From the day the chest lived at Ye’arim Township time went on; twenty years passed. The entire household of Yisra’el grieved after Yahweh, and Shemu’el said to the entire household of Yisra’el, ‘If with your entire heart you’re coming back to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtars from among you. Direct your heart firmly towards Yahweh and serve him alone, and he will rescue you from the hand of the Pelishtites.’ So the Yisra’elites removed the Masters and the Ashtars and served Yahweh alone.

Shemu’el said, ‘Gather all Yisra’el at The Watchtower and I’ll plead with Yahweh on your behalf.’ They gathered at The Watchtower and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. They fasted that day and said there, ‘We have done wrong against Yahweh.’ So Shemu’el exercised authority for the Yisra’elites at The Watchtower. The Pelishtites heard that the Yisra’elites had gathered at The Watchtower and the Pelishtites’ lords went up against Yisra’el. The Yisra’elites heard and were afraid of the Pelishtites.

So the Yisra’elites said to Shemu’el, ‘Don’t be deaf to us and not cry out to Yahweh our God so he may deliver us from the hand of the Pelishtites.’ So Shemu’el got a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering for Yahweh. Shemu’el cried out to Yahweh on behalf of Yisra’el, and Yahweh answered him. As Shemu’el was offering up the burnt offering, the Pelishtites were coming up for battle against Yisra’el, but Yahweh thundered with a loud voice that day against the Pelishtites and threw them into a turmoil, and they took a beating before Yisra’el. The Yisra’elites went out from The Watchtower, pursued the Pelishtites and struck them down as far as below Bet Kar.

Shemu’el got a stone and put it between The Watchtower and The Tooth, and named it ‘Help Stone’. He said, ‘As far as this Yahweh helped us.’ The Pelishtites bowed down and didn’t any more come within Yisra’el’s border again. Yahweh’s hand was against the Pelishtites all the days of Shemu’el. The towns that the Pelishtites had taken from Yisra’el came back to Yisra’el, from Eqron as far as Gat. Yisra’el rescued their border from the hand of the Pelishtites, and there was peace between Yisra’el and the Amorites.

Shemu’el exercised authority for Yisra’el all the days of his life. 16He went year by year and travelled round to Bet-el, Gilgal and The Watchtower and exercised authority for Yisra’el at all these sites; then his return to The Height, because his home was there. He exercised authority for Yisra’el there and built an altar for Yahweh there.

Goldingay, John The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

St Ignatius

Yisra’el went out to meet the Pelishtites [Philistines] in battle, and camped at Help Stone [Eben Ha’ezer], while the Pelishtites camped at Apheq. The Pelishtites lined up to meet Yisra’el and the battle spread, and Yisra’el took a beating before the Pelishtites. They struck down some 4,000 men in their line in the fields.

The company came to the camp and Yisra’el’s elders said, ‘Why did Yahweh defeat us today before the Pelishtites? Let’s get Yahweh’s pact chest from Shiloh for ourselves, so he will come among us and deliver us from our enemies’ fist.’ So the company sent to Shiloh and carried from there the pact chest of Yahweh of Armies, who sits above the sphinxes. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Pinhas, were with God’s pact chest there. When Yahweh’s pact chest came into the camp, all Yisra’el gave a great shout, and the earth resounded. The Pelishtites heard the sound of the shout and said, ‘What’s this sound of a great shout in the Hebrews’ camp?’ They came to know that Yahweh’s chest had come into the camp. The Pelishtites were afraid, because they said, ‘A god has come into the camp’, and they said, ‘Alas for us! A thing like this has not happened to us in previous days. Alas for us! Who will rescue us from the hand of these august gods? These are the gods that struck down the Misrayimites (Egyptians) in total defeat in the wilderness. Summon up your strength, be men, Pelishtites, so you don’t serve the Hebrews as they served you. Be men! Do battle!’

So the Pelishtites did battle and Yisra’el took a beating. They fled, each one to his tents. The rout was very great, and from Yisra’el 30,000 men on foot fell, while God’s chest was taken, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Pinhas, died.

