Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Series: I Samuel 1-7

  • Eli, Hannah, and a Healing

    Eli, Hannah, and a Healing

    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, March 9, 1997.

    About this sermon

    God works through deeply flawed men like Ahab and Eli for both good and evil, a pattern that runs through the whole Old Testament. Eli, despite his failures, mediates for Hannah in a way that pictures Christ’s own mediation. The woman healed by touching Christ’s garment in Luke 8 answers, centuries later, the same kind of desperate faith Hannah shows here.

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    Sermon transcript

    Once more we are in 1 Samuel 1. We are beginning our reading again at verse 1. Give your attention to God’s holy words. Now, there was a certain man of Ramath-e-Im Zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, an Ephrathite. and he had two wives, and the name of the one was Hannah and the name of the other Penina.

    Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. 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. 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 Alcanna 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 the seat by the post of the temple of the Lord, and she was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of thine handmaid and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a male child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life and there shall be no razor to come upon his head. And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken?

    Put away thy wine from thee. 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. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto.

    Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. and she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad.”

    Luke 8.43, and a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed by any, came behind him and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her issue of blood stanched. And Jesus said, Who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, The multitude thronged thee and pressed thee, and saith thou who touched me?’ Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me, for I perceived that virtue was gone out of me. And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, and falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace.

    You make a grave mistake if, in reading your Bible, you see the people presented in it in only one light. You make a grave mistake if, in reading your Bible, you see the people presented in it in only one right. For example, we all know that Ahab was a wicked king. I dare say, a very wicked king. but you must not see Ahab merely in one light.

    Did you know that there was a day in which Ahab looked good, looked very good? Now, you might well be asking me, Do we have the same Ahab in mind? Do you mean that husband of Jezebel, that persecutor of the Lord’s prophets, that enemy of Elijah, Elijah being that special and great servant of God? Yes, I mean that Ahab, the very same. Well then, exactly when, you ask, did Ahab look good? When exactly did he appear in a positive light?

    I have in mind the story found at the end of 1 Kings chapter 18, verses 41 through 46. The account there given of the aftermath of the slaughter at Mount Carmel of those prophets of Baal. You remember the story. As you will recall in this context, the heavens had been shut up in judgment against Israel because of the sin of the people and because of the sin of their leaders. particularly Ahab. For over three years it had not rained.

    The Lord’s blessing out of heaven had been withheld, but now, here at the end of 1 Kings 18, the Lord having rained down fire upon Elijah’s altar at Mount Carmel, and having exacted judgments on the 400 prophets of Baal at Kishon Brook, prepares his blessing for Israel.

    Ahab is called to feast at Elijah’s command, as the prophet drives the king in the direction of his true royal significance. in that 18th chapter in 1 Kings. Irrespective, then, of his own personal depravity, Ahab wears the crown, and he exercises rule over God’s people. In his feasting now, Ahab is compelled to participate in God’s victory over his enemies, Bale and his henchmen, and to celebrate God’s gracious provision in the anticipated showers that are boundeth to come.

    Meanwhile, Elijah, in this text, true to his own office, prays. Verses 42 through 44. And after seven inquiries, you remember the story, Elijah’s servant reports that he sees a little cloud, small like a man’s hand, rising from the sea. Elijah then sends word to Ahab, hurry home before the voyage bursts.

    But as Ahab races in his chariot towards Jeb Jezreel, his royal city, Elijah, we are told, beneath the hand of the Lord, girds up his loins and outruns Ahab. Now, to appreciate just how good Ahab looks in this story, I want you to imagine yourself standing on Jezreel’s city wall as this drama unfolds.

    You witness the approach of your king in his chariot. But this king has a forerunner. He has a forerunner, and that forerunner is none other than Elijah. And after them come the clouds and the wind, bearing the copious refreshment of showers of blessing, if not the portent of God’s approaching judgment.”

    Let me ask you, just how good is Ahab made to look? the King preceded by Elijah, followed by grace and judgment. Ahab in this text has cast over him the shadow of no less a figure than Jesus Christ, who is himself the King, preceded by Elijah. Here’s the forerunner, John the Baptist, followed by Grace and Judges.

    The message of 1 Kings 18, verses 41 through 46, is that Ahab serves Christ. And in the interests of Christ, he is made to appear in the best possible light. The message of 1 Kings 18, 41-46 is that we also serve Christ, and in the interests of Christ and for his sake, we dare not allow the moral category to control our interpretation of our Bible. That spirit that says Ahab is wicked and every Bible story about him must confirm this fact. His place in the Bible is to reinforce our understanding about what is right and what is wrong. That is his full meaning.

    But as much as Ahab may instruct us about sin, and he does, In fact, as much as Ahab may instruct us about righteousness, it being conspicuously absent in his person, he ultimately serves the sovereign purposes of God, who, by saving his people and judging the world through his only begotten Son, Israel’s true King, brings glory to himself. we are on the road to mature Bible reading. Now there is much the same lesson in Eli.

    You see where I’m going. For many, far too many, efforts to understand Eli leap too far forward in his story, and therefore miss the Scripture’s emphasis and interest. What I have in mind is the habit to see Eli, the Eli of 1 Samuel 1, in the same way that you see the Eli of 1 Samuel 2-4. In these later chapters, God’s wrath comes down hard on Eli, so much so that God tells him that he, God, is removing Eli from the priesthood, and he is rejecting his family from being the family from which the high priests would come, leaving Eli and his household desolate. But how many sermons have you heard? How many Bible studies and Bible lessons have you had to endure during the course of your life in which the main point of the Bible stories about Eli in purple is summed up to be this?

    God judges fathers who fail to discipline their children. That’s the message. That’s it. You remember how Eli fails himself with regard to his sons, Hophni and Phinehas. But the sum total of our instruction from Eli is reduced to this, God judges fathers who fail to discipline their children. Now, that is indeed true. Make no mistake about it. But to suggest that this is the main point to the Bible’s presentation about Eli is not only to trivialize the biblical record by turning the Bible into a book of commonplace moral truisms, but to cripple us severely in our ability to hear the Bible on its own terms.

    You see, given the first cycle to the Samuel story, that is, chapter 1, verse 1, through chapter 2, verse 11, you are provided no indication of Eli’s weakness, nor any indication of his son’s corruption. None. It’s not there. This is not to say that the readers and the hearers of 1 Samuel aren’t aware of these things. It is just to say that these elements are absent from the account as 1 Samuel begins.

    But this silence about these matters speaks loudly. The very fact that we know about Eli’s sin and his son’s wickedness calls attention to the way in which they are presented here at the beginning of this book. they come across innocently, and Eli especially, comes across quite positively. Just how positively must be appreciated against the background of things we have emphasized before in our messages on this text. Remember, 1 Samuel chapter 1 is that unique chapter, for in it we find the first time in the Bible in which God is presented to us as the Lord of hosts. This chapter also provides us the first occasion in which the house of God is called the temple. Now, we have spent a great deal of time accounting for the appearance of these terms, especially the anachronistic use of the word temple in verse 9, when the temple proper doesn’t actually appear, isn’t even built for another hundred years in Israel’s history.

    But these elements here in 1 Samuel are intended if you recall, to communicate the fact that God has now conquered his enemies. They are meant to state boldly the accomplishment of God in the conquest of the Canaanite tribes, as if the Lord now, in a way that he wasn’t formerly, the Lord now has become the Lord of hosts. the sovereign, not over all the nations of the world alone, but over all the angelic hosts, the one who has revealed his might and now has been enthroned in his sanctuary, his temple. The temple is his victory palace. Eli’s name memorializes God’s triumph. His name means high, h-i-g-h. It means up there. Eli’s name means pause, and is reflective of God’s very own ascension in victory and in triumph, God’s very own ascension in glory.

    Eli’s presence, then, commented on in verse 9, Eli’s presence on that seat at the door of the temple has nothing to do, as one commentator suggested, with his age and his inability to stand. You see how silly this gets? He was simply an old, tired man. He had to sit down.

    Eli’s presence upon that seat at the door of the temple has nothing to do with his age or his inability to stand, but with his position and his status, and the manner in which he in his person symbolizes the triumph of God. Eli sits as the priest-judge. a lord and a sentinel to the house of the Lord, a man in whom God’s triumph and exaltation reside.

    He scrutinizes and interrogates those like Hannah who approach the throne of God so that the thoughts of their hearts are revealed.” His ministry exposes fraud and confirms integrity in the courts of the Lord, and he mediates peace, the peace of the kingdom of God, which in the realm of God’s glorious reign dispels the tortured anxiety and the grievous bitterness of all those who in despair appear before the Lord.

    Thus Eli says to Hannah, go in peace. Verse 17. And Eli intercedes. He intercedes, interposing his blessing upon those making diligent and earnest inquiry, as in the case of Hannah. And may the God of Israel grant you your petition, which you have asked of Him.” Verse 17 again.

    So remarkable. so extraordinary the concentrated spiritual intensity, so compact the summary of office and service of this priest-judge in the exchange between Eli and Hannah, that it is as if Hannah forgets herself. She blurts out, as if now brought to faith, in this very man’s person, as if now brought to faith in the efficacy of his ministry, she blurts out verse 18, “‘Let your handmaiden find grace in your sight.’” But Hannah, you have it wrong. You’re not Eli’s maidservant. It is not Eli’s grace you need, it is the Lord’s. But don’t you see? Don’t you see?

