A Clash of Hearts and the Heart of God
1 Samuel 2:1-36
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 2. 1 Samuel 2 is such a clash of characters, for we have five characters in this chapter that I trust you have had the opportunity to read about. First, we have this really unknown woman, Hannah, who honours God by singing this wonderful praise to the Lord. Secondly, we have the introduction of Eli’s wicked sons, (vs 12) “Now the sons of Eli were vile men; they did not know Yahweh.” Thirdly, we have the introduction of Samuel, this little guy that is now at the house of God with Eli. Fourthly, (vs 22) we have someone called “the man of God” speaking to Eli. And finally, (vs 22-36) we get a deeper look at Eli himself, the priest. Just a few chapters later in our study we will read that God will reject Saul as king and will choose David as king, a man after God’s own heart. So, what I wish to do with this passage this morning is to look at each of these characters to understand their hearts and their understanding of God’s heart. And I have entitled this morning’s message, A Clash of Hearts and the Heart of God, as we are going to see such a difference in the hearts of our characters. So, let’s begin with:
The Sons of Eli.
Now we could read about the sons of Eli and quickly dismiss them as these grave evildoers, two people that we would never be like. After all, they only think about their stomachs and follow their hearts after evil women. In fact, their hearts are revealed in the opening statement, (vs 12) “Now the sons of Eli were vile men; they did not know Yahweh.” Now we could ask the question, “What do you mean writer of 1 Samuel that these boys did not know the Lord?” They are the sons of Eli. They have likely been around church all their lives. They probably have been taught since birth the stories of creation, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. In fact, they likely had a better knowledge of the Lord than most in Israel who didn’t have any writings of Moses. So, the intellectual knowledge about God must have been greater with these boys.
See, what is happening with these boys is that they get up every morning and they begin their duties as priests. And they do ministry there, they represent Yahweh, the God who brought them out of Egypt and now has brought them into this Promised Land. And they know God. They are familiar with the stories. They are known among God’s people. And in fact, they have a special and unique ministry, and yet they are stealing from the people, they (vs 22) were behaving impurely with women who also were serving in ministry. Now I am not sure if everyone would have known their true colours, though the Bible is very upfront about their true character, as the Bible always is. And it does say (vs 23) that there were reports about their conduct among the people, and likely lots of rumours circling around them. But whoever knew about all this or not, the bottom line is this, they did not know God. And it was because their conduct that the Bible says that these boys were vile. In fact, it is their position in ministry that makes them even more accountable.
So, imagine arriving at work each morning as these boys would have, being involved in ministry in the house of God. A role that places such a value on character, and yet this is not truly who they were, this is not truly where their heart was. Now this does not mean that these boys would not have aspired to be proper priests at some point in their lives. Nor does it mean that they did not believe in the stories they had learned growing up, they may have truly believed that Yahweh rescued their people, and that the miracles done in Egypt were true. Yet the reason the Bible says that they did not know God is because they did not have a heart for God, their knowledge did not translate into their hearts and character. And therefore, God was going to judge them by taking their lives, giving us an example of what will happen to anyone eternally who does not know God. Those who may have a head-knowledge of God yet their hearts are moved by a greater desire for sin.
Eli
Next is Eli, their father, who tries desperately to call out his sons and to confront them. Yet (vs 25) “they would not listen to the voice of their father.” Now when we read that statement we tend to sympathize with Eli, after all, he tried, yet his sons would not listen. However, we also learn that Eli was benefitting from his sons, (vs 29) God says, “Why do you [Eli] kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My habitation, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?” We get the idea here that Eli was well aware of the sins of his sons, their sexual impurity and he confronts them. Yet we see Eli here as more of a crowd-control guy as opposed to a godly Dad, as the behaviour of his sons seems to be something that Eli is concerned about more because of the public eye. “Boys, come on! I am starting to hear a lot of folks talking about you. Do you not understand that this will look bad for me? So, let’s just be a little careful here, don’t let this go too far.” See, what we have here are two boys who have deeply jumped into sin and we have a father who doesn’t want to “rock the boat,” and is more concerned about his own reputation.
So, imagine Eli getting up for work every morning and his main concern is trying to keep his reputation. In fact, we get the idea that the sins of the boys are sort of a secondary concern in the mind of Eli. Hard to always understand the judgment here from God toward Eli and his sons and relate it to eternal judgment. We know that the two boys “do not know Yahweh,” and therefore, are not men of faith and will have to face judgment in eternity. We do not get the same description of Eli. So, while he may be a man of faith, his ministry and influence as a believer and as a Dad is greatly damaged, as it would seem that his life becomes full of heartache and spiritual weakness.
