Hannah’s Poem and Power Reversals • Firstborn E6

[Music] We've been tracing the theme of the Firstborn in the storyline of the Bible It's a theme about power it's a theme About how God chooses to work with the Least likely people in today's episode We'll continue this theme in the scroll Of Samuel where we'll find two rival Wives they're not siblings but they're Pitted against each other in a very Similar way and we'll focus in on Hannah She's the favored wife of her husband But she's unable to have a child and so She makes a promise to God if God will Bless her with the sun she will give her Firstborn son back to serve God now this Should remind us of Abraham and how God Asked of Abraham to surrender his Firstborn son Isaac as a test and in the Story of Hannah she's promising to pass The test even before God gives her a Summary The Twist here is God had to Force the surrender of Abraham's son Isaac here she's so amazing she could Respond a lot of ways here and what she Immediately does is she goes to the tent And she surrenders her life her future Her fortunes and says even if you give Me a son I will surrender him to you so She's like Abraham when he finally Passed the test God gives Hannah a child But she sings a poem in celebration a Poem about how God loves to choose the Lowly and then as promised Hannah gives

Samuel over to work in the Tabernacle But it turns out that the priest in Charge Eli he's been turning a blind eye To his corrupt Sons note here the story Of this oppressed woman in pain and this Story of this enfranchised but lazy and Self-indulgent priest and his sons they Live out exactly the inversion that Anna's poem talks about but it's also Really at the heart of God's desire to Exalt the humble and to bring down the High and mighty and that's how Yahweh Establishes the pillars order of the World such a powerful thing to meditate On the downfall of Eli and his sons is a Tragic story because they're from the Tribe of Levi who are an early example Of God raising up a group of people who Are the latecomers and giving them power And responsibility the story of Eli and His sons shows us that when God chooses People he still gives them a choice and This is a real tension that weaves Throughout the biblical story of Yahweh Giving genuine agency to his partners And when they really blow it man you can Really really blow it and Yahweh will Hand people over to the consequences yet At the same time Yahweh won't withdraw His long-term Covenant promises and Purposes but people can't exclude Themselves from participating in the Fulfillment of those purposes today Tim Mackey and I talk about about Israel's

Priests the boldness of Hannah and the Raising up of Samuel to serve as a Priest and judge over Israel I'm John Collins and you're listening to Bible Project podcast thanks for joining us Here we go Hey Tim Hey John hi here we are doing our thing Doing our thing which the thing now Right now in this moment is a theme We're calling the firstborn yes though As we've explored it it's broader than Just stories about firstborn Sons But The Core theme is about the Persistent pattern that God has in Choosing favoring blessing Somebody who doesn't seem to deserve it And elevating them to a place of Prominence leadership Or yeah it's often called the status or The right of the firstborn for example All of humanity that's exactly right the Firstborn of Creation in that sense Well actually no not the firstborn Actually the later born the last the Last born forgive me the last born of Creation in in the seven day Narrative Of Genesis one and dirt creatures who God says you're going to rule the skies And the land well rule the land and the Creatures up in the scalp in the sky Yeah and the creatures in the sea and That the Elohim the host of Heaven they Were created first and they seem a

Little bit more important yeah certainly More glorious more glorious yeah more Powerful yep so that theme continues as Then God continues to select Someone the late Comer the second born The and it makes sense you know the Story of selecting all of humanity to be His image awesome But then he continues to select humans From among all the humans and that's Connected to this theme of that through A seed of the woman through one line of Humanity God is going to raise up a Messiah yeah that's right which by Definition can only come through one Genealogical lineage yeah yeah so we're Tracing a lineage from which this snake Crushing Messiah is going to come and so Who's God going to pick Is he going to give the inheritance and The blessing from which this lineage Will come from to the powerful to the First or not and what we've seen as We've gone through the whole Torah now Is that the theme is that God chooses The late cover the second born or the One of lower status the one of the weak One yeah yeah and this theme isn't so Simple as God chooses the lower one they Turn out to be great even though they're Not the most powerful no they often Times are the biggest problem like Jacob And God needs to deal with them yeah so The first version is the problematic

Elder sibling who doesn't get picked Okay that's the Kane pattern the Jacob Pattern is the younger one who gets Elevated and chosen is actually like a Chump and like not a very good person Yeah but then there's also Somebody who's not the firstborn but They're also not the chosen one but they Want to be and so they do something you Know terrible to grab at that status and That's the ham pattern from Genesis 9. So we've got all these variations that Start to happen as each generation goes Forward yeah so in a way this theme is Just really riffing on the relationship That siblings have with each other when One is going to be selected out to carry On some sort of special vocation and Mission and so in a way then it's a way To just to think about just The Human Condition and how we deal with each Other when there's status issues and Then also the fact that all of humanity Is in some ways Distant Brothers yeah And so every like rivalry between Clans Is some sort of sibling rivalry yep yeah Every rivalry certainly in the Bible Yeah without Nations and people groups Which is actually the case too just in a More genetically complicated way you Know that now the The genetic record can show us but the Basic intuition is actually true That we are we are all related I'm

