Forming Faith Blog

A Reversal of Power (1 Samuel 1, 2)

Posted on October 2 2024 by Gregory Rawn

In response to God’s provision of a son, Hannah proclaims a great reversal in our world: a change from our way of power over others to God’s way of love and service, especially toward people in need.

A woman praying, as Hannah prayed for (proclaimed about) God's great reversal.
Photo by Arina Krasnikova on Pexels.com
Since Last Week

When we last left the people of Israel, they had broken God’s commandment and out of fear created an idol to worship. Most of the people survived the resulting consequences and went on to travel through the wilderness to the land God had promised them. But they broke faith with God and surrendered to fear when the spies they sent into the land reported the mighty people living there. They doubted God and therefore were forced to wander in the wilderness until all but three people of that generation died (the three being Moses, who wouldn’t live to actually enter the land, and Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who trusted God).

Joshua led the people into the Promised Land of Canaan and presided over their God-sanctioned slaughter of the land’s current inhabitants. Once the people were settled, they again (still) broke their promises of faithfulness to God, leading to a cycle of their disobedience and God’s rescue through leaders called judges. It is at the end of this period that Hannah’s story takes place.

Hannah’s Story

The reading assigned for this day uses only five verses from the 28 verses in 1 Samuel 1. I’d recommend that you read—and tell to your faith formation participants—the whole story. Hannah remained childless while her husband’s other wife had children. This upset her greatly, so she prayed to God at the tabernacle (the text says temple, but the permanent building wouldn’t be built for a few generations). She promised to give any son she bore to God’s service. God answered her prayer and gave her a son. She fulfilled her promise and gave the child to God’s service.

These verses in chapter 1 provide context to the focus of the assigned reading: Hannah’s prayer (1 Samuel 2:1-10). This is her response to God’s work on her behalf.

Our Social Order

Hannah’s prayer (song, proclamation) focuses on the theme of a great reversal. But a reversal from what to what? It is a change from how humans organize society to how God organizes community—from our way to God’s way.

What is our way? The “before” described in her prayer is that society has those in power and those without power. Inherent in this distinction are both how the powerful got their power and how they use it. The two major categories of the powerful here are the mighty and the rich. We are all familiar with what it means to be rich: to have more resources than others. The mighty here are not just physically strong—they are mighty warriors.

Gaining and Using Power

How did these mighty warriors become mighty? I assume that (outside of their control), they were born with the physical predisposition to be stronger and have other traits suitable for war. But, one cannot be called a mighty warrior based on potential alone. They must actually go out and prevail over others with violence. For them to be mighty, there must be the weak. The conqueror means nothing without the conquered.

In terms of the wealthy, the primary resource in this period was land (to oversimplify). When the Promised Land was settled, an equal portion of land was given to each family. So, in theory, there weren’t rich people, because everyone had the same number of resources. But, over time, some people gained more land, necessarily at the expense of others. It was, in broad strokes, a zero-sum game. One became rich by taking resources from those who were then poor (again an oversimplification).

So, the power of the mighty and rich was not just in comparison to others, but at the expense of others. They were the oppressors over the oppressed. And what did they do with their power? They likely sought more of it. But that is not the only choice available. The mighty could use their strength to help and protect those in need of protection (the weak). The rich could use their resources to help and provide for those who need them (the poor).

God’s Social Order

Society—community—as God intends it to be is very different. In God’s order, human relationships are not based on having power over someone else. Relationships are based on serving under them. In God’s intended community, everyone is equal. There are no mighty and weak. There are no rich and poor. This is a society of love and shalom (God’s peace) created through justice and righteousness. As others (including this guy named Jesus) would summarize, this is a world defined by loving God and loving neighbor.

To get from our social order to God’s social order, a reversal is necessary (the difference between a reversal and a revolution would be an interesting point to consider). The mighty must be brought low and “the weak” must be exalted. The rich must have their resources taken away and “the poor” must be given those resources. While the language here and throughout the Bible describes an actual reversal where there are new rich and poor, new mighty and weak, I have to assume that this is the first step toward equalization—shalom.

Our Faithful Response

What should we do? As faith formation leaders, we should approach each Bible text to “explain and proclaim.” The first step is to explain—to tell the story. This can be done in a myriad of ways, but the goal is for participants to understand the characters and plot (who, what, when, where, why, and how) of the story.

The second is to proclaim—to relate the story to their lives. To use the Lutheran vocabulary from my education, this is the gospel (what God does for us) and the law (what God calls us to do). In Hannah’s story and prayer, we can proclaim that God loves and cares for all people, especially those who are marginalized by human society. And godly/righteous/just action is work that lifts up those who need it and works toward God’s shalom.

In God’s unending (and upending) love,

Gregory Rawn (Publisher)

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Free Resource

During the main Narrative Lectionary year (this year: September 8 to June 8), we provide a free resource download from one of our products to help you in your faith formation ministry. This week, download the activity “There Is No Rock like Our God” from our Living the Word: Youth (NL) curriculum, though this activity can be used with other age groups!

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Are you still looking for shorter resources for family/intergenerational events or Sunday school? Check out our Learning Together series, a set of five-lesson units on a variety of topics. You can read outside reviews on both our newest Do Justice and Created to Care units! Our faith formation resources are easy to use, theologically sound, and inclusive.

Introducing our newest Learning Together unit: Created to Care! Wonder at God’s creation and learn about what we can do to protect and heal it in these five lessons, intended for children and intergenerational groups, family or churchwide events, or Vacation Bible School. This curriculum is published in collaboration with BibleWorm, a weekly Narrative Lectionary podcast, to accompany their summer series on Creation Care.

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