Samuel
Next is Samuel, who we dearly love. He is the promised son and we picture him as this little guy who everyone loves. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be Samuel. He is greatly loved by his Mom. And he becomes this cute little guy who serves alongside of Eli and I am sure that when anyone saw him they would say, ah there’s that little Samuel, love that kid. Maybe children would come yearly with their parents to bring a sacrifice, and Mom or Dad might have had some struggles on the trip. Maybe the kids were fighting in the back seat of the camel. And then they get to Shiloh and Mom says, why can’t you guys be like Samuel? Look at him, isn’t he the cutest little thing. We think of him as polite, wears a bowtie, clean cut, big smile, everybody’s friend and when those who made the trip to Shiloh likely talked about little Samuel on the way home.
I know that I give out a number of nicknames playing church baseball. I frankly, do not like nicknames for myself, though some called me Teddy Graham because my first name is actually Graham and of course, our dog’s name is Teddy. It is a really dumb nickname. Now I was never much of a baseball player as a kid, but the coach gave me a nickname when I was in Little League, Smiley. It described my baseball skills, not really that great, but I did smile a lot. So, it made you easy to be liked, this little blonde-haired kid who smiled all the time. Well, Samuel was an Israelite from the tribe of Levi (1 Chr 6). Though it says his father Elkanah was from Ephraim, this would be where he lived as Levites did not have their own land, but lived among the people, But the fact is that Samuel was an Israelite, so he likely had darker hair, but we do picture him being very pleasant and likely smiling a lot.
Yet we do need to be cautious here that we don’t overstate the character of Samuel. If you missed our final parenting session a few weeks ago on the Sunday afternoon, we spoke about the need for our children. Certainly, there would be every tendency to want to keep little Samuel the way that he is, and so, we spoke about the difficulty when our children today face so many temptations that they cannot deal with. They are exposed to wrong ideas, wrong words, wrong deeds, wrong attitudes, exposed to things that they cannot handle morally, emotionally, socially, probably at a younger age all the time. And this was probably true of Samuel seeing the sins of Eli’s sons. And we said that this is a huge challenge because of what really both our children and us face on the outside, but it is further complicated by what our kids face on the inside, their own nature. John MacArthur said this, the seed of every known sin is planted deep in the heart of every child because the desire to sin is already within them when they are born. Therefore, as parents we are not trying to keep our children the way they are, we are working to change our children from who they are. I said that God does not give to us holy little angels, though I often refer to them as “little cherubs.” They are little sinners and therefore, they need to be disciplined and taught.
Therefore, they need to understand that they are going to think wrong things, and this would also be completely true about this little guy Samuel, who has what we may believe to be an innocence about him, especially when compared to Eli’s two sons, and all the wickedness that is going on at the house of God. And yet this heart of Samuel needs to be changed by God, for men and women grow up with hearts of selfishness and sin unless the Lord does a work in their lives. In our men’s study, I appreciated a quote by C. S. Lewis when addressing the topic of repentance and how this is so hard for humans, he said:
“Repentance is hard. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years.”
- S. Lewis, Lewis on the Christian Life 48
Because the human race is sinful, isn’t it? All of us. We are all sinners and we all need forgiveness, and that forgiveness comes only through Jesus Christ, which is the same for Samuel, as he too needed Someone to save him. So, imagine being Samuel and living with Eli, being able to worship the Lord each day, and yet seeing many of the sins of the two sons, as I am sure he must have realized as he grew up the stark difference between the hearts of these boys compared to the heart of his Mom. And he could not grow into that heart, his natural heart. No, for his heart too needed to change.
Hannah
So, next we have Hannah, who rises here to the top. She has this wonderful understanding of God and therefore, pours her heart out to the Lord, (vs 1) “My heart exalts in Yahweh … I am glad in [His] salvation.” Her song of praise brings tribute to her great God. She speaks of the holiness of Yahweh, that there is no one besides Yahweh. She proclaims His actions and His knowledge and that He shatters the mighty. And here again as last week we see her great understanding of the sovereignty of God.
“Yahweh puts to death and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.”
1 Sam 2:6 (LSB)
This really teaches us that our lives, our finances, our riches, our abilities, are all in the hands of a sovereign God, that men and women rise and fall at the command of the Lord.
- Hannah’s Faith is Active
Hannah is an example to us of someone who has a sincere acting faith. Her belief in God dictates her actions and decision-making. Her heartfelt prayers, her training of little Samuel, her keeping of her promise to God. This is faith in action in a very difficult situation. Is this the way in which your faith could be described? A faith that determines not only what you believe, but a faith that determines everything that you do. For this is Hannah, a faith that is not swayed. She is not changed by the corruption both inside and outside the “church.” To her the greatness of God is real and her praise is real: God is a Rock, full of knowledge; He makes dead and He makes alive; and He brings low, He exalts, Yahweh gives strength. Hannah’s faith is an acting faith. Secondly:
- Hannah’s Faith is Steadfast
It is a strong and steadfast faith, for the church she is attending is not all that good. Yet it does not shift her eyes from God.
