1 Samuel 1 - 3¶

Getting started¶

The first book we will read, 1 Samuel, tells the story of two kings, Saul and David.

The base text I will be reading is the World English Bible, Classic Edition. You don't have to read that exact version, it is just the one I am using as my basis for this reading guide.

You might want to use some other online Bible site, or your own printed copy, in one of the many available translations. I will assume you have your reading version available, and I will be referring often not just to the passage we are reading but also to other parts of the Bible.

You will need to understand chapter-verse references to particular passages. For instance, 2:12 is verse twelve of chapter two. Where I just give these numbers and don't name the book, that will imply a reference to the book under discussion, in this case 1 Samuel.

First reading: opening three chapters¶

In our first reading we will examine just the first three chapters, Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.

As we read them I will go rather carefully over some technicalities of the way the narrative is put together. Getting used to these now will help you understand some typical features of the way the Bible is written, and help you make sense of this and later books.

Birth of Samuel¶

Hannah prays for a son¶

The book opens with a man named Elkanah, who has two wives Hannah and Peninnah. Hannah is a pious but hitherto childless woman, taunted by her co-wife who has numerous children. Elkanah makes rather feeble attempts to reassure Hannah, but she is still unhappy. The family make annual visits to a temple of Yahweh at Shiloh.

Here Hannah prays for a child. She vows that if her prayer is answered and she has a boy, then he will be given over to Yahweh for life. Having received scant understanding from her husband, and provocation from the rival wife, at first Hannah is also misunderstood by Eli the priest. He sees her mumbling in prayer, and mistakes it for drunkenness.

After she explains, he relents and gives her his blessing. This is the turning point for her; she eats and feels better. When she returns home her wish is granted. In due course she sends her young son Samuel to live at the shrine and be brought up as a priest.

So far, so good. The first chapter is quite short and quite straightforward. But you may be wondering what this little story has to do with the grand themes that we talked about in the plot overview. Be patient, the action builds in its own way. We could rush through it, but it will be helpful to dwell on how the story is being developed.

Who are Hannah and Eli and the others? They are not major characters, and will be gone after a few pages. Penninah, for example, will not appear again after 1:7, yet by her fertility and her ungracious tormenting of her less-fortunate co-wife, she serves as contrast to the humble, patient Hannah.

Throughout the Bible, hosts of mortal humans come and go. Only a very few will be major characters. Hannah is going to become Samuel's mother, and his role will be to establish the monarchy in Israel. He won't be the king, he will act for Yahweh in selecting and anointing the king. Anointing is the ceremony by which an individual is elevated to the kingship.

The Song of Hannah¶

Hebrew poetry¶

Now we can take a look at the first example of poetry we are going to come across in our reading, the passage 2:1-10, which is generally known as the Song of Hannah. Note that the text calls it a prayer, not a song, and we are reading it on the page like a poem. For our purposes we will have to be imprecise about these distinctions, and indeed there is a school of thought which says it is a mistake to even draw too firm a line between what we think of as ‘prose’ and ‘poetry’, as I will illustrate in a moment.

Nevertheless, there are passages which have a more demonstrably poetic form than other parts of the narrative. In most modern versions they are laid out on the page with the layout style and line breaks we expect for printed poetry. The prose books, such as Samuel and Kings, have occasional poetic (or song) sections like this. Many of the prophetic books are the reverse, being wholly or mainly poetic.

Parallelism¶

In reading these passages, you will encounter the fundamental feature of Hebrew poetry, which is semantic parallelism. This is a kind of rhyming or association of ideas, and has the great advantage (for us) of surviving translation rather better than rhyming sounds, or meter or other vocal features.

The lines generally come in pairs which echo each other, in most cases through similarity, but sometimes through contrast or amplification. Furthermore, each pair is not isolated, but often they build on imagery from the previous lines to establish a rhythm of ideas through the poem. This technique of parallel pairs should be seen as a basis to work from, rather than a mechanical rule. In particular, sometimes we find a trio of parallel thoughts rather than two, often as a marker of some slight change of direction or of theme.

We can best appreciate all this by looking at examples. Note that the biblical 'verses' are not always in line with the poetic structure, and as elsewhere they serve mainly to be able to pick out a passage precisely. Where I use a, b etc, this is a means of sub-dividing the 'verse' even more. If it falls naturally into two parts, the first part will a and the second part b, for example.