Thinking back to our conversations with Joshua Swami Das about the genealogical Adam and Eve that was the interview we Did a couple years ago yeah so I still Think about that conversation so that's The theme that we're tracing and we in The last episode got up through Essentially The Sibling sets and the Stories of these rivalries in the Torah Yeah ending with Aaron's sons yeah and Well ending with talking about Moses and Aaron yep Israel as the firstborn yeah Over Egypt yeah yeah and then Aaron's Sons and and their kind of birth order And the dynamic between them yeah there We go so that's where we've been where We're gonna go in this conversation is Touchdown at just a couple spots we Could session the prophets for a long Time And I guess I'm gonna Force us to just Condense it into one conversation famous Last words but the story of Hannah and The birth of Samuel at the beginning of The Samuel scroll is a fascinating Creative Twist on all of these twists And that's deeply connected to the story That will lead to the rise of David Because Samuel will be picked to go Anoint Israel's second king but as far As God's concerned it's their first real King who will do what God desires and Those two stories Have this inversion of the firstborn and

God's elevation of the unexpected one Like that's the heart of these two Stories and it sets the pattern Or continues the pattern will get Carried on into the writing prophets About their expectation of the coming Snake Crusher who will Be in a similar Samuel and David like And Moses like kind of figure Okay let's get into it sweet [Music] Thank you Foreign [Music] So this is the story I don't think we've Ever read aloud and meditated on I'm so Excited yeah it's one of my favorite Stories in the Hebrew Bible oh cool love This so we are at the beginning of the Samuel scroll Israel has crossed into the land that's Joshua and when we get into Joshua we Get into the section of the Bible called The prophets and we call it the former Prophets and the latter prophets yeah so Yeah we're in the former part of it yeah There's four collections in each parts Of the prophets the former prophets it's Four Scrolls Joshua Judges Samuel Kings Well the last two were too long for one Scroll so that they got divided so it's Like six girls but as four literary Works but they're all United Joshua Gentle Samuel Kings and then there's

Four collections of the writing prophets Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel and then the Twelve Scroll of The Twelve okay shorter Profit so four former prophets four Ladder profits okay yep and so we're Right in the middle-ish of the former Prophets correct yeah and the Joshua Scroll Israelites went in to the Promised land they were met with great Hostility by all kinds of tribes of Mostly Canaanites and God enabled them To overcome their enemies rescued them From destruction so they could settle in The land judges is about this continued Cycle a melody of Israel turning away From God giving their allegiance to Other gods and raising God raises up Little mini Moses to deliver the people For a period until they give their Allegiance to other gods again So when we come to the Samuels scroll We're coming right out of judges which Is essentially a period of moral and Religious disorder among Israel and so There was just a Civil War at the end of Judges that nearly annihilated one of The tribes Benjamin You have lots of people who are giving Allegiance to lots of different deities But this story is going to begin with One family that has remained loyal to Yahweh and it's about their family story That's how Samuel begins Samuel begins In the setting of the judges period

Really correct yeah in a way that the Story begins with the birth of a figure Who is the last of the judges as it were He's actually named in that list of Israel's judges and it describes what he Does but Samuel represents a pivot Between tribal leaders that God raises Up like Moses you know spontaneously That's what we mean by judges are these Like yeah tribal Chiefs tribal Chieftains yep that are empowered to Lead Israel for a temporary period of Time But what Samuel will be that he's the Last one of those and will he stands at The threshold of Israel transitioning Into a unified Federation of tribes Under one monarchy a king over all the Tribes Which is kind of like a tribal Chieftain But more centralized more established Yeah and as Samuel warns them Texas There's a whole speech about the taxes Implied by uh yeah anyhow So that's kind of the setting here so This is the birth story of Samuel who's This figure at the threshold transition Figure now there was a guy Certain men From ramatayam sufim from the Hill Country of Ephraim that is Joseph the Son of Joseph so this is one of the sons Of Joseph Yep this is happening north of The city that will become Jerusalem but

Jerusalem hasn't even become the Central City yet the story this guy's name was El Cana which means L is passionate Is passionate yep L the passionate one God the passionate one or it could be L The Creator depending on what cannot Means or what you think it's from he's The son of yroham the son of Eli Hugh The son of tohu the son of zoof of the Tribe of Ephraim now he had two wives The name of one was Grace Or favor The name of the other was Coral Penina Which is the Hebrew word for coral Coral Like in the ocean yeah like coral reef Coral oh yeah wow yeah yep so favor and Coral yeah now penina Coral she had Children She had no children she's the favorite One We don't know that yet Well her name's Favor oh you're gonna turn out that She's the special one okay so we're Clearly in the realm of the theme of the Firstborn here totally yeah two wives Yep one's having children one's not so We're back here to Abraham's two wives Sarah and Hagar and then to Jacob's two Wives and that for sure like you'll see This story is modeled on both of those Sets of rival wives in Genesis so in This case yeah that's right so the name Of the wife with no child so Hannah is

