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.
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.
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