FEMININE FEATURES IN 1 SAMUEL (2)
[p. 265] FEMININE FEATURES IN 1 SAMUEL (2)
1 Samuel 2: 1 - 21; 1 Samuel 3: 19 - 21
JT The first ten verses of chapter 2 represent a point reached in the field of testimony. We have referred to the discipline through which Hannah passed, and the incoming of Samuel, but now we get the spiritual product, it is a contribution; these verses 1 to 10, are a contribution to the service of God, and they stand as a point reached to be observed henceforth. The Scriptures contemplate the products of exercise, which are usually introduced by the conjunction ‘and’ throughout Scripture, especially in the early books, so that this is entitled, “And Hannah prayed, and said”. It is a sort of heading such as we have in Acts 16: Paul and Silas “in praying were praising”, it says (verse 25). This is not a prayer really, or if it is, it is more in the attitude of her heart than in her words; it would be observed, I think, in all the history of the testimony that there are such products as this which stand out as landmarks. So that during our own times, extending back for over one hundred years, we have had products from exercises that were experienced by the people of God, such, for instance, as the house, the truth of God’s house is outstanding — the product of the Bethesda sorrow. We have had the outstanding truth of eternal life after another sorrow, another conflict. Then following on that we have had the truth attached to the local setting of the assembly and much ministry under that head, and other things, such as the sonship of the Lord Jesus.
Hannah’s contribution here corresponds, and we can see how outstanding it is and distinct from what she had been through, although it is the product of what she had been through in measure; but still it is a prophetic utterance. The great prophet had potentially already come in, but she is a prophetess [p. 266] herself, though this is the only contribution we have from her. The same applies to the Lord’s mother; she had a similar product of her exercises in Luke 1: 46 - 55. I think it will help us to keep this in mind in what is seen here, so that Hannah begins by saying, “My heart exulteth in Jehovah, my horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies; for I rejoice in thy salvation” (verse 1). It is clearly a poetic as well as a prophetic utterance or contribution, and it finishes with the word ‘Christ’ really, that is, the “anointed”; the end of verse 10 says, “Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed”. You can see clearly that Christ is in mind, the coming in of the Lord Jesus.
Ques Would you say it takes on the characteristics of a psalm?
JT It is more a celebration really, although it must be a psalm because she had the experience, “My heart”, she says — she is now speaking of herself, her own experience — “My heart exulteth in Jehovah, my horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies ...”.
Ques Would it be like Psalm 45: l, “I say what I have composed touching the king”?
JT That is the principle of it. The psalmists usually have experiences; they begin with that, but they go beyond their own experience. That is, the Holy Spirit carries us along far beyond anything that we have experienced, as we shall see in this inquiry, and in that particular psalm too. Psalm 45 is one of the maschil psalms; it is a teaching psalm; this is similar. So that we have, “There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God”. She is speaking to God; she has been speaking of Him, now she is speaking to Him, “For Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bow of [p. 267] the mighty is broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and the hungry are so no more, even the barren beareth seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up”. That is the resurrection of course, “Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich, he bringeth low, also he lifteth up, he raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy, to set him among nobles; and he maketh them inherit a throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are Jehovah’s, and he hath set the world upon them” (verses 3 - 8). So that whilst it is what she experienced to start with, it widens out universally.
JH Would 1 Corinthians 14 be in line with this, as to what you said about prayer in this prophetic utterance? “I will pray with the spirit, but I will pray also with the understanding”, 1 Corinthians 14: 15.
JT Yes, just so; it must be in the attitude of our hearts. It seems to me the richness that is there must have been in her heart, or the Spirit would not call it praise. It is to bring out the richness that was there; she goes far beyond need; she is celebrating.
Ques Do you think our experiences form a basis for that?
JT Yes; you begin with experience, and that gives you a certain amount of authority. If you have had no experience, you have no authority in speaking to the people of God. The brethren know you have not, but experience affords authority, and that gives you a spring-board by which you can launch out, as the Holy Spirit enables you, to vastness — to infinitude you might say, because she speaks here of the balance of the earth; she says at the end of verse 8, “For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah’s, and he hath set the world upon them”; that is an immense [p. 268] thought!
SMcC In Isaiah 33 the word to the remnant as regards God is, “He shall be the stability of thy times”, verse 6. Do you think there is an allusion to the inward stability in God in Hannah’s word, “Neither is there any rock like our God”? Whatever may have marked Elkanah or Eli and Eli’s sons, she was fixed inwardly in relation to God.
JT Yes, quite so. She begins with the word, ‘rock’, that is in verse 2, “Neither is there any rock like our God”. That is a good point in ministry, a good contribution; it means we are on sure footing, on sure ground in what we say.
