I Samuel
The penultimate Sunday of common time in Year B gives two possibilities for the psalm, both of which have connections to the birth of Samuel, which is the Old Testament lesson.
I Samuel 2:1-10 (Year B November 13-19) elaborates upon the specific act of the kindness of God with a general celebration of sovereignty and grace. The occasion is an elevation in condition, such as the birth of a child, understood as a divine gift to posterity. The biblical context involves Hannah offering the psalm with the birth of her child. Yet, if we read it simply as a Psalm, it sounds much like celebration of a military victory. One might compare the Song of Miriam in Exodus 15:20-21, a celebration of the Lord’s defeat of the Egyptians who had been pursuing the Israelites at the sea. Many scholars place it in the 900’s or 800’s. The psalm has a parallel in Luke 1:46-55.
The poet exalts the Lord and God has strengthened the poet. The poet derides enemies and rejoices in victory. An imprecation is a curse or malediction (the “opposite” of a benediction or blessing). Psalm 109 (attributed to David) is a good example of the imprecations that appear in Psalms 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 83, 109, 137 and 140. Such sentiments are far closer to the notion of victory over military enemies. Lest we think such sentiments are only Old Testament, even Paul could say that he prayed a curse upon anyone who has no love for the Lord (I Cor 16:22). The words of this song are not gracious. One would have to believe that evil and wickedness exist to offer imprecations, curses, and hexes. The poet then affirms the Lord in saying that there is no Holy One like the Lord and no Rock like our God. The nature of the enemy is talking proudly and arrogantly, the poet warning that the Lord is a God of knowledge and will weigh their actions, with the implication that, as in Dan 5:27, will be found wanting. What begins as merriment over Yahweh’s victory for the psalmist quickly becomes a celebration of Yahweh’s gracious acts of deliverance more broadly for Israelites. In a reversal of values, the Lord breaks the bows of the mighty but strengthens the feeble, like the thought that the meek will inherit the earth (Ps 37:11, Matt 5:5). In another reversal, the full are now looking for food and the hungry are full of spoil from military victory over the enemy. In another reversal, the barren woman has the perfect number of seven children and the one with many is forlorn. Here is the reason this psalm found its way into its place in the canonical context, although Hannah would have six children (I Sam 2:21). The Lord kills and brings to life, like Deut 32:39, where we read that the Lord kills and makes alive, wounds and heals. The Lord brings down to Sheol, the grave or the realm of the dead, and rises up. The Lord makes poor and rich, brings low and exalts. The Lord lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the ash heap, making the sit with princes and inherit the seat of honor. Such reversals express the the sovereignty of the Lord. Thus, another psalmist can ponder whether any god is like the Lord, who is transcends the finite world, but also raises the poor and needy to the position of princes and gives barren women children (Psalm 113:5-9). The poet turns to a vision of creation. The pillars of the earth, referring to the rivers of the underworld, are the Lord’s, and on them the Lord has set the world. The poet concludes on a military note. The Lord will guide the feet of the faithful and cut off the wicked in darkness, for one does not prevail by might, a thought similar to that of Zech 4:6, where success will come, not by might or power, but the Spirit of the Lord. The Lord will shatter adversaries, thunder from heaven, and judge the earth. The Lord will strengthen the king and exalt the power of the anointed king. This confirms that the psalm is from the early monarchy. It hints that the occasion was the birth of a child who would become heir to the throne. More importantly, the psalm celebrates the intervention by God in the history of Israel in what it says about the king.
Psalm 113 (Year B November 13-19) is a hymn. This psalm begins the Hallel psalms, 113-118, used for feasts of pilgrimage, Passover, Weeks, Tabernacles, New Moon, and Dedication of the Temple. In the family Passover, 113-114 were sung before meal and 115-118 afterwards. This psalm uses archaic language and has a Mosaic character. The focus is on the nature of God. It celebrates the Lord as helper of the lowly. Here is praise for the Lord, who is exalted above all in the cosmos, a praise that should extend throughout the world because the Lord is everywhere. It is pure praise. The poet opens by testifying to the majesty of God as endless and limitless, the name and glory of the Lord. These verses are an extension of the liturgical shout Hallelujah. The greatness of the Lord is the focus of this praise. The worshippers are servants who look to their divine master. The poet encourages the praise of the Lord to occur in every time and in every place. The poet then reflects on the sublime nature of the Lord. The Lord is above the cosmos and looks down to see it. The basis for this praise is the sovereignty of God over history and nature. If we were to discuss the infinite as an attribute of the Lord, and thus the omnipresence of the Lord, the biblical testimony is that the Lord is present to creation in numerous ways. Most commonly, the Lord dwells in heaven, which is the sphere of the divine and eternal presence inaccessible to us, where the Lord has set up a throne. The Lord looks down from it to observe what takes place on earth.[1] Thus, nothing is on the same level as God. The poet concludes by testifying to the compassion of the Lord for the despised of society. The Song of Hannah in I Samuel 2:1-10, especially at verses 5 and 8, has a strong parallel. The care of the Lord for the afflicted shows the greatness of the Lord. The extremes on the vertical axis are brought together as the Lord, the highest being imaginable, raises up the lowest human beings. The culture regarded childlessness as a curse from God. The law protected the mother of children, but not the barren. How the Lord acts toward the poor, needy, and barren, those without social standing, in lifting them to places of honor, ought to open the eyes of these worshippers who gather as servants of the Lord to how they are to act.
