Tag: 1 Samuel 2

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Were They Wrong?

Links for today’s readings:

Read: 1 Samuel 2 Listen: (6:09) Read: Hebrews 13 Listen: (3:31)

Scripture Focus: 1 Samuel 2.1-2

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

Luke 1.46-49

46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.

Reflection: Were They Wrong?

By John Tillman

Hannah and Mary’s poems share themes. The hungry are fed. (1 Samuel 2.5; Luke 1.53) The poor are elevated. (1 Samuel 2.8; Luke 1.52-54) Wicked rulers are thrown down. (1 Samuel 2.9; Luke 1.51-52)

Hannah celebrated God fulfilling promises to her, including additional children to follow Samuel.

Mary celebrated confirmation from Elizabeth that God would fulfill promises to her and about Jesus.

Hannah and Mary understood better than most the need for salvation.

Those never experiencing darkness are less thankful for light. Those never having empty stomachs are less thankful when filled. Those never having parched throats are less thankful for drink. Those never wearing patched, damaged, or dirty clothes because they had no others, are less thankful for a closet full of choices. (Luke 7.40-48)

The salvation these prophetic women pictured was not metaphysical, formless, esoteric salvation from invisible things. There were tangible dangers, struggles, losses, and injustices they and their communities experienced. They expected and celebrated salvation in tangible terms.

Were they wrong?

Samuel, much less Hannah, would not live long enough to see Israel “inherit a throne of honor” (v. 8) or God “give strength to his king,” (v. 10) under David’s rule. Jesus, son of David, explicitly refused to bring down Herod or Caesar from their thrones and was executed under their authority. (John 18.36-37; Acts 1.6-8)

Did God fail to fulfill his promises in the way that these prophetic women understood them? Were they “tricked” into anticipating tangible salvation when God only meant “spiritual” salvation?

In short, no. But there is a fuller answer. First, both spiritual and tangible promises come true in time. But perhaps not the timing we or these women expect or prefer. Second, spiritual victories always precede tangible victories. Christ conquers and frees hearts before touching the world. But he will touch it. Third, God’s kingdom is both instantaneously available and incrementally inevitable. The victories prophesied are already true and not yet fully realized.

There is reason to believe that Hannah and Mary understood this ambiguity in their poems. They trusted in faith that spiritual and tangible kingdoms would one day unite and they celebrated every incremental step toward more just and righteous hearts that would work toward a more just and righteous world.

Human effort will not bring about God’s kingdom on Earth, no matter how hard we work. Jesus will bring it. However, let us celebrate the inevitable and imminent victory that is coming in ways small and slow or seismic and sudden.

How long, oh Lord? Come Lord Jesus!

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim. — Psalm 80.1

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Organizing Against Corruption

Any organization is vulnerable to corruption, even ones instituted by God. Priests, prophets, kings—none of them are invulnerable.

Organizing Against Corruption
Read more: Offal Leaders

Malachi describes a de-commissioning…feces from the animal would be smeared on their faces, representing impurity and death.

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Organizing Against Corruption

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 7 Listen: (5:13) Read: Acts 4 Listen: (5:15)

Links for today’s readings:

Read: Leviticus 8 Listen: (5:06) Read: Acts 5 Listen: (6:49)
Read: Leviticus 9 Listen: (3:18) Read: Acts 6 Listen: (2:35)

Scripture Focus: Leviticus 7.35-36

35 This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests. 36 On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their perpetual share for the generations to come.

1 Samuel 2.12-17

12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”

17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.

Reflection: Organizing Against Corruption

By John Tillman

Leviticus introduces  “organized religion” to God’s people. People introduced corruption.

The Bible’s first “priest” is the mysterious Melchizedek, to whom Abraham gave a tithe of all his plunder after a battle. Other than that one moment, we don’t read of God-followers in the Old Testament seeking God through priests. They went to God directly.

