1. Hannah’s Prayer and Answer, Chapter 1 -  today.

   2. Hannah’s Prophetic Prayer; Samuel in the Temple, Chapter 2.

B. Call of Samuel, Chapter 3.

C. Last Judge and First Prophet (Prophetic Office), Chapters 4–8.

  1. Ark Captured by Philistines; Word of God to Samuel Fulfilled; Eli Dies and His Sons Slain, Ch. 4.

  2. God Judged Philistines because of Ark; Ark Returned to Beth-shemesh, Chapters 5–6.

  3. Samuel Leads in Revival (Put away Idols and Turn to Jehovah); Victory at Eben-ezer, Chapter 7.

 4. Israel Rejects God and Demands a King; Samuel Warns Nation but Promises a King, Chapter 8.

Eli’s sons are evil and unfit for the priest’s office. An unnamed prophet warns Eli that his line will be cut off as high priest and God will raise up a faithful priest.

A "horn" speaks of strength, something to hold on to. 

Hannah said, her strength was in the Lord.

She rejoiced over the fact that God has given her a son. 

She was victorious over those who ridiculed her for being barren, and she was rejoicing in her salvation. There had been a present deliverance. 

Salvation comes in three tenses. 

(1) We have been saved. 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). 

That means that God has delivered us from the guilt of sin by the death of Christ. 

That is justification, and it is past tense. 

(2)  We are being saved. 

God has also delivered us from what the old theologians called "the pollution of sin," which is present deliverance. It is a deliverance from the weaknesses of the flesh, the sins of the flesh, the faults of the mind, and the actions of the will. 

This is present deliverance Hannah is talking about. 

It is sanctification and is in the present tense. 

(3) We shall be saved. 

Finally there is the deliverance from death in the future - not physical, but spiritual death.

"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). 

This is a future deliverance. 

That will be glorification, which is future tense. 

We have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. 

Hannah rejoiced in her salvation.

Remember that Jonah said,

"Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9). 

The psalmist repeats again and again that salvation is of the Lord. The great truth of salvation is that it is by the grace of God. That is, we have been justified freely by His grace. 

The word freely means "without a cause." 

God found nothing in us to merit salvation. 

He found the explanation in Himself - He loves us.

The whole thought in this passage is that God gives life.

As Job said,

"… the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). 

Only God has the power to give life, and only He has the right to take it away. 

God will take the blame for the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5. 

He does not apologize for the fact that He intends to judge the wicked. 

They will go down into death and be separated from God. 

God does not apologize for what He does.

This is His universe; we are His creatures; 

He is running the universe His way.

As long as you are in God’s universe, we are going to have to do things His way.

It is a wonderful thing that we can bow to Him and come under His blessing when we do things His way.

1 Samuel 2:11   "And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest."

It sounds as though Samuel was being left in a place of protection and shelter. 

The tabernacle should have been a place like that, but unfortunately it was not.

1 Samuel 2:12   "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD."

Eli’s boys were "sons of Belial," meaning sons of the devil. 

They were not saved. 

Here they were, sons of the high priest, serving in the tabernacle and they were unsaved.

The were sons of the devil.

This poor little child Samuel was in a very dangerous place.

1 Samuel 2:13-16    "And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, 

I will take it by force."

1 Samuel 2:17   "Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD."

1 Samuel 2:18-19   "But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice."

While Samuel was growing up under the influence of Eli’s dishonest sons, his mother did not forget him. Hannah loved her little boy. She had promised to give him to the Lord, and she had kept her word. Every year she made a coat for him and brought it to him. 

There is nothing quite as tender and loving as this type of thing. 

O how my own heart goes out to dear Hannah as we see her here.

1 Samuel 2:20-21   "And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home. And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the LORD."

1 Samuel 2:22   "Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation."

Eli sadly was an indulgent father who shut his eyes to the sins of his sons. 

Notice their awful, gross immorality 

"  ..  and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation."

1 Samuel 2:23   " And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people."

The actions of Eli’s sons were an open scandal in Israel, and all Eli did was give his boys a gentle slap on the wrist!

1 Samuel 2:24    "Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress."

The people were doing what the priests were doing. 

Eli’s sons were leading the Israelites into sin. 

And instead of taking positive steps to correct the situation, Eli gently rebuked them. 

1 Samuel 2:25-26   "If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD would slay them. And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the LORD, and also with men."

Even in this bad environment, Samuel grew in favor with God and man. He was dedicated to God and he was backed by his mother’s prayers. 

God was going to use him.

1 Samuel 2:27-29    "And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house? And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?"

God sent a prophet to Eli who told him that God was through with him as the high priest. No longer would God move through the priest. Instead, God would raise up a priest-prophet. It was going to be Samuel. 

He would minister for the Lord, and his office would be that of a prophet.

1 Samuel 2:30   "Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before Me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from Me; for them that honour Me I will honour, and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed."

Let us be very careful in our lives to honor God.

Psalm 107:1–2 says, "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy." 

Dear reader has the Lord redeemed you from your enemy then get up and say so at every opportunity He graciously affords you.

The redeemed of the Lord need to say so today.

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed thro' His infinite mercy,
His child, and forever, I am.

Refrain:
Redeemed, redeemed,
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed, redeemed,
His child, and forever, I am.

Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His Presence
With me doth continually dwell.

I think of my blessed Redeemer,
I think of Him all the day long;
I sing, for I cannot be silent;
His love is the theme of my song.

I know I shall see in His beauty
The King in whose law I delight;
Who lovingly guardeth my footsteps,
And giveth me songs in the night.

Words by: Beloved Fanny Crosby. Thank You Lord Jesus for her life and her gift.

Amen!

1 Samuel 2:31-34  "Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou shalt see an enemy in My habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them."

All of the prophecies mentioned in these verses came to pass. 

As we move through the Word of God, we see all these things happen.

1 Samuel 2:35-36   "And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever. And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread."

Amen!