FEMININE FEATURES IN 1 SAMUEL (1)
[p. 241] FEMININE FEATURES IN 1 SAMUEL (1)
JT I have been thinking of 1 Samuel and the feminine teaching there, of sisters or women mentioned in that book, beginning with Hannah. It is thought that by the Lord’s help this book will, in five readings, yield much to us in the sense of the assembly in character coming into view. This matter is what is in mind principally, not the abstract view of the assembly but the practical view. This will require that we look at the sections which speak of women, principally chapters 1 and 25, the latter treating of Abigail. The thought that will open up, I believe, will be that Abigail particularly is a product of the ministry current at that time; she appears as corresponding with David. The ministry is intended to develop correspondence with Christ in the saints, and this chapter will help us as to what is basic in relation to all this, and experience in suffering, peculiar suffering on Hannah’s part. She answers the priest as we notice in verse 16: “Out of the abundance of my grief and provocation have I spoken hitherto”, a remarkable presentation of experience!
JWD Do you think there seems a suggestion of what you may call a spirit of inflation in this man? The official side as suggested in Elkanah seems to be marked by inflation. I was wondering whether the objective side was weak and poor.
JT The male side is certainly that. Elkanah, whilst he has a place in the Chronicles as being the father of Samuel, certainly has a good opinion of himself, and what he says of himself could not meet the exercises of Hannah.
Rem You mean in what he said about being better than ten sons (verse 8)? He had a big opinion of himself, had [p. 242] he not?
JT Yes, according to the facts mentioned, he maintained a religious character. We are told, “And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Jehovah of hosts in Shiloh” (verse 3). Then we are told about the two sons of Eli being there; it is a sad picture that is immediately given, these bad men there in the house of God. And then the other wife, Peninnah, evidently a very provocative woman — unreasonably so, as is usually the case where Satan is acting — she provoked Hannah. It is a remarkable word used of her — “her adversary” (verse 6), she was characteristically an adversary of such a worthy person. Why should she be that? It is unreasonable. It is said, “Her adversary provoked her much also, to make her fret” (verse 6). Hannah was under the discipline of God; it is discipline, because it is a question of spiritual education; but her adversary evidently knew that, which made it all the more serious for Peninnah, that she should be characteristically an adversary; she carried it out by provoking, and brought about the tears. Hannah “wept and did not eat”, it says. Her husband, who may be regarded as a brother that would speak platitudes, did not touch the real issue, especially in bringing himself forward — a very nauseous sort of thing. It was as far from relief as it could be, telling her he was better to her than ten sons! She would be a better judge of that than he.
Rem I see the meaning of this word ‘adversary’ is well given in the footnote to Psalm 8: 2: ‘the’adversary’of Christ, or’oppressor’of the remnant, from within’.
JT That is important. There are two words in that psalm, the inward enemy and the outward. Peninnah represents the inward; she is very near to us in daily life. She was not just like Rachel and Leah, they were natural sisters; these are not natural [p. 243] sisters, so that the provocation is all the keener. I suppose it may point to the Jewish remnant in the future, but we find experiences of this kind constantly in those who are in the fellowship and near us, and it may be in our houses, too, for “A man’s enemies are the men of his own household”, Micah 7: 6. It is a making process for us, and it certainly was for Hannah, because she not only reaches her goal — I mean she got a son — but she contributes to the house of God as in chapter 2.
GAT Is it your thought that this spirit may be found amongst us today?
JT It is to be found amongst the brethren all along, throughout the history of the assembly, I was thinking of what Paul experienced in Corinth from the men there who perhaps got light through him: “Because his letters, he says, are weighty and strong, but his presence in the body weak, and his speech naught”, 2 Corinthians 10: 10; that is the sort of thing.
Ques I was wondering whether this Elkanah was something like the brethren at Corinth, divided in affections.
JT No matter what subject you touch on, Corinth will help you as to fact. The apostle suffered keenly from those who were there. They were the fruits of his own labours but yet his enemies.
Rem They were much taken up by what was outward, but very little on the inward side.
JT Quite so.
