Week 23: Ruth, 1 Samuel 1-7

And they poured out before the Lord 

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Hi guys, welcome to the Receivers Podcast today. It might be a little bit echoey because the mic situation is gonna be a little iffy, but so I apologize if it's a little bit echoey, but I still think that um we'll be able to get good sound in here. So I'm excited. Today we're gonna talk about Ruth and the first chapters of Samuel 1 through 7. And I'm really excited. Number one, because I love these chapters. Number two, because we're filming today, so that's exciting. Um and I just love these. I love, I love, love, love the book of Ruth. Um, and these first chapters of Samuel. Um, number one, because we get my girls, we get my girls, we get Hannah, we get Naomi, and we get Ruth. And they're just such great stories. So let's let's just get into it, shall we? Let's do it. So, Ruth. This is like it's such an interesting story. It's not normally found here in the Hebrew version of the scriptures, it's not found here. But um, Christians put it in this part of their Bible because it is um chronologically, this is where it's happening. It's at the time of the judges. We don't know when. We don't know exactly which judge, you know, like where exactly to correspond with it. But what we know is this is before the monarchy is established, right? So there's these judges coming. There's these military leaders that are coming from each tribe that come at a specific time to save the people of um Israel. And so right now they're not really united, right? They're living as, particularly as the family tribes that we talked about last week, but they're living as tribes in each place. And so it's more about families and how we can and how, and there's a covenantal bond between these families that make it so that each can work. It's way less run by a king because there's no king, there's no central government. So the way that things are established is because of the law of Moses, and it's established by families. And this is really important because this is what we're going to see in Ruth. And then as we get into Samuel, that's going to be the rise of the prophet Samuel and the establishment of a king that ultimately comes from Samuel. Samuel is the one who chooses Saul and then ultimately chooses David to be king. So in the SBL Study Bible, it says this about Ruth. Ultimately is about renewal and restoration, loyalty, continuity, and family life. It's not only what they're supposed to do, but they do it because of who they are. And this teaches us, I think, especially with President Nelson's landmark speech about Hesed a couple of years ago, where he said, Hesed is um, you know, it can be translated as kindness or mercy, but really it's undescribable in the English language in that it's a covenantal bond. What God promises through this covenantal love that God promises us is that we never go too far away from us. Sorry, I had to have a little cut because my dog. But anyway, so it's about this loss that both of them are experiencing. Both of these stories kind of highlight this loss. But ultimately, it is the Lord who comes in and saves them through this hesed. And so all of this is about this covenantal hesed that the Lord loves us and he will never let us go, and we can never go too far away, and he will constantly be pursuing us. And this is what we see. These Ruth and Naomi go above and belong, uh, and Boaz all go above and beyond in their covenantal relationship. And so I'm gonna tell we'll we'll go through the story, and then um I'm gonna kind of try to use an example of something that might be more modern in our interpretation of what basically Boaz is doing, because it's really hard, I think, when you're dealing with an ancient system of like economy to know what's actually happening. But I digress. Let's get started. So we're in Ruth, and Ruth's name actually means like friendship or friend, but um something that I was reading this week really highlighted, and I liked it, is that it's also the it's the covenantal friendship. So she represents this covenantal friendship, what it means to have Hesed, what it means to have root, right? What it means to have this love. Um, and she go, like I said, she goes above and beyond in it. So we'll see that. And then we have Naomi. And so Ruth and Naomi um uh um are the they're the two main stories. But what we get is that Naomi was originally living in Bethlehem, right? Okay, house of bread near Jerusalem, um, up on a mountain, and it's right next to the Dead Sea. It's kind of right on the border of Israel and Moab. And there's a famine. So what are they gonna do? They're gonna basically leave one mountain, they're gonna go down, passing the Dead Sea. Did I say Red Sea? I meant Dead Sea, passing the Dead Sea and going up and Moab. And they're gonna be in Moab because there's a famine. So they've moved, they've had to move away from this from their covenantal land because there's no food, and so they've had to move away. So think of everything that Naomi has already experienced, right? She's already experienced uh famine, and