That Samuels divine calling and first prophecy follow the blanket condemnation of Eli by the man of God (2:2736) and the narrators strong indictment of Gods covenant people in those days (3:1) renders Samuels ascendance all the more essential, dramatic, and spiritually significant to the larger story of covenant Israel. David Pellauer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), xi. More in-depth and insightful exposition of a literary approach to scripture can be found in such sources as Erich Auerbach, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature, trans. Despite Hannahs concern for personal legitimacy, her familys status before the Lord is assured by Elkanahs annual devotionals at Shiloh and the resulting devotional lifestyle that is implied by his faithfulness to this ritual obligation. And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Political Accomplishments of Samuel Adams. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The present study emphasizes how the narrator crafts individual characters primarily in terms of their social roles in the story, in particular how they complement and contrast with other, related characters. Born into slavery around 1723, Attucks was believed to be the son of Prince Yonger, a enslaved person shipped to America from Africa, and Nancy Attucks, a Natick Indian. By the oracle of Yahweh, Samuel secretly anointed David as king (chapter 16). As a boy Samuel received a divine oracle in which the fall of the house of Eli was predicted (1 Samuel 13). Diction. WebChildhood obesity increases the risk of developing metabolic syndrome later in life. Since biblical narrative characteristically catches its protagonists only at the critical and revealing points in their lives, the biblical type-scene occurs not in the rituals of daily existence, but at the crucial junctures in the lives of the heroes, from conception and birth to betrothal to deathbed. Alter, Art, 51; see also Alter, Moses, 64 n.10; 11819 n.11; 315 n.16. 1. Berlin, Parallelism, 7, speaks for many in observing that biblical poetry is characterized by a high incidence of terse, balanced parallelism. While 1 Samuel 13 is structured mostly as a prose narrative, Hannahs song (2:110) is organized as a series of couplets, with a few triads added for aesthetic interest and interpretive emphasis. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. Alter, Ancient Israel, 244 n.21: Everything is different now that Hannah has borne a son, and she herself introduces a change in the repeated pattern.. See, for example, McCarter, ISamuel, 1214; Richard R. Losch, All the People in the Bible: An AZ Guide to the Saints, Scoundrels, and Other Characters in Scripture (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2008), 36870. 60. Eli possesses great spiritual status, being the ritual official of the temple at Shiloh, a hereditary position that his family had held for generations (see 2:2728). That they were young and active gave Samuel a base of power that was physical as well as moral. PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is one of the most severe mental health issues from parental neglect or abuse during childhood. We dont know who wrote the books for certain. of Samuel There must have been some reason why Samuel was important enough to be remembered for a major role in the establishment of the monarchy. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. WebThe boy Samuel grew up in the service of the LORD. . Indications are that they were a group of fanatical religious and national conservatives. Almost all knowledge of him is derived from the books of the Prophets and Writings: Samuel I and II, Kings I and Chronicles I. 3. Regardless of her initial vow, following his birth she cannot not be his mother; that is, she cannot give him up in the usual senses of the verb.43 Attempting to do so would be a repudiation of her sacred maternal role. From the simplest and most direct perspective, the story of Samuels birth and calling can be best understood in covenant terms. As conservatives, they must have been torn between the threat to Israel posed by the Philistines and the promise that the new political system, alien to religious and national traditions, offered against this threat. . And they went unto their own home. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites (1 Samuel 7:13-14). Samuels life serves as an example for believers today. Key principles include his obedience to God from the time he was a youth, his faith ( Hebrews 11:32) and his willingness to intercede for others ( Jeremiah 15:1 ). All other textual details and literary conventions of the account systematically support a covenant perspective in the following central ways. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 2024; 127 n.1; 199200nn; 342 n.14. Thus, Samuel is rightly considered to be one of the preeminent personalities of the Hebrew Bible, and his remarkable ministry makes the brief narrative of his birth, childhood, and divine calling worthy of serious examination.3, The present study argues that the literary craftsmanship of the text is as expressive of its meaning as are its descriptive contents. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, so she provoked her; therefore she wept, and did not eat. 2829; 54n; 60 nn. Alter, Moses, 96 n. 32, suggests the verb shakab approximates the meaning of rape when used in the context of sexual relations. Samuel is ever faithful to his consecrated responsibilities at Shiloh and eventually becomes one of Israels greatest spiritual leaders. Although [Hannah] is undoubtedly the heroine of our [birth] narrative, and even though Samuels role in it is secondary and passive, the story ultimately focuses not on her but on him. Simon, Prophetic Narratives, 33. By the revelation of Yahweh, however, he anointed Saul king and installed him before all Israel (chapters 910). The first story (1 Samuel 13) describes Samuels action as motivated by Sauls assumption of the prerogatives of the priesthood. And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. The application of the anthropological concept of social drama to interpret literature, ritual, and other key cultural expressions is summarized in Victor Turner, Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1974), 2359. Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite: And he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Stephanie Holland. 