36. Barren to Blessed: God's Unexpected Plans

G' day and welcome to Stories of a Faithful God.

I'm Dave Whittingham.

What do you expect from God?

What do you assume he'll do?

What do you assume he must do?

One of the greatest causes of sadness in marriage, in churches, in the workplace, is when people fail to meet our expectations.

And it's the same when we come to God.

Sometimes you'll hear people give reasons for why they've given up on God.

And often it's because they expected God to do something and he didn't do it.

You can hear very eloquent atheists talking about why there can't possibly be a God.

They lay out their reasons.

There can't possibly be a good, powerful God because this happens or that happens.

They have expectations of what a good God will do.

And when those expectations aren't met, they turn their back on God.

In churches, I see people rocked all the time because life's taken this turn or that turn and they thought God had one particular plan for them.

And now it turns out that plan hasn't worked.

There's been an assumption, an expectation that God will work in a particular way.

And when he doesn't, there's anger or confusion or sadness.

Today we're starting a new series.

In the book of 1 Samuel.

I know it's more logical to say 1st Samuel, but I'm so used to saying 1 Samuel.

I'm just going to stick with that.

In 1 Samuel, God completely overturns people's expectations of Him.

Time and time again, he does the opposite of how people think he'll act.

The problem, though, isn't Him.

He's thoroughly consistent.

He's always good, always faithful, always working consistently to his plans.

The problems come when people have the wrong expectations, when they assume God'll act in a certain way, but he doesn't.

If we listen, though, if we don't lay our expectations on God, but let our expectations grow from who he actually is, we'll get to see just how wonderful and good the real God is.

And so, without further ado, I present to you our next episode of Stories of a Faithful God.

We begin in a time of great national tragedy in the history of ancient Israel.

It's about 1100 BC.

It's the time of the judges.

The nation is in a downward spiral of rebellion against God.

They rebel, God sends hardship on them, they repent, and then God saves them.

That's the cycle.

But each cycle, the sin gets worse, the repentance gets weaker, the salvation less complete.

The story of 1 Samuel, though doesn't begin by focusing on the grand national tragedy.

Instead, we zoom in on a very personal tragedy.

We meet a man named Elkanah.

In verse one, we're told there was a man from Ramathaim Zophim, in the hill country of Ephraim.

His name was Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

All those names show Elkanah's place in history.

They show his place in Israel and in his family and in geography.

None of that, though, is what we need to know most.

What we need to know most about Elkanah comes in the next verse.

Verse two says he had two wives, the first named Hannah and the second, Peninnah.

Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.

This is a picture of personal tragedy.

I don't think there's a verse in the Old Testament that says you can only have one wife at a time.

There's no commandment about it.

But the Bible doesn't just teach through commandments.

One of the ways God teaches us is through stories like this.

Every single time when someone has more than one wife, it goes really badly.

It leads to pain and sadness and rivalry.

And already we can see a potential source of rivalry.

One of the wives, Hannah, is childless.

We're told twice that the Lord's kept her from conceiving it isn't her fault.

There's no blame assigned to her.

It isn't a punishment, but it is painful.

In the Bible, having children is always seen as a blessing.

Not being able to have them is always seen as a great sadness.

And for Hannah, her sadness is exacerbated by the fact that the other wife, Penina, does have children.

The contrast is staring her in the face every single day.

Now, Elkanah, on the face of it at least, seems to want to honour God.

Every year, he travels down to a town called Shiloh.

This is where the tabernacle, or tent of God, had been set up before a physical temple was built in Jerusalem.

And about three generations after this, the tent served as the temple, the physical representation of God's home on earth.

So once a year, Elkanna travels there to sacrifice to the God of armies.

We're also told that the two sons of the high priest Eli, who are called Hophni and Phinehas, serve as the Lord's priests there at the tabernacle.

We'll hear more about them later, but just a heads up, don't get too attached to them.

Each time Elkanah travels to Shiloh with his wives and children.

The family tragedy gets played out in a bizarrely painful way.

After the sacrifice, Elkanah gives portions of the meat to his wife Penina and her sons and daughters.

He gives a double portion, though, to Hannah.

Verse 5 tells us he does this because he loved her, even though the Lord had kept her from conceiving at a very surface level.

That's really lovely, right?

His love for her hasn't diminished at all just because God's decided not to give her children.

But it isn't too hard to see how this is going to play out.

