Archive for the ‘Homiletics/Preaching’ Category

How Can The Pastor Plan and Preach Book Series?

Posted: November 15, 2012 in Homiletics/Preaching
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First, it is important to start early in your planning. Six months in advance will can give you time to start reading through the book and even having your devotions from the book from which you will be eventually preaching. This is method of Jim Rose and I believe Ezra. Ezra 7:10 gives me Biblical justification for this approach. Like Ezra, we read the Book, mediate on the Book, apply the Book, fall on our knees in confession because of the Book, and are changed by the Book long before we preach the Book to others.

Also, this will give you time to order audio, video sermons, and listen to podcasts on the book and listen to some of the great preachers and teachers on your subject. Not only will you gain great content but hopefully some of their preaching skill will rub off. Augustine, who wrote the first book on homiletics, taught his students to listen to great preaching and read great sermons to become better preachers. One time in preparation to preach through Nehemiah, I order audio sermons by Warren Wiersbe, Adrian Rogers, and John Whitcomb on Nehemiah. I was chomping  at the bits when it came time to start the series. A source for sermons that I have recently discovered has been Stephen Davey’s sermons found at Wisdom for the Heart. These sermons are well researched with great explanations, illustrations, and applications.

I like to balance exegetical commentaries with expostional. The combination of these commentaries helps the preacher to answer the four rhetorical questions that your listeners are asking while you preach:

Explanation: “What do these verses mean that the preacher just read?”

Argumention of the explanation: “How does he know that is the meaning?” (The Expositional and Exegetical commentaries help answer these questions).

Illustration: “What does that explanation look like?”(The sermonic commentary will help answer this question and the Application question).

Application: “What does all this have to do with my life?”

Before I delve into the heavy exegetical commentaries, I like Donald Sunukjian’s suggestion, that the preacher start with the expositional or synthesis commentary which “will quickly give you  the large units of thought and the lines of argument of the text” (Invitation to Biblical Preaching, page 25). For my series on Ephesians, I am using The Bible Knowledge Commentary for this purpose.

After I get the big picture from BCK, then for the explanation of the text I reach for the exegetical or critical commentary.  These are usually the hardbacks that give you “sticker shock.” On the series on Ephesians that I am curently preaching I am reading Harold W. Hoehner’s Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. This scholarly work of over 900 pages in my opinion is the standard for Ephesians. Hoehner will give you about 20 pages of exegesis on each paragraph in Ephesians. This volume gives the preacher the explanation of the text. If you sentence diagram and block outline, Hoehner can help. I am using other exegetical commentaries as well.

There is a third kind of commentary that the preacher needs. In addition to the expositional or synthesis commentary and exegetical commentaries, the preacher needs the sermonic commentary. To balance Hoehner’s heavy exegetical work, I am reading John MacArthur’s sermonic commentary on Ephesians. MacArthur first preached this material to his congregation and therefore he provides application and occasional illustrations which, of course, Hoehner does not.

The order of the commentaries I have discussed is the order you should follow. Here is Sunukfjian wise advice: “Study thoroughly in the first two catergories before you read the third. If you start with sermonic commentaries, you will be tempted to prematurely conclude, ‘That’ll preach!’ without first determining whether the printed sermon accurately reflects the meaning of the biblcial author” (page 25).

When I am preaching through a book like Ephesians where a doctrine is prominent such as the Church is in Ephesians, I like to read, in addition to good commentaries, related books such as Driscoll’s book on the doctrine of the Church, Vintage Church, Mark Dever’s book on what marks a healthy church, What is a Healthy Church? and The Nine Marks of a Healthy Church and John S. Hammett’s book on ecclesiology, Biblical Foundations for Baptist Churches. Driscoll’s, Dever’s and Hammett’s books give relevancy to my preaching. Their books help me make current applications to the church in our generation and culture.

I just read chapter eight, “How is Love Expressed in a Church?” in Vintage Church. Driscoll builds this chapter on the Trinitarian community of God in which the three Persons of the Trinity have loved each other for eternity and since we are created in their image so should we love each other in His church. This is helpful because Paul mentions the Trinity eight times in Ephesians to bolsters his theme of Unity.

Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods is Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears next Re:Lit book. Their first Re:Lit was Vintage Jesus. Mark Driscoll is pastor/founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, president of Acts 29 Church Planting Network and the Resurgence Missional Theology Cooperative. Gerry Breshears is professor of theology at Western Seminary. Also part of the Re:Lit series is Death by Love coauthored Driscoll and Breshears.

I have read Mark Dever’s little book, What is a Healthy Church?  in which Dever gives nine marks of a healthy church. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is a much more indepth treatment. The first three marks Dever categorizes as essential: Expostitional preaching, biblical theology, and biblical undestanding of the gospel. The balance of the marks are important but not essential: A biblical understanding of conversion, a biblical understanding of evangelism, a biblical understanding of membership, a biblical understanding of church discipline, biblical discipleship and growth, and biblical church leadership.

