giving Samuel back

Posted on February 27, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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giving Samuel back

1 Samuel 1:19-28 (JDV)

1 Samuel 1:19 The next morning Elkanah and Hannah got up early to bow before Yahveh. Afterward, they returned home to Ramah. Then Elkanah was intimate with his wife Hannah, and Yahveh remembered her.
1 Samuel 1:20 After some time, Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, because she said, “I requested him from Yahveh.”
1 Samuel 1:21 When Elkanah and all his household went up to make the annual sacrifice and his vow offering to Yahveh,
1 Samuel 1:22 Hannah did not go and explained to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I’ll take him to appear in Yahveh’s presence and to stay there permanently.”
1 Samuel 1:23 Her husband Elkanah replied, “Do what you think is best, and stay here until you’ve weaned him. May Yahveh confirm your word.” So, Hannah stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him.
1 Samuel 1:24 When she had weaned him, she took him with her to Shiloh, a three-year-old bull, half a bushel of flour, and a clay jar of wine. Though the boy was still young, she took him to Yahveh’s house at Shiloh.
1 Samuel 1:25 Then they slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.
1 Samuel 1:26 “Please, my lord,” she said, “as surely as your throat lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to Yahveh.
1 Samuel 1:27 I prayed for this boy, and since Yahveh gave me what I asked him for,
1 Samuel 1:28 I now give the boy to Yahveh. For as long as he lives, he is given to Yahveh.” Then he worshiped Yahveh there.

giving Samuel back

I suppose many in this modern day read this story and scratch their heads in confusion. It is hard to grasp why Hannah was so willing to “give up” her son since he meant so much to her in the first place. But she had made a vow to do so. She knew that God had answered her prayer, and given her the joy of that so until he was weaned and ready to serve Yahveh. The shame had been replaced with joy and she could willingly give back the gift.

In a sense, all of us who are believers experience what Hannah did. We knew the fruitlessness of a barren life until we meet Christ and are born again. But our vow to God is to give the life he gave us back to him. We can do so with joy because the life came from him in the first place.

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misunderstood at the temple

Posted on February 26, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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misunderstood at the temple

1 Samuel 1:9-18 (JDV)

1 Samuel 1:9 Then Hannah got up after they ate and drank at Shiloh. The priest Eli was sitting on a chair by the doorpost of Yahveh’s temple.
1 Samuel 1:10 Deeply bitter, Hannah prayed to Yahveh and wept with many tears.
1 Samuel 1:11 Making a vow, she pleaded, “Yahveh of Armies, if you will take notice of your servant’s affliction, remember and not forget me, and give your servant a son, I will give him to Yahveh all the days of his life, and his hair will never be cut.”
1 Samuel 1:12 While she continued praying in Yahveh’s presence, Eli watched her mouth.
1 Samuel 1:13 Hannah was praying silently, and though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli thought she was drunk
1 Samuel 1:14 and said to her, “How long are you going to be drunk? Get rid of your wine!”
1 Samuel 1:15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman with hard breath. I haven’t had any wine or beer; I’ve been pouring out my throat before Yahveh.
1 Samuel 1:16 Don’t think of me as a wicked woman; I’ve been praying from the depth of my anguish and resentment.”
1 Samuel 1:17 Eli responded, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you’ve made of him.”
1 Samuel 1:18 “May your servant find favor in your eyes,” she replied. Then Hannah went on her way; she ate and no longer looked despondent.

misunderstood at the temple

It didn’t seem like things were going to go well with Hannah at the temple. Even the priest misunderstood her praying, assuming that she was drunk. But instead of running away in tears, she stood up for the truth. She left the temple that day with new courage and resolve. She knew she had finally been heard.

May we have the courage to keep praying until we know an answer has come.