On the one hand, Peninnah, who has children, who's actually been a source of blessing, is made to feel like she's half as valuable as the other wife.

On the other hand, Hannah is very publicly reminded of her inability to have children.

I can't imagine anyone giving Elkanna the husband of the year award.

Well, what happens feels almost inevitable.

The wives become rivals.

Panina, embittered by her husband's second class treatment of her, lashes out at Hannah with the stroke that cuts the deepest.

She teases and provokes her relentlessly about not having any children.

Year after year, this goes on.

The family travels to Shiloh.

Elkanna shames his wives, and Penina relentlessly mocks her rival.

Hannah ends up in floods of tears, and she won't eat a thing.

Elkanna's gift of the double portion is left to go cold as his wife crumbles into despair.

Anyone with a pastoral heart may want to put their arm around Elkanah's shoulder and give him some stern advice about being a husband.

Alas, no one seems there to be able to do that.

Instead, we hear Elkanna say something to his wife that is so cringeworthy, the awkwardness of it echoes across 3,000 years.

He says to her in verse eight, Hannah, why are you crying?

Why won't you eat?

Why are you troubled?

Am I not better to you than 10 sons?

This rubbish husband has failed to see the rivalry among his wives.

He's failed to see the bullying that Hannah's suffering.

He's failed to see his part in promoting that bullying.

And now he expects Hannah to say, wow, I have the greatest husband in all the world.

He is so much better than having children.

Husbands, if you're listening, don't be this daft.

Well, the year rolls around, and once again the family tragedy plays out.

After the meal, Hannah's thoroughly distraught.

She's weeping floods of tears, and.

And so she does something that no one else seems to have Done.

As we've said, the writers made it really clear that it's God who's kept her from conceiving.

Peninnah has responded by mocking Hannah.

Elkanna's responded by telling her to take comfort in him.

But Hannah goes to the one who can actually provide real comfort, the one who can really deal with the problem.

She goes to God.

In verse 11, she prays, Lord of armies, if you will take notice of your servant's affliction, remember and not forget me and give your servant a son, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.

Hannah knows who she's talking to.

The Lord of armies.

Yahweh, King of armies.

The God who powerfully rescued his people from Egypt with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm, who looked on the affliction of his people, who saw them, who heard them and came in all his might to save them.

Now Hannah's asking that, as he did for his people as a whole in Egypt, to do the same for her.

She asks him to take notice of her affliction, to remember her, to not forget her.

It can feel a little bit like she's bargaining with God.

You give me a son, and I'll give him back to you.

How's that for a deal?

God, eh?

Yeah.

It also sounds a little bit counterintuitive.

Why ask for a son that you're just going to give away?

We need to understand her problem, though.

Her problem is that she's not able to conceive.

She lives in shame because of that.

It'd be easy for others to say, God's punishing you, or God hates you, or God's angry with you.

None of that's true.

In fact, so far in the story, Hannah seems to be the one person who's most in tune with God.

Giving her a son would remove the opportunity for shame.

It had stopped the gossipers and bullies like Penina, or at least take the wind out of their sails.

And because Hannah is devoted to God, there's nothing more that she'd want for her son than for him to be dedicated to God.

Far from being a selfish bargaining chip, her offer to hand over her son is an indication of her love for God.

And not just love for God, but love for his people, too.

Because the last child that had been miraculously born to a barren woman, a child who was dedicated to God from birth and who never had his hair cut, was Samson.

There, God appointed Samson, from before he was conceived, to be a saviour for Israel to save them from the Philistines.

Hannah's asking God to use her to.

To provide a saviour for his people.

So, yes, Hannah wants her shame to be taken away, but she wants it done in a way that God is honoured and God's people are saved.

Unfortunately, as she's praying, this wonderful God honouring prayer, she's put to shame, this time by none other than Eli, the high priest of God.

Hannah's been praying outside the tabernacle and Eli's sitting there watching as she's praying.

She's moving her lips, but saying the words in her head and heart.

And so what conclusion does the high priest reach as he's watching this?

Does he say, wow, here's a godly woman who's come to God in prayer?

No, he just thinks she's drunk.

In verse 14, he bursts out in righteous indignation.

How long are you going to be drunk?

Get rid of your wine.

It's hard to know who should be more ashamed of this conclusion.

I mean, how stupid that the high priest of the living God can't even recognise when someone's praying.

