Monday, September 14, 2015

I Samuel 2: Shades Of Jesus Christ!

The unifying link between the Testaments and, indeed, within the entire Bible is the Person of Jesus Christ.  What the Old Testament longingly looks forward to is realized in the advent of our Savior.  I Samuel 2 is a prime example of an ordinary chapter buried in the historical books of the Bible that contains several prescient reference to the coming King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The first 10 verses of the chapter could be considered "Hannah's Happy Dance."  She exalts in her triumph over her rival Peninnah.  But notice that her prayer sounds an awful lot like Mary's song in Luke 1, with its emphasis on the role reversal between rich and poor which God is credited with working.  Although more than a millennium separates these outpourings of praise, both are entirely consistent with the understanding of salvation that Jesus brings to earth.

Appropriately enough, Samuel also sounds intriguingly like a forerunner of Jesus as he is described in verse 26: "Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the Lord and with the people."  Sounds a lot like Luke 2:52, doesn't it?  Samuel's transitional ministry between judges and kings resembles Jesus' mission between God's focus on Israel and His work in the world.

Moreover, I Samuel 2:35 is often regarded as a direct prophecy of our Lord: "I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and mind.  I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before my anointed one forever."  Though not a Levite, Jesus is considered by the New Testament to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek.  Although, in its original context, it could reasonably apply, in part, to Samuel among the original readers, its tone indicates one who will surpass even Samuel.  As with many prophecies, it has both a current and future meaning.

Verse 35 comes as a piece of a broader message directed against the priest Eli and his family.  As the rest of the chapter describes, Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas were not good guys.  They greedily and wrongfully took the offerings from the worshipers, fraternized with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and gave the ministry of the Lord at Shiloh a bad name.  Eli, however, sided with his sons rather than insisting on their purity for the Lord's sake.  Prophetically, he warned them, "If one person sins against another, someone can intercede for the sinner with the Lord; but if someone sins against the Lord, who can make intercession?"  (vs. 25)

Who indeed.

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