EGMcA Did you suggest that Elkanah would represent the natural, and Peninnah the adversary, as against what is spiritual, to interfere with God’s thought in bringing in the son? I mean interfering with the spiritual element in the meeting producing what answers to this.
JT That is how it stands. Elkanah evidently loved Hannah, but was beside the mark in what he had to say and in his whole outlook. Any anxiety [p. 244] she had would be just an incident in his mind, and he would think to make it up to her by what he was. That is a poor thing. He could not modify her sorrows, but he thought he could. It is like brothers or sisters saying, Well, let us have love one for another. That is just a matter of platitudes, instead of reaching the root of the thing and seeing what is causing these tears.
Rem But in the midst of all this Hannah is true to her name, which means ‘grace’.
JT There would be no unseemly circumstances between herself and Peninnah; she would suffer.
GAT Would you say that Hannah did not think Elkanah was better to her than ten sons?
JT She did not. If he was seeking for compliments, he did not get any!
JWD Why do you think she was under the government of God? Was it for the end that was to be produced spiritually?
JT I would think so; it is the way God reaches His ends. Why should this be? It is a very extraordinary situation. This other wife is so unreasonable; she has all the advantage in that she has a family. Why should she be so unreasonable? Why should she be characteristically an adversary? It seems it does not happen without God. If we take the general situation of the world today, it is no accident, it has not happened without God. That is the way to get at it — what God is aiming at in it. He is aiming at something in this woman that is going to make her a leading sister. This is how God reaches His end with us, and how we reach His end too. She came to very much more, I would say, than she had expected; God did far exceedingly above all that she asked or thought, because, as we are told in the next chapter, Hannah prayed, but there is not a word said here about prayer. She is greater than she thought she was; God made her [p. 245] that.
SMcC Do you not think that in our meetings and the position generally, the element that Elkanah suggests, which would sap the strength of the position, is not so easily discerned as the provocative side in Peninnah? The self-complacency of an Elkanah that goes on in routine fashion to the meetings and the like is not so readily discerned as the Peninnah side.
JT This seemed to be just a passing incident, but Elkanah would bring himself forward, which is a poor thing. A brother might say, Well, we are getting along pretty well here, and why not fall in with what is going on? He is missing the real position; there is something wrong and he is not discerning it.
JH Do we trace this abundance of grief and provocation to what she received at the hands of Peninnah, or as connected with the saints and feeling the state of the priesthood?
JT I think it is part of the general position, because Hannah and Peninnah are mentioned in verse 3. That is an element of the position from which she is suffering, but Eli’s contact with her is another element which she had to deal with. She is suffering from the whole position, but particularly from this person who is called “her adversary”. She is the one the enemy is using.
JH It is clear she has in mind gain for the house of God.
JT That is the point to get at. She has Samuel in mind, and then she herself is a producer for the house of God in chapter 2, as we shall see. This is a basic chapter in regard of God’s ways in those whom He would use; we all need to go through similar experiences. The enemy finds those he can use to attack at close quarters.
CCT In order to be contributors to the assembly, do we have to pass through this experience of weeping and not eating?
[p. 246] JT It is to bring us into correspondence with Christ; that is the aim of all discipline. So that the assembly in Revelation is said to be the Lamb’s wife; that is the moral side; she is in correspondence with the Lord in suffering. She has the bride’s place, but she has been in the wifely condition of suffering through all the centuries.
SMcC “Now these are the generations of Pherez”, Ruth 4: 18. Do you think Hannah is morally of that generation, on the line of breaking through?
JT She goes through, quite so, like Pherez; that is what his name signifies, the power to go through things; like the three mighty men of David who broke through the camp of the Philistines and got what was needed for David. It is a question of laying ourselves out for going through. Hannah carries this out, but in the spirit of grace, for that is what her name means. “The supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ”, it is a Philippian requirement (chapter 1: 19).
Ques Would you say this is the Spirit of the Lord coming out in her?
JT That is right. It is the Spirit of Christ in a feminine sense. It is remarkable how much you get of that here and in Luke; it is a similar state of things in Luke.
Rem Would “the mind of the Spirit” be brought before us here? I was thinking of Romans 8: 27: “But he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit”. Would that be seen in Hannah?