Being likened to Sarah In the story and also likened to Rachel Who had no children the wives Who were both the favored wives but they Were both the favorite yeah the wives Now this man elkana would go up from his City every year to worship and sacrifice To Yahweh of hosts in Shiloh So you find out that the Tabernacle in The tent is located at this town Shiloh And that's where the liturgies and Worship of Yahweh is taking place at This town Oh you should also know that uh working In the tent there in Shiloh or the two Sons of Eli hoffney and finchas they Were priests to Yahweh there now the day Came when elkana would offer a sacrifice At this annual Feast he would give gifts To his family And he would give portions to penina his Wife and all her sons and her daughters But to Hana he gave the double portion Because he loved Hana But Yahweh had closed her womb So there's just every word here is like A glowing glowing hyperlink yeah one Wife who's favored given the double Portion which is what you give the Firstborn yes there's a lot in Deuteronomy that talks about if a guy Has two wives and he loves one more than The other He can't give the firstborn double

Portion To the son of the wife he loves if the Unloved wife has the actual first points Then okay but here he's not giving the Inheritance to a son no but he's just Giving yeah to the wife that he loves Yeah because she doesn't have it any Sense yeah so what's funny is he's not Actually doing what the law and Deuteronomy says you're supposed to do They're supposed to not do yeah what You're supposed to not do Is give the double portion which is the Right of the firstborn To somebody who's not the firstborn yeah So in this example if Hannah were to Have a kid later and elk and I was like Well that's my favorite wife so now That's my favorite kid right he's not Supposed to treat her kid like the Firstborn correct even though Scott does That all the time yeah so this guy Already has a firstborn son yeah through Coral but he doesn't give the double Portion to that son he gives it to his Wife uh so he is breaking the law yeah Yeah he's not doing what the law says so But he's so taken and so interesting is You would you have to really be familiar With this literature to even notice that Oh sure true but this phrase double Portion is not a very common idiom so it Just occurs in a few places but the law Is one of them yeah okay so what's

Interesting is the wife's name that he Loves is favor and he clearly is showing Favor to her but what's interesting is In their economy and their social Economy Having children is a sign of favor and So she appears to be the unfavored one In the eyes of the people but in the Eyes of elkana It's really interesting in a way Yahweh Is not showing her favor and here yeah Yahweh Yahweh closer is withholding yeah The favor of the fruit of the whim Number six now Hannah's rival he's not Even called by her name you just called This is yeah it's called her rival her Enemy my son uses this word rival yeah Oh wow to talk about like other kids on The playground I don't know where it Came from that's awesome and you've got It from reading the Bible her rival However would provoke her bitterly Irritating her because the Lord had Closed her womb uh so Coral's lacked Being a bad sport yeah throwing Jabs but You know also Hannah's getting the Double portion that's gotta irritator Too exactly yeah solid Point solid point But here it's because Yahweh closed the womb not because yeah She's getting favored yeah so just Notice we're just so clearly this is About two rival wives yeah who aren't Siblings but this is all the themes of

The firstborn rivalry that we've been Seeing all throughout the tour So it happened year after year you know When they would go up to the tent in That Feast as often as she went up to The house of the Lord She that is coral would provoke her that Is Hannah And so Hannah would just she would just Weep She wouldn't even want to eat and it's a Feast hmm And so elkana her sensitive husband Says Hana Why are you crying why don't you eat why Is there evil Badness to your heart Aren't I better than ten Sons for you Ten cents that's interesting and I'm Better to you than ten Sons what a chump It's just like that's a jumpy thing Lessons and what not to say To your grieving wife Yeah she's yeah she's grieving over the Fact that she can't have any children And her husband's like am I come on I'm Better but you got me Just Wow Wow can I Did get a clue So the sensitive comment because by the Way if you're not reading along it was Not in the text That was a jab that was sarcasm oh yeah

That was okay yeah that was sorry that Was yeah sarcasm what I meant to say was Her insensitive insensitive literally And that is what I meant not literally By using sarcasm verse nine then Hannah Rose after eating and drinking and Sheila and Eli the priest he was sitting By the door of the Temple of Yahweh but By the curtain in the doorpost And Hannah was just greatly distressed And so she's praying to Yahweh and Weeping bitterly And she made a vow Promised Yahweh of hosts she said if you will Look upon the oppression Of your slave your maidservant that's Interesting because that's Sarah Oppressed Hagar it's exactly the same Word it's the same word yes okay yep so What Sarah the favored wife who had no Children for Abraham This is what Sarah did to Hagar the Slave who did have Abraham's firstborn So here is a Twist on the theme it's Exactly we're used to twists and now It's the unfavored white no it's the Favored wife no it's not well she's kind Of favored and unfavored she's favored To her husband but it doesn't seem like Yahweh is showing her favor because she Hasn't had kids yet but that's the same Thing with Sarah yeah that's right so oh But she's the one okay that's a Twist

She's the one being oppressed instead of Being the one who's oppressing yes okay Yeah exactly right okay so she's like Sarah but also like Hagar yeah she's Both in just in different ways ooh this Is great this is what the Hebrew Bible Scholar yonatan Grossman he calls this Dynamic analogy in other words there's a Hyperlink that's comparing Character in one biblical story to an Earlier story but it's it's not just a One-for-one slot In other words a character can be linked To multiple characters in the previous Story so here she's both Sarah She doesn't have kids and she's like Hagar she's getting oppressed by a rival It's a good example of that yeah so she Says please do not forget Your servant but please give your Servant a son and if you do then I will Give him to Yahweh All the days of his life and no razor Will ever pass over his head in the Razor bit is that from the Nazarene vow Yep the Nazarite vow that's right yep And that's right was any Israelite Doesn't have to be from the tribe of Levi yeah but can take on themselves The Calling And Holiness and lifestyle of Israel's High priest I see so if God gives me a Son I will pass off the son to the Service of God as working like a high