she's already had to move away from her covenantal home, from the promised land, with her husband and her two sons, and they go and they settle in Moab and they live there for a long time. And they're living among, you know, these foreign gods, I guess you could say, right? Um, but clearly they're still Israelite and they still believe. Um, and we'll see that with Ruth in a second. But they go and then boom, her husband dies, her two sons die, who have gotten married. So she has her, Ruth, and then um her other daughter-in-law. Let me sorry, I need to find her name, Orfa, Orpah. And so these are two Moabite ladies that have married into this family. So she's living among strangers, and she has these two daughter-in-laws, and they're now all she has left in the world. She has all her her posper her prosperity, her posterity is dead. She has no one else in her life, except for these two daughters-in-law. But according to the traditions of the time, these two daughters-in-law cannot get anything by staying with their mother-in-law. They're not required to. What really, like, at the time, the system that was set up was that these two ladies will go away and they could remarry because their husband died, and then their families would take care of them, is basically what would be established. They don't have to take care of their widowed mother-in-law. Their mother-in-law could go and she would, you know, somebody would have to take care of her, but she could go. But she doesn't know anybody back at Bethlehem. She's been gone for a long time. So she says, Go. Just as you have dealt kindly with me. This is verse 8, Naomi. And Naomi means pleasant, right? So she's she's pleasant, despite all the hardships that she's been through, right? She's pleasant right now, and she says, Go back, each of you, to your mother's house, which is interesting that again, mother's house is highlighted here, but I love that. May the Lord deal kindly with you. What it actually says is, May the Lord have Hesed on you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me. So she's saying, just as you have had this covenantal love for, and I think when we think of covenantal love, sorry, this is just a push-in, it's not like a transactional love. Like she's not just like, okay, just because you love your husband's just like a normal person does, but it's just it's a deeper type of love. You're so committed that you're willing to do certain things. It's not just like I love you and I'm telling you that I love you, but I love you so much that I'm going to act in this way. It's, and I think that, and that's the type of love that the Lord gives to us, and that we can give back to the Lord. And that's what the lesson through of Ruth is here. And then Ruth says, no, I'm not going. Orpah, you know, refutes back, but honestly, she makes the the more logical decision. And I we don't, we can't get mad at Orpah, right? She she made her own choice, and that's fine. But Ruth says, you know what? No, I'm not going back to my family, to my gods, to my culture. And so you have to wonder, you know, how did Ruth learn about Jehovah, about the god? Clearly, Naomi and her husband were faithful enough that she came in. So now Naomi is of Moab, but she is now brought in covenantally into the children of Israel. So it shows that the Lord cares about the foreigners. And it's such an interesting story. Right in the middle, we get the story of an immigrant woman, right, who's very poor. They have no money coming in because they've lost everything. And they're going to have to rely on the kindness of the strangers in Israel to take care of them. But they do. And she's brought into the covenant, and she's also an example of what it means to live a great covenantal life. So the Lord finds examples and to teach us from all walks of life, not just the perfect people in the covenant who are wealthy and well off. But we get that with Boaz. And so we can see that two people who are in very different situations both show this covenantal love. And both in that way represent Christ, right? So Ruth is showing this, you know, covenantal friendship where she says, Do not press me to leave you, to turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go. She's echoing even the words of Rebecca, right? I will go, I will do. Nephi, where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people. I'm basically all of my identity that I've had before, I'm letting them go away, and your God, my God. I'm putting away my old gods, and I'm making Yahweh my God. This is her entering into a covenant with Naomi and her just establishing herself as a follower of Jehovah, of Christ. May the Lord do thus with me and more as well. Right? And so she's following, she's with Naomi, she's gonna take care of her. So Ruth is just this great example of covenantal love and faith. As she doesn't know what's going to happen. And I was listening to the Come Follow Me, that's gonna be for this week, with Lori Newbold, and she was saying that, like, we have for both of these stories, and I think it's so important, we have the rest of the story. We know