JT Quite so, she is a vessel of the Spirit; that is what she is. She knows the position exactly, and the word ‘prayer’ covers the chapter — a person knowing how to pray without speaking; “her lips moved”, the body principle is brought into it. The Lord is the Saviour of the body, which means the physical body. She was not praying in her heart like Abraham’s servant, but “her lips moved”. That is,
[p. 247] the physical body is available to the position so that there was testimony to her prayer, but it was mistaken by the priest. She was a real priest and he thought she was drunken. He should have been able to discern a real priest, but he thought she was drunken, as also the mockers did at Jerusalem. It is the same sort of thing.
Rem Then she clothes the boy with the proper name, Samuel.
JT Quite so. Prayer is the point; her prayer is really in the first chapter, but the second is her song: “And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exulteth in Jehovah”, chapter 2: 1. It is hardly prayer, but praise. The first chapter is the praying chapter really, and moral glory was in the prayer. Her lips moved; the body was brought into it and observed by a priest, but he did not understand it; he could not tell the lips of a priest. The lips of the priest are spoken of as keeping knowledge; he did not have the knowledge. Still, he could be adjusted, and God honoured him too in a way.
SMcC It is not altogether the hidden side in Hannah, your allusion to the lips is important; that would mean outward expression.
JT That might be connected with Luke 8: the woman who touched the Lord’s garment had nothing to say; she did not tell the Lord, she touched the Lord’s garment and virtue went out from Him to her, but she did not acknowledge it. She ought to have fallen down and given thanks to God; that is what Luke brings out, the result of the work is to bring about priestly conditions. But she did not come forward; she did not answer fully to that. But then the Lord Jesus asks, “Who has touched me?” and she told Him all the truth, and He called her ‘daughter’, giving her a place in the family. Luke 8 suggests the idea of virtue, the virtue that went out of Him; I think the idea of virtue is how the body is formed.
[p. 248] Here it is a priestly matter; the priestly idea runs through; she is the real priest in this chapter, and her body is brought into it, as Malachi says, “For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge”, Malachi 2: 7. Her lips were employed and the professing priest did not understand; he did not discern a real priest, neither did her husband.
JS Does it indicate that our prayers should rise out of the circumstances through which we are practically passing?
JT If you were to visit all the prayer meetings throughout the world you would find we are praying about the same thing. The pressure upon us is producing the prayer, and that is Hannah’s case. “Think the same thing” — that is unity. That does not show on our lips, but what she was thinking of was shown on her lips; the priestly state was there in her body.
JWD You are not speaking now of utterance. How are you looking at the lips?
JT It is the body brought into it.
JWD What is discernible in me, in my actual movements in relation to the testimony?
JT That is the important thing; to discern one another according to our priestly qualities.
JWD Not what we say.
JT No; it is not in what we say, but still the body is brought into it. We can only discern each other in looking at each other and seeing what is there. Paul looked at the man in Lystra and saw that he had faith; that is discerning what is there. It is an important thing to know the brethren, and to discern the priestly qualities that are there.
Ques “Pouring out her soul before Jehovah” (verse 15), was that an outward expression?
JT That is what she says, “And Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk; (now Eli the priest sat upon the seat by the doorpost of the temple of Jehovah;)” (verse 9). This is another side-light of the general position. There never was supposed to be a seat in the tabernacle; no seat is mentioned as it was to be built, but he had one, and beds were there too, in his day, showing the general position. And then it says in verse 10, “and she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Jehovah, and wept much”. What a sight this must have been for Jehovah! But what is the priest’s judgment, Eli’s judgment? It says in verses 11 to 16, “And she vowed a vow, and said, O Jehovah of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid, but wilt give unto thy handmaid a man child, then I will give him to Jehovah all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. And it came to pass as she continued praying before Jehovah, that Eli marked her mouth. Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved”, very beautiful, I think, because God is giving an outward testimony to what is going on inwardly. “But her voice was not heard; and Eli thought she was drunken. And Eli said to her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before Jehovah. Take not thy handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the abundance of my grief and provocation have I spoken hitherto”. Well, that is beautiful. It is the expression of the body, what our bodies are to be. The full expression requires the voice, the throat, and the lungs; but it is the heart here — that is, the inward state of things, and the lips expressing that her body is in the thing. That brings out what we are, because how can we tell what each one is except through what comes out in our bodies? The Lord is the Saviour of the body [p. 250] because it is so essential; the bodies of the saints are essential to the expression of Christ.
