So as I said, this is lesson 19, the United Kingdom of Israel, part one, I'm gonna actually attack this subject in two lectures. This lecture, lesson 19, is on Samuel and Saul. So this lecture is really a transition from the period of the judges, in which Israel was, as you probably remember, well, very just disjointed and sinful. They're plagued by moral relativism.
Everyone's doing what was right in their own eyes, and it was an absolute moral political, social disaster. It was utter chaos, corrupt priesthood, corrupt laity, corrupt Nazarets, like with Samson, if you remember. So it was a total disaster. So you have the period of the judges, and now we're transitioning into this United Kingdom through the character or the person of Samuel.
Samuel is gonna be the hinge between the period of the judges, Israel and the Promised Land, and now Israel under a United Kingdom. And the period of the United Kingdom really provides the most religious, political, cultural stability for the people of Israel ever. It's really truly the high point in the history of God's people under the old covenant, and the golden years are really under David and Solomon. You kind of have to look at both of them.
You've got the covenant with David, which we'll talk about in the next lecture, and what Solomon does with the temple and building the temple for God's glory. It's just really truly the golden years for the people of Israel. After Solomon, you have the divided kingdom, this long period where it really just spirals out of control all the way to the period of the exile under Assyria and Babylon. We'll talk about that if you lecture down the line.
But for right now, we want to see this transition from judges to the United Kingdom via Samuel and Saul. So let's begin with chapter one. First Samuel, chapter one opens up with a story of the birth of Samuel. His Samuel's mother is barren, so there's a lot of echoes here of the great matriarchs, like Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel.
She and her husband are righteous. Her husband, Elkhana, is actually a Levite. And every single year they go to offer sacrifices in the tabernacle. And one of the years that she goes to offer sacrifices, she really pours out her heart to God, asking God to give her a son to open her womb, be faithful to his covenant, because she is faithful to him.
And there's a beautiful line here. Her prayer is so heartfelt. Chapter one verse 11 says, she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me, and not forget your maidservant, but we'll give to your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, in no razor, shall touch his head. So this is like a powerful vow here, saying, I'm gonna consecrate my son to you.
If you remember me, and that word is Zakar, we've talked about this many times, it's an important word in the old covenant. God remembers his people. So this is to be faithful to the covenant that God has with his people. So as a couple of references here in your notes, in Genesis chapter eight verse one, God remembered Noah, he was faithful to Noah, and delivered him.
He, in Exodus chapter two verse 24, he remembers Israel. He delivers Israel out of bondage to Egypt. So this word Zakar to remember to be faithful to the covenant God is saying, sorry, Hannah is saying to God be faithful, have mercy on me. And if you give me a son to your maidservant, I will consecrate him to you as a Nazarite.
And that's what it means, no razor shall touch his head. You probably remember from our stories of Samson. Samson was also a Nazarite consecrated from birth, but you'll also remember that Samson's life was pretty much a disgrace. He broke all of his vows, all three of the Nazarite vows, over and over again, really, until ultimately he was captured and he repented captivity.
So thanks be to God, there's hope for all of us. He repents in captivity, and he's able to destroy his enemies. Well, Samuel here is an awesome Nazarite. He's an awesome man.
He is probably the best judge. He's the last judge of Israel. He's probably the best judge that we have. And he's consecrated from his mother's womb, through this vow that she takes right here in chapter one verse 11.
Now, while she's praying here in the tabernacle, Eli is the current priest and judge. And he sees her praying, but he thinks that she's drunk. He rationally judges her external appearances because she's praying from her heart. And she's not speaking any words, but her lips are moving.
And so she's incredibly focused on this heartfelt prayer. And he judges her and he says in verse 14, how long will you be drunk and put away your wine from you? So he rationally judges her not knowing what's in her heart. And this is actually a very important theme.
We'll come back to this later on. This contrast between judging the exterior appearances versus judging the internal disposition of the heart. That will really take place towards the end of this lecture as we look at the contrast between Saul and David. So she explains to him, no, I'm not drunk in.
I am not a bass woman. For long I've been speaking about my great anxiety and vexation to the Lord. And Eli's like, oh, oh, my bad. Go in peace, may the Lord answer your prayer.
So to his credit, he does bless her and send her on her way. And she's feeling much better about this. She goes home and she, thanks be to God, you can see it's a son and names him Samuel. Samuel's name means his name is God or one from God.
I like that second interpretation, one from God, because it conveys this sense of a gift. This one is a gift from God. This one comes from God. And that's beautiful because that's what Hannah prayed for.
Give me a gift, give me a son, and then I will consecrate him. And so after three years of nursing the boy, she decides that time is up. It's time to take him back to the tabernacle and consecrate him, give him to the service of the Lord. Samuel's a right old age of three.
He's just a little boy, he's just a little toddler who's going to win essentially Eli, the current priest at the time adopts him, because kinds of becomes his ward, his adopted son, and Samuel's going to grow up underneath him. It's actually really interesting. It's like boarding school, like to the max degree, right? You're sending your kid at three years old to go live permanently at the temple.
Well, you can't conclude here that Hannah doesn't forget about him because every single year she goes back with her husband and her family to go and see Samuel. It's really, really beautiful. She always brings him a new wardrobe. In chapter 18 here, verse 18, I should say, she's always bringing him a little effort and an effort is a priestly garment.
So you can imagine him as he grows up every year. She brings him some new fresh priestly vestments and gets to see him every single year. So like I said, it's the boarding school, like to max degree. Well, God blesses Hannah and her husband with a birth of three more sons and two more daughters.
And it's a very happy family. And so we find Samuel here in the tabernacle beginning to grow up under Eli's tutelage. Now at this point in chapter two, Hannah sings a beautiful prayer, a song. You could even call it a magnificot, right?
In chapter two, verses one through 10, because after she consecrates her hands over her chaudler, her son Samuel to the service of the Lord, she sings this beautiful prayer of praise, of gratitude. And I don't have any time to go through it right now. There's a couple of connections I have here in your notes with you, but it is very, very similar to Mary's magnificot in Luke chapter one. Mary undoubtedly knew the scriptures inside and out.
And so Hannah is a type of Mary, just as Samuel is a type of Jesus. All right, so the parallels that you find here between Hannah's prayer, Hannah's magnificot, and Mary's magnificot. There are many, many of them I have, just three of them. She, they both of them call themselves the handmaiden of the Lord.
Both of them begin their song by talking about how their hearts exalt in the Lord. My soul magnific, magnifies the Lord. My heart exalts in the Lord. And they both have these themes of reversals, like God is merciful to the humble and raises them up.
And he exalts the poor, but he brings down the prideful and he takes everything away from the proud rich and these types of themes of reversals. There's a lot more there, just for example, it's not in your notes, but it came to mind here. Now Hannah's name means grace, right? It's a beautiful, I just love it name Hannah, Hannah means grace.
And Mary is called by the angel Gabriel, you who are perfected in grace, Kairak Kartomana, you who are perfected in grace, because she is a fulfillment of Hannah, right? So there's a lot more where that came from, but it's beautiful. I encourage you to read Hannah's prayer and Mary's magnificat side by side. All right, awesome.
This explains the whole birth of Samuel and Hannah's prayer in her intercession that she has with God. Now, so exit stage left, Hannah. And what we find next here in the drama in the story is the fall of Eli's house, the gradual decline in destruction of the house of Eli and the rise of Samuel. Samuel's going to be the new righteous judge.