Themes of the song¶

The themes of Hannah’s song are the cosmic overlordship of Yahweh, his ability to transform fortunes either for good or bad, and finally the role of the king as the ruler appointed by him.

In verses 1 and 2, the speaker addresses Yahweh directly, first in two matched pairs of praise and rejoicing, then this trio:

There is no one as holy as Yahweh,  
    for there is no one besides you,  
    nor is there any rock like our God. (2:2)

The speaker then addresses a presumed opponent or rebellious character in a simple pair of lines which repeat much the same thought as each other:

Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly.  
    Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth (2:3a)

The next pair are also parallel, but not so exactly, demonstrating that the technique is not mechanical but a flexible form:

For Yahweh is a God of knowledge,  
    By him actions are weighed. (2:3b)

The break in rhythm acts to emphasise the last line, bringing a kind of full stop to the flow of the poem. In these four lines the opponent has been put on warning that the god is ready to punish arrogance and opposition.

Next we move into a series of images symbolising a transformation when the present unjust age will be overturned in favour of a more perfect future. The parallelism here uses not synonyms but contrasts, where the strong are brought low and the previously weak or unfortunate are now favoured:

The bows of the mighty men are broken.  
    Those who stumbled are armed with strength.  
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.  
    Those who were hungry are satisfied. (2:4-5a)

Hannah's reversal of fortune is echoes here with the idea of a previously childless woman having children, contrasted with a less fortunate outcome for her fertile rival:

Yes, the barren has borne seven.  
    She who has many children languishes. (2:5b)

The role of Yahweh has been implicit in these last lines, but now comes to the fore, where he is credited with responsibility for all that takes place, whether for good or for ill. (Note: Sheol is a name for the grave or abode of the dead).

Yahweh kills and makes alive,  
    He brings down to Sheol and brings up.  
Yahweh makes poor and makes rich,  
    He brings low, he also lifts up. (2:6-7)

Gradually the focus shifts from the fates of individual humans to Yahweh’s position in charge of the whole of creation, and his majestic power.

For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s  
    He has set the world on them. (2:8c)

Having been located at a world-encompassing height, it is quite natural for Yahweh to manifest himself from the sky as he interacts with the world ‘below’:

Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces.  
    He will thunder against them from the sky. (2:10a)

The final note establishes the king as the appointed representative of the deity, and uses a triple line – three related things Yahweh will do – to bring the poem to a conclusion:

Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth.  
    He will give strength to his king,  
    and exalt the horn of his anointed. (2:10b)

Yahweh may deliver his own judgement, or he may work through a human king as his instrument, giving him strength and exalting his ‘horn’, a symbol of strength and fertility. At this point in the story, there is no king. These verses anticipate the establishment of the monarchy in a few chapters time.

Prose or poetry?¶

Look back at 1 Samuel 1. Although treated as prose, there are aspects to the writing very similar to the structural techniques we find in the ‘poetic’ passages, involving patterns of repetition and parallelism. This is why some biblical scholars question whether it is correct to draw a clear line between prose and poetry in these texts.

Here are a couple of examples. In 1:2 and 1:5-6 there are patterned repetitions within the prose, expressing the contrast between Hannah and Peninnah, which are as neatly constructed as many lines of poetry.

In verse 2 we find the pattern A B , B A:

The name of one was Hannah  
    and the name of the other Peninnah.
Peninnah had children
    but Hannah had no children.

Whereas in verses 5 and 6 we have a pattern like A A C , B B C:

A double portion to Hannah
    for he loved Hannah  
    but Yahweh had shut up her womb.  
Her rival provoked her severely
    to irritate her  
    because Yahweh had shut up her womb.

In the Hebrew the effect is enhanced by rhymes and assonances between several of the key words, which of course do not come over in translation. Something of the characteristic feel of reading the Bible comes from the nature of this ‘heightened language’.

The translation we use can drastically affect this experience. Some translations are more literal, which has the advantage of preserving more of these linguistic features although may result in rather stilted English. Others are more free, re-phrasing the words into natural sentences in order to make for easier reading.

In one modern translation, which specifically aims to be easier to understand, the passage above becomes:

But he gave Hannah even more, because he loved Hannah 
very much, even though the Lord had kept her from having 
children of her own. Peninnah liked to make Hannah feel 
miserable about not having any children. (2:5-6 CEV)

The repetition is taken away and the formal structure toned down, resulting in something that reads more like contemporary English, at the expense of losing some of the flavour of the original.

