Reading: 1 Samuel 1-3, Psalm 78
מָשִׁיחַ (mā·šîaḥ) messiah, the anointed one
Welcome to the book of Samuel. We are going to begin looking at this book, which was split into two books by the Alexandrian Jewish translators of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, by looking at the word messiah, or anointed one, because the entire book is about a search for the person who will faithfully act as the anointed one of the God of Israel. In the course of this story we will see two men anointed. One will fall short. The other will first succeed, and then fall short. God will make a new covenant inside the covenant with Israel from the books of Moses, a covenant with the house of David, with a promise about a faithful king and a faithful priest.
Recall that we are now exiting the era of the judges, but we aren’t quite out of them yet. The story we read today opens much like the story of Samson from Judges 13, but flipped. There God came to a barren woman and announced a child who would be dedicated to the service of God. Here a barren woman comes to the tabernacle of God and begs for a child, promising to dedicate him to the service of God. There is a bunch of surrounding drama about her rather boneheaded husband and his other wife, but the center of this story is Hannah, the barren woman.
The other actor in this story is Eli, the high priest. Now, remember the duties of the high priest from back in Exodus and Leviticus? This was the bearer of the guilt of Israel. The one who could carry the atonement into the presence of God once a year, making the whole sacrificial system work. Keep this in mind as we read through the behavior of Eli and his sons.
The drama is fairly simple. Hannah comes to the tabernacle and asks God for a child, weeping and in distress. Eli assumes she is drunk. When she corrects him, he agrees with her prayer, saying may God do as you ask. Note here her promise about not ever cutting his hair, another parallel to Samson and the Nazirite vow from Numbers 6. Lo and behold, God does as she asks, and she when he is old enough, she dedicates him to the service of God under the tutelage of Eli. Then she sings a song, which we will come back to in a minute.
Oh yeah, Eli. How is he doing? Well, he’s got some bad kids. His sons are grossly misusing their positions as priests. They take the best meat of the sacrifices before they are offered, including the fat which God had directed by burned. They steal from both the people and from God. We also learn they are having sex with the young women serving at the entrance to the tabernacle, which aside from the power imbalance issues we see from today’s perspective, smacks of Canaanite religious prostitution. But what about Eli himself? Well, I think we can see something of his failure in the question he asks his sons: if you sin against God, who will intercede for you? More than anything else, I think this betrays Eli’s utter lack of understanding of his role as priest. The answer, of course, is Eli himself. It is literally his job description to intercede for the sinful people of Israel before God. But there is no indication that he does this. Even when Israel was at it’s worst during the books of Moses, when Moses interceded for the people there was forgiveness in the midst of judgment. But the family of Aaron, which should have carried on this role, are not doing it. The priesthood has been unfaithful, and now Eli’s sons are not only uneducated, they are wicked.
Back to Hannah’s song. I wanted to get the whole picture of how bad things had gotten with the priesthood before looking at what God reveals to Hannah. Bear in mind that it really should be Eli who gets this message, but instead it goes to the barren woman. The majority of this song is a declaration of dependence. Hannah knows that everything is in God’s hands. She sings of the absolute supremacy of God over humanity, the Earth, good, bad, rich, poor, powerful, weak. Her song is a confessional par excellence. But it doesn’t end there. She receives a prophecy, a prediction that God will judge the world himself, but will raise up a strong king, and exalt the horn of his anointed one. Horn is a common ancient metaphor for honor, strength, and status. This is the first mention of this anointed one in the story, though there have been foreshadows of this character going back to the wounded victor of Genesis 3:15. Bear in mind that so far the only anointing done by in Israel has been the anointing of the priests. This character that Hannah is singing about is apparently taking on the role of the priest, but is also spoken of as as strong king, and it is indicated he will be the instrument of God’s judgment on the Earth.
Following up on the song of Hannah, God gives a message directly to Eli about his family and his wicked sons. Eli’s failure to discipline his sons goes beyond not responding to their disregard for the covenant and their own role as priests. It is also his failure to intercede for Israel, to teach his sons the laws of the books of Moses, and his copious consumption of the offerings of Israel to God. In response, God is going to destroy all his family except one, who will weep and grieve. Then God will raise up a faithful priest, and God will build him a sure house. Quite a bit later in the book of Samuel, we will see a promise made to David about a sure house that proceeds directly from this promise.
The last act in today’s story is probably the most familiar. Samuel is sleeping in the tabernacle, and God calls him. Three times Samuel gets up thinking it is Eli calling, and eventually Eli realizes it is God calling Samuel. We are told such visions and words from God are rare, but Eli knows enough to credit God with this calling. Samuel obediently asks God to speak when he is called. And God gives Samuel a rather chilling message for Eli- the judgement his predicted is coming soon.
The opening chapters of Samuel set up a bunch of expectations. For a strong king. For a faithful priest. For an anointed one who will represent God on the Earth. The rest of Samuel, and indeed the rest of the story of the Hebrew Scriptures, will be the playing out of these expectations. We will meet some strong kings, but they will not be strong enough. We will meet some faithful priests, but they will not be faithful enough. We will meet some anointed ones, but they will not be the Anointed One. As the story unfolds it will become clear that someone wholly unique is needed, who can be both king and priest. Whose anointing and throne is permanent. This hope, like the hopeful promises of Genesis 3:15, 12:1-3, and Deuteronomy 30:6 and hopeful confessions of Abraham, Moses, Rahab, and Ruth will traverse the story until they land all together on the same carpenter from Nazareth.