Ques Would you say that is part of the fellowship?
JT It is the outward position we are in; we are brought into the fellowship, and it means we are bound up together, partners one of another. In Luke 4 Peter’s wife’s mother is brought before us, and she had a fever; the Lord rebuked the fever and she rose up and served them. That is the expression of the thing, what she did; and then the fellowship comes in in the next chapter. There are two words mentioned, showing what goes on outwardly, how we know one another.
Rem In her prayer to Jehovah does Hannah really commit her whole exercise to God? She prays for a man child. She does not pray that her enemies might be disposed of, but that God would come in and clear up the situation.
JT There will be plenty of displacement in the book; it is full of it. But she is not looking for displacement, she is looking for a positive new thing — a child asked of Jehovah. It is not to displace Peninnah’s children, but to bring in what will be useful in the house of God, so that Samuel prevails until “all Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, knew that he was established a prophet of Jehovah”, 1 Samuel 3: 20.
Rem She was not just satisfied with praying to God in regard to the matter, but the exercise went to the extent of her committing her son to God as the One by whom the situation might be changed. Sometimes we go a certain distance in expressing fellowship, but how much committal do we have after that to see that the thing is carried out?
JT Yes; she loans her son. She does not say ‘give’, meaning she would have a lien on him. She has a lien on her son, and God admits that fully;
[p. 251] she brings up a little coat every year. But Samuel prevails; that is “the fulness of him who fills all in all”, Ephesians 1: 23. That is the one idea in the book.
Rem Her responsibility does not cease; she continues to carry her responsibility.
JT She came up every year to him with a little coat.
Rem Why does Hannah speak of a “man child” (verse 11)? Why not a son?
JT She is stressing the word ‘man’. The most remarkable allusion to that is in Revelation 12: 5 where the Lord Jesus is said to be a “male son”. Why should the word ‘male’ be used? It is to stress the male side, but it is sonship in Revelation; Hannah does not go so far as this.
JWD She says “no razor” (verse 11); she must have had a very strong secret link with the place a nazarite would have in that position.
JT “No razor” would follow out the male side; the removal of the beard and the cutting off of the hair is stressing the male side.
Rem Do you think she had the whole exercise in mind in speaking of “Jehovah of hosts” in her prayer?
JT She had big thoughts, “Jehovah of hosts” is a big thought about God; and the offering she brings up when she brought her son follows that up. It says, “And she took him up with her when she had weaned him, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a flask of wine, and brought him to the house of Jehovah to Shiloh” (verse 24). She had big thoughts, three bullocks. She would be noticeable by whoever looked after the bullocks and cared for her; it would be a big matter. Where is she going? She has the infant, but he is weaned; the link is gone between him and her in this special sense. But she is going to maintain her link with him in the house of God, and in order to do that she brings big things [p. 252] with her, stimulating things, which would make an impression there. So Phoebe too made an impression in the house of God; Paul uses a word in regard of her that indicates she was a patron. She was not an ordinary person helping the saints; she did it in a big way for she evidently brought the letter to Rome. I like that — a sister making an impression in the house of God — three bullocks, an ephah of flour and a bottle of wine! And the little babe was there; he was not morally a babe; he was weaned, “a weaned child with its mother”, it says in Psalm 131: 2; Samuel is just that; that is what she brought to the house of God.
Rem She lent him to the Lord; as you say, she had a lien on him, she says, “No razor”, and the child is weaned, and she brings three bullocks. Does she look on to the completion of her exercises in bringing in this mighty man, Samuel? She sees the end of things.
JT That is it. A babe will never do in the house of God, amongst the saints, but it is the end she has in mind; she is viewing the thing abstractly, what it is going to be, and that is what the Lord sees. He sees us as we are according to His own formation in us; He sees the end from the beginning.