that, like, ultimately, Ruth, they're gonna be taken care of because Boaz is there. And we know with Hannah, like she is gonna have that baby, but they didn't know that at the time. They didn't know that the Lord had provided a way, they had to just go forward in faith, and we get the benefit of seeing the whole story, you know, the whole, their whole lifetimes basically, and we know the story. I mean, Ruth's whole story is told in four chapters, and we're like, oh, it's so cute. But like, she had to live this. Like Naomi had to live this, like Hannah had to live that, and those are hard things. So, can we sit back and realize in our own lives, like when we're in the middle of a trial and we don't know how it's gonna work out, both looking forward with faith that we have in like you know what? My story is just it's just not done yet, right? Like, when you're in the middle of the trial, you're like, you know what? I'm looking forward with faith, and I'm like, yeah, like this is gonna be a great story. Like, what is the Lord gonna do? But also, I need to sit in the present right now and realize that it's hard right now. And this is kind of what Naomi does here. Lori Newbold again talks about this in the Come Follow Me a little bit, where she says, Don't call me Naomi, don't call me pleasant anymore, right? When she goes, she's kind of like, guys, I've lived a large call me Mara. Call me Mara, call me. I'm sad. Uh Mara literally means bitter. My my life has sucked. Sorry, for lack of a better word, right? My life, it sucks. It's so bad. Just call me, call me bitter because I can't be called pleasant anymore. That's just not what my life experience has been. And yet Naomi's story is not done. The Lord is not done working with Naomi, even though she's older, right? Even though she's gone through all these hard things, the Lord is not done with Naomi. Right? I went away full, but the Lord has brought me bought brought me back empty. Why then call me Naomi? When the Lord has dealt heartily with me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me. And yet she still believes and worships Yahweh. Even though he she's like, he hasn't done great things to me yet. And that's the key. It's the power of yet, right? Because we're gonna see later in the story. But I also what I see here, and again, Lori Nubold brings this out, is it's okay to sit in your feelings of sadness and hardship. And this is and that doesn't show, I think, a lack of faith. What the lack of faith is, is if that then causes us to act in a way against God, or that causes us to but I think being confused and sitting in that confusion and that grief and that sadness is not only good, it's Christ-like. Because we see that in the Garden of Gethsemane. Christ is confused. I mean, he's not as confused as much as he's like, oh, I think he just didn't realize how bad it was actually gonna be. He says, Oh, this is really bad. You know? If there's any way that this, you know, if there's any way, if it be possible, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. But he complains, he says, God, this is really hard. This is harder than I remember. I am, you know, my soul is sorrowful unto death. And so we can say that sometimes, right? We can sit there and be like, hey, my soul is sorrowful unto death. And also Ruth here, and we'll get this later in Job too. Ruth here doesn't say to Naomi, hey, be better. Yay! Or it or her friends even don't say, Hey, you know what? We're still gonna call you Naomi. Because I know you said it's been a hard time, but like, you know, it's gonna get better. The Lord is gonna bless you, you know, like just get through it. God has a plan. Well, those things are true, and if she can, maybe those aren't the most helpful things to be said in the moment, right? So, like, how can we help people? How can we truly mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and not just assure those who are mourning, or assure them, or call them to bigger faith. Because, and again, this is what Lori Newblt says, is the Lord that comforts, it's the Lord that heals. And we can just be there as a support and as a strength. And through the Holy Ghost and the light of Christ, they can receive that comfort. And so ultimately, through this, Naomi and Ruth become mother-daughter fully, right? She calls her mother, she calls her daughter. And in the Israelite society, the poor were taken care of by the rich. They were allowed, uh, it was just a covenantal responsibility that everybody had. They were allowed to go and when everybody was uh gathering the uh the wheat, if there was any left over, the poor people could come and pick up the rest that had fallen. It's in the Law of Moses. The Lord says, don't pick those up, let the let the poor take them. Reminder that there wasn't, there was no sort of like tax system, or there was no sort of um uh centralized government again, right? There's no centralized government, and so this is a way that, you know, it's that's basically established so that it's a welfare of sorts, right? And so Naomi, they're the poorest of the poor, Naomi and Ruth. So Ruth, she has to go and do it. She's