In these first few chapters, I am drawing attention to these technicalities at some length, because to understand something about them, and become familiar with the techniques of the text, will help you read other parts independently.

Curse on the house of Eli¶

Eli’s wicked sons¶

We now turn to the sons of Eli the priest at Shiloh, described as wicked men (2:12).

The first description of their bad acts concerns the treatment of worshippers who came to sacrifice. This meant bringing a live animal, which was killed and shared. Those who brought it ate a communal meal, as we have seen with Elkanah and his family. Before doing so they would dedicate a portion to the god, some to be burnt, and some taken by the priests.

This is how the priests and their household at the shrine subsisted, but was open to abuse if they took more than their fair share. They would either have their servant grab an arbitrary portion from the boiling pot, or even worse, demand raw meat that the priests could roast. This implied disrespect to the god as well, since it was proper to remove and burn the tasty fat as an offering instead (2:13-17).

Carefully interspersed with the activities of Eli’s wicked sons are little mentions of Samuel and how he is getting on. Samuel’s mother touchingly brings him, as he grows, a little robe every year, when she comes with the rest of the family on their annual sacrificial visit. Eli once again blesses the couple in Yahweh’s name, and Hannah is said to have borne five more children. This is the last we will hear of Hannah, or Elkanah.

Included between repeated statements that Samuel continued to grow and serve Yahweh, we have Eli’s reaction to the actions of his sons, including a further charge against them that they slept with the women who assisted at the shrine. Not only will their conduct bring Yahweh’s judgement on them, he warns, it also sets a bad example which will lead to wider disobedience.

The narrator now lets the readers in on their imminent fate, linking Yahweh's homicidal intent towards them to their failure to listen to their father: They didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them. (2:19)

The man of God¶

Now an unknown man with a prophetic message arrives. He is announced as ish-Elohim (a man of God), and he comes with the words of Yahweh. This is the first time we hear the divine voice (albeit indirectly), the prophet using the first person as though Yahweh himself were speaking.

The message is to condemn Eli’s house for the sins of his sons. There is a lot to unpack in this short speech (2:27-36).

First, Yahweh recaps some history, pointing out that Eli’s father (meant not literally, but a distant ancestor) was chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to be the progenitor of the priestly line. This selection took place while the Israelites were in Egypt, a period covered in the book of Exodus.

The rewards of being a priest include partaking in the sacrificial offerings. But Eli is held responsible for the way his sons have over-stepped the bounds of propriety in this regard. To allow them to take the best part of the meat, says Yahweh, is to honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat. Eli may have turned a blind eye, or himself enjoyed the luxurious roast meat along with his sons.

So, while Yahweh acknowledges his previous promise that Eli’s lineage should walk before me forever, i.e. to carry out these priestly functions, now the god has changed his mind, on a tit-for-tat basis:

Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise 
me will be cursed. (2:30)

The curse will be that no man in Eli’s family will survive to old age, and they will not share in the prosperity which will come to the rest of Israel. As a sign of this sentence of disaster, Hophni and Phinehas are doomed to die both on the same day. Thereafter, All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. (2:33)

Next Yahweh promises to raise up a faithful priest for myself. This might be interpreted as meaning Samuel, who becomes Eli’s successor. However, the suggestion that I will build him a sure house (2:35) puts this in doubt, as Samuel’s own sons also turn out to be wicked! But this is to get ahead of ourselves. This faithful priest will walk before my anointed forever, once more anticipating the monarchy which is not yet in existence.

The man of God signs off with an image of some future desperate descendant of Eli begging this faithful priest (or perhaps, his successor) for a priestly appointment so that they may eat a morsel of bread (2:36).

These initial chapters act as a prologue, not only for this book but for the whole sequence of books of the Kingdoms. The theme of reversal at Yahweh’s hands, introduced in Hannah’s song (e.g. He brings low, he also lifts up) is being played out with the choice of priests, it will be repeated with the first king Saul, and ultimately will be seen in the fate of both kingdoms as they fall at the end of 2 Kings.