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
- Cor 15:58 (LSB)
So, imagine being Hannah and bringing little Samuel to Eli. Her faith seems to look beyond the things that might cause many to doubt or be discouraged, as she seems to have such a big view of God and what He will do. This is a great character quality of a Mom. Now before we move on to our final character, the man of God, I believe we could look at these examples and compare them to our own faith without going beyond the text. So, when I consider the faith of the two sons, I would describe it as:
- A False Faith
This may be those who go to church or may go to work tomorrow as a “Christian,” yet they know inside that this is not truly who they are, for they know that there is a greater desire for sin and the things of the world than there is for God. Many church folks and ministry workers are not true believers, they do not possess a real faith, and many have even worked hard in ministry. And maybe you need to ask yourself, is this my faith? A false or we could say a hypocritical faith, that only pretends to be something on the outside than what is truly on the inside. Or the faith of Eli:
- A Weak Faith
So, we need to ask the hard question here regarding Eli, is this you? Someone who claims to be a Christian, yet your faith is so weak, and is more concerned with self and your own fears than having a boldness for Christ. And this may be a weak faith that others are not aware of, they think you are strong. Although your spouse may know or your children may know you have a weak faith. And it is the reason why you may struggle digging deeper in your faith. Too much fear and too much focus on self. And knowing too that a weak faith will only take you so far and often will end up with regrets that you did not take that step that you knew the Lord was leading you toward. Next, is the faith of Samuel. And I believe that we can learn from Samuel as a small child who we are going to be impressed with in the coming weeks. Sometimes we use the term that of a “child-like” faith, but I want to make a point here and call this:
- A Childish Faith
And not to take away anything from Samuel here for he will grow in his faith, but to make the point that learning as a child the things of God, growing up in church and your whole life is surrounded by ministry does not make you a Christian. So, you need to ask the question about your heart, has it been changed by God? Maybe you have been like Samuel, you have been in church since you were a kid, yet your heart needs to change as you need to come to the Lord and repent of your sin and receive Him as your Lord and Saviour. Finally, there is Hannah:
- A Genuine Faith
Is this you? Is this your faith that does not crumble in times of sadness and disappointment and during times of the spiritual failures of others? For when those who fall spiritually. Someone in the spotlight, someone known to us personally, or maybe someone even within this place who proves that their faith is false. Yet this does not move Hannah. We need those with the heart of Hannah, those who persevere, those who always believe that God is bigger, that God is greater. Finally, in (vs 27) we are introduced to this man of God, and notice that the man of God determines everything, as each character is doing their part, good and bad. Yet it is the man of God who has complete control and determines the outcome.
God
So, I would like to state this heading as God, God Himself, because the man of God in our passage is speaking for God. And we see the heart of God throughout this passage. For look what he says: (vs 29) He knows everything that is going on; in fact, God says this about Eli, that Eli honours his sons above God (no one else likely knew that); then (vs 30-34) God determines everything that will happen to Eli and his sons; and finally (vs 35), He promises a coming priest who God would raise up. So, in closing, this passage teaches us much about God, and from the words of Hannah, I want to leave you with two attributes that relate to this passage.
- The Transcendence of God
Paul Enns describes the transcendence of God this way:
“God is separated from man and above man … He is holy and man is sinful … He is infinite and man is finite. God is ‘wholly other’ than man.”
Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology 761
God is distant from us. He is completely different from us. Hannah says that there is no one holy like God (vs 2), there is none besides Yahweh. So, she speaks about His vast knowledge and strength. He does what He desires to do, (vs 6) God puts to death and he makes alive. It is God who does all this and He determines the outcome of everyone. King Nebuchadnezzar understood this, he said:
“But at the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes toward heaven, and my knowledge returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can strike against His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
Dan 4:34-35 (LSB)
It should not surprise us that God acts independently, for God has always existed and we have not. He doesn’t need to get approval from anyone. Billions, trillions, gazillions of years. I found out the there is no number called gazillion, it just represents a huge number. I did find out that the largest number now was googol (1 followed by 100 zeros), but now it is googol plex adds even more zeros. And get this (not joking) Graham’s number is a number too big to fathom. Well, God has existed longer than Graham’s number. God lived forever before we were ever created, God existed, and He did all that He determined to do in relation with Himself, the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. In other words, God was active, and relating to Himself in perfection and complete joy, and there was no beginning to this. And then there was a time when He decided to create a man and a woman, Adam and Eve. And though God breathed life into them, they were not God, nor will they ever be God. For our great God is transcendent, apart from us. He is “Wholly Other!” But then look at:
“Yahweh makes poor and rich; He brings low; He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust; He exalts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of glory; For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s, And He set the world on them. He keeps the feet of His holy ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness, For not by power shall a man prevail. Those who contend with Yahweh will be dismayed; Against them He will thunder in the heavens; Yahweh will render justice to the ends of the earth, And He will give strength to His king, And He will exalt the horn of His anointed.”