like, yes, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna work. And everybody knows her as the stranger, right? But they're so impressed with how she does it and that she came, that she left her family and came. And Boaz is so impressed by this. Now, Boaz, I have to look up exactly what it means, but I believe it just means strength because he is so strong. Um spiritually. I'm sure he was also strong. It means in him is strength. Boaz. Okay, yeah. Boaz as is strength, in him is strength. He is strong, but he's more spiritually strong, and we'll see that. So what happens? Yeah, so Boaz answered her, all that thou hast done for your mother-in-law since the death has been told me. How you left your mother and your father and your native land and came to people that you did not know before. Just the faith that Ruth has. May the Lord reward reward you for your deeds, whose wings you have come under, right? So think about think about the Holy of Holies. And if you remember what we talked about, um, the two cherubim or the two angels' wings are covering the Holy of Holies. Covering wings represent power and strength, and she's come under the Lord's wings, they're gonna take care of you. And then she said, May I continue to find favor in your sight. I believe, and I'm going to check this really fast. She's actually saying Hesed here. And Ruth is the one of the uh stories, in fact, the story in the New Testament where Hesed is used the most. So let's see, that's verse 13. I'm just looking it up really fast. Oh, no, it's grace, not favor. But Grace is still works here, right? There's grace, favor. Um, but like thank you for speaking kindly with me. Thank you for having pity on me. Um you know, like he's very kind to her. He sees her, he sees her sacrifices that she's done, and he's like, you know what, you're not even gonna have to glean. Now I want you to just be with the gatherers and you can take a lot. So she's getting more. He's giving her more than he even is required to do here because of what she's done. She's done more that's required, so he does, he does more than what's required. It's not just a contract, right? It's not just like, well, this is what the law says I should give, so I should give. But he's doing it out of the goodness of his heart. He's motivated by this hesed. She's doing it out of the goodness of her heart. She's moved by this hesed. And so then Naomi's like, who are you with? And she was like, I was with Boaz. And Naomi's like, girl, he's our nearest relation. He can save us. Go ask him to marry you. What? Okay, let's talk. Let's step back for a second. What do you mean that this stranger's just gonna ask this guy? He shows her a little bit of kindness and now she's like, Great, marrying me. No, no, no, no, no. What's happening here is that part of the story of um, part of the story of the Israelites, part of the setup covenantally, is that when if everybody dies, one of your nearest kin is known as the Goel, the Redeemer. And their job, if you get in trouble, meaning you've lost your land and you need some back, the Goel is wealthy most of the time and is uh has a place of prominence, and they go and they buy back your land for you. And there's no questions asked. It's not like you owe the Goel anything, it's just their job. It's what they're they're supposed to do. If you die, the Goel is responsible for marrying the family. And with that, they get the land back too. So I guess the Goel does get a little bit of something, like he will get Naomi in Ruth's land, right, if he marries her, the Goel. So she's like, maybe he could be our Goel. So go and and propose to him, basically. So what Ruth does is she goes down, he's on his threshing floor, meaning that's where like the wheat is always taken care of. And he's there, he falls asleep, and she falls asleep next to him. And he wakes up and she's covered by she has um covered his uh feet. And people don't know what this means. Is it a sexual term, like an innuendo? Is it um a cultural practice we're not aware of? I don't know exactly. I think it's probably I'm more inclined to think it's just a cultural practice that we're not aware of, particularly because the words that are used here are the same that she just said, where he said, You have been protected by the wings of the Lord. She then says to him, I am Ruth, your servant. Spread um, yeah, spread your cloak over your servant, for you are the next of kin. She also says, Um, put uh put your wings upon me. So she's saying wings, the same term that was used. Um, and I think that's important because she's calling upon his earlier words, like you know who I am. We've had this conversation, we have a previous relationship essentially. Um, will you become this go out? Will you do your duty? And he says, you know what, I would, but there's actually somebody who's similar, who's actually closer to me in um in who could be the go out. So they go to the to the elders of the city, because at the gates of the city, so as you're entering in, that's where everybody's hanging out, okay? And the elders of the city are kind of, you know, like I said, there's no