see him. And remember he travels up to the city
and then what does he do? He goes to this high
place where Samuel is. That's where Samuel says
we're gonna go. So there's your two hills. So
there is the reason for the Ramathe in him. Now,
how many Ramas are there in Israel? Does anybody
know? Are there more than one? I don't know either.
There's at least two. So then we have, that's
the reason that we have this Zophim hyphenated
after Ramatheim. Now, what is, just from reading
the verse there, what does Zophim sound like,
a name there in the genealogy? Okay, very good.
It's okay, you can be brave. So, the reason for
the genealogy listed there and the reason that
it ends with Zuth is because this Rama is the
one in the territory of Zuth which was founded
by Alcana's, whatever that is, his great -great
-great -grandfather. All right, so then, so that's
the purpose of that genealogy. It's just a geographic
identifier in the first verse of the book here.
It's not any kind of justification for whether
or not Samuel is of the tribe of Levi. Now, there
is, so then we have in... Well, we have this
question here. Well, first of all, hopefully
we all know this, but if we don't, we'll learn
it. Where was the tribe of Levite located geographically
in Israel? Where was their territory located?
This is kind of a trick question. Okay, so where
did they live? Okay, they had what? Cities that
they were supposed to live in. And those cities,
then, would be within the geographic territories
of the other tribes. So then the question is,
when a census was taken or if a person was trying
to say where I'm from, geographically speaking,
a Levite could live, what, in Gad? He could live
in Ephraim. He could live within any of the tribes
or any of the cities where I forget what the...
It was Ephraim and it was... Gad and I can't
remember what the third prominent one was so
the fact that a Levi now remember back in judges
in the Post log there in the last few chapters
or arena about all the chaos we had Levi's there,
right and The Levi's were where they were in
Mount Ephraim So it's not it shouldn't be surprising
to us that there were Levi's living in the mountains
of Ephraim now Just for reference, the mountains
of Ephraim begin north in the territory that
was settled by or given to the tribe of Ephraim.
But they run out of that territory, and what
territory or clan, what tribe is to the south
of Ephraim? Everybody I'm sure has a Bible, and
your Bible has to have a map. Judah is definitely
south of Ephraim. We know that because we have
two tribes in the south. Has everybody got their
map out? So you can see that Dan kind of cuts
around and then we have the tribe of Benjamin
and then south of Benjamin we have Judah. So
the mountains then And you can see mine has Shiloh,
yours probably has Shiloh's also, in the tribe
of Ephraim. And then you can see Mizpah, you
see Gibeon, you see Bethel, Jericho, and Jerusalem
right there on the border between Benjamin and
Judah. And then you have Bethlehem a little bit
south of that. Just because he lived in the mountains
of Ephraim, that doesn't necessarily mean that
he was within the tribal territories of Ephraim.
Do you see that? Those mountains extend through
Ephraim, the south, into the tribe of Benjamin.
And then they do, they actually do, it's called
differently, but they do connect to the mountain
range in the tribe of Judah. Let's see. So this
Rama is the Rama of Bethlehem. Now let's look
at chapter 17, 1 Samuel 17, verse 12. And then
you can turn back one, two, three pages to the
first chapter of Ruth, verse 2. Somebody read
that chapter 17 verse 12 and 1st Samuel when
they get it. Okay, so Ephrathite of Bethlehem
Judah, okay, so there we have the word Ephrathite
Now look at Ruth chapter 1 verse 2 And the name
of the one was Elimelech and the name of his
wife Naomi and the name of his two sons Malon
and Chilean Ephrathites of Bethlehem Judah They
came into the hill country of Moab and continued
there. So we see that that The hyphenate of Bethlehem
and epithite are connected, but they're in they're
in or of Bethlehem So that's what we have for
the Rama of Bethlehem Okay Okay, so I think that's
what I have to say about that first verse is
that Perfectly clear is as clear as mud to everyone.