Is he really that useless?

Is he that blind to what true godliness might look like?

As we'll see in the rest of the story, the answer is pretty much yes, he really is that blind.

And yet, there could be something else going on here, a much wider story.

Could it be that so few Israelites are coming to quietly pray at the tabernacle that Eli is just not used to seeing it?

It's such a rare event.

He's seen far more people drunk than he's seen them.

In quiet prayer, God doesn't tell us.

And it may be the wrong question to ask, because so often in the Old Testament, if the leaders of Israel are bad, then so are the people.

If Eli is this foolish, it doesn't bode well for the Israelites.

Even as we get a hint that Hannah's asking for a saviour for Israel, we get an immediate sign of the danger Israel's in.

Hannah's response to being shamed by Eli comes thick and fast.

In verse 15, she replies, no, my Lord, I am a woman with a broken heart.

I haven't had any wine or beer.

I've been pouring out my heart before the Lord.

Don't think of me as a wicked woman.

I've been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.

She's been praying to be seen and heard and not forgotten.

In all her anguish, she's been speaking to the God who does hear and sees his people in their anguish.

It's a real shame that the high priest isn't as compassionate and insightful as the God he supposedly serves.

Well, now it's his turn to be embarrassed.

Now he feels the shame of not having been able to spot the godliness of this woman.

He stumbles out the words, go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you've made of him.

And Hannah, respectful as she is, replies, may your servant find favour with you.

Then she walks away.

And even as she goes, a miracle's already happened.

She hasn't conceived.

She has no idea whether God will say yes or no to her prayer.

And yet we're told she isn't despondent anymore.

The burden's been lifted.

The worry's gone.

Let me say it again.

She has no idea whether God will say yes or no, and yet he's already helped relieve her burden.

It's hard not to think of these words from Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, where we're told, don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.

And the peace of God, which surpassed all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

It certainly surpasses my understanding why Hannah's so calm even before she receives an answer.

All I can do is simply say, as she's laid her grief on God in faith, God has clearly given her peace.

The next morning, Elkanah and Hannah get up early to worship God.

Then they head to their hometown of Rama.

Sometime there they make love.

But that's not the most significant thing.

It's not what they most need for conceiving a child.

Far more significant is the line in verse 19, the Lord remembered her.

When the Bible says that, it isn't like God's forgotten.

It's simply that God's decided to act.

At this point in time, he's chosen to put his plan into action.

In fact, he's doing exactly what Hannah requested when she asked him to remember her and not forget her.

And so God allows her to conceive, and she gives birth to a son.

Imagine her joy.

Joy in having her shame removed.

More than that, joy in God, as mighty as he is, as lowly and unimportant as she seems.

He's heard her cry, he's seen her distress, and he's answered her prayer.

She's so excited by God, in fact, that she wants everyone to know that this child has come from him.

She gives her son the name Samuel, a name that in the original language sounds something like requested from God.

It isn't just any God, though.

It's Yahweh, God of Israel, whose name we have translated as Lord in capital letters.

So in verse 20, we're told she named him Samuel because she said, I requested him from the Lord.

From now on, whenever anyone meets this person, they're going to be reminded that God answered his mother's prayer.

Just like in her prayer, her desire is for God to be honoured, God to be known, God to be glorified.

And God will be glorified through this boy.

The question is, how much?

What's God going to do with him?

Hannah's prayer sounded like she wanted a son as a saviour for Israel, someone who'd bring them back to their God and rescue them from their enemies.

If that's what he'll be, then hopefully he'll do a better job than the last child who was miraculously born.

The last child dedicated to God, who was never to have his hair cut.

Samson had killed lots of the enemy, the Philistines, but he'd done nothing to bring the Israelites back to God.

Instead, he turned out to be a vicious, selfish oath.

So what will Samuel be the next time the family makes their annual journey to Shiloh?

Hannah doesn't go with them.

Not because she doesn't want to fulfil her vow, rather because she fully intends to keep it.

She's preparing the boy to be separated from her.

She says in verse 22, after the child is weaned, I'll take him to appear in the Lord's presence and to stay there permanently.

Once again, Hannah's the active one, thinking about how to do what's best.

Her husband, Elkanna, passively replies, do what you think is best and stay here until you've weaned him.

May the Lord confirm your word.

He sounds a little bit like Eli, who'd hoped that God would confirm her request.

