I Shmuel 1: Back to Normal

If Judges was all about chaos, Samuel I is all about a return to normalcy. The book of Shmuel begins in the time period of Eli the Kohen Gadol who was also a judge. Eli was blind to the corrupt actions of his sons (sound familiar?). The era of judges was not over yet, but the pendulum is about to swing back. That pendulum manifests in a young woman named Chana. Every year, Chana and her husband and her sister-wife go up to the Mishkan tobring sacrifices. Chana is barren but is the favored wife (sound familiar?).Her husband tries to calm Chana by professing his love for her, but she really wants a child (sound familiar?). So, she goes to the Mishkan and prays with all her heart for a child. Eli sees here moving her lips and thinks she is a drunkard. She tells him that she was simply praying for a child and if she gets a child, she will give him over to God (sound familiar?) by bringing him to Mishkan to serve God. If this story sounds a little familiar, that is intentional. In the background, we have the story of Eli and his corrupt children. That is the Judges thread. In the middle, there is one piece of the story that overlaps- Chana’s promise to dedicate her unborn child to God. This dedication has hints of Samson as a Nazir, but also Yiftach’s promise to dedicate the first thing that comes through his door. Unlike Yiftach, Chana is much more careful with her words and dedicates her son to the service of God. This dedication also matches Avraham. But, again, Chana does not sacrifice her child. In foreground we have a story that is a throwback to Genesis. The story of Chana sounds very much like the stories of the foremothers- Sarah, Rivka, and Rachel. Barren women who want nothing more than to have a child. Chana’s story is very close to Rachel’s story of being the barren, yet most loved of multiple wives. Chana is not only connected to the foremothers. She is also connected to the forefathers. The Talmud in Brachot explains that theforefathers originated the idea of prayer. Abraham taught us shacharit, Yitzchak mincha, and Yaacov maariv.  Each one had a verse that could be interpreted as a time of prayer. The forefathers taught us when to pray. Chana, however, taught us how to pray. Chana is the paradigm of kavana during prayer. The Navi sets this story up to mimic Genesisto signal that the book of Samuel is a new beginning for the Israelites.