SMcC It is very interesting that 1 Samuel should thus begin with the allusion to God as a Rock by a woman, and the second book, chapter 22, should end with a song to Jehovah as a Rock by David.
JT Just so, he widens out the experience; chapter 22 of 2 Samuel is a good link because it leads us into the book of Psalms. It is called a psalm there, and it is a psalm in the book of Psalms, Psalm 18. It is very beautiful! David says, “I will love thee, O Jehovah” (verse 1). Not only had he composed the psalm triumphing in God, but he prefaces it in putting it into the book of Psalms by his love for God, which gives him increased authority in writing.
JW What do we understand by the horn?
JT Oh, just power, it is a symbol of power, meaning that she has power now. She is not a weeping woman now; she is not in dread of her “adversary” as she calls her. She is not a weeping, overcome person; she is a victor, and she attributes it to God. “My horn is lifted up in Jehovah”, meaning it is in the power of Jehovah.
JWD Do you think a great many features that come to light here are not enjoyed spiritually during this dreadful situation of things? God can lead this woman that represents subjective formation into the fulness of these [p. 269] thoughts.
JT She is one of the psalmists really; this is the great spiritual product that results from what is recorded in chapter 1, that is, God is getting His part. He has His book filled with poetry, because it is one book, the ‘ands’ or the conjunctions run right through the book. As we get it in Exodus 17, it is “the book”. She is like many others such as Hezekiah and Jonah and Habakkuk, outstanding contributors to the book of God, the poetic book of God, so that she stands in line with the psalmists, though in an isolated position. We can see what I have been referring to as to our own times, how God brings out results and gets results whatever happens.
JWD The matter of the sonship of Christ, which you referred to, was really unreachable until the subjective condition of the saints was helped so as to fill it out.
JT That is what I was thinking in this book, the feminine side is to bring that out. Hannah and Abigail balance each other; the subjective state is there, but the product of it is that no matter what happens the thing stands. We can see that it goes back in the history and it is unalterable in result.
CCT In chapter 1 she has bitterness of soul; in chapter 2 she has power, she has an outlook.
JT She has a horn. The word ‘horn’ is used throughout the Scriptures for that purpose, to symbolise power.
Ques Would there be a similarity to the songs of degrees — Psalm 120 to 134 inclusive?
JT I would think that. The psalmists began with their own experiences; she begins with her own experience and ends with Christ. Psalm 133 is the Anointed above, that is, Aaron’s head anointed, so that the thing comes down to the hem of the garment. That section speaks about Jerusalem being built as compacted together, and the hem of the garment means it is a finished product; those psalms [p. 270] contemplate a finished product. What can be finished save as Christ is at the top and love from Him flowing down? That is really what she reaches; she reaches the Anointed here.
Rem Is that why she says “our God” and not “my God”? “Neither is there any rock like our God”.
JT Does she say “our” always? She says in verse 1, “My heart exulteth in Jehovah”, that is God; God is in His greatness before her soul. “My horn is lifted up in Jehovah; my mouth is opened wide over mine enemies; for I rejoice in thy salvation”. She is speaking to God, speaking about Him, and then speaking to Him. Then she says, “There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none beside thee”. I am only going over the ground to see how her soul is running. She is speaking to God, speaking of Him and to Him, “Neither is there any rock like our God”. That is, chapter 1 would indicate that for us it would be a question of the assembly; for us there is only one; we are embracing the saints in what we say. Then she goes on to celebrate further: “For Jehovah is a God of knowledge”, meaning she knows Him; she can tell you about Him and teach you, “They that were full have hired themselves out for bread”, now she is speaking about what she has observed. So that it is what God is to us, and how we can speak to Him in liberty, and then bring in the brethren with us, for we are all caught up together. Then she teaches us as to God; it is like a maschil psalm; it is a teaching psalm.
SMcC In these first five verses of chapter 2 you get written down the workings of her soul that were going on in chapter 1; I mean, the sufferings and the great grief and provocation; she was silent in all that, but now, established in this with her horn lifted up, she is able to speak thus and God gets results from it.
JT She is celebrating God and able to speak to [p. 271] Him at the same time; then she teaches about Him, especially as the God of knowledge.
SMcC She says, “There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none beside thee, neither is there any rock like our God. Do not multiply your words of pride, let not vain-glory come out of your mouth; for Jehovah is a God of knowledge” (verses 2, 3).
JT She is thinking no doubt about Peninnah, but she goes wider. That is what I think we should see, how you go wider as under the power of the Spirit of God, because really she is speaking under the power of the Spirit of God. As David says, “The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was on my tongue”, 2 Samuel 23: 2.