Two men, both meant to be leaders, one over Israel and one over his family.

But both men merely passive and responsive.

It's Hannah who's actively serving God.

And true to her word, when the boy's weaned, she does take him to Shiloh.

He's probably older than most Western babies are weaned these days, but he's still much younger than most mums would want to give away their son.

So we hear in verse 24.

When she had weaned him, she took him with her to Shiloh, as well as a three year old bull, half a bushel of flour and a clay jar of wine.

Though the bull was still young, she took him to the Lord's house at Shiloh.

Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.

When she gets to Eli, of course, she wants to tell him how God's answered her prayer.

She says, please, my Lord, as surely as you live, my Lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.

I prayed for this boy.

And since the Lord gave him what I asked for, I now give the boy to the Lord.

For as long as he lives, he is given to the Lord.

And so from that day on, Samuel worships there at the tabernacle.

And Hannah bursts into joyful prayer.

In her prayer, she talks about how God saved her, about his power and how there's no one else like him.

She speaks about how he doesn't value the same things that other people value.

He doesn't value wealth and power and status.

He judges people on the basis of good and evil.

She knows everything.

Good comes from him.

And she knows that things are taken away by him.

He's God.

That's his right.

He rules the world, and yet he notices and cares for the weak and vulnerable.

She talks about all these wonderful things about God.

And of course it all applies to how she's been treated.

But by the end, you see that she isn't just thinking about herself.

Her thoughts are much bigger.

She is much more attuned to God's big, universal plans.

Let me read it for you from chapter two, verse one.

Hannah prays.

My heart rejoices in the Lord.

My horn is lifted up by the Lord.

My mouth boasts over my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.

There is no one holy like the Lord.

There is no one besides you.

And there is no rock like our God.

Do not boast so proudly or let arrogant words come out of your mouth.

For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by Him.

The bows of the warriors are broken, but the feeble are clothed with strength.

Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are starving hunger no more.

The woman who is childless gives birth to seven, but the woman with many sons pines away.

The Lord brings death and gives life.

He sends some down to Sheol and he raises others up.

The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth.

He humbles and he exalts.

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the trash heap.

He seats them with noblemen and gives them a throne of honour.

For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's.

He has set the world on them.

He guards the steps of his faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness.

For a person does not prevail by his own strength.

Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered.

He will thunder in the heavens against them.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

He will give power to his king.

He will lift up the horn of his anointed.

Did you hear the strange note at the end of that?

Who is this king that God will give power to?

Who is the anointed one?

The Hebrew word for anointed is Messiah.

The Greek word is Christ.

Who is this Christ?

So far, the only people who get anointed in Israel are priests.

The anointing is the sign of them being set aside for their special task of serving God.

So why is Hannah talking about a king?

Israel had toyed with the idea of a king.

They'd asked one of the judges, Gideon, to rule as their king.

But he was like, no way God's your king.

One of Gideon's sons later did accept the title of king, and then he had his 70 brothers killed.

So that didn't go so well through the Book of Judges.

As the people of Israel descend further and further into sin, you get this repeated line.

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did whatever seemed right to him, which kind of implies that they really need a king.

But also, Gideon was right.

God's their king.

And yet they only seem to follow God well when they have a human ruler.

If you go back further to the book of Deuteronomy, God actually anticipates that one day Israel will actually have a human king.

And the very core of his role would be to be a godly ruler, to listen to God, follow God, serve God.

The sort of leader, in other words, who the Israelites can follow as the people of God.

So is Samuel going to be this king?

Is he the one who is going to be anointed?

Is he the one God will give power to and use to save his people?

With that question hanging, Elkanah returns home to Rama.

But the boy stays on to serve the Lord under the priest Eli.

As we saw before, Eli has two sons who serve as priests.

Their names are Hophni and Phinehas.

It's their job to serve the Lord by making sacrifices.

It's their job to serve the Lord's people by mediating between them and God.

But there's a problem.

They don't respect the Lord or his people.

They're thoroughly wicked.

Instead of using their position as an opportunity to help people know their God, they use it to run a sort of mafia style protection racket.

God had made a provision that when a sacrifice was offered to him, certain parts of the meat could be kept for the priests to eat.

It's a way of looking after them and providing for them.

Something they weren't allowed to eat though, was the fat that had to be burned in the fire on the altar as a presentation to God.

Hophni and Phinehas, though, figure they can take whatever they want, especially the fat, because that's the best part, right?

