1 Samuel 1:1

1 Samuel 1:1 says, Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite:  Verse two adds, And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. We first have a record of Elkanah, who had two wives.  Matthew Henry points out that this was during the time of the last two judges of Israel, Eli and Samuel, who were not military men, but priests.  It then moves on to the reign of the first two kings, Saul and David, and their anointing by Samuel.  The book begins before the birth of Samuel though, when his mother Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, was one barren.  Verse three adds, 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.  Elkanah was a Godly man and went out of his hometown to Shiloh once a year to worship and sacrifice to the LORD when two of Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas were the priests there.  So, evidently Eli's sons were priests as well, though they may have been so because of their birth and not by a calling from God..  Sometimes, a preachers child will be called to the ministry today, but simply being a preacher's child does not mean that a person is called into to preach.  Verse four states, And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:  Verse five adds, But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had shut up her womb.  When the time came for the family to eat their portion of the feast, Elkanah gave Peninnah and her children ample portions, but gave Hannah the choice parts of the feast.  Matthew Henry says Elkanah married Hannah first, and since she was barren, married Peninnah, who bore him sons and daughters, but that still did not make her the favorite of Elkanah.  Families divided by jealousy will never be happy families.  Neither wife was responsible for the situation, but they both suffered for it.  We as Christians may sometimes suffer for a situation that we have no control over, but if so, we need to continue to put our faith in God and ask Him for guidance in the situation.  Verse six continues, And her adversary also provoked her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut up her womb.  Peninnah is said to have provoked Hannah because she was barren.  This may have led to her feeling superior to Hannah, but if we are blessed by the LORD with things that others may lack, we should never feel superior to them as followers of Christ, and we certainly shouldn't put others down because of our blessings.  Verse seven says, 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.  This didn't just happen once, but happened year after year, leaving Hannah so upset by the provocation of Peninnah that she couldn't eat.  We should never put others down because we feel more blessed by God, but should offer them our support in their need and lift them up in prayer instead.  Verse eight adds, Then said Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? am not I better to thee than ten sons?   Elkanah asked why Hannah was so upset, asking her if he were not better than ten sons. Either he was oblivious to what was going on between Peninnah and Hannah, or he chose to ignore it. Though we should offer words of comfort to those in distress, that is not enough if we ignore the reason for their distress.  

Judges Review Concluded

Then we have an account of Samson, from his birth to his death.  He was dedicated to God to be a Nazarite even before he was born.  His birth was foretold by an angel, as was his being set aside as a Nazarite.  We as Christians today may not be visited by ab angel before the birth of a child, but we need to acknowledge that they are a gift of God and dedicate them to His service.  Samson never seemed to consult God in much that he did, but seemed to assume that his great strength would always bring him victory.  We should never go through even a day as followers of Christ without consulting God about our day, and we should always put our faith in Him and not our personal abilities.  Samson killed many Philistines before he married Delilah, but after he married her, he seemed to be more interested in pleasing her than in seeking God's will.  This should never happen in our life, and if it does, like Samson it may lead to our downfall.  After he was blinded and abused for a period of time, Samson asked God to give him the strength to defeat the Philistines one last time, and God did so.  If we have turned away from doing God's will in our life, we simply need to ask His forgiveness and He will forgive us.  There were other examples of the people of Israel following false gods and false priests, and we can never afford to do that.  The book of Judges closes with an account of the great sin committed by some of the tribe of Benjamin, their defense by the rest of the tribe, and their ultimate near annihilation in a war against the rest of Israel.   Hopefully, we as followers of Christ will never find ourselves at war with other followers of Christ.  We once again saw the effects of an ill thought out vow almost dooming the people of Benjamin, but their ultimate continuation by the people of Israel finding a way around the vow.  I believe if we make a vow to God, it should be inspired by our faith, and if it is, we will never have to look for a way around it.  We will next look at the book of 1 Samuel. 