Priest even though he's not from the Tribe of Levi yep that's right so what's Fascinating here is this is about if you Give me a firstborn I will surrender the Firstborn back to Yahweh And this is a theme as well yeah this is The Abraham and Isaac Theme right so they scheme to get a Firstborn son and oppressed the Egyptian Immigrant in the process and so what Yahweh asks for is give me that send Back and then Yahweh gives back what he Was going to take the life of the Sun By offering a substitute and then they So we should be anticipating okay we're Gonna have a story like that we're gonna Have a story where she's gonna get a son She's gonna give the sun over yeah yeah And then something special is gonna Happen yeah the twist here is God had to Force the surrender of Abraham's first Son Isaac here she's offering it from The beginning she's so amazing like she Could do she could respond a lot of ways Here yeah and what she immediately does Is she goes to the temple the tent And she surrenders her life her future Her fortunes and says even if you give Me a son I will surrender him to you so She's like Abraham now like Abraham when He finally passed the test yeah so she's Passing the test even before she didn't She didn't need to have a test because She's just I'll surrender at all or the

Test is the barrenness oh thank you Thank you that's exactly right yeah the Test is Yeah I think that's great that's exactly It two times we've been told Yahweh Closer will yeah that puts her in a very Difficult situation yeah and when and That's the theme of the test is this Awkward where like is God doing that to Be mean did he did he set this person up Just to be cruel and this is where we Talked about the theme of the test which Is about the intent the intent the Orchestrator of a test if you're trying To get someone to fail we call it a trap But if you are Giving someone the opportunity to grow In patience endurance in virtue and Loyalty Then the same scenario that looks the Same from the outside could actually be A test yeah that seems to be How The Story presents it which is maybe just to Name you know this is a very sensitive Topic for lots of men and women yeah you Know inability to have children it's Very painful yeah so there's both wisdom In the story but also I think it's Important to be sensitive and not try to Interpret especially for someone else That every difficult thing they've ever Gone through with Just a test it's just a yeah and God's Really generous it's really hard to feel

That way yeah when you're in the middle Of some of these scenarios and so it Takes discernment to know but the Narrator is telling us that's the Situation Hannah was in and this is how She responded with utter surrender yeah [Music] Thank you Foreign [Music] Was watching her mouth and Hannah she Was speaking in her heart So her lips were moving but her voice Was not heard and so Eli thought oh dude She's drunk Too much of that Tabernacle wine too Much So Eli said woman how long will you make Yourself drunk put away your wine and Hannah replied no no no I'm a woman oppressed in my spirit Oh what is this yeah Yeah oppressant spirit I haven't drunk Either wine or any alcohol here's what I Am doing I haven't poured out a drink For myself rather I am pouring out my Nephesh my very being before Yahweh Such a beautiful scene Don't take me for a worthless woman who Would like come into the temple trunk I have spoken out of my great concern And over all of this pain and Provocation that I'm in so Eli said go In Shalom May the god of Israel Grant

You Your request as you've asked him and she Said let your maidservant find Is the short name is the noun but it's Her name So let me Hana find hen in your eyes and She went away and her face was no longer Sad What's the story so the next sentence They Rose early in the morning they Worshiped and returned to their house in Rama and elkana knew His wife That's the hyperlink back to Adam and Eve Adam and Eve and the birth of Cain And Abel and the Lord remembered her This is exactly what happened to Rachel In the story of Jacob's two wives and Then she conceives and has a son And she names him shmuel because I Shmuel oh yeah shmuel shmuel it's shama Listen oh and L God oh God listens God Listens yeah and then she makes a word Play because I have sha'al asked Requested him from the Lord shmuel Listens because I have asked yeah I name Him schmuel because Yahweh is yeah So then what happens is she doesn't go Up to the annual sacrifice Because she spends this first couple Years just with her baby nursing and Caring for her baby but then when he Gets old enough I'm skipping down yeah what they do is

She finally when he's like a little boy She brings him up and they offer a bull As a sacrifice and they bring the boy And Khana sees Eli sitting there And she says oh you know my Lord as your Soul lives I'm the woman who stood here Years ago remember me remember me Praying you thought I was drunk yeah I Prayed for this boy and Yahweh gave me My request which I asked for and so now I am dedicating him to Yahweh this is Abraham Offering um Isaac he's she's Surrendering yeah and I dedicated him to Yahweh and as long as he lives he Belongs to Yahweh And you Worship the Lord there And then she sings a song it becomes a Straight up musical right now So rad yeah so first we're going to talk About her song because it's so awesome Yeah but let's just kind of register Where the story went and how this kind Of creates another twist about the story Of the firstborn yeah this is a story Where while it begins intention and Conflict the character the main Character here is just from the get-go Just like passing the test And then following through That feels like a new thing yeah sure Like every other story it's like there's So much scheming and there's so much