    So remarkable, so extraordinary, the concentrated spiritual intensity of this text. so compact the summary of office and service belonging to the Lord’s priest-judge in this exchange between Hannah and Eli, that Hannah is made to perceive in Eli that superlative administration of that unique priest-judge who, although man, is also himself the Lord of hosts.

    She whose name means grace, that’s the meaning of her name. She whose name means grace reaches out across centuries and touches that grace bestowed by the one whom Eli can nearly anticipate. A later distant relative to Hannah, receives that very grace by literally touching Jesus, only to be subjected to his scrutiny and interrogation, to the end that through his priesthood she would have her thoughts revealed, her integrity confirmed, her faith established, and be blessed with his peace. And Jesus said to her, Go in peace.

    And Eli, Eli, whose name means high, exalted, ascension, despite his sinful weakness and foolishness brought to light in the coming chapters, here becomes, for this moment, one in whom we see the height of God’s saving intention, the lordly priesthood of Jesus Christ. A priesthood Eli and those of his line can only merely anticipate and shadow.

    But one in whose full and final blessedness you are privileged to rest. Go in peace, and may the God and Father of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, grant to you your petition which you have asked of him. Amen. Father, may we glory in the great priesthood of our King. And Father, may we appreciate our Bibles as they are made, Lord, our entrance into the wonderful dimensions of his service and ministry for us, even in the Old Testament, so affirming your sovereignty as those who are unworthy are made servants to you so as to preach Christ. Lord, we have help in the mediation of none other. We are content in that, Lord, and may we dwell contentedly in your peace, even as we are encouraged with the confidence that our petitions are heard and shall be answered.

    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.

  • Hannah and the New Covenant

    Hannah and the New Covenant

    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 23, 1997.

    About this sermon

    Paul’s own allegorical reading of Hagar and Sarah in Galatians licenses a similar reading here: Peninnah stands for the old covenant, Hannah for the new. Barrenness throughout the Old Testament turns out to prophesy redemption rather than merely lament its absence. Hannah’s own barrenness, read this way, already points toward Christ.

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    Sermon transcript

    We begin our Scripture reading in Galatians chapter 4, Galatians 4 verse 21. I give you attention to God’s Word. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman.

    But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by the promise.” which things are an allegory. For these are the two covenants, one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the mother of us all.” For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.

    Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” 1 Samuel 1 verse 4, And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Paninah 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. 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? Why is thy heart grieved? Am not I 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, and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but will give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life. and there shall no razor come upon his head. And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah, she spake in her heart, only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore, Eli thought she had been drunken. And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken?

    Put away thy wine from thee. 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. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto. Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition that thou hast asked of him. And she said, Let thine handmaid find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat and her countenance was no more sad. Father, you have heard us, we know, and even before we ask of you, you grant our petitions. Father, you are answering us even when it seems as if you are silent.

    Today we would pray for Mr. Ammons and his struggles in his health. May you grant him renewed strength, O God, and help from above. May you be merciful to his family as they wait upon him to recover and upon you to answer. And father, we would ask that you would be gracious to your church in the world, preserving her from affliction, saving those who are oppressed. But we ask you to father, that your word would be preached with power and that your elect would be gathered. And we would see the full compliment of your people brought in under your church, beneath your wing. Lord, May we rejoice together, and may our praises be heard even throughout all the world. In Jesus name, Amen. At the end of Galatians 4, Paul bears his exegetical soul. At the end of Galatians 4, Paul bears his exegetical soul. He presents you here, through the Holy Spirit, his interpretation of an Old Testament story, the story of Sarah and Hagin.

    You remember the story. she supposes one gained for her through her maid will at least provide her some consolation. So she gives her maid Hagar to Abraham, and Hagar concedes. But Hagar, in her pregnancy, becomes contemptuous of her mistress. She despises But after the birth of Hagar’s son Ishmael, Sarah receives the child of promise in her old age. Isaac is born by the miraculous provision of God, but then he becomes the object of Ishmael’s scorn, just as his mother had become the object of Cagar’s scorn. Sarah then demands that Abraham drive Cagar and her child away. Abraham agonizes over this, but then, with assurances from the Lord, he complies. You will find the story in Genesis 16-21. And it is this story which Paul picks up on in Galatians 4 verses 21-31.

    Now, he tells us in verse 24 of that fourth chapter of Galatians that the Genesis story is an allegory. may be taken back by Paul’s choice of words here. Because when you hear the word allegory, you immediately think of a highly figurative form of expression, a form of storytelling in which fictional personalities and actions symbolize the human condition and call us to some sort of higher meaning. Two famous allegories in the English world are Edmund Spencer’s The Fairy Queen and John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. One or both of them you might be familiar with.

    But neither of these grand English allegories Paul’s use of the word. For Paul, in no sense, suggests that Cagar and Sarah, together with their sons, are fictional. That is, that they are anything less than fully historical, and what he says of them actually happened in the fullest historical sense. To put it simply, There is no person named Christian, nor is there a city called Vanity Fair about which Bunyan writes in Children’s Progress.

    There are, however, a true Hagar and a true Isaac, a true Mount Sinai and Arabia, and an earthly Jerusalem about which Paul writes. At the same time, we must admit that the people and places Paul tells us of do have figurative, what we may call symbolic meaning. Thus, he speaks about Jerusalem which is above, verse 26 in that fourth chapter.

    But even here, we must not allow Paul’s intentions to be lost. His figurative, his symbolic reading of the Old Testament story of Sarah and Hagar serves no mere principles of abstract spiritual life, but the concrete development of the story of salvation and its ultimate destiny in that heavenly city. In other words, the story of Sarah and Hagar tells in miniature form, in a way peculiar to itself, in a most concentrated fashion, and from a definite angle, the history of redemption. And it is this history of redemption to which Paul now directs his readers’ attention, to which he sees them intimately bound.

    Now, you make a grave mistake if you approach those latter verses in Galatians 4 as if they were something odd, as if they were an exception to Paul’s ordinary, sensible approach to the Scriptures. Now, what we have here is no momentary lapse. on the part of the Apostle, no wild, speculative, uncharacteristic flight into exegetical fancy. Whereas this approach to Scripture, this sort of thing, meant only for Apostles, those directly inspired by the Holy Spirit, in which they dabble occasionally. Or, if they’re the writers, for the book of Hebrews and Revelation seem to overdose on.

    It may well be that here in Galatians 4 we have served up for us the concentrated, the most compressed, the most startling, the rawest red-meat version of Paul’s interpretive commitment But, my dear friends, at this very point, you are staring straight on, as I suggested to you at the beginning, you are staring straight on into nothing less than Paul’s exegetical soul. In other words, Paul knows every small Bible story means something only in relation to the whole. of the Bible. According to Paul, the small Bible story about Sarah and Hagar carries within it the movement from the old covenant to the new covenant, from Sinai to the heavenly Jerusalem, from the law to the gospel promise, from flesh to spirit, from bondage to freedom. And you must understand further that Paul’s approach here is not meant to be exclusive, as if it were intended exclusively for this one story. out of all the stories that appear in the Old Testament in Scripture, or exclusively for him, or for other inspired persons like him.

    Rather, his approach is meant to be suggestive, programmatic, a pattern and an example for all preachers to follow, and for you to appreciate and to appropriate in all your dealings with the Bible. Here it is. You are being taught how to read your Bible. And according to the Apostle Paul, this is the only way to read your Bible.

    This should be clear to us. at least as far as those stories are concerned, in which we find close parallels to the story used by the Apostles. I mean, if there are other stories in the Bible that sound like this story about Sarah and Hagar, they’re the marks of this story. Wouldn’t you expect that these other stories also would be saying similar things? The Sarah Hagar story is programmatic. It is paradigmatic. It is the first of such stories in Scripture. You could say Playing on the imagery a bit, it is the mother of such stories, and it sets the tone for all other stories that bear the marks of it. In terms of the theme of barrenness, the theme of barrenness, we have after this story, so as to reinforce it, the story of Rebecca.

    Later on, Judges 13, we have the story of Manoah’s wife, the mother of Samson. And reaching into the New Testament, we have the story of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. All stories about barrenness, and God’s intervention, His action to resolve that condition. But here, in the Sarah Hagar story, we have barrenness plus rivalry. So we move from this story that matches barrenness with rivalry, from the story of Sarah and Hagar, into the story of Rachel and Leah.

    And from there we move into yet another story, a story that has been preoccupying us recently, the story of Hannah and Penelope. All of these stories tell in miniature form, in ways peculiar to themselves, in a most concentrated fashion, a form given to us from a definite angle, the history of redemption. Indeed, they all preach the story of redemption, the very gospel itself. When we come to the story about Hannah and Penina, we mark the similarities between it and the mother story, that of Sarah and Hagar.

    Two women, one man. one woman fruitful, the other barren. Hostility from the fruitful one against the barren one. A helpless, powerless, and in some ways pitiful husband. The intention of God in granting a child thus saving the barren woman from her shame and furthering the cause of his great redemptive plan. Common elements. But taking now our cue from the Apostle, we are not misreading the story.

    We are not misreading even this story of Hannah and Penina, when we see in the hostility of Penina against Hannah something more than just a personality clash and difficulty on the home front. In this hostility, we see something of the hostility that is about to arise within Israel itself. But this hostility is no simple matter, for it is not merely reflective of the coming political battles between the houses of Saul and David, or the impending wars between the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. But neither is it a simple matter of perceiving in this hostility within Alcanna’s household the enmity that rises because of the age-old warfare between the seed of the serpent and the line of promise, taking us back to the original story of the Fall and humanity’s corruption.

