This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “I Samuel 1-7” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 2, 1997.
About this sermon
‘The LORD of Hosts’ and ‘temple’ both appear in Scripture for the first time here, marking the start of something genuinely new. God gives himself, in effect, a new identity in these titles. The temple named in verse 9 is already present and not yet complete, pointing past Shiloh to a temple not made with hands.
Sermon transcript
We begin our scripture reading this morning in 1 Samuel 1. We are beginning at verse 1. Now, there was a certain man of one of the Eem Zophim. of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, the Ephrathite.
And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Tenina. And Tenina had children, but Hannah had no children. And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of hosts. in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there.
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 her adversary also provoked her sore. for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou, and why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Am I not better to thee than ten sons? So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh and after they had drunk.
Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by the post of the temple of the Lord. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, and the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto King Solomon at the feast in the month which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark, and they brought up the ark of the Lord. And the tabernacle of the congregation and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told or numbered for multitude.
And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherry-beams. For the cherry-beams spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherry-beams covered the ark and the staves thereof above. and they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out of the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without, and they are there to this day.
There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt, and it came to pass when the priest were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.”
In 1 Samuel, chapter 1, we are introduced to two terms that appear here for the first time in the course of the Scriptures. The first term appears in verse three. In that verse, we are provided a new name for God. That name is the Lord of Hosts. Now, this man, Delcana, would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts. Never before had this name appeared in the course of the Scriptures, but from this point on it would be used much, often in the Psalms, also in the Prophets, a favorite, it seems, for Isaiah. We meet the second new term in verse 9, in the latter part of that verse. Now, Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. Believe it or not, this is the first time the word temple appears in the Bible. It’s like the new name for God. has not appeared previously in the course of Scripture.
Now, as you might expect, these two terms are interrelated. In their newness, they conspire to convince us that, yes, something unique, something new is transpiring, something new is now being set before us. Together they speak about the arrival of a new day, a transition from one day to another in the history of salvation. These new terms reflect, as it were, a new age in God’s dealings with his people.
Now, you may recall, as far as God’s name is concerned, that God has, in the past, introduced a new name for himself, and invariably in connection with a monumental work that he is about to accomplish. I think, for instance, of Genesis chapter 17, verse 1. where God is about to grant to Agent Abram the son of promise, Isaac. But now, God identifies himself afresh in light of the new act that he is about to perform. He calls himself, in this text, El Shaddai, Almighty God, or God Almighty. Now, interestingly, in this context and underlying the newness that God is about in this text, he goes on to give both Abram and Sarai new names, verses 5 and 15 of that seventeenth chapter in Genesis. This underscoring, no doubt, that something new is coming about, a new age is dawning, a new age is commencing. In that age, God revealing himself afresh. In that new age, God, in effect, constituting his people anew, even changing their identity to fit with the work that he is accomplishing.
But better known to us than this event in Genesis 17 may well be the one recorded for us in Exodus chapter 3. Here we have the story of Moses on Mount Sinai. When Moses asks of God, God’s name, that he might tell that name to the children of Israel in Egypt, God tells Moses his name is, I am that I am.
From which, then, there is derived the name Jehovah, Lord, Covenantal Lord, remarkable in its depth and in its power. This name for God attaches the existence of God to the existence of his people. He, in covenantal bond with them, Just as his existence is guaranteed, so also is theirs. Such is the nature of the covenantal bond between him and his people. But with regard to the transition that is being effected here, God himself makes reference to the change later on.
He says, I am Jehovah the Lord. and I appear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name Jehovah, that is, Lord, I did not make myself known to them.” Exodus 6, verses 2 and 3. God’s new work brings with it the further, more complete revelation of God himself. which he now memorializes in his new name. With his new name and his new work, his former name and former work appear to be inadequate, important, essential to the development of the history of salvation, but inadequate. They themselves now must be read and appropriated in light of the new that is come. You do not hold on to the old when the new appears. We see this, do we not, as we move into the New Testament era?
For what disclosed to us is the full Trinitarian name of our God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Never before had the name of God been so articulated very powerfully and pointedly. The Son in himself discloses God as the Father, as our Father. And the Apostle Paul, the Spirit’s emissary and Heaven’s agent, calls God the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And what about that title, Lord, ascribed to Jesus? It proves to be much more than a title, does it not? It is the conference of a name, the divine name from the Old Testament. for Jesus, our Savior. He is God.
God’s new and consummate work in the New Testament brings with it, in this world, the highest level of disclosure for the Divine Name. Reflecting a bit on that Genesis 17 text once more, You will notice that this new age, in the revelation of our Triune God, is marked, interestingly, by many name changes. Thus underscoring the fact that as God brings to completion the revelation of his name, he also renews his people, making them new, granting to them new identity.
The old is behind them, and now they are creatures of a new creation. Levi becomes Matthew. Interestingly, he bears the name of the Old Testament priestly order. Levi becomes Matthew, Simon becomes Peter, Saul becomes Paul, indicative of God’s promise to give his people a new name in the new age over which he is sovereign.
And this in anticipation of that great day, yet future, spoken of by John in Revelation chapter 2, 17, when we all will be given by Christ himself a new name written on a stone which no one knows, but he will receive. the change of our names reflective of the change in us.
And when we have our resurrection bodies, we will have our ultimate name, and that name will perfectly describe us for our special relationship and communion with God himself. It’s as if in this bond, though we are there with a company, we are the only ones there. And it has all been for us. The change of our names reflects then the change in us. in keeping with the purposes of God. The change in God’s name reflects the advance He sovereignly oversees in the progressive accomplishment of His great purpose and the fuller, more complete revelation He makes of His own divine person.