Rem God brings us through exercises, and if the result is not something for the house of God the exercise is of no avail.
JT No; you want to carry out the vow, “When thou vowest a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shalt not delay to perform it”, Deuteronomy 23: 21. She made a vow and she is going to carry it through in a big way. It is to fully materialise and it did, for Samuel filled the whole scene.
Rem The start must be by a vow, as we have an impression.
JT Our great forefather Jacob began with a vow at Bethel; he would give God a tenth of all he had.
[p. 253] Rem There already were children of Peninnah and the sons of Eli, but the exercise with Hannah seems to be that there should be one of quality.
JT That is it. Chronicles does speak about the sons of Peninnah, but Samuel is the outstanding son of Elkanah; the sons of Peninnah and Eli are not much. These are the basic thoughts negatively; Samuel is going to fill the scene.
JF Would it be first the natural and then the spiritual?
JT That is what comes out in this book.
Rem In the early part of this meeting you connected Hannah’s prayer with the meeting for prayer all over the world — that we pray for the same things; and I wondered if these things that Hannah brings up would show she would have the end in view positively in her soul? The bottle of wine would have some indication of joy for God in it.
JT Yes, indeed. It is a stimulating thing in the way of producing joy. One bullock is a large thought, but three is full testimony to largeness, and the ephah of flour is perfect humility in that largeness. Elkanah did not have the flour. He applies the idea of ten to himself (verse 8). The ephah is one idea, it is humility according to God. That enters into the whole position.
Ques Would it go as far as Ephesians 3: 21: “To him be glory”?
JT Quite so; “until we all arrive ... at the full-grown man”, Ephesians 4: 13. Hannah had that in mind; this little boy must not remain a little boy, she makes a bigger coat every year. There is no evidence that she went up to measure him before she made it; the man was in her mind, and the ephah of flour would mean that; it is humility of that kind.
SMcC In verse 22 she says to her husband, “I will wait until the child is weaned; then will I bring him, that he may appear before Jehovah”. It is a [p. 254] very exalted thought that she has in her mind at the beginning; not ‘that I may present him’, but ‘that he may appear’ — one of the great thoughts in the Old Testament.
JT Quite so; it is a question of what he is going to be; I think she had big thoughts. For the moment they are largely potential, and the little coat every year would indicate how the potential idea was materialising.
SMcC Do you not think in practical difficulties in our localities one of the great things is this matter of having big thoughts and recognising what is potential, and then moving in relation to it and in relation to God?
JT Looking for potentiality becoming actuality — that is what is meant. You can see how her mind would be trained to the idea of increasing largeness in the boy, and the Spirit of God pays great attention to that. He grew and ultimately he filled the land: “the fulness of him who fills all in all”, Ephesians 1: 23.
Rem This kind of thing would give great stimulus in a locality, the great thoughts that filled her mind and heart; and so she was spiritually in advance of her day.
JT She is the leader in the book; she is leading here spiritually. No doubt myriads of God’s people from that time to now have gained through her in this principle of suffering and prayer and the great thoughts connected with them, and in looking for these thoughts to materialise; as Ephesians says, ministry is that we might “all arrive at the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, at the full-grown man” (chapter 4: 13). That enters into this book.
JWD She seems to be able to draw Elkanah into the thing to a certain extent, because these three bullocks and the ephah of flour and the wine could [p. 255] hardly have been brought in if he had been antagonistic. Do you not think spirituality of this kind would draw all into the current of the thing in the meeting?
JT That is how it works out. There are brothers who are old and they keep outward order with what brethren believe; the standard of brethren, they carry on; Eli represents that in a way, and Elkanah more so. He was a sort of man who worshipped at the usual time of the year, and the point now is whether you can carry such with you if God is going to move in the meeting, because these men are really not moving with God. They are content with present circumstances, as if they were all right, when they are all wrong. But God is coming in; that is the point, and He has a vessel. Her lips indicate she is a vessel; like the woman of Samaria, she left the water-pot. God has a vessel; He must have a vessel, and the vessel implies the body as well as the mind.