    As weighty and as profound as these connections are, and as properly as they might be pursued in their own right, they do not open up for us the precise line of explanation which the scriptures has in mind upon which the Apostle plays. You see, he zeroes in on the two women in his story as if they were two covenants. We’re starting to get nervous. as if they were two covenants. It’s not that these other things aren’t there, that you cannot pick up the note of enmity from Genesis chapter 3, or the hostility and the wars that erupt later between Saul and David, and the kingdoms as they erupt, North and South. But the thing, you see, that the Apostles were to focus upon is the conflict between covenants. This always makes Presbyterians nervous. This is difficult language. It’s hard for us, admittedly. It’s meant to be hard for us. It’s meant to provoke us. It’s meant to force us to do very, very hard spiritual and theological thinking.

    No theological slouches need apply. At the same time, the Apostle, in his reading of such stories, fully expects his interpretation and his approach to be within your grasp, and even within the grasp of the children of the Church. Well, not just Sarah and Fagar then, but Hannah and Penina, are two covenants, and the hostility between them is meant to speak about the proper—yes, I say proper—antithesis between the old and the new. It is of such radical nature. This is not to discount the continuity—we are present periods, after all—this is not to discount the continuity. between the covenants, but it is meant to bring to light, to emphasize, to capitalize upon the antithesis between the old and the new, the old covenant and the new.

    For there is a certain form of vanity, there is a boast of the flesh that takes advantage of that old order. and exploits that old order in the interests of its own privileged position. I will say it again for you. There is that form of vanity, there is that boast in the flesh that takes advantage of the old order, the old covenant, and exploits that old covenant in the interests of its own privileged position. and even hides behind its sanctions and its ordinances. Hides behind the law. The law is on my side, and I am therefore justified in my voting.

    All of this is seen in Penina. Look at her again. All of this is seen in Penina. Her name reinforces her significance. Her name means coral. Pearl. Ruby. A name that memorializes external beauty and value. Her personality complements the meaning of her name. Very clearly, she’s doing very well, thank you. She may not be the best loved by her husband, but she is the most bountifully blessed. If you want proof of blessing, here it is, sitting at the table in front of you.

    And she taunts Hannah with boasts about her superiority, her advantage. She expresses her contempt for her rivals, and her assault is constant. It never lets up. This woman lives for this world consistently and persistently. You are now cataloging this woman’s soul. She seeks advantage in this world and lives for it. her treasure is here, valued for her through her children, who are the offspring of the natural power of the flesh. If she and Hannah are two covenants, Panina belongs to Sinai and the earthly city in which the interest is worldly wealth and advantage secured through the flesh, even aided, abetted, and protected by the law.”

    She is about as secure as you can get. And she can claim God on her side. She has the blessing. Hannah’s name. Hannah’s name. means grace. I know I said that rather dramatically, and I meant to. Because I want you to feel the sense of it over against Miss Ruby. Her name means grace.

    And this as a memorial also, not of an inherent, natural, external power, much less a natural, external beauty or wealth, but evidence of that which is internal an endowment and a gift which she herself symbolizes. Hannah’s life fulfills her name, as she, in contrast to Penina, must now awake, through her suffering, through her suffering, the gracious provision of God’s mercy. and she fulfills her name as she, through faith, is finally quieted, with the confidence that the Lord of hosts himself will conclusively act for her. If she and Penina are two covenants, Hannah belongs to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is above, in which The interest, finally, is deliverance from reproach and shame into God’s glory. The interest not this world’s wealth or advantage, but the power of the flesh for the glory of a life in the earth.

    And Hannah underscores this and proves it when, from her heart, She offers up the son for whom she prays. She will give him away. Beyond the days of Hannah and Canina comes the consummate miracle child. to whom Hannah’s child pointed. He showed himself a conclusive delineation between the Old and the New Covenant.

    The hostility and enmity from the Old, in the interest of its own boast in the powers of the flesh, drives it to crucify this greater child. that he, by the perfection of the Spirit’s power, is raised from the dead, the first and quintessential child in his resurrection of his true mother, the Jerusalem above, the mother of us all, who are born not of the flesh or for the flesh, part of God.

    Father, in our claim of the inheritance, Lord, we confess that it is all a grace. And you have blessed us with faith. Whereby, we are able to let all things go. even those things that we might think are dearest to us, that we might have the heavenly city and you yourself. Lord, we are children of the promise and not of the flesh. And Lord, perfect in us the freedom into which we have been brought. Father, we ask that you will grant grace to your church that she would not look then longingly toward the old so as to live there. And Father, preserve her from sin lest she boast in the flesh and be secure in herself. Help your church, O God, to live by faith within the embrace of your grace unto the great day. In Jesus’ name, 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.

  • Elkanah and the Final Priest

    Elkanah and the Final Priest

    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 16, 1997.

    About this sermon

    Elkanah’s background gets real attention here, not for its moral example but for how it sets up a ministry that points beyond itself, the same pattern later seen in John the Baptist. Samuel’s own ministry anticipates Christ’s in ways morality alone cannot explain. Christ, not Samuel, is the final and eternal priest Hebrews describes.

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    Sermon transcript

    We begin our Scripture reading this morning in Hebrews chapter 7, verse 1. This is the Word of God. For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being by interpretation king of righteousness, and after that also king of Salem, which is king of peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually.” Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily, they that are of the sons of Levi, who received the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham. but he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham and blessed him that had the promises. And without all contradiction, the less is blessed of the better. And here men that die receive tithes, but there he received them of whom it is witnessed that he liveth. And as I may so say, Levi also who received who receiveth tithes, paid the tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.

    If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek and not be called after the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood.

    And it is yet far more evident, for that after the similitude of Melchizedek there ariseth another priest, who is made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before, for the weakness and the unprofitableness thereof. made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God. And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest, for those priests were made without an oath, but this was with an oath by him that said unto him that the Lord swear and will not repeat thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” By so much was Jesus made the surety of a better testament. And they truly were many priests, because they were not allowed to continue by reason of death.

    But this man, because he continueth forever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost, to come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, and undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Who needeth not daily as those high priests who offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people’s? For this he did once when he offered up himself. For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated.” forevermore.

    Then from 1 Samuel 1, beginning at verse 1, Now there was a certain man of Remethiim Zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Eliyahu, the son of Tobu, the son of Zuth, an Ephrathite. And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, the name of the other was Penina, and Penina had children and 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, were priests of the Lord there.

    Pray with me. Our Father, in the exaltation of your Son, we know, Lord, that the nations are gathered for him. Presently, O God, your word goes out. that your own from the nations might be assembled. We have been assembled because the word of the Lord has gone out. Lord, we ask that you will bless your word today for the conversion of sinners and the strengthening of your saints. Father, may we be concerned even for ourselves, that our faith may be strong, that we might stand before you according to that faith, and be a help to others in the strength that you give us.

    We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen. the opening of 1 Samuel will carry us through chapter 2 verse 11. That means that the opening portion set before us is this unit, chapter 1 verse 1 through chapter 2 verse 11. In this opening section, Hannah steps forward.

    Beneath the Lord of Hosts himself, beneath his sovereign design, as a prominent figure. We can even organize the story that appears for us here by charting Hannah in her various connections with various individuals. First we have Elkanah, her husband. Next, Penina, Elkanah’s other wife and Hannah’s rival. Then we have Eli, the priest at Shiloh, and finally Samuel, Hannah’s miracle child. This morning we want to look more carefully at Elkanah, Hannah’s husband.

    Now in dealing with this man, I’m saying right at the outset I’m not going to spend a great deal of time on the question about his multiple wives. I’m afraid that too many people, in approaching this passage, want to make that issue their central concern, as if resolving that question were the most pressing consideration for the passage. But I’m sure you’ve noticed The matter of fact way, the nonchalant manner in which Elkanah’s two wives are introduced, and this in keeping with the tone and temperament of the Old Testament as a whole. This presentation here is of a piece with what we find concerning other Old Testament personages, many of them exemplary blessed of God. This casual attitude here revealed with regard to this matter of multiple wives is, in fact, a divinely designed warning to you.

    A warning to you. No, not to have more than one wife. A warning to every Bible student, to every devout believer in their faith. For you must not allow morality, you must not allow ethical considerations to become the primary, let alone the exhausted content of your faith. You must not stumble over this. If you want morality as the be-all and end-all of your religious faith, you don’t want the Bible, you want Immanuel Kant.

    Now, one of the reasons why Elkanah has two wives is so that God himself, who is behind this word and behind Elkanah himself, might disabuse you of just such foolishness. This is not to say that our morality, our behavior, is immaterial for our confession. that our positive relationship to the law and its moral concern can be shelved, that our devotion to true biblical godliness as it devolves upon moral questions can be ignored, neither is it to say, heaven forbid, that polygamy is acceptable, or that Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and their polygamist cult The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, popularly known as the Mormons, were right after all. Suffice it to say this morning, God’s original intention in the Garden of Eden was monogamy, one man, one woman. Jesus Christ himself affirms that in many texts, not the least of which is Matthew 19. And the Church, as echoed this, in its ethical and moral stand throughout the ages, and properly and rightly so. But the Old Testament practice of multiple wives convinces us of the limitations of the moral category, the limitations even of the law itself. but even beyond this, it convinces us of the propriety of the redemptive, historically progressive reading of the Scriptures, in which God and the gradual unveiling of his covenantal purposes for his people are supreme. Not my morality, not my behavior, not even the law, which might, in the thinking of some, rise to such a level that it eclipses God himself.