Judges Review Continued

After Joshua died, the people asked who would go up against the Caanites, and God said Judah would go, and the people of Judah asked the people of Simeon to go with them, and they agreed, even though God had already promised to deliver Canaan into Judah's hands.  Though it is nice to have other Christians accompany us in our battles today, if God has called us, then He will give us success if we go alone.  We have the record of God raising up many judges, starting with Othniel,  Caleb’s nephew, who delivered them from the Mesopotamian rulers, and them shortly falling back into sin.   The next Judge, or deliverer, after the people called out to God again was Ehud, who delivered them from the Moabites.  The next judge was Deborah, a woman.  God works through many different people to accomplish His will, and we should not set limitations on who God can use.  Barak worked with her, but wouldn't go without her being there also.  Through Deborah's leadership, they were freed from the king of Canaan.  Again, the people of Israel soon turned away from God.  We have the raising up Gideon as a judge, and his doubts and testing of God with the fleece.  We should be able to trust God without testing Him.  We also have the reduction of Gideon's army from a large force to a few, at which time he really had to put his faith in God.  As Christians, we don't need larger armies in our battle against the forces of evil today, though it is nice if we do have them, but we really just need more faith in God.  Gideon by obedience to God and under His power was successful in delivering Israel from the Midianites.  Then, once again the people turned away from God.  We have the record of Abimelech killing the other sons of Gideon, his half-brothers, and claiming power over Israel, but not by God's appointment.  We need to beware of those who would claim power in the church today for their own glory and not by God's appointment and for His glory.  Jotham, the youngest and only other son of Gideon pointed out the error of the people following Abimelech.  God will have ready one to point out our error if we begin to follow false religious leaders today.  We have a record of the judges Tola, Jair, and then Jephthah, who delivered them from the Ammonites, but made a foolish vow which cost him his daughter's life.  We need to avoid making unnecessary vows to God, but if we make them, we need to keep them. After Jephthah, Izzan, Elon, and Abdon judged Israel, and we know little else about them.  They reigned for various periods of time.  We do not know even the names of all the people who have served and are still serving to deliver people from the forces of evil today, but that is okay, because God does.

Judges Review

The book of Judges is filled with what I refer to as cycles of faith.  The people of Israel would at first be faithful to God, though not always totally faithful, then God would bless them with prosperity, then new generation would grow up that didn't know God, and He would allow them to be defeated. They would then cry out to God, and He would raise up a judge to deliver them, and the cycle would repeat once again.  We as followers of Christ should never fall into this pattern, but we often do, except for the raising up of a judge.  Our Judge and Deliverer is Jesus Christ, and instead of Him being raised up again, we simply need to repent of any sin we might commit, and by our faith in Him, we will be restored to a right relationship with God.  Just as the people of Israel did not stop being God's Chosen People when they turned away from Him, neither do we stop being a part of God's kingdom if we allow sin back into our life once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Even though we like the people of Israel may stop receiving the blessings of God during such times, God stands ready to forgive us if we turn to Him again.  The book of Judges begins after the death of Joshua, when there was no successor appointed to rule over Israel.  We are told several times tha their was no king in Israel during these times, but they really didn't need one.  What they needed was a man, or in one case a woman, called by God to lead them under His direction.  This is what we still need today.  At least we will never be in this situation of not having a spiritual leader as Christians, because the Holy Spirit indwells us to guide our actions if we listen to Him.  We then have a record of the people of Israel conquering the Promised Land, though even then thay did not completely obey God, leaving some of the people in the land still alive.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, we cannot leave any sin still alive in our life if we want to successfully follow Him.  Also, during their times when they forgot God they were without a judge, or leader of the nation.  Of course, God was really their ruler, if they had only allowed Him to be.  If we are without a preacher, or religious leader today, we still have the Holy Spirit to guide us.