Did you kind of follow it? Do you follow the
big picture at least? You follow that? Okay So
now that obviously leaves open the question of
whether or not and the reason that this came
up I think is last week I said that Samuel offers
sacrifices And so, when we get to that, is when
I had intended on talking about whether or not
that was legitimate, was that sin, was, you know,
why was it that Samuel was able to offer sacrifice?
And we will, and that's when we will talk about
it. Now, if you want to know if, for sure, if
Samuel was a Levite, then you can read that in
1 Chronicles 6 verse 7, I think. Something like
that. You can find it in First Chronicles. But
what we do want to, before we, and that's all
we're gonna say about that tonight. You'll have
to be patient or it's okay to do some more reading
and studying on your own. There's something to
be said then that in order to find out that Samuel
was a Levite, we have to go to a different book
of the Bible. So what conclusion or what can
we at least suspect if we can't say for sure
that we know now, about Samuel's lineage back
to Levi. How important was that to the author
of 1st Samuel's that we would know that? It wasn't
important at all. So that's the answer. On a
scale of 1 to 10, it was a zero. And the reason
for that is that he's not emphasizing at all
whether or not Samuel was a priest. It's interesting.
When I can come to a solid conviction about what
I think about the whole thing, and maybe after
I've talked to the other two elders, I can either
represent my view or our view on the whole thing.
But in Samuel, in the book of Samuel, we see
Samuel represented what? As a judge. He was a
judge. He is for sure a prophet. And he also
does priestly type stuff. He wears priestly clothes,
and he offers sacrifices. So all in one person,
then, we have prophet, priest, and king, at least
look like. Now, what do we have in David? He's
the other prominent character in Samuel. We have
David, who is a king, right? Judges are no more.
The monarch has been established. David's the
second king of Israel. So we have a king. David
wears a linen ephod, right? He kind of does priestly
things. At the end of the book, The last thing
in the book, you see David offering sacrifice.
So that's priestly things. Was he a priest? No.
And then also, there's no question that David's
a prophet. If you read his Psalms, there's undoubtedly,
there's no doubt at all that David's a prophet.
So in these two men, we have priest -like things,
king -like things, in the case of Samuel, all
represented in one. So at the very least, I think
we can say at the beginning, we're just going
to say this big picture that they are definitely
prophesying that Messiah to come is going to
be all three of these things ideally or perfectly.
He's going to be the perfect or the ideal king.
He's going to be the perfect or the ideal prophet.
And he's going to be the perfect and the ideal
priest. And so we look forward then from here
to the time of Christ when we can say we kind
of saw it here in types and shadows and we didn't
see it perfectly but now that Messiah Jesus has
come we see that perfectly represented all in
one man. Well he sits up there in Rama on the
hill And he judges. I mean, he's the closest
thing to a king that there is until we have kings.
So he's not a king, and we said that. He just
kind of looks kingly and he kind of has authority,
right, to where everybody goes to get their answers.
Any questions then before we move on? I'm not
exactly sure how far we got last week. Does anybody
have notes to a certain place? Okay, verse 11
then. So Hannah has, remember, she was persecuted
or she was harassed by Panina. We see, we saw
Elkanah's try to give her some comfort, but the
comfort that he offered her didn't have anything
to do with God and it obviously fell short. Hannah
then goes to the Lord. In her bitterness of soul,
she goes and runs to the Lord to pray. And in
verse 11, she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of
hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction
of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget
thine handmaid, but will give unto thy handmaid
a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord
all the days of his life. and there shall no
razor come upon his head." Okay, so there's her
prayer to the Lord, her bow and her prayer. What
one word jumps out to you there that's repeated
three times? Compound word, it's a big one. You
can't hardly miss it. Handmade. Now what is that?
What is that teaching us anything? It's obviously
important. The Holy Spirit put it there on her
lips in our Bibles three times in one verse.
Well, it speaks to her posture. What's her posture
before the Lord? Humble. She's not demanding.
She doesn't go to the Lord with this complaint
that says, I'm a perfectly healthy woman, but
I can't have kids. How is this just? You call
yourself a good God? I want children. No, she
just takes her place there before the Lord in
humility. I'm your handmaiden. What's that saying?