    That, in fact, did happen among the Jews. We have, then, this man, Elkanah. His name means, The One Whom God Has Acquired. whom God has acquired or the one whom God has possessed. This name is especially appropriate for Elkanah, given the fact that he was a Levite.

    His lineage is revealed for you in 1 Chronicles 6, verses 27 and 34, where we learn that he belonged to the line of the Koaphites. You haven’t been thinking recently about the Koaphites, I take it. If that confuses you, you may want to consult Exodus chapter 6, verses 16 through 20, and the account that we have there concerning Levi’s three sons. Kohath was the middle boy, and the high priesthood within Israel came through the line of Kohath and the family of Aaron, Moses’ brother. Alcanna is a Kohathite, although he is not in the high priestly line. Still, he is a Levite.

    His name, then, meaning as it does, acquired or possessed of God, actually memorializes the significance of the Levites among the tribes of Israel. that the Levites were the one tribe to which the Lord laid special claims. As ministers in his sanctuary, they were uniquely set apart by him. In Numbers, chapter 3, verse 12, the Lord says, The Levites shall be mine. They, as a tribe, became the purchase price for the redemption of Israel as Israel was being brought out of Egypt. So, the Levites, as Elkanah’s name signifies, were acquired and purchased by God. but we have a problem, don’t we? Interestingly, our story in 1 Samuel is silent, is silent about this connection between Elkanah and the Levites. It doesn’t say a word about it. Elkanah is introduced to us as an Ephrathite, a man from the hill country of Ephraim.

    Some of his lineage is given, but it’s not taken back to Levi. There is no hint that he is anything but another worshipper as he comes to the yearly feast at Shiloh that is described here. There is no hint in the text that he, by virtue of a Levitical identity, was fulfilling priestly duties at these feasts from time to time, as any Levite would do. Why is this? Why is Elkanah’s Levitical identity omitted from the story.

    I ask you to call to mind another man, whose Levitical identity, except for the testimony of only one of the four Gospels, is kept very much in the background. Of course, I have in mind John the Baptist. One of the startling discoveries made by those who have majored in reading Matthew, Mark, and John is that with the Gospel of Luke, John’s identity is fully disclosed. His father, Zacharias, is a Levite, a priest, and John himself is of the tribe of Levi. But why the generous silence about John and his lineage in the other Gospels? Why the silence about Elkanah here in 1 Samuel?

    The answer to these questions is one. The silence is meant to heighten the sense of transformation, change, of cataclysm overtaking the people of God at this time. God is going to do something new, something revolutionary. In the case of 1 Samuel, the change, the cataclysm, is from the period of the conquest under Joshua and the judges to the period of the Old Testament monarchy, which amounts to the Old Testament version of the coming of the kingdom, the appearance of the gospel itself. In the case of the gospels, the change is from the Old Testament as a whole, as it gives way to the arrival of the true, new, final, eternal kingdom in and through Jesus Christ, God’s own dear Son. And in this great change effected by God, He alone responsible for it, the old categories are superseded. They are relativized and even aggregated in the interests of the monumental transformation. as it breaks into the present.

    The Levitical order and its ministries are about to come to a conclusion. Silence about John’s Levitical origins accentuates the point. the Levitical order and its ministries are about to come to a conclusion. But when we come to Luke’s Gospel, where much is made about John’s Levitical descent, the opposite angle of vision is at issue. Not just that the Levitical order and its ministries are about to become concluded, but that that order is finding its fulfillment in the cleansing rite apart from outside of the temple, namely in the baptism administered by this priest, this Levite, John, in the waters of the Jordan, that prepares a new people of God for entrance into the true temple through the Messiah. It is all deliberate.

    Here, however, in 1 Samuel, the silence about Alcanna’s Levitical descent will register its most powerful and profound effect when we come to consider his son, Samuel. Yes, that silence in Alcanna’s case serves the purpose of introducing us to the change taking place, that is breaking in, Alcanna does stand on the brink of the kingdom in its Old Testament form, as John the Baptist stood on the brink of the kingdom in its conclusive manifestation. And at that brink, the Levitical order has not only fulfilled its purpose, it has become superfluous. The silence about Arcana’s descent registers most powerfully and most profoundly when we come to his son Samuel.

    You see, where there is no hint of Arcana’s ministry as a priest in the tabernacle, we have no statement Therefore, here or later, about Samuel, his son’s right to be there. If the Levitical connection is omitted with regard to the father, by what right does the son have to stand in the tabernacle precincts?

    He has not. Hasn’t it struck you in your reading of 1 Samuel that the writer nowhere offers to us any justification for Samuel’s presence in the tabernacle? There’s none. How is it that this boy gains entrance? And as the story goes on into the further and later chapters of 1 Samuel, the writer gives us no indication that this man Samuel has any legitimate claim upon the services that he performs. Think of it in the later life of Samuel. If Saul has no right to offer sacrifices at Gilgal, then what about Samuel himself? And if Samuel is portrayed as if lacking proper pedigree for priestly ministry, what about the type of ministry he performs?

    It seems as if he is unconnected to the tabernacle and even from the Ark of the Covenant. To be sure, as you know, the sanctuary at Shiloh is decimated by the Philistine victory in which the Ark of the Covenant is captured and taken away, and we understand the disruption in Israel’s regular worship that that causes. Samuel has an itinerating ministry.

    His home is in Ramah, but we find him now in Nisba, sacrificing, and then in Gilgal sacrificing. We even find him in Bethlehem sacrificing, and that by the express commandment of the Lord. What in the world is going on here? Sacrifices all over the place. Israel is often condemned for its promiscuous worship. Sacrificing now in this place, and then running over there, sacrificing there.

    But Samuel seems to wander all over the place, and this is by the Lord’s direction, indeed, what is happening. Let me read to you two passages. The first is one of my favorites. is speaking to the woman at the well in Samaria, and he says to her, an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, John 4.23. What I am suggesting to you is this. In the circuitry of Samuel’s ministry, we are witnessing the anticipation of that very hour of which Jesus speaks. You are seeing it in preview. Samuel’s ministry previews Jesus’ ministry, a ministry appropriate for the conclusive kingdom in which worship will not be, indeed must not be, restricted to one geographical earthly The ubiquity of Jehovah’s worship in Israel under Samuel prepares us for the ubiquity of the Father’s worship throughout the entire world under the reign of Jesus. The second passage I want to read to you is from Hebrews 7. We’ve already read it once this morning. This is what it says.

    For the one concerning whom these things about the priesthood are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord rose from Judah. a tribe with reference to which Moses spoke nothing concerning priests. When the author of 1 Samuel leads us through his account, blind to Samuel’s ancestry, leaving us with no justification for Samuel’s priestly ministry before the law, he is preparing us for the coming final priestly ministry of Jesus Christ, who, according to the old order of the earthly administration, has no priesthood at all, but who now, according to the new order of the heavenly administration of God’s lasting kingdom, has an eternal priesthood. Indeed, as I have said, Silence about Alcanna’s descent registers most powerfully and most profoundly when we come to Samuel.

    For just as Alcanna serves to announce the arrival of that new day and prepares the way for Samuel, even so John the Baptist serves to announce the arrival of the truly new day of the kingdom of heaven and prepares the way for Jesus Christ, the great final, last priest of God who transcends all the limitations and inadequacies of the Levites. It is this one, and only this one, by whom you draw nigh to God. It is this one, and only this one, who is able to save to the uttermost those who, according to his eternal priesthood, come to God by him. And it is this one and only this one, whom in the end, Hannah herself truly serves in all of her connections, beginning with her connection to her husband, Elkanah.

    Amen. Dear God, keep us, Lord, from missing the point. We may want to make ourselves the most important. We may want to direct our attention to morality as if it were supreme. Lord, save us from these things that we might hear and understand the text. your word rightly, and see that even in the Old Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth, and that we, O God, are now being compelled by your Spirit to perceive his presence and influence though as yet in shadow form. Lord, may this help us in understanding the agreement of your word, the integrity of your word. The Father may it also help us to stand in the full radiance of the new day that was anticipated during the time of Elkanah. and Hannah, but which now has come. Lord, we are delighted to live in this day, and we thank you for the fullness of the ministry of our priest, the final priest, Jesus Christ.

    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.

  • Christ, Our Shiloh

    Christ, Our Shiloh

    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 9, 1997.

    About this sermon

    The opening of 1 Samuel reads with a real serenity that stands in deliberate contrast to the degeneracy just left behind in Judges. ‘Shiloh’ itself carries at least four distinct meanings across Scripture, converging on rest. Christ is that Shiloh, the rest his people are still waiting to enter fully at the end.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we begin our scripture reading in Genesis chapter 49. Genesis 49 at verse 8. This is the Word of God. Genesis 49 verse 8. Thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

    Judah is a lion’s wealth. From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as an old lion, who shall rouse him up?” shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall be the gathering of the people. Binding his foal unto a vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes. his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.”