Judges 21:16

Judges 21:16 says, Then the elders of the congregation said, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin?  The elders of Israel then asked how they were to provide wives for the rest of the men of Benjamin, since they had killed all the women of Benjamin.  Their solution had not eliminated the whole problem.  Sometimes, it may be more difficult to eliminate all the problems that our rash actions as Christians may cause than we might realize.  Verse seventeen adds, And they said, There must be an inheritance for them that be escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not destroyed out of Israel.  They said there must be an inheritance, or continuation of, the tribe of Benjamin, including the two hundred men who as yet had no wives.  Verse eighteen adds, Howbeit we may not give them wives of our daughters: for the children of Israel have sworn, saying, Cursed be he that giveth a wife to Benjamin.  Still, they had a problem, because they had sworn not to give their daughters as wives to the Benjamites.  This was a problem of their own making, and they were still looking to themselves for a solution.  We are not told that they consulted God before taking the vow or as they sought a way around the vow.  Of course, if we make a vow to God, we should not be looking for ways around it, and we should make certain that He has led us to it to start with.  Verse nineteen continues, Then they said, Behold, there is a feast of the LORD in Shiloh yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah.  They remembered that there was a feast of the LORD at Shiloh every year.  Verse twenty states, Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;  Verse twenty-one adds, And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin.  The leaders of Israel said to the remaining men of Benjamin to come out of the vineyards at the feast when the women were dancing and claim themselves a bride and return to the land of Benjamin.  Basically, they were told to kidnap two hundred of the women of Shiloh, and the people of Shiloh were definitely not consulted about this plan.  If we are attempting to get around a vow to God we certainly should not do so at the expense of other people, especially others who are a part of God's people.  Verse twenty-two continues, And it shall be, when their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain, that we will say unto them, Be favourable unto them for our sakes: because we reserved not to each man his wife in the war: for ye did not give unto them at this time, that ye should be guilty.  The leaders said when the men of Shiloh came to complain, that they would basically tell them that this was their fault because they had not reserved brides for the men of Benjamin during the war.  Of course, neither had anyone else of the people of Israel.  We should never expect just a few people to bear the responsibility of something that we as Christians have all caused.  They said that since the men of Shiloh had not given the women to the men of Benjamin, they had not disobeyed their vow.  Again, we should never make a vow to God and then try to find a way around it at the same time, especially at the expense of others.  Verse twenty-three says, And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught: and they went and returned unto their inheritance, and repaired the cities, and dwelt in them.  The men of Benjamin did as they had been instructed to do.  The women as usual had nothing to say in the matter.  Verse twenty-five adds, And the children of Israel departed thence at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance.  After this, all the people of Israel returned to their own inheritance.  They had gathered against the tribe of Benjamin because of the actions of a few of their members, avenged the Levite for the death of his wife, and then devised a way to have the rribe of Benjamin continue to exist, so now they returned home.  I believe some of this was done at God’s direction, but not all.  Verse twenty-five continues,  In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.  At this time, there was once again no king in Israel, so the people did what was right in their own eyes.  Of course, there were still priests and God's law to go by, but they chose not to be guided by them, but by their own desires instead.  Even when they later had a king, they still often disobeyed God, the king included.  We as followers of Christ will always have the Holy Spirit to guide us, and should never be guided by our own desires.