For the essential doctrines, Dever says, there must be complete agreement for a healthy church. On the important doctrines there does not have to be complete agreement. “Churches without these important marks can be places to pray, to be patient, and to set a good example by your own life.” When preaching on “the unity of the faith” in Ephesians 4:13, this insight will become invaluable to my congregation.

These are some practical tips for series preaching through a book of the Bible that has helped me. I welcome any input you have found benefical in your series preaching through a book.

Using the iPad to Preach

Posted: September 21, 2012 in Homiletics/Preaching
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Please do not read any further if you are leery of new technology. We’re going to talk about new technology and how it may very well change the way you preach…for the better of course. It has to do with the iPad—using the iPad to preach.

The iPad is a very cool device. If you easily cave in to the siren song of new gadgets and toys, you probably have one. You can use the iPad to watch movies, read books, write emails, perform music, take pictures of your kids, take pictures of yourself, and it may very well make your coffee if you ask it to. Techno-savvy pastors are also using the iPad for preaching.

Now, before I plunge into some awesome tips on how to use the iPad for preaching, let me just say one thing to the leery crowd who may have kept on reading even though I warned them not to. Using an iPad to preach is not for everyone. For some among us, buying an iPad may be like purchasing an idol. If the iPad is going to cause problems, don’t buy one. Others may not be able to afford one. That’s fine, too. Also, you may be absolutely comfortable with your way of preaching sans iPad. No problem. Don’t change just because. Most people in the world don’t need an iPad. It’s a tool. And it can help.

We believe in using technology for the glory of God in preaching and worship. If these iPad preaching tips help you, we’re thrilled.

iPad Preaching:  What’s the point?

If you want to preach from the iPad, you need to know how you’re going to do it. This depends on your style of preaching. Do you simply use the Bible and no preaching notes? Are you a notes minimalist (i.e, a Post-it note preacher)? Are you the kind of preacher who has to use a wagon to bring your notes and commentaries into the pulpit? Whatever your style, the iPad can help. Because the iPad is such an innovative piece of metal and glass, you can use it however you want. There’s no single way to preach from the iPad. It’s all about adaptability, flexibility, and personalization.

The point of preaching from the iPad is not to impress people with your technological-whizz-bangery. I have no doubt that you are a very cool person, but that’s not the point of preaching from the iPad.

iPad Accessories for Preaching:  What do you need?

The only thing you’ll need is an iPad. (The iPad does not come with hipster glasses and graphic Ts.) Most iPad users purchase some sort of protective shield for their iPad. I use the plain Apple iPad Case (for my old-school gen 1 iPad) just because it’s inexpensive and sort of protects my iPad if me or my kids drop it.

iPad Apps for Preaching:  What should you install?

The good news is that you don’t have to go out and blow a bunch of money on iPad apps in order to be able to preach. There is a very simple way to get your sermon notes on your iPad, and here’s how to do it. If your sermon notes are in electronic format, you can just email the notes to yourself and open up the email in your iPad. Presto! There you are.

  • Reading from PDFs. You can also save a PDF of your sermon notes and transfer the PDF to your iPad. There are a ton of great PDF readers for the iPad. iBooks is a free one that comes on your iPad.
  • Using a Bible reader. Unless you have the Scripture text printed in your notes, you’ll want a good Bible app. Your choice of an app depends on your version preference. My favorite Bible app is the ESV Bible because it’s elegant, fast, and easy to navigate. It also happens to be preferred translation.

ESV iPad App

  • Using Bible software. Far and away, the best app to have on your iPad is the Logos Bible Software app. This is amazing. It’s like having your own personal library, librarian, research assistant, personal preaching coach, and seminary professor all helping you preach. The good news about Logos Bible Software for iPad is that it’s free. It works best, of course, if you own a Logos Software library. Thankfully, we’ve partnered with Logos so you can get a discount on your preaching tools. Just enter the coupon code SHAREFAITH1 and get a discount on any package. So what if that seminary kid in your congregation asks you to parse a Hebrew verb in the middle of your message? Tap! Tap! No problem.

Busting out the Hebrew text plus a commentary with Logos for iPad

  • Using PowerPoint or KeyNote. One of the most popular ways to use the iPad for preaching is controlling PowerPoint or Keynote presentations. There are a sufficient number of presentation apps available for this purpose. The latest generation of the iPad can plug right into your projector, making it easy to display presentations.

iPad Tips for Preaching:  What should you absolutely remember to do before you get in the pulpit?