1 Sam 2:7-10 (LSB)
What does this transcendent God do? He involves Himself with us, as He chose to create and He chose to love a people. This is:
- The Immanence of God
Where God has chosen to presence Himself with man and His creation, and works and is active with us throughout history and in eternity. And because God can and does work through His creation, He therefore works with human beings. And not only does He work in the hearts of believers, God works in the hearts of unbelievers to accomplish His purposes, because believers and unbelievers alike are all part of His creation that he uses for His glory. And this should also give to us the proper perspective of creation as Christians, that we do not worship creation, for creation is something that has been made by God. We worship the Creator, not the creation. But it is a creation of God in all its beauty, that when we look outside, it is truly our Father’s world. So, to be always careful to enjoy God’s creation wisely and respectfully, for God made it all!
Just as we are to respect other human beings, for they have been made by God. Just as we count precious the life in the womb as it is part of the creation of God. And that we are free to enjoy the plants and animals for food and to rule over them, but we are never to be cruel or abusive toward them, for they are part of His handwork. That when we see the Red-Bellied Woodpecker that comes to our feeders, or the puppy that bounds across the floor, or the blazing red of the western sky as it beams against the coloured leaves at Rock Glen, or the crashing waves on Lake Huron or the peaceful calm, this gives us hints of the beauty and the greatness of God. And though there is the transcendence of God in that He is separate from us, He has chosen to make Himself known to us, and why even creation itself should remind us of His greatness, beauty and goodness. And so, we should not view the creation of God to be something insignificant, for it is something that God worked to create. There was effort on the part of God for our good and our pleasure, for which we should grant Him the highest praise.
And Hannah understands much of this about God. And we see in this passage a glimpse into the far future for Hannah and Samuel. For when God speaks (vs 35) about raising up for Himself a “faithful priest who will do according to what is in [God’s] heart and in [God’s] soul,” He is speaking beyond David to Christ, the One who would come and give His life for mankind, showing us the cost of God’s imminence as he delves into the problems of you and me. Some of you are aware that my sister Lynne is ill with cancer. And she wrote about the cost of God on our behalf and His willingness to come close to us. She wrote this two months ago:
“[S]ometimes when we ask God for things we barely consider the cost to Him. To us, at least to me, I have taken God for granted and thought only of what I want and not the cost to God. He can do anything. Wave His arm. Just say the Word. Easy … for someone who is omnipotent.
But the Bible … does not seem to present His incursion into our problems this way. Saying the Word in creation didn’t seem to cost God in the same way. He saw that it was good. But when dealing with us, our problems, they are always somehow associated with sin, and there is always a cost to Christ dealing with sin.
There is a grief, an offence, a repulsion of sin. We are told not to grieve the Holy Spirit yet so often we are consumed with our own needs, our own desires, troubles, situations and [we] don’t think that He is taking on our burdens, taking on our infirmities, even our sins. Who takes on burdens, infirmities, [and] sin without a cost? Our whole focus is our own relief, our own rescue, even our own growth or progression. For sure we are instructed to cast our cares upon Him. I’m just wondering if true worship is found when we consider and appreciate the sacrifice of the One who absorbs those cares.
I know as Christians, we are always reminded to look at the cross and consider the cost of our forgiveness. This is not a new thought. I have been fascinated by the verse that Christ actually became sin for us. What does that even mean? Can we begin to fathom the thought? (Ps 68:19) “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation.”
Let’s pray. Lord, we praise You this AM for Your transcendence, that You are the “Wholly Other,” apart from us, separate from us, for You are holy and we are not. Hannah knew this as she declares that there is no One else but You. But Lord, we also see Your heart this morning, as You have chosen to be with us and share our burdens at such a great cost, ultimately the cost of Your Son. So, as we consider all these things, may we consider the hearts of the two boys and the heart of Eli. And the futility of sin and the futility of our own desires, and we see the heart of Hannah for her God, and we see the heart of God for His people. Might these truths penetrate so deeply in our hearts that it changes who we are. And all God’s people said, amen.