Toongabbie Baptist Church

1 Samuel 15:10-29 (10) Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: (11) “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. (12) Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” (13) When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” (14) But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” (15) Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” (16) “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied. (17) Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. (18) And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” (20) “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. (21) The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” (22) But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (23) For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” (24) Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. (25) Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” (26) But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” (27) As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. (28) Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. (29) He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

1 Samuel 8:1-22 (1) When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel’s leaders. (2) The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba. (3) But his sons did not follow his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice. (4) So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. (5) They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (6) But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. (7) And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. (8) As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. (9) Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” (10) Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. (11) He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. (12) Some he will assign to be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. (13) He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. (14) He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants. (15) He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants. (16) Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use. (17) He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves. (18) When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” (19) But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. (20) Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” (21) When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord. (22) The Lord answered, “Listen to them and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the Israelites, “Everyone go back to your own town.”

1 Samuel 4:1-11 (1) Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. (2) The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. (3) When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” (4) So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (5) When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. (6) Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?” When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, (7) the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. (8) We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. (9) Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!” (10) So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. (11) The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

1 Samuel 2:12-26 (12) Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. (13) Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled (14) and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. (15) But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” (16) If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.” (17) This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. (18) But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. (19) Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. (20) Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home. (21) And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord. (22) Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. (23) So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. (24) No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. (25) If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death. (26) And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.

1 Samuel 1 (1) There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. (2) He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. (3) Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the Lord Almighty at Shiloh, where Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were priests of the Lord. (4) Whenever the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he would give portions of the meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters. (5) But to Hannah he gave a double portion because he loved her, and the Lord had closed her womb. (6) Because the Lord had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. (7) This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the Lord, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. (8) Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” (9) Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s house. (10) In her deep anguish Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. (11) And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” (12) As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. (13) Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk (14) and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” (15) “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. (16) Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” (17) Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” (18) She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. (19) Early the next morning they arose and worshiped before the Lord and then went back to their home at Ramah. Elkanah made love to his wife Hannah, and the Lord remembered her. (20) So in the course of time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the Lord for him.” (21) When her husband Elkanah went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, (22) Hannah did not go. She said to her husband, “After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord, and he will live there always.” (23) “Do what seems best to you,” her husband Elkanah told her. “Stay here until you have weaned him; only may the Lord make good his word.” So the woman stayed at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him. (24) After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. (25) When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, (26) and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord. As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. (27) I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. (28) So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.