JS Is this in keeping with Leviticus 1? I was thinking of the slaughtering of the bullock, and in Leviticus 1: 7 it says, “And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay wood in order on the fire; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order on the wood that is on the fire which is on the altar”. Is she carrying that out, laying the matter out in order from chapter 1?
JT Note it speaks of the head; it is what the offering is intelligently, what it represents — intelligence, and how God uses our intelligence. She has it here, she has intelligence by experience, but she has intelligence by the Spirit clearly, because there is a product by the Spirit of God.
GAT Would you say a word as to the difference between having it in our hearts and having it in our heads?
JT The head is a part of a man’s being — it is essential because it implies intelligence; it implies wisdom, too; so that Paul, in approaching the service of God says, “I speak as to intelligent persons, do ye judge what I say”, 1 Corinthians 10: 15. That is, we are able to judge what he is saying, like the Bereans.
[p. 272] Wisdom that we have from God is acceptable to God. Paul would have the Ephesians know his intelligence. He says, “By which, in reading it, ye can understand my intelligence in the mystery of the Christ”, Ephesians 3: 4. “My intelligence”, he says — remarkable that there was such intelligence as that on the earth! So that if anybody has intelligence or any other quality from God, it belongs to the saints and He wants the saints to know it and get the benefit of it, not that they might be occupied with the person, but with God, and what He has wrought in the person. That is the thought in the head being offered.
GAT If I have intelligence, what I give out must be good in my heart first.
JT Quite so. You need a mind and intelligence to minister.
Rem The napkin in the tomb was appreciated more than the other grave clothes; it was wrapped in a place by itself, showing the appreciation of the intelligence in which the Lord moved.
JT That is right; some hand did that. We are not told who did it, but it shows that that was a great element in connection with the resurrection. The napkin that was about His head was folded; some hand did that and put it in a place by itself, calling attention to it; of course it involves headship too, and this book is full of that. Dagon fell before the ark and his head was cut off; the head of Goliath was brought down and carried to Jerusalem.
SMcC You were drawing attention this morning to a beautiful suggestion in chapter 1, verse 13, “Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard”. Now we come into the expression of it in this chapter.
JT Vigorous expression too; voices are [p. 273] involved here.
ASB Why does the song make much of the way in which God has ability to reverse things? A few verses in Hannah’s song are filled out with the ability of God to do that, “The bow of the mighty is broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and the hungry are so no more, even the barren beareth seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble” (verses 4, 5).
JT It is one thing against another, it is a form of poetry; the book of Proverbs has largely taken on that character of one thing over against another. If we have any experience at all, it is experience of what is going on all the time; God is changing things over and of course our prayers enter into that. Her prayers entered into this: she was the barren one, but she finally bore six, because it is said here in verse 21 that she had three sons and two daughters. God did that, it is God changing things over; as you say, reversing things, so that we are encouraged to go on praying and praying. Things will come about; it may take months or years to bring them about, but He will bring them about certainly.
JH She celebrates His mercy and judgment.
JT I have no doubt it is the framework of the psalm; we see it is carefully worded, if we have time to follow in detail what is in it: “Jehovah killeth, and maketh alive; he bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up. Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich, he bringeth low, also he lifteth up, he raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy, to set him among nobles”; that is an added thought; and furthermore: “he maketh them inherit a throne of glory” (verses 6 - 8). She stops there to bring more out of that one point as indicating what God is doing now through the gospel. But anyway the general thought is what God can do, so that we have a basis for prayer in so [p. 274] many things.
JWD In regard of this thought of what is poetical, the psalms being in the form of poetry, is there something of a poetical formation brought into the body out of all these issues that you are outlining? It is not prose, it is poetry. Does it suggest that out of the exercises there is a kind of rhythm of joy and spiritual felicity and happiness body-wise?
JT That is very good. Tell us more.
JWD I was thinking of poetry in relation to the body; there seems to be this poetic idea.
JT I would say that fully; God has made man so that he should be poetical. When we come to the analysis of the book of Psalms we find extraordinary methods governing what is written, the acrostics, for instance, not only in the Psalms but in Proverbs. The Psalms were written on the basis of language, showing how thoughtful these brethren were whom God used, because poetry is called a science; really it is a science in the true sense of the word, in a divine sense. It involves felicity inwardly and an avenue for feeling, an avenue for strong feeling, whether loving or otherwise. God has constituted man so that he can be employed in that way — that God Himself should so employ him. If we start with the Bible we would be impressed, I am sure, with poetic felicity. You get it from the very start; some say that the account of creation is poetic. You come on down to Jacob, to a man like that — what a beautiful chapter Genesis 49 is! It runs right through, one might say, and I think that our hymn book is not behind. The hymns of Mr. Darby are sublime, they are the acme of poetic production in the present dispensation. We have no hymns from apostolic times, the earliest one I know of is from the eighth century. God has given the opportunity to the saints to bring out what would express truths poetically from time to time.
