Resumo de Samuel I Ii

By the time we met Eli in the early chapters of thebook of Samuel, he was already in the twilight of his tempestuouscareer as the penultimate Judge of Isreal. The nation was not in aparticularly great shape, both spiritually and politically. Not thatanything was intrisically wrong with Isreal only that there was agaping vacuum in the leadership of the nation. As a leader, Eli had notbeen a roaring success. Perhaps because of his age, he was now overseventy years of age, he had become less active. This paved the way forhis sons who had more or less taken over even though the old man wasstill the titular head of the nation. Sadly, probablybecause their father had failed to groom them properly from the daythey were born for the moment which had now arrived, Hophni andPhinehas were constituting themselves into a huge albatross on thepeople. They had become a law unto themselves. They got carried away,forgetting that leading and serving God's people demanded a deep senseof responsibility. They saw leadership as an opportunity to feathertheir own nests. They saw their positions as a license to gratify theirfleshly desires. For instance, it was not unusual for them, purely byvirtue of their positions, to help themselves to the most lusciousamong the women. They were thus abusing their offices. The Lord, seeingthat the nation's problem was basically that of leadership,specifically sent people to Eli concerning the conduct of his sons.Surprisingly, the old man did not deem it necessary to take any strongaction. He failed to rein in his sons. It was as if he was daring God. It appears that it was at this point that the Lord began to look for asuccessor to Eli. However, it would appear that the Lord combed thewhole country but could not find any. It was also probably at thispoint that the Lord decided to send one. First and foremost, however, awoman needed to be found who would be the mother of the next Judge ofIsreal. It must be realised that Hannah could not have beenthe only barren woman in Isreal at the time. However, the book ofSamuel indicated that Hannah was a devout woman who presented herselfbefore the Lord at all appropriate times. This was despite beingmarried to a polygamist whose other wife made Hannah's life a hell. Asit were and from all indications, heaven seemed to have zeroed in onher. This seemed to have prompted the Almighty to firmly shut her womb.This may have looked absurd but it seems this is the way God works.Only the Almighty would want to solve a problem by creating a freshproblem. There was a problem of leadership in Isreal but it seemed Godwas creating another problem by shutting Hannah's womb. Itseemed the plan was that Hannah would only be considered to be readyfor the child when she got to the point of requesting passionately fora baby and vowing to give the child back to God. It appeared that God'sintention was to plant the child in Eli's household so that he could begroomed by Eli. As God would not gatecrash into people's lives, He hadto wait until Hannah was ready and willing to vow to give the child Hewould give her back to Him. So when, one year at Shiloh,Hannah 'was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord and weptsore. And she vowed to........', heaven was agog with celebrationbecause it was now certain that the woman was ready to receive herbaby. Therefore, when Eli subjected her to a humiliating diatribe,accusing her of having a drink problem, as she prayed, little did heknow that the woman kneeling before him would shortly give birth to hissuccessor. How unfathomable the ways of God. In the Elihousehold, Samuel, the child learnt fast. He was being prepared for hisappointment with destiny. As an infant prophet, the Lord even had causeto send him to Eli who still failed to act. Therefore , when the oldman and his sons fell, Samuel was able to slot into the vacuum witheffortless ease. Samuel's time as Judge wasremarkabrelative stability. He was a consistent leadeked andrespected. He was always counselling and correcting the people. Heasked the people to put away their strange gods and prepare to servethe only true God. Militarily, Isreal achieved considerable successesas the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days ofSamuel.

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