Rem So she is able to say, “For this boy I prayed; and Jehovah has granted me my petition which I asked of him” (verse 27). She is able to present the result of her exercises.
JT Jehovah is mentioned from her point of view, and the thing to see is that God is coming in in this son who is pleasing to Him, and that He has found a vessel in her that He can employ. She is a suffering vessel, she calls herself that, and she is the leader. She is leading in the position; she is bringing in a Samuel and a David. That is the way the book opens up, expansion in what is right, and what is not right is set aside, that is, what is going on with the routine side of things and not discerning the spiritual side at all. We may have our regular meetings and everything in order and not be exercised about the spiritual, or what is going to be for God at all perhaps. Neither Elkanah nor Eli had any thought about what God was going to do. Eli was seated by [p. 256] a doorpost of the temple; things are pretty good, he would tell you. He would tell you about the bright side; he would not tell you about Hophni and Phinehas, although it is to his credit that he rebukes them, but the result did not reach anywhere. It is to Samuel God opened up His mind; that is remarkable, that God has vessels He is using; and we shall see how these self-complacent persons are set aside for the real vessel whom God has discerned and has now in His hand.
Rem There is a time when she is not able to eat, and then there is a time when she does eat, and then there is a time when she is able to present something.
JT You can see she is a real person, her lips moved in prayer, her heart is affected and she has her offering.
Rem Would the three bullocks suggest the joy produced in Luke 15, really for the Godhead?
JT That is good; quite so. In one sense that is the greatest chapter in Scripture, because it is a question of God in grace; it is christianity; it is the Trinity in unity in grace. Everything is there: “Let us eat and make merry”, Luke 15: 23. And the reason is given for it.
Rem Would these three bullocks indicate that Hannah had in mind that God was going out beyond the confines of Israel, taking in the universal thought? It says in verse 10 of chapter 2: “Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth”.
JT It is a full thought in sacrifice. One bullock is a big thought, too; but she has three.
Rem I was thinking of that in Leviticus; one bullock was a great offering.
JT Yes.
SMcC What do you understand by what is said after that, “And they slaughtered the bullock” (verse [p. 257] 25)?
JT That is the idea; it is the bullock, not the bullocks. We have the plural thought which precedes the singular; the plural thought is the bullocks, but the article is the thing, the kind of thing, whether it be one or three. It is the kind of thing, I suppose all these things are for our minds; God works in our minds to make men out of us.
Rem I would like a little more on that. You say three implies the plural and one the thing? How does that apply practically?
JT One bullock is a big idea; three is the completion of that. Three is usually the full thought of a thing in testimony to what it is, but the thing itself is represented in one. You do not need to get a herd of bullocks. God brought a bullock before Adam to be named; He did not bring a herd; He brought one. He brought a woman before him. One represents the thing.
Ques Would the other two represent the support and continuance of the exercise?
JT I think the meaning would be the increase of the idea; the idea is abstract, and the increase of the idea is that the thing reaches out universally. How large her thoughts are! Here you get the concrete thing that she brings, and the bottle of wine is clearly the joy that cheers the heart of God and man. It is a figure of a thing that cheers God. We have to understand God to know what would cheer Him.
SMcC Would the three bullocks suggest more the objective side, the greatness of the idea of the bullock in her mind; but the ephah of flour and the flask of wine is the balance on the feeling side on her part?
JT Yes; and then the idea of the thing — the three different things. The bottle of wine would be as good as a barrel in what it suggests. She was thinking for God. The ephah of flour is the one Man, the one Man Jesus Christ, “For I have espoused you unto one man”, 2 Corinthians 11: 2. If you had a million ephahs it would be no different, it is the same idea; one expresses the thought.
JWD It would have the character of a peace offering according to Numbers, “And when thou offerest a bullock for a burnt-offering, or a sacrifice for the performance of a vow, or for a peace-offering to Jehovah” (chapter 15: 8), and then it specifies what it is.
JT That is just the chapter that covers what we are talking about.
JWD She had not only the burnt-offering in her mind but the expansive idea of the peace-offering.
JT The performance of the vow comes out here.
