Whoever Humbles Himself: Daily Thoughts from 1 Samuel (1 Samuel 1)

There are certain inexorable principles operative in God’s world. One of these principles is that God determines who will be exalted and who will be abased, and this determination is made based on one’s humility or one’s arrogance. The book of 1 and 2 Samuel (it is one book in the Hebrew canon) is a testimony to the playing out of this principle in the history of Israel during the developing period of kingship as Israel’s governing system.

The transition to kingship from governance by judges is chronicled in 1 Samuel with its main characters, Samuel, Saul and David. It begins here in chapter one with the life of Samuel, the priest and prophet.

There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. 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.

Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”

After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head.”

As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, “How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you.” But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation.” Then Eli answered, “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.

They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her. And in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked for him from the LORD.”

The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow. But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear in the presence of the LORD and dwell there forever.” Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you; wait until you have weaned him; only, may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and she brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD.”

And he worshiped the LORD there. (1 Samuel 1, ESV)

In the time of the judges, after Israel had left Egypt, conquered Canaan under Joshua’s leadership, but then had failed, under the leadership of judges whom God raised up, to fully conquer the rest of the land, a man and his two wives came to the tabernacle in Shiloh to worship as the law prescribed. Though he loved Hannah deeply, Elkanah felt he needed to marry an additional wife in order to produce offspring, and this new wife mercilessly taunted Hannah, his first wife. Hannah wept before Yahweh, always the best place to weep and bear your soul, and in faith, took Eli, the high priest, as a prophet from God when he said her request to Yahweh was granted. And sure enough God gave her Samuel, whom she weaned and brought, as she had pledged, to live before Yahweh as a servant of the house of Yahweh. Samuel, only about three years old, worshiped there.

Several principles stand out here:

• God does not condone polygamy but it was so deeply ingrained in the culture that He worked in people despite this sinful way of approaching marriage. Nevertheless, we always see in Scripture that polygamy brings negative consequences.
• God must be worshiped as He directs. Elkanah and his family were at the tabernacle with sacrifices required by Yahweh and were celebrating a meal from the remains of the sacrifice as a testimony to God’s goodness.
• Faith is always rewarded by God.
• God cares about all of our needs and is willing to aid us in our despair at not having our needs met.
• God rewards us when we keep our vows but will not countenance breaking them because it treats Him with the greatest disrespect.
• Even the young can worship Yahweh and should be instructed from earliest childhood to do just that.

The most important principle taught here, however, is that humility before God will always lead to exaltation. As Jesus taught, “Whoever humbles himself will be exalted; whoever exalts himself will be abased” (Matthew 23:12; Luke 14:11). And Jesus exemplified this principle. He humbled himself to the point of death on the cross and God highly exalted him (Philippians 2:5-11).

Samuel is slated to experience and live out this principle. He will become a major player in Israel’s history and God’s movement among His people. No life is without value and promise. No one who humbles himself will fail to be exalted.