I thank Steven Walker, Richard Dilworth Rust, Rex Cooper, and Fred Woods for their helpful comments on prior drafts of this article. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. . In biblical Hebrew, shael has a double meaning: to request and to lend. . . The story of the anointing, however, has no story of accession to complete it; instead, there is the account of Sauls victory over the Ammonites. Genealogy.15 Consistent with the convention of genealogies throughout the Hebrew Bible, the brief genealogy that launches the story of Samuels birth identifies Samuels ancestors as Ephraimites,16 distinguishes the account from the long but unremarkable reign of the judges, and introduces the auspicious but problematic reign of the kings in ancient Israel. (2:2736; 3:1118). All authors, even documentary historians, exercise considerable latitude in crafting their literary creations. Samuel Gompers (January 27, 1850 December 13, 1924) was a key American labor union leader who founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and served as its president for nearly four decades, from 1886 to 1894, and from 1895 until his death in 1924. 47. Robert Longley. The intentionality of the narrators contrast between Eli and Hannah, introduced earlier, is further developed in the pejorative allusions to Belial51 and the editorial comment employing the verb yada (knew). And she said, O my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, Iam the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. Parallelism is a general literary convention that links together different parts of the biblical text in a variety of customary and meaningful ways. But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. Therefore, it is important to utilize available data to further research and understand the risk factors for preterm death. There must have been some reason why Samuel was important enough to be remembered for a major role in the establishment of the monarchy. 78. In contrast with the introduction, which consists almost entirely of expository narrative, the second segment is filled almost entirely with dialogue.23. Born in Virginia on March 2, 1793, Houston moved to Tennessee with his mother and eight siblings after his father died when he was 13. His maternal grandfather who at first raised him was racist, misogynistic, and altogether abusive. Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, gada is used in reference to felling trees, particularly groves devoted to the worship of pagan gods, or more generally to destroying anything of value as a consequence of wickedness and as a sign of Gods displeasure (for example, Deuteronomy 7:5; Judges 21:6; 2 Chronicles 14:3; 31:1; Psalms 75:10; 107:16; Isaiah 9:10; 14:12; 15:2; 22:25; 45:2; Jeremiah 48:25; 50:23; Ezekiel 6:6). WebThe birth of Samuel was of great significance as it was a sign that Hannah's prayers had been answered. Steven L. Olsen received a bachelors from BYU and a masters degree and PhD from the University of Chicago. For one, A full gift of her son means not conveying him to the House of the Lord while he still requires his mother, lest he be a burden there; and perfect fulfillment [of her vow] implies not bringing him to the sanctuary so long as it is impossible to leave him there forever, lest she appear to be violating her vow.44 Therefore, the narrators insertion of the seemingly innocuous exchange between Samuels parents in verses2223. Had Samuels prophecy simply imitated the prior condemnation, he could be seen as more of a copycat than an authentic prophet.61. If the author of 1Samuel13 drew conscious connections with the stories of holy men and women of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, then he must have had prior knowledge of and access to them. Regarding the poetic qualities of Hannahs song, see McCarter, ISamuel, 6776. to set them among the princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lords, and he hath set the world upon them. "Great is the reverence due to children." On the other hand, focused perspectives, which Alter collectively calls dialogue, reveal individual character, illustrate social roles and relationships, and detail specific events and their meaningful consequences. When he became an adult, Samuel inspired Israel to a great victory over the Philistines at Ebenezer (chapter 7). The Lord . See also Allen Verhey, Remember, Remembrance, in Freedman, Anchor Bible Dictionary, 5:66769; McCarter, ISamuel, 62 n.19; Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Zakhor: Jewish History and Jewish Memory (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1996), 526; and Alter, Moses, 385 n.3. James Limburg, Psalms, Book of, in The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. Once additional characters enter the story, readers become aware of its first type scene: the barren wife. Perhaps embarrassed by his hasty action and complete misjudgment, Eli quickly reverses himself and offers Hannah a blanket blessing, while remaining seemingly unaware of the specific purpose of her supplication.26. In his extended analysis of the annunciation type scene in the Hebrew Bible, Simon, Prophetic Narratives, 49, acknowledges the persistent tension between pattern and variation: The pattern that is common to all the stories that belong to a particular genre is sufficiently flexible and varied to allow both full development of the unique nature of every one-time human event as well as variegated rich development of the alternate possibilities latent in the common basic situation. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord revealed unto him. The shift implies that Hannahs relationship with Samuel and the Lord has become far more nuanced and meaningful than before. So the woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. Gender: Female. And he rose and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for thou didst call me. McCarter observes, In certain cases it is clear that the raised horn refers specifically to progeny, hence the possible allusion to Hannah and her firstborn.48. WebThe birth and dedication of Samuel. 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. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. Hannahs song of exultation on an auspicious occasion elicits positive comparison with Moses, Miriam, and David in the Hebrew Bible (Exodus 15, Deuteronomy 3132, 2 Samuel 22) and Zacharias, Mary, and Simeon in the Christian Bible (Luke 12).50, And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. 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. While this general biblical pattern exhibits innumerable complexities, variations, nuances, and ambiguities, its consistency spans centuries of the recorded dealings of JHWH with covenant Israel.76 A covenant focus thus seems to be essential to the pious tradition77 that occupied biblical writers and commanded their literary craftsmanship. It is quite unlikely that either the powers of the king or the prerogatives of the priest were as closely defined as this in the early period. For the entirety of his childhood, Bundy was unaware that his sister was actually his mother. 