Do what is best to you. I'm not in your position.
I don't know what you know. I don't understand
your plan. You do what seems best and right to
you. Here's what's on my heart and I'm gonna
share it with you. I'm gonna turn them over my
burden to you. Now that's prayer. We don't go
demanding to God. Anybody that thinks that she
here was trying to bribe the Lord, look, if you
give me a kid, then I'm going to turn him back
over to you as if the Lord needed somebody to
give him something that he didn't have. So then
what do we make of this vow and what do we make
of this? No razor shall come upon his head. One
more thing, you do see that in her prayer she
says, Oh Lord of hosts. So again, when you pray,
that's a reminder. So hopefully when you pray,
you're reminding yourself. When we pray publicly,
we're reminding each other of who God is. So
the reason that she says, Oh Lord of hosts, is
why? It's a reminder to her of what? It's God
that reigns. It's God that owns and has at His
disposal everything that is. It's God that can
give me the thing that I want, a child, a man
child specifically, because everything is His
and He rules over everything that He's made.
That's a reminder to her. It encourages her then
to ask for big things from this God who has all
the power, He has everything, He owns everything
and He has this perfect plan and He reigns sovereignly
in His creation. So there's, you know, when you
pray, whether you verbalize that or you just
remember that in your head, it is honoring to
the Lord when we remember who he is, how big
he is, how wonderful he is, and all of his attributes.
Okay, then she vows this vow and she says he's
going to give him unto the Lord all the days
of his life and no razor shall come upon his
head. So we could talk about whether or not Samuel
was a Levite. He was, we already know that. What
was the role of the Levite in the worship of
the Lord, in the public worship of the Lord?
Of the direct lineage from Aaron. Then what was
your role as a Levi you served in the temple
right you served in the public worship of the
Lord No, you don't remember that Okay When did
that happen does anybody know when that happened
was that immediately upon birth or upon weaning
that they All the mothers turned them over? Okay,
so 25 to 30, somewhere in there. Now, what was
the, who, the firstborn man child of every family
in Israel belonged to who? Okay, and what happened
if you, So how did you redeem that child back?
Did all those babies just wind up serving at
the temple? No. So what did you do? Offer a sacrifice.
He brought a sacrifice. Depending on how much
money you had, everybody didn't have to bring
the same thing. If you were a man or a family
of wealth, I think it was one bullock. Is that
right? I think it was one bullock or one young
bull and then three tenths of an ephah of flour
and some wine. I think that was what it was.
And then you took that to the temple and you
gave that in sacrifice to the Lord to redeem
that firstborn son. So every firstborn son, it's
right for us to say, belonged to the Lord. Everything
that opens the womb belongs to the Lord. The
firstborn son. In some kind of special way, Hannah
was pledging her child to the service of the
Lord all the days of his life. Even the Levites
that served when they were turning 30, they served
for a while, then they went back home and led
their normal life. And I don't know if they were
on rotation or they would go back, but that was,
it was not a nonstop service for the entirety
of their life. So Hannah is making a special
deal of this to the Lord that she's going to
See to it that her son should the Lord give her
one is going to serve the Lord all the days of
his life Then we just have this Question that
we have to answer that probably isn't answerable
shall there shall no razor come upon his head
Now what does she mean that is that until that
such time as he begins to serve Does that mean
that it's? Is that shorthand for the Nazarite
vowel, which is no razor, and what else? No wine.
No wine, and? You can't touch it then. Can't
touch any kind of a corpse. Do you know? Well,
I thought it was. You thought it was just shorthand
for that. So you see him as a Nazarite. But he's
never called a Nazarite. So again, it's just
one of those odd things. It does hearken our
minds back to who? Samson. And so there are people
that think that the reason that this is here
and the reason that she only mentions this part
is to distinguish him from Samson and from his
tragic end and really the tragedy of his life
where he was constantly plagued. That could be.