  • Know your iPad. If you got your iPad on Saturday night, don’t try preaching from it on Sunday morning. Use it a few days and get the feel for it.
  • Check your battery. The worst-case scenario is letting your battery die while your preaching. “Sorry, folks. The battery on my iPad died, so the message is now over!” The iPad battery lasts a long time, so as long as it’s fully charged, you shouldn’t have a problem (unless your sermons are longer than ten hours). If you have an outlet hiding in your pulipt, use it. Otherwise, you can turn off your WiFi and Bluetooth to save battery juice.
  • Lock your screen orientation. If you don’t like your screen auto-adjusting its orientation, make sure it’s locked. (Double click the home screen and click on the little padlock button). This way, when you wave your iPad around for emphasis, your Bible app maintains its composure.
  • Set your screen Auto-Lock to ten or fifteen minutes. Being the battery-saving device that it is, the screen on your iPad will turn off after a short period of inactivity. This doesn’t work so well for preaching, especially if you’re reading along, and <blink!> off goes the screen. It’s a good idea to set the screen’s auto-lock to ten minutes or so.

Planning to avoid an embarrassing situation when preaching with my iPad

  • Don’t plan on opening and closing a bunch of programs. This can get a bit cumbersome while preaching. If you do need to switch between apps, just tap your home button twice, and easily whiz over to your target app. It’s faster than closing an app, hunting around on your screen, and opening the next one.
  • Turn off the sounds. People may wonder what’s going on if they hear little electronic noises like “click,” “click” “swoosh,” and “ding” as you’re preaching. Make sure your volume is turned down.

The iPad isn’t going to automatically improve your preaching. And it’s not for everyone. But there are some helpful tools that you may find to be valuable in your ministry (Sharefaith)

John Piper, Mark Driscoll, TV and Preaching

Posted: September 19, 2012 in Homiletics/Preaching
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This post is Piper’s response to a question at Advance 09 about the different views on the relevance of TV in preaching that he and Driscoll held.

Now that the video of the Q&A at Advance 09 is available, I can look at it and feel bad all over again. Here’s what I regret, indeed what I have apologized for to the person who asked the question.

The first question to me and Mark Driscoll was, “Piper says get rid of my TV, and Driscoll says buy extra DVRs. How do you reconcile this difference?”

I responded, “Get your sources right. . . . I never said that in my life.”

Almost as soon as it was out of my mouth, I felt: “What a jerk, Piper!” A jerk is a person who nitpicks about the way a question is worded rather than taking the opportunity to address the issue in a serious way. I blew it at multiple levels.

So I was very glad when the person who asked the question wrote to me. I wrote back,

Be totally relieved that YOU did not ask a bad question. I gave a useless and unhelpful, and I think snide, answer and missed a GOLDEN opportunity to make plain the dangers of the triviality you referred to. . . . I don’t know why I snapped about the wording of the question instead of using it for what it was intended for. It was foolish and I think sinful.

So let me see if I can do better now. I can’t give an answer for what Mark means by “buy extra DVRs,” but I can tell you why my advice sounds different. I suspect that Mark and I would not agree on the degree to which the average pastor needs to be movie-savvy in order to be relevant, and the degree to which we should expose ourselves to the world’s entertainment.

I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.

All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremittingtriviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.

Sorry again, for the bad answer. I hope this helps.

Pastor John

The Importance of Identifying the Plot and the Scenes in Narrative Preaching, Part Seven

Posted: June 1, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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The exegesis of scene seven in 1 Samuel 1:21-23 enables us to make this Summary Statement: Hannah gives Samuel to God. The Summary Statement which is the meaning for the original audience will be converted into a Timeless Principle or meaning for our modern audience: Give to God your best and watch Him bless.

Scene seven

In scene seven, the answer is given to the question and conflict in scene six. In scene seven there are five lines of narration to prepare the reader for the all important seven lines of dialogue. There is a time and location change to help the reader identify the new scene. The narrator skips the three years of breast-feeding with one sentence: “And when she had weaned him.” The location change involves taking the child, Samuel, to the house of the LORD in Shilohwith three bulls to be offered in worship.  One bull was a burnt offering which was sacrificed in fulfillment of a vow according to Num.15:3. The other bull was a purification offering sacrificed after childbirth according to Lev.12:6. The final bull could be offered with a meal offering accompanied by a drink offering where wine was poured out as prescribed in Num.15:4-11. Baldwin otes that Hannah and Elkanah gave the most expensive sacrifices the law allowed. “The choice of bulls when smaller animals would have been acceptable (Lv.12:6) is indicative of the gratitude of both Hannah and Elkanah.”[1] The expensive sacrifices the narration has detailed also prepares the reader for the ultimate sacrifice Hannah is going to give to God as communicated in her final speech  in verses 26-28.

