Archive for the ‘Preaching Narratives’ Category

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.


The Importance of Identifying Scenes in Narrative Preaching

Posted: May 20, 2012 in Preaching Narratives
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Richard Pratt defines scenes in a Biblical narrative  “as batches of closely related circumstances, actions, and characters that form the basic building blocks of Old Testament stories.”[1]  

But how to identify those scenes is our present task. Identifying scenes in narratives is important because once you have identified the scenes then you can summarize what each scene meant to the original audience (in the Summary Statement below) and then the preacher can identify the application to his modern audience (the Timeless Principle below). The Timeless Principles become the main points in the preacher’s narrative sermon. The example below is taken from 1 Samuel 1. After the example is an explanation on how to identify the scenes.

Scene One (1:1-2) (Summary Statement)Hannah is barren. (Timeless Principle) Our problem is barrenness in leadership. Leadership is the theme of 1 and 2 Samuel. The three leaders are Samuel (1 Samuel 1-7), Saul (8-15) David (1 Samuel 16 ff). The book that is all about God sovereignly raising up leaders opens with the barrenness of leadership and how that barrenness was overcome.

Kind of scene change for scene one: Content change and Location change between verses 2 and 3.

Scene Two (1:3-8) (Summary Statement) Hannah does not retaliate. (Timeless Principle) Our solution is not retaliation

Kind of scene change for scene two: Content change after verse 8.

Scene Three (1:9-11) (Summary Statement) Hannah prays. (Timeless Principle) Our solution is prayer

Kind of scene change for scene three: Repetition a key word “remember” in verses 11 and 19.

Scene Four (1:12-18) (Summary Statement) Hannah continues to pray. (Timeless Principle) Our solution is continued prayer

Kind of scene change for scene four: Scene four is in between repetition of keywords “remember” in verse 11 and 19

Scene Five (1:19-20) (Summary Statement) God answers Hannah’s prayer. (Timeless Principle) God answers our prayers

Kind of scene change for scene five: Time change and Location change between verses 20 and 21.

Scene Six (1:21-23) (Summary Statement) Will Hannah give Samuel. (Timeless Principle) Will we give our best to God back to God? when He answers prayers?

Kind of scene change for scene six: Location change between verses 23 and 24.

Scene Seven (1:24-28) (Summary Statement) Hannah gives Samuel to God. (Timeless Principle) Give to God your best and watch Him bless.

Kind of scene change for scene seven: Time change and Location change.

Clues for identifying scene changes

The following clues help to identify scene changes: Content, repetition, time, and location. The first clue to consider is the content clue.  The first scene of 1 Samuel has the content common to introductions of narratives: Static information followed by repetitive information. The first scene has already been identified by the two methods narrators use to introduce a narrative.  The first scene for 1 Samuel is verses 1,2 where the author used the first method of introducing a narrative by putting most of the preliminary information at the beginning of the story. This static information is followed by scene two which has different content. The content is next characterized by repetitive action in verses 3-8. The repetitive information is followed by punctual action which commences the actual plot which in 1 Samuel 1 starts in verse 9 and gives the reader the beginning of scene three which covers verses 9-11. In the next section where an exegesis of 1 Samuel 1:1-28 will be conducted, the  chaistic structure of the scenes will also help determine the scenes and also the meaning of the scenes.

Not only can content help identify the scenes but also repetition of key words,  phrases, clauses, and sentences. For example, Hannah requested that the LORD “remember” her prayer in 1 Sam.1:11 which ends scene three in the narrative. The fifth scene in the narrative is started with the answer to Hannah’s prayer and the repetition of the word “remember.” “The LORD remembered her.” In between these two repetitions is the fourth scene in verses 12-18.

Dr. Pratt gives additional helpful hints for marking the boundaries of scenes. “Old Testament stories offer many clues for establishing scene divisions . . . .We can separate one scene from another by noting significant changes in time, setting, and mode of narration.”[1] The first clue that Dr. Pratt mentions is a time change that takes place in the narrative that can be noted as simply as “and they rose up in the morning early” (1 Sam. 1:19) which also helps the reader to identify the fifth scene. Sometimes the waw consecutive “and” ( w ) marks a time change and therefore, a scene change as at the beginning of verse 19.