JWD The extension of that influence in a wholly spiritual way.
JT You feel you are in the presence of priestly grace now. Your mind is gradually drawn away from Elkanah and Peninnah and her family, and from Hophni and Phinehas and Eli, to this one great thought of what answers to God’s mind. God is coming into this thing now; He has pleasure in the scene.
Rem Does Paul in going through his experiences in the Roman epistle eventually rise to the greatness of God in His thoughts, and give glory to God in that connection?
JT Do you mean in chapter 11?
Rem Yes, verse 33: “O depth of riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable his judgments, and untraceable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? or who has first given to him, and it shall be rendered to him? For of him, and through him, and for him are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen”.
JT What an end to be reached! It is one of the great doxologies of the epistles. That is, you might [p. 259] say, the principal thought, and that is what comes in here. You have the basis for a doxology, and the second chapter is pretty much that sort of thing; we will come to that later. Romans is very rich, basically rich, so that we go on to Ephesians directly from it. You do not necessarily need Corinthians or Galatians if you are normal. It is from Romans to Ephesians.
SMcC The flask of wine is a very special thought in the book of Samuel. Hannah had it, the men going up to Bethel had it; David had it, and Abigail had it; whereas Saul never had it. He has a cruse of water.
Rem Would you say why all this takes place in Samaria? It is not Zion or Jerusalem.
JT It is on the way; it is a provisional setting. Divine ways are in view in the book, what David will do. You feel the position widening out to completion. Of course the Old Testament never brings in completion, but you have the thought of it here, “the fulness of him who fills all in all”. David touches on that in 1 Chronicles 29 where God is Head to him, where they made Solomon king a second time (verses 11, 22).
Rem Would you say that in the second chapter there is a scene where God completes the exercise, “Hannah ... bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before Jehovah” (chapter 2: 21)?
JT She has a family from God really — a great stimulus to us on the feminine side. You can see from the very outset how God uses that side. From that side you get expansion. So that to Adam the word was, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it”, Genesis 1: 28. There are great expansive thoughts, but subjugation as well.
Ques Would you say why God allowed such a person as this woman to go through such deep sorrow and [p. 260] exercise?
JT It is to bring us into accord with Christ. We are never much in the testimony until we go through sufferings, and God designs the sufferings for us; they would hardly be effective otherwise. You can see this whole matter was designed by God.
Ques Is it because I have been going on with something that is contrary to the mind of the Spirit before this?
JT Not necessarily; God takes one up. In Jeremiah 18 it says God made a vessel and it was spoiled, and then He makes one that pleased Him. That is what He is doing with Hannah; it does not seem that she was spoiled; there was no wickedness with her like Mary Magdalene; Hannah does not represent that.
Ques Did God have this thought in His mind when He says in John 9: 3, “Neither has this man sinned nor his parents”?
JT Quite so, and yet the man is blind. It is God operating from His own point of view to accomplish His ends. You cannot say there is anything wrong with Hannah. If Job’s three friends were there, they would say, Hannah, there is something wrong with you; but there is nothing of the kind. It is God taking up this vessel and fitting her for a certain purpose. The assembly is made like Christ in suffering, the Lamb’s wife.
Rem I think that is splendid, because the Scripture says in verse 5, “But Jehovah had shut up her womb. And her adversary provoked her much also, to make her fret, because Jehovah had shut up her womb”. That would show that God was not her adversary in shutting up her womb; it was for His own purpose.
JT It is remarkable how this same thing comes out in others such as Sarah and Rebecca. God touches us in the place where we feel things most.
[p. 261] Rem Does it not seem that Hannah had more faith than Sarah? Sarah did not believe, but Hannah had faith.
JT Clearly she had; the discrepancies are all outside of Hannah; there is nothing against her at all.
Rem Do we not see by verse 23 that there was some movement in Elkanah? He did not annul her vow according to Numbers.
JT No, he is a fairly good brother, but he is not the brother God can use; he is not able for the moment, but still he is brought into line. We do not want to lose anyone; he is clearly a man that can be adjusted, and even Eli — there is something about him too that is praiseworthy.