Fokkelman explains Hannah’s speech as an oath that she utters to show the solemnity of her commitment to give Samuel to the LORD in full-time service as she had vowed. “In 26c the life of the priest is summoned as a witness to the oath.” The oath concludes in 28b where “the life of Samuel is that which is handed over and is the subject of the oath.”[2] In between the introductory formula in 26c “as thy soul liveth” and the concluding line in 28b, which is the substance of the oath, “as long as he liveth he shall be dedicated to the LORD” is the background for the oath, and it is dominated by prayer, which mirrors Hannah’s life. Hannah reminds Eli in 26d,  “I am the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the LORD.” Three years earlier Hannah not only stood before the LORD to pray, but she stood up for herself before Eli who externally and falsely accused her of drunkenness. In 27a Hannah informs Eli of the subject for which she was praying when he misjudged her. “For this child I prayed.” Eli sees the answer to her prayer standing by her side. In 27b Hannah states “the LORD gave me the petition which I asked of him.” Four times, Hannah will repeat the word “asked” or “petition” in her concluding speech.  In 28a Hannah informs Eli that what God had given to her she was now going to give  “lent”  back to the LORD. The word means “ask,” but it can also mean “give”as is does  in Ex.12:35,36 and here in 1 Sam.1:28a. What Hannah vowed or promised in her first recorded words in v.11, she now swears by way of an oath to perform in her last recorded words in 28b. There was not going to be any taking back what she had given to the LORD.

In this last scene, Hannah in essence worships the LORD by first of all bringing three bulls to sacrifice to the LORD as the narrative report of scene seven depicts. Then as communicated through the dialogue of Hannah with Eli, Hannah has worships by sacrificing her son to full-time service in the LORD’s house. There is a debate who “he” refers to in the last statement of the story. Some say that “he” refers to Eli and that Hannah’s worship impacts Eli to worship. When Eli hears Hannah’s explanation in verses15,16, he perfunctorily pronounces a priestly benediction not knowing the significance of his pronouncement. But now that Eli has seen God providentially answer Hannah’s prayer, he falls down in worship of Hannah’s great prayer-answering Sovereign. Others, such as Charles Spurgeon, believe that “he” refers to Samuel, the antecedent in verses 26-28. Thus proving that Hannah had not only prepared herself to present Samuel to the LORD, Elkanah does not have to drag Hannah kicking and screaming to the temple, but she had prepared Samuel to willingly leave his beloved mother and father and turn and bow before the LORD and never turn back. Truly Hannah prepared Samuel to “there abide for ever” in his full-time service to the LORD. Hannah giving her son to full-time service is not only the solution to the new conflict raised by her husband when he doubted Hannah, but Hannah’s act of worship in giving her son is the solution and fitting conclusion to the entire narrative. Brueggemann captures the inductive conclusion of Samuel’s first narrative. “The resolution is glad worship (v. 28), a trusting yielding, which is Israel’s proper posture for the new story of monarchy now about to begin. Hannah’s ‘now therefore’ indicates the climax of the narrative and the resolution of the problem. Her offer of the boy is a faithful counterpart to her vow. Barrenness ends, by the power of God, in glad, trustful worship.”[3] To summarize scene seven and the entire narrative is the following: Hannah’s unselfish worship of the LORD was the solution to her every conflict.

[1]Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel, 54.

[2]Fokkelman, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel, 69.

[3]Brueggemann, First and Second Samuel, 14.

The Importance of Identifying the Plot and the Scenes, Part 6

Posted: May 31, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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The exegesis of scene six in 1 Samuel 1:21-23 enables us to make this Summary Statement: Will Hannah give Samuel to the Lord as vowed? The Summary Statement which is the meaning for the original audience will be converted into a Timeless Principle or meaning for our modern audience: Will we give our best to God back to God? when He answers prayers?

Scene six

If the story in 1 Samuel 1 were a simple plot, then the narrative would quickly come to its conclusion because the conflict has been solved. Barren Hannah has given birth to her son. But the story is not a simple plot; it is a complex plot with scene six introducing the turning point or new conflict which must be solved before the plot can end. There is a location change in v.21 which helps to identify the new scene. Elkanah’s intention in v.21 is to immediately take Samuel to the house of the LORD in Shiloh (location change) and present him for full-time service as Hannah vowed in v.11 However, Hannah had other plans as expressed in the first of two dialogues.  Hannah is not going to take Samuel to Shiloh until she has weaned him. The word “wean” is used three times in scene six and once in scene seven and is the focus of the conflict. According to 2nd Maccabees 7:27, breast feeding could take three years. “O my son, have pity upon me that bare thee nine months in my womb, and gave thee suck three years, and nourished thee, and brought thee up unto this age, and endured the troubles of education,”[9] pleads the mother in 2nd Maccabees for her son not to renounce his faith before Antiochus. Once Hannah’s son is weaned, she will take Samuel to the house of the LORD for full-time service where he will “there abide for ever.”

