1 Samuel 3 “the word” condemns Eli’s family

 CJB emphasis in blue and green, NIV in magenta or separate, Nomads* comments in yellow, my comments in gray. *Participative Sunday-school-class at UBC

[I read the Bible to consider a perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy, which humankind might reform, after long neglect, then develop. It’s partially expressed by Semite scholars of 3900 years ago in Genesis 1:26-28, in my paraphrase:  Female-and-male-human-being may and can, independent of other entities, choose to constrain political democracy on earth. In other words, on earth, humankind has the power to pursue the good and constrain the bad. Just rule of law constrains democracy. Jesus affirmed these ideas in each Matthew 19:3-8, in Matthew 5:48, and in other direct dialogue. I think the next Bible canon should include the law codes of Sumer and competing civilizations. Resulting insights would take the heat off Judeo-Christianity, a Messiah vs Christ competition* that egregiously deludes Jesus’ civic influence. The resulting comprehensive view could accelerate collaborative pursuit of human being (verb) and lessen baby killings, like those happening in Israel, in Ukraine, and in the U.S.

*Competitive monotheism survives on war.]

Note: Hannah proudly dedicated her firstborn, Samuel, a Levite, to serve the priests in the tabernacle. Eli, a Levite, had accepted God’s condemnation of his family, because his sons blasphemed God and had sex with parishioners – corrupting the tabernacle.

^3:1 The child Sh’mu’el continued ministering to Adonai under ‘Eli’s direction [I object to this imposition. No human can substitute for Jesus’ civic influence. Before Abraham was born Jesus was.]. Now, in those days Adonai rarely spoke [dabar in Hebrew], and visions were few. ² Once, during that period, ‘Eli had gone to bed — his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that it was hard for him to see. ³ The lamp of God had not yet gone out; and Sh’mu’el had lain down to sleep in the sanctuary of Adonai, where the ark of God was [This phrasing seems to express that Adonai and God are not the same entity].

⁴ Adonai [may have stood and] called, “Sh’mu’el!” and he answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he ran to ‘Eli and said, “Here I am — you called me?” But he said, “I didn’t call you; go back, and lie down.” So he went and lay down. ⁶ Adonai called a second time, “Sh’mu’el!” Sh’mu’el got up, went to ‘Eli and said, “Here I am — you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son; lie down again.” ⁷ Now Sh’mu’el didn’t yet know Adonai; the word [In Genesis 15:1, NIV, “the word” appears, perhaps the first of many occurrences in the Bible. The Septuagint, the oldest translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, uses the terms rhema and logos as equivalents for dabar (Hebrew); Wikipedia. Dabar is used 1400 times as noun and 1100 times as verb in the Old Testament; https://www.christiandiscipleschurch.org/content/the-only-true-god-chapter-07).] of Adonai had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸ Adonai called, “Sh’mu’el!” again, a third time. He got up, went to ‘Eli and said, “Here I am — you called me.” At last ‘Eli realized it was Adonai calling the child. ⁹ So ‘Eli said to Sh’mu’el, “Go, and lie down. If you are called again, say, ‘Speak, Adonai; your servant is listening.’ Sh’mu’el went and lay down in his place.

¹⁰ Adonai came and stood, then spoke as at the other times: “Sh’mu’el! Sh’mu’el!” Then Sh’mu’el said, “Speak; your servant is listening.” ¹¹ Adonai said to Sh’mu’el, “Look! I am going to do something in Isra’el that will make both ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. ¹² On that day I will do against ‘Eli everything I have said with regard to his family, from beginning to end. ¹³ For I have told him that I will execute judgment against his family forever, because of his wickedness in not rebuking his sons, even though he knew that they had brought a curse on themselves. ¹⁴ Therefore I have sworn to the family of ‘Eli that the wickedness of ‘Eli’s family will never be atoned for by any sacrifice or offering.” [Perhaps Paul’s teaching that Jesus’ death on the cross atones for Adam’s sin directly refutes this verse. Or perhaps theGod’s message is that Eli’s family will never accept Jesus’ civic influence and therefore will never be forgiven. If so, only people who lived before Jesus was born and to whom Jesus revealed himself will be saved by the cross. My preference is to be aware of and accept this, another mystery yet continue to listen.]

¹⁵ Sh’mu’el lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of Adonai. But Sh’mu’el was afraid to tell ‘Eli the vision. ¹⁶ Then ‘Eli called Sh’mu’el: “Sh’mu’el, my son!” [Ken remarked that Eli was accepting Samuel to replace Eli’s sons as inheritors of El’s priesthood.] He answered, “Here I am.” ¹⁷ ‘Eli said, “What did he say to you? Please, don’t hide it from me; may God do whatever he said and worse, if you hide from me anything he said to you.” ¹⁸ So Sh’mu’el told him every word and hid nothing. ‘Eli replied, “It is Adonai; let him do what seems good to him.” [Eli’s humility – acceptance that he reared corrupt sons -- impresses me.] [Nomad’s leader, Ken, cautioned me to read Chapters 1 and 2 regarding Eli-humility. I did and question Eli accepting Adonai’s decision to kill rather than reform Eli’s sons because they ate meet before the fat and blood had been rendered to Adonai, let alone having sex with parishioners. This impacts James’ opinion in Acts 15. I also doubt Hannah’s humility; see 1 Samuel 2:1 “I can gloat”.]

¹⁹ Sh’mu’el kept growing, Adonai was with him [Jesus faithful to anyone who pursues his civic influence.], and he let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰ All Isra’el from Dan to Be’er-Sheva became aware that Sh’mu’el had been confirmed as a prophet of Adonai. ²¹ Adonai continued appearing in Shiloh, for Adonai revealed himself to Sh’mu’el in Shiloh by the word of Adonai.

[I attend Nomad’s class intending to listen, learn, and act. Each lesson seems more impactful to me than the previous ones.]