65. And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. WebHe is the fifth of nine children born to Major Samuel and Elizabeth (Paxton) Houston. The phrase were there identifies only that they are present at the temple, not that they are functioning worthily. PTSD symptoms can include: Frequent nightmares. The text never has him interact directly with any of Hannahs children, and he speaks with Hannah only when her devotional actions disrupt his traditional ritual routine. Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. Characterization: Prophet of God. From a structural perspective, the song is not only an appropriate expression of personal gratitude for Hannahs heavenly blessing but also a crucial narrative bridge between the initial fulfillment of her vow and the Lords repeated faithful response. The central thesis of this study is that the literary craftsmanship of this account focuses the readers attention on JHWHs abiding covenant with biblical Israel. . David Pellauer (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), xi. They were not divided into two books until the Old Testament was translated into Greek. Literary scholars generally recognize that biblical writers developed their characters in fundamentally different ways than most modern writers. and why eatest thou not? The patriarchal focus of the introduction is really a Hebrew convention that gives the larger account of Samuel a measure of cultural legitimacy.18. . The key points relevant to the present study are that (1)type scenes are a common literary convention of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, (2)1Samuel 13 shows abundant evidence of the likely intentional use of this convention, and (3)type scenes enhance considerably the spiritual significance of the Samuel account. WebBirth and Calling of the Prophet Samuel ' - 11 The present study focuses on several recurrent literary conventions that so thoroughly unite the biblical account of Samuels birth and divine calling that its craftsmanship aptly serves as a vehicle of its meaning. Few individual verses in the entire Hebrew Bible use waw more frequently.36 Based on its construction, this verse properly reads as a compounding sequence of increasingly significant events, culminating in Gods remembering Hannah, in the covenant sense described above. Type Scene: Barren Wife. In the Samuel story, the narrator uses the verb amen, translated establish, in order to prefigure Samuels auspicious priestly career in the voice of his faithful fatheronly the Lord establish his word (1:23)and to launch Samuels public ministry at the storys climax: And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. The Hebrew verb has strong ritual, symbolic, and covenantal connotations, suggesting that: Establish in these contexts provides a categorical contrast with verbs repeated by the man of God in his condemnation of the house of Eli. Structuring Devices: Exposition.The first seven verses of the introduction consist of what Alter calls narrativedescriptive details that locate the story within the broader temporal, spatial, social, and spiritual context of biblical Israel. International Standard Version The LORD took note of Hannah, and she became pregnant and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Moreover, metabolic dysfunction may be inherited into the following generation through non-genomic mechanisms, with epigenetics as a plausible candidate. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lords people to transgress.57, Leitwrter: know and lie with. Within the context of the Samuel narrative, these verbs repeatedly indict Elis sons. For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him: Therefore also I have lent him to the Lord; as long as he liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. Zakhor carries strong connotations of spiritual identity and covenant commitment, not simply cognitive awareness.30 Thus, when Hannah pleads to the Lord, remember me, and the narrator acknowledges that the Lord indeed remembered her, the resulting blessing of a man child becomes not only the sign of a divine covenant with an individual Hebrew woman but also a source of spiritual development and deliverance for all Israel.31. In short, this study adopts the perspective of the eminent historian Alan Heimert: To discover the meaning of any utterance demands what is in substance a continuing act of literary interpretation, for the language with which an idea is presented, and the imaginative universe by which it is surrounded, often tell us more of an authors meaning and intention than his declarative propositions.5 While it may not be possible to determine with complete certainty the authors specific purposes for crafting this account, there is great value in making an attempt.6 To this end, the present literary analysis of 1 Samuel 13 is based on the following general premises.7. 60. Shakab contrasts dramatically with yada and connotes physical, temporary, and profane sexual liaisons, undertaken without spiritual purpose, covenant bond, or sacred devotion.58, Leitwrter: remembered and visited. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread (2:5) anticipates Gods curse of Elis house, discussed below, in part because Elis sons and perhaps Eli himself had abused the sacrificial offering to satisfy their gluttony. But the same phrase also is used to announce prophecy, and vision is a prophetic term: the whole episode concerns the transition from priestly to prophetic authority.64 In short, Alter implies that the man of God acts as an oracle in relation to the priest, since the priest himself has lost the traditional gift of oracle through abuse and neglect. WebAll the many events that surround his life and are recorded in Genesis, describe that phase of life when a person's attention is focused upon natural delights. The catalytic event of this narrativeHannahs vow and the Lords favorable responsebegins and ends with the verb zakhor, translated remember. The text expresses this commitment in two complementary ways. See Alter, Art, 6387. Given the customary role for dialogue in biblical Hebrew, it is entirely appropriate that the second half of the Samuel story (2:274:1a) is recounted almost exclusively in dialogue. The account of Samuels divine calling concludes using hearing and seeing as metaphors of increased spiritual capacity: And Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. The same verb also concludes the narrative, signaling the enduring covenant between Samuel and the Lord, on the one hand, and between Samuel and Gods covenant people, on the other: And all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. However, nearly every specific detail of introductio (19-20) Samuels miraculous conception and his birth. Insightful analyses of the lives of these three exemplary women are found in Sternberg, Poetics, 13152 (Rebekah); and Alter, Art, 512 (Tamar) and 5860 (Ruth). David E. Green, 15vols. The first specific action in the Samuel story has Elkanah sharing with Hannah a worthy portion of the offering. There are also two different accounts of the rejection of Saul by Samuel. The man of God begins his condemnation with the terse authoritative declaration, Thus saith the Lord. He then repeats verbatim every word of the divine message, including the repeated use of first person singular pronouns, as though he speaks precisely in the place of the Lord. JPS Tanakh 1917 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. 35. 23. 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