They don't care about God.

And if one of God's people tried to complain, well, just like the mafia, they've got their enforcers.

So this is what we're told from verse 13.

When anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling and plunge it into the container, kettle, cauldron or cooking pot.

The priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up.

This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.

Even before the fat was burned, the priest's servants would come and say to the one who was sacrificing, give the priest some meat to roast because he won't accept boiled meat from you, only raw.

If that person said to him, the fat must be burned first, then you can take whatever you want for yourself.

The servant would reply, no, I insist that you hand it over right now.

If you don't, I'll take it by force.

This is so evil.

What chance have the people of Israel got in relating to God when the people who were meant to mediate between them and God couldn't care less about God.

But also, what chance have Hophni and Phinehas got when they take their stand against God?

Just think about these lines from Hannah's prayer.

In verse three she said, do not boast so proudly or let arrogant words come out of your mouth.

For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by him.

In verse five she prayed, those who are full hire themselves out for food.

But those who are starving hunger no more.

In verse 8, for the foundations of the earth are the Lord's.

He has set the world on them.

He guards the steps of his faithful ones.

But the wicked perish in darkness.

For a person does not prevail by his own strength.

Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered.

He will thunder in the heavens against them.

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

These men feel untouchable as the helpless worshippers are frustrated in their attempts to honour God.

They may feel like these priests are untouchable, but God's watching, and God will judge.

There's someone else serving at the tabernacle, though.

Someone very different, someone completely unexpected.

Even though all priests are from the tribe of Levi, he isn't a Levite.

Even though all priests are grown men, he's just a boy.

Even though only priests wear the ceremonial linen chestpiece called the Ephod, he's wearing the Ephod.

He's someone who seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, wearing the wrong clothes, and yet he actually is serving the Lord.

He isn't evil like Hophni and Phineas.

When you come to the tabernacle, he isn't who you expect to see.

And yet the expectations have been turned upside down.

The expected priests have rejected the Lord, but the unexpected little boy from the wrong tribe is doing what's right.

And he's a great source of joy.

Elkanah and Hannah are still making their annual journey to the tabernacle.

Before, those journeys were a time of heartbreak and sorrow and distress.

Now God's transformed them into a time of joy and reunion and happiness.

In verse 19, we're told each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife.

May the Lord give you children by this woman in place of the one she's given to the Lord.

Then they would go home.

And do you know what?

Remarkably, miraculously, against all expectations, God does give her more children.

We're told the Lord paid attention to Hannah's need and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters.

Remember, Hannah was barren.

She was depressed, overwhelmed.

No one expected her to have any children at all.

But God's turned that expectation on its head, which again, is exactly like what Hannah said in her prayer in verse four.

She said, the bows of the warriors are broken, but the feeble are clothed with strength.

Those who are full hire themselves out for food, but those who are starving hunger no more.

The woman who is childless gives birth to seven, but the woman with many sons pines away.

The Lord brings death and gives life.

He sends some down to Sheol and he raises others up.

The Lord brings poverty and gives wealth.

He humbles and he exalts.

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the trash heap.

He seats them with noblemen and gives them the throne of honour.

When the world sees Weakness and poverty and loss in people.

If those people trust God, then the world is seeing it wrong.

Hannah said that God guards the steps of his faithful ones.

The greatest example of that, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Who on earth would think that a condemned, crucified criminal was worth following?

And yet the Apostle Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 1:22.

He says, for the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

Yet to those who are being called both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

Meanwhile, as Samuel's growing up in the presence of the Lord, Eli is getting very old.

So far, we haven't seen much to commend him.

But now he's hearing rumours of what his sons are up to.

Not just the stealing of God's food, they're also sleeping with the women who serve at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

And finally, this old man stirs himself to warn his sons, to let them know of the great danger they're in.

So many people in positions of power abuse that power because they only think about their power.

But Eli points his sons back to the powerful God.

He says in verse 23, why are you doing these things?

I have heard about your evil actions from all these people.

No, my sons.

The news I hear the Lord's people spreading is not good.

If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him.

But if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?

That's good advice.

It's wise advice.

But the sons don't listen.

And we're told explicitly why they don't listen.

It's because the Lord intends to kill them.

In other words, they've been rejecting God for so long, God's decided to punish them.

And part of the punishment is he won't let them listen to the wisdom of.