centralized government, but they're like older, maybe they're the slight rulers of the city, and they're the ones who like decide, you know, and everybody talks there, it's the happening, hip happening place, and that's where we're gonna decide, you know, matters of struggle and questions. Like, we'll go to the elders and they'll help us decide. And so he goes there with the guy and he's like, hey, you'd heard of Ruth and Naomi. Like, you need to marry Ruth. You're the next of kin. And he's like, great, I'll do it. And then he's like, actually, I don't have the I can't. I can't financially take care of myself and them, even if it's the land. Meaning, either maybe he didn't have enough servants to be able to do that, or he himself just had so much land he can take over. He's like, I can't. I actually can't do that. And Boaz says, again, Boaz is not required to do this. And he says, I do. I I can, I will, and I will do it, even though he's not required. And so he does it. And so he says, you know, you are witness today that I have acquired from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to uh Elimelech and all that begun to Shilion and Mandlon. I also have required uh Ruth the Moabite, the wife of Malhon, to be my wife. Right? And so you are witnesses this day. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah. So now they're basically they're getting married, right? They're they're married. And so what the story is is Boaz and Ruth are both going above and beyond their even commandment-level responsibilities to bring into a new level of Hesed, this covenantal love. And from it, Naomi gets to actually nurse her grandchild. She loves him so much. She gets to boast about her grandchild at the end, right? She says, a son has been born to Naomi, right? Like Ruth is so much under her and has been so connected with her that they're like, basically, this is Naomi's son. Like this is just so amazing. And she celebrates, right? And she says, you know, and they also call her Naomi, so maybe she's back to being pleasant, you know? And Naomi and the woman say to her, Blessed be the Lord who has not left you this day without a redeemer. And may his name be renowned in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age for your daughter who loves you, um, who is more than you, then seven sons has born bore him. And so, because of the love of Ruth that she has for um for Naomi, Naomi is blessed. Even in her old age, it was not too late for Naomi. She has a redeemer and a restorer of life, and that's the story of what Jesus Christ is to us. He is a restorer, he is a redeemer to all of us, even when we can't afford. And so um, I'm just going through, so yeah. And that is that's the story of Ruth and Boaz. So as I was going through, I was like, okay, how can we make a little modern analogy before we go on um to Samuel? And I was like, okay, imagine you are in an insane amount of credit card debt. Just an insane amount of credit card debt. And you know what? It's kind of your fault that you're in the credit card debt. Like, it's not like you, I mean, so many things kept happening to you that was a little bit out of your control, right? Like you couldn't, you know, you had to pay this, or maybe you had an unexpected medical expense and all these things, and you're just down in the deep. And a creditor, you know, a near, I don't even, I maybe a near family friend, but maybe just well, actually, I would say basically the person that you borrowed money from, maybe to pay off these things, and you're just in an incredible amount of debt to them, or to the credit card company, somebody comes and just pays it off completely. No questions asked. And not only do they pay it off, but now they're like, and I'll give you a monthly stipend to take care of you. And you're like, okay, first off, you didn't even need to pay that off, right? But now you're gonna give me more. And that's kind of the level of it is, right? Like, Boaz didn't even need to pay off this debt. It wasn't his responsibility, but he did that. And not only did he do that, um, but he went out of his way and he was a good husband to Ruth, right? He took care of her, he gave to her a son, and he kept the name going. He did everything that he was supposed to do and more, just like Ruth did. And it was a blessing to everybody. And it ultimately led, this is the ancestors of King David. And so, just a great, fantastic story about maybe the Lord's not done with us yet. We may feel sometimes that we've switched from Naomi tomorrow, but the Lord, our story is not done ever, if we let Jesus Christ come in and be that Goel, be that redeemer, be that restorer of life in when we feel like we're just so deep in darkness. Know that he's still there and he's there with us in those dark moments, giving us support and helping us through, and hopefully we can also be that for other people. Now we get Samuel, and we start with the story of his birth. And again, this is very similar to the stories of the births of the patriarchs, right? It's the cycle again, where a woman cannot give birth, and then miraculously, because of her faith, she is