[p. 275] Ques Do you think that poetry is a means by which others are distinctly impressed?
JT It catches the ear; it is intended for that.
EGMcA Would not that include the thought that the service of God is dressed in beauty? Poetry is the human language in a beautiful form, so that the service of God would be on that line.
JT We sometimes use the expression, He is a bit prosy, or flat. The poetic touch is stimulating, and I believe that is why Scripture is so full of it. The Spirit of God has indited what is full of singing as in the Psalms; He represents the feeling side of the testimony, “The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”, Genesis 1: 2. There is feeling and that runs through.
NB Would there be any connection between this and what we have in the epistles? This is speaking to God, but the epistles are speaking to one another in psalms and hymns.
JT These are psalms that are ready for us, not what we make ourselves. They are not bookshelf things; the hymns are to be used not only in the meeting-room, not simply at the piano either, but expressive of feelings, to keep the atmosphere high.
SMcC It is interesting in connection with what you have said about the Spirit of God that David says in 2 Samuel 23, “The sweet psalmist of Israel saith, The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me” (verses 1, 2), as if the Spirit of Jehovah is peculiarly linked with the sweet psalmist of Israel.
JT Very nice. That psalm, and as we have had already, the 45th, are maschil ones. Psalm 45 says, “My heart is welling forth with a good matter” (verse 1). It is addressed “To the chief Musician. Upon Shoshannim”, which is said in the note to mean ‘Lilies’. Then it says, “Of the sons of Korah”. That is to say, clearly, for persons who are the subjects of mercy, which are ourselves of course — subjects of mercy. And it is called “An instruction”, which means it is a teaching psalm; and then finally, “a song of the Beloved”. That is, it is full of feeling; that is the heading and it is inspired; that is not what the translators put in, it is inspired. And then he begins, “My heart is welling forth with a good matter”, it is inside himself; not coming upon him, but in him. That is what the psalm is, I need not go into it; we often use it. It makes a great deal of Christ, but it makes a great deal of the queen too, bringing out the King, and the queen at His right hand; not the daughter, but the queen in the full thought, which must be there to balance the purposes of God. That gives that psalm a very peculiar place in the book. We cannot afford time to go any further on that line, but this matter of “his anointed” at the end of Hannah’s product is to be noted.
The thought of “his anointed” suggests Philip’s preaching; he preached the Christ; however well I am preaching or otherwise, I am preaching the Christ, I am preaching of One who can do everything well. And that is what the Spirit of God tells her to put in here, “Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; and he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (verse 10). I pray for that at the present time — “the ends of the earth”. It is very remarkable that all the parts of the earth are brought up before people today, people are becoming acquainted with every part of the globe; God made them all — the oceans and seas and rivers and mountains. It is very remarkable how the Lord is enabling us to get the full scope of it into our minds, because He is going to take it on presently; He is going to put His right foot on the sea, the Pacific and the Atlantic and all will come into it, because whoever has the sea has the power. It involves inscrutability really, you cannot tell what is in the sea, but you can what on the earth. Well now, the Spirit [p. 277] of God tells her to say here, “Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth”; that is not so much in prominence now. “And he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed”. So that she reaches up there and gives us infinitude to think of — the means God has in His power of accomplishing all His purposes.
AR It is remarkable that the present conflict is for territory. She says it belongs to God.
JT Quite so.
EGMcA I am wondering about that last part of verse 10: “And he will give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed”. Has God the habitable earth as a solid foundation to work out His thoughts in connection with the Anointed?
JT The habitable earth is a good word there, because wisdom was rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth. God has His Atlantic and His Pacific, the Arctic and the Antarctic Oceans. These latter are cold places, but God has His sunny places, I mean He has that part where He will put man, and the earth is securely founded: “The earth standeth for ever”, Ecclesiastes 1: 4. Things are all immutable with God. Even as to the Jews, though — as it says in 2 Kings 21: 13 — they are wiped like a pan now, wiped and turned upside down, yet God will finally take them up in a solid way. He has His Christ, the One He has anointed to do things, and He does them well.
AR Do you think the idea of the Pacific would be to remind us that God has that in reserve?
JT The sea is His; the Pacific is the largest of the oceans; what fishes there are in it we do not know. Really Asia has been the world of the unknown, but now God is opening it up, and there are kings there that He will use later on according to the prophecies.