    And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there, and the land was subdued before them. And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go up to possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you. Give out from among you three men for each trod, and I will send them, and they shall rise and go through the land, and ascribe it according to the inheritance of them, and they shall come again to me. And they shall divide it into seven parts. Judah shall abide in their coast on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north. He shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God. But the Levites have no part among you, for the priesthood of the Lord is their inheritance, and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan on the east, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave them.”

    Then finally, from 1 Samuel, chapter 1, beginning at verse 1, Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim, Zophim, of Mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, an Ephrathite. And he had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other was Penina. And Penina had children, and Hannah had no children. 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 Paninah 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 Hannah wept and did not eat. Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? And why eatest not thou? 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.”

    Our God, we know how much a blessing your word has been for us. It has come as a healing to us, ministering to us in time of desperation, in time, Lord, when our health was failing. Father, by your word, you minister to this assembly, to this congregation. We thank you, O God, that you hear us in our prayers, that the word being beneficial to us is beneficial to those for whom we pray. Lord, we have been praying for Andrew Gidley and ask you, Lord, that you will be merciful to him. granting him a full recovery, and may he be home soon. And with joy, O God, we give you thanks for your ministry to the Clausen family. How mercifully you have dealt with them.

    We ask, Lord, that what they have heard concerning Pat’s health will in fact be true. and that she may be maintained in this world yet, and that she may be a blessing to your people, a help to them. We ask, Lord, too, that your ministry amongst the folk in Washington would continue to bear fruit, and we look to you, O God, for the fullness of your will in the matter of that congregation. These things we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    Questioner 2 There is that sense in which the book of 1 Samuel opens up with a picture in which the kingdom of God and a profound serenity for the people of God are already a reality. are already a reality. Not that there aren’t features in the story that may seem to contradict that assertion. There is Hannah’s plight, there is Penina’s pride, and there is Eltina’s self-satisfaction. Nevertheless, as 1 Samuel opens up, we are given a picture in which the kingdom of God and a profound serenity for the people of God are already a present reality. This picture is something of a surprise for us, for we have come off a reading of the Book of Judges. And thus, this picture, as 1 Samuel opens up, stands in deliberate contrast to the religious and moral crises of the time.

    From the description of the period In the book of the Judges, especially the latter part of it, chapters 17 through 21, we know that Israel is in a state of severe religious ignorance, ethical degeneracy, and social anarchy. The social anarchy of the period is apparent from the last line in the book of Judges. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

    The moral degeneracy is evident in the despicable bisexuality of the men of Gibeah, a town in the territory of Benjamin. their story found in Judges 19. And also, that degeneracy is found in the account of the rape of those virgins of Shiloh in Judges 21. These stories, among many, underscoring the degeneracy of the nation. such a degeneracy that Israel not only rivals the pagans, but seems to outdistance them. The religious ignorance is clear from the fact that the Israelites are generally in the dark. if not indifferent to the location of the Lord’s tabernacle and altar. They are ignorant, if not indifferent, to the location of the city of Shiloh, the place where the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle, and the prescribed priestly service were located.

    Thus we have in Judges 29, verse 19, one of those tragic comic statements. In reading it, you can’t help but smile. It says, if the Israelites, in giving elaborate directions to the city of Shiloh, are doing so because nobody happens to know where the place is. We are even aware that the religious practices at Shiloh are hardly as pure as the wind-driven snow.

    Still in all of this chaotic turbulence, 1 Samuel now, by the direction of the Lord, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit deliberately, sets before us a picture in which the kingdom of God and the corollary serenity of his people are already a reality. Now, the serenity of God’s people appears to us in this chapter in a number of features.

    For one thing, there is the settled, regular life observed by Elkanah’s family. In view here is not a regimented or a formalistic routine, but a deep piety pursuing worship according to the law of God at God’s altar. So wonderful is the presentation of this pious worship. that as we read this opening account, it’s as if there is no threat, there is no harassment, there is no declension whatsoever in the religious observance.

    No threat, no harassment interrupts the appointed schedule, and so Eltina and his family are there year by year. But equally powerful along this line is the fact that as 1 Samuel opens, we’re not aware of any sacramental corruption intruding upon the scene. Not even the truth about Eli and his sons is allowed to disturb the tranquil impressions. You hear nothing of their corruption.

    Here is an oasis deliberately formed, deliberately structured, deliberately placed for your consideration. The truth about Eli’s family then will be delayed until 1 Samuel 2, verse 12, the beginning of the second cycle. in the Samuel story. So then, the serenity for God’s people appears in the regular life and worship by Elkanah’s family, and also in what seems to be a pure ministry of priesthood before God in Shiloh. But what about the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God, which provides context for the people’s serenity—context for the people’s serenity—is also presented to us here, offered up to us here, as a present reality, and that through three interrelated features.

    We spoke about two of these features last week, both of which appear for the very first time in Scripture in 1 Samuel, chapter 1. The first being of the new name for God, given to us in verse 3. He is now identified, and this for the first time, as the Lord of Hosts. This is the first time that name appears. The other element that we commented on last week was the mention of the temple in verse 9. Again, the first time that word is used in the Bible.

    Now, we might be a little disturbed about that, because we feel this is a bit anachronistic. knowing, of course, that the temple structure doesn’t actually appear for another hundred years or so under the administration of Solomon. But here it is, right at the beginning of 1 Samuel. These two elements speak about the same truth. They conspire, they converge to convince us of the same truth.

    The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Israel, is none other than the Lord of hosts. That is, the Lord over all of the angelic armies, over all of the angelic armies. having shown himself to be such by virtue of his triumph over all of the Canaanite tribes.” The horizontal triumph of God over the Canaanites is a vertical triumph. inclusive of all the heavenly host. God has gone up with a shout. There is that sense, then, in which the God of Israel has actually become the Lord of Hosts.

    He has become that which he was not previously, and that by way of his definitive victory. And now he is exalted by taking his seat upon his throne above the angelic hosts, above the cherubim, above those who are set upon the Ark of the Covenant, that Covenant being his throne, that set in his victory palace, the Temple. You are introduced to the Lord of Hosts. He becomes such by what he does in space and time, by what he does historically.

    But this now brings us to the third element. or feature that speaks about the kingdom’s present reality in 1 Samuel 1. After the reading of the scripture this morning, you ought to have a clue. Again we turn to the third verse, and this time to the name of the city, Shiloh. What is the significance of the city and its name? Shiloh means I could end the sermon right here. Shiloh means City of Rest. I’m not going to end the sermon here. I know you had your hopes up. Now, we are introduced to this city in the book of Joshua, and we read the text this morning, Joshua 18, verse 1. In fact, that is a very helpful passage for our purposes.

    For you see, in view once more is the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant had been temporarily situated at Gilgal, near Jericho, when Israel had entered Cana under the leadership of Joshua. Now, during Joshua’s ministry, during the course of his ministry, The ark with the tabernacle is moved northwest up into the hill country of the territory of Ephraim. And now Joshua 18 verse 1 tells us about the whole of the congregation of Israel assembling itself at Shiloh, setting up the tabernacle in light of the fact that the land had been subdued before them.

    All of the language of triumph is there again for you. Here is the picture prototypically presented for you, the picture that we have been attempting to present to you. God has been victorious in the wars of Israel against the Canaanite tribes. The move of the tabernacle to Shiloh is that the Lord himself might move into his place of rest. as he now is established afresh upon his throne within his royal sanctuary. And to this place of rest, Shiloh, the seat of his reign, his people are gathered in homage and for worship. They are to be exhorted, as they were by Joshua on that day, to take possession of their inheritance gained for them already by the Lord. Shiloh, the place of rest. the city once more mentioned here, at the beginning of 1 Samuel, in order to underscore the reality of the presence of the kingdom. The Shiloh has another context for meaning, another reference. We read that also this morning, too, did we not? Yes, it is the name of a city in the hill country of Ephraim, but it is also the name of a person bound up with the tribe of Judah.

    And here I invite you to look at the text we read first, Genesis 49, 8-12. and this for the first occurrence of a name in Scripture. Jacob is near death, and he is now blessing his sons, and these verses, 8 through 12, Genesis 49, record his blessing upon Judah. Jacob, by the Spirit of the Lord, promises Judah sovereignty over his brothers and also sovereignty over all of his enemies, verse 8. He then compares Judah to a wriggle lion, verse 9. It is not strange then that later on Jesus Christ is called the Lion of Judah. He compares Judah to a regal lion, for whom in his reign the promise of scepter and ruler’s staff will not depart until Shiloh comes.”

    Some translators have tried to turn this Shiloh into the Shiloh in the hill country of Ephraim. thinking that the reference is to Judah’s arrival at Shiloh, that is, the tribe’s arrival at the city, signaling then and forecasting the rise of David’s dynasty.

    However, a better translation understands Shiloh as a person, not a place, and maybe better still, a person who absorbs the meaning of the place, a person to whom the place, in its full and spiritual meaning, rightfully belongs. You see, the word Shiloh can also mean, he to whom. He to whom? A translation that implies both possession and propriety.

    In view specifically then in Genesis 49 verse 10 is the rightful possession of the scepter and the ruler’s staff. Judah’s supremacy is for the purpose of that reign, that reign of the one to whom the kingdom rightfully belongs. Judah’s reign finds its goal, finds its end, in the reign of the one to whom the kingdom rightfully belongs. This one has an eternal reign, in other words, a reign above and beyond which there is no other. He has a universal reign.