The new conflict arises because Elkanah thinks Hannah is selfishly postponing the service of her son because she does not intend to ever present him to the LORD. In the second dialogue of the scene six, Elkanah uses a word from the time of Judges. Elkanah says to Hannah, “Do what is good in your eyes .” That phrase is used in Judges 17:6 and 21:25 to describe the moral and religious selfishness that characterized Israel at her lowest point. Elkanah compares the selfishness of Hannah to the selfishness of morally and religiously apostate Israel.  Whereas Hannah stresses keeping Samuel until he is weaned so she can bring him to the LORD and  “there” he would remain for ever in service to the LORD; Elkanah sees Hannah allowing Samuel to tarry (here) at home. Both view the same event, weaning, differently. The conflict is whether Hannah is going to keep her part of the vow made back in v.11. Hannah is not postponing presenting Samuel for full-time service but rather, Hannah is preparing Samuel for full-time service. “Hannah has chosen to lay the foundations of Samuel’s life herself by protecting the most intimate and physical phase of the mother-child relationship and by keeping him with her. Before the child removes to the temple, he can enjoy the oral phases at home, close to his loving mother, who thus vouches for a substantial basis to the development of his personality,”[10] observed Fokkelman. J.Carl Laney agrees: “The word translated ‘weaned’ literally means ‘dealt fully with’ and may include the idea of spiritual training as well. It may well be that Samuel learned of the importance of prayer from this godly mother at a very young age and thus became a great prophet of prayer.”[11] The summary statement for scene six is a question: Is Hannah postponing or preparing her son for the full-time service ?

[9] Manuel Komroff, ed., The Apocrypha (New York: Tudor, 1937), 327.

[10]Fokkelman, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel, 65.

[11]Laney, Carl L. First and Second Samuel, (Chicago: Moody, 1982), 19.


The Importance of Identifying The Plot and the Scenes in Narrative Preaching, Part Five

Posted: May 30, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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The exegesis of scene four enables us to make this Summary Statement: God answers Hannah’s prayer. The Summary Statement which is the meaning for the original audience will be converted into a Timeless Principle or meaning for our modern audience: God answers our prayers.

Scene five

The middle of the plot comes to an end in scene five with the answer to Hannah’s prayer in v.19 and Hannah’s response to the answered prayer in v.20. There is a time change to indicate a scene change in 19a. Hannah’s initiative, demonstrated in v.9 when she “rose up,” has rubbed off on Elkanah; for now it is “they” who “rose up” to worship. After they worship and return home to Ramah,  Elkanah “knew” his wife Hannah. This statement is Scripture’s euphemistic way of referring to the one-flesh relationship. The verse ends with the comment that “the LORD  remembered her.” This is the same word Hannah uses in her vow in v.11 when she requests, “O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me.” God answers Hannah’s prayer not miraculously as he did with Abraham and Sara who were past child bearing age, nor naturally as he did with the majority of couples in Scripture about whom it is said, “and so-and-so begat so-and-so,” but God answers Hannah’s prayer providentially by opening the womb he had closed previously. A similar statement is made about Rachel who was barren for a long time and desperately requested of her husband “Give me children, or else I die” (Gen.30:1). “And God remembered Rachel and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb and she conceived, and bare a son” (Gen. 30:22, 23). The narrator is emphasizing that Hannah’s great prayer-answering God has providentially responded so all Israel will know that God is sovereignly raising up the monarchy by first of all raising up the king maker, Samuel.

In v. 20, Hannah appropriately responds to her answered prayer by acknowledging her great prayer-answering God. The narrator skips the nine month pregnancy and states that Hannah conceived and “bore a son, and called his name saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.” Joyce G. Baldwin accurately interprets the significance of the name, “Samuel” with this statement: “Hannah gave birth to Samuel, [meaning ‘the name is El’] a reference to the power of God to whom she had prayed . . . . Hannah was testifying to her prayer-answering God rather than giving the strict etymology of the name.”[8] God  remembers Hannah and answers her prayer, and Hannah remembers God in giving him the appropriate praise for answering her prayer. Summary statement for scene five: God answers Hannah’s prayer, and Hannah gives the LORD His proper recognition.

[8]D. J.Wiseman, ed., The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, vol. 7, 1 and 2 Samuel, by Joyce G. Baldwin (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity, 1988), 53.

The Importance of Identifying the Plot and Scenes in Narrative Preaching, Part Four

Posted: May 26, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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The exegesis of scene four enables us to make this Summary Statement: The solution to Hannah’s problem of barrenness is continued prayer. The Summary Statement which is the meaning for the original audience will be converted into a Timeless Principle or meaning for our modern audience: Our solution for the barrenness of leadership is contiuned prayer.

Scene four

Scene four is the central scene of not only the middle of the plot but of the entire narrative and continues to provide the solution of prayer to Hannah’s conflict. Also, scene four gives a detailed description of how Hannah “prayed to the LORD” in verse 10.  This scene begins with a chiasmus in verses 12 and 13 which is followed by two rounds of dialogue in verses 14-18.

The chiasmus follows the AB AB AB pattern. The A series depicts Hannah praying, while the B series gives Eli’s external appraisal.