Yeah like rivalry that just gets so Hairy and knotted and like almost in Spite of everyone God comes through yep And here's one where it's like you get a Character who she's oppressed Like she's going through this test and She's just like flying colors Yeah it does yeah it's like she's like a Very saintly kind of picture here Totally Saint Hannah Saint Hannah Absolutely yeah she's impeccable like She is this model of both trusting in Yahweh Even when it feels like Yahweh is the One Who's withholding favor from me and That's truly the irony of her name even And then she says even if you were to Show me favor I would surrender that Thing that you gave to me to show me Favor Yeah she's like the opposite of Abraham And Sarah the opposite of Jacob and Leah And Rachel she's awesome what else can You say yeah and what's amazing is that It's this woman of low social standing And she's the one being exalted in the Narrative as this model of faith and Devotion to Yahweh that surely Part of the dynamic is she herself is Like the favored chosen one as a model Of devotion and Trust even though the Whole story is about how she's not Perceived as the favorable one by her

Community now what's interesting is as We've traced this theme so far it's Always been about who's going to carry On God's blessing in order to then be The lineage which then the Messiah comes Yeah exactly and this story is not about That not yet That's perfect tea for the poem okay That's what the poem's all about oh okay Well I mean just this I mean because Samuel is not that's right he's in the Line correct Messiah no that's right but He's going to anoint he will be the one To anoint David who becomes the lineage Yeah so what's cool is she becomes this Model Of trust And that trust ends up putting her and Her son in a role that will result in The lineage of the snake Crusher getting Kind of like kick-started again if it Were it's been kind of stalled out for a Couple Scrolls where's the line of Judah It's not that prominent in Joshua it is In a couple places where's the line of Judah and judges that's good kind of Here and there but Jude has kind of been On pause since the Torah and then it's The resurrection of that yeah Judah and The promise of the king from the line of Judah really becomes the focus in this Story of David and it's this woman and Her son that heard the crucial kind of Hint to kick start the theme again yeah

But to be favored here it isn't even Necessarily to be part of the lineage of The snake Crusher it's just to Aid the Lineage that's so cool yeah Okay so that's the story of Hannah which Just sets us up for how amazing her song Is okay so this is in first Samuel Chapter two and maybe let's just say Let's notice something think about the Narrative circumstances that she just Had yeah and then think about how the Narrative circumstances fit or doesn't Seem to quite fit with the poem okay And I'm not saying it doesn't fit but it Fits in a way that takes some adjusting Of your expectations all right then Hannah prayed and said my heart exalts In the Lord Exalt I don't use that word It means celebrate okay my heart Celebrates in Yahweh My horn Is lifted high in Yahweh and what's the Horn again you made a video about this I Made a video about a horn you and krissa Made one of our music yes Or Psalm 148 Yeah yeah so I'm 148. the horn referred To as that of a bull's horn yeah so it's Victory like when a ball lifts its horn In battle that just won yeah it's like Just gorgeous enemy something like that Or like knocked it down and so there's a

Symbolic lifting of the horn Victory It's victory okay yep it's the image of Victory so my heart is celebrating and My Horn is exalted I just got Vindicated Over against Coral who has a bunch of Children My mouth can now speak boldly against my Enemies because I rejoice in your Yeshua Your deliverance or rescue So she's depicting this as a moment to Stand up proud and all of her Rivals and Enemies plural yeah There is no one holy like Yahweh indeed There is no one besides you nor is there Any Rock like our god this is a lion That comes right out of two of the most Important poems in the Torah and the Song of Deliverance that the Israelites Sing After they rescue from the sea okay There is no one like you Yahweh no one Like you And then Moses's last poem in Deuteronomy 33 he talks about God as Being the rock like whom there is no one Else now here's Hannah affirming just Like God rescued Israel from the sea Against their enemies and just like God Brought Israel through the wilderness So now here she's making a similar Statement after she's she's identifying With the whole Legacy of redemption yeah That's right yeah yeah

So then she starts addressing her Enemies you should not boast so proudly In particular Banina what's her name coral Coral yeah Yeah so that's the one we know of that's Right totally but she's already talked About like she's got multiple she's been Like victorious in the arena against her Enemies you know so now she's got a lot Because in a way like all of societies Like looked down on her is that the idea Here yeah what we're gonna see is she Sees what just happened in her own Family story Of cosmic significance she's Interpreting and talking about it as if It's like this Cosmic Victory like Israel getting rescued from the sea and So it's great because it shows that her Imagination is shaped by The Melody of The biblical story so cool yeah you Might argue it's a little over dramatic So you should not bow so proudly you Should not let arrogance come out of Your mouth because Yahweh he's a God who Knows And with him Everyone's actions are being weighed Into balance The bows of the Mighty Warriors they get Shattered And it's the weak the feeble ones they Are the ones who are putting on strength Like armor

So there's our theme there it is there It is the bows of the mighty are Shattered the feeble entered on strength Yep she keeps going those who were full Now have to hire themselves out for Bread so you used to know where every Meal was coming from now you're going to Become a day laborer and you're not sure You know maybe you'll get some bread And even but those who have been hungry Their hunger will cease even the barren One will give birth to seven but the one With many children She will languish she's getting ahead of Herself here He just had your first one so that's a Good use of the number seven symbolic Seven fullness fullness yep complete Yeah So for her she does feel complete she Got the sun she wanted yeah notice this Really feels like how Jesus begins The Sermon on the Mount yeah those that Right the hungry those who hunger Foreign You know the meek or the unimportant Will inherit the land actually this is More like Jesus a sermon on the plane in Luke 6 where he provides the inversion Of all the Beatitudes so those who are Hungry will be filled but those who are Filled will go hungry so this whole You're saying that Jesus Beatitudes is a Riffing on the firstborn theme yeah or