    To him shall be the obedience of all the people. the conclusion of verse 10 there in Genesis 49, and his is a supernatural reign in which the vines are so abundant that they are used for pitching posts for his beasts, and the wine so abundant that it replaces the water used in the most common of chores.

    You do your wash with it. Verse 11. And he in himself is a supernatural person, with eyes deeper than nature’s deepest red, and teeth brighter than the earth’s purest white. There isn’t anyone like him. Verse 12. powerful confirmation of this interpretation of Genesis 49, 8 through 12, especially that tenth verse, appears in Ezekiel. The prophecy of Ezekiel, chapter 21, verse 27.

    Here the Lord, now in His wrath, declares an end to Judah’s succession of kings. The Lord declares a ruin, an overturn. Three times I will overturn Judah.” Thus the Lord says, I will make an end to Judah’s government. This government will be no more, declared the Lord in that text.

    And then, with language which sounds as if it were lifted right out of Genesis 49.10, the Lord goes on to say, until he comes whose right it is, and I shall give the government the kingdom to him.

    The administration then at Shiloh anticipates the coming reign of Shiloh. That means then that the administration at Shiloh is not permanent, is it? For just as Gilgal gave way to Shiloh under Joshua, Shiloh will give way to Jerusalem under David, and Jerusalem herself will give way to glory under David. In the end, in the person of Jesus Christ, the true and lasting Shiloh of God comes.

    The one who by his sufferings and death waged a successful war against Satan and sin, he by his triumph, in his resurrection from the dead, entering the sanctuary within the city of rest, in glory above. 1 Samuel, chapter 1, then, gives us a powerful picture in its own Old Testament way of the yet future day of God’s rule in the city of rest through that one to whom that rule rightly belongs, with wonderful conclusiveness and unparalleled beneficence.

    The rule of this kingdom shines in its true and eternal power for the sake of the Church of God, and that despite all of the chaotic, worldly wickedness of society and religion. Do you see it? At the very beginning, in the midst of all of the chaos, there is given to you this bright and gleaming picture of the idyllic state of the kingdom.

    And you carry that with you as you watch through 1 Samuel, to its very conclusion and beyond. It is there for your comfort, and it is the way of God dealing with you always. He’s always going to start with His grace. He’s going to put it there first for you, lest you lose it while you’re making the journey. It is there for your comfort, lest when you look around and you see all the turmoil about you, all of the chaos, you see the world and the church going to hell. You are supported by the beautiful gem of the kingdom. The bottom line is, my friends, despite the upheaval, the Lord of Hosts reigns. Therefore, we shall not be moved. The Lord of hosts is with us.

    1 Samuel chapter 1 is meant to come to you as gospel. this gospel of the kingdom, ministering to you serenity. Such serenity, such peace as is ours, particularly for us in our settled, regular, peaceful lives, in which we, with deep pursue the worship of our God according to his commandments until he comes again. And in this kingdom already present, the serenity and rest extends not just to those already gathered, but now, before the end comes, even as before the end came to Israel. That kingdom is offered in all profound sincerity in the day of the climactic appearance of the kingdom, the day in which we live presently, the day which is a prelude to the end.

    Our Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord of hosts, says, me, and I will give you rest. Father, we pray for your people, and we ask, O God, for ourselves. We are tempted to allow the problems of this world and the troubles of the Church to dislodge us even to provide for us excuse for not following you or doing what you have commanded of us. Be gracious to us, our God, that we might have before us this gospel and its message of the presence of your kingdom. as a gem for us, a treasure beyond price. And Lord, that out of which rises our serenity, our tranquility, and our peace. Bless us, Lord, as your children, that we might abide in the Shiloh of God, through the one who is himself, Shiloh. We ask it in Jesus’ name. 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.

  • The Temple’s First Appearance

    The Temple’s First Appearance

    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.

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    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.

  • Hannah’s Faith at Shiloh

    Hannah’s Faith at Shiloh

    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, January 26, 1997.

    About this sermon

    Judges ends with the abduction of the dancing virgins, and a few verses later Hannah prays quietly at Shiloh, the same place and a very different scene. Hannah’s worship and faith answer the chaos that came before. The idea that Christians should change the world on their own terms cannot survive the comparison.

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    Sermon transcript

    This morning we begin our reading in Judges chapter 21. Judges chapter 21, we start at verse 16 to the end of the chapter before turning over to 1 Samuel. I’m reading from the New American Standard Version this morning. Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?

    And they said, There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be blotted out from Israel. But we cannot give them wives of our daughters, for the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, who gives a wife to Benjamin. So they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Labona. And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch. And behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards, and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. And it shall come about when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we shall say to them, Give them to us voluntarily, because we did not take for each a man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give to them else you would now be guilty. And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away.

    And they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities and lived in them. And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And then 1 Samuel, chapter 1, beginning at verse 1.

    Now there was a certain man from Ramathiyim, Zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, And his name was Elkanah, the son of Joam, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, the Ephraimite. And he had two wives. The name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Penina. And Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. Now, this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of Hosts in Shiloh. and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were priests to the Lord there. And when the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah, his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had closed her womb. Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she would provoke her. So she wept and would not eat. Then Elkanah, her husband, said to her, Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you not eat, and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons? And Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh.

    Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord, and she, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. And she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of my maidservant and remember me, and not forget thy maidservant, but will give thy maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.

    Now it came about, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. And Eli said to her, How long will you make yourself drunk?

    Put away your wine from you. But Hannah answered and said, No, my Lord. I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink. I poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.’ And Eli answered and said, “‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.’ And she said, “‘Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.’ So the woman went away, and Abe, at her face, was no longer sad.”

    Then they arose early in the morning and worshipped before the Lord, and returned again to their house at Ramah. Now Cana had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. And it came about in due time after Hannah had conceived that she gave birth to a son, and she named him Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.”

    Father, as we gather in this place, in this land, so your people gather in various places in other lands. Lord, they with us raise up their prayers on behalf of authorities over them, on behalf of governments. May there be peace for your people. May they be unharassed. Father, also, may it be that it pleases you in this day to bring many to yourself by your word. Father, may your word work in us. May it work in those, O God, who do not know you. May it work in those who have confessed you. and are endeavoring to live in keeping with what you have commanded. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

    The book of 1 Samuel begins with obvious links to the book of Judges, as we pointed out in the message last week. The final section of Judges, chapters 17 through 21, makes reference both to the hill country Chapter 17, verse 1 in that book of Judges, and to the city of Shiloh. Chapter 21, verse 19, as we have seen in the reading this morning.

    The book of 1 Samuel then begins with mention of both of these geographical locations. In 1 Samuel, chapter 1, verse 1, the hill country of Ephraim. is mentioned as the home of Elkanah. And in verse 3, the city of Shiloh is named as the site of Elkanah’s yearly pilgrimage to worship and to sacrifice before the Lord.

    But how much these places appear to be the scenes of the exact opposite of what we have observed moving from the book of Judges. How much these places, as they are presented to us in 1 Samuel, seem to be the exact opposite of what we have observed in the book of Judges. For instance, in Judges chapter 17, We are introduced to a man named Micah, from the hill country of Ephraim, who makes for himself idols, and then employs a wandering and avaricious Levite to officiate at a shrine which he has established for himself on his own estate. In other words, in Judges we have a man from the hill country of Ephraim who seemingly refuses to leave his home in order to worship God at the place which God has appointed, and instead sets up for himself a worship center at his own home. But here in 1 Samuel we have a man, again from the hill country of Ephraim, but one who does leave home for the worship of God at God’s appointed place. The exact opposite.

    In similar fashion, Judges concludes with that disturbing story about the rape of the virgins of Shiloh, taken away by conspiracy according to the plots of the wicked men of Israel. But 1 Samuel opens with the inspiring story about the plight of one barren woman of Israel. brought by her faithful husband to the sanctuary of God, where the tabernacle is, at that very Shiloh. Another factor in this regard, linking the end of Judges to the beginning of 1 Samuel, is the mention of the feast. Judges ends with a story involving a yearly feast at Shiloh.

    Now, neither this feast, nor the feast that is spoken of at the beginning of 1 Samuel, is identified specifically. The name is not given. Many commentators believe it to be one and the same feast, and have identified it as the Feast of Tabernacles. However, in its anonymity, this feast is presented as if the people of Israel generally are unaware of it. In fact, they seem to be a little confused about the location for it. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the elaborate description of the directions given to us In Judges 21 verse 19, they have to go to great lengths to tell everybody exactly where this feast is taking place. It doesn’t seem to be general knowledge among the people of Israel.

    But further, with regard to the feast at the end of Judges, we have the custom of the dance by the virgins at the feast. And you would have to say that this custom does have the ring of paganism about it. Specifically now, the dance of the virgins. Now, some have tried to link it to the dancing women in Exodus 15 who are led out by Miriam. But it is specifically here, the dance of the virgins.

    What we can say is this much. Nowhere in Scripture, nowhere in the law of God is such a dance prescribed, such a dance commended, and this in relationship with a feast to the Lord. Do we have here a violation of the regulative principle? The people going beyond the prescription of God’s Word.

    The paganism of this custom may have everything to do with the identification of this feast as the Feast of Tabernacles, or as a harvest feast, or if it was one of the other feasts, that feature that would connect the feast to the yearly crop cycle for the land. The virgins’ dance at the feast may be in hope that there would soon be crop, a harvest for them, that is, children through a husband in marriage.