SMcC Hannah begins with “my horn” but ends with “the horn of his anointed”. Would you say in regard of ourselves, that whatever help or power we know and experience in present circumstances fails of the intent to which it is given if it does not merge in the greatness, which you have been suggesting, of “the horn of his anointed”?
JT I think that is very excellent. Her horn is what she was experiencing, but now it is His Anointed, and His horn, what God would make of Christ. We are waiting for Him — the man Child, as we had it this morning, the male Son. He is to stay up there until the time comes for Him to shepherd the nations with the rod of iron.
Rem Is that something like Psalm 72, “O God, give the king thy judgments, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son” (verse 1)?
JT Quite so, beautiful! “The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended” (verse 20).
Rem Hannah might have said, The prayers of Hannah are ended, in the presence of the Highest.
JT Quite so.
AR Will the Lord’s reign on earth cover the whole earth?
JT Yes, clearly; prophecy is full of that. We have been dwelling on the way the earth is formed; that is, there is a cold extremity and a central warm belt; God has all that and He has places of pleasure for men. So that Paul in speaking of this to the Athenians says, “God ... has made of one blood every nation of men to dwell upon the whole face of the earth”, Acts 17: 26. That disposes of the race question. God has made them all, “for in him we live and move and exist”. That is a basis for a common thought and feeling which men have moved away from, but Christ would bring it all back. It is of just one land that God says, ‘I spied it for you’, as [p. 279] if He were in the air and looked down and saw this land of Canaan. He says, ‘I spied it for you and set it apart in My mind for you’. In Deuteronomy He describes what a land of wealth it is. God knows what He has put there; these things are there physically and God knows they are there. When you come to the government of God, God knows what He put in this country. It is the salvation of the whole position; it is God. And the things are all here, everything that is necessary to save a world; that is the government of God. But what I was speaking of earlier was not the government of God but His purpose, and the earth is the sphere of His purpose; He is going to have us for Himself and He tells us what He has put in it, for us — for man. So that when the Lord Jesus comes Paul says, “He has set a day in which he is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by the man whom he has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised him from among the dead”, Acts 17: 31. It is very remarkable that that should come out at Athens, because it is a question of knowledge, what men should know.
JW Does Paul not appeal to them along the poetic line there? He says, “As also some of the poets amongst you have said, For we are also his offspring” (verse 28).
JT Just as in Numbers 21, where the Spirit of God says, “Rise up, well! sing unto it” (verse 17). You have Him in your heart as the great objective power to bring Him back to you. Numbers 21 is full of poetry.
EGMcA “Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth”. Hannah was really in the good of Psalm 2: 8: “Ask of me, and I will give thee nations for an inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth”. Is that word ‘judge’ in verse 10 on the line [p. 280] of rule?
JT Yes, in the same sense as the book of Judges. God will judge the earth in righteousness. It is a question such as the two women brought to Solomon; he knew who was the mother of the child. It is not simply authority, but wisdom and affection too.
AR Is the present pressure to bring out our confidence in God which would find expression in our prayer meetings? We have assurance that He controls the whole earth.
JT We were saying earlier that if you were to visit the prayer meetings all over the world you would hear the same thing.
Rem Abraham said, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Genesis 18: 25.
JT All the earth — China and Japan — all the earth.
JH You mentioned this morning the priestly feelings of Hannah; is there any link in her expression as to the anointed with verse 35? “And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind; and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed continually”.
JT There is clearly a link between the two; this is “a man of God” who is saying that. The man of God begins to speak in verse 27: “And there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Did I plainly reveal myself to the house of thy father when they were in Egypt ... ?”. Then in verse 30 he says, “For them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, 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 thy house. And thou shalt see an oppressor in my habitation, amidst all the good that shall be done to Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever. And the man of thine whom I shall not cut off from mine [p. 281] altar, shall be to cause thine eyes to fail and to grieve thy soul” (this is for Eli); “and all the increase of thy house shall die in their vigour. And this shall be the sign to thee, which shall come upon thy two sons, upon Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest”. Then in chapter 3 God speaks to Samuel and tells him what He is going to do to Eli. It is remarkable how this chapter that we are reading brings in the Christ, whether it be the king or the priest, because verse 35 brings in the king, “and he shall walk before mine anointed continually”. The priest is subordinate to the king now, he had not been, but he is now, that is the change that is coming about. The king must take precedence over the priest, whereas it was the priest before; Eli was supreme in the nation, but he is not going to be henceforth.
EGMcA “He shall be a priest upon his throne”, (Zechariah 6: 13); you get the two combined in one.
