Sunrise over the valley of Shiloh: Hannah, small and seen from behind on a terraced hill path, lifts both hands; below, the tabernacle’s white linen court with its stone rooms, olive terraces and first smoke.

The Book of

1 Samuel 2

Hannah sings that the LORD lifts the poor from the dust. At Shiloh, the priests’ own sons despise His offering.

36 verses≈ 8 min6 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listenedChapter 2
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

Hannah’s Prayer of Thanksgiving

At that time Hannah prayed:

“My heart rejoices in the LORD;

my horn is exalted in the LORD.

My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies,

for I rejoice in Your salvation.

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1 Samuel 2:2

Do not boast so proudly,

or let arrogance come from your mouth,

for the LORD is a God who knows,

and by Him actions are weighed.

Hannah

He brings low, He lifts up

Whiteboard

Hannah sings of the world turned over. “The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble are equipped with strength.” The well-fed go hungry and the starving eat; “The barren woman gives birth to seven.” None of it is chance: “He humbles and He exalts.” Hannah’s own story is the pattern, and the book will play it out again and again: the boy Samuel over Eli’s sons, a shepherd over a king, David over Goliath.

The LORD brings death and gives life;

He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The LORD sends poverty and wealth;

He humbles and He exalts.

First light outside a small hill town’s plain wall: on a low gray mound of ash and refuse, a thin man in a torn, dust-colored cloak sits looking up as the sun’s first gold touches him.

He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap.

He seats them among princes

and bestows on them a throne of honor.

For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s,

and upon them He has set the world.

0:13

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

He guards the steps of His faithful ones,

but the wicked perish in darkness;

for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered. He will thunder from heaven against them. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth and will give power to His king.

He will exalt the horn of His anointed.

1 Samuel 2:10

Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy began ministering to the LORD before Eli the priest.

Reflect

He raises the poor from the dust

Hannah sang after she had given up the son she had longed for. Her joy was in the LORD Himself: “My heart rejoices in the LORD.” What has God given you that you hold too tightly? Write it down, and write what it would mean to give it back to Him and still rejoice in Him.

Eli’s Wicked Sons

Now the sons of Eli were wicked men; they had no regard for the LORD or for the custom of the priests with the people.

When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling

and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

The priest’s servant

Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”

A man sacrificing

And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now.

The priest’s servant

If you refuse, I will take it by force!”

Thus the sin of these young men was severe in the sight of the LORD, for they were treating the LORD’s offering with contempt.

Pray

Worship that honors Him

Eli’s sons served at the altar and treated the LORD’s offering with contempt. Pray for everyone who leads God’s people in worship, that they would honor His name and serve, not take. Ask that your own worship would never treat Him lightly. Lord, You are holy. Keep those who lead us faithful, and keep my heart from using You for what I want. Amen.

Now Samuel was ministering before the LORD—a boy wearing a linen ephod. Each year his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him when she went with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.

And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the LORD give you children by this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the LORD.” Then they would go home.

So the LORD attended to Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the LORD.

Now Eli was very old, and he heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

Dusk in a plain fieldstone room: very old Eli on his wooden chair raises one hand, pleading; his two well-fed sons in fine linen stand turned half away toward the door, one with arms folded; a clay lamp burns in a niche.

“Why are you doing these things?” Eli said to his sons. “I hear about your wicked deeds from all these people. No, my sons; it is not a good report I hear circulating among the LORD’s people. If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?”

But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.

And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the LORD and with man.

1 Samuel 2:26

Question

Quick question

Samuel grew while Eli’s house fell, and the words used of him are echoed in the New Testament.

Luke uses almost the same words as 2:26 about which young man?

A Prophecy against the House of Eli

A man of God

A man of God

Then a man of God came to Eli and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh’s house? And out of all the tribes of Israel I selected your father to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in My presence. I also gave to the house of your father all the food offerings of the Israelites.

Why then do you kick at My sacrifice and offering that I have prescribed for My dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than Me by fattening yourselves with the best of all the offerings of My people Israel.’

1 Samuel 2:30

Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that no one in it will reach old age. You will see distress in My dwelling place. Despite all that is good in Israel, no one in your house will ever again reach old age. And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, I will cause your eyes to fail and your heart to grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men.

And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day.

Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind. And I will build for him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed one for all time.

And everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a morsel of bread, pleading, “Please appoint me to some priestly office so that I can eat a piece of bread.”’”

You’ve experienced

1 Samuel 2

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A verse to carry with you

There is no one holy like the LORD. Indeed, there is no one besides You! And there is no Rock like our God.

1 Samuel 2:2

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