able to give birth and he becomes a blessing to all of Israel. So that's the story that we're getting with Hannah. Um, and this is a very special story for me for two kinds of reasons. Number one, um, Hannah sings a song in um chapter two that is connected to Mary. Mary actually uses a lot of the same words um to describe her feelings when she's told that Jesus Christ will be born through her. She actually uses the song of Hannah. And so it's interesting that Mary is also having a miraculous birth, and she turns to her foremothers to look for that strength. Um, and it comes from Hannah. And also because um I have my own sister-in-law whose name is Hannah, who has had uh my niece passed away um um during birth um about a year ago, about a year and a couple of months ago, and uh the strength of the faith of my sister-in-law Hannah and my brother Johnny is shown also in this uh story, and it it just has become more personal to me in the idea that we can still be sad and in grief and not understand and still have faith, and they have been such an example to me um of that. And so let's get started with what's happening. So we have a rich guy living um in the country in the in the hill country of Ephraim, and they're there, he's living, and they go up and they they worship at Shiloh. Now, Shiloh is where the tabernacle is set up, so this is the main place. Shiloh is now where where it's moved. We're going to be in Shiloh. And in Shiloh, um, they go up once a year, and he has many wives, right? And so what would the what's the purpose of Shiloh? Uh sorry, what's the purpose of multiple wives? Um, maybe again, maybe he needed to marry them because their husbands died. Um, maybe there's too many women, and it's a, you know, as little woman once said, it's an economic proposition to be able to take care of these women. Also, the more wives you have, the more uh children you can have, and the more people um you can have helping out. And so again, it's a cultural thing that we don't have to do anymore. The Lord does not require it of us anymore, um, nor did he require it of them at this time, but it's just a cultural practice that is still used in certain parts of the world today, um, both for religious and for economic reasons. Um, and again, it can be something that we're maybe not comfortable with, but it is a reality of the situation. Um, and so Shiloh actually means, sorry, I just had to look it up. It means peaceful one. Come from Shalom, or it can also mean um his gift. I love that, right? So his gift is in Shiloh. And in here we hear what what God's gift will be to Hannah. So they go up, and Hannah's kind of jealous of all of her husband's uh other wives who have children, and she's sad. She goes up to Shiloh and she's just like, okay, I'm here. My husband's, you know, he loves me so much, but I can't have kids. And so she's cries. So she goes and she's at the tabernacle. She's actually at the gate of the tent. So she's entered into the facility and she's at the gate of the tent, right outside of it, and she's crying. She says, you know, oh Lord of hosts, look upon the misery of your servant. She's miserable, okay? She's not happy. She's not like, oh, if she's saying, This sucks, right? Forget not your servant, give me male child. And once you do this, right, this is kind of her, she's negotiating with the Lord, which I love because I do that all the time, right? I'm a little quid pro quo. She says, but if you do, I will give him as a Nazirite, which is super hard, right? She's saying, All I want is a child. And even if, you know, if you give it to me, I will give him up, basically. He's her only child to serve him. A Nazir, uh, a Nazirite, if you remember, um, is like what um Samson was, right? So the child goes up, is dedicated to the Lord in service, never cuts his hair, um, doesn't go by dead people, right? It's a certain calling, essentially, that um parents give up their child and then they can decide if they still want to do that. So she has the doorpost of the temple. She's not, she's at the temple and she's praying and she says, Lord, please. And as she's doing it, she's so sad and so she's kind of like, and I've prayed like that, right? I've been there, I'm done, you're so intense. She's probably crying. Eli, who is the um prophet at the time, who's the high priest of the time, walks by and goes, This woman's drunk. Because he's like, get out of here. And she goes, I'm not drunk, I'm actually praying. You know, do not see me as a worthless woman, right? But I've been pouring out my soul unto God. It's so full, it needs to pour out. I'm emptying my soul before God. Remember Naomi, she was just talking, she said I was full, then I was empty. She kind of got poured out in a negative way. Hannah here is also pouring out, but she's pouring out before the Lord. And Eli says, you know what? He gives her a prophetic promise. May it be accomplished, which that was said. And she did. She conceives and gives birth and calls his name Samuel, for the Lord heard her, right? So um Samuel, uh, sorry, sorry, Samuel because she's asked him, Lord. Samuel means uh sorry, Sam means