Goldingay, John; The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Grant, Lord,
that we may hold to you without parting,
worship you without wearying,
serve you without failing;
faithfully seek you,
happily find you,
and forever possess you,
the only God,blessed now and for ever.
Amen

St Anselm

The boy, Shemu’el, was ministering to Yahweh in the presence of Eli. Yahweh’s word was rare at that time; there was no vision spreading about. On a day when Eli was lying down in his place (his eyes had started to fail; he couldn’t see) but God’s lamp had not yet gone out, and Shemu’el was lying down in Yahweh’s palace where God’s chest was, Yahweh called to Shemu’el. He said, ‘I’m here’, and ran to Eli and said, ‘I’m here, because you called to me.’ He said, ‘I didn’t call. Go back, lie down.’ He went and lay down. Yahweh called yet again, ‘Shemu’el’, and Shemu’el got up and went to Eli and said, ‘I’m here, because you called to me.’ He said, ‘I didn’t call, son, go back, lie down.’ Now Shemu’el hadn’t yet acknowledged Yahweh; Yahweh’s word hadn’t yet revealed itself to him.

Yahweh again called Shemu’el, a third time, and he got up, went to Eli and said, ‘I’m here, because you called to me.’ Eli perceived that Yahweh was calling to the boy. Eli said to Shemu’el, ‘Go, lie down, and if he calls to you, you’re to say, “Speak, Yahweh, because your servant is listening.”’ So Shemu’el went and lay down in hi s place. Yahweh came and took his stand and called as at the other times, ‘Shemu’el, Shemu’el’. Shemu’el said, ‘Speak, because your servant is listening.’

Shemu’el grew up, and as Yahweh was with him, he didn’t allow any of his words to fall to the ground. All Yisra’el from Dan as far as Be ’er Sheba acknowledged that Shemu’el was trustworthy as a prophet belonging to Yahweh. Yahweh again appeared at Shiloh, in that Yahweh revealed himself to Shemu’el at Shiloh with Yahweh’s word, and Shemu’el’s word came to all Yisra’el.

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Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)

Hannah got up after the eating in Shiloh and after the drinking. Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of Yahweh’s palace. She was bitter in spirit but she made a plea to Yahweh and cried and cried, and she made a pledge.

She said, ‘Yahweh of Armies, if you actually look at your handmaid’s humbling and you’re mindful of me, and you don’t put your handmaid out of mind but give your handmaid a male offspring, I’ll give him to Yahweh all the days of his life. No razor will go up on his head.’

Because she was doing much pleading before Yahweh, and Eli was watching her mouth, and Hannah was speaking in her heart (only her lips were quivering, but her voice did not make itself heard), Eli thought she was drunk. Eli said to her, ‘How long will you behave like a drunk? Put your wine away from you.’ Hannah answered, ‘No, sir, I’m a tough-spirited woman and I haven’t drunk wine or liquor. I’ve poured myself out before Yahweh. Don’t make your handmaid into a scoundrelous woman, because it was out of the dimensions of my tetchiness and my provocation that I’ve spoken until now.’ Eli answered, ‘Go, things will be well. The God of Yisra’el: he will give the thing that you’ve asked of him.’ She said, ‘May your maidservant find grace in your eyes.’ The woman went on her way and ate, and her face was no longer [the same]. They started early in the morning, bowed low before Yahweh, and went back and came to their home in The Height.

Elqanah had sex with his wife Hannah and Yahweh was mindful of her, and at the end of the year Hannah had got pregnant. She gave birth to a son and named him Shemu’el [Samuel], because ‘I asked [sha’al] for him from Yahweh.’

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Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy,
For your mercy and for your truth’s sake. Amen

There was a man from Twin Heights in Tsophim, from the highland of Ephrayim, whose name was Elqanah ben Yeroham, son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Tsuph, an Ephrayimite. He had two wives; the name of one was Hannah, the name of the second was Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.

That man used to go up from his town from year to year to bow low and to sacrifice for Yahweh of Armies at Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Pinhas, were priests for Yahweh there.

A day came when Elqanah sacrificed, and he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and her daughters. To Hannah he would give a portion for two people because he loved Hannah, whereas Yahweh had closed up her womb, and her rival would provoke her greatly to make her fret because Yahweh had closed up her womb. So he would do, year after year. As often as she went up to Yahweh’s house, she would provoke her in this way, and she would cry and not eat.

Elqanah, her husband, said to her, ‘Hannah, why do you cry, why don’t you eat, why does your heart feel bad? Aren’t I better for you than ten sons?’

Goldingay, John; The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

O Lord Jesus Christ,
stay beside me to defend me,
within me to guide me,
before me to lead me,
and above me to bless me,
that with you and in you,
I may live, and move and have my being,
for ever and ever.
Amen.

(unknown)