Episode 101: Samuel's miraculous birth and Eli's sons of Belial

(1 Samuel 1-3)

Samuel's miraculous birth

1 ^1-2 Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah.

⁵ He loved Hannah, but God had shut up her womb.

⁶ Peninnah (Hannah's adversary) made fun of Hannah because the Lord had shut her womb.

⁷ Each year that God kept Hannah's womb shut, she wept, prayed, and didn't eat.

⁸ Elkanah said to her,

Why are you crying and not eating? Aren't I better than ten sons?

¹¹ Hannah wept and said to God,

If you give me a son, I'll give him back to you and never cut his hair.

^12-13 The priest, Eli, saw her mouth moving while she prayed and thought she was drunk.

¹⁴ So he said, "How long will you be drunk? Put away your wine."

^15-16 "I'm not drunk, I'm praying," she said, "I'm not a daughter of Belial."

¹⁷ Eli said, "OK. God will give you whatever you asked."

¹⁸ So Hannah ate again and wasn't sad anymore.

¹⁹ Elkanah and Hannah got up early the next morning, worshipped God, and had sex.

And the Lord remembered Hannah.

²⁰ She conceived and had a son, who she named Samuel.

Hannah's prayer

2 ¹ Hannah prayed to God, saying:

My horn is exalted; my mouth is enlarged over my enemies.

² There's no rock like God.

⁶ The Lord kills people. Then he brings them back to life.

⁸ He set the earth on pillars.

⁹ He keeps the feet of his saints.

¹⁰ His enemies will be broken in pieces. He will thunder upon them.

Eli's sons

¹² Eli's sons were sons of Belial.

¹³ They didn't know God, and they stole from people who were making animal sacrifices to God.

¹⁵ They wanted the meat for themselves, and they didn't want any sodden flesh.

²² When Eli was old, he heard stories about how his sons were having sex with women at the door of the tabernacle. He said to them,

²³ Why do you do things like that?

²⁵ But they didn't listen to their father, because God had already decided to kill them.

God's message to Eli

²⁷ A man of God came to Eli and said to him,

This is what God says,

³³ I’ll consume your eyes, grieve your heart, and everyone in your family will die young.

³⁴ And this will be a sign to you: I'll kill your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

3 ^1-2 When Samuel was a child, he ministered to God for Eli, whose eyesight was beginning to fail.

^3-4 Once, when the lamp went out in the temple and Samuel was asleep, God called to Samuel.

⁵ Samuel ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. Why did you call me?"

Eli answered, "I didn't call you. Go back to sleep."

⁶ God called Samuel again, and he ran back to Eli and said, "Here I am."

"I didn't call you. Go back to sleep," Eli said.

⁸ God called Samuel for the third time. Samuel ran to Eli again and said, "Here I am."

Then Eli figured out that it was God who was calling Samuel.

⁹ He said to Samuel,

Go lie down. If God calls, say, "Speak for your servant hears you."

So Samuel lay down again.

¹⁰ This time God came and stood in front of Samuel and said, "Samuel, Samuel." Samuel answered, "Speak for your servant hears you."

¹¹ God said,

I'll do something that will cause everyone's ears to tingle.

¹² I'll do the things to Eli that I promised to do to him.

¹³ I'll judge his descendants for the things his sons did.

¹⁴ No animal sacrifices will prevent me from carrying out my threat.

¹⁵ Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the bad news from God.

^16-17 But Eli called Samuel, and said,

What did God say to you?

God will do even worse things to you if you don't tell me.

¹⁸ Samuel told Eli what God said. Eli said,

Okay, whatever God wants is fine with me.

¹⁹ After that, Samuel grew, God was with him, and he let none of God's words fall to the ground.

²⁰ And everyone knew that Samuel was a prophet.