Scene changes can also be identified by location changes. There is a location change in 1 Sam. 1:3 which helps the preacher mark the second scene in 1 Samuel. “And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh.” An almost identical  location change begins the sixth scene in 1 Samuel’s first narrative in v.21. “And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.” Location change also begins the last scene in verses 24 -28.

The following posts will demonstate how exegesis help determine what is the summary statement for each scene which leads to the timeless principle.

[1]Pratt, He Gave Us Stories, 153.

How To Preach Narratives with Variety, Part 6

Posted: May 18, 2011 in Preaching Narratives
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The final literary device used by the writer of narratives that needs to be appreciated by the interpreter and preacher of narratives is dialogue.

The importance of dialogue is stated by Alter: “Narration is thus often relegated to the role of confirming assertions made in dialogue–occasionally, as here, with an explanatory gloss” (Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 65).  The narration of narratives prepares the reader for the dialogue of the characters.

Often, as Alter observes, the first words spoken in a narrative communicate the theme of the story. “In any given narrative event, and especially, at the beginning of any new story, the point at which dialogue first emerges will be worthy of special attention, and in most instances, the initial words spoken by a personage will be revelatory, perhaps more in manner than in matter, constituting an important moment in the exposition of character” (Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 74).

In 1 Samuel 17, the contest is not between David and Goliath as much as it is between David, the newly anointed king, and Saul, the rejected king of Israel. The author is proving that David is the king who can lead God’s people to victory since God’s Spirit has departed from king Saul because of his repeated disobedience (1 Sam.16:14). The first words of the story come from the mouth of Goliath who states the theme of the story: “Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me” (1 Sam. 17:8). Again, Goliath in the dialogue unknowingly communicates the theme: “Give me a man” (1 Sam.17:10). Earlier Samuel had warned Saul with these words: “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee” (1 Sam. 13:14).

The first words in 1 Samuel 1 are spoken by Elkanah and also communicate the theme of the story. “Hannah, why weepest thou? And why eatest thou not? And why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons?” The conflict that must be resolved in the narrative is Hannah’s barrenness.

What the characters say is so important that even a character’s thoughts are presented in monologue. “And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.”

The recognition of these literary conventions will equip the preacher or teacher of narratives to identify the boundaries of a narrative which will be the boundaries of the narrative sermon. The theme of the narrative will more easily be found as well as how the theme is developed by a knowledge of the literary techniques used by the author of the story.  Also, the identification of the scenes will help form the points or movements of the narrative sermon. Now the exegetical study of the narrative will yield even more fruit for the expositor of the narrative.

How To Preach Narratives with Variety, Part 5 (Interpreting Narratives)

Posted: May 18, 2011 in Preaching Narratives
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The characterization of the “star” and “co-star” of the Biblical story is the next literary device used by the narrator that the preacher of narratives must understand to interpret and preach narratives.

The shaping of characters

The authors of narratives shape their characters not by falsely presenting facts about the characters but by selecting what they say about characters. The narrator sometimes idealizes the character by mentioning only the character’s good traits, and sometimes the narrator villianizes the character by highlighting only the character’s undesirable traits. Richard Pratt demonstrates how the author of Judges selects what he says about the judges to support his theme that Israel needed a king. “As we have seen, the book of Judges was written to demonstrate Israel’s need for a king: the writer used intentionally selective character portraits to communicate this message . . . . In the author’s view, judges became worse generation after generation. This decline clearly demonstrated Israel’s need for a godly king to provide permanent government and stable guidance for the nation” (Pratt, He Gave Us Stories, 135,136).