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Elkanah’s love

Posted on February 25, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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Elkanah’s love

1 Samuel 1:1-8 (JDV)

1 Samuel 1:1 There was a man from Ramathaim-tsofim in the hill country of Ephraim. His name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
1 Samuel 1:2 He had two wives, one named Hannah and the second Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
1 Samuel 1:3 This man would go up from his town every year to worship and to sacrifice to Yahveh of Armies at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were Yahveh’s priests.
1 Samuel 1:4 Whenever Elkanah offered a sacrifice, he always gave portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to each of her sons and daughters.
1 Samuel 1:5 But he gave a double portion to Hannah because he cared for her even though Yahveh had kept her from conceiving.
1 Samuel 1:6 Her rival would taunt her severely just to provoke her because Yahveh had kept Hannah from conceiving.
1 Samuel 1:7 Year after year, when she went up to Yahveh’s house, her rival taunted her in this way. Hannah would weep and would not eat.
1 Samuel 1:8 “Hannah, why are you crying?” her husband Elkanah would ask. “Why won’t you eat? Why are you troubled? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”

Elkanah’s love

Elkanah was fair to both of his wives, but he was compassionate to Hannah because of her distress. As believers, we should be fair to all, but we should show Elkanah’s love to the less fortunate. There are many around us who will give us an opportunity to show that kind of love. We should thank the LORD for that gift.

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promise and context

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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promise and context

Amos 9:1-15 (JDV)

Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: Hit the capitals of the pillars so that the thresholds shake; knock them down on the heads of all the people. Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape.
Amos 9:2 If they dig down to Sheol, from there my hand will take them; if they climb up to the sky,1 from there I will bring them down.
Amos 9:3 If they hide on the top of Carmel, from there I will track them down and seize them; if they conceal themselves from my sight on the sea floor, from there I will command the sea snake to bite them.
Amos 9:4 And if they are driven by their enemies into captivity, from there I will command the sword to kill them. I will keep my eye on them for harm and not for good.
Amos 9:5 Yahveh, the God of Armies – he touches the land; it melts, and all who live in it mourn; all of it rises like the Nile and subsides like the Nile of Egypt.
Amos 9:6 He builds his upper chambers in the sky and lays the foundation of his vault on the land. He summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the land. Yahveh is his name.
Amos 9:7 Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to me? This is Yahveh’s declaration. Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Arameans from Kir?
Amos 9:8 Notice, the eyes of the Lord Yahveh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will obliterate it from the face of the land. However, I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob — this is Yahveh’s declaration —
Amos 9:9 Notice, because I am about to give the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as one shakes a sieve, but not a pebble will fall to the ground.
Amos 9:10 All the sinners among my people who say: “Disaster will never overtake or confront us,” will die by the sword.
Amos 9:11 In that day I will restore the fallen shelter of David: I will repair its gaps, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old,
Amos 9:12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name — this is the declaration of Yahveh; he will do this.
Amos 9:13 Notice, the days are coming– this is Yahveh’s declaration– when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the one who treads grapes, the sower of seed. The mountains will drip with sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it.
Amos 9:14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel. They will rebuild and live in ruined cities, plant vineyards and drink their wine, make gardens and eat their produce.
Amos 9:15 I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them. Yahveh your God has spoken.

promise and context

The good news that the LORD is going to rebuild Israel comes in the context of the bad news that it is the LORD who is orchestrating their destruction. The sinners among his people are so sure of their secure position and the support of their political alliances that they boast “Disaster shall not overtake or meet us.” But the LORD has a sword with their name on it. The prophets remind us that our Lord’s mercy and grace comes in the context of his own severe justice.

LORD, forgive us for placing confidence in confidence itself. We run to you for cleansing and forgiveness. repair our ruins, and begin with the ruins of our hearts.

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a revelation famine

Posted on February 23, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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a revelation famine

Amos 8:1-14 (JDV)

Amos 8:1 The Lord Yahveh showed me this: I noticed a basket of summer fruit.
Amos 8:2 He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” Yahveh said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them.
Amos 8:3 On that day the temple songs will become yelling”1 – this is the Lord Yahveh’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!”
Amos 8:4 Listen to this, you who are trampling on the needy and doing away with the poor of the land,
Amos 8:5 asking, “When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure while increasing the price and cheat with dishonest scales.
Amos 8:6 We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the chaff!”
Amos 8:7 Yahveh has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds.
Amos 8:8 Because of this, won’t the land quake and all who live in it mourn? All of it will rise like the Nile; it will surge and then subside like the Nile in Egypt.
Amos 8:9 And in that day — this is the declaration of the Lord Yahveh — I will make the sun go down at noon; I will darken the land in the daytime.
Amos 8:10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lament; I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth and every head to be shaved. I will make that grief like mourning for an only son and its outcome like a bitter day.
Amos 8:11 Notice, the days are coming– this is the declaration of The Lord Yahveh – when I will send a famine through the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahveh.
Amos 8:12 People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east seeking the word of Yahveh, but they will not find it.
Amos 8:13 In that day the beautiful young women, the young men also, will faint from thirst.
Amos 8:14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” or, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives” — they will fall, never to rise again.