It could have something to do with that. So if
you thought I was going to give you a for sure
answer, I'm not. But it is there. And obviously
no razor came upon it and said, I don't think
that's ever mentioned anywhere else again either.
So we should probably just assume that he had
very long hair. And we know that he served the
Lord all the days of his life. All right, anybody
got any questions there? They do. So maybe it
was just her acknowledging that he was the Lord's.
The Lord told her every firstborn son on every
first born of the cattle belongs to the Lord.
Maybe that was just her humbly submitting to
the will of the Lord in that and acknowledging
that it was His. He wasn't asking... Why do we
ask the Lord for anything? So everything that
we receive from the Lord is for what? It's for
Him. Now, I'm not saying you can't ask for a
trans -am, but I am saying that if you're gonna
ask for a trans -am, it better in some way help
you in your ministry of the Lord or in your ministry
or your relationship with the Lord. So I'm not
telling you what you can or limiting what you
can ask, but when you ask for something from
the Lord, we better all understand that whatever
it is that we're asking is His. He's given it
to us to be stewards, and we're asking for it
so that we can serve Him better in some kind
of way. So that eliminates all the wacky health
and wealth liars out there. There's no such thing
as asking the Lord for a million dollars because
I want to live in a mansion. Unless, again, you
can explain to me how it is that that's going
to enhance your relationship with the Lord or
make you a better minister to His people and
serve them. It seems contradictory to me. But
that really is what Hannah demonstrates to us
here. I want this son, but he's yours. He's going
to serve you all the days of his life. And she
couldn't make the Nazirite vow for him that was
voluntary. And most Nazirite vows were for a
limited amount of time. All right. In the New
Testament it says that men should be ashamed
if they have long hair. But that in the Old Testament,
the Nazirite way of being dedicated to God was
to have long hair. Well, Samuel had long hair
because his If he took the Nazirite bough and
were to understand that it extended throughout
his life, in the case of Samson, we know that
it did, that was a lifetime thing. So that's
how we know they had long hair. Nazirite boughs
were not, what, maybe a few years at the most.
So it's not like everyone that took the Nazirite
bough, bowed for the rest of their life and so
their hair would grow continually and on down.
And who knows, maybe they shaved their head right
before they took their violin, it just grew out
to regular length. Well, in verse two, read verse
two. Don't chapter 1 Just until the semicolon
or period Okay, stop there You know that doesn't
you don't have any questions about that To me
that one sticks out like a sore thumb does it
What you can't be an elder in the new covenant
if you've got two wives, right? Even if it was
legal at the time, if you had two wives, you
were converted, maybe you had ten wives, but
you can't be an elder if you have more than one.
Here we have Elkanah, the father of one of the
most famous prophets, the kingmaker Samuel himself,
and he's got two wives. But if we go back to
Genesis, and we understand Genesis in light of
Jesus' teaching, what does Jesus tell us? One
man or one husband one wife right? That's the
way it was in the beginning That's the way that
it always should be right, but here we have Two
wives for Elkanna now who else had more than
one wife The list is going to get long David
now who's David is he some insignificant guy?
He's a man after God's own heart What about Israel?
How many wives did he have? Four. The namesake
of the nation had more than one wife. Now, what
does that tell us? Things aren't the same in
the two covenants, are they? Just because something
happens back here in this covenant doesn't mean
that it can happen in this covenant and just
because something Happens here doesn't mean that
it has to happen there So what I mean there's
all we're now we're familiar with all kinds of
laws right there was illegal It was the death
sentence if you started a fire on what day of
the week on the Sabbath, which was which day
by number? The seventh. Okay, the last day of
the week in honorarium of the Lord who for six
days created and then he rested on the seventh.
So struck dead. Now, is that something? I was
just at the hospital today. My home away from
home. And I'm in this elevator and it says this
elevator on the Sabbath runs continually. Doesn't
ever stop. Never stops moving. Now why is that?
Or you could put, if you've got a more expensive
oven probably, maybe there are some poor Jews.