It's a riffing of it's meditating on Yahweh's ways in the world yeah the Consistently identifies with the hungry And the weak and the oppressed and the One of low status And elevates them And those who are of high status their Status doesn't mean anything and so He'll bring down from a throne and he'll Well actually that's what you want but Notice so now all of a sudden the theme Of the firstborn where it's getting meta Yeah meta and we're just talking about How God works in the world in general so She goes on Yahweh Brings some down to death and makes Others alive He brings down to the Grave and he Raises up death and Resurrection that's Like the most extreme form Of Yahweh associating with the low and The oppressed that Yahweh would even Side with the dead over the against the Grave well Yahweh makes poor and he Makes wealthy He brings down low and he lifts up high He would even do this Yahweh would even Raise up the poor From the dust of the ground hmm The most desolate place yes lift up the Needy from the ash Heap and he would Enthrone them with Nobles So that they inherit think of firstborn

And inheritance that they are the ones Who inherit the seat of Honor okay let's Pause there so you get this whole string Of inversions And she's getting really Cosmic care Yeah So think of the different categories she Talks about Warriors so the bows of the Mighty are shattered but the weak Warrior that actually is strong Then you have food and then you have It's kind of like the turn the other Cheek kind of thing the weak Warrior oh Yeah that's right show your strength Yeah a posture weakness that's right yep So being full or hungry being Barren or Having many children death or life the Grave or Resurrection Poor and Rich Pour in the dust versus up high on the Throne so it's all these inversions and She's obstructing this is a meditation On what the stories All the cycles of the melody throughout The Torah and the prophets have been Teaching you but she does it here So rad man Yeah the upset this is kind of the for Me what was formative for how Jesus Consolidates all this together in what We start calling the upside down kingdom In the gospels but it's this idea yeah Yeah So she goes on she says the pillars of

The land belong to Yahweh he set the World on them yeah why bring up the Pillars by the way the pillars Are something That I think a lot of people aren't that Familiar with yeah the land itself sits On pillars yep yeah which then keep it Elevated from the chaos Waters right Like correct yeah just like a house or a Structure or a roof is set on pillars And so this is a metaphor For how the biblical authors imagine That the dry land is elevated atop of The chaos Waters And Yahweh is the one who makes those Pillars and keeps them firm in other Words they believe the dry land in all Order and life could at any moment be Totally overwhelmed by death and Disorder if God has created the Structure Yeah by which it exists so What's funny is this is funny a little Ironic kind of twist because you at First think how does this fit in yes We've got sort of all these conversions Yeah when you think of inversions you Think of upsetting order uh-huh strong Or weak and the Kings get humiliated and The poor become the rulers like that's Upsetting the world order Well maybe in a way like taking dry land And setting up on pillars to stand up Above the chaos Waters is also Disrupting hmm oh it's going against the

Forces of chaos yeah it's going as Forces of chaos yeah that's right and in Addition to that Think this little lion is talking about Yes Yahweh is the keeper of order but What if the way that he keeps order Is by upsetting human order I think yeah Yeah because it's all about inversion Subversion upside down Yahweh doing the Opposite of what humans think but Yahweh Is the one responsible for the order in The world what if his way of ordering is Having to disorder our distorted orders That's the idea okay yeah verse nine he Keeps the feet of his Godly ones that's A stability image But the wicked they are silenced in Darkness For it is not by strength that people Prevail [Music] [Music] Thank you [Music] Foreign She's feeling this in the moment she's Experiencing this moment yeah but look Around Hannah like that's not what's Going on everywhere you know yes like The wicked you know I bet she could like Just travel a couple miles in any Direction and find some scheming Manipulative Violent Men Like doing a Lemak thing and just being

Like look at me totally totally okay so This is what's so rad is this poem is Programmatic for the rest of the Samuel Scroll what she's giving you is the Program and her story has been set in Front as the template And the Bold audacious claim of her poem Is actually in reality The way a Yahweh works in the world is Like what he did for me And even this is audacious and that's How the world is ordered is by Yahweh Confronting human disorders So actually what she's about to say is This is how Yahweh actually really works In the world and if you have eyes to see It you'll start seeing it everywhere and Just think about what the Samuel Scrolls Gonna be about it's going to be about The rise of Israel's first king a guy Named Saul And then it's going to be about his slow Tragic downfall Because of his the slow Turning Away of His heart And so Yahweh raises him up And then he brings them down And then it's going to be about Yahweh Taking David Who's down in the dust of Love status and he raises him up and the Slow turning of David's heart And then he goes down And so really the whole Samuel scroll is A study of two kings hmm that both are