JT Just so, royalty goes before priesthood, because what man is comes into view and you must have power to deal with it.
SMcC It is remarkable that you have the whole compass of the Lord’s official glory — in this chapter: Prophet, Priest and King all enter into this chapter.
JT All coming from a woman; that is a word for the sisters. The Lord seems to be having the sisters in His mind all the time lately, because He is going to take us up to heaven shortly and He wants a subjective state. The assembly is to be the Lamb’s wife; there is not to be any insubordination, and Hannah is intended here to represent that side.
EGMcA Do you mean the bride, the Lamb’s wife, is to be suggested now in the subjective side in the sisters — the way the clothing is prepared, the white [p. 282] linen?
JT It is the righteousnesses of the saints, the totality of them.
GAT What would you say that the Lord has in His mind in the sisters?
JT To bring out the assembly subjectively, the real thing wrought out in us. The feminine side is taken up in such persons as Hannah, but it includes all; when you come into the assembly it includes all of us.
GAT Hannah evidently did not have herself in mind in verse 5, “Even the barren beareth seven”; she had only six. Did she leave room for Christ in that?
JT It is said that every godly mother expected or wished to be the mother of the Messiah. That is what Mary became, and she is glorified in that sense; she brought in the Messiah; her song might well be fitted into Hannah’s. God did great things to her; no one ever had such an experience as she had, or ever will have.
NB What would you say about Judges 5? We have a sister and a brother singing together there.
JT That is good. The sister has a great place in Judges, but when we come to the cloud of witnesses it is the brother; I mean Hebrews 11 does not mention Deborah, it mentions Barak. Deborah helped to put Barak in his place; the masculine side must have its place, but he got it through her, showing how the sisters can help. Manoah got his place through his wife also.
SMcC It is remarkable that Mary’s devotions seem to travel in the same channel of expression as Hannah’s. There is a marked similarity between the two.
JT It is what the Mighty One did to her, Mary says; she celebrates that. There is a remarkable correspondence between the two women’s expressions.
[p. 283] Rem Proverbs 31 says the virtuous woman’s husband is known in the gates; is that the thought?
JT That is the thought exactly. Now just to carry on for a little as to Hannah’s influence, you will see how Elkanah, as we have been saying, is really promoted spiritually through his wife. It says in verse 11, “And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house”, as if he is set up through her; he is fitting into the result of his wife’s faith and spirituality; he is getting the good of it. He is riding on the crest of the wave so that he has his place, and in connection with that it says, “And Samuel ministered before Jehovah, a boy girded with a linen ephod” (verse 18). That is the point we are touching; we are touching what supersedes Eli. Eli is going to be superseded, not violently taken out of the way, although he fell backwards and did die in violence in that sense; but he is superseded before he died. That is, the ground is filled by Samuel. Elkanah has a place in Ramah in his house where Samuel lived; that is, something is set up there and it is all due to Hannah; she is the leader in all this.
And now the young boy is said to minister to Jehovah in the presence of Eli the priest. And then we are told from verses 12 to 17 what terrible men these sons of Eli were, how violent they were — persons who are formally called priests; because both of these men are formally called priests in chapter 1, “And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of Jehovah, were there”. How solemn it is that we should be that by profession and be violent men! Just see what it says about them in verse 12 of chapter 2, “Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial”! How very solemn that is, how searching it is, that one should hold such a position and be a son of Belial! They are called priests of Jehovah, but now we have a real priest in Samuel. The Spirit of God tells us what these men were, that “They knew not Jehovah. And the priests’ custom with the people was, when any man sacrificed a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, when the flesh was cooked, with a flesh-hook of three prongs in his hand; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot; the priest took of it all that the flesh-hook brought up”. He saw to it that it was a good strong one; it was violence of the priesthood in the service of God, “So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites that came there. Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, and he will not accept sodden flesh of thee, but raw. If the man said to him, They will immediately burn the fat entire, then take as thy soul desires; he would say to him, No, but thou shalt give it now; and if not, I will take it by force. And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah”. The Spirit of God gives us that picture as soon as the boy Samuel is anointed. God is setting them aside, and saying, as it were, Am I not justified in setting them aside? But I have someone to go on with according to what is in My mind, and that someone is Hannah.
Ques In chapter 3 it says, “Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah” (verse 7). Is his ministering to Jehovah (verse 11) entirely a result of Hannah’s teaching?
JT It is the way he has been influenced and brought up so far. The fact that he did not yet know Jehovah meant that God had not formally worked with him; but evidently as far as her influence went he was in the way for it. We are told, “Train up a child in the way he should go”, Proverbs 22: 6.