    But over against these virgins, compromised as they undoubtedly are, and over against the wicked men of Israel who plot their abduction and the wicked Benjamites who carry it out, stands Hannah and her husband Elkanah, who, in keeping God’s command, go up yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord. The contrast, as you know from the conclusion of Judges into 1 Samuel, could not be more striking. It could not be more deliberate.

    On the one hand, we have corrupt Israel that not only appears to be generally ignorant of and indifferent to the proper worship of God, but has also profaned that worship in various ways. On the other hand, we have righteous Israel represented in Hannah and Elkina, self-consciously obedient to the commands of the Lord, faithful in their worship at the place where God has prescribed that worship to take place.

    So it is, as the kingdom of God now dawns in this Old Testament form, the kingdom that shall shine forth in the administrations of David and Solomon, as Israel herself is poised to witness the coming of the kingdom in Old Testament shadow form. Israel is divided between those true to God and His Word, and those who are not. There are two nations within the one people, those who love God and are desirous of worshiping Him rightly, and those who do not love God and worship Him however they please. moves out of shadow into reality. When the kingdom of God appears at the revelation of Jesus Christ, Israel is divided. There are two nations within one people, those who love God and those who do not.

    The former, those who love God, are set before us. In the opening stories of the New Testament are they not in the figures of Elizabeth and Zacharias, Mary and Joseph, and Anna and Simeon? As the Apostle Paul says, it is those who are of faith that are the sons of Abraham.

    Well, we may be tempted to stop our reflections on the conclusion of Judges and the beginning of 1 Samuel at this point. And unfortunately, many do. The Word of God, however, will not permit us to do this. But in order for us to understand how the Scriptures push us further, We want to return once again to those virgins from Shiloh. You see, there is a tie between them and Hannah that demands further comment.

    The virgins dance at the harvest feast in hopes of a harvest for themselves in children through a husband. But Hannah has a husband. and has no harvest. She is barren. Gaining a husband is no guarantee of children put in theological terms. Gaining the objective in view, seemingly, is not any guarantee of blessing. In fact, as the text makes plain Even the love of her husband cannot grant her her harvest, provide her with children. As much as Elkanah wishes to give his beloved wife children, he cannot. And she, having a husband, even a husband who loves her with all that means in terms of sincere and devoted love. Even in having a husband, she is here pictured as without blessing. This husband cannot, despite his great love for her, provide her with relief.

    But what is more, this husband who loves her, even if he is obedient, faithful to the covenant, in his pursuit of the law, circumspect in his attendance at all the prescribed feasts, even this man cannot make her fruitful. He cannot grant her a harvest, he cannot remove her heartache, he cannot save her from her reproach.

    Yes, there is a division in Israel. In the one camp we have disobedient people, those who are flagrant in their disobedience of God’s law, ignoring and profaning worship, corruption of a profound nature. In the other camp, we have those obedient to God’s law, sanctifying his worship with a righteousness that seems commendable. And Alcaina and Hannah obviously live in this latter camp. But living here, they are also confronted with their own limitations and the deceptions that continue to haunt them. They have kept the covenant, they have faithfully worshipped, so strikingly have they stood within the circumference of God’s godly devotion and outside the circumference of rebellion against God.

    If anyone is to be blessed, it is them, and yet Hannah has no children. Why? Why in God’s plan, why in keeping with God’s purpose, does Hannah have no children? Because in the history of redemption, it must be made clear, God will make it clear, that the blessing, even His very own vindication and deliverance of His people, does not come by way of the law, by way of the law. are like the whole of the people of God. Hannah’s longing for the removal of her reproach, her shame, is to be compared with the longings of the people of God for the removal of their reproach, the removal of their shame, and the arrival of their glorious salvation.

    Hannah’s observance of the law within the house of her husband is powerless to help her. In fact, that very law, as seen in Hannah’s rival, Penina, proves to be a brutal and bitter reminder to her of her woeful condition. It’s as if Penina is the accuser, reminding her of her situation. Penina, who in producing many children of the flesh, becomes this very law, and its accusations against those conspicuous in their observance of it. Resting in the law leaves Elkanah himself, content to a degree with Canaanah, and somewhat self-satisfied. We hear him boast, Am I not better to you than ten sons?

    Hannah’s discontent is her own sober acknowledgment that she is powerless and that she must throw herself upon God for what only He can give. And as only God, not the law, can provide her deliverance and make her fruitful, so only God, not the law, can provide the kingdom. through his Son, filling it up with supernatural offspring, those born of him. When the kingdom comes in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of which these Old Testament stories provide a shadow and an anticipation. Those who have been living faithfully by the law will be face-to-face with the law’s limitation and even the deception to which they have been subjected through the law because of their sin. And these, if they are to be true citizens of the lasting kingdom, will have to throw themselves completely upon God’s mercy, just as Hannah did in her anticipation of the coming great day. Moving out of the book of Judges and into the book of 1 Samuel, we are liable to think that Hannah and the likes of Elkanah’s family can save the day and produce the kingdom because of religious and moral strength.

    They cannot. And that is precisely the frustration, is it not, of the modern church. The word that goes out now uniformly, liberal and conservative, is that it is our job, we the church, to change the world. and that we can do it, that by our religious and moral strength we can renovate the creation. Not so.

    In the day when God graciously bestows his kingdom, that is, in the day of the Lord Jesus the day in which you and I live, God makes it abundantly clear that neither his kingdom nor our place in it are the product of our own righteousness and effort. The kingdom and its superlative righteousness are the gift of God, just like Samuel, Hannah’s child. Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God’s sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God, without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all, upon all them that believe.”

    Our God, there is an obedience which you prescribe. And Father, while we would be about our obedience to your word in all respects, Lord, we would not trust in our obedience, nor imagine that such obedience would bring about your kingdom. Father, through the story of Hannah, we would be reminded that your kingdom and our life in it is a gift. We pray, our Father, that you would cause us then to be strong in our resolve, that we would live at every point that our words our thoughts, our actions, would be informed by the gift character of our salvation, and that we would always honor you by honoring the gift. We pray this now through Jesus Christ, who is himself the gift. 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.

  • A Kingdom Without a King

    A Kingdom Without a King

    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, January 19, 1997.

    About this sermon

    Israel’s wickedness at the end of Judges sets the dark backdrop against which Ruth and Samuel begin to tell a different story. The Old Testament kingdom, fractured and lawless here, stands in sharp contrast to the kingdom Christ brings. Even in these darkest chapters, the shape of what is coming is already visible.

    More sermons from Judges · Browse all sermons

    Sermon transcript

    I should have prepared you in more ways than one for our scripture reading this morning. We are indeed in one of those R-rated sections of the scriptures, and we are turning to Judges chapter 19. This demands some explanation for you. A Levite who has moved his home to the hill country of Ephraim, has seen his wife leave him. She has departed from him in acts of harlotry. He has gone after her and pursued her and wooed her back, and presently he is taking her back to their home in the hill country of Ephraim. On the way, they are looking for a place to stay the night, and they come to the territory Benjamin, and there they put up in one of the cities of that territory, the city of Gibeah, and that’s where we pick up.

    A man from the city has welcomed them into his house, and this is what we find beginning at verse 22 in Judges 19. While they were making Mary, Behold, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house, pounding the door, and they spoke to the owner of the house, the old man, saying, Bring out the man who came into your house, that we may have relations with him.

    Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to the men and said to them, No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly. Since this man has come into my house, do not commit this act of folly. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please let me bring them out that you may ravish them and do to them whatever you wish, but do not commit such an act of folly against this man.

    The men would not listen to him, so the man seized the concubine and brought her out to them, and they raped her and abused her all night until morning, and then let her go at the approach of dawn. As the day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man’s house where her master was until full daylight. When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. And he said to her, Get up and let us go.

    But there was no answer. Then he placed her on his donkey, and the man arose and went to his home. And when he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her in twelve pieces, limb by limb, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. And it came about that all who saw it said, Nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt to this day.

    Consider it, take counsel, and speak up. And then turning over to chapter 21 in Judges, as the story progresses, the Israelites demand vengeance upon Gibeah. Benjamin refuses. The rest of the tribes go to war against Benjamin, subdue Benjamin. Now this means that Benjamin is devastated and there are no women because of the devastation for the remaining Benjamin men. So we pick up in verse 16 of Judges 21.

    Then the elders of the congregation said, ìWhat shall we do for wives for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?î And they said, ìThere must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin that a tribe that may not be blotted out from Israel.î But we cannot give them wives of our daughters, for the sons of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

    So they said, Behold, there is a feast of the Lord from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of a highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south side of Labanah. And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, and watch. And behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to take part in the dances, then you shall come out of the vineyards, and each of you shall catch his wife from the daughters of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. And it shall come about when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we shall say to them, Give them to us voluntarily. because we did not take for each man of Benjamin a wife in battle, nor did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty.

    And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took wives according to their number from those who danced, whom they carried away. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and rebuilt the cities and lived in them. And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family.” and every one of them went out from there to his inheritance. In those days, there was no king in Israel.

    Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” that you would be kind to your people throughout the world, that you would bless them in lands and under governments where there is justice, where there is a fear of you. We pray, our Father, that you would also encourage them to pray as we do for those who are in authority over them. Father, grant to us that we might live peaceful lives, even as we are granted liberties which we enjoy to worship you. We ask, too, Father, for freedom for your word, even as it is proclaimed to the ends of the earth, that your elect may be gathered and, Father, they incorporated into the Church. This we pray in Jesus’ name.