a revelation famine

The people were fed up with Amos’ words of doom and Amaziah voiced their frustration. He told Amos to go back to Judah and prophesy there. They had had enough of his negative thoughts, and predictions of despair and disaster. Amos turned their request against them. He told them that since they were tired of God’s message – God was going to send them one more disaster in addition to all the others. They would have a revelation famine. They would search for a word from God but not find it.

LORD, give us wisdom to pay attention to your word, especially when it convicts us of wrong.

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Amaziah’s sin

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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Amaziah’s sin

Amos 7:10-17 (JDV)

Amos 7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words,
Amos 7:11 for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.'”
Amos 7:12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Walk off, you “seer!” Go through to the land of Judah. Eat your bread and give your prophecies there,
Amos 7:13 but don’t ever prophesy at Bethel again, because it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”
Amos 7:14 So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was not a prophet or the son of a prophet; instead, I was a herdsman, and I took care of sycamore figs.
Amos 7:15 But Yahveh took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'”
Amos 7:16 Now hear the word of Yahveh. You say: Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.
Amos 7:17 Therefore, this is what Yahveh is saying: Your wife will be a prostitute in the city, your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided up with a measuring line. You yourself will die on pagan soil, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.

Amaziah’s sin

Amaziah thought that he had dealt shrewdly with his opponent — that prophet with his negative words. He sought government approval to send Amos away to prophesy to neighboring Judah. Problem solved. But then Amos predicts that misery and death will come to that priest as well.

Jesus taught his disciples not to turn on each other, but to welcome one another as equals. He set a child at his side and told them that whoever welcomes this child, welcomes him. We are not helping ourselves when we turn against our brothers and sisters. We are committing Amaziah’s sin.

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not out of options

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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not out of options

Amos 7:1-9 (JDV)

Amos 7:1 The Lord Yahveh showed me this: I noticed as he was forming a swarm of locusts when the spring crop first began to sprout– after the cutting of the king’s hay.
Amos 7:2 When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “the Lord Yahveh, please forgive! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”
Amos 7:3 Yahveh relented concerning this. “It will not happen,” he said.
Amos 7:4 The Lord Yahveh showed me this: I noticed as The Lord Yahveh was calling for a judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
Amos 7:5 Then I said, “Lord Yahveh, please stop! How will Jacob survive since he is so small?”
Amos 7:6 Yahveh relented concerning this. “This will not happen either,” said the Lord Yahveh.
Amos 7:7 He showed me this: I noticed as Yahveh was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in his hand.
Amos 7:8 Yahveh asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” I replied, “A plumb line.” Then Yahveh said, “Notice, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will no longer spare them:
Amos 7:9 Isaac’s high places will be deserted, and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins; I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.”

not out of options

God has many ways he can punish rebellious and disobedient people. If he relents here and there because of his great grace and compassion, it doesn’t mean we get off entirely. He will not be mocked. If his people refuse to repent of their sins, he will address that failure.