Of repentance.

Just like back in Egypt when God hardened Pharaoh's heart, now he's hardened their hearts.

And just like Eli said, there's no one who can intercede for them.

In contrast, Samuel, we're told, is growing in stature and in favour with the Lord and with people.

As good as it is that Eli's given his sons this warning, it really is too little, too late.

If he's only just now hearing rumours about his son's activities, it's because he's willfully turned a blind eye to them.

He's ignored their evil for too long and he's even profited by it.

He too has grown fat on the offerings they've stolen from God.

In the end, he's just as culpable as them.

And so God sends a prophet to him.

As he speaks, you can hear the sadness in God's voice.

He's given these guys so much privilege and honour and they've just spat it back in his face.

In verse 27 the Prophet tells this to Eli.

He says, this is what the Lord didn't I reveal myself to your forefathers family when they were in Egypt and belonged to Pharaoh's palace?

Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose your house to be my priests, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence.

I also gave your forefathers family all the Israelite food offerings.

Why then do all of you despise my sacrifices and offerings that I require at the place of worship?

You have honoured your sons more than me by making yourselves fat with the best part of all the offerings of my people, Israel.

Therefore, this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Israel.

I did say that your family and your forefathers family would walk before me forever.

But now this is the Lord's declaration no longer.

For those who honour me I will honour, but.

But those who despise me will be disgraced.

Look, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your forefather's family so that none in your family will reach old age.

You will see distress in the place of worship in spite of all that is good in Israel.

And no one in your family will ever again reach old age.

Any man from your family I do not cut off from my altar will bring grief and sadness to you.

All your descendants will die violently.

This will be the sign that will come to you concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

Both of them will die on the same day.

God had given them an intergenerational blessing.

But now as a consequence for their intergenerational sin, they'll experience an intergenerational curse.

God is slow to anger, but that doesn't mean he doesn't get angry.

Rather his anger is controlled.

Just fair.

These men have abused his slowness.

They've used it as an opportunity for more sin instead of what it actually has been, an opportunity for repentance.

So now their time is up and God won't tolerate their evil any longer.

And yet, even though he's removing them from the privileged priestly position, that doesn't mean he's abandoning his people.

He won't leave them without a priesthood.

Instead, he's going to raise up a better priest.

In verse 35, God says through the prophet, then I'll raise up a faithful priest for myself.

He will do whatever is in my heart and mind.

I will establish a lasting dynasty for him, and he will walk before my anointed one for all time.

Think about the enormity of that promise.

A faithful priest and a priest who faithfully leads people to God, who faithfully intercedes for them, who faithfully sacrifices for them to remove their sin and restore their relationship with God.

This faithful priest, he's going to be priest forever.

It's kind of weird.

God says he'll establish a dynasty for this priest.

Like the current priesthood works, passing from father to son.

A bit like how kingship passes from father to son.

That's what people expect.

But then God says something unexpected.

He talks about this priest walking before his anointed for all time.

His priesthood won't be destroyed by death.

Already in Judges a pattern's emerge that'll continue through the whole Old Testament.

That even when Israel has a good leader, when he leads them well and they return to God under his leadership, eventually he dies and the people wander away from God again.

Not so with this priest.

God's doing something unexpected and new here.

Something else unexpected is who this priest is serving.

God's anointed.

As we've said so far in Israel, it's usually just the priests being anointed.

So this sounds like the king.

The same king who Hannah prayed about.

A king we haven't met yet.

And if the priest is going to walk before him forever, that means that this king too will be king forever.

These are promises that are far beyond anything Israel's had before.

And again we're left with the questions.

Who is this priest?

Who is this king?

Whoever they are, they won't be from Eli's family.

In verse 36, the Prophet tells Eli, anyone who is left in your family will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread.

He will say, please appoint me to some priestly office so I can have a piece of bread to eat.

They've had the privilege of being given the sacrificial meat for food.

They've abused that privilege.

They've grown fat from that abuse.

So in the future they'll have to come begging for food.

Just like in Hannah's prayer when she said, those who are full hire themselves out for food.

Meanwhile, the boy Samuel continues to serve the Lord.

It's almost like he's a replacement priest.

Well, now we're told two pieces of information about this time.

Firstly, in chapter three, verse one, we're told that the prophetic message Eli just received, it has great rarity value.

We shouldn't think that people are getting these sorts of prophecies all the time.