    If the book of Joshua has had among its readers those who recoil at its account of the holy wars and those bloody devastations, what today would be called the genocide of the Canaanites at the hand of the Jews. The Book of Judges has had among its readers those who recoil at the account of the spiritual and moral rot among the Jews. The Book of Judges tells us about the Israelites who, although now settled in the land of promise, having arrived, are repeatedly subjected to what seems to be the ever-revolving wheel of sin, judgment, and deliverance, idolatrous abandonment of Jehovah, which brings in its wake disastrous subjugation from outside powers, which in turn brings the Lord’s response in a deliverer, a judge, a whose help, however, is but short-lived, and once more the tribes plunge into willful desertion of God.

    But as if this proverbial spinning wheel weren’t enough, the judges themselves are not a very compelling lot. They are, in fact, a surprising company. Ehud, a left-handed nobody. Deborah, a woman. Gideon, a man of especially weak, not strong, weak faith. Jephthah, a rash and superstitious man. whose foolishness costs him his own dear daughter. And, of course, Samson, that notorious, hot-headed, fornicating show-off.

    Add to this particularly depressing picture the utter political chaos of the time, the continuing resistance of the remaining Canaanite tribes, the inter-tribal squabbles among the Jews, the vain jealousies, the reprisals, and the open anarchy. After all, the author’s ending comment about the time of the judges is as we read this morning in those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. But if matters during the time of the judges in the eyes of many concern only the spiritual and political declension, these people have convinced themselves that they can remain unmoved by the account that they find here in this book. Their reaction tends to be, when focusing upon these matters, the spiritual and political declension, one of two jerks of the knee.

    The one, of course, a great big yawn, a rather pronounced shrug of the shoulders, to the words, so what else is new? Isn’t this the way that it is? Nothing ever changes, does it? The other, more holy to be sure, is a spirited attempt to save the judges themselves. by incorporating into them all of the powers of spiritual and social normalcy, making of them almost fearless heroes in whose lives we find the stuff of personal courage, devotion to God, and admirable loyalty to the nation. Not that the judges don’t have their moments.

    Not that they don’t have their positive features, those especially compelling. We see this particularly in Deborah. Not that we aren’t able to see in them even the features of the coming Messiah. In fact, those features being the only vehicle by which we might appropriate that in them which is truly positive. Still, in spite of all the good we may want to say about the judges individually, they are anything but the epitome of permanence and spiritual and social normalcy.

    So much is this the case that as the book of Judges closes, we are given in chapters 17 through 21 Not yet one more grand story about an early Jewish superhero, but one of the most disturbing stories in all biblical literature. In it, we have our noses pushed into a nauseous stench, a stench depicting the complete corruption morally and spiritually of the Levitical order. The figure prominent in those last chapters is this Levite of whom we have spoken. We also find in these chapters the stench of that uncontrollable bloodlust of the imperialistic tribe of Dan. we find the sodomite perversity of the Benjamite city of Gibeah, the full hearty and absolute bankrupt statesmanship of the nation as a whole, in the asinine oath by which they bind themselves to deny wives to the tribe of Benjamin in the aftermath of their war. And the complicitous sanction of the entire nation in an effort to rectify this idiotic oath in the rape of the virgins of Shiloh.

    This is how the book of Judges ends. Not a very pretty picture. It is one, I might add, in which no figure of a judge of a deliverer, of a savior, such as we found in the earlier chapters, appears. Now, why do you think the book of Judges ends this way?

    Why this overpowering, even lurid conclusion? so startling, so shocking, that many in reading their Bibles have deliberately closed their eyes, if not closed their Bibles, at encountering it. Now, I dare venture that these chapters are hardly your favorites. You don’t find yourself regularly turning to them for inspiration. By no means am I suggesting to you that they should be your favorites, but what I must insist on is that we all face up to these chapters. Israel never did. She didn’t even in the days that followed, in the times of the kings. She didn’t even into the times of Jesus. And her inability and refusal to face up to these chapters spells her undoing.

    You see, as much as Israel might have met herself in those earlier chapters of the Judges, or even in the accounts of earlier times, such as those of the times of Moses and the wilderness wanderings of the people in the desert, or the times of Joshua and the territorial conquest, it is specifically these chapters now that bring home to Israel her own desperate and depraved heart of darkness.

    Long before Joseph Conrad ever opened up Europe’s vain and blasphemous Africa of the soul, in his grand, eloquent novel, The Heart of Darkness, the Holy Spirit, through the writer of the Book of the Judges, has exposed Israel’s and humanity’s underbelly. The Holy Spirit is telling Israel that despite her election, despite her uniqueness as God’s chosen vessel, despite the fact that she’s the Lord’s assembly, the church underage, as it were, she has no excuse for breast-thumping vanity or pride.

    In fact, for all her advantages, she is turning out to be indistinguishable from the vilest of heathen. Here is the calculated intention of this story about the Levite at Gibeah in Judges 19. You note, do you not, the similarities between this story and another story in Scripture? Do I need to back you up a bit to Genesis chapter 19, and the story that we find there about the angelic visitors to Lot’s house in the city of Sodom, who encounter the same threat as this Levite among the Benjamites? The power of this whole matter is both overwhelming and unmistakable.

    The Israelites, in the land of promise, in their settled state, having arrived, have become as vile as the most profane reprobate. Think of it. The Benjamites are sodomites. The Benjamites are Sodomites, and Israel is Canaan. Israel, therefore, has not changed the land. The land has changed Israel. And in this mix, the clergy, represented by the Levite, are no prize. In this, Israel is to be confronted not just with the potential for her corruption, but with the horrifying reality of it. There is none righteous, no, not one. Psalm 14, quoted by Paul in Romans 3, speaking about the universal condition of humanity, there is none righteous, No, not one, for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, Jew and Gentile.”

    Now, at the same time that the intent of this passage is to confront Israel with herself, it has further intent by putting the judges themselves in their place. For the tendency is to glorify the heroes and to live by the memory of their exploits, even to live through them and above the moral decay and decadence of the time. But the book of the judges will not permit this. The secession of judges subject to their own weaknesses and ultimately the lack of their own permanence leaves Israel in the worst of conditions, not teetering on the precipice of hell as if to fall in at some future time, but actually tumbling headlong hopelessly into the pit.

    Clearly then, for there to be any hope whatsoever, any true rescue, God Himself, not just another judge, God Himself must act, and He must move Israel, He must transport Israel beyond the time of the judges and into a new age and into a new world altogether. That is why, you see, as you come to the conclusion of the book of Judges and that statement in the last verse of the last chapter, in those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes, Israel is now prepared for the coming of the kingdom. Here is the Old Testament account of the coming of the Kingdom, and it shall be preparatory for its ultimate arrival. the Old Testament kingdom when it comes, itself proves to be a dead end, crying out for something more, something final, something conclusive and eternal. For just as the secession of judges gives way to that Old Testament kingdom, So the secession of kings gives way to that king, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to his gospel of eternal redemption.

    And just as the radical wickedness and its exposure in Israel at the time of the period of the judges gives way to that Old Testament kingdom, so the radical wickedness and its exposure in Israel at the time of the end of the Old Testament kingdom gives way to Jesus and to his gospel.

    And just as the depressing crescendo of evil in the world of the judges is interrupted by the sublime and radiantly contrasting stories of women, faithful men, and little babies, move from the end of Judges to the Book of Ruth and into the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, into the accounts of Ruth, Boaz, and their son Obed, and Elkanah and their son Samuel. Just as the depressing crescendo of the evil of that world of the judges is interrupted by the sublime and radiantly contrasting stories of women, faithful men, and little babies. So the evil world of the collapsed Old Testament kingdom is interrupted by the sublime and radiantly contrasting stories of women, faithful men, and little babies. Zacharias, Elizabeth, and John. and Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.

    Progressively, incrementally, God brings to light the full disclosure of his divine name and the full revelation of his redemption by which he provides an everlasting salvation to his church. In the final judge and the final king, heralded and anointed by the last and greatest of the prophets, not Samuel, but John the Baptist, and this for a deliverance capable of rescuing Jews and Gentiles from the just consequences of their sins. They, given life from the dead in the never-ending kingdom sanctified by the eternal priesthood of the ever-living Christ, this priesthood belonging to the heavenly sanctuary in which we all, belonging to the true Church of Christ, will feast on the true bread of the Presence, even as it is ministered to us by our Lord in his body, which bears the wounds and the marks of his humiliation and sufferings for us.

    All this and more is found in the Old Testament books of 1st and 2nd Samuel. Welcome to the books of Samuel and the kingdom of God. We would stand, O God, with Israel of old, there to be confronted with our sin and our corruption, and the fact that we have no salvation outside of you. Likewise, O God, we would stand with old Israel and witness the dawning of the kingdom of God, as that dawning comes in shadow form. through the ministries of Samuel and David.

    Lord, we thank you that now we are able to appropriate this message from the judges, from Ruth, from 1 and 2 Samuel, in light of the exegesis that you have provided and the fulfillment in your son. Bless us, O God, that we, with all humility, would know that we are saved from our sin and its consequence through Christ’s death, his resurrection, for life with him in the everlasting kingdom.

    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.