You have the Sabbath function on your oven. What
does that do? Keeps that thing lit. on Friday
before the Sabbath starts so that on Saturday
you don't have to light the fire. Now, does anybody
here use the Sabbath function on their oven?
Does anybody here make sure that you turn your
furnace up high enough so that the light never
goes off, so that you're never starting a fire?
That's what the whole thing is. No, and why not?
Because something changed. So what was illegal
and sinful and was so serious that you were stoned
to death in the Old Covenant is in the New Covenant
understood and spiritually to have been fulfilled
by Christ who is our Sabbath and we rest in him.
So that we aren't going around looking in your
kitchen to see if you really had the oven on
on Friday night and if not we've got a backpack
full of some nice geodes and we're ready to go.
So that's your answer. Why is something that
happens back here not happening in the New Covenant?
And the answer is because things have changed.
And so whatever ethic or whatever instruction
that Lord Jesus lays down for us in the New Covenant
is what we follow and we understand everything
that happened in the Old Covenant in light of
Jesus's fulfillment of it and his teaching us.
proper place to predict and show who the Messiah
was going to be and to reveal God. Oh, that's
the same way. You can't start, I mean, if you,
you can't start, you can't start your car. That's
why they walk. You've got to live close to synagogue.
You can't start a car because there's a fire
burning in the motor. So the elevator is the
same you can't turn on a light switch You can't
so if you've got to have lights on your house
you got to turn those on and leave them on from
Friday until The Sabbath I suppose unless yeah,
I think that's the only option for that So it
just has to stay on as long as it's on you're
okay, but you can't start the fire So the elevator
never stops moving unless it's picking you up,
so it just goes and then back down. Up and back
down. It never stops unless somebody pushes the
button to get on it. And then the rabbis say
that you have kept the law and you haven't started
a fire and your safety uses the elevator. No,
but I think there's a lot of Jews in the neighborhood
so they try to accommodate. They don't want them
to not be able to come to the hospital on the
Sabbath. Alright, that's all the answer you're
going to get. And it came to pass as she continued
praying before the Lord that Eli marked her mouth.
Verse 13, Now Hannah, she spake in her heart,
only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
Therefore Eli thought she had been drunk, or
drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt
thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee.
And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I
am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk
neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured
out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine
handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of
the abundance of my complaint and grief have
I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said,
Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee
thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And
she said, let thine handmaid find grace in thy
sight." It's kind of ironic, isn't it, that she
found grace from the Lord. But she said, let
me find some grace. She probably thought it was
going to be harder to find grace from Levi than
it was from the Lord. So the woman went her way
and did eat, and her countenance was no more
sad. Now, first of all, You hear that blessing
that Eli, go in peace, and the God of Israel
grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked
of him. And what? What happened to Hannah? She
left. She went her way, did eat, and her countenance
was no more sad. Now, what was different between
the words or the comfort that Eli offered and
the words or the comfort that Elkanah, her husband,
had offered her earlier in the chapter? What's
different? Remember what Elkanah said? Am I not
better for you than 10 children? And what did
we say about that? What was missing? God's nowhere
in there. God's the only thing that is sent here
by Eli to her and it warms her heart. It comforts
her. Now again, that contrast has got to be there
for a reason and the reason is that we get through
our thick heads. They're telling somebody it's
going to be okay. Tomorrow will be better than
today. This is only going to last for so long.
And all the other goofy, stupid, immature, and
juvenile things that the world says should never
come off the lips of a Christian. We don't know
whether tomorrow might be worse. So we could
just as easily say, you better enjoy today as
bad as it is because tomorrow may be a whole
lot worse. We might as well say that. It's just
as likely. The only thing that can bring goodness
and blessing into our lives is what? God. That's
what Eli offers her. Keep your focus on God,
and may He bless you. And whether or not you
have children, whether or not it's in His plan
to send you a son, Keep your focus on the God
who owns all and is good and He's righteous.