The verse says, in those days, the word of the Lord was rare and prophetic visions were not widespread.

The second thing we're told is that Eli's eyesight is failing.

He's getting older.

It's a physical thing that happens to a lot of people.

This physical ailment, though, hints at a spiritual problem for Eli that plays out in a strange comedic tragedy.

The comedy of it resonates all these years later.

But even as we laugh, we can't ignore the seriousness of the situation.

It's nighttime.

Eli's lying in his usual place, wherever that is.

It doesn't seem to be in the temple.

Samuel, on the other hand, is in the temple.

We're told that this is before the lamp of God has gone out, so there's light there.

Unlike Eli, Samuel can see also in the tabernacle, there is the Ark of God, the wooden box covered in gold, about a meter long.

The ark represents the throne of God on earth.

It's meant to be a physical reminder of God's presence with his people.

And Samuel's there with the ark.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the Lord God calls out to Samuel.

This has never happened to Samuel before, but he's an obedient boy.

Rousing himself, he calls back, here I am.

And he leaps to what seems to be a logical conclusion.

He assumes he's being called by Eli.

He rushes to Eli's bedside and wakes him up.

He says, here I am.

You called me.

Every parent of a four year old knows that feeling of suddenly being woken by a little voice or a little hand.

The frustration of knowing that morning's on the way and you will never get back this sleep that you've lost.

If someone's vomiting or the house is on fire, fine, you have to put up with it.

But when it's absolutely nothing, well, it's good that you love them.

And so violence is not really an option.

Eli groggily replies, I didn't call.

Go back and lie down.

So Samuel returns and lies down.

Perhaps he just misheard.

Then, in verse 6, the Lord calls out again, Samuel.

And a second time, Samuel jumps up, runs to Eli and says, here I am.

You called me.

Being woken up once for no reason is bad enough.

A second time, your eye might start to twitch.

Eli keeps his cool, though, and he replies tenderly, I didn't call my son.

Go back and lie down.

So a second time, Samuel goes and lies back down.

You'd hope that Eli would investigate more.

Why does Samuel think he's being called when he's lying down in the tabernacle, the tent that represents where God lives on the earth?

Samuel has a good excuse for not knowing what's happening.

We're told in verse seven.

Now, Samuel did not yet know the Lord because the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

And so a third time, the Lord calls Samuel.

And again he rushes off to Eli.

Here I am.

You called me.

Finally, Eli's eyes begin to open enough to see what's happening.

He's losing his sight, but it hasn't yet gone completely.

Finally, he understands that the Lord is calling the boy.

He tells him, go and lie down.

If he calls you say, speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.

Finally, armed with this knowledge from the high priest, Samuel returns, prepared for the answer.

Once again, God comes and stands before him and says, samuel, Samuel.

And finally Samuel replies, to the right person, he says, speak, for your servant is listening.

The message that God has isn't what you'd call cheery.

You're probably not going to put it on a Christmas card.

You know those moments where you've had a bit of a laugh and then suddenly you have to come back to reality really quickly.

This is one of those moments God's come to say that message he sent before, the one about Eli's family being punished for their evil.

At some stage in the future, that time is about to happen.

It'll be a cataclysmic moment.

And just in case you were wondering if there really is a problem with Eli, isn't the problem with his sons.

God makes it super clear.

In verse 11, God says this to Samuel.

He says, I am about to do something in Israel that will cause everyone who hears about it to shudder.

On that day, I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family from beginning to end.

I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about.

His sons are cursing God and he has not stopped them.

Therefore, I have sworn to Eli's family.

The iniquity of Eli's family will Never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering.

Do you remember Eli's words to his sons?

He had said, if one person sins against another, God can intercede for him.

But if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?

Well, now God's saying, you, Eli, have sinned against the Lord, and no one will be able to intercede for you.

This is a terrifying decree, a decree which, if you heard it spoken about yourself, should chill you to your bones.

When Eli hears about it, though, he has exactly the wrong reaction.

After God's spoken to Samuel, Samuel lies down until the morning.

He's still a diligent servant.

He opens the doors of the Lord's house.

But his diligence doesn't mean he's not terrified of telling Eli what God said.

You can imagine him finding jobs to do, avoiding eye contact, keeping busy.

But of course, Eli's super keen to find out what God said.

He's not going to just forget about this.

He calls Samuel to him, like God called to him the night before.