When the writer of 1 Samuel introduces God’s new name, the Lord of Hosts, He has in mind, then, the marking off of a new period in the history of salvation. But to understand this new age, to grasp more intelligently the significance of it, we will have to turn to that second new term, that newly introduced term in the scripture, the term, the temple. the term from verse 9. You might be surprised to know that the Hebrew word translated here for temple does not have as its primary definition temple at all. Rather, the primary definition of this word is palace. or a large splendid building fit for a king. Maybe there are some lights going on in your mind right now. The new day commencing with the opening of 1 Samuel is the day of the temple, the age of the temple, or the age of the palace. principally the age of God’s palace, his rule, and his kingdom.
And this new day is deliberately set over against the previous era, for God is no longer on the move, journeying with his people from place to place in a portable dwelling place, in a tent, in the tabernacle, No longer is he poised for battle against hostile tribes as some sort of disconnected, itinerating, wandering nomadic warlord. Instead, with the beginning of 1 Samuel, we are to see the beginning of that time in which the Lord himself is established, in which he, as a warrior king, has subdued his enemies, and now in his glorious victory builds for himself a palace and settles into it, from where to survey all his inheritance from his throne, his people gathered to him beneath his protective and beneficent care.
Be it known to Israel The one who so establishes himself, so subdues his enemies, so cares for his people from the throne set in his victory palace, in his preeminently and permanently placed temple, is none other than the Lord of Hosts, verses 3 and 9 together. He is the one, and none other, He is the one to whom all glory rightfully belongs. He is the one to whom the kingdom belongs, who has proved himself strong and mighty, mighty in battle against all who usurp his throne and rise to challenge him, and in his exaltation to his throne, above the cherry of them. above the cherubim in the Ark of the Covenant, he has become, as it were, the Lord of hosts. Now, not just the Lord of the hosts of Israel, nor the Lord of the hosts of all the Qumran-ish tribes, nor the Lord of the hosts of all humanity, nor the Lord of the hosts of heavenly bodies and astral powers, but the Lord of the heavenly hosts, that is, the Lord of all supernal angelic armies. to whom all judgment belongs rightfully, and there is none on earth or in heaven, visible or invisible, who is his equal.
Amen. This is the God with whom Israel has to do. And this is the God with whom you must deal. But with all this glory, even as it quietly explodes from the cages of 1 Samuel, and so marvelously and subtly presents itself here. Even in the midst of all of this, we do have a problem. Now, you who know your Old Testament history, or if you were catching things as we were reading the scripture this morning, are already clued in to what the problem is. Back to verse 9, and its mention of the temple as the dwelling of God. You’re saying to yourself, wait a minute. Wait a minute, the writer here is mistaken, he has misstated the case. Something is out of joint here chronologically. After all, the temple, we know, is not actually built for another 150 years.
What is he talking about the temple here? the structure of the temple will not be present until the reign of Solomon, and in his reign, a hundred and fifty years distant from Samuel, the beginning of Samuel, you have the establishment of the temple, its building, and we read about that from 1 Kings this morning. So where is the mention of the temple here? Is the writer daft? or possibly it’s just a case of archaeological confusion.
The tabernacle was, after all, housed in a standing shell in Shiloh, thus giving it a temple character. Before the greater structure was built in Jerusalem, that would displace it. Whatever truth there may be in that statement, the mention of the writer Concerning the temple has a much deeper spiritual significance.
As I have already said, 1 Samuel marks a great transition point in the history of salvation. The age of the temple, the age of the palace of God, the age of his reign and kingdom is dawning. And in its Old Testament form now, the kingdom of God draws near. And as with its New Testament expression, to which it itself presses, even this Old Testament form of the kingdom exhibits, at its beginning, the end to which it moves. The end to which it moves. This era is moving towards the establishment of the temple, and at the beginning of this era, the temple is introduced. The conclusion is introduced at the beginning.
But this is a statement of faith, that the end is already present even while the full disclosure of that end is not yet here. The already and the not yet is at work in 1 Samuel 1. The temple, the sacred royal palace of the Lord of Hosts, is already present to a people who, living by faith, await the full disclosure of that temple, not yet here. Their faith, of which the writer of 1 Samuel undoubtedly partakes, and possibly also Elkanah and Hannah themselves, is no vacuous optimism. for it is filled with the most explicit content.
The great God of Israel, in the concrete historical acts of his triumph over the Canaanites, has ascended in glory, he has been crowned the Lord of Hosts, and he has taken his feet in splendor. And this, unto a future day when he will come in his visible sign of greatness.” when his cloud will fill the temple structure in Jerusalem at the dedication under Solomon, the son of David. But all of these things that have happened are written down for you so that through the comfort and consolation of the scriptures, you might have hope.”
Romans 15.4. We have a temple. Our temple is not made with hands, it is eternal in the heavens, and to it we shall be brought. but know for certain, O Church of Jesus Christ, that this temple has its extension into the present time. And we who live by faith know that temple’s reality, because our great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has triumphed over all our Canaanites and has ascended in glory.
And being crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this one has taken his seat amid the worship of all his holy angels, until that future day when he will come with his heavenly that day when we will not stand at a distance and in fear of his great glory cloud, but be taken right up into it, and into the embrace of his glory.
And everyone who has this hope purifies himself. Father, there may be times when we wish to be left behind, but Lord, do not allow that to happen in our case. If we find your message to be difficult and your word a mystery, do bless us that we would persevere with that word and your message, that we may be benefited. Not just for ourselves, but for those we love, those that are about us, and all of this unto your glory. Forgive us, Lord, the sloth of our souls, the inattentiveness of our hearts, and bless us anew, truly in this new day that has come. in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, and the full revelation of your triune nature and person, that we might be brought finally, we living in the temple by faith, to the temple itself, and your glory. Amen.
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.