And if you will live under His blessing, then
you will be happy and content. And that's the
truth. If you don't believe that, then you've
got to get your Bible out. Convince yourself
of it. There's no other place to be happy, to
be joyful, to be content, except as we, in faith,
look to the Lord. Who can testify to that who's
been through hard times and the Lord has brought
comfort to their soul? All right, so if it hasn't
been your turn yet get ready Soon we'll all be
raising our hands Let's see I think that's Pretty
self -explanatory there. Am I missing anything
in those verses except for I do want to talk
about the daughter of Belial. It probably has
something to say to us that maybe we ought to
think and investigate before we jump to conclusions.
I think we could probably say that too. There's
Eli. He just looks on the outside. Here's this
woman. Her lips are moving. It didn't occur to
him to say to think, well, I'm in the house of
God. Maybe I should figure out, go make some
inquiries and find out what's going on here.
Nah, I'm just going to assume she's drunk and
is over there. So, you know, think before we
act. We can all, we've all done that before.
Talk without thinking. Talk whatever comes into
our head. Now, what do you make of this daughter
of Belial? What does that mean? Count not thine
handmaid in verse 16 for a daughter of Goliath.
16. That could be. ESP just says. So that's not
right. That's not right either. Sorry. So it's
a proper noun. There's no question about that.
So there's Belial is capitalized and it's a deity.
There's no question about that. So what is this
Belial or we might say the devil. We can just
use that for shorthand whether it was the devil
exactly or some other kind of heathen God. What
does the devil do? And in so doing, what's the
end result of that when he has his way? What'd
you say? Destroys. It's not like he's just trying
to hurt you a little bit, give you a little splinter.
He's trying to what? He's a roaring lion seeking
whom he may devour. Now, who else in this book,
I assume we've read it at some point in our lives,
does anybody remember who else is, I mean, this
is, I think it's nine times in the book, son
of, daughter of Belial. Who else are sons of
Belial? Okay, and what were they doing? It was
destructive. It was destruction to the people.
The people are trying to come and worship the
Lord And the so -called priests, now, in verse
3, where it says, Eli and the sons of Eli, Haphne
and Phineas, the priests of the Lord were there.
If we were writing that in our day, we would
say, priests of the Lord. Because they weren't
priests of the Lord, they were sons of Belial.
Just because they happened to be the sons of
Eli and were in the temple, they were no priests
of God. What they really were was causing destruction
and harm to the very people that they were supposed
to be helping. And they are the sons of Belial.
We'll read that later on. That's what he was
accusing Hannah of, turning the house of the
Lord into a bar, a tavern. Just some place to
go and be drunk and do drunken things. That would
cause destruction. ironic in that from Eli. Here's
this woman in soreness of spirit he doesn't bother
to check it out he doesn't bother to see what's
going on he just kinda haphazardly and flippantly
accuses her of being drunk in the house of God
and ruining the vibe and being a general disturbance
and being destructive to God's people, when his
own sons really are the ones who are doing that.
And Eli is more than willing to go and do something
with this woman that he perceives as drunken,
but his own sons, who are so -called priests,
he doesn't do anything. Now, one of the lessons
that we can for sure learn there is that Blood
relatives. This might be a really good lesson
for us here, because a lot of us here are blood
related. But blood relation does not trump our
responsibilities before God. So I can't say,
well, Rebecca's my sister. I can't really go
and correct her. That would be really awkward
at the next Easter. We don't celebrate Easter
at my house. If you do, I can't go to her and
say anything because the 4th of July is going
to be really weird if I go and do that. It may
make my job harder. It may make it more difficult.
But I've got to be on my guard and make sure
that that consideration, what it's going to make
my, you know, this blood relative of mine, that's
got to be secondary to my concern for my honor
of the God that died for me and saved me. That
has to be chief in my thinking. And it wasn't
in the case of Eli. Eli allowed blood relatives
to get in the way of him doing the work of the
Lord. Alright, then next week we'll finish up
chapter one and maybe we'll get into chapter
two. Has anybody got any questions then before
we wrap it up? Maybe we won't answer, maybe I'll
answer next week. And then I just want to say
this, after I turn the recorder off.