The three-fold categorization of characters

Bible characters are usually described as being “round” or multi-dimensional and complex with many personal traits, such as Hannah in 1 Samuel 1. Other Bible characters are “flat” or one-dimensional in personality traits. In 1 Samuel one, Elkanah is the “flat” character. The last character is called an agent or functionary who serves as a prop in the narrative with no personality trait mentioned. Peninnah is the agent in Samuel’s first story. The “round” character is the protagonist or main character and is most fully shaped by the narrator.

Four methods narrators used to shape characters

One method rarely used is physical description as noted by Bar-Efrat. “In biblical narrative, information about someone’s outward aspect serves solely as a means of advancing the plot or explaining its course” (Bar-Efrat, Narrative  Art in the Bible, 48).  In 1 Sam.16:1, God had rejected Saul from being king over Israel for his disobedience, even though Saul was head and shoulders taller than all in Israel. That rare physical description of Saul’s height is significant when Samuel goes to anoint the next king over Israel. Samuel is about to anoint Eliab apparently because of his similar height to Saul’s. The Lord intervened and “said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature” (1 Sam. 16:7).

The next statement by the Lord was not only a beneficial standard for Samuel in choosing the king of Israel, but also for all readers of narratives. “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart.”(1 Sam.16:7).  What is important to God and the writers of narratives is not a person’s image but his heart as Bar-Efrat discerns. “Thus we find it stated in quite explicit terms, that there is no connection between a person’s external appearance and internal qualities. The absence of this connection may well explain why so few references are made to the outer aspect of characters in the Bible” (Ibid., 49).

Another method used by narrators to shape Bible characters is speech. The contrast between David’s verbal responses to the deaths of his best friend, Jonathan, and his son, Absalom, reveals why God chose David to be the main contributor to Psalms. When David heard of the deaths of his king and his best friend, he wrote a moving eulogy and lamentation in beautiful Hebrew poetry in 2 Sam.1:19-27. David was a poet. This is one reason why God chose David to be the composer of so many Psalms.

But David was not simply a poet; he was a man capable of experiencing and expressing great emotions with which many of God’s bereaved people could identify. When David heard of the death of his rebel son, Absalom, David revealed his grief and psychological state of mind. “And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son” (2 Sam. 18:33)! In response to his best friend’s death, David wrote a song. But all David could do upon hearing of the death of his son was sob uncontrollably. The narrators selectively chose Bible characters’ words knowing as Jesus would later state: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mt.12:34).

Another method of characterization is to record the actions of Bible characters. There are exceptions to what Fokkelman calls “the life-blood of narration: the report of the unique-which is not seldom the exceptional, the sensational and the spectacular” (Fokkelman, Narrative Art and Poetry in The Books of Samuel, 11). Sometimes the narrator does not report the unique but the seemingly unimportant routines of daily living. In 1 Sam.3:15 after God had verbally called young Samuel to salvation and the ministry, “Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD.” Why does the narrator take up space in Scripture to even report such minutiae as opening the door? The action of young Samuel reveals his character. Samuel does not become proud because God has audibly communicated to him, and he is willing to humbly serve God in menial tasks.

Other times it is not the routine action of the person but the repetitious actions of the Bible character that expose his virtue or sinfulness. “And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year’s end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king’s weight (2 Sam. 14:26). Absalom’s repetitious actions revealed his vanity and self-love.

The final method of characterization is the narrator’s explicit evaluations of the characters. Robert Alter has an ascending scale of characterization with three levels. The first or lower level of the scale that reveals character is actions and appearance. The middle level is speech. “Finally, at the top of the ascending scale, we have the reliable narrator’s explicit statement of what the characters feel, intend, desire; here we are accorded certainty” (Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 117).

When Saul sees David prospering in his military exploits, the reader is not left guessing as to Saul’s response. “Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him” (1 Sam. 18:15). Again, when no one else knew Saul’s scheme to have David killed in battle in acquiring a dowry, an editorial comment is expressed by the narrator. “But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines” (1 Sam.18:25).

Through rare, physical descriptions along with speech, actions, and explicit evaluations by the narrators shape the characters of the narratives.

 
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