 A 12a Hannah continued praying before the LORD

B 12b Eli marked her mouth

A 13a Hannah prays in her heart

B 13b Eli sees only her lips move

A 13c Hannah’s voice is not heard

B 13c Eli concludes, she is drunk

For the third time Hannah is misjudged. First by her enemy, next by her husband, and lastly by her priest. From the A series, the reader learns how Hannah prays. First, she continues to pray in 12a. Next, she prays from her heart that is right with God in 13a. Finally, Hannah prays silently in 13c. Eli, who is judgmental and external in his ministry, “looked on the outward appearance” which is the same mistake that Samuel will make later in chapter 16 in choosing Saul’s successor. Apparently Hannah already knew that “the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Sam.16:7).

The antagonist of Hannah in scene four is Eli with whom she has her first recorded dialogue in verses 14 and 15. In verse 14, Eli asks a rhetorical question, like Elkanah had earlier with the intent to rebuke and then issues a command for Hannah to put away her drinking. In verses 15 and 16, Hannah retorts with a six line reply that follows the AB AB AB pattern. The A series is negative in rebutting Eli’s external and false appraisal. The B series is positive in asserting the truth concerning Hannah’s situation.

A 15b  No, my Lord (negative)

B 15c I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit (positive assertion of the truth)

A 15d I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink (negative)

B 15e I have poured out my soul before the LORD (positive assertion of the truth)

A 16a Do not count thine handmaid for a worthless woman (a negative prohibition)

B 16b Out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken (positive assertion of the truth).

The second recorded dialogue is in verses 17 and 18 and Eli is much more tame having been put in his place by Hannah. Eli bids Hannah farewell in 17b and then pronounces a priestly benediction on her in 17c. In the priestly benediction, Eli unknowingly makes two significant statements. First, he uses the unique name “the God of Israel” not “LORD” or “the LORD of hosts.” Eli has no idea that Samuel will anoint the first two kings of Israel because as Eli says, again unwittingly, in the next significant statement that  “the God of Israel” has granted Hannah her “petition” which was for a son. In Hannah’s response, she ironically expresses thanks in verse seventeen for finding grace in Eli’s “eyes” which have not been very discerning. Finally, Hannah can eat and “her countenance was no more sad” because she is confident that God is going to answer her prayer. The fourth scene has disclosed how Hannah prays in response to her conflict of barrenness and innocent suffering. First she continues to pray (v.12a). Next she prayed with a heart right with God (v.13a). She prayed silently (v.13c); she pours out her soul to the LORD, and finally she prays with confidence that God is going to answer her prayer which he does in the last scene of the middle plot which will be examined now. Summary statement of scene four: The solution to Hannah’s problem of barrenness is Hannah’s continual prayer.

The Importance of Identifying the Plot and Scenes in Narrative Preaching, Part Three

Posted: May 24, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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The exegesis of scene three enables us to make this Summary Statement: The solution to Hannah’s problem of barrenness is selfless prayer. The Summary Statement which is the meaning for the original audience will be converted into a Timeless Principle or meaning for our modern audience: Our solution for the barrenness of leadership is selfless prayer.

Scene Three

The third scene begins the middle part of the plot. In scene three the iterative is over, and the punctual events begin that lead to the solution of the conflict introduced in the beginning of the plot.

The first six lines of scene three reveal Hannah rising and taking the initiative to do something about her problem. In v.9a, Hannah rises and takes the initiative while, by way of contrast,  in v.9b Eli the priest sits passively on his seat. Eli was passive physically and spiritually unto the day of his death in 4:13 where he is still sitting on a seat.

A chiasmus in the next four lines shows that Hannah took the initiative to pray.

10a Hannah is bitter in her soul

10b and prayed unto the LORD

10c and wept sore      

11a and she vowed a vow

Even though Hannah is bitter in her soul and is weeping, she prays and vows a vow to the LORD. Hannah is taking the initiative even though her circumstances are no better. The “bitterness” of Hannah reminds the reader of the bitterness of righteous Job, who also suffered undeservedly (Job 3:20; 7:11; 10:1; 21:25).

The next six lines give the content of her positive “vow”. The protasis or the conditional subordinate clause begins with “if” and is translated “if” or “since” God will “give unto thine handmaid a man child.” The apodosis or the conclusion of the conditional clause begins with “Then.” Hannah’s promise is two-fold. First, Hannah promises that she will give her son to the LORD in life long service. As a Levite, Samuel would be serving in the temple periodically from the age of 25 to 50 years of age according to Num. 8:24-25. Hannah promises that the son which the LORD gives her will serve the LORD all his life and all the time. The second part of Hannah’s double vow is the Nazarite vow found in Num. 6. This abstinence vow promised that the person would be “separate”  from worldly influence and would refrain from all adult beverages and contact with the dead. Not only would that consecrated person be separate from worldly influence, but he would be separated to the LORD. Therefore, Hannah mentioned only that “there shall no razor come upon his head.” As Samson demonstrated, the uncut hair was a symbol of life and strength from the LORD.