Exalted and both fall but in really Different ways and they embody what Hannah says about this poem good look at What she says next she says Those Who Contend with Yahweh will be shattered Against them he will Thunder in the Skies Yahweh is the judge of all the Ends of the land And he gives strength to his King and he Will exalt the Horn of his mashiach his Anointed one Then elkano went to his home the Rama And the boy stayed and served before Yahweh with the Eli the priest So there's going to be this rise and Fall of inversions that will finally Result She gets apocalyptic here I mean like Yeah because this is yeah this audacious That's a great word hope for how the Story the human story will come to Fulfillment is with God judging the Earth yeah with Justice yeah he is King With his strength and this Messiah being Victorious But that's not the reality on the ground She's experiencing that in some little Way yeah there's a little moment of Salvation yep yep and now it's getting Cosmic yeah she sees in her life Experience this plot Arc this Arc of a Story That she's like this is what Yahweh has Planned for the whole Cosmos it's like

The world is the venue of people in Their power games yeah but actually what Yahweh loves to do is to take the Powerless and put them in charge but you Know what even that can become a roller Coaster But ultimately there is coming a Day that is captured in this moment Which is the birth and the arrival of Yahweh's Chosen One And she paints a picture forward to Final Justice the arrival of a king who Will stand Victorious over the Nations You're just like Whoa man Hannah the Poet Whoa man that's from uh Woman yeah Whoa man that's right thank You Mike Myers Um this poem has it all man you know I Said we were gonna talk about the story Of David and then yeah but no no we need To we need to stay here so you want to Know it's super awesome so okay what Happens to Samuel is born yeah and all Of a sudden Samuel is compared to the Two sons of Eli okay and there so they Have a rivalry they have a rivalry yeah And they're Chumps I mean they're Stealing the sons of Eli art yeah They're stealing from Israelites and They're like literally bullying Israelites coming to give their Offerings yeah and so what Yahweh Orchestrates in the next few chapters is The exaltation of Samuel as The real leader of the Tabernacle and

Even though he's not a levite no no he's Totally yeah this is a true Outsider Than in this scenario yeah so Samuel Becomes one exalted to the place that The levite should occupy but there's no Qualified Levites and they're all Corrupt with the sons the two sons of Eli hofnian finchas and then so what Happens is the Philistines attack they Steal the ark Uh and finchas and Eli all die In the Fallout from that battle and then The ark is delivered back because Yahweh Sends plagues on the Philistines but Without them they're like here you go But without a Moses figure just the ark Becomes oh his own Moses wow and Striking it's really fascinating and so The art comes back on a cart and you Know Samuel and they're like there to Guide it back into the Tabernacle so Samuel both Hannah and Samuel become These exalted late comers over what you Think is the firstborn And so that's the story and it sets the Tenor for what the rest of the Samuel Scroll will be about which is mainly a Story about the rise and fall of Saul The first king and then the rise and Fall of David this real second king So if Eli's sons are also About the theme and we didn't really dig Into that but it makes me think of Aaron's sons totally yes Aaron's sons

Who go in with a Strange Fire and then They're like yeah disqualified they're Killed yeah yeah and you ought to I mean That oh funny and finchas Eli's Sons There's all these hyperlinks in the Stories about them To the weird historian Leviticus 10. It's really interesting so you're in Good job I'm just saying I'm affirming Your Insight yeah it is an important Analogy and you've and this is maybe Getting out of the theme perhaps but You've also connected Aaron's sons to Ananis and fire up before and ax And that's a strange story in the book Of Acts where these two characters are Just struck dead And Yeah it's really severe yeah sudden and Severe and this idea that we're all now Supposed to be priests in the Tabernacle Which we are also the Tabernacle because We are in Christ yeah all these things All these themes melling together yeah Then we need to be a certain type of Priest and so is there anything there With Um I mean it's interesting that Samuel Is not a levite but he comes in and kind Of like yeah takes over rescues that Position of yeah taking care of the Tabernacle yeah yeah and is there Something there about The not chosen one or Not Elected one

Coming in to then take the place and Actually become the elected one well yes I mean there's many overlapping themes Actually let's go forward I didn't plan On this but that's great so after Eli Learns about what his sons are doing and He's like stoked on Samuel yeah you've Got a good relationship yeah totally Like The Intern And uh but his actual sons are like Really terrible but he doesn't really Disqualify them or take them out of Service and so a prophet is just called A man of God comes up to Eli And just speaks yahweh's word to him Like a prophet and we always really Really like severe against Eli and so Here I just want to read from the speech Because it kind of I think we'll give an Angle on what you're asking about so What Yahweh says through the prophet to Eli is thus this this is right after the Prayer this is uh later in chapter two Yeah yeah but basically Eli finds out About what his sons are doing I mean not Like right right but like and then later In the chapter chapter that's right yep The man of God comes and says this says Yahweh didn't I reveal myself to the House of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage at Pharaoh's house yeah Didn't I choose them that is the Levites From all the tribes of Israel to be my Priests to go up to my altar to burn

Incense to wear the effort didn't I give To the house of your father all the Offerings like the meat you know for the Sons of Israel why do you kick at My Sacrifice it's like you throw it on the Ground and kick it like it's trash Why do you kick at my sacrifice and Offering that I've commanded in my Dwelling it's not your dwelling my Dwelling why do you honor your sons Above me Making yourself fat with the choice Offerings of My People Israel So this is the story about Yahweh has elevated the tribe of Levi The Third born Of the sons of Jacob to a place of honor To be the priest and then now this is About this is like the Jacob pattern the One that God does choose and elevate it Kind of becomes a schemer that's right So this is the really fascinating line So therefore Yahweh the god of Israel Declares I did indeed say That your house and the house of your Father would walk before me forever I had promised you Perpetual priesthood But now Yahweh says far be it from me It's those who honor me that I will Honor And those who despise me will be treated As despised the days are coming when I'll break your strength and the Strength of your father's house there

