(Please read the Scripture passage before reading the homily.)
We begin a series of readings from the books of Samuel and Kings, four books once titled 1-4 Kings. In the first two, the prophet Samuel is prominent; in the latter two, the kings after David are prominent. The series will run about four weeks. It is not possible in four weeks to exhaust the reading of these books and their theology, but we can certainly come to a greater appreciation of the Sacred Scriptures in these four weeks.
In those days, men often had more than one wife, and usually one wife would predominate the others according to the pecking order in the family. Anna is the preferred, but the scapegoat of the alpha wife. Anna has no children and her rival mocks her without mercy. We shall see how God intervenes to judge the situation. Anna shall have a son and dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. The son is Samuel.
We have in this first chapter a birth-story, much as the stories about the conception and birth of Isaac to Abraham, of John the Baptist or of Jesus Christ. Whenever we come across a birth-story, we tend to expect the birth of someone special in the history of the Bible. Samuel will bring to an end the era of the judges in Israel and usher in the age of the kings by anointing two kings, Saul, and David.
God’s judgment is another theme in the Bible, and it is illustrated very well in the book of Samuel. Judgment comes about when God defends the underdog against oppression. Anna, oppressed by the rival wife conceives and bears a sin who becomes a great leader of the people. God judges his people by choosing Saul, who is least in the least tribe of Benjamin, to be king. When it is time to replace Saul, it is the youngest son of Jesse, David, whom God chooses to be the next king.
Always in the Bible, God choose the least over the best, lack of experience over good qualifications, the weak over the strong, the smallest over the largest, the despised over those preferred, the minority person over the person of the majority of the population. This practical applications for us. Those of us running for President or Governor should remember that God puts down the mighty and exalts the lowly. Those of us who are clergy or of officer rank, should realize that God chooses the less qualified over the well-qualified. Rather than run for positions of honor, we ought to run for positions of service. This is a practical lesson from the Scripture.