what was significant about the birth and childhood of samuel
Chapters 13 of 1 Samuel1 describe the miraculous origins and auspicious upbringing of the first major Hebrew prophet since Joshua, who by all measures lived centuries before Samuel.2 The biblical account of Samuels beginnings forecasts the exceptional ministry of the man who served as Israels last complete sovereign. As portrayed in the text, Elkanah believes that Hannah should be more consoled by his worthy portion than had she born him ten sons.. The man of God begins his condemnation with the terse authoritative declaration, Thus saith the Lord. He then repeats verbatim every word of the divine message, including the repeated use of first person singular pronouns, as though he speaks precisely in the place of the Lord. . Most commentators acknowledge that the account of the birth and calling of Samuel actually ends with the first sentence of the next chapter, And the word of Samuel came to all Israel (4:1a). Meanwhile, the boy Samuel continued to grow, and the LORD was constantly with him. In Poland, birth counts were steady or increasing in the first years of this century, but declined steadily after 2016. Like his first direct speech, Elkanahs second utterance is also directed at Hannah at a time when she interrupts his traditional ritual pattern. . While it is possible to read the narrative of Samuels birth in other ways, a covenant perspective allows readers to interpret many, perhaps most, of its details from a single, unified point of view, thus revealing great interpretive depth to the text. Certain words appear in the text in complementary or contrastive parallel throughout the Hebrew Bible in order to comment on the broader interpretive significance of the narrative. This usage introduces another meaningful connotation of the verb, shakab, in relation to yada (know). Hannahs song of exultation on an auspicious occasion elicits positive comparison with Moses, Miriam, and David in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 3132, 2 Samuel 22) and Zacharias, Mary, and Simeon in the Christian Bible (Luke 12).50, And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. Hannah makes a solemn vow to God, and God and Hannah repeatedly and mutually fulfill the terms of their covenant. The reiterated and, then, plays an important role in creating the rhythm of the story, in phonetically punctuating the forward driving movement of the prose. And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions: But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the Lord had shut up her womb. And he rose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. Alan Heimert, Religion and the American Mind: From the Great Awakening to the Revolution (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1966), 11. As a child, Samuel, heard from God that he was going to be a prophet and judge in Israel. However, nearly every specific detail of introduction is marginal to the larger history of Israel in the Holy Land. . Yet, his roles as prophet, seer, and judge are all incredible in certain respects, apart from the fact that each of them is considerable. . While this verb has several different connotations in biblical Hebrew, the most general is, extend the hand in order to place an object at a specific place or to give it over to another person, with or without compensation, as a possession. Then Eli called Samuel, and said Samuel, my son. 67. While Elkanah focuses on outward and formal family concerns and is emotionally distant from everyone in the narrative, including his wife and children, Hannah is consistently preoccupied with personal devotions to God and is emotionally connected with everyone around her, regardless of their attitude toward her. The segment opens with a brief narrative of Samuels birth and the continuation of the annual devotional at Ramah, punctuated by Hannahs reflection on the childs naming, which is expressed as direct speech.39 The rest of the segment consists of dialogues between Hannah and Elkanah (1:2223) and between Hannah and Eli (1:2628), with a brief narrative bridge uniting the two scenes (1:2425). Nevertheless, everything that she says and doesindeed, everything that she is in the storymanifests supreme devotion to her sacred roles of wife and mother and to her covenant relationship with the Lord. And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? Indeed, its authors4 meaningful intentions may be revealed more in the accounts rhetorical and poetic than in its documentary qualities. (Read More) Topics and verses are auto-generated from user searches. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision. to set them among the princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lords, and he hath set the world upon them. 3. While we cannot be sure that the author crafted the Samuel story with such comparisons consciously in mind, the repeated inferred connections with other exemplary vignettes increase the probability of their intentionality. He spent his adolescence across the country, removed from all hed known as a child, raised by a stepfather who he felt no connection to. . Structuring Devices: Conjunctions. The prevailing view of biblical scholars is that the account of Samuels life and ministry took final shape centuries after the events it depicts and was likely the work of more than one author/editor/redactor. And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 2. . After receiving Samuels prophecy, Eli has no recourse but to acknowledge, It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good (3:18). Throughout her victory song, no phrase is independent of another: all combine into either couplets or triads, creating a complex and meaningful unity of the whole and distinguishing the song from the surrounding prose narrative.46, Structuring Devices: Narrative Bridge. The same verb also concludes the narrative, signaling the enduring covenant between Samuel and the Lord, on the one hand, and between Samuel and Gods covenant people, on the other: And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. In the second story (chapter 15), Samuel is motivated by the failure of Saul to observe the ethic of the holy war. . (19-20) Samuels miraculous conception and his birth. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Elis house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaohs house? The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971), s.v. Often, though not always, these firsts reveal essential character traits and roles. 10. Hence, references in this article to an author (singular) of the text are for heuristic, not documentary or analytical purposes. I pray thee, hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things he said unto thee. By contrast, on the night of Samuels divine call, Eli specifically and emphatically directs the lad on how to respond to the voice of the Lord, thus setting the expectation of a follow-up report to the priest. He was to warn them to repent and believe in the Savior. The first story (1 Samuel 13) describes Samuels action as motivated by Sauls assumption of the prerogatives of the priesthood. Role. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests offices, that I may eat a piece of bread. Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. 3) Hophni and Phinehas, Elis sons, refused to listen to the voice & rebuke of their father (1 Samuel 2:25) and it was the LORDs will to put them to death. Despite the similarity of their messages, the text structures the two encounters inversely. The account of Samuels divine calling concludes using hearing and seeing as metaphors of increased spiritual capacity: And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. The two major divergences in The First Book of Samuel lie in those passages that critics call the pro-monarchic source (1 Samuel 9:110:16) and those passages called the antimonarchic source (1 Samuel 8 and 10:1727). Characterization: Husband and Wife. Five years before the birth of Jesus, a prophet named Samuel was called by God to prepare the people for the birth of Jesus. Literary scholars generally recognize that biblical writers developed their characters in fundamentally different ways than most modern writers. On the use of exposition as a literary convention, see Meir Sternberg, Expositional Modes and Temporal Ordering in Fiction (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978). Because of his education he was respected by other slaves, and he was a well known preacher and leader. It seems that there was a firm tradition of a split between the two men but an inexact memory of the details. Parallelism is a general literary convention that links together different parts of the biblical text in a variety of customary and meaningful ways. In the Samuel story, the narrator uses the verb amen, translated establish, in order to prefigure Samuels auspicious priestly career in the voice of his faithful fatheronly the Lord establish his word (1:23)and to launch Samuels public ministry at the storys climax: And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. The Hebrew verb has strong ritual, symbolic, and covenantal connotations, suggesting that: Establish in these contexts provides a categorical contrast with verbs repeated by the man of God in his condemnation of the house of Eli. While more than one priest could easily officiate at the temple, the fact that the story initially identifies Elis sons as priests of the Lord creates dramatic tensions that become central to the unfolding of the Samuel story. If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him? When Hannah presents herself to Eli as a barren woman who has finally given birth because the Lord answered her prayer, she not only thanks the Lord for His favor to her, she also bears public witness to His mighty deeds, of which she has personal experience. Simon, Prophetic Narratives, 28. The catalytic event of this narrativeHannahs vow and the Lords favorable responsebegins and ends with the verb zakhor, translated remember. She fasts, she prays, she bears and nurtures, she sacrifices and gives thanks, she serves, and she remains faithful to her divine calling without any desire for personal position, recognition, or recompense.27 As a result, the narrative portrays Hannah as worthy of becoming the mother of one of Israels greatest prophets and of serving as a paragon of holiness in the Hebrew Bible. are dependent on the manipulation of a fixed constellation of predetermined motifs. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel continued to grow, and the LORD was constantly with him. Several difficulties in reconstructing the era of the Judges, including its chronology, during what archaeologists call Iron AgeI, are identified in Jo Ann Hackett, There Was No King in Israel: The Era of the Judges, in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, ed. WebWhat was significant about the birth and childhood of Samuel? The paradigm serves as a frame of reference that allows us to examine each component in the context of the expectations aroused by its parallels in the other stories. By stark contrast, Hannah has neither formal status nor ritual position in the worship of JHWH. Theodore J. Lewis, Belial, in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1:65456; Bible Dictionary, LDS edition of the Bible (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1979), s.v. In gratitude she dedicated him to the service of the chief sanctuary of Shiloh, in the charge of the priest Eli. The present study illustrates the extent to which the authors, editors, and redactors of 1Samuel13 employed in a systematic and complementary manner a variety of literary conventions for a central ideological endshowing Gods commitment to preserve his ancient covenant with Israel, even at inopportune times and through obscure persons. These scenes infer meaningful connections with other individuals and settings in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles that serve as positive and negative exemplars of Gods enduring covenant with his children. Customary Behavior: Hearing and Seeing. Nevertheless, his casual observance of the priestly office is made apparent by his first appearance in the narrative: Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.25 Adding to his position of spiritual ambivalence is Elis first specific actiona gross miscalculation of Hannahs spiritual motivationsand his first direct speech, a wildly false assessment of her character. As will be seen, the rest of the Samuel story is retold largely in dialogue because spoken language is the substratum of everything human and divine that transpires in the Bible, and the Hebrew tendency to transpose what is preverbal or nonverbal into speech is finally a technique for getting at the essence of things, for obtruding their substratum.22 Elkanahs first direct speech also motivates the storys central action: Hannahs sacred vow and the Lords favorable response. Nevertheless, Hannah is not satisfied: she wants a son for herself, but not for selfish reasons. Hannahs promise to God that there shall no razor come upon [her sons] head draws an explicit parallel with Samson, Israels most noteworthy judge (Judg. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. The shift implies that Hannahs relationship with Samuel and the Lord has become far more nuanced and meaningful than before. The institution of the monarchy and the election of the king occur according to the will of Yahweh as revealed to Samuel. (3:110, 1921; 4:1a). The text never has him interact directly with any of Hannahs children, and he speaks with Hannah only when her devotional actions disrupt his traditional ritual routine. Hannah bears and nurtures Samuel, after which she lends him to God and continues to bless him, without any expectation of divine recompense. The ancient designation of the two books of Samuel does not indicate that he is the author (in fact, his death is related in 1 Samuel 25) or the hero of the books; indeed, it is difficult to deduce what the title was intended to mean. The word of God is often a technical term referring to oracular message. 1316, especially 13:5; 16:1620). They that were full have hired out themselves for bread (2:5) anticipates Gods curse of Elis house, discussed below, in part because Elis sons and perhaps Eli himself had abused the sacrificial offering to satisfy their gluttony. David is anointed king of Judah with the help of his allies and he makes Hebron as the capital of his new administration. 2 Samuel 2:7. . Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy fathers house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. Regarding the poetic qualities of Hannahs song, see McCarter, ISamuel, 6776. WebBiography. 60. . 25. As crafted, the story focuses on Hannahs compelling spiritual need, which drives her to the temple, fasting in bitterness of soul. In her private devotion, Hannah neither undercuts her husbands patriarchal authority nor repudiates his ritual status in the family. Rising from humble beginnings, Adams played frontline roles in sparking the Revolutionary Wars against the Following Hannahs song, the narrator begins his detailed condemnation of Elis sons with the epithet: Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial, implying a scathing equivalence of Eli and Belial.52 Further, the narrator observes with biting irony that Elis sons knew not the Lord, even though they are introduced as priests of the Lord (1:3). Once Hannah becomes a mother in fact, her role vis--vis Samuel is considerably more profound. Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob & Esau, Perez, For comparable instances of this identical response elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, see Genesis 22:7; 27:1, 18; 31:11; 37:11; 46:2; Exodus 3:4. Before Samuel's time, a prophet was called a "seer." While some linkages may be incidental, most scholars recognize that an authors intentional linkages create a phenomenon that Adele Berlin, following Paul Werth, calls poetic effect, which she defines as the result of an interaction between verbal form and meaning. Adele Berlin, The Dynamics of Biblical Parallelism (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992), 10. In essence, it addresses the question, What meanings did the original author(s) intend to communicate in crafting the text in this manner?. Characterization: Husband and Wife. By contrast, Eli and his sons turn from their covenant obligations in multiple ways and are consequently eternally cursed. Leitwrter: know and lie with. 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