14. Given the expressive nature of Hannahs song, the number seven in this line likely implies many, as it does elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, thereby enhancing the parallelism with the following line and the implied application to Hannahs situation. The present study illustrates the extent to which the authors, editors, and redactors of 1Samuel13 employed in a systematic and complementary manner a variety of literary conventions for a central ideological endshowing Gods commitment to preserve his ancient covenant with Israel, even at inopportune times and through obscure persons. In his masterful study of The Iliad, the great classical scholar James M. Redfield offers an alternate perspective that is central to the present inquiry: Homer does not speak to us when we assign our meanings to his words or when we allow ourselves to be guided by our immediate response to his scenes. James M. Redfield, Nature and Culture in The Iliad: The Tragedy of Hector (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1975), x. While Hannah is identified as the preferred of Elkanahs two wives, the account repeats three times that she has no children, a major source of shame for women in biblical Israel.20 This characterization also identifies the accounts first dramatic tension: that between Elkanahs preferred but barren wife and her co-wife Peninnah, who had given Elkanah multiple sons and daughters. God, in turn, gives Hannah a man child according to her supplication, who then becomes a prophet unto all Israel. Thus, God manifests his goodness by fulfilling Hannahs vow in ways that she could not possibly have imagined beforehand or accomplished herself. It seems that there was a firm tradition of a split between the two men but an inexact memory of the details. Despite the similarity of their messages, the text structures the two encounters inversely. And the word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision. Following his birth, when time comes to make good on her vow, the account consistently shifts the verb from nathan (give) to shael, translated lend (1:20, 2728; 2:20). Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her. The parallel syntax and barrage of ands, far from being the reflex of a primitive language, are as artfully effective in furthering the ends of the narrative as any device one could find in a sophisticated modern novelist. Alter, Moses, xxviixxviii, emphasis in original. After receiving Samuels prophecy, Eli has no recourse but to acknowledge, It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good (3:18). The reiterated and, then, plays an important role in creating the rhythm of the story, in phonetically punctuating the forward driving movement of the prose. Not in Heaven: Coherence and Complexity in Biblical Narrative (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991); and Robert Alter, The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary (New York: W.W. Norton, 2004), ixxlviii, among many others. Her first direct speech, for example, expresses her private but poignant vow to God, which defines her lifes purpose and sacred identity: O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon the afflictions of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.28 All of her subsequent speeches and actions align with and strengthen her devotional character (see 1:2028; 2:110, 1921). Nothing is clearer in the final form of the text than Yahwehs utter mastery of the situation, whatever it may be. Polzin, Samuel, 4. (Samuel I, 1) Samsons Life. See Alter, Art, 88113, for an insightful discussion of Leitwrter. Provo, UT 84602, USA | 2022 Brigham Young University, Birth and Calling of the Prophet Samuel: A Literary Reading of the BiblicalText, The Little Head Stones Became Monuments: Death in the EarlySamoanMission and theCreation of the FagaliiCemetery, Margaret Barkers The Lord Is Onea Response, Response to Margaret Barkers The Lord Is One, An Improvisation on Margaret Barkers The Lord Is One, An Angel or Rather the Savior at the Kirtland Temple Dedication: The Vision of FrederickG.Williams, What Is It about This Place?: Truman Madsen, ReligiousEducation, and theMissionofBYU, Catholic and Mormon: A Theological Conversation, The Mapmakers of New Zion: A CartographicHistory ofMormonism, The Polygamous Wives Writing Club: From the Diaries of MormonPioneerWomen. (3:110, 1921; 4:1a). Characterization: Husband and Wife. Hannah declines, preferring instead to attend to her sons continuing needs. While both messengers faithfully deliver their respective messages from the Lord, the man of God accomplishes hismission in total anonymity. By faithfully filling the crucial roles of prophet, priest, and judge, Samuel helped to transform the House of Israel from a collection of weak and often warring tribes to a relatively permanent and somewhat stable nation in the contentious ancient Middle East. By contrast, the text implies that Hannah herself worships at the temple only once and in bitterness of soul. The story implies that both types of devotion are effective. It also serves the broader narrative as the renewal of an ancient and sacred covenant with God, with Samuel serving as its object and agent.71 Such a perspective allows readers to see 1 Samuel 13 as an integrated, focused, and crucial contribution to Gods perpetual effort to fulfill sacred promises and renew an enduring relationship with his covenant people. While we cannot be sure that the author crafted the Samuel story with such comparisons consciously in mind, the repeated inferred connections with other exemplary vignettes increase the probability of their intentionality. Leitwrter: establish and cut off. 78. Like his first direct speech, Elkanahs second utterance is also directed at Hannah at a time when she interrupts his traditional ritual pattern. and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? . This issue carries significant economic, psychological, and social costs for the families affected. Throughout her victory song, no phrase is independent of another: all combine into either couplets or triads, creating a complex and meaningful unity of the whole and distinguishing the song from the surrounding prose narrative.46, Structuring Devices: Narrative Bridge. Book of First Samuel Overview - Insight for Living Ministries In Poland, birth counts were steady or increasing in the first years of this century, but declined steadily after 2016. Sternberg recognizes that biblical narratives are distinguished by the dynamic interplay of competing and complementary perspectives: Insofar as the Bible has a poetics as well as a genesis of composition, it establishes a set of norms by which we not only interpret the action but also evaluate the actors by reference to the narrators perspective as artist. Sternberg, Poetics, 155. Syndrome later in life it may be discussion of Leitwrter rich: he bringeth,... Boy Samuel grew up in the service of the Lord and gain access to content. 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