Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 105
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S am u el – K I N G S
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The childless woman now has seven children,
and the woman with many children wastes away.
The Lord gives both death and life;
he brings some down to the grave but raises others up.
The Lord makes some poor and others rich;
he brings some down and lifts others up.
He lifts the poor from the dust
and the needy from the garbage dump.
He sets them among princes,
placing them in seats of honor.
For all the earth is the Lord’s,
and he has set the world in order.
“He will protect his faithful ones,
but the wicked will disappear in darkness.
No one will succeed by strength alone.
Those who fight against the Lord will be shattered.
He thunders against them from heaven;
the Lord judges throughout the earth.
He gives power to his king;
he increases the strength of his anointed one.”
Then Elkanah returned home to Ramah without Samue l. And the boy
served the Lord by assisting Eli the priest.
Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels who had no respect for the Lord or
for their duties as priests. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, Eli’s sons
would send over a servant with a three-pronged fork. While the meat of
the sacrificed animal was still boiling, the servant would stick the fork into
the pot and demand that whatever it brought up be given to Eli’s sons.
All the Israelites who came to worship at Shiloh were treated this way.
Sometimes the servant would come even before the animal’s fat had been
burned on the altar. He would demand raw meat before it had been boiled
so that it could be used for roasting.
The man offering the sacrifice might reply, “Take as much as you want,
but the fat must be burned first.” Then the servant would demand, “No,
give it to me now, or I’ll take it by force.” So the sin of these young men
was very serious in the Lord’s sight, for they treated the Lord’s offerings
with contempt.
But Samue l, though he was only a boy, served the Lord. He wore a linen
garment like that of a priest. Each year his mother made a small coat for
him and brought it to him when she came with her husband for the sacrifice. Before they returned home, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and