Rem The sons of Eli lacked such a mother; their mother is never mentioned.
JT Quite so.
CCT What is the thought of the boy ministering? He has not matured yet; he is still [p. 285] a boy.
JT He was just a boy but even then he was in the line of service; it is all due to his mother, to how she looked after him. So that it goes on to tell us in verse 18, “And Samuel ministered before Jehovah, a boy girded with a linen ephod”. There you have the priestly touch. In verse 11 it says, “And the boy ministered to Jehovah in the presence of Eli the priest”. In verse 18 the real person is owned, it is Samuel, the one that was asked for, and he is girded with a linen ephod; he has the priestly garment on.
GAT What you are saying now ought to be an encouragement to our young men if they are not free and peaceful in the presence of older brethren. Are there not times when we are hindered on account of older brethren, more gifted brethren, being present?
JT It is good when the young men have liberty, and they are getting liberty, do you not think? That is what is indicated here, the progress of Samuel. In the second mention of his ministry he has the linen ephod, that is, the young men have to remember that they have to let no one despise their youth. The ephod is to protect them, if they have it. It was said to be linen, and they are to be clothed around the loins with linen, which means what sobers them, keeps them sober, so that they are not to be despised. A young man may travel in intelligence far beyond his father, but he has to be sober. “Let no one despise thy youth” means you are so sober and manly that no one can say anything against it even though you stand up in the presence of older brethren.
CCT So that in chapter 2: 21 it says, “And the boy Samuel grew before Jehovah”, and in chapter 3: 1, “And the boy Samuel ministered to Jehovah before Eli”. That leaves a way open for the young brethren to grow and [p. 286] minister.
JT Just so. In verse 11, as remarked, he is a boy ministering to Jehovah. In verse 18 it is Samuel, a boy, ministering before Jehovah; it is not simply that he ministered to Him, but before Him; he is under Jehovah’s eye. God is looking at what we are doing and saying. But then we are told in verse 19 the part his mother has in this ministry, “And his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to sacrifice the yearly sacrifice”. That is a beautiful thing, that she should be brought in here. He is lent to Jehovah, but he is still hers. She has links with him and she is watching his growth, and you may be sure if there was anything inconsistent with the years he had acquired, she would point it out to him; and that gives a great scope to mothers with their children, because a maternal word can do that. As sitting in the assembly, of course, she is not his mother, but she will have opportunity to say something to him at home that he may need to hear.
GAT You mentioned this morning that she did not go up to take his measure first before she brought the coat. Would that be spiritual instinct, that she knew how much he was growing spiritually?
JT That is just what it is, she had confidence in him; there is not a word mentioned that she had any reproof at all for him. The Lord’s mother rebuked the Lord, think of that! But we are not told that Hannah ever rebuked Samuel.
JWD Is not this rather a new feature? There is nothing in the Mosaic law about levitical boys ministering in the temple; it is something new and distinctive.
JT It is a novelty, but a divine novelty. God’s order of things is not static or stale, it is continuous, and life is continuous. Here we have a remarkable feature — a boy, it is not a child but a boy, and each passage that follows indicates [p. 287] growth.
JH Would it show that the condition of things in Israel was so low that God used what there was?
JT It is all attributable to this woman — she lent him. It is a remarkable thing that God should borrow anything, allowing Himself to be in that position of borrowing, but He is doing it. He is saying to Hannah, I so honour you that I am indebted to you for this boy; and she evidently has access to the temple, at least in some sense, when she brings the coat up.
GAT In verse 26 it says, “And the boy Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with Jehovah and also with men”.
JT Well, exactly. But how remarkable it is that God admits of her mind or judgment being a standard for her son in the temple! God did not prescribe for the size of his growth. He prescribed for the priest’s clothes, but he is leaving this to his mother. It is to bring out how she is honoured; how heaven honours such a mother as this. Here is the mother of Samuel, and Samuel is serving, and what is she doing? She has gone up to sacrifice with her husband; she did not come alone, and that is suitable, that she should come with her husband.
AR The whole system depended on her. Eli was worthless.
JT Eli is just gradually being displaced by this product of Hannah’s, and God is allowing Hannah access to the temple. Let the brethren decide what size his coat should be? No, let his mother decide. She has loaned him; she has a lien on him. It is simply to emphasise the spirituality of this remarkable woman.
EGMcA It says in verse 18, “And Samuel ministered before Jehovah, a boy girded with a linen ephod”. Is that God’s endorsement of Hannah naming her son in verse 20 of chapter [p. 288] 1?
