WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday September 8, 2019
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FAITH
DURING GRIEF
(GOD
hears and cares about our grief and pain)
(1
Samuel 1)
The
books of 1st and 2nd Samuel shows how GOD delegated
sovereignty to the nation of Israel through a line of divinely selected “Davidic
Kings”. David and his royal dynasty were to demonstrate what it means to rule
under GOD from an earthbound perspective.
Through David’s royal house, GOD’s greater
SON, JESUS, the CHRIST would eventually become incarnate. HE would perfectly
exercise kingship in HIS OWN life, and would provide, in HIS death and
resurrection, the basis upon which all people who believe, can share in HIS
reign with HIM here on earth in HIS Millennial Kingdom.
The books of 1st and 2nd
Samuel also chronicles the most exciting period in Israel’s history. GOD had
already fulfilled HIS covenant commitment to Abraham, and, after breaking the
bonds of Abraham’s descendants in Egypt, GOD had brought them safely into “the
promised land” of Canaan. However, the Israelites would once again prove
themselves “unfaithful”, and abandon their LORD GOD for idols and the practices
of the pagans who lived among, and around them.
Nearly all of the events that take place in
the book of 1st Samuel occur in the hill country of Palestine. The book
primarily focuses on three characters; Samuel, the last judge of Israel; Saul,
the first king of Israel; and David, the greatest king of Israel, a man after
GOD’s OWN heart.
Jewish tradition suggests that Samuel is,
at the very least, the principal author of 1st and 2nd
Samuel, and that, after his death, his works were carried on by the prophets,
Nathan and Gad (1 Chronicles 29:29). The plan of 1st Samuel 15
through 2nd Samuel 8, has been clarified by the discovery of
parallels in the Hittite document, “Apology of Hatusilus”.
This document is a 13th century
B.C. defense of a new Hittite dynasty. Similarities suggest that one of the
author’s primary purposes in recording the history of this era was to firmly
establish the legitimacy of King David and his family lineage, and defend their
right to the throne of Israel.
In the biblical Greek, the word used for “conceive”
is “gennao” (ghen-nah-o), and it is “the procreation of the father, by
extension of the mother”. It is regeneration through a sexual collaboration
between a male and a female. In 1st Samuel chapter 1, the author
gives us a glimpse into the life of a woman named “Hannah”. She was the wife of
a man named “Elkanah”.
Hannah was unable to conceive (bare
children), and this led to her husband, Elkanah, taking on a second wife, “Peninnah”,
“for child bearing purposes”, a common practice in those days. Over time, however,
Peninnah began to make fun of Hannah because of her barrenness, and as a
result, Hannah began to grieve exceedingly day by day for several years. However,
“she maintained her faith in GOD, through her grief”, and “she prayed daily to
HIM” that HE would relieve her from her misery, and give her a son of her own.
On a lighter note, through the years, even
though Hannah was barren, it did not diminish her husband, Elkanah’s, strong
love for her. He always sought to comfort her through her tears, and in some
way try to compassionately downplay the importance of her bearing children for
him (v.8).
As one of the privileges of being his first
wife, and because he loved her very much despite her barrenness, Elkanah always
gave Hannah twice as much as he gave Peninnah when they took offerings to the
LORD at Shiloh on their annual pilgrimages (v.5).
On one occasion when the family went to
Shiloh on their pilgrimage, Hannah went over to the Tabernacle after supper alone,
and began to pray to the LORD. Eli, the head priest of the Tabernacle at that
time, was sitting at his customary place by the entrance. Hannah, while crying
bitter tears as she prayed, made a “Nazarite Vow” (Numbers 6:1-8) to the LORD
that if HE would give her a son, she would dedicate him back to HIM for the
entirety of his life here on earth, and that “his hair would never be cut” (Vs.9-11).
In those days the sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phinehas, two evil priests, had badly defiled the Tabernacle with their sins
within it (1 Samuel 2:12-25). Apparently Eli had mistaken Hannah for one of the
drunken prostitutes that his sons continually brought into the Tabernacle for
revelry and sex (Vs.12-14). However, once Hannah explained to him her plight,
he understood and assured her that GOD would grant her request (Vs. 15-18).
Shortly after her return home to Ramah, she
conceived and gave birth to a son, and named him “Samuel” which means “asked of
GOD”. Her strong faith in GOD had turned her “grief” into “joy”, and as she had
promised to the LORD in her prayer, when she had “weaned” her child, she took
him to the Tabernacle and left him there, and he remained there all the days of
his life, serving the LORD. The boy (Samuel) grew up and he cleansed the
Tabernacle and became the last judge of Israel.
The Jews had a saying that, “in the birth
of every child there are “three” parents, the father, the mother, and the HOLY
SPIRIT of GOD. They believe that “no child can be born without the help of the SPIRIT”.
I believe that too. And in fact, it may well be that Old and New Testament
stories of childbirth are little more than just lovely and poetic ways of
saying, “whether a father is human or not, the HOLY SPIRIT of GOD is operative
in all births in a very special way. And as for men, the paradox is that, while
it might not make his life easier, it has always been what makes men great. The
paradox for women is that, it confers upon them, perhaps at one and the same
time, the greatest joy, and hopefully the greatest pain that she will ever have
to endure in her lifetime.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY
D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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