Rem Eli is greatly moved at the end of the chapter by what Hannah says when she brings her offering.
JT It would look as if he worshipped. I think it is very beautiful that she goes to the trouble of explaining to Eli the whole matter. She might have said, You ought to have known better, but she does not. She is a suitable sister. She says to him (she is a good deal like Sarah — she calls him, ‘lord’), “Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman, that stood by thee here to pray to Jehovah. For this boy I prayed; and Jehovah has granted me my petition which I asked of him. And also I have lent him to Jehovah, all the days that he lives, he is lent to Jehovah” (verses 26 - 28). She will never get him back, but then she is getting him back all the time. That is the idea of the great institution she is brought into. She will never lose part with Samuel; that is what we have in the community. Then it says, “And he worshipped Jehovah there”. That would mean she is helping the elder brethren Elkanah and Eli.
Rem. Is the ‘he’ [p. 262] Eli?
JT I think so; it is to bring out the power of a priest — the power of a sister with the brethren as she is with God; it is very beautiful. She is saying, Here is the boy; I am carrying out my vow, not only has my prayer been heard, but I am carrying out my vow.
Rem What is represented officially in Eli is seen in moral expression in Hannah.
JT Real priestly power.
Ques What was her thought in telling Eli that she was the one that stood beside him?
JT He ought to have known the whole matter, but she influences him, and he is capable of being influenced in the right direction, which is a great matter. So that we do not lose the brethren; the fact that they are not thoroughly in the thing we are going on with is no reason why they should be excluded from fellowship, unless there is something against them. She said, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit, but now here are the results. It shows what she accomplished in bringing about a worshipper.
Rem She speaks very definitely. It says, “And she brought the boy”. That is not lost sight of until we get to chapter 4.
JT There is the idea of growth. An infant is not a boy. Luke calls the children that were brought to Jesus infants, but Matthew calls them children; an infant is a child in the beginning of its history. The Lord takes them on according to Luke. But Hannah observed that Samuel had grown a bit; just like the Lord Jesus, the boy grew. Every mother is taken up with her infant, and when he begins to walk and talk he becomes more interesting.
Ques What is your thought about the weaning?
JT Weaning is disunion from the natural, but not necessarily from the mother, because we were remarking that Psalm 131 refers to a weaned child with its mother. We do not forsake the assembly.
[p. 263] We are brought up as infants, and nursed for a while, but when we are weaned we do not say we are independent of the brethren; we do not give up the brethren. Not even a Paul would be independent of the brethren.
Rem He “took courage” when he saw them.
JT Quite so.
Rem But he is able to stand by himself.
JT That is the idea; you are able to stand by yourself if necessary.
Rem While he stood by himself, he says in two or three places: “Pray for us”.
JT Quite so, there always was a brother with him when he wrote, “All the brethren”, he says to the Galatians; that is a great matter.
Rem The maternal thought should go through. Moses’ mother never lost contact with him even while he was in the court; and then when he was grown he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
JT The early influences are all there. The children come back to them if they are rightly brought up, however far they may go.
SMcC Do you think there is a suggestion in Romans 9 of displacement in Paul? He says, “I have great grief and uninterrupted pain in my heart” (verse 2), and he has in mind the greatness of God’s thoughts: “of whom, as according to flesh, is the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen” (verse 5). He had in mind the One coming in and filling the whole scene.
JT Very beautiful. He had uninterrupted pain in his heart; that was the secret of his going to Jerusalem, it was because he loved Israel that he went.
Ques What is on your mind that we should get out of this reading?
JT [p. 264] Oh, it is the suffering side, the praying side, the feminine side in all these matters, so that God has a vessel to carry on with, and the official class are displaced by what is better; not that they are proved guilty of anything, but there is something better. Samuel fills the scene. What we shall have this afternoon will be chapters 2 and 4, with the wife of one of these sons of Eli in chapter 4; and then later in chapter 9 the young women that met Saul and directed him to Samuel; and then the women who celebrated David in song; and we may touch, perhaps, on Merab and Michal; and then Abigail. That is the line, as the Lord directs, which we may follow. Abigail is, you might say, the full balance of Hannah.