answered, and then Uel of God. Asked him of God. And so Elkinah, her husband, and they go up and they worship, and she's able to worship. She goes, she's so excited, and she actually says, I'm giving you my baby. Which I mean, what faith. She didn't know what that means, right? But the Lord fulfilled his promise to her. So there can be miracles, right? Naomi couldn't, her sons couldn't come back. Hannah, she was able to have a son. So there's different things, right? And Hannah didn't know that if she was gonna have a son, she didn't know what his life was gonna look like. Naomi didn't know what her life was gonna look like, but they weren't, they didn't have faith in the Lord for outcomes. Um right? Uh and that was something that really struck me about reading this is to not have faith in outcomes, but to have faith in God, to have it be a covenantal relationship and not a transactional one. And we can see those examples here, right? Uh, maybe, maybe Hannah's is a little bit more of a transactional one, right? When she's like, if you do this, then I will do this. But she also says, look upon with mercy. She's not saying you need to do this. She's saying, Would you have mercy? Would you, you know, love me enough to do this? Um, and not that I'm saying we should pray to the Lord like that, but it was less of a do this and I'll do this, right? But I'm your servant, I will do whatever I can. Um, and there was this covenantal love and relationship, not trust in outcomes. And her prayer that she then says, My whole heart exalts in the Lord, and my strength is exalted in my God. So he is her God now, just as he was Naomi's God and Ruth's God. He is Hannah's God, meaning he has been with her in her misery and her hard times, and now in her joy. My mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your victory. There is no holy one like the Lord, no one besides you. There is no rock like our God. Um, for the Lord of God is knowledge, and by action, by him actions are weighed, the bows of the mighty are broken. So she goes on and she continues to say these things. It's just so beautiful. And a lot of this too is is um the Lord, we've we've talked about this before, is the word is a low uh a warrior. And so this is here where I think we can see that Hannah's demons and her enemies were not physical enemies, they were her own jealousy and misery, um, maybe a little bit of deriding from her fellow wives. Um but the Lord overcame those things in his own due time. He is that warrior. Um, and so she he became such, right? He brings to he kills and he brings to life. He brings down to Sheol, he brings down to hell and rises up. Sheol here is not actually hell, um, it's just the place where the spirits go. He brings low, he also exalts. He's opposite in every way. He has the most power. His adversaries will be showered, he will judge the ends of the earth, he will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed. So this is interesting because Samuel will be the one who is calling the king and the one who will plan the anointed one. So Hannah, in a way, is foreseeing the need for these things and the role that her son will take. And so then we get uh the story right in the middle of this, and I think this is a great thing that we get here, these two stories at the end of 1 Samuel, this section, is that we get Eli's sons who are not being righteous, they are taking the best meats. Basically, what's happening is people are coming and sacrificing, they're in charge of the sacrificing, but instead of taking what the Lord has given them, they're taking the best foods away and giving it to themselves. And they're not following the exact practices and they're evil. And ultimately, um, like uh they have treated the offerings of the Lord with contempt. They haven't done what they were supposed to do, so ultimately they get destroyed. And this is a lesson, I think, that sometimes even those who have been called of God um may not act in a righteous way. Um, but that does not mean that the Lord has not called them. Number one, number two, that they cannot repent. And number three, um, that not, and I know this, everything that is unjust or that has happened to you that is not Christ-like, or that we accidentally do other people will be made right through Jesus Christ. He can use imperfect people to bring to pass his um you know uh plans, and also if people continue to abuse their power, he will not let them. Um, and that is the story here, right? Um, and so the prophecy uh uh against it is so interesting in verse 25 of chapter 2. Um, I thought it was so interesting, for he said, uh Eli is talking to his sons, he says, it's not a good report that I hear if someone sins another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord. Meaning, if you sin, somebody can come with the Lord and have that person's sin taken away. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession? Um, and I just think that's that's beautiful, meaning, hey, the Lord can make intercession for you, but when you're directly mocking the Lord, it's gonna be it's gonna be tougher, especially, and I think not necessarily in our day, but especially if you're in a place of high power, like these people were, right? But but they would not listen to the Father. So, um, so you know, they did not listen, and so it was time. And then interesting in verse 26 of 1 Samuel, we get the same scripture that we get about Jesus, right? He continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with man and with the people. So Samuel is Jesus uh and is a is a kind of Jesus in this, or Jesus is a type of Samuel. Either way, they're pointing to him being this great prophet and leader, and so um, and then the Lord uh destroys Eli, right? Because he also didn't fully rebuke his sons, and he makes a prophecy to Eli about what will happen, and he says, This is about Samuel. I will do according to what is in my heart and my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever. So he will be a sure house. He will be established, and this is true, and it's in his heart and in his mind what the Lord wills. And then we get the story of Samuel being called to this. He's with Eli and he's waiting and he hears a voice and he says, Here I am. He thinks Eli's calling him. He says, Here I am, I'm ready to serve. And that's what Naomi, that's what Ruth was saying, right? That's what Hannah was saying. Hey, here I am. I'm ready to act for you, right? I'm here, I'm ready to go. And Eli's like, that wasn't me. And Samuel's like, okay. And he hears it again. He says, Was that you? No. Next time just say, Here I am. Like, do what the Lord will do. And he says, Okay, here I am. He says those things, and the Lord gives him a calling. And so Samuel is then and he reveals himself to Samuel at Shiloh. That is his gift to Samuel. Is that he shows him who he is, and Samuel will be faithful until the end. So finally, in this last book, uh, sorry, in these last verses, uh, chapters, ugh, in these last chapters, we get the story of the Ark of the Covenant.

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And this is interesting because I think in all of these, and we can see maybe where they're coming from that not, and I know this, everything that is unjust or that has happened to you that is not Christ-like, or that we accidentally do other people will be made right through Jesus Christ. He can use imperfect people to bring to pass his um you know uh plans, and also if people continue to abuse their power, he will not let them. Um, and that is the story here, right? Um and so the prophecy uh uh against it is so interesting in verse 25 of chapter 2. Um, I thought it was so interesting, for he said, uh Eli is talking to his sons, he says, It's not a good report that I hear if someone sins another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord. Meaning, if you sin, somebody can come with the Lord and have that person's sin taken away. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession? Um, and I just think that's that's beautiful, meaning, hey, the Lord can make intercession for you, but when you're directly mocking the Lord, it's gonna be it's gonna be tougher, especially, and I think not necessarily in our day, but especially if you're in a place of high power, like these people were, right? But but they would not listen to the Father. So, um, so you know, they did not listen, and so it was time. And then interesting in verse 26 of 1 Samuel, we get the same scripture that we get about Jesus, right? He continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with man and with the people. So Samuel is Jesus uh and is a is a kind of Jesus in this, or Jesus is a type of Samuel. Either way, they're pointing to him being this great prophet and leader, and so um, and then the Lord uh destroys Eli, right? Because he also didn't fully rebuke his sons, and he makes a prophecy to Eli about what will happen, and he says, This is about Samuel. I will do according to what is in my heart and my mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever. So he will be a sure house. He will be established, and this is true, and it's in his heart and in his mind what the Lord wills. And then we get the story of Samuel being called to this. He's with Eli and he's waiting, and he hears a voice, and he says, Here I am. He thinks Eli's calling him. He says, Here I am, I'm ready to serve. And that's what Naomi, that's what Ruth was saying, right? That's what Hannah was saying. Hey, here I am. I'm ready to act for you, right? I'm here, I'm ready to go. And Eli's like, that wasn't me. And Samuel's like, okay. And he hears it again. He says, It was that you know. Next time, just say, Here I am, like, do what the Lord will do. And he says, Okay, here I am. He says those things, and the Lord gives him a calling. And so Samuel is then and he reveals himself to Samuel at Shiloh. That is his gift to Samuel, is that he shows him who he is, and Samuel will be faithful until the end. So finally, in this last book, uh, sorry, in these last verses, uh, chapters, ugh, in these last chapters, we get the story of the Ark of the Covenant. And this is interesting because I think in all of these, and we can see maybe where they're coming from.