Between the Lessons

(This article was originally published in the September 2016 issue of Anglican Life.)

When the Church began using the Revised Common Lectionary to establish what lessons to read each Sunday, the intention was to read more of the Scriptures in church, and to read them sequentially. Week after week, we often find that one lesson picks up where last week’s left off. There is a lot to be said for this approach, but it’s not always practical to read all of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, sequentially.

It’s a shame, because unless we know what’s between them, we might miss the significance of the lessons themselves. A perfect example is in the story of Samuel. Maybe we know the story of Hannah dedicating her miraculously-born child to the Lord in 1 Samuel 1. We almost certainly know the story of the Lord speaking to Samuel in chapter 3. God called repeatedly, but Samuel kept thinking it was the old priest Eli, who finally told him to answer ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’ Oddly enough, many times when that story is read in church, we don’t get to hear what the Lord has to say, because the lesson just ends there!

What the Lord says has a lot to do with what we skip over in chapter 2. Eli might have been a wise mentor for Samuel, but he didn’t set the best example for his two sons, Hophni and Phineas. Some translations say that they were ‘worthless fellows,’ but the actual Hebrew term is a lot harsher than that. If I call them SOBs, I’m not trying to be offensive, just literal. The Hebrew expression is ‘Sons Of Belial’: the equivalent of what Newfoundland would call scoundrels and sleeveens.

Chapter 2 says that when people brought animals for the priests to sacrifice, Hophni and Phineas used to help themselves to the best parts of the offerings. This is worse than stealing from the collection plate! It was dishonest, but it was also contempt for what was offered to God, as if it was their own personal treasure. We’re told that Eli tried to reprimand his sons, but couldn’t convince them to straighten up and fly right.

Once Samuel finally understood that the Lord was calling him, what God said was that he was about to punish Eli and his family: the sons for being corrupt, dishonest priests, and the father for not being able to keep them in check. It might seem unfair to punish the father for his sons’ guilt, but this question of the influence parents are able to exert over their children will actually become a recurring theme in the Book of Samuel.

Samuel is portrayed as a good and righteous leader in contrast to Hophni and Phineas. However, the people of Israel will start to worry about what will happen once Samuel dies, and his own crooked sons take over from him. So they will ask for a king, and set the drama for the rest of the book in motion. All the while, the legacy of what heritage, what virtues and vices, parents hand down to their children will constantly run through the background of the book.

But those are all other stories, for other times.