He asks him what God had to say, and he isn't going to let Samuel wriggle out of it.

In verse 17, he says, what was the message he gave you?

Don't hide it from me.

May God punish you and do so severely if you hide anything from me that he told you so.

Perhaps squirming a bit, Samuel faithfully passes on the message.

He doesn't leave anything out.

Unlike Eli, he's a faithful messenger of God.

Eli's response sounds pious and holy.

It sounds like he trusts God.

He says, he is the Lord.

Let him do what he thinks is good.

As pious as that sounds, I want to say, no, no.

Tear your clothes, cry out, burst into tears.

But someone might say, what choice does he have?

God already said that the iniquity of his family will never be wiped out, that you can't do anything to stop what's going to happen.

But one constant throughout the Bible is that God is always merciful when people turn back to Him.

If you go back and read Jonah, I did a series on it back near the beginning of the podcast.

In episodes three and four, Jonah took a message to Nineveh that had absolutely no hope.

The message was simple.

In 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed.

It was a simple black and white statement with no loopholes.

But the people repented.

They cried out for mercy.

And God loves to have mercy.

In Ezekiel 18:23, God says, Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?

This is the declaration of the Lord.

God instead, don't I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?

So when the Ninevites repented, God forgave them.

And Jonah chucks a tantrum, he gets all grumpy and says, I knew you were going to do that.

You're always having mercy.

And as silly as Jonah's response is, at least he knows he's God better than Eli.

Eli is given this pious sounding response, but not a response of repentance, not a response that comes from knowing and trusting the Lord, which is exactly how he ended up in this mess in the first place.

It's why Eli, even though he's the high priest, even though everyone expects him to have the role he does, cannot possibly serve as God's representative on earth.

Instead, God's raised up someone unexpected, someone no one thought could possibly do the job.

He's from the wrong tribe, he's too young.

I mean, gee, he shouldn't have even been born.

His mum couldn't have babies.

But then, unexpectedly, God gave her a baby.

And this unexpected baby is about to become the true leader of Israel, the faithful teacher of God's word, the one to lead people back to God.

So we read in verse 19, Samuel grew.

The Lord was with him, and he fulfilled everything.

Samuel prophesied all Israel, from Dan, which is in the north, to Beersheba, which is in the south, knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of the Lord.

The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh because there he revealed himself to Samuel by His word.

And Samuel's words came to all Israel.

God loves to do the unexpected.

Often because people's expectations are so wrong, they make assumptions about God and about how to serve him and about what makes him happy that are way off base.

God didn't choose an important woman to be Samuel's mum.

He chose a desperately sad woman, teased and embarrassed by her rival, hurt by the foolish words of her thoughtless husband.

Everything seemed wrong about her.

And yet she was the one who truly trusted God.

And she was the one God chose to bring Israel's Saviour into the world.

Everyone expected Eli and Hophni and Phinehas to be the priests.

After all, they're Levites.

It's their job.

They literally have a birthright to it, regardless of their godliness.

But instead, God raised up a new, unexpected leader, one who truly knew him and loved him and served him.

You can't help but be reminded of another unexpected mother and another unexpected child.

This mother was so unexpected.

She wasn't just barren, she was a virgin.

And Yet God chose her to give birth to the Saviour, not just of Israel, but of the whole world.

And she was filled with so much joy at God's unexpected gift to her.

She burst into song in Luke chapter two, using words that echo so closely the words of Hannah.

And when her son was born, he broke all expectations.

People were expecting a certain type of preacher, a certain type of prophet, a certain type of king, but their expectations were all wrong.

Instead, Jesus did something much more unexpected and much more wonderful.

His death on the cross was thought to be a sign that God hated him, but actually it was a sign of God's love for the world.

People thought his death was the end, but God raised him to life as the Saviour King, the Savior prophet, the Saviour priest, the faithful high priest who intercedes for his people, bringing us into a perfect relationship with God.

And he does it forever.

Meanwhile, back in ancient Israel, war is brewing.

The Philistines are about to attack.

The Israelites are about to look to Hophni and Phinehas, their priests, to help them have God on their side.

They expect God to be on their side side.

It isn't going to go well, but that's a story for next time.

Thanks everyone for listening to this first in the series on 1 Samuel.

I'm really looking forward to what happens next.

Thank you also for your patience in waiting for this episode to come come out.

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Bye for now.