I Samuel 1:4-20 (Year B November 13-19) relates the birth of Samuel. Hannah went to Eli the priest to pray. The story signifies something new is coming. The old system of judges will dissolve, and the new system of sacral kingship is coming. He becomes an ideal prophet. The focus on Samuel's birth suggests something new, a departure from the Judges period. There is rejection of Shiloh and priesthood and the anointing of king and worship in Jerusalem. Samuel becomes an ideal prophet, a vessel of divine purpose and director of human affairs.
In the intimate realm of the family, where Elkanah could have two wives, the husband loved his barren wife, Hannah, more than the woman who bore him children, Peninnah. Part of the sacrificial system involved the one bringing the offering to have his family eat a portion of it, and Elkanah gave portions to Peninnah and her children, but a double portion to Hannah. Peninnah spoke rudely to Hannah, which caused her to weep and not eat. Elkanah asks why her heart is sad, wondering why he is not better than ten sons for her. Hannah, Peninnah and Elkanah resemble Rachel, Leah and Jacob. In the stories of both families, a husband loves a childless wife, and a co-wife who has children but is resentful of the affection her husband affords his favorite. No doubt, this represents an archetypal scene of family dynamics in a polygamous culture in which the stakes are much higher for barren women than for their husbands or co-wives. We have an interesting anthropological insight into ancient Israelite culture. Specifically, the description of Hannah’s relationship to Elkanah and her desperate desire for a child makes a lie out of a quite common stereotype about the ancient Israelite culture — namely, that an extreme form of patriarchy existed there which made ancient Israelite women prisoners to the obsessive desires of ancient Israelite men for biological offspring. I Samuel 1 contradicts this stereotype in that it is Hannah who longs for a child and her husband Elkanah who tries to convince her that her childlessness is unimportant. He does not appear to value her less highly because she is childless and appears to plead for reassurance that their relationship means as much to her as it does to him. Elkanah dismisses Hannah’s desire for a child, at least in part, because her childlessness is not a pressing issue for him. The cultural rules had already decided the disposition of his property and the survival of his personal legacy after his death in the birth of the children of Hannah’s co-wife, Peninnah. In other words, Elkanah is not childless. Only Hannah is childless, and the social implications of this for her are grave. Under Israelite inheritance law, Hannah would have no right to live on in this household should Elkanah die without giving her a child. At that point, she would be at Peninnah’s mercy because Peninnah would then own Elkanah’s property in surety for his children by her. Hannah could stay in the household at that point if only Peninnah allowed her to do so. Therefore, Hannah’s childlessness may not be a major issue while Elkanah lives, but once he has died Hannah could well be left homeless and without a family of which to be a part. Given this, it is easy to see why Hannah cares more about her barrenness than Elkanah does.
Hannah presents herself to the Lord. Eli the priest at Shiloh is nearby. It suggests that the Tent of Meeting sets on a platform. She pours out her soul to the Lord in a time of distress and feels the presence of the Lord. Hannah bargains with God to get what she wants. If God hears her request for a male child, she will devote him as a nazirite. Hannah’s motives in her prayer were not necessarily the purest. But then, is there a right or wrong reason to wish to have a child? In this case, Hannah may have been motivated by jealousy, frustration, fear (economic — being a widow without children), maternal instincts and so on. Does God care about our motives? The emphasis on the role of Nazirite applied to Samuel does not fit. A nazirite (Numbers 6:1-21) was separate to the Lord. He or she was not to drink alcohol, shave the head, go near a corpse, go through a ritual cleansing process if they accidentally come near a corpse, bring their offering to the priests and they may drink wine then. They are holy and consecrated to the Lord. An angel of the Lord says Samson will be nazirite from birth, and she was not to drink alcohol or eat anything unclean, nor cut his hair, for this nazirite will deliver Israel from the Philistines (Judges 13:3-5). The sad reality was that the priest was not able to see or notice the spiritual struggle. As we shall read, Eli has lost much spiritual insight. Hannah does not take offense. She shows spiritual depth and maturity in her response. She, not the priest, is the one who has spiritual insight. Eli responds that she may go in peace and may the God of Israel grant her request.
When the family returned home, Elkanah had intercourse with Hannah, and the Lord, who had closed her womb thus far, remembered her, and in due time she conceived and bore a son, whom she named Samuel.
Here is an example of the classic tale of the miraculous birth of a heroic figure. Like all previously barren women in the text before her (Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Manoah’s wife), Hannah eventually gives birth to a hero of epic proportions. Although he is not the fulfillment of God’s covenant with a patriarch (like Isaac), or the father of a nation (like Jacob, Esau and Joseph), Samuel is, like Samson, a great judge and warrior, but he is also much more. He is the last judge and the first true prophet. He is the pivotal individual who transforms Israel from a tribal society to a monarchy. He is prophet, priest, and king-maker — a worthy product of miraculous divine intervention. Samuel is such a key figure that when another miraculous birth takes place for Mary of Nazareth, the laudable description of Jesus’ growth “in divine and human favor” (Luke 2:52) resembles the praise once given to Samuel (I Samuel 2:26).
Here is an example of a spiritually out of touch priest. He is not even able to tell the difference between drunkenness and spiritual need. The barren woman is the one who has spiritual insight. Hannah is a role model for us, as we seek to grow spiritually. Hannah brought her needs as part of the religious practices of her time and offered her request to the Lord honestly. She was spiritual and religious, even when the religious priest is not very spiritual. Today, I would suggest, there is something about the hymns and songs, being present before the Lord with others, and even the ritual every congregation has, that can provide the context for making genuine spiritual connection. Granted, religious institutions can make it difficult to grow your spiritual life. Yet, being part of an imperfect community, and accepting its imperfections, is already part of the spiritual growth we need.[2]
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