JT That is right. It is like the use of the article — take men or persons of distinction, when they are recorded personally it is “the Samuel”; that is the meaning of it, that there is nobody else in mind. The whole list, or nearly all the list in the genealogy in Matthew is “the Abraham”, “the Jacob”, that person, known in heaven, a known generation in the testimony. Samuel is acquiring a place in the testimony: that is what is meant. “Samuel ministered” — you might think he was fifty years of age, but he was not; but the person is there.
NB How do you connect all this with verse 7 of chapter 3: “Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither had the word of Jehovah yet been revealed to him”?
JT That is another side of the matter, that God is taking him away from Hannah. Hannah’s influence is mentioned and I think all we have been dealing with so far is to bring out the distinction Hannah has in relation to Samuel. But now God says, I am taking him over, no matter how much influence for good you have. Without God, what good would it be? Everything must be for God, of whom and through whom are all things. Samuel is of God, not simply of Hannah but of God.
AR God is bringing him forward, not his mother; and over against that God is operating to harden men’s hearts — the two sons of Eli — God was minded to slay them.
JT God has His man before He sets aside other men; therefore Luke in giving the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ traces it back from Joseph, the Lord’s reputed father; and it is “of”, “of”, “of”, right back to God; Adam was “of God”. Everything must go back to God, of whom and through whom are all things, so that Hannah is out of the picture now, it is God.
UOG [p. 289] Would you give us the application of the linen ephod and the little coat?
JT Well, the linen garment for the priests in Exodus 28 refers to a fabric that tends to sobriety and balance; an ephod is, of course, the priestly garment. It is an open garment that shows you belong to the priestly class, and he had that on him; it is said that he was girded with a linen ephod. He is a priest, and needs to be kept balanced and sober. Think of a boy breaking bread and then going out to play tennis and football and everything every other boy does! They should get it into their souls that they are different. It is not to be all natural amusement, they should learn to be sober; they are breaking bread, and there is some responsibility attached to that. That is what the linen ephod means, he is not just an ordinary boy; he is an extraordinary boy.
CCT The coat evidently could not be bought; it had to be made by her.
JT It had to be made by her and God allowed her to do it.
EGMcA This linen ephod is very striking in contrast to verse 12. In spite of the awful conditions seen in that verse. Samuel was protected by the linen ephod.
JT Yes indeed, as over against the two men that God would slay.
ASB Is it not encouraging that we see here what is for God developed in spite of men?
JT It is developed in Samuel, and that is important. He must have seen what Eli’s sons were doing with their three-pronged articles of violence; and the people of God were being damaged by them, because it says they did it to all Israel. It says in chapter 3: 19, “And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, knew that Samuel was established a prophet of Jehovah.
[p. 290] And Jehovah appeared again at Shiloh; for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of Jehovah”. “The word” is a very important thing to notice — the revelation by “the word”; the mind of God is being disclosed, that is what is meant by “the word”.
GAT How do you connect Samuel’s word with Jehovah’s word? None of Samuel’s words fell to the ground.
JT That would be like his ministry; but the revelation by the word of Jehovah means that God is making Himself known to you or to me as to His mind. One wants to know His mind, what He has before Him.
GAT Should we not be exercised about the words that we speak, that they should not be foolish words?
JT Quite so. It is like printed ministry. Of course the ministry as it is given orally ought to be held in the hearts of the brethren, that is, it falls to the ground if it is not held in the hearts of the brethren for the heart is really the receptacle; but the written ministry is also an indication of what should be kept from falling to the ground. Falling to the ground simply means it is lost and forgotten, but Samuel’s words were so valuable that they were kept and treasured by those who heard them.
JK Hannah took notice that growth was taking place and others also are brought into that; in verse 20 they knew that Samuel was established a prophet of Jehovah.
JT That is what I thought we should have before us at another meeting; the effect of ministry on persons who were living at the same time. Samuel’s ministry is current in this book, and what is the effect of it? I believe we shall see that Abigail is the product of Samuel’s ministry. If we have a ministry let there be a product of it. Samuel’s words [p. 291] not falling to the ground meant there would be a product, those in whom his words would be kept; they are not in cold storage; they are kept livingly and that means formation. I believe that David and Abigail refer to life, what Christ is livingly. David was ruddy, and Abigail was in correspondence. She was a woman of “good understanding” — that relates to the ministry; and of a “beautiful countenance” — that is the life. Thus she is the product of Samuel’s ministry.
EGMcA So Paul said to Timothy, “Think of what I say, for the Lord will give thee understanding in all things”, 2 Timothy 2: 7.
JT Timothy would be formed by what Paul said.
AR Paul had a good product in Titus; he was really a model; he set him forward as his own product.
JT Just so; at Jerusalem you mean.