Catch up day again ...
Mar25:
One of the strangest stories yet. I'll make no comment about this other than the way the story ends ... "there was no king - everyone did as he saw fit." Without a sense of morality that is beyond MY OWN THINKING - which means there will be things I don't like about the law, then there is no purpose for the people. Everyone needs a sense of guidance and direction. Rules aren't fun - but they are necessary for everyone.

Mar26:

When we went through nearly 2 years of infertility, this story of Hannah was our rock! Hannah's prayer of desperation is a commitment to her son being a Nazirite ... like John the Baptist.

Elkanah must have thought that Hannah was losing her mind. Before, she wept because she had love but no son. Now she has gained that son but talks about leaving him at the temple to live .... women! hehe

I was just thinking about the environment that Samuel was raised in. His "peers" - Eli's sons - were pure evil. Yet, he seemed to be protected from taking on that lifestyle ...

Mar27:

I love what the Lord says to Samuel ... "I'm going to make everyones ears tingle ..." I see that as a great sign of excitement! It also becomes more clear that God's judgement against Eli and his family is because of the sin he KNEW ABOUT but didn't address. Causes me to stop and think ... are their sins that I'm turning a deaf ear to ... of my own, of others in church leadership? There is this fine line of extending grace and expecting righteousness ... it's a tough line to find on our own.

The story of the Ark of the Covenant is cool. That it kept knocking over the statue of Dagon, that it's very presence would send towns into an uproar ... God is powerful. In the first 7 chapters of the book of Samuel, Sam looks like a faithful and God-fearing leader.