The call of Samuel¶

Having established Samuel as a priestly assistant under Eli, we now move on to his call as a prophet, someone who receives the divine message directly. This marks him out, because as we are told at the opening of chapter 3, Yahweh’s word was rare in those days. There were not many visions then.

We find the young Samuel sleeping in the Shiloh temple, apparently in the same place as their most sacred object, the Ark of the Covenant. Now, ark in English is an obsolete word for a chest or large box, and today is only used for two things - Noah's Ark, and this item. It was subsequently lost, as fans of Indiana Jones will instantly appreciate.

The boy Samuel is sleeping there beside the Ark, and hears a voice. Three times he runs to his master Eli, thinking he is being called. Finally, Eli understands that it is Yahweh calling, and advises Samuel how to respond.

The fourth time, Samuel remains in his place, while Yahweh appears and reiterates the sentence he has decreed on Eli and his family. No sacrifice or offering will be able to reverse the judgement.

Although Samuel is understandably reluctant to pass on the harsh message, when he does so, Eli accepts it saying, It is Yahweh. Let him do what seems good to him (3:18).

This encounter ends a period when Yahweh is said to have been less communicative. Now that their god has appeared again at Shiloh, all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba (3:20) - a traditional phrase encompassing the whole of the Israelite area of settlement - becomes aware of Samuel's position. Hence (at the very start of the next chapter), The word of Samuel came to all Israel. (4:1a)

Formal structure¶

Both words and visions from Yahweh were previously rare, but now Samuel receives both. Yahweh has appeared and spoken. Note the careful structuring of the narrative, calling to mind the comments made in the previous section, that there is often a certain formality even to those passages we regard as prose.

The episode takes Samuel from a position where he ministers only in the temple, to a higher status where he speaks to all Israel. Eli's eyes were dim, echoing the absence of communication, but God’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, suggesting that this absence is only temporary.

Within the story there is a pattern of repeated duplication, starting with Yahweh calling twice, and Eli turning Samuel away twice. After the third call, Eli instructs Samuel on how to receive the message, and after the fourth call Samuel repeats Eli's words Speak, for your servant hears. Finally, Samuel receives the actual message, and goes back to Eli to repeat it.

Reflections¶

Broader parallelism¶

The patterning we saw at the beginning of chapter 1, and that has just been discussed in chaoter 3 (the call of Samuel) is characteristic of the biblical style. It's one of many features which can make the stories seem odd when you first read them, but it's not so difficult once you get used to it.

We can see, for example, how repetition is used within the story to achieve a characteristically rhythmic effect. The message of condemnation which is revealed to Samuel has already been delivered to Eli by the man of god, but the second occurrence acts to reinforce it.

The repetition of elements is suggestive of the parallelism which we have seen is fundamental to the Hebrew poetic form, where individual lines of poetry are paired in meaning. On a broader level, whole events are often repeated or echo each other. Such repeated story elements (known as doublets) are found all through the Bible. We will encounter some later in the book of 1 Samuel.

The invisible narrator¶

Let us also ask something else. There must be not only characters and a plot, but a narrator. Whose voice is telling us this story? We don’t always think about this consciously, but a tale must be told by somebody.

In this case, the technique used is that of the omniscient third-person narrator. The private actions and inner thoughts of the characters are described as if by someone who can know all of them. They tell us that Elkanah loves Hannah and that Peninnah intends to irritate her. They know private matters like the words which Hannah spoke in her heart, or the conversation between Samuel and Yahweh himself. We are even told about the thoughts of Yahweh, that he shut up Hannah's womb, and that later he remembered her.

Third-person omniscient has been a classic mode of story-telling for as long as stories have been told, although becoming less fashionable in modern times in favour of more limited narratorial perspectives. Not all the biblical books adopt this style of narration. Some begin instead with a personal statement of authorship and have a first-person point of view, for example.

In this case, the narrator simply tells us how it is (or was?). This style is consistent with the early cues defining this as a folk tale. As readers we are helped to form appropriate expectations. Hannah’s story employs a common mythological motif, whereby a childless woman conceives through divine intervention, dedicates her son to the deity concerned, and he grows up to fulfil a heroic destiny. Variations on this theme are known in cultures all over the world, and there are half a dozen examples in the Bible alone.

There will be surprising twists and great originality of story later, but the introduction of the well-known type character of the barren woman praying for a child, prepares us for his birth through heavenly intervention and his subsequent special destiny.