Hannah’s surrender of the son she knows the LORD is going to give her is unparalleled. Abraham, who also waited so long for his promised son, was commanded by God to surrender him and was willing to do so, but God intervened and spared Isaac. But Hannah did not spare her son. She gave him to the LORD all the days of his life. God takes the initiative with Samson’s mother in Judg. 13 and makes her the beneficiary of Samson who also was to be separated all his life (1 Sam.1:11g is identical to Judg.13:5). But Hannah is the one who takes the initiative and makes God the beneficiary in 1 Samuel 1. There is one surrender, however, that is greater than Hannah’s. God spared not His son who, unlike Abraham’s son, Isaac, was sinless (Rom.8:32). Unlike Samson’s mother, God took the initiative to give His son, not just before his birth as Hannah did but before the foundation of the world. The summary statement of scene three: The solution to Hannah’s problem of barrenness is Hannah’s selfless prayer.

 

The Importance of Identifying the Plot and Scenes in Narrative Preaching, Part Two

Posted: May 23, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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Exegesis of scene two in 1 Samuel 1 equips us to make this the summary statement for scene two: The solution to Hannah’s barrenness is neither polygamy nor retaliation. This summary statement or meaning for the original audience will be converted to a timeless principle for our modern audience: The solution for the barrenness of leadership is not compromise nor retaliation.

Scene two

Scene two begins the repetitive part of narrative introductions in grand style in verse three. Fokkelman highlights this literary characteristic of narratives: “The heavily-laden line 3a introduces, also being the first to do so, a time adjunct, the ‘annual,’ which quickly secures the iterativeness of the exposition and whose form in itself, demands attention.”[4] Being the longest sentence in chapter one, verse 3a provides the repetitive background for the story. “And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh.” This habitual action of Elkanah shows him to be a devout worshiper of the Lord.

There are two conflicts or attacks directed at Hannah in scene two, and she properly and habitually responds to both attacks revealing her righteous character. The first conflict is displayed in two chiasms.

The first conflict is now explicitly revealed by two chiasms which will be outlined and then explained. The first chiasmus reveals the source of the conflict: The barrenness of Hannah.

The outline of the chiasmus:

4b Elkanah gave to Peninnah his wife and all her sons and daughter, portions

5a And to Hannah he gave one portion

5b Because he loved her  

5c And the LORD had shut her womb

The explanation of the chiasmus:

4b Elkanah gave to his wife and all her sons and daughter, portions.

This first line amplified 2d “Peninnah had children”

5a And to Hannah he gave one portion.

To his number one wife, Elkanah gave a number one portion

5b Because he loved her

Elkanah loved Hannah unconditionally as the next line indicates

5c And the LORD had shut her womb

This is “an independent clause in terms of Hebrew syntax,”[5] notes Fokkelman, and is a statement that Hannah’s barrenness was a result of divine providence.

As the first line amplified 2d in regard to Peninnah’s children, the final line of the first chiasmus enlarges on 2e and draws the contrast that led to the conflict. “Hannah had no children.”

The next chiasmus reveals the iterativeness of the conflict: Peninnah habitually provoked Hannah.

The outline of the chiasmus:

6a Her adversary provoked her sore, for to make her fret

6b Because the LORD had shut up her womb

            7a As he did so year by year

7b When she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her

6a Her adversary provoked her sore, for to make her fret.

The explanation of the chiasmus:

6a Her adversary provoked her sore, for to make her fret

Peninnah attacks Hannah because she is jealous. Narratives show the sinfulness of polygamy and other sins, not by explicitly condemning them, but by showing the adverse consequences of such sins.

6b Because the LORD had shut up her womb.

Unlike the first reference to the LORD shutting her womb which was an independent clause and started with the waw consecutive, this clause starts with the preposition “because”. So what was divine providence in verse five has become divine punishment in verse six according to Peninnah.

7a As he did so year by year

Not only did Elkanah habitually go to the house of LORD to worship, but Pininnah habitually provoke Hannah at the house of the LORD.

7b When she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her

Not only did Elkanah habitually worship the LORD, and Peninnah iteratively provoked Hannah, but Hannah repeatedly and righteously responded. “Therefore she wept, and did not eat.” Hannah did not retaliate against the attacks of Peninnah.

The second scene comes to a close with the second attack on Hannah. The attack is heard in the first dialogue of the story and comes from Hannah’s husband. Elkanah’s dialogue has four rhetorical questions. The first three questions all begin with the interrogative “why”. Elkanah knew why Hannah was weeping and not eating. The third question asked of Hannah was, “Why is your heart so grieved?” Here is how McCarter translates the question: “Why are you so resentful” and then adds, see “Deut. 15:10, where a begrudging attitude is implied.”[6] The last question does not begin with “why” and is what Fokkelman calls “the punchline.”[7] This last question reveals that Elkanah knew what was troubling Hannah. She has no sons. It also discloses that Elkanah is not comforting but rebuking his barren wife. The focus of the last question is not Hannah but Elkanah: “Am not I.” In this question, Elkanah is feeling sorry, not for his grieving and barren wife, but for himself, because he has a grieving wife who can not give him a future posterity that matches his impressive genealogy which is so proudly listed in verse one. Like Peninnah and Job’s miserable comforters, Elkanah only adds misery to Hannah’s grief.