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first in exile

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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first in exile

Amos 6:1-14 (JDV)

Amos 6:1 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria – the notable people in this first1 of the nations, those the house of Israel comes to.
Amos 6:2 Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?
Amos 6:3 You dismiss any thought of the evil day and bring in a reign of violence.
Amos 6:4 They lie on beds of ivory, sprawled out on their couches, and dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
Amos 6:5 They improvise songs to the sound of the harp and invent their own musical instruments like David.
Amos 6:6 They drink wine by the bowlful and anoint themselves with the first oils but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
Amos 6:7 Therefore, they will now go into exile as the first of the captives, and the feasting of those who sprawl out will come to an end.
Amos 6:8 The Lord Yahveh has sworn with his throat – this is the declaration of Yahveh, the God of Armies: I loathe Jacob’s pride and hate his fortified buildings, so I will hand over the city and everything in it.
Amos 6:9 And if there are ten men left in one house, they will die.
Amos 6:10 A close relative and next of kin will remove his corpse from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, “Any more with you?” That person will reply, “None.” Then he will say, “Silence, because Yahveh’s name must not be invoked.”
Amos 6:11 Notice, because Yahveh commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.
Amos 6:12 Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does anyone plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood —
Amos 6:13 you who rejoice over Lo-debar and say, “Didn’t we capture Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?”
Amos 6:14 But notice, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel — this is the declaration of Yahveh, the God of Armies– and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.

first in exile

Amos spoke out against the elite of his people. They considered themselves the best people of the first nation. They spent their time in idle pursuits and luxurious living. Their pride kept them from even mentioning the name of the LORD. Their land had become a place of rocks, where the horses could not run, and the oxen could not plow – yet they refused to soften their hearts toward the LORD. They would be the first nation to go into exile.

LORD, forgive us for our pride. Draw us to yourself in humility because our lives depend on it.

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darkness rather than light

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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darkness rather than light

Amos 5:18-27 (JDV)

Amos 5:18 Woe to you who want the day of Yahveh! What will the day of Yahveh be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:19 It will be like a man who escapes from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him.
Amos 5:20 Won’t the day of Yahveh be darkness rather than light, and gloomy without any brightness in it?
Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
Amos 5:22 Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.
Amos 5:23 Take away from me the uproar of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Amos 5:24 But let justice flow like water, and fairness, like an unfailing stream.
Amos 5:25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the open country?
Amos 5:26 But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves.
Amos 5:27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” Yahveh, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.

darkness rather than light

The inhabitants of Israel were on their way to destruction, singing and celebrating all the way. The LORD told them through Amos that he hated their feasts and “worship.” It did not matter how religious they were, or how openly spiritual. They kept saying that they were looking forward to the day of Yahveh, but God told them that his day would bring darkness, not light.

Forgive us, LORD, for being openly spiritual, yet inwardly selfish. Transform us by your word through the power of your Holy Spirit. You sent your Son to die for our sins. teach us how to die to them.

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homes and vineyards

Posted on February 18, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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homes and vineyards

Amos 5:1-17 (JDV)

Amos 5:1 Listen to this word that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel:
Amos 5:2 She has fallen; Virgin Israel will never rise again. She lies abandoned on her land with no one to raise her up.
Amos 5:3 You see, the Lord Yahveh says: The city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left, and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left in the house of Israel.
Amos 5:4 Since Yahveh says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live!
Amos 5:5 Do not seek Bethel or go to Gilgal or journey to Beer-sheba, for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will cease to exist.
Amos 5:6 Seek Yahveh and live, or he will spread like fire throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.
Amos 5:7 Those who turn justice into wormwood also throw righteousness to the ground.
Amos 5:8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the water of the sea and pours it out over the surface of the land – Yahveh is his name.
Amos 5:9 He brings a destructive storm on the strong, and it falls on the fortress.
Amos 5:10 They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate, and they despise the one who speaks with integrity.
Amos 5:11 Because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, that is why you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.
Amos 5:12 Since I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the city gates.
Amos 5:13 Therefore, those who have insight will stay silent at such a time, for the days are evil.
Amos 5:14 Pursue good and not evil so that you may live, and Yahveh, the God of Armies, will be with you as you have claimed.
Amos 5:15 Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the city gate. Perhaps Yahveh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Amos 5:16 Therefore Yahveh, the God of Armies, Yahveh, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares; they will cry out in anguish in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn, and professional mourners to wail.
Amos 5:17 There will be wailing in all the vineyards, because I will pass among you. Yahveh has spoken.

homes and vineyards

God’s people were priding themselves in their homes and vineyards, and not in Him. He says he is going to pass among them, and there will be wailing because those homes will become unoccupied, and there will be wailing in the vineyards.

Judgment is coming.

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