Will be not even old men My house you'll see the distress of my Dwelling And in spite all the good that I might Do for Israel And an old man will no longer be in your House and he goes on to say like you're Gonna die your sons are gonna die And verse 35 I will raise up for myself A faithful priest who will do what is in My heart and in my nephesh my soul And I will build for them a Perpetual House And he will walk before me as my Anointed one or he will walk before my Anointed one always there's a Translation rabbit hole right there But essentially what he's saying is like You've been relieved of your job yeah And I'll raise up I raised your family Up yeah I raise the poor from the dust I Can raise a new yeah priest yeah from Another line yeah so Eli becomes the Negative example Hannah is the first Positive example and now Eli is the First example of the high and mighty Brought down but the power of this lion I did tell you that your family would be The Eternal priesthood but now I'm Saying that you're not going to be that Because you didn't that's uncomfortable Isn't it yeah I think so too yes I made A promise and you know what you blew it Yeah the reason why I'm reading this is

It has that severity to it that's like The death of Aaron's sons and like Ananias and safira and this is a real Tension that weaves throughout the Biblical story of Yahweh giving genuine Agency to his partners and when they Really blow it man like You can really really blow it and Yahweh Will hand people over to the Consequences in the Fallout from that But yet at the same time Yahweh won't withdraw His long-term Covenant promises and Purposes But people can't exclude themselves from Participating in the Fulfillment of Those purposes And now we're back to the themes of like The Wilderness generation you know that Doesn't get to enter the promised land Moses doesn't get dead for the Promised Land And this is a tension that's brought up Again in the letter to the Hebrews in The famous warning passages of Hebrews And I don't think it's a tension you can Fully resolve we create theological Systems that want to Solve the Riddle And it seems to me the point is to let This challenge us and challenge every Generation to Reevaluate be self-critical be like Hannah and surrender yourself to Yahweh's Mercy again

But I don't also want to like cover over The severity you know of the challenge Here so I don't know all I've done is Respond to what you realize that's great Provides an answer but and this is Connected to the theme right where it's Like I'm going to elevate someone I'm gonna Select someone and Well as a connected theme well it's it's A Twist on The Core theme with Kane Remember what God Said to Cain you know I've favored your brother but if you do Good isn't there exaltation for you too Yeah sin is a Croucher at your door you Can rule it It's like You have to like the Beast you have a Choice to make your buddy Uh And so in a way it's a little different Because Eli's from the tribe of Levi and With God said as I had already exalted You you were the the late coming that I Exalted But you didn't do right by me and so It's not a license to just do whatever Yeah you didn't rule the Beast and so You will be brought down instead of Exalted Cool well we didn't get to David no Well then I think we'll just we'll make David the next conversation all right Because we can't not talk about David

So we'll we'll do the David but let's Just note here the story of this Oppressed you know woman in pain And suffering And this story of this enfranchised but Lazy and self-indulgent priest and his Sons They live out exactly the inversion that Hannah's poem talks about but it's also Really at the heart of God's desire to Exalt the humble and to bring down the High and mighty and that's how Yahweh Establishes the pillars The border of the world such a powerful Thing to meditate on That's what these stories are all about Great Okay so this is Dan gummel with the Podcast team and I'm back with another Employee introduction and I'm here with A friend of mine a co-worker and we're Going to read the outro credits so do You want to go ahead and introduce Yourself my name is Maka and I've been Working for Bible project for about a Year now and I am the product manager For the web Squad so Mark could tell us A little bit about what that means for You on a daily basis yeah I mean work Just involves everything that has to do With the website putting our podcasts up Our videos up Bible studies anything has To do with the website and you need to Figure out what Bible project has to say

About something and you find us on the Web you come to our website and that's What I do so anything that's on the Website you have meticulously gone over And poured over in detail yeah tell me a Little bit about your life outside of Work oh yeah sure I live in Maryland With my two kids and my Flynn Um yeah so you're you're an active Mom How old are your kids there are four and Five oh really yes what's one of the Most unexpected things about being a Parent I don't know I mean they were so Close in age ask a new mom I wasn't Aware of how much diapers so yeah it was Literally there was a time where I was Like cleaning diapers every 30 minutes It was intense yeah and so that was Pretty surprising no one told me that Wow It's like around the clock baby one pass You sit down baby two pass you sit down It was intense wow I don't know how People who have multiples still with it Yeah well you read the credit Sportsman She Thank you Today's show was produced by Cooper Peltz with associate producer Lindsay Ponder our lead editor is Dan Gummel Tyler Bailey and Frank Garza are Our editors this episode was also mixed By Tyler Bailey and Hannah who compiled Our annotations for the Bible project App at the Bible project we believe the

Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus everything that we make is to Serve that end and it's free thanks to The generosity of thousands of people Just like you so thanks for being a part Of this with us That was great that was really smooth Thank you [Music] [Music]