Again, in this iterative part of the introduction, Hannah does not retaliate but righteously responds. The iterative part of the introduction has revealed the habitual actions of the main characters and, thus, has disclosed their character. Elkanah and Peninnah habitually attack Hannah, and Hannah habitually responds righteously. The summary statement for scene two: The solution to Hannah’s barrenness is neither polygamy nor retaliation.

[4]Fokkelman, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel, 18.

[5]Ibid., 23.

[6]McCarter, P. Kyle. The Anchor Bible. 1 Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary (Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), 53

The Importance of Identifying the Plot and Scenes in Narrative Preaching, Part One

Posted: May 22, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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An Exegetical Study of 1 Samuel 1:1-28

Plot and scenes examined

Plot

Each of the three major divisions of the plot, beginning, middle, and end, has its unique characteristics. Introduction of the characters and the conflict characterizes the beginning. This information is static and timeless and is presented with state of being verbs. Robert Alter calls this information pre-temporal.[1] The introduction is followed by the exposition where the action is repetitive and is presented with action verbs. Punctual action and resolution of the conflict characterize the middle. Conclusion of the story marks the end unless there is a turning point and a new conflict is introduced. If a new conflict is introduced, then that additional problem is solved in the conclusion.

The beginning of the plot in 1 Samuel one is in verses 1-8 and is made up of two scenes.  In scene one is the pre-temporal information that introduces Elkanah, Hannah, and Peninnah in verses 1, 2. The conflict is implied at the end of verse 2 when it says that “Hannah had no children.” Scene two contains the exposition and its iterative action in verses 3-8 and the conflict is explicitly described. The conflict is also stated in the first dialogue by Elkanah when he says to Hannah “Am not I better to thee than ten sons?” The conflict centers around Hannah’s barrenness.

The middle of the plot in verses 9-20 is divided into three scenes. The solution to the conflict as seen in scenes three and four is prayer, which God answers in scene five.

In scenes six and seven, the end of story comes. But this is a complex plot with a turning point, and a new conflict is introduced in scene six which is resolved in scene seven.

Scene one

Exegesis of scene one in 1 Samuel 1 equips us to make this the summary statement for scene one: Hannah is barren. This summary statement or meaning for the original audience will be converted to a timeless principle for our modern audience: There is a barrenness of leadership.

The preliminary information is presented at the beginning in scene one rather than throughout the body of the narrative. Scene one is made up of seven lines. The first two lines are about the man, the next three lines concern his two wives, and the last two lines mention the children.

The first two lines comprise a common pattern concerning the preliminary information provided at the beginning of the narrative. This common pattern can be seen in 1 Sam.1:1 and 9:1. Both of these common patterns introduce the fathers of the first two main characters of Samuel: Samuel and Saul. As the following outline of the common patterns reveals, a variation exists when there is a significant reason for the alteration. The pattern in 1:1 and 9:1 are identical. The pattern is broken in 25:2, 3, introducing Nabal.

The common pattern of the introductory narrative formula followed by the dwelling place, name, family, and then, last, the possessions is true to form in regard to Samuel’s and Saul’s fathers. But the pattern is significantly broken with Nabal. His possessions are listed before his name and family; this alteration indicates the materialism of Nabal that was displayed with David in chapter 25 and would have cost Nabal his life at the hands of David had not Nabal’s wise wife intervened.

The next three lines are devoted to Elkanah’s co-wives. Line 2a simply states that Elkanah had two wives. Line 2b, however, states that Elkanah’s number one wife was Hannah. The word “one” ( אַחַת֙) which comes from is a cardinal number and means one in quantity not order as in Dt.6:4.

In line 2c, the narrator informs his readers that Peninnah, on the other hand, was “the other” or second as the meaning of the ordinal number (הַשֵּׁנִ֖ית).

The last two lines of scene one concern the children and also indicate why Elkanah marries Peninnah when Hannah is his number one wife. “Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.” Elkanah, who has an “impressive genealogy . . . a proud past”[2] as seen in his four-fold genealogy in verse one, is married to a barren wife with whom he has no future posterity. So, like Abraham in Gen.16, Elkanah uses human reason to solve his barren wife’s problem. He commits polygamy and creates the conflict for which the middle of the plot will unfold and provide  the solution. Scene one is true to its form of introducing the main characters in timeless and static form. Although the conflict is implied in scene one, the conflict is clearly seen in scene two. A summary statement of each scene is necessary from which a timeless principle will later be formed for homiletical purposes. The summary statement for scene one is thus: Hannah’s problem is barrenness. In the light of all the predictions of a coming king from Gen. 17 and on, barrenness in the beginning of the book in which the king comes is significant.

In Part Two, we will examine scene two in 1 Samuel 1.

[1]Ibid., 80.

[2]Walter Brueggemann, First and Second Samuel: Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox, 1973), 12.


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