Yet, in Leviticus, God instituted a system of worship managed by a specifically-called group of people. The priests’ first jobs were all physical in nature. They made the sacrifices, divided and placed the animals on the altar, disposed of the waste, and maintained the Tabernacle and its furnishings with the help of their tribe, the Levites.

In return for this service, God gave them a share of the food offerings that were not burned up. Eventually, the priests’ role expanded to teaching and interpreting the law and ministering to spiritual needs through prayer, counsel, and charity.

Centuries later, Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, broke the regulations in today’s passage by taking more meat than designated and violating the order of the ritual. (1 Samuel 2.12-17). In addition, they violated young women who worked at the Tabernacle. (1 Samuel 2.22-23) God put Hophni and Phinehas to death in a battle in which the Ark of the Covenant was lost. God punished not just the individuals but the entire system of worship.

Any organization is vulnerable to corruption, even ones instituted by God. Priests, prophets, kings—none of them are invulnerable.

Ezekiel prophesied against wicked shepherds, the kings of his day, that abused power, enriched themselves, and increased the poor’s suffering. God stood “against the shepherds” and pledged to be the good shepherd the people needed. (Ezekiel 34.1-4; 10-16)

Corruption is one of the primary reasons “organized religion” has a poor reputation. Wherever there is corruption in the system, God shares the disgust of those who discover corruption and sets himself against those who would deny it or perpetuate it. We shouldn’t be shocked when God punishes not just corrupt individuals, but organizations.

Those in Christ are part of a specifically-called group of people, the Church. We are “organized” into Christ’s body and called to meet spiritual needs through prayer, counsel, and charity.

We cannot ignore or overlook corruption but we also cannot abandon our posts. Despite, and even because of, corruption, we must fulfill our calling faithfully. We must organize against corruption.

We honor Jesus, our high priest, when we oppose corruption and serve honorably.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion;

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you. — Psalm 147.13-14

– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Offal Leaders

Malachi describes a de-commissioning…feces from the animal would be smeared on their faces, representing impurity and death.

Offal Leaders—Readers’ Choice
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Where Judgment Falls

Scripture: 1 Samuel 2.12
Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord.

I have suffered grievously in my life from stupid, tired, dimmed, and even bad priests. — JRR Tolkien

Reflection: Where Judgment Falls
By John Tillman

Eli’s sons were corrupt in the extreme. They stole from the offerings of the people, committing financial sins and threatening violence toward those who objected. They used their spiritual positions of power to manipulate and pressure women at the tabernacle for sexual favors. The Bible says Eli and his sons grew fat off of the offerings of the people. They are a textbook case of spiritual abuse and financial malfeasance in the name of ministry.

Anyone, even unbelievers, can name a pastor or church they consider to be a Hophni or a Phinehas. Among non-believers and those leaving the church, some common reasons are corrupt, abusive, or just plain bad leadership.

Ministers who are corrupt or simply incompetent and foolish are nothing new to Christianity. JRR Tolkien wrote to his son concerning this issue.

I think I am as sensitive as you (or any other Christian) to the ‘scandals’, both of clergy and laity. I have suffered grievously in my life from stupid, tired, dimmed, and even bad priests; but I now know enough about myself to be aware that I should not leave the Church for any such reasons…Our love may be chilled and our will eroded by the spectacle of the shortcomings, folly, and even sins of the Church and its ministers, but I do not think that one who has once had faith goes back over the line for these reasons (least of all anyone with any historical knowledge).

It can be difficult to worship God under corrupt leaders and it can even be difficult to celebrate their good moments. Hannah received her prophecy and blessing of Samuel’s birth through the tainted ministry of Eli and his sons, but rather than redeeming their ministry, it was the first step in God wiping them out.

Samuel comes to remind us that judgment is coming for the Hophni’s, Phinehas’s, and Eli’s of the world, and for us as well. That judgment has fallen on Christ, and we all receive his same mercy.

The Request for Presence
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him. — Psalm 96.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Full prayer available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
1 Samuel 4 (Listen – 3:56)
Romans 4 (Listen – 4:08)