Judges 21:7

Judges 21:7 says, How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives?  The people of Israel asked again how they could provide wives for the remaining men of Benjamin since they had vowed to God not to allow them to marry their daughters.  This is something they should have considered before killing all the women of Benjamin or before taking the vow.  This really wasn't something God had asked them to do.  We need to be careful that we do not make vows that will later limit God's kingdom, even if they seem good at the time.  Verse eight adds, And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to Mizpeh to the LORD? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabeshgilead to the assembly.  They then asked if there were any of the tribes of Israel who had not come to help in in fight, because if there were they would not have been involved in the vow either. and they said the camp of Jabeshgilead had not.  This was a city of the tribe of Gad,  according to Matthew Henry.  Maybe they felt too far removed to be concerned about what the Benjamites had done.  We, as God's people, need to always be united in the war against evil today.  Verse nine continues, For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead there.  They knew this because the people had been numbered, or enrolled, as they gathered for the fight.  If there was a roll of Christians actively fighting against evil in the world today, would our name be on it?  None of us are called to sit on the sidelines in the war against the forces of Satan today.  Verse ten states, And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children.  The people of Israel then assembled twelve thousand of the bravest men, and told them to go to Jabeshgilead and kill the people there, including the women and children.   We are not told that they sought God's guidance in this, but it was their attempt to correct a problem of their own making.  If we create a problem because of our own overzealousness, we need to always ask God before we do anything to attempt to correct it.  Verse eleven adds, And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man.  These troops were commanded to kill every man and all the women who had lain with a man, or who were not virgins.  How they were to prove this and what age female it was to apply to is not clear, since they were told to kill the children as well.  Verse twelve continues, And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan.  They found four hundred young virgins among the people of Jabeshgilead, and brought them to the camp at Shiloh. Again, I am not sure how they made the determination unless it was based on young women who were not married.  Sometimes, our criteria to determine who or who isn't a follower of Christ today may be made on faulty criteria as well.  There were only four hundred of them. Verse thirteen says,  And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.  The people of Israel sent representatives to speak peacefully to the remaining Benjamites who were assembled at the rock.  If we find ourselves at odds with our fellow believers, the first thing we need to do is speak peacefully with them.  Verse fourteen adds, And Benjamin came again at that time; and they gave them wives which they had saved alive of the women of Jabeshgilead: and yet so they sufficed them not.  The men of Benjamin came again into the people of God, and they were given the four hundred young women to marry, so that the tribe of Benjamin might continue.  Of course, there were six-hundred men, so this still left a problem.  Verse fifteen continues,  And the people repented them for Benjamin, because that the LORD had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.   We are told that the people repented for what had happened to the tribe of Benjamin, but they then put the responsibility for it on God, even though He had never required them to take the vow they took, nor to totally destroy the people of the tribe of Benjamin, including women and children.  If our overzealousness as Christians causes problems today, we should never attempt to make God the cause of our problem. 

Judges 21:1

Judges 22:1 says, Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpeh, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.  The men of Israel had sworn while they were at Mizpeh that they would not allow the man of of the tribe of Benjamin to marry their daughters.   Again, we are not told that this was something that they had consulted God about, though they may have and we just aren't told.  Either way, we need to consider all the implications of any vow that we make as Christians before we make it.  Verse two adds, And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore;  Since they now gathered at the house of God and stayed all day lifting up their voices to him and weeping, we can assume that they had not considered all the implications of their vow, because I believe that if they had they wouldn't have been so regretful.  If we have made a vow to God in accordance with His will and under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, we should never later regret it.  Verse three continues, And said, O LORD God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be to day one tribe lacking in Israel?  The people asked God in their distress why it had come to pass that there was one tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, lacking in Israel.  Of course, they were not totally lacking, because there was a remnant of six hundred men.  At least they were appealing to God at this point.  We should realize that God will always have a remnant of His people as long as this world stands.  Verse four states, And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.  The next day, the people of Israel rose early and built an altar to God and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings there.  If we as Christians have concerns about something that we believe is wrong today, we should get up early and go to God in prayer with our concerns.  Of course, Jesus Christ is the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins, so we must go to the heavenly Father through our faith in Him.  Verse five adds, And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.  They next asked who had not come up to the congregation when they were seeking God's will about whether or not to go to war with the tribe of Benjamin.  They added that anyone who had not done so was to be put to death.  Being an active part of doing what God directed them to do was an important part of being a part of His people, and it still is today.  Verse six continues, And the children of Israel repented them for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day.  The people repented for the tribe of Benjamin, saying that there was one tribe cut off from Israel that day.  I believe that their repenting was not for going to war against Benjamin, which God ordained, but for their vow to not give any of their daughters as wives to the remnant of the men of Benjamin, of which there were still a few men.  We need to be careful that we do not promise something to God without first praying about it.