The birth and call of Samuel
The First Book of Samuel (chapters 1, 2 & 3)
1 THERE WAS A MAN FROM RAMATHAIM, a Zuphite
from the hill-country of Eprhaim, named Elkanah son of Jeroham,
son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph an Ephraimite; and he had
two wives name Hannah and Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but
Hannah was childless. This man used to go up from his own town every
year to worship and to offer sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. There
Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the Lord. On the
day when Elkanah sacrificed, he gave several shares of meat to his wife
Peninnah with all her sons and daughters; but, although he loved Hannah,
he gave her only one share, because the Lord had not granted her children.
Further, Hannah's rival used to torment her and humiliate her because
she had no children. Year after year this happened when they went up to
the house of the Lord; her rival used to torment her. Once when she was
in tears and would not eat, her husband Elkanah said to her, 'Hannah, why
are you crying and eating nothing? Why are you so miserable? Am I not
more to you than ten sons?' After they had finished eating and drinking
at the sacrifice at Shiloh, Hannah rose in deep distress, and stood before
the Lord and prayed to him, weeping bitterly. Meanwhile Eli the priest
was sitting on his seat beside the door of the temple of the Lord. Hannah
made a vow in these words: 'O Lord of Hosts, if thou wilt deign to take
notice of my trouble and remember me, if thou wilt not forget me but
grant me offspring, then I will give the child to the Lord for his whole life,
and no razor shall ever touch his head.' For a long time she went on praying
before the Lord, while Eli watched her lips. Hannah was praying silently;
but, although her voice could not be heard, her lips were moving and Eli
took her for a drunken woman. He said to her, 'Enough of this drunken
behaviour! Go away till the wine has worn off.' 'No, sir,' she answered,
'I am a sober person, I have drunk no wine or strong drink, and I have
been pouring out my heart before the Lord. Do not think me so degraded,
sir; all this time I have been speaking out of the fullness of my grief and
misery.' 'Go in peace,' said Eli, 'and may the God of Israel answer the
prayer you have made to him.' Hannah said, 'May I be worthy of your
kindness.' And she went away and took something to eat, no longer down-
cast. Next morning they were up early and, after prostrating themselves
before the Lord, returned to their own home at Ramah. Elkanah had
intercourse with his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. She
conceived, and in due time bore a son, whom she named Samuel, 'because',
she said, 'I asked the Lord for him.'
Elkanah, with his whole household, went up to make the annual sacrifice
to the Lord and to redeem his vow. Hannah did not go with them, but said
to her husband, 'When the child is weaned I will come up with him to
enter the presence of the Lord, and he shall stay there always.' Her
husband Elkanah said to her, 'Do what you think best; stay at home until
you have weaned him. Only, may the Lord indeed see your vow fulfilled.'
So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him; and
when she had weaned him, she took him up with her. She also took a bull
three years old, an ephah of meal, and a flagon of wine, and she brought
him, child as he was, into the house of the Lord at Shiloh. They slaughtered
the bull, and brought the boy to Eli. Hannah said to him, 'Sir, as sure as
you live, I am the woman who stood near you here praying to the Lord.
It was this boy that I prayed for and the Lord has given me what I asked.
What I asked I have received; and now I lend him to the Lord; for his
whole life he is lent to the Lord.' And they prostrated themselves there
before the Lord.
2 Then Hannah offered this prayer:
My heart rejoices in the Lord,
in the Lord I now hold my head high;
my mouth is full of derision of my foes,
exultant because thou hast saved me.
There is none except thee,
none so holy as the Lord,
no rock like our God.
Cease your proud boasting,
let no word of arrogance pass your lips;
for the Lord is a god of all knowledge:
he governs all that men do.
Strong men stand in mute dismay,
but those who faltered put on new strength.
Those who had plenty sell themselves for a crust,
and the hungry grow strong again.
The barren woman has seven children,
and the mother of many sons is left to languish.
The Lord kills and he gives life,
he sends down to Sheol, he can bring the dead up again.
The Lord makes a man poor, he makes him rich,
he brings down and he raises up.
He lifts the weak out of the dust
and raises the poor from the dunghill;
to give them a place among the great,
to set them in seats of honour.
For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's,
he has built the world upon them.
He will guard the footsteps of his saints,
while the wicked sink into silence and gloom;
not by mere strength shall a man prevail.
Those that stand against the Lord will be terrified
when the High God thunders out of heaven.
The Lord is judge even to the ends of the earth,
he will give strength to his king
and raise high the head of his anointed prince.
Ten Elkanah went to Ramah with his household, but the boy remained
behind in the service of the Lord under Eli the priest.
Now Eli's sons were scoundrels and had no regard for the Lord. The
custom of the priests in their dealings with the people was this: when a
man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the flesh
was stewing and would thrust a three-pronged fork into the cauldron or
pan or kettle or pot; and the priest would take whatever the fork brought
out. This should have been their practice whenever Israelites came to
sacrifice at Shiloh; but now under Eli's sons, even before the fat was burnt,
the priests servant came and said to the man who was sacrificing, 'Give me
meat to roast for the priest; he will not accept what has been already stewed,
only raw meat.' And if the man answered 'Let him burn the fat first, and
then take what you want", he said, 'No, give it to me now, or I will take it
by force.' The young men's sin was very great in the Lord's sight; for they
brought the Lord's sacrifice into general contempt.
Samuel continued in the service of the Lord, a mere boy with a linen
ephod fastened round him. Every year his mother made him a little cloak
and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual
sacrifice. Eli would give his blessing to Elkanah and his wife and say, 'The
Lord grant you children by this woman in place of the one for which you
asked him' They went home again.
The Lord showed his care for Hannah, and she conceived and gave
birth to three sons and two daughters; meanwhile he boy Samuel grew
up in the presence of the Lord.
Eli, now a very old man, had heard how his sons were treating all the
Israelites, and how they lay with the women who were serving at the
entrance to the Tent of the Presence. So he said to them, 'Why do you do
such things? I hear from all the people how wickedly you behave. Have
done with it, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear spreading among
the Lord's people. If a man sins against another man, God will intervene;
but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?' For all this,
they did not listen to their father's rebuke, for the Lord meant that they
should die. But the young Samuel, as he grew up, commended himself to
the Lord and to men.
Now a man of God came to Eli and said, 'This is the word of the Lord:
You know that I have revealed myself to your forefather when he and his family
were in Egypt in slavery in the house of Pharaoh. You know that I chose
him from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to mount the steps of my
altar, to burn sacrifices and to carry the ephod before me; and that I
assigned all the food-offerings of the Israelites to your family. Why then
do you show disrespect for my sacrifices and the offerings which I have
ordained? What makes you resent them? Why do you honour your sons
more than me by letting them batten on the choicest offerings of my
people Israel? The Lord's word was, "I promise that your house and your
father's house shall serve before me for all time"; but now his word is,
"I will have no such thing: I will honour those who honour me, and those
who despise me shall meet with contempt. The time is coming when I will
lop off every limb of your own and of your father's family, so that no man
in your house shall come to old age. You will even resent the prosperity I
give to Israel; never again shall there be an old man in your house. If I
allow any to survive to serve my altar, his eyes will grow dim and his
appetite fail, his issue will be weaklings and die off. The fate of your two
sons shall be a sign to you: Hophni and Phinehas shall both die on the same
day. I will appoint for myself a priest who will be faithful, who will do
what I have in my mind and in my heart. I will establish his family to
serve in perpetual succession before my anointed king. Any of your family
that still live will come and bow humbly before him to beg a fee, a piece of
silver and a loaf, and will ask for a turn of priestly duty to earn a crust of
bread." '
3 So the child Samuel was in the Lord's service under his master Eli. Now
in those days the word of the Lord was seldom heard, and no vision was
granted. But one night Eli, whose eyes were dim and his sight failing, was
lying down in his usual place, while Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord
where the Ark of God was. Before the lamp of God had gone out, the Lord
called him, and Samuel answered, 'Here I am', and ran to Eli saying, 'You
called me: here I am.' 'No, I did not call you,' said Eli; 'lie down again.'
So he went and lay down. The Lord called Samuel again, and he got up
and went to Eli. 'Here I am,' he said; 'surely you called me.' 'I did not call,
my son,' he answered; 'lie down again.' Now Samuel had not yet come to
know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not been disclosed to him.
When the Lord called him for the third time, he again went to Eli and said,
'Here I am; you did call me.' Then Eli understood that it was the Lord
calling the child; he told Samuel to go and lie down and said, 'If he calls
again, say, "Speak, Lord; thy servant hears thee." ' So Samuel went and
lay down in his place.
The Lord came and stood there, and called, 'Samuel, Samuel", as before.
Samuel answered, 'Speak; thy servant hears thee.' The Lord said, 'Soon
I shall do something in Israel which will ring in the ears of all who hear it.
When that day comes I will make good every word I have spoken against
Eli and his family from beginning to end. You are to tell him that my
judgement on his house shall stand for ever because he knew of his sons'
blasphemies against God and did not rebuke them. Therefore I have
sworn to the family of Eli that their abuse of sacrifices and offerings shall
never be expiated.'
Samuel lay down till morning and then opened the doors of the house
of te Lord, but he was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. Eli called
Samuel: 'Samuel, my son', he said; and he answered, 'Here I am.' Eli
asked, 'What did the Lord say to you? Do not hide it from me. God forgive
you if you hide one word of all that he said to you.' Then Samuel told him
everything and hid nothing. Eli said, 'The Lord must do what is good in
his eyes.'
As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and none of his words
went unfulfilled. From Dan to Beersheba, all Israel recognized that
Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. So the Lord continued
to appear in Shiloh, because he had revealed himself